USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Just had to try out Suhiir's Marine OOB. It is so AWESOME!

Time Frame: Jan 1993 to Dec 1994
Preferences: Tank Heavy AI OFF

Initial Force
- 1 LAI Company
- 1 Mech Rifle Company
- 1 Weapons Company
--- Mech Rifle HQ
--- Mech Rifle Platoon
--- M1 Abrams Section
--- Super Cobra Attack Section
--- 2 2x81mm SP Mortar
--- 4x LAV Ammo

Mission 1: Marginal Victory on Turn 28
Jan 93
N. Korea Meeting Engagement
Force Total: ???
Notes: Stupid CO ordered all units forward in rather typical US strategy of simply rolling over the enemy. This did not work out well! Initial reports of tanks turned into lots of tanks. When asked to describe in detail how many tanks scouts simply replied "ALL OF THEM!" It was later noted that there were 5 or 6 Companies of tanks. Enemy Medium Artillery caused havoc.

Mission 2: Decisive Victory on Turn 14
Feb 93
China Meeting Engagement
Force Total: 10464
Notes: Begged command for a dedicated 155mm CM Section. Despite reassuring troops that I wouldn't charge straight ahead terrain forced me to do so. It worked this time! Counter battery fire by the 155s wiped out 2 batteries. Enemy air strikes were ineffective despite almost total lack of friendly AA forces.

Mission 3: Decisive Victory on Turn 28
April 93
N. Korea Advance
Force Total: 13786
Notes: Asked command for 2 MPADS and some LAVs for my Snipers as they spent most of last fight running around. OMG lots of enemy ATGM troops! I love all the FOs attached to my companies! Abrams are useless on the battlefield. Maybe I should trade them in for 2 more Cobras which are not useless! 155s paid off big time firing 7 CB missions (3 instant destruction with CM and 4 additional).

Mission 4 a defend against North Korea is about to begin. I shudder to think about how much Artillery is about to be shot at me. Two key advantages this time though. First the terrain favors a reverse slope defense and second visibility is only 11 hexes. Still the artillery has me terrified.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Interesting force structure you have here.
Glad you like the OOB.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Problem? I'm using that Weapons Company to attach support troops. Not liking the damn Abrams at all right now.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Not a problem per say just interesting.
Each MarDiv (Marine Division) has one LAI Bn, so each of the three regiments normally has one LAI Co assigned for scouting/raiding.
Not sure where you got a Weapons Co from in the OOB. There's a "Co Weapons Plt" but no "Bn Weapons Co" available to the players.
The Abrams have their uses, just keep in mind you only have a couple and don't expose them to the massed fire on an enemy company *grin*

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Didn't realize the LAI was so rare. Just think of my force as the spearhead then since I have my regiments LAI Co :)

There is no Weapons company. It was a Mech Rifle Company minus everything. This gives me a place to hang all the support under a Company Commander. Then I added the Mech Platoon - ATGM +FO CO along with all the other support. Generally all the Aux Units get attached to that Company. So far I've ended up with Full Battalion sized forces.

As for the Abrams... with only two of them and each being so expensive it is hard for me to put them in a place where they are at risk. Unlike the Cobras if I screw up and advance them to far it is very difficult to get them out of harms way.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Yep, yep :up:

Ahh ... so you created a support company for the ash 'n trash ... makes sense now.

USMC doctrine is that tanks are infantry support NOT anti-armor.
The USMC uses close air support, helos, and ATGMs for anti-armor.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

I realize having read you saying this about USMC anti-armor doctrine many times :) I've just been finding that the number one Support job is anti-armor. My jarheads are doing just fine on their own once the tank layer is gutted.:up:

***HORRIFIED SCREAM***
:eek::eek::eek:
Just started Mission 4... 20 artillery sections and 8 MLRS just opened up on me. I can see 45 tanks 15 Helos and a wall of APCs.
:doh::doh::doh:

Wishing I had traded the frickin Abrams in but I got stubborn and I didn't.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

And that is one reason we put sidewinders on AH-1's - other helos - useful vs aircraft too.
Enjoy !

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Original Mission 4 had to be cancelled. I had used old OOB version and then upgraded. I thought I caught and fixed all the changes but I didn't. My Cobra's had 15 Sidewinders and my LAV-ATs were now FO Vehicles both had costs far far lower than they should be.

So after fixing everything...

Mission 4: Decisive Victory on Turn 46
April 93
N. Korea Assault
Force Total: 19360
Notes: Decision regarding Abrams finalized. They were replaced with Cobras. Evil terrain, 3 Major hills and 3 minor hills. My forces were basically forced to advance down the face of my hilltop charging toward the cover provided by two minor hills between my forces and the N. Koreans. Casualties in the Engineer battalion ran over 50%. Enemy FOs caused the majority of the damage as they were located perfectly to sight artillery on those two minor hilltops. 15 Turns needed to punch a hole in the enemy line. Another 5 turns to finally neutralize the FOs. This incredible delay causing me to require the mad rush toward the tops of the enemy held hills.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Mission 5: Decisive Victory on Turn 25
August 93
China Meeting Engagement
Force Total: 13954
Notes: Should have called this one Operation Cakewalk. Even the Support units didn't suffer much in the way of losses. Chinese morale doesn't seem to be all that high. They broke and ran really easily.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Mission 6: Decisive Victory on Turn 39
October 93
N. Korea Assault
Force Total: 20142
Notes: For the first time South Korean support forces were used. 2 Companies of Engineers plus some attached Wheeled APCs and a pair of K1 tanks. Augmented by a Marine Leg Engineer company and 4 Pave Low helos. A river ran from NE to SW of the map with 2 roads and bridges acting as crossing points. The bridges formed a triangle with the crossings at the approximate edge of the enemy line. A third S. Korean Leg Engineer Company was held in reserve.

The initial plan was to send 1 S. Korean engineer company with APCs and 2 K1 tanks as support to clear the roads and bridges. Meanwhile the MH-53s would execute an Airborne Assault drop behind enemy lines at the northernmost edge. The Marine Engineer company (plus scouts and Snipers from my 2nd company) dropped by this insertion would move south and east to seal and clear the northern sector. Once accomplished my triumphant 1st and 2nd companies riding their APCs would sweep across the road into they enemy lines laying waste to everything in their path.

At least that was the plan. The east/west road was heavily mined and defended by a Rifle Company. The NW/SE road was defended by a Mechinized Rifle Company. The only part of the plan that actually worked was the helo insertion of the Marine Engineer Company. S. Korean Mechnized Engineer company was severely hammered (Survivors: 35 engineers, 7 APCs, and both tanks). After SK Mech engineers got plastered by enemy artillery at both bridge crossing points that plan was abandoned. Pave Lows made repeated trips to transport SK Leg Engineer company and Infantry elements of my Marine 2nd Mech Inf Company. From there everyone walked southward and secured victory.

The East/West road was not cleared until Turn 37 when perversely enemy artillery also blew up the bridge. NW/SE crossing cleared on Turn 21 when it was basically useless although some APCs and the 2 MBTs crossed and headed SW from there. Without those Pave Lows this battle would have been a disaster.

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Just an FYI, the Pave Low is owned and operated by the US Air Force and generally used to support operations by the US Army Special Forces and occasionally US Army Rangers, USMC Recon

In my OOB variant the Pave Low is listed as the "MH-53J*Pave Low" or "MH-53M*Pave Low", the "*" indicates it's operated by the US Air Force.

The USMC uses the CH-46 or MV-22 for helo operations. The CH-53 is primarily a cargo mover, and the UH-1 an observation/command copter.

That said, helos do have their uses don't they :up:

Re: USMC vs N. Korea and China
 

Ya... I know... but they were the only ones with TI:D

Since I knew I was going to be flying them over enemy lines and through a smoke filled artillery saturated area I decided it was necessary to be able to see where the hell they were going :)