Contained within are turn by turn reports of selected Combat Mission matches I'm playing against other human beings. It's mostly to document the game's progress so I might gain better insight into what I should be doing by means of self-reflection. Hopefully it's also at least a little entertaining to follow along, too. Comments and suggestions are also welcome since I'll be writing turn reports as I do them, so you'll be up to date on the situation.
The following theaters can currently show up in these AARs:
-A fictional NATO invasion of Syria in 2008 (Shock Force 2)
-Allied invasion of Italy, 1943 (Fortress Italy)
-The Ardennes, 1944-1945 (Final Blitzkrieg)
Barbarians Team (TF 3-68 AR) is to secure the road passing the town of ´WILCOX´ to allow the follow-on force to pass unmolested.
Friendly Force
Barbarians Team
Scout Platoon
C Company
HQ Element (Bradley)
Mechanized Infantry Platoon (Bradley)
Mechanized Infantry Platoon (Bradley)
2x 120mm Mortar Platoon (4 teams)
B Company
M1A1SA Abrams Platoon
E Company
Attached Engineer Platoon (Bradley)
Enemy Force
The enemy occupying ´WILCOX´ is known to consist of three BMPs and several pick up type trucks.
One squad was seen vic 539806, and another nearby vic 533812.
Some enemy dismounts have been seen laying mines and erecting obstacles vic 533610
A BMP was spotted moving into position vic 543819. The other two are unaccounted for.
Scouts also report two plus ATGM units in the farmhouses vic 543510, assumed to be KORNET type launchers.
In addition, the force holding the town is assumed to be trying to delay our operations to allow their main combat force to arrive and set up positions.
Conditions
It is hot and very dry, with a thick haze in the air offering marginal concealment at long distance.
There is no wind.
While most civilians have evacuated, some are still hiding in their homes and the mosque.
The Plan
B Company tanks are currently situated on a slight ridge overlooking the town, henceforth called OP-1 Kenobi. They will remain there for now and provide fire support.
C Company HQ and 2nd Platoon will advance on the left to OP-2 Grievous, which is another slight ridge overlooking the town. It is covered in small trees by an orchard, so care must be taken when cresting the hill. They will attempt to gain fire superiority, and ultimately move towards OBJ L covered by the wide ditch that surrounds the road between `WILCOX` and Grievous. The HQ Element will initially provide overwatch from a small bump in the terrain behind Grievous that allows sight into town.
1st Platoon and the attached engineers will approach the town from the right, where a deep, forested ditch offers excellent concealment all the way to the objective area. The Bradleys will not be able to follow into the woods, and therefore will wait until OP-2 has a base of fire position before attempting to cross the bridge.
A light mortar mission has been called to fire airburst rounds into the suspected ATGM position to hopefully discourage them from firing at 1st Company.
A second team will harass the town with occasional rounds just to be a nuisance to units trying to move around.
All quiet as units move to their designated areas.
I'm not planning on making an individual post for every turn where absolutely nothing happens, but there was a minor change in plans this turn.
I figured it would be safest to have 2nd platoon hook to the left while their Bradleys crest the hill as normal. It's the long way around, but the least exposed approach.
An odd thing happens in the middle of the minute, as the intermittent explosions of the mortar shells are interrupted by another, louder bang.
For reasons that were not entirely clear at that instant, the away-facing wall of the third floor of the tower in the dead center of town goes up in smoke.
Upon closer inspection, it seems to have been hit by an anti-tank missile originating from somewhere center back of town, and aimed at an Abrams.
And sure enough, as 2nd platoon hooks to the left, they catch a glimpse of the offending KORNET at the closing seconds of the minute.
I was very happy to find out, that even if they don't see the enemy, the entire Abrams platoon can definitely see the plot of land they're sitting on. There will be fireworks.
All tanks opened fire, but a kill was not confirmed. The KORNET was probably seen reloading.
After some solid hits on the foxholes, nothing's been seen from the ATGM. All silent in town.
Since it is so silent, a decision was made to bound 1st Platoon's Bradleys forward along the road, to see what kind of resistance they will find. Next update once someone finds something to shoot at, or someone reaches the buildings at OBJ L or the buildings where enemy squads were spotted by recon.
That didn't take long. Three new ATGM positions are seen where they were suspected to be by the advancing Bradleys, and they open fire. Plenty of buildings and foliage in the way, though, and it doesn't seem terribly effective.
One of the enemy teams manages to get a shot off, and takes out the leading IFV. The missile hits the lower half of the turret and takes out both the gunner and the commander.
A sane person would try to break line of sight to the threat and figure out a covered approach to minimize losses, but we're America, dammit. The most important thing in combat is fire superiority and I'm not going to just give it to the Syrians. Immediate angling begins to get as many of our IFVs and tanks to open up on the Syrian positions. At least one is briefly spotted in an undeployed state, and another is definitely taking casualties, so it seems to be working. Some loose mortar rounds seem to be falling into the woods on the right, to no effect, and it doesn't seem to continue beyond that.
The next few minutes consist of our armored forces leapfrogging forward while lighting the town up like a Christmas tree (civilians schmivilians), and confirming that at least the ATGM that was taking casualties has been taken out entirely. The stone fences the enemy teams were taking cover behind are mostly sand now, so the prognosis isn't great for the rest of them, either.
In the meantime, the scout platoon HQ crossed the road into the edge of town, and found a hail of bullets and an RPG waiting for them. This is not a terrible discovery, as the platoon following them are meant to entirely circumvent this set of infantry anyway. They will just have to be careful with staying in the ditch and not exposing themselves to the enemy too early.
Things are starting to heat up. While retaliating against the troops found by the scout team, another 1st platoon Bradley finds itself on the wrong end of an anti-tank missile, killing the driver and an unlucky engineer in the woods.
As the second platoon makes an autonomous decision to hurry the **** up because of autocannon shots exploding on the palm trees next to them, the mortar barrage to the Eastern forest begins in earnest. No casualties from it so far, but splitting the squads and spreading out immediately is the next course of action for them.
The loss of another AFV has not altered the plan in any way. We keep creeping forward and shooting things we see and what we don't. Still no BMP in sight which worries me slightly.
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