Russkies in Oklahoma!

[seabolt]

TURN 5

I already began apologizing to the Godfather for my questioning of his testicular fortitude in last turn's report. Let me repeat and stress that he can hold his head high amidst the most legendary Mad Russians ...

His latest foray also benefited from my illustrating the old saw about what happens when you assume. (You make an ass- out of -u- and -me.) Older SP mods always showed paratroops disembarking. SPMBT 3.0 does not. (Apparently the transports are flying too low for units ~700 meters away to spot the silk. :rolleyes:) It turns out that at least one transport had dropped its troops on the "island"---smack dab in the middle of the Acme Test Firing Range. (Thus, the constant CM bombardment in earlier turns. I should have foreseen that possibility.) Another Antonov streaked by and added reinforcements this turn. In turn 4 I had used some empty Chinooks to scout "dead zones" for paratroops, but not the Acme: I had units that could eyeball it, so how could anything be lurking there on the same turn that it airdropped? This remains an excellent question ...

So fine, I have an infestation. I sent the Chinooks in to sniff around, which was costly. A SAM greased the first one quickly. The second scored some decent intel and avoided a SAM before the next one punctured it. As harsh as that decision was, better that I lose Chinooks than Apaches, which followed close behind. They finished spotting what is a full company of paratroops, then killed 2 SAM units preparatory to getting down to business next turn.

Epoletov's e-mail indicated that he had spotted my Rangers sneaking east through the woods toward 99,38---where they spotted an RPG-29 unit lurking and pinned it. He promised that Russian commandos are en route to intercept. I certainly hope so. ;)

In the meantime, I finished cleaning up his air mech company that landed ~57,39 last turn. A couple of scouts and LAW teams that endured last turn's apocalypse in the LZ wouldn't unsuppress, so had to stick around, but everybody else scooted clear of any additional fireworks after finishing the killing.

The fireworks came in spades when I finished my turn, with a stray killing a Humvee but most of the rounds just churning up Russian corpses. So far I've knocked out a 203mm and a Nona, which leaves Epoletov with more than two dozen other guns :rolleyes:, so he scoured the LZ *and* resumed his exploratory fire. A lucky CM foray into the Outlet Mall killed another Humvee. Those gas guzzlers really do have bad karma ...

Then the planes returned. This may be the single greatest advantage that a Soviet/Russian player has in SPMBT. The Red air power almost always can outlast your AA capacity, and Grachs chasing gold spots and Hinds let him look at your backfield while you cannot do the same. The only silver lining is that they already launched their really heavy ordnance in turn 4, and were mostly limited to autocannons this turn. Still, the first Grach killed an empty Fox ... before a Ranger SAM ended its working day. (Yes! 60 points of how you like that!) The second Grach nailed a Humvee (saving the planet, one 30mm round at a time ...) and the following Su-34 sent a suppression 99 crew to the great replacement depot in the sky. Then my luck ran dry and the last Su-34 shot up a Fox and the infantry units unloaded in the same hex ... Oof.

Still, looking pretty good. With the turn's head start, Epoletov's Acme company has a good chance of making it into the urban hexes, which will make them a royal pain in the ass to dig out. We'll see if I can interdict most of them before they reach the cover. He promises that CQB will be imminent forthwith circa 99,38. (His alternative is to have Rangers breathing down his artillery's neck, so I imagine it's no ruse.) Things are starting to get interesting.

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