(M) Quick Battle-Battle Size:Medium - Combat Mission: Cold War

Meeting Engagement- My forces were relatively balanced, with some manpads. I was able to take and hold the forward objectives first, but I quickly squandered my advantage on my left flank. I still might have been able to hold things but I vastly under estimated my opponents remaining number of T-64s and had moved my sole Abrams up to engage instead of keeping it on its high overwatch. Combine that with some terrible miscklicks on my end, my oppoent was able to roll an armoured wave over me. Most of my Dragons missed and I didn't have nearly enough to slow the T-64s and a dozen or two of BTRs. Surrender was the only option even though I had 100 or so more troops left than my opponent. I kinda wish there was a "retreat" function instead of just mass surrender. Well fought by my opponent.

A Christmas War: An invented tongue in cheek narrative of an ME MED BvsR match.
Went the full 45 turns but ended in a wise surrender.

MVP- 59x caus; 7xBMP1, 5xT-62, 2xBMP2; 1 Truck (the accompanying m113 killed all the other trucks)

8/10 Would deliver Christmas gifts via anti-personnel air burst again.

Self made narrative- difficult rushed raid for the challenge. B vs R.

Lots of fun. Went in at dawn and met some well placed defences and placements. I should have been more aggressive and got bogged down then took large losses from enemy arty.
My biggest let down was I had large investment in air support, but for some reason I could only use Point targeting instead of Area. This made the air support near useless. Never got near the major OBJ at the back lines, and lost control of the two minor OBJs due to enemy troops running in to the edges on the last turn.

Still, had a good time. I like an upward battle even if I loose.

"Those Dam Yankees"

Soviet TF consisting of 5 t-72 and mechanized infantry with a mix of ~16 BMP1s and BTRs. Support was 2x ZSU and Luxembourg's national GDP worth of arty and MLRS.

Location- A German electric dam and the village it is controlled from. Due to civilian needs, the service road was kept clear, but AP mines and barb wire was deployed elsewhere on the dam, near two mechanics and control buildings. Civilian authorities asked that AP mines not be placed within the vicinity of the village. Left and right flanks protected by man made water obstacles. Small service causeway on mid-left flank. Dam/Bridge service road on mid-right flank.

NATO TF consisted of an engineering company, an M1 Abrams just finishing an engine swapout, and an under strength Battalion that was on rotation, playing some baseball, eating some hotdogs.

With little warning of the horde of evil soviets coming down the highway like a red tidal wave, the NATO troops dropped their gloves and ran to their makeshift stand-to positions. Then the 20mins or so of arty started to fall all along the watchtower and both banks of the water obstacle. Even the men with properly dug foxholes had obscene levels of casualties. Advanced scouts on the left side of the water obstacle crept up to the firing line in time to see enemy armour and infantry advancing to flank the dam. After a short exchange, one t-72 destroyed, a few soviets troopers dead, and the the soviet forces pulled back and committed elsewhere.

With the relentless arty still going on, the soviet forces started to probe the bridge. A BMP or two were taken out by m-72s, followed by some small arms exchange. The fight for the actual bridge never went past that. Unfortunately at that time, an arty shell spooked a horse who then kicked the M1 Abrams, which then fell into forward gear before the maintenance was completed. With a shocked look on the crew's faces, the tank raced forward at full speed down the straight shot of road and onto the dam, then over the dam, ending just outside the enemy deployment zone. Luckily, the tank gunner had brought his wife's hand held vanity mirror, and used it to aim over his shoulder at the rear of a t-72 that was now behind the M1. The gunner fired his trick shot, through the first BTR, bouncing between BTR two and three, bouncing up and under the forth before lancing through the fifth and sixth BTR before embedding the shell into the rear of the t-72 (which didn't seem to do anything).

Unfortunately, the M1 was now parked among enemy ZSU and reserve tanks. The low morning light lit up from all the firepower being placed on the heroic M1, while 60 or so soviet troopers try climbing out of their burning transports, none made it.

Due to that spooked horse, the soviets now knew the dam access road was mine free. Then the smoke arrived. At the junction between the NATO side of the dam and the start of the village, two or three minutes of large scale smoke rounds created night. The upside was that the shelling had stopped. Around this time, the Soviets tried to probe with three aquatic BMP- one was sunk, one made it across but stubbed by a TOW, and the third turned around and returned to fight at the dam.

Once the smoke stopped raining down, a golden plated horde started coming down the dam road.

The NATO engineers on the bridge tried to slow the assault but only managed to take out a ZSU and a BMP.

What little was left of the NATO infantry tried to rally and set up a defensive line along some hedgerows, while AT is being setup on the edge of the village. Then the large cal MRLS started to land on the town. It was short, but very destructive.

Then the last remaining Soviet ZSU got behind the NATO firing line and started mowing down the defenders. Some 36 troopers died within 10 seconds.

Another blunder was the NATO commander yelling at his engineering to throw their demo charges at point blank range. Since they are not trained to do that, about 20 more combat engineers died to btr and small arms fire from close range in the smoke.

The enemy pushed their four tanks into the edge of the village (and maj victory zone). The majority of the NATO troops were broken and their AT mostly destroyed or way out of position. Using m-72s and rife grenades, some ~seven more BTR/BMPs/ZSU were hunted down and destroyed. One t-72 was blown up from a Dragon round, and another t-72 immobilized and crew running.

By the end of the battle, two slightly damaged t-72s remained in the village Maj Vic zone. All other infantry/crew had been killed. On the bridge, the soviets had seven soldiers and two BMPs.

~100 NATO troops, though mostly broken, regrouped and prepared to retake the village and cut off the two tanks from retreat.

A Draw....