CMBS Rollin' on the River Con vs Undercover Geek AAR - Game Over

[Con]

Turn 099 Time Remaining 01:44

The last SAMs lift off from the Tunguskas.  Its all 30mm HE from now on boys.   Another aircraft is splashed but not before launching his missile which streaks down with unerring accuracy to impact just short of farmer Igors chicken coop.  10 prized Siberian Fighting cocks (heh heh heh he said cocks!) give their all for Mother Russia.....you shall be avenged!  The remaining chickens sensing freedom start flapping madly and scattering around.  Hopefully they will continue to draw US airpower after them.  These things are better than flares or decoys.



The timer for the sole remaining member of 3rd squad A team is less than a minute before unseen infantry fire finds him.  He did end up dying in the weeds with his comrades.  I note that there is a cloud of smoke coming from the tree line where I presume a spooked Stryker has decided to back up.



The spotter on the right is still spotting he has fired an entire infantry barrage of spotting rounds there will be nothing left to shoot before he dials this in.
The time for the FO's barrage is 5 minutes.
The time for the blind luck arty fire on the right flank is 5 minutes.



I was going to mention a typical Russian screw-up but now I don't know if this is something that might be a bug.  An un numbered Squad/B team had moved forward and spotted a Stryker on the tracks right near the end of their turn.  When I looked at the squad I saw that they had RPG warheads but no launcher so I figured someone had screwed up (the Russian verson of Private Gomer Pyle).  However when I looked a couple of seconds previously you can see that they have an RPG 26 single shot launcher.  Yet they never use it and it disappears off their inventory.   Could the RPG26 be defective...containing only vodka and not a very crucial and right now very much needed AT rocket?

[Con]

Turn 101 Time Remaining 01:43
Turns 101 to 115

I have put a lot of turns together here since not much uniques was happening each minute.  In summary arty causes my guys to get turned into mush and I hopefully payback some in kind to UCG.

On the left hand flank tree line I spot a Javelin crew setting up.  Fearing for my Tunguskas and APC on the far right I move them and pop smoke.  I also in a desperation move send my 1 remnant broken crew member to engage them.  Want to put money on how this turns out.  Other than that US arty rains down on my guys on the right hand side and spotting rounds continue to geyser dirt and dust in the air on the left hand side.




Turn 103 time remaining 1:41
Nothing has really changed except you can see my AFVs who have popped smoke.


Turn 105 time remaining 1:40
Now and then a Tunguska will fire randomly in the sky..at what who knows..probably large breasted Valkyries coming down to ferry my copious dead back up.  My emergency 120mm mortar fire on the right flank was spread around some of it fell on me but the majority landed pretty much where I wanted it to on the railway embankment.  If UCG has sneaked up any troops on that side hopefully they caught a face full of it.  120mm mortar fire finally starts arriving during the same turn on the left hand flank of the embankment as well.  The 152mm Howitzer fire continues to spot. 
In the center heavy weapons fire (probably from Mk19 Strykers kills the few remaining troops on the US side of the embankment.


Turn 107 time remaining 1:39

My infantry on the right flank continues to endure and get whittled down by arty fire now from the US only.  The arty I called down on the right flank is over (was a very short mission hopefully I caught UCG with some of it)
After counting 8 minutes of spotting the arty fire on the left flank only lasted a little over 1min.  Sigh but the 152 Howitzer arty is spotting and zeoring in and could start landing any minute.  The 1 person crew trying to slow down the Javelin crew did that by laying down and getting killed by them.  Thus preventing them from shooting at my AFVs.



Turn 109 time remaining 1:38
More of the same
Turn 111 time remaining 1:37
More arty raining down
Turn 113 1:36
My turn for the 152mm Howitzers to start coming down
Turn 115 1:35
I see some blue sound contacts disappearing when my 152mm Howitzer rounds start impacting on the left embankment.  I can only hope that its UCG turn to suffer

[JasonPratt]

Those of us who have caught up on Geek's side of the fight will find these (and probably subsequent) turns of increasing interest...

[Con]

Well you might be left with a mid season cliff hanger then.  I am off on a business trip for a week starting Monday  :P

[Con]

Turn 117 Time remaining 1:34

A MMG and an infantry icon on the left embankment are visible briefly before they hit the dirt as more 152mm Howitzer anti personnel shells air burst around them.  It looks like the MMG is toting a giant F-off gun as well as a Javelin launcher.   



The Russian FO notes that one battery of 152mm is firing and the other is still spotting so we didnt get massed fire but this might be better for us.  A long sustained arty fire will give UCG something to worry about trying to get his guys to safety.



Other spottings include a sniper team joining the Javelin team on the woods line running on the left hand side of the embankment.  I am wondering if the Javelin in the tree line will be able to spot my AFVs on the right hand flank?



The infantry that remains on the right flank make it into dubious cover of the tree line.  At least they are not getting shelled but based on the better US spotting (they must have trained too much with Xbox games) the safety of the woods is an illusion.


Turn 119 Time remaining 1:33

More of my shelling on the left embankment continues to send shrapnel whistling through the air and hopefully the bodies of the poor infantry that are there.  As the turn ends my far right Tunguska sees another Javelin team (they are like cockroaches on the US side...everywhere).  The turn ends with my Tunguskas 30mm cannons slewing around to target them.  The Tunguska commander bets the gunner a bottle of vodka that he will take more than one burst to kill the Javelin.  Hopefully they can fire before the javelin crew does but it seems like the Javelin is still sneaking forward trying to find the best shooting spot.  Frankly I am amazed that my guys actually spot the US first for a change.  Tunguskas crews must get chosen at boot camp based on the fact that they are the only ones in the Russian army who dont need coke bottle thick glasses!





Turn 121 Time remaining 1:32

The Tunguska commander wins his bet.  Three bursts of heavy 30mm HE later and the Javelin crew is cut literally in half.





On the far left I spot something unusual a M1129 MGS (Main Gun System) Stryker is parading about in the tree line.  Unfortunately the Kornets that I have placed by the smoldering chickens and their coops dont spot him.  What is UCG doing with this guy it sort of seems like needlessly exposing him for no gain unless he thinks he can use him to take out my far right AFVs?



What really concerns me though is that the Javelin team in the left tree line suddenly pivots and faces the village and not the far right AFVs.  Crap Crap Crap luckily the turn ends before he can light off his missile of doom but there is a clear LOS to one of my Tunguskas from this position (and they have not spotted him).  Now I have to decide do I back up the Tungusak or try and send some HE into the area?.  I will try the HE.  The mad Tunguska commander with a 10 year shot of adrenalin coursing through his body from all the anti air work he had done earlier sees some trees swaying.  With his heightened senses and spidey sense tingling he instructs his gunner to give that tree line a serious trimming!





Turn 123 Time remaining 1:31

Tunguskas are freakin AWESOME.  In fact I will rename then Daleks because they are crap at going up stairs but will EXTERMINATE everything in their path.
My ode to Tunguskas
Roses are Red
Infantry are green
Tunguskas are awesome
Since they blow those doughboys into smithereens

Well not only was it one Javelin crew that was snooping around there another one showed up at about the same time that Tunguska opened up.  I cant tell if they got them all but I will shift fire in the next turn to where those troops went to ground.  Hopefully their will to fight will be at least broken by these Tunguskas.







Otherwise the MGS Stryker disappears out of LOS.  I have the Kornet ATGM scanning the tree line for where he was heading.
Lets see what gets spotted next turn

[jomni]

Con.  A lot of your so-called "Javelins" are just AT4's (thin tubes).  The fat tubes with mushroom heads are the Javs.

[JasonPratt]

^^ Note: not a spoiler; that's just based on your screenshots.

Note: to drunk Russians, they might look thicker than they are.

Note:

I think Tee Hee is the agreed response here

(possibly taken out of context)

[JasonPratt]

Re the Stryker wandering around weirdly exposed in the trees (not a spoiler since obviously you can see him and were wondering):

I shall call these Grammontisms, after 3 in a game i really will fly over there and slap his beard off

That seems vague yet informative enough as an explanation.

[Con]

Turn 125  Time Remaining 1:30
Several turns have gone by and It's been a bloody couple of minutes and overall not the best news for Ivan.

Starting this turn my brave Tunguska with the vodka swilling and pants challenged commander gets lit up by 105mm APFSDS fired from the MGS Stryker that was in the woods line that leads to the chicken coops.  The blast was enough to blow over farmer Igors shed down (destroying his prized giant beet that he won second place at the local fair).  Luckily commander Cherkosav already depanted was able to scramble away with his crew in nothing but a smelly white vest and army boots.  He did save the vodka though(or stole it off his still twitching but dead gunner) and for that he will get a promotion.  So the first of my Tunguskas have been toasted.  A moment of silence please!



UCG not content with that has his MGS Stryker then take out my Air Defense Bty HQ which was in a BTR-80 1V152.  Sort of a useless AFV and I am not sure that it was doing any good trying to command those beautiful crazy Tunguskas (the Tunguska commanders had tuned their radios to Katy Perry and were twerking out to Roar).  So I am not to upset at this loss of this HQ unit.



What does bother me is that my reserve MT LBM 6M that I had parked at the end of the woods line had a hailstorm of MK19 grenades land on it and they penetrated the top armor and poof there goes my reserve AFV with its RPGs and three members of 1st Company Rifle HQ including the leader and the XO.  I am perilously thin on manpower and this really hurts. 





It didn't all UCG way my Kornet ATGM managed to spot the MGS Stryker and fired its last ATGM.  The Stryker watched it bore on relentlessly riding the laser beam that the Kornet crew was painting on the Stryker.  Another giant explosion rings out and scratch one more MGS Stryker.  I see that a couple of crew members stumble out of the very very expensive burning MGS Stryker.





My arty FO calls in a line of 120mm mortar HE on the right woods line.  They are low on ammo only 22 rounds but their on-call time is three minutes faster than the mortar units with ammo.  Hopefully I can get some of those US troops that are snaking their way down the woods line.  I am very nervous that the Tunguska didn't get all the Javelins.  I see more Strykers at the end of the turn rumbling over the embankment into that left woods line being screened by the infantry moving in front of them.  Judging by the way UCG is forcing his way down that woods line I suspect that he has some objectives like reaching the village or exiting off the map.
Blood board now stands at
Updated Blood Board
Russian                  US
11 MT-LBM 6M               8 Inf/HQ/Recon Strykers          
3 BRDM-2M               2 MGS Stryker
1 BTR-80 1V152               1 ATGM Stryker
1 Tunguska
Points total ~2000            Points total ~2500

[Con]

Turn 127  Time Remaining 1:29

Planning time - Not the Russians strong suit but lets try it again after all its worked so well so far right!

The left Kornets ATGM at the end of the chicken coops comes under arty fire and is KO (ironically these chickens are slated for good ol flag wavin KFC brings new meaning to the phrase The Colonel wants YOU).  The other Kornet is out of ATGM ammo.  I pull them both back into a building so that they can restock ammo from the KO unit to the one that is still good.



Other than that I tell my Recon AFVs in the woods on the left to hunt forward.  I am hoping that they will get LOS onto the tree line where the Strykers are moving in and out of.  I am catching glimpses of them but never with anything that can take them out.  I also order my Tunguska to move closer to the woods edge to see if it can spot.  In the middle I order my Saxhorn ATGM to move away from the wall into the open to try and get better LOS as well.  The Kornet ATGM in the hay field is ordered to move up also.

I am hoping that I will be able to take the Strykers out with flanking fire while they are fixated on moving down the tree line.

[Con]

Turn 129  Time Remaining 1:28

Damn and double damn.  The Tunguska on the far right goes up in a sheet of flame.  It looks like it was being engaged with small arms fire and Mk19 AP grenades.  However closer inspection makes it look like something more powerful took it out.  I suspect that there is maybe a third Stryker MGS system lurking in the woods somewhere.  UCG is tightening the noose on me.

The Kornets resupply and I send the crew out back to where they did so much damage the last time.

[Con]

Turn 131 Time Remaining 1:27

Ivan is slowly getting ground into paste.  I should have remembered that Recon in Russian means that they are graduates of the Mr. Magoo school of spotting.  One of the AFVs gets toasted by a Javelin that he never saw.  Probably from the tree line.

The Tunguska and the ATGMS continue to move up but still dont see any of the Strykers.  Arty is spotting.   I wish it would have arrived a minute or two ago into that tree line.

[Con]

Turn 133 Time Remaining 1:26

Its a good news and bad news.  First the good news my reinforcements have arrived
4 T90A tanks and a BTR-80 1V152 with spotter.  The bad news they have shown up right where UCG Strykers and Javelin crews are setting up.



I count no less than 4 Strykers including an M1134 ATGM model.   I am between a rock and a hard place here.   There is no where to move that I cannot be spotted.  This is going to have to be a stand up slug it out fight.  Hopefully the ATGMs/Tunguskas on the flank and incoming arty fire can help contirbute.


With a heavy heart I order the T90A to face the corner where the embankment and the tree line meet.  I dismount the spotter and run far away from the impending carnage.

Action is immediate.  One of the Strykers is hit multiple times from the T90s.  The other Strykers halt and start popping smoke.  US Infantry is seen runnign between the Strykers but additional HE fire from the T90s seems to be keeping them busy.  None of the flanking ATGM etc spot.  So far its just T90s versus Strykers.  Now thats a fight I like!

[Con]

Turn 135 Time Remaining 1:25

The butchers bill is going to be high for myself and UCG.  We are trading punches like Rocky and Drago here and the last one left standing is going to be left looking like a derelict wreck.  More reinforcements come for me in the form of three additional T90As.  I now have three T90s from 1st platoon and three T90s from 2nd platoon plus a 1st company HQ T90.

I order 1st tank platoon to remain stationary and continue to pour fire onto targets that they spot in the corner of the embankment and the tree line.  I order 2 tanks of the 2nd platoon to move forward about 100 meters on hunt.  I leave two tanks behind (including the HQ tank) to provide overwatch.  I order the BTR-80 1V152 to beat feet as quickly as possible along the bottom map edge towards the tree line.  I am hoping that if it makes it then I might have a route that the T90s can possibly follow.

I order my spotter who is dismounted to head back towards the embankment into the middle of the field.  He cannot spot for dick where he currently is and he is surrounded by large expensive Javelin bait.  Better off to be far away from these things.



The turn starts off with a crash.  The tanks from second platoon that are in overwatch engage the ATGM Stryker.  Its missiles spin towards the tanks but are not nearly as fast as two 125mm HE or APFSDS.  The M1134 Stryker takes two rounds and is annihilated in a catastrophic explosion almost immediately.  All those missiles must have cooked off in a secondary explosion after it had been nailed by the T90s.





The HQ T90 fires at a infantry Mk19 armed Stryker.  Simultaneously as its round punches through the Strykers armor KO the US vehicle a Javelin missile pops up in front of the HQ T90 and slams through its thin top armor.  Both the T90 and the Stryker begin to emit billowing palls of black smoke.  That Javelin was my worst fear there must be missileers hidden in the woods either along the embankment or along the tree line.  All the tankers sphincters tighten up since the presence of javelins has the same demoralizing effect on tankers as dropping your soap during a shower in a supermax prison.  Two Strykers are burning in close proximity to two more Strykers.  In the middle of this hellish ground now my arty starts dropping.  The US infantry are earning their combat badges today.








One of the tanks from 1st platoon gets repeatedly laser painted and hit by at least two rounds of a heavy weapon.  I think UCG surviving MGS Stryker is lurking in the woods on the embankment and taking weasel pot shots at me.  In fact this MGS Stryker I also think is responsible for flinging a HE shell and mowing down my Saxhorn ATGM crew who were moving up to try and spot the AFVs in the corner. 



The T90 crew taking two hits from the 105mm Stryker gun decide that even though their tank is perfectly OK apart from some dings that it would be better to bail out into the maelstrom of death and shrapnel outside.  I know these guys are idiot green conscripts but this takes the cake. 
The BTR-80 1V152 miraculously dodging plunging grenade fire makes it to the bottom of the map edge and starts accelerating for the tree line.  The crew are frantically throwing all the heavy stuff like radios and weapons off to try and make it go faster.



So updated Blood Board is now
Russian                  US
12 MT-LBM 6M               10 Inf/HQ/Recon Strykers          
3 BRDM-2M                  2 MGS Stryker
1 BTR-80 1V152               2 ATGM Stryker
2 Tunguska
1 T90A
Points total ~2800            Points total ~3100

I decide to try and think like UCG to see how he would now act faced with T90s.  I know that scenario makers like to bring reinforcements in closely in time for each side.  Based on my reinforcements I would not be surprised if UCG has just been gifted 4 Abram M1A2s (typical US tank platoon formation).  Probably along his back border.  Still thinking like UCG I go and make myself a bacon sandwich....mmmm bacon.  Then I wonder if insects sweat.  Lastly I decide that I need to Google some midget porn.  Realizing that thinking like UCG is only distracting me I decide to make my own plans and try to anticipate his tactics which are obviously inspired by trying to choose the most exciting action that can involve flames, alcohol, firearms and an alluring sheep in suspenders.

[Barthheart]

....
I decide to try and think like UCG to see how he would now act faced with T90s.  I know that scenario makers like to bring reinforcements in closely in time for each side.  Based on my reinforcements I would not be surprised if UCG has just been gifted 4 Abram M1A2s (typical US tank platoon formation).  Probably along his back border.  Still thinking like UCG I go and make myself a bacon sandwich....mmmm bacon.  Then I wonder if insects sweat.  Lastly I decide that I need to Google some midget porn.  Realizing that thinking like UCG is only distracting me I decide to make my own plans and try to anticipate his tactics which are obviously inspired by trying to choose the most exciting action that can involve flames, alcohol, firearms and an alluring sheep in suspenders.