AAR: Modern War "The First Battle"

[Rabbit]

The first scenario of Modern War is a very challenging one that most veterans players will struggle with, let alone new players. I decided to create an AAR for it to help people who are struggling with it see a path to victory.

In the interest of generating an AAR, I took the liberty of using my knowledge of where the enemy was so that I could take a relatively direct route towards the objective hexes as opposed to trying to first clear the northernmost building hexes. Normally, you would want to be more careful about putting your troops into Ground Mode and also moving/assaulting through those building hexes to make sure they are unoccupied. Skipping that saved me a turn or two of movement, which allowed me to finish the scenario a little early, but more importantly I hope it made the AAR a little easier to understand. Using my prior knowledge of the enemy's position gave me a decisive advantage in getting the victory, but my goal was to show how a victory could be obtained, particularly in taking Objective hex [9,4] which is the crux of the scenario.

(Also a note about the images below: the yellow lines denote movement, the red lines denote fire, and the red lines with the triple arrows denote assaults.)


TURN 1 (see image below):

I moved the M-1 to hex [6,2] and fired my two smoke charges into hexes [7,2] and [7,3]. I changed the loads for all of my M-203s to 40mm Can. I dropped my three radios so that they wouldn’t slow down my troops. Then I moved the troops forward.




TURN 2 (see image below):

I fired a smoke round from one of my M-203s in hex [6,0] into hex [8,3]. Note, I haven’t fired my M-1’s main gun yet, which means it is at 100% effectiveness. I moved my 2-man squad carrying an SMAW into protected hex [8,2] (from where it can start firing into hex [9,4]).




TURN 3 (see image below):

I fired a smoke grenade into hex [8,3]. The 2-man squad in hex [8,2] carrying an SMAW fired at Objective hex [9,4]. I moved my second 2-man squad carrying an SMAW into protected hex [8,2]. I moved everyone else into hex [7,3]. My M-1 sat idle this turn.




TURN 4 (see image below):

I fired a smoke grenade into hex [8,3]. Both of my 2-man squads carrying SMAWs fired at Objective hex [9,4]. The fire from the SMAWs caused the enemy troops in hex [9,4] to become disrupted.

With the enemy in hex [9,4] disrupted, I decided to try an assault against that Objective hex this turn. Towards that, I moved my squads in Ground Mode from hex [7,3] into hex [8,3], but leaving my leaders behind in hex [7,3]. I then assaulted hex [9,4] using the squads from hex [8,3]. I got lucky with the assault, eliminating five enemy troops with no losses (my SMAWs must have had a good effect!).

I moved the leaders in Ground Mode from hex [7,3] into hex [8,3]. My M-1 moved up a hex into hex [7,3].

Note: the manner in which you take hex [9,4] is really the key to this scenario. I have found the best way to do it is to get the enemy squad in hex [9,4] disrupted and then move all of your men via Ground Mode and with the cover of smoke from hex [7,3] into hex [8,3] and then immediately assault hex [9,4] all in one turn. Anyone who sits in hex [8,3] during an enemy turn is going to get pummeled by enemy fire! If you fail to do this in one quick turn, then you might consider restarting the scenario again as you’ll be hard pressed to get a victory.




TURN 5 (see image below):

The enemy hadn’t fired from hex [9,5] yet, so they are still concealed. I fired twice in an attempt to draw them out, but to no avail, so I assaulted anyway and was fortunate to win the assault, eliminating 8 troops.

I moved my leaders in Ground Mode into hex from hex [8,3] into hex [9,4]. This instigated the enemy sniper in hex [10,5] to open fire on hex [9,4]. I moved the one of my SMAW squads from hex [8,2] into hex [9,5]. This instigated the remaining enemy troops in hex [10,5] to open fire on hex [9,5]. I moved the other SMAW squad from hex [8,2] into hex [8,3]; it couldn’t go any further because it was disrupted.

I moved my M-1 to hex [7,5]. I had planned on using it against the enemy troops in hex [9,5] once I disrupted them, but I unexpectedly won the assault, so now I plan to use the same tactics against hex [10,5] - that is, I will move the M-1 within one hex of [10,5] after I have disrupted the troops in that hex. I’m waiting until they are disrupted to lessen the chance that an RPG can take out my M-1.




TURN 6 (see image below):

I took some heavy losses from the enemy’s fire during their turn. I fired twice from hex [9,5] into hex [10,5], causing the enemy squad to disrupt. I moved my M-1 to hex [9,6] and fired once into hex [10,5].

I decided to go for broke and assaulted hex [10,5] from hex [9,5]. I lost three men, but was able to kill off the enemy leader. I moved my leaders from hex [9,4] into hex [9,5] and was able to rally all but two squads.

I then moved the remaining SMAW squad from hex [8,3] to hex [8,4].




TURN 7 (see image below):

I fired my M-1 three times into hex [10,5]. I was able to rally one of my two pinned squads.

My squads in hex [9,5] fired twice into hex [10,5]. I wasn’t able to pin the enemy squad, but I assaulted anyway, taking three losses to their one, once again failing to take the hex. Since I hadn't used my leaders during the assault, I used them to rally all but two squads.

I moved the remaining SMAW squad in Ground Mode from hex [8,4] to hex [9,5].




TURN 8 (see image below):

I fired my M-1 three times into hex [10,5]. I tried two rally attempts and was able to rally one of my two pinned squads.

I assaulted and was able to kill two enemy troops while suffering no losses, but my assault was again repelled. I was able to rally all but one of my pinned squads.

Rather than assault with disrupted units, I opted to use my remaining movement points to fire into hex [10,5] with the hopes that some of my troops will become undisrupted by next turn.




TURN 9 (see image below):

I fired my M-1 three times into hex [10,5]. Most of my troops had undisrupted. I rallied my two pinned units.

I assaulted and was able to kill the two remaining enemy troops, thereby claiming the final Objective hex.




Victory Dialog (see image below):

Victory
The key to the victory was being able to take the first Objective hex without having any units linger in hex [8,3]. It also requires a bit of luck too, and I happened to get unusually lucky in my assaults in this AAR. Your chances of winning this scenario decrease rapidly if you encounter bad luck early on, particularly if you get hung up in hex [8,3].




Hope that helps!

Best,
Rabbit