AAR: Dutch Terror

[Firestorm]

I always liked this scenario. It's campaign 007 and I'm going to assume that everyone knows about the general backstory with Al Qaeda elements holding a town in the Netherlands hostage, claiming to have a nuclear devise with them, and demanding the Dutch withdraw all troops from the Middle East, Afghanistan, and the Balkans.

I'm amazed that something like this hasn't really happened yet. It could be done; it would basically be an upscaled version of other real life terrorist incidents like the 1996 Lima Embassy Siege or the 2008 Attack on Mumbai.

Anyway, the first mission was a win, of course. I took the planes even though that, in my opinion, is one of the harder ways to get to Schalkwijk.

Mission 2

Who made the decision to arm these guys with FN-FALs? I could see the reason behind it if the maps were larger or more open and I had need for the extra range, but it seems to me that the better killing power of a C7 would be more handy on these forested/built-up maps. I also notice a lack of LMGs, which is rather annoying if it's long-range fighting that I'm supposed to be going for.

The satchel charges are an interesting addition, though. If I have to get in close, they'll make up for the lack of lead-throwing capability.

I tend to stick to a pretty simple plan on this mission: make a bee-line for the hangers, hold half of them with my pioneers (let the enemy take the upper parts, and then let him have it with the MP5's and satchel charges) while the regular commandos take up overwatch on the hill and in the trees. I don't have scout units in my formation so I use the HQ and sniper in that role. Risky move, but both are smaller than the other units and they have better vision.

Al Qaeda seems to have recruited some really terrible marksmen, though those three Kalashnikovs per squad are most irritating. They're dangerous when they get close, but satchel charges are more dangerous. Also, my FAL-toting commandos had little trouble plinking mujahids as they tried to untangle themselves from the barbed wire around the airport. I lost four men overall, three from a satchel charge that went off 100 meters from them.(?) Fifty seven enemy soldiers were killed out of eighty one present. It was a decisive victory.

I like to imagine the commandos as a bunch of country boys from the Dutch equivalents of Alabama, New Hampshire, or Montana. They probably comment on each others grouping while making references to riding the property line and shooting varmints back on Papa's farm.

Mission 3
The briefings said that no repair points would be available. This is technically untrue; there were two repair points and that was all I needed for the casualties from the airport. We'll just say that I grabbed a few local cops or hunters with parachute training to make up for my losses.

The briefings also don't mention that any alternate landing zone you might wish to pick is probably being overlooked by the enemy, nor the rather potent enemy forces hiding in the stands of forest (the first part mentioned that civilians were hiding in the nearby woods—that, and the large number of satchel charges given to my commandos, led me to believe that Al Qaeda had bunkered itself inside the town proper and left the surrounding area mostly untouched).

First time I played, my commandos were dropped all over the map, mostly got wiped out and it was the local police (and the police cars) who had to save the day. This time I drop my units where I'm told and move south as one coherent whole. When you usually only have one weapon firing per squad, it's best to have a great many squads firing at any one target.

Well, they still come down pretty willy-nilly (not surprising: small map, terrible visibility) and I lost thirteen in the drop. Three planes hit mostly north of town as planned, one dropped its troops right along the south of the town. Those guys got zapped pretty good, though they did manage to take the railroad station and kill the HQ early. The local police and commandos in the north were able to link up with them in short order.

I really should have popped some smoke and turtled in the centre of the town when the mujahids came charging out of the woods, letting the helicopter and APCs do as much of the killing as possible for me. Instead, I tried slugging it out man to man with them, and my casualties show it. I lost fifty-nine men versus the entire enemy force of one-hundred and ninety five. The chopper was damaged, one police car destroyed and both APCs immobilized. Like I said, they ain't the best of shots but with the disparity in raw firepower they don't need to be. I got a decisive victory; it could have been worse but it also could have been better.

Something I've noticed, and hope to put to use when I play this scenario again, is that smoke should used liberally at the end of your turn. Your units tend to have a lot of it and it forces the other side to get in range of the MP5's and satchel charges.

Overall, a very interesting campaign.