USMC vs N. Korea and China

[scJazz]

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.

[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by scJazz

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

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

[scJazz]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

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

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

[Suhiir]

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*

[scJazz]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

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*

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.

[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by scJazz

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

Yep, yep

Originally Posted by scJazz

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.

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

Originally Posted by scJazz

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.

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

[scJazz]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

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

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.

***HORRIFIED SCREAM***

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.


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

[Suhiir]

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

[scJazz]

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.

[scJazz]

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.