AAR: The Iraqi Lost Legion - generated campaign

[raginis]

AFTERMATH:

The town was liberated of all American presence. Grateful residents supplied enough recruits to replenish Marauder losses. Not wishing to further endanger the town by remaining in it, the battalion continued West, utilizing the roads leading out of the town. Although beaten, the Americans were not gone - their remaining troops chose to fight a delaying action. Having fought enough battles against varied opposition, the Marauders found themselves in possession of quite an arsenal of Western weaponry; however, Lt. Col. Mustafa has not yet decided on how best to equip his troops with unfamiliar weapons, so this battle will still be fought with the faithful Mosins and AK-47s...


BATTLE 08: Iraq ADVANCE vs. U.S. Army DELAY
Visibility: 55
Turn Limit: 31 turns

TERRAIN:



Hilly terrain with some woods, orchards and fields, and good visibility. The 100+ hills are all on the American side of the map, overlooking the valley where the scattered VPs are located. The big question will be how well defended are the hills that form the eastern side of the valley, marked with the straight line. No VPs there, and the hills should provide enough of a LOS break to permit approach, even if there are observers on the 100+ height hills... Due to the spread of the VPs, the Marauders will spread out and probe for weaknesses. I don't want to use the roads too much, but the fields slow down ground troops so much that I will strive to avoid them whenever possible.

Turn 01

Already first blood is drawn. A Dragon team takes out my BTR, but is itself destroyed by a HMG. Other than that, Marauders advance without opposition.



Turn 04

The northern advance encounters a MMG section with two MMGs. It is well positioned to cover the road, but is itself vulnerable to the Scout section that has a sniper rifle. The Americans cause the first casualties, but eventually that sniper rifle disposes of them.



Turn 08

The center advance along the SE-NW road encounters a full enemy platoon. A proper infantry-only firefight ensues, as the mortar fire called in blind by Lt. Col. Mustafa succeeds only in barely suppressing the enemy infantry. Armed with an MG and a GL per section, the U.S. Army troops inflict casualties, but I expect that the weight of two full companies will overwhelm this force.



Turn 09

Indeed, the central advance routed the platoon in front of it, due to a combination of overwhelming numbers and fortuitous mortar bombardment. On the same turn, however, the northernmost company ran into its own opposition, with another 2xMMG section and what is most likely a full platoon hidden in an orchard. There is still at least one Dragoon team at large, which means that basically none of my vehicles have moved since the loss of the BTR on Turn 1. Just to the south of this skirmish, however, another Marauder company is advancing along the road without further opposition, and should begin to capture VPs in the next few turns.



Turn 10



Some of the northern American troops were within range of the small "fire base" set up around the HQ unit on a 80-elevation hill. With the range of 2,500m, the AAMGs are particularly useful.

Turn 15



Even with fire support, the northern advance is slow going. The Americans have at least two platoons of infantry hidden in the orchard, plus Dragons and at least one MMG section. A Company is being ground to bits slowly but surely and cannot sustain their frontal advance without losing units. Most squads have 2-4 casualties already. Z-fire from support units is providing some help, but there are simply too many American units to suppress. At least one people's army company will need to be diverted to the northern orchard.

In the south comparatively little happens, with the southernmost company encountering their first resistance, but the extent of that resistance is not yet known.



And what a difference a turn makes... Americans had close to a company of infantry hidden in the northern orchard, and that company is now breaking out to try and re-capture some of the VPs. My troops are fairly spread out, trying to reach the scattered VPs, so the next few turns will require consolidation and careful action to preserve the troops. The enemy advance is protected from indirect fire by the slope of the hill, so this will be close infantry combat. The good news is that the southernmost American troops are also on the move, so the company advancing in that area will be hitting moving troops, and not hidden stationary ones.

...

There were no further tactical surprises. The battle of the orchard claimed two full squads from E Company and bloodied about a dozen more, but the Americans were thoroughly defeated, and all VPs were in Iraqi hands. Venerable A Company, although about half its squads were withdrawn due to suffering 4+ casualties, actually provided the decisive push. Enemy troops on the slope of the hill were softened up with Z-fire and then taken at close range by experienced troops that could withstand a point-blank volley and actually shoot back. The Iraqi units that found themselves on the western side of the orchard would have been in a good position to surround the Americans - but they were too inexperienced to withstand the firefight. Additionally, their retreat direction is east - so the retreating units were moving straight into the American troops... in the end, it was fortuitous that only two squads were wiped out. A decisive victory, with only the enemy A0 unit surviving. A number of Marauders became veteran units, and now Col. Mustafa and his quartermaster need to come up with a sensible plan for dividing up the captured western weapons...