thermal imaging...

[Aeraaa]

Originally Posted by jivemi

--Spoiler Alert--

Really. If you want a challenging scenario in which the enemy have TI and you don't try #179, The Bear Strikes (WP), a Soviet assault battle. Tried it several times; even after destroying most of (apparently) a company of TI-equipped Abrams and Bradleys on the first ridge objective there are still enough left to tear huge gaps in my assault columns. Plus they and the West Germans have cluster munitions which are devastating.

Since T-80s can't see them through the fire and smoke generated by arty (they're dug in on tree hexes mostly) I can't finish them off. Airstrikes either can't find them or fail to hit and most aircraft, including SEAD, are damaged on their first sorties from "bristling" air defenses. Any advanced infantry get pinned down by hard-to-spot MGs. What's an armchair general to do? Thanks.

Its a long time since I've played the scenario (I got a marginal victory), but IIRC what I did was use my dismounts to draw fire and provide an overwhelming amount of targets. The Abrams would reveal themselves eventually, at which point they were easy prey for my T80s. Any MGs and dismounted infantry will be dealt with T80s popping out of cover, firing some shots and going back. In addition to that, I managed to sneak one T80 company through the woods to the north and come in front in Abrams at point blank range, just as they finished firing their round for the turn. It was messy and I had casualties in both infantry and tanks, but I managed to break through the ridge and after that the scenario becomes much easier.

Tbh, nowadays what I would do is use the Hinds that you have IIRC and draw fire from these. They are hard to kill and the moment the Abrams reveal themselves they are dead meat. T80s can kill them then. If they pop smoke, wait until it clears and attack again. Hinds themselves can kill the enemy tanks too if they hit the turret side armor.