Hammer and Anvil
 

In this scenario, the Romanian 15th Motorized Brigade is trying to recapture the town of Roman in Romania, a few kilometers west of Jassy from Ukrainian paratroopers. This has to be done quickly, for it is known that in approximately 20 turns large heavy formations of the Ukrainians will come to rescue their comrades. The map of the battlefield (160*160 hexes size), alongside the initial Romanian dispositions is the following:



https://i.imgur.com/Q6lJ3bg.png

1-1st company, 151st Mech battalion.
2-3rd company, 151st
3-2nd company, 151st
4-1st company, 631st tank battalion
5-2nd company, 631st
6-3rd company, 631st
7-Brigade artillery, two 152mm batteries, one 130mm battery
8-AA batteries, twin 35mm caliber
9-AT companies, 100mm anti-tank guns
10-Recon company, some 5 scout cars in total
11-self propelled AT company, equipped with BRDM Malyutka tank destroyers
Also an 120mm mortar platoon is in my disposal.

The attack has to be quick and decisive. Therefore, my plan is the following:
To the south, a task force composed of one tank company and one mechanized company will advance towards area (14), to capture the bridge at Siret, which is an objective. Enemy ATGM teams are expected, and if necessary artillery will smoke the area.
In the middle, the open area (13) is a potential kill zone, so no major advance will happen there. Instead, small probes by scouts will try to reveal any enemy ATGMs or heavy weapons, while one tank company as well as the tank destroyer company will snipe at any heavy equipment found.
The main effort will advance to the north, through (12). Two mechanized companies, one tank company will do the advance. Artillery will support with smoke and HE fire. The artillery is towed, so shoot and scoot techniques will not be very effective, but I’ll try my best. Once the main objectives are captured, towed AT guns will cover any approach from the east.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Turns 1-5

https://i.imgur.com/Pc3l7tv.png


My force is in motion. Soon, lead scout elements come under fire from position (1). It turns out I’m being spotted my Ukrainian BMDs. My artillery and tanks fire smoke rounds to conceal any advance by my forces. I do realize that I’m short on smoke rounds though.
My supporting group reaches (2) and trades shots with enemy BMDs. I lose two tanks, but I knock out one BMD. So far the exchange is not in my favor. However, they enable the main effort to each (3) unharmed. My scouts find more enemy BMDs at (4) as well.
My southern force moves as well. When they reach (5), they come under fire by a couple of BMDs at (6). I lose two tanks and two BTRs, but I knock out one BMD and the other runs out of missiles. I hope the advance will be easier now.
So far the first clashes are made and though my casualties were low, they were higher than the Ukrainians. The important thing though is to not lose speed. So far I haven’t been shelled by artillery or received any air strikes, which is definitely a good thing. I wonder how long this will remain though…

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Turns 6-10

https://i.imgur.com/mC8hGGB.png

The Romanians continue to press on. To the north at (3), the main body comes under fire from BMDs at (1) and (2). 4 BTRs are destroyed, but all enemy BMDs are knocked out by the supporting tanks. The infantry reaches the northeastern outskirts of Roman.
To the centre, the reconnaissance probe pushes slowly at (4). Any enemy BMD or tank destroyer that reveals itself is blasted to bits by the support at (5). Enemy aircraft are sighted and strike the TD company at (6). Two light vehicles are destroyed, but my 35mm AA guns prove to be very capable and they shoot down two Su-25s.
To the south, my force suffers heavy casualties from ATGMs and enemy aircraft firing stand-off missiles. I lose seven tanks and five BTRs, but I clear the area (7) and (8) from enemy vehicles thanks to tank and artillery fire. The road towards the bridge seems clear and my surviving mechanized infantry dashes forward to secure their objective fast.
So far a company’s worth of BMDs are destroyed, as well as two tank destroyers and two aircraft. My losses are around 10 tanks and an equivalent number of BTRs, as well as a few other light vehicles. Personnel losses are low. Casualty wise, things are even (or even slightly towards the Ukrainian favor), but I’ve reached the town of Roman and I’m about to capture the Siret bridge, so I’m actually optimistic.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

I am following your sitreps. May I kindly suggest noting each unit's objective on the map. Press on.

Thanks.

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Question, how do you get the images in your posts?

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Noted. Next image will also have the objectives.

Print screen+ MS Paint. I zoom out to the maximum then I capture the image. Since the map is quite large, I have to do this several times, then combine the images to make the whole map. I hide objectives and unit IDs as well. Then whenever I want to post an update, I can draw arrows, defensive lines etc and I also have a separate .bmp file with NATO symbols than I occasionally use to represent infantry/tank/whatever platoons.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

I think he means how do you get an image with that many KB to be accepted by the Shrapnel server??..... I know I'm very curious as well... The stated max for PNG's is 73.2 KB.... yet those ones you post are 20+ times that big and we need to know how you do it

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

IDK to be honest. Maybe it's because I upload them to imgur first.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Could you define what imgur is or means?

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Is Imgur an all public site or can you post images only you can access unless you give someone the URL ?

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

I just visited the site, checked the TOS, and found this:

"About images you upload

You can upload images anonymously and share them online with only the people you choose to share them with. If you make them publicly available, they may be featured in the gallery. If you share an image publicly with Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, etc., then it may end up in the gallery."

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

and I just tried uploading a test image and place it in a post and drew a blank


Trying again now

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https://i.imgur.com/k4SP3MN.png

Figured it out.. I needed to use the Share links BBCode(forums)

......this is part of a new T-55 series

Thanks for this Aeraaa ! ( sorry I had to hijack the thread:doh: )

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

I just got a pic at Imgur following the link however, the 542kb file is too large to upload here.

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Sorry for the late reply but it was late here. Although I've seen that you found out your way around the site. It is very useful, since you can easily upload large images. :)


Anyway, back to the scenario. I've included every objective to the map in pink squares, so it will be easier to keep up with my plan.


Turns 11-21

https://i.imgur.com/A9jguda.png

I decided to play a few more turns, since resistance so far is not as great as I expected. To the south, the objective at Siret bridge (1) is secured by the southern combat team. Tanks, infantry and AA guns are slowly taking positions around the objective to defend it in case of a Ukrainian counterattack. The only resistance is sporadic sniper fire and dismounted counterattacks that are easily eliminated. However, at turn 21, one tank destroyer is knocked out by a Hind helicopter from the south at around (2). It seems Ukrainian reinforcements arrive and the first ones are attack helos. Just what I wanted to see less.
To the north, my entire artillery is relocating. Field artillery will go to (3), AT artillery will take positions inside the city and AA will also be close to field artillery.
The main body is moving inside the town, securing objectives along the way. The intersection at the train station is secured by two heavy MGs, while the city park at (4) becomes the base for the HQ of 3/151 company. The latter comes under a probing rattack by a Spetznaz squad, but repels it. Another Romanian platoon moves at the bank at (5), but comes under fire from a Para platoon, losing a BTR. Dismounts come forward and a fierce engagement begins. Ukrainian paras make a small counterattack, but they cannot dislodge the Romanian motorized infantry.
Another Romanian mechanized platoon moves towards the western factory, with the eventual objective being the bridge at (6). Near the factory they come under fire by a Ukrainian rifle squad and they quickly dispatch it. Ukrainians make a counterattack by a recon platoon, but they lose one vehicle from 14.5mm fire from one of the BTRs.
I receive reinforcements at around turn 14. The final mechanized battalion of the brigade that was in reserve away from the map, appears at (7). Some vehicles come under fire by ATGMs at (8) and two vehicles are lost. Nevertheless, I manage to move the entire battalion inside the safety of the town, and I push westwards. The first target is the bridge at (9), the main bridge connecting Roman with the western part of the country near the Moldova River. That makes it a vital objective. I attack with one platoon and soon come under fire from a Para squad from the eastern part of the bridge. The entire platoon, BTRs and dismounts replies and soon the enemy squad becomes combat ineffective. The advance can continue now, but I’m certain that there is more of the enemy on this objective.
The objectives that remain to be captured are the city hall at (10), the university and the main church at (11) (the church being located on the highest ground of the town) and the secondary bridge at (12). It seems that I will probably be able to capture the majority of my objectives, however I’m worried that I haven’t seen any reinforcements so far (and these can turn the tide easily) and I’m not sure from which direction they will come. I was expecting that they will come from the east, either from my previous assembly area or the eastern part of Siret bridge from the small town of Gadinti, but so far nothing has appeared apart from the Hinds I mentioned. In addition, since I’m relocating my artillery, I have to fight inside urban environment with zero artillery support. We’ll see…

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

https://i.imgur.com/A9jguda.png

Yeah. Use the share IMG URL function right here in the forum.

Confirmed.

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

After some problems logging in, here is the continuation of the battle:

Turns 22-25

https://i.imgur.com/kWUOZXs.png

These 4 turns prove to be quite intense, as the first elements of the Ukrainian reinforcements arrive from the east. At first a single recon company emerges, but afterwards elements of one T-64BV company and two motor rifle companies also appear. Their first victims are some truck drivers and scout teams at my first assembly point at (1). The first units that open fire at the Ukrainian force are the 35mm AA gunners at (2) and (3). They have little chance of causing any damage, but if they can distract the Ukrainians for long enough that is fine.
In addition to my AA gunners, my tanks and tank destroyers open fire as well, either from the city outskirts at (4), or Siret bridge at (5). One T-64BV is destroyed by an ATGM, while 3 more are hit but not destroyed thanks to their ERA armor. In addition to that, 3 BTR-4 IFVs are knocked out, which is great news since these have vision of 50 and hit penetration ATGMs and cost more than 200 points. Nevertheless, I lose one tank and one TD from return fire ATGMs.
To the center around the bank, Ukrainian paras make a counterattack. The bank itself is shelled by 82mm mortar fire, while dismounts attack from the south. Total strength looks like a company. However the Romanian defense is centered around a wooden building at the blue circle at (6). Here, a rifle squad led by locoten (lieutenant?) Sima, plus 4 heavy MGs put up a stiff resistance, preventing any paratrooper squad from coming closer than 200 meters from the bank. Sima’s House (inspired by the historical Pavlov’s House) is the anvil and sporadic BTR counterattack is the hammer. However there are many RPG squads in the area and after losing two BTRs I stop being so reckless with them. Romanian dismounts from the bank help the defenders of Sima’s House, and another dismounted platoon prepares to flank from the east at (7).
Finally, the last BTR battalion continues to push towards the main bridge at (8), capturing it and defending against fierce dismounted counterattacks from Ukrainian paras. The valiant defenders cannot be easily reinforced since the Hind flight at (9), prevents either dismounts or vehicles from crossing the bridge, using 30mm fire for the former and Ataka ATGMs for the later. Meanwhile, the platoon to the north captures the bridge at (10) after a brief exchange of fire and the scout platoon is wiped out.
My main body is around the pink square at (12). I want to keep most of them there, until I see where the Ukrainian mechanized force will go. I change plans regarding where my artillery will stop and I decide to disembark them wherever they are in the next 3 turns. While there is the danger of having the guns directly under enemy observation, I really need some artillery support and it is 12 turns now that I didn’t have any. Trucks are really slow when not on the road…

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

You're thinking of an ambush, right?

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

More or less. Inside the city, any ATGM superiority the Ukrainians might have will diminish. And the Hinds cannot easily find targets in an urban environment either.

Plus, my on paper obsolete TR-85s still have a 51 penetration Sabot round. At close range, the Ukrainian T-64BVs will be toast.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Turns 26-30


https://i.imgur.com/w6Fb593.png

In these turns, I identify the main axis of advance of the Ukrainian mechanized force: Siret bridge to the south. The bridge is only defended by a depleted motorized company and what is left of a tank company (4 tanks), therefore my chances of holding the bridge are slim at best. They’re only expected to give their best shot and die defending their objective. My tanks and TDs at (1) fire at any tank that reveals its side armor, but their performance is poor and soon I have to retreat inside the town since the Ukrainian fire, direct and indirect has become quite effective, costing me one tank and one TD. The Ukrainian APCs move towards the bridge and suffer casualties from tank fire at (2) and (3), as well as RPF fire from isolated RPG teams round (4). Nevertheless, BTR-4s with their thermal imaging and powerful ATGMs manage to knock out one more TR-85 tank and wipe out all dismounts that were encircled by the mechanized column. Ukrainian air force is still over the battlefield, but I manage to shoot down one more Su-25 thanks to a MANPAD.

In addition to the tanks and APCs, I see that the bulk of the Ukrainian forces is composed of two infantry battalions riding soft-skinned trucks. 130mm artillery is swiftly called to hit the assembled troops at (5), while the other assembly at (6) is ruthlessly attacked by 35mm fire, as well as 152mm guns firing over open sights from (7). Some of my tanks also attack the trucks with HE fire. The result of this terrible amount of firepower is around 200 Ukranians dead or wounded and more than 20 trucks destroyed. The Ukrainian infantry is either disabled, fleeing or pinned and is definitely combat ineffective for the time being.

While my artillery is having a glorious feast over the poor trucks and infantry, inside the city the battle intensifies. Ukrainian paras and Spetsnaz are attacking the park at (8). While the heavy weapons and the BTRs there manage to hold them for the time being, one BTR is lost from a portable RPG shot. Sima’s House at (9) attacked again but holds; another Romanian platoon flanks from the east, but stumbles onto a para squad and a sniper and they halt, suffering some losses. They do manage to eliminate the sniper at least.

To the northeast, the platoon there secures the bridge and takes position in the building (10) next to it. They come under occasional weak counterattacks that have no chance of achieving anything.

Finally, at (11), the battle between Ukrainian paras and Romanian infantry is raging on. Romanians are advancing on foot, braving 30mm fire from Hinds to the south. The fight is centered around a statue just to the east of the main bridge. Ukrainians make numerous fierce counterattacks and the Romanians defeat every one of them. However, advance using directly the main road is impossible, since a sniper is causing heavy losses (his probable location is at the red circle at 12). Thus, I decide to flank from the south and I send one platoon to do that. The platoon encounters an engineer squad also on the move at (13). After a brief firefight, the damaged engineer squad retreats. The fact that there are engineers though (with the dreaded RPOs, perfect for urban fighting) makes things hairy for sure.

So the plan is to find where to put units to ambush the Ukrainian heavy force. I send some infantry at (14), planning to send them even more south. In addition, I will try to sneak one platoon of the force defending Siret bridge towards (15). They will probably be able to delay the Ukrainians for long enough until I figure out where to counter them…

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

I think they want the main bridge and will advance in mass towards 11, 12, and 13.

I would hold all units. Cut off Ukrainian paras from linking up to the main force; while making a LOD from 14 SW to a point east of the main bridge, as far south as the old cementery. The Ukrainian advance must be slowed...use artillery fires to slow them down. Pyros has a tutorial showing how to engage artillery fires with each turn. That's the ambush.

Great stuff!

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

^Yeah, that is one way that they can go. However, they can also go towards the city park, as there are also a couple of objectives there, so I'm not 100% sure about their intentions. But probably I will eventually do the same thing as you recommend. The problem is also that while I believe most paras are counterattacking my infantry, there are probably some isolated squads, snipers and AT teams that are scattered around the city and if I move my force without caution I can lose a couple of vehicles and I definitely do not want to have casualties on my tanks or AT before I hit the heavy forces.

About artillery yeah, I generally know how to use them for delaying tactics, but the heavy force will probably won't be affected that much (armored vehicles and such). I believe my arty will be better used slaughtering the light forces at (5) and (6), although this will happen very soon; then I can turn towards the heavy forces to try to harass them as much as I can.

Anyway, we'll soon see. :)

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Yeah, I see what you mean about smaller para groups.

Would VF values tell us the Ukrainian LCOA?

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

All VF values are 250 each.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Any VF clusters with combined VF values more than any others?

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Main bridge to the west has 4 VPs.

Train bridge up to NW has 2.


The bank plus the crossroads to where Sima's House is 2 more.


The city park has one and directly behind the park, the train junction has one, so the area has 2.


There is 1 more where there is a rail-road crossroad (to the west of the train junction).


These are all VPs I have inside the city as of now. Siret bridge has 2 more VPs.


Ukrainians have 7 VPs inside the city (church, university, city hall, old cemetery, 3 VPs at the secondary bridge to the south) plus one more in the town where I began the attack. The eastern part of the city is completely devoid of VPs.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Turns 31-35

https://i.imgur.com/nTMjITL.png

While there are numerous small actions everywhere, I’ll focus on the most important points.

To the southeast, the Ukrainian main body continues to move towards Siret bridge, capturing it easily after most of its defenders are eliminated. Only a few isolated squads, two BTRs and two tanks remain (one of them is the company commander’s tank, which is immobilized and not of much use). A brave heavy MG squad causes casualties to the truck-borne infantry to the north at (2) before succumbing to close range tank fire. In the end, Ukrainians had few casualties. Their tanks are being shelled though at (1), by 120mm mortar fire and 152mm artillery fire. My artillery also shells the infantry force at (2) and (3), causing great casualties to the regular infantry. My 35mm AAGs also fire at (4), pinning that force in place. Ukrainian mortars though are successful in shelling my artillery at (5), destroying two trucks and causing disruption.

After capturing Siret bridge, the Ukrainian main body moves towards the southeastern outskirts of Roman itself. The heroic resistance of the force defending the bridge, gave me time to move three infantry platoons and one tank platoon to delay and damage the Ukrainian force. The first clash happens around (6), where my infantry destroys one BTR-4 and kills the crewmen that bailed out of the vehicle. 400+ points for one old RPG plus small arms fire, not bad at all. My remaining tank destroyers set position at (7) and fire at Ukrainian armor ineffectively. They are themselves destroyed by ATGM fire.

Ukrainians have more aircraft arriving and they bomb my forces around (8). I lose two trucks carrying 100mm AT guns (I have just one remaining and they haven’t participated in the battle at all) and one tank. I manage to damage one SU-25 though.

One platoon that outflanked the paras attacking Sima’s house put an end to the Ukrainian attacks and also managed to capture the city hall at (9).

Finally at (10), the Romanian battalion is almost completely across the bridge (sans their BTRs). They eventually manage to defeat the paratroopers counterattacking them and they also manage to capture the Romanuly church after bitter close quarters fighting with the engineer platoon defending it. My BTRs manage to chase off one Hind, but the other destroys one BTR and remains a viable threat.

In the pink squares are the objectives not yet captured by me. The university will quickly fall, but the bridge and the old cemetery are difficult goals and I probably need to find some kind of small mechanized task force to accomplish these objectives. Easier said than done, since I need all my armor for defending against the Ukrainian counterattack from the southeast and to keep it alive from enemy helos and aircraft to boot.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

You may not have to go after them. Consider setting your defences along the Ukrainian LCOA, towards the Main Bridge, and let them come you.

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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Turns 36-43(end)

https://i.imgur.com/22RIvY2.png

The final turns saw the last efforts of the Ukrainian main force to break through towards the main bridge. Unfortunately for them, the resistance of the Romanian force around (1), (2) and (3) was tough and determined and they couldn’t move easily. At (1), the Romanian infantry platoon was still around the houses, killing the occasional BTR with an RPG or even grenade launcher rounds. At (2), the Ukrainian mechanized platoons managed to make some progress, until the time that the Romanian tanks came into play. The latter did lose one tank from a Hind ATGM though. At (3), not much happened, except from occasional pushes that were easily dealt. Romanian artillery was firing harassing fire at (4), making movement even more difficult.
One T-64BV tank platoon decided to help with the push as well. They maneuvered north, towards (5), and were engaged from the flanks by the TR-85 tanks of (2), their fire was abysmal though, and the Ukrainian tanks fired back, blowing up one TR-85. Since I was at a disadvantage, I pull my remaining two tanks out if sight. The Ukrainian tank platoon moved forward, but in the meantime, I positioned two more tank platoons in ambush position about 300 meters away. This time Romanian tankers were more successful, knocking out all 3 Ukrainian tanks by side shots, for no losses.
Despite the Romanian successes, one Ukrainian force of two mechanized platoons and one scout platoon manages to bypass the Romanian areas of resistance and dashes towards the west from the old cemetery. The meet the Romanian battalion that was also moving east to capture the secondary bridge. Their advance halts after losing a couple of BTR-4s to RPG fire and they also receive 14.5mm fire from BTRs that crossed the bridge. Since I received no ATGM fire lately, I decided to push my vehicles forward as well, with the last two platoons that were still in vehicles making a mounted advance towards the bridge. One of them dismounts to the south of the pool at (6) and captures the bridge in the final turn. After that, the only place in Roman still in Ukrainian hands is the old cemetery.
Ukrainians also made secondary attacks elsewhere. The first of them pushes towards the center along the E85 road. It comprises of mostly trucked infantry and a few light vehicles. This force is harassed by artillery fire around (7), receiving even more casualties. They do manage to reach the town though, up until position (8), where their advance is checked by a few surviving Romanian BTRs and the lone AT gun surviving, firing from (9).
The other advance is north from (12). They too receive artillery fire and they suffer casualties. However, resistance there is only comprised of a single mechanized squad and the 35mm guns of the AAA (plus the occasional direct fire from the field guns). Ukrainians also use a couple of Tunguskas firing direct fire towards my artillery park and they bomb my position with Su-24s to boot. These attacks cost me two 35mm AA guns and one 130mm gun, as well as numerous trucks and a dozen or so artillerymen casualties. It was a battle in which the artillery was used in an old Napoleonic fashion, firing directly towards the enemy, but in the end the Ukrainians couldn’t manage to come anywhere close to the city.
The Ukrainian air force was supporting the Ukrainian assault, bombing targets in the city indiscriminately (though I manage to damage one more Su-25 and one Su-24). One air strike caused casualties to the mechanized platoon at (13). In addition to the air strikes, the Ukrainian helos proved the most devastating weapon platform for my forces, costing me a significant amount of tanks, BTRs and other vehicles. They had actually ran out of missiles in the end, which is what saved my force from total destruction. And as a final note, one Ukrainian artillery observer managed to sneak close to Sima’s House at (14) and called a heavy and accurate 152mm artillery barrage. The result of the barrage was that all but 4 of the men defending the building were killed or wounded (Sima himself was among the casualties), every building around a 200 meter radius plus Sima’s house was wrecked and two BTRs outside were immobilized. It was a small morale victory for the Ukrainians, taking out a building and its heroic defenders long after they stopped being of any real importance in the grand scheme of things. They endured infantry assaults, sniper fire and MG fire, to be finally succumbed to something that could only be described as overkill…

Casualties table and final words coming soon.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Aftermath:

https://i.imgur.com/7gwX1o4.png


Equipment losses:

Romanians

23 TR-85 medium tanks
5 TABC-79 scout cars
46 TAB-77 APCs (BTRs)
1 130mm field artillery gun
5 100mm AT guns
6 BRDM-2 Malyutka tank destroyers
7 35mm AAA

Ukrainians

4 T-64BVs main battle tanks
12 BMD-2 airborne IFVs
11 Kraz Spartan light armored scout cars
1 Kraz Spartan tank destroyer
3 BRDM-2 Spandrel tank destroyers
1 PRP-3 recon vehicle
1 BRDM-2 scout car
8 BTR-4 GROM IFVs
12 BTR-80 APCs (BTR)
2 100mm AT guns
3 Su-25T Grach ground attack aircraft


The final disposition of forces is shown in the following map:

https://i.imgur.com/ri74W4s.png

Looking at the map, I see where the majority of Ukrainian armor went: to the south, to support the push. Unfortunately for them, it was too little, too late. An engineer company also was about to assault the defenders of the city park.

In general, the battle went according to how I expected it to be: A quick assault from my part, then defending successfully against a hasty attack from Ukrainian heavy forces. My decision to make the main attack to the north of the city was correct, as I gained a foothold very quickly and then things were easy. The attack on Siret bridge was weaker and resulted in heavy casualties (and also proved to be indefensible). However, it did cause the Ukrainian main force to first attack south, which gave me time to prepare for a successful defence. With the arrival of the last battalion to the west, the Ukrainian paratroopers had no chance, although they did manage to slow it down for quite some time, thanks to the support of a Hind flight.

The Ukrainian main force was not as heavily armored as I thought. It seems it was composed of one tank company, one mechanized battalion and what amounts to a rifle regiment, in trucks. Trucks. If light armored APCs have a hard to surviving on the modern battlefield, trucks should only be used as a bad joke. More than half of total Ukrainian casualties came from truck borne infantry be killed in their wheeled coffins by artillery, AAA firing to the ground and even small arms fire.

I mentioned the heroic resistance of one Ukrainian team on one wooden building, but another one that should be mentioned should be my AAA crews. Not only they stopped the Ukrainian advance to the north after firing nonstop at Ukrainian infantry there, not only they endured tank, artillery, autocannon fire and air strikes, they also made the day for Ukrainian pilots difficult and also shot down two planes. They had very high casualties though, so most of the medals they should receive will be posthumous.

Now what was the result of the game? By points alone, it is a draw, but the WW3 scenarios have special conditions always. My objective was to keep the bridges under Romanian hands and also suffer less than 12000 points of losses. The second objective was achieved. As for the first, I have all bridges apart from Siret bridge, although realistically speaking I will have a hard time defending against tanks and infantry in the secondary bridge. The only point in Ukrainian hands at the battle’s end is the old cemetery, and most of the city is in Romanian hands, so I consider this battle to be a Romanian victory. The aftermath of this IMHO will be that the Romanians pull back from the eastern part of the city and form a defensive line from the old apartments to the north to the pool to the south. There they can hold out against the Ukrainians for a little bit more, but they will eventually have to abandon Roman altogether.

To conclude, another fun scenario by SasTroop. This is the last of the WW3 series, and I eagerly await for the next ones to be released. Keep up the good work!

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Excellent AAR. Thanks.

Can you tally the KIA of each side?

I think it would be interesting to convert the save game final turn as a scenario and continue the fight.
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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

You're welcome, hope it was entertaining. :)


Can you clarify? I gave the final results on the previous post (and I put equipment losses in a more detailed fashion). You mean each unit's losses? I can give that if you give me some time to browse through my last save and see each unit.


For the final comment, I can probably give the final turn's save, so anyone that wants can make a scenario based on the aftermath of the battle. In fact, I was thinking of doing just that with SasTroop's scenarios, make continuations of the battles based on my results playing them (and obviously if Sas is OK with that). We'll see.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

This looks challenging and fun will play in a few months once I have forgotten your AAR

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

After expanding the battle results I see Romanian KIA at 520 and Ukranian at 949. And, I completely missed it, what I wanted to know is the number of men on each side at the begining of the battle.



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Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

OK, a bit more detailed list of casualties for both sides, together with the initial strength:

Romanians

15th Brigade units (directly subordinated) 63/108
1/631 tank 24/52
2/631 tank 10/52
3/631 tank 34/52
1/151 mech 117/175
2/151 mech 51/175
3/151 mech 48/175
1/634 mech 47/175
2/634 mech 5/175
3/634 mech 13/175
120mm mortar platoon 3/42
130mm battery 15/56
152mm platoon 4/40
100mm AT battery 32/60
BRDM-2 Malyutka TD platoon 18/18
35mm AAA battery 28/108
Strela Manpads platoons 8/24
Total 520/1662



Ukrainians

City garrison:

Headquarters 2/8
1st Para 90/90
2nd Para 89/90
3rd Para (BMD) 86/108
Spetsnaz platoon 32/32
Rifle platoon (scouts) 27/30
Engineer platoon 24/24
Snipers 4/5
AT group 8/15
Mortars 12/12
Total 374/414

Relief force

Recon company 17/60
Tank company 6/39
Weapons company (mech) 14/85
1st mech 20/89
2nd mech 26/89
3rd mech 10/89
Weapons company (rifle) 35/60
1st rifle 78/127
2nd rifle 53/127
3rd rifle 57/127
Weapons company (rifle) 22/60
4th rifle 91/127
5th rifle 55/127
6th rifle 44/127
Tunguska platoon 1/16
Engineer company 33/99
152mm battery (off map) 0/64
100mm AT battery 19/60
Total: 581/1572

*Ukrainians had also 6 Hinds, 6 Su-25s, 2 Su-27s and 2 Su-24s

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Forgot to mention: the format is casualties/initial strength.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

OK, I've uploaded the savegame (the final turn of the scenario). Let me know if you have any problems.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

There is so rework and delay on The Duck Hunt scenario that is about to come up - it is expected to be easy one, but thus it needs proper calcuation of acceptable losses ;)
But a couple of days should do it.

As to the Hammer & Anvil, in case there is a rational doubt: if you take a look at Roman in real life, the "right" Siret bridge is of little value to the Romanians. As scenario designer I though of clearly western bridges that you hold in this outcome. This generally gives you a firm win, you saved the brigade, but losses were high.

Luckily, Ukrainian forces of best quality focus on Slovakia and southern Poland in my vision, Romanian theatre is secondary, thus only southern military oblast Ukrainian troops are supporting the Russians here - and I am counting out a number of brigades entirely, since in WW3 universe Ukraine was taken by force just in 2015 and Ukrainian military is demoralized, sometimes even forcefully conscripted.

Here is Roman area with the eastern Siret bridge marked. Siret makes a huge turn in here, it's in fact literally a u-turn.

https://i.imgur.com/pS8G9iD.jpg

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

Thank you Sas for your post. I just want to ask you two things (general ones):
1- Are you planning to release a couple of scenarios from the "Red" side? It will be interesting to play from the Russian/Ukrainian/other side. Their scenarios would have "easier" time to score a conventional victory, but you can just make it so that their losses would have to be kept to a minimum.

2-How many fronts do you envision in total? It will be just the Eastern Europe that will be the battlefield? What about the Balkans/Turkey? Maybe even Central Asia or even the Pacific (if you make some kind of uneasy alliance between Russian and China)? Just throwing ideas for you.

What I started doing is take your scenarios that I played and have one outcome and try to make a continuation scenario. But in any case, they are all very interesting scenarios and again, congratulations on you making them.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

As to your questions:

1/ So far not. But maybe in the future. Key point of WW3 series is recreation of entire brigade combat level with complete disregard of balance whatsoever (thus the special victory conditions instead). Putting it the other way, players are often granted "dream teams" or perfect battlegroups with no weak sides. Here players can form battlegroups as they need them, but they are limited to actual equipment used by certain formations.
Russians, on the other hand, are just one nation and they stick to same regimental or brigade stricture with little changes. This would mean scenarios from Russian perspective to be very repetitive and with little equipment variations.

However, if you are in need of standard attacker-has-advantage-ratio and switching sides check the oil Crisis Spreads (OCS) series.

And to be frank, I just wished SPMBT could allow for 1000 instead of 500 units, that would let me pit 2-3 Russian brigades against you ;)
Sadly, I am pushing the scale of this game to the limits.

2/ Well, this was is surely total, but I take into consideration that Russians had limited time for very massive gear-up and they come in weaker than in, say, 1989. Thus there is no front in Scandinavia and it is not planned. Turkey is considered "friendly neutral" towards Russia what can be the case in real life as well. So the southern Russian flank is protected. Key push is obviously Germany via Poland. Serbs did not yet come into the fray, but I am not excluding Serbians - seeing Russian success - could quickly forget their EU applications. Central Asia is considered puppets, sooner or later I can assure you Kazakhstan brigade will be your opponent in one of the battles.

As of the scenarios, there is always a pattern.
There will be two per nation (Czechs and Slovaks will have them "jointly"). If it is possible, first one will be with "typical" brigade, using the most common equipment in nation's army and describing what that nation would normally contribute into the fight.
The second one will be either with "elite" formation - such as second Romanian or Polish one - with best equipment the nation has to offer. Alternatively, this can be "special" formation, that is just different - like Dutch Light Brigade. British will have one with Air Cavalry too, and so on.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

This is one of the reasons I tend to make many of my scenarios centered around a USMC Battalion MEU. It's essentially a small combined arms brigade, a "bit" light on armor and artillery because the USMC relies heavily on air support (why we have our own "private" air force). This doesn't work terribly well in WinSPMBT, but it works ... sorta. However the attack helo element generally makes up for it ... IF ... you have ammo resupply.

Re: Hammer and Anvil
 

In an effort to resupply units in the north, near the artillery park, I encountered a building on a road. Meaning, when attempting to drive a truck along the road, a warning message asking if I wanted to enter a building hex appeared. Upon closer inspection, I identified an apparent map error at 83,24.


I am still within T01-T05, where I continue to assess the Romanian forces. Two areas of concern forming my operational plan: Removing the the Hinds from the field and establishing a LOD from the University to the Secondary Bridge. All other AOs must defend in place. By routine I am setting appropriate Filter/Range settings for rifle, and AT units.

Notable unit actions: 1st squad from 1/1/364 Mec Inf had 3 BTR-80 Kills at the Secondary Bridge (53,115).
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