Wargame 7/22/12 Motostrelki: The Movie

To kick things off, we're going into Wargame. Silencer and GamerGamer15 teamed up with me to scrap with a few random players.

I resolved to field a fairly balanced force of mechanized infantry and tanks. By the end of things, I've split the troop into an infantry company and a tank company. The original idea is to sweep the left flank with my regiment, have Silencer seize hamburger hill (Jot and Elena), and have Gamer dig in at Boris. This would allow us the freedom to sweep into their rear from Constantine or Boris or force them to relinquish Hamburger Hill--thus giving us a bonus in reinforcement points from HQ (Stavka loves to see progress, do they not?)

  
Silencer and Gamer take off like rockets from the assembly area. Silencer deploys at Jot, the enemy quickly locking down Leonid and forming to attack him.

My forces speed to Olga, but I divert a company commander's UAZ to Nicholas to score some points with the higher ups. The ZSUs I left as an escort can't keep up with him so I have to force him off the highway. I send the Zeus guns up into the trees at Nicholas in the hopes of warding off any raiders. As the guns come under fire from what I assume is a rifle platoon in the woods, I realize I've done myself a favor. The guns return fire, but a pair of zippo flamethrowers roll out of the woodline to the north and burn them in their vehicles. I divert the commander south to Olga.

Silencer and Gamer begin launching attacks on the center. Gamer has a dense formation of infantry at Gregory, but Silencer's position at Jot becomes risky with his left being unsupported. I begin refueling my forces at Olga and decide to provide recon for Silencer's left and advice for the right. The enemy makes serveral advances in the center, but we beat them back with the help of artillery.

Gamer launches a few infantry assaults--One in the center-right and one at Boris on the extreme right. My company commander, just narrowly escaping a napalm-related death at sector Nicholas, sets up in Paul so he can call in some fresh forces to react to the enemy. I figure an infantry platoon at the farm north of Paul will hold the T-Junction and deter any attacks out of Nicholas. My task force resupplies and moves north, the commander's UAZ redeploying in Michael. I expect contact on my right or my front, but nothing comes. I opt to send a recon platoon to check out Leonid and hope they'll warn me of any impending assaults.

It turns out the enemy is sending recoilless rifles south through Leonid, along with a few resupply trucks. The BRDMs fire at the passing vehicles, but the DShKs can't penetrate the armor in any meaningful way. I give them orders to hold fire and dispatch the tank platoons to cut through the woods. My intent is that they'll be able to raid anything moving to strike at Silencer's left flank, but they'll prove decisive in the pursuit later.

Meanwhile, my infantry have been speeding north and are in position to raid the enemy's rear services and supply depots. Silencer and Gamer have been bombarded by three to four artillery batteries the entire battle, and I catch them with their pants down. The low supply levels in their depots tell how much ordnance has been dropped on the center. My infantry fall on them like dogs, but I bungle their movement into the assault. I wipe out four artillery batteries in the north, but three more to the south obliterate my motostrelki from their original strength (Two companies) to a platoon. The ATGM and AA teams dismount and make it to the trees in time to obliterate incoming French infantry and a wing of AH-64s. I leave the infantry dismounted to mop up and drive my BTR-60s south to engage the remaining batteries.

I catch their command vehicles and wipe them out. The enemy is now concentrated at Boris, but fall victim to Gamer's assault from the south. Silencer shifts his forces to the right as the enemy is forced to react to my infantry from their rear and tanks from the left flank. By this point, the match is more of a three on one, and as I let him know the point limit for the game, he surrenders. All told, NATO suffers a defeat by encirclement, but the casualty reports tell a different tale. With the losses roughly the same for both combatants, the battlespace littered with the husks of dead vehicles and aircraft, and an empty center, I can't consider it a major victory.