Russkies in Oklahoma!

[seabolt]

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To your letter has not been attached turn.

Oops, sorry! I just sent it. It was late, after a long day.

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It is necessary upgrade your tanks for fight in city. :cool:

They don't *have* urban loadouts for U.S. armor, or I would have bought them! I might have two HE shells left in my whole outfit. Mostly, I've been reduced to some very, very accurate MG fire ...

-- 30 --

[seabolt]

TURN 23

Still no big finale, but Epoletov did claim a VH this turn. A scout unit slipped out of the northern edge of the southern LZ woods and killed the APC overwatching VH 63,167. When the 30mmGL overwatching from across the river barked at him, he had a salvo left to pop smoke. Then a crew unit snuck in behind him and claimed the hex. Not a bad play, but too early. Barring some phenomenal luck, I'll be able to interdict any reinforcements from the LZ and push the handful of Russians off my turf. The Apache in the area followed the road to the extreme south eastward then swept the perimeter of the LZ before parking itself in place to accomplish both of the above missions next turn. It also killed a BMD-1P and three Vodniks on its sweep, so the Russians' mobility has been slashed.

In the meantime, yet another ATGM popped up and killed yet another Fox. I'm starting to think that Epoletov spent as much on antiarmor assets as I spent on armor. An Abrams ended that threat, but this is definitely one of those games where I want to end turn 25 of 26 with a healthy unit sitting right on top of each VH. The lurkers seem limitless ...

Otherwise, still waiting to see if there's one more ace up the Russian sleeve.

-- 30 --

[seabolt]

TURN 24

Epoletov made a little play for VH 51,184, killing the tattered Ranger squad sitting on it and replacing them with a tattered Spetsnatz scout unit. Then he did a little pushing in the northern urban fight, which now centers roughly around hex 97,29. The biggest lesson I've gleaned from this match so far is that you never want to advance into 21st century infantry in cover unless they absolutely can't opfire, and that held true to form for my opponent. My bled-out defenders beat back his bled-out attackers.

On my turn, I used the 24-kill Apache to remove the Russian crew section that captured VH 63,167 last turn. Then I had it sweep for reinforcements pushing northeast to help secure that objective, and it pumped a few 30mm rounds into a para section that fit that bill. Carefully moving toward VH 51, 184, the Apache eyeballed three more special forces sections and a megasniper, but two of the squads were routed. It looked like my artillery has been doing its job and keeping Epoletov from pushing a proper mass of men toward the victory hex. With that knowledge, I went ahead and killed the scout section and took back the victory hex.

Then I figured what the heck, if we're playing one of "those" kinds of games then I might as well play one of "those" kinds of games. I drove an empty Humvee into VH 63,167 to reclaim it, too. ;)

In the northern fight, I pushed the four guys remaining in a Ranger squad adjacent to a routed rifle section, but a hidden unit opened up and knocked my unit down to three guys, one away from disbanding. Firing back at the popup unit knocked it down to two guys, disbanding it, then a second burst at the routed unit disbanded it, too. It was an interesting illustration of the slippery slope between success and failure.

Despite that very modest little victory, Epoletov can claim to have won the attrition war in this round, because one of his AA guns finally tagged the Apache in the north, doing 10 points of damage which gave me a moment's concern that I might actually lose the darn thing rather than just have it retreat. With a little good luck I managed to get it out of LOS and safely on its way home. That wasn't really a huge loss, given that it had pretty much used up its second ammo loadout and there isn't time to reload a third.

Two turns to go.

-- 30 --

[seabolt]

TURN 25

Other than a para section appearing out of nowhere (where else?) and reclaiming VH 63,167, this was a rather low-key turn. No other nasty surprises popped up. I still expect fireworks next turn, which will be Epoletov's last. And I'll leave it at that for now, because I expect the summary post will be more than long enough for the most enduring attention spans ...

-- 30 --

[seabolt]

TURN 26

Fini.

Well, Epoletov didn't really have a last bolt in his quiver. He drove a Vodnik into VH 51,184 to claim it. An HMG delurked farther north but got driven off by the Rangers squatting on the VH. That was about it.

I killed the Russkie jeep and snuck in a sniper to reclaim the VH. Then I drove a Fox in to re-re-reclaim VH 63,167. Dinked around a little to kill a few last straggly units. My last Apache had 3 HE rounds left; had to be sure and use them.

And that was that. Final score 14097/18 VHs vs 4589/3 VHs gives me a decisive victory according to the spreadsheet. Epoletov's artillery network was even larger than I had suspected: 9 152s, 9 203s, 15 Nonas, and 12 ammo carriers. My impact on those assets---1, 4, 9, and 9 kills respectively---also was larger than I had anticipated. Epoletov had to be having the biggest laugh at my faulty logic midbattle; he had 15 23mm AA guns onboard, of which 6 were still fighting at the end. I was only off by 13!

Casualties were 785 Russians to 352 Americans, which looked far worse on the TO/Es because the former represent a lot of 7-man squads and 2-man special units while the latter mostly came from 10-man Ranger squads. I would hazard that fully half of my losses were in ATGM alley, once the cluster munitions came down en masse and the rifle sections followed through cleaning up the stragglers.

I might do more analysis tomorrow, after some sleep. Again, thanks for the game, Epoletov. It was a pleasure.

-- 30 --

[seabolt]

POST MORTEM

So what did this match teach this unruly student of the game? A few things:

SPMBT (presumably SPWW2 as well) seems to make parachute drops a much more valid option. Though this match became one-sided, it would have been a thorough rout in SPWAW. Actively shooting at little parachute icons was a great joy; everyone's on the ground and usually unspotted by my turn in this build. It's paradoxical, because the Shrapnel builds are much more grim about jumping into non-clear hexes (you take casualties and suppression rather than just the latter), but getting from an SPMBT transport into the fight is about as viable as joining the action by foot or APC, *especially* if jumping into deep woods. In SPWAW, climbing aboard a C-47 was akin to a death warrant.

That said, the real(istic) problem with paradrops remains intact: The infantry tends to move too far in front of its support umbrella. Traditionally, this is partially offset by dropping everybody at once; the idea is to spread the response forces paper thin. Instead, Epoletov chose to jump in stages. I didn't do a good job of pointing out that his artillery fire tended to cluster in the LZs for a few turns prior to his jumps---mostly because it was pure hindsight till the pattern became clear in the late game---but that leads me to believe that he had a plan to mitigate the lack of air and armor support with overwhelming artillery preparation. It's a shame that he can't communicate much detail on that point. If it was his plan, it failed because ...

I've decided that in modern battles, the first role of artillery is counterbattery fire. In the FA tourney and several private matches, I've endured thousands of cluster salvoes in the last few months. After the shock wears off from losing your first hundred or so rifle squads and MBTs, you even get a little blasé about CM fire. The fact remains that 2008 artillery dominates the battlefield far more than did the 1914 and 1941 guns that gave the arm its reputation. I don't think this is unrealistic, FWIW. But that power makes CM-firing guns the top target on the map, worth more than MBTs and attack copters, maybe.

As I predicted prematch, I didn't win the artillery war, but I was able to mitigate the loss quite a bit by knocking out ~two thirds of Epoletov's firepower. (While straying to that topic, my forecast was 3 for 3: I won the infantry war, at high cost. I pwned in the armor war by default; Epoletov didn't field a single tank.) Had I ignored his guns and tried to outdamage him in targeting frontline units, I imagine things would have ended very badly for the U.S.

Other than CB fire, my other trump card was the Apaches. On such a large map, they were an absolutely crucial fire brigade, able to sprint from crisis to crisis in a single turn. They need to rename the equipment category as counterattack helicopters so that other players don't take as long as I did to figure out how to use them. Had Epoletov purchased a couple of top-notch Russian copters, and lurked them near the front line with the sole intent of springing on my birds when they appeared, that also might have tipped the battle dramatically in his favor. As it was, his dependence on AA mostly kept me out of his backfield, but did nothing to augment his own offensive.

Those are the main points. Any comments welcome and thanks for reading.

-- 30 --

[junk2drive]

Thanks for all the posts. Hope I learned something.

[Walrus]

Hi Gene
Great posts and a good read.
Congratulations on the win.
Some very interesting points you make...I have not got time for a debate on them, also I mostly agree with your views anyway :-)
Some good insights into the way you play...cheers for that.
Eventually I will challenge you to another battle.
Until then....
Cheers for spend the time to entertain and enlighten the masses.
Hurrah!

[seabolt]

Some good insights into the way you play...cheers for that.

You're making a pretty sketchy assumption that I'll be sober and even remotely lucid for our rematch. ;)

-- 30 --

[Epoletov [SPR].]

Has seen on a battlefield typical American army.
With its typical tactics, except for uses of helicopters. :smoke:

Have disappointed rangers from them super with rifles.
Too they killing. :chin:
It is remarkable, that this weapon will be removed in following Patch.

For me it was a valuable lesson of management parachuters.
I shall be and to perfect this skill further.
The landing has the right to existence. :stir:

I thank for fight !
You prudently, accurately are at war.
I think surprises you will find unawares in following fight.
Interestingly as you will react to something unusual ?! ;)