As expected, there was no British opposition to the crossing itself. The first British unit was encountered well back from the river, with a field of crops providing it some concealment and allowing it to fire on the Iraqi troops as they emerged from the river valley.
And what a British unit it was - its basic weapon was the SA80 Rifle. Here it is compared to the AK-47, the Mosin M.44 Rifle and, just for fun, the American M-16:
Weapon ACC KILL RAN
SA80---6---3:0---9:0
M.44---1---1:0---10:0
AK-47---1---3:0---8:0
M-16---1---3:0---8:0
Why is the SA80 so much more accurate than its Iraqi or American counterparts? I don't know. Combine it with the fact that this British infantry section has 2 MGs at its disposal, with ACC of 30 and KILL of 5:0 (extra accuracy is, presumably, just a way to model the fact that there are two MGs in one weapon slot), and the fact that it had a NV of 15 - and what you have is a Terminator unit, all at a cost of 29 points, compared to 13 points for a Peoples Army squad (at equivalent experience). Peoples Army, again, are armed only with an AK/Mosin and grenades, with no NV. Still, as this battle showed again, there is no fire like Z-fire.
The battle settled into a pattern - a Peoples Army squad would advance, hoping to draw fire, and then either a sniper or the HQ would attempt to spot the firing enemy unit. If they fail, the hex where the fire came from, if identified, would still be subjected to Z-fire from HMGs, 60mm mortars, and AGLs, as well as the MGs on the trucks. After a few rounds of suppressive fire, another infantry squad would advance, and either draw fire or close with the enemy unit. This was a costly strategy, but the damaged squads could always be withdrawn (except when they couldn't - a couple of enemy units entrenched in the river valley were able to fire on retreating Iraqi squads; the only three Iraqi squads that were eliminated completely died in this fashion).
In the end, no more than a marginal victory was achieved. The final VP cluster remained out of reach. With only three units - the HQ and two snipers - able to match the British units for visibility, it was simply not feasible to push too hard for that third VP cluster. The British fielded a reinforced rifle company (so roughly 1/3 of the force I did), with no air support or armor. However, their infantry units were so effective that they could stop my infantry in their tracks.
End Result: Iraqi marginal victory
