Russkies in Oklahoma!

[seabolt]

TURN 6

Well, things just aren't breaking right for the First Citizen of our brethren to the East, to the point that we interrupt this recap for a brief public service message.

EPOLETOV: Do you want to accept Minor Defeat and end now? I would say yes.

Not that I'm not enjoying myself. It's nice when it's your opponent who keeps getting wrongfooted. It's often enough that it's me in that same spot.

As for the turn: I bought an A-10 Warthog loaded for doomsday. I have a special fondness for this plane, even if it does have an expected flight distance of 100 meters in this environment. It's not really a good weapons platform. (The only places that a Warthog can survive usually are places where you don't really need the Warthog to do the job in the first place ...) But it's the rare piece of U.S. gear that follows the Soviet design philosophy of "scare the bejeezel out of them first, maybe you save some ammo."

Anyway, I was planning to hold it for the end game after I'd (hopefully) decimated the Russian AA. Then Epoletov did me the favor of going for broke with a paratroop-based attack, which always is a huge risk because it pushes your infantry way out in front of their support umbrella. Such that a lowly Warthog might wreak havoc and actually live to tell about it ...

The actual results were, of course, completely anticlimatic. The A-10 strayed a bit off course and Epoletov stuck to his turf rather than running for cover as anticipated. (I might have tipped him off in the Turn 5 recap. Oh, well.) Still, I like to think that his heart skipped a beat when the first FAE rained down ...

On the plus side, some of my outriders detected a Hip-C, still in the air just east of the southernmost VH on the "island," presumably still laden with nasty young men. This began one of those patented comic chase sequences as my Apaches pursued it across the river. (I think it was Zeiss who likened these things to a Benny Hill skit.) An M113 finally killed the thing with all hands, but only after advancing through a full suite of opfire, which was pretty impressive given that the Hip-C already had retreated about 23 times by that point. :rolleyes: I didn't expect the first burst and kept thinking that surely each one would be the last one ...

I rolled another section of Apaches over to continue plaguing the paratroops on Mt Acme. A few Rangers got within their (1,000-meter!) firing range and pitched in. A 60mm mortar added its direct fire to the mix. I am going to hazard the prediction that, despite my foolishness with the Patriot, my opponent will leave more dead points on Mt Acme than I did.

The much anticipated clash of elites near 99,38 did not materialize. An HMG suppressed a Ranger LAW team, then a decidely non-Spetsnaz ordinary rifle section popped in to finish it before lurking back out. No, I can't blame my adversary for declining to push line infantry forward against Rangers.

The only other development was the first Russian ATGM shot fired in anger, which took out a Fox joining the madcap tomfoolery trailing the aforementioned Hip-C. It took me so completely by surprise that I didn't get the range from the popup message, and it didn't leave any smoke, either. Like these darn Russians need to get even sneakier.

To sum up, things remain looking real good. I own or directly threaten 18 VHs. A full mechanized paratroop company is history, as is a Hip-C full of men, and a second paratroop company needs to be writing its last wills and testaments. My last artillery barrage knocked out another Nona, so I'm slowly whittling away his CM capacity and have yet to lose any of my own, nor have I lost significant forces in any area other than AA. His gambit having failed, Epoletov is working at a significant disadvantage now, thus the terms above. No point in dragging it out if he's largely shot his bolt.

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