Israel attacking Iran next October

[Cameronius]

It will put them at whatever the elevation is in the hex. The game does not distinguish between ground floor or roof for any purpose.

[fossiili]

The war is rageing in the City on Tigris (map 71). Becouse it's a meeting engagement I was bound to mowe quickly and I needed transport vechiles and to support them armored fightting vehicles. But I have not found any way to protect them against Israelis helicopters. Becouse the city is flat and the silly game does not allow me to put AA-guns on the roofs, these my best tools have only a narrow shooting area. For the next game I desparately ask: is there any effective wepon against Israelis helicopters. Some times Rapier SAM's try to hit them but without any success. I have Sanam-23-4SPAA's which are dangerous for a helicopter but some of them have already been destroyed, so what can you do with am AA-tank wich can not defend himself?

I know there is no justice in the world in general and in the war especially. Not even in the simulated world of SPMBT

[Greyfell]

I've found that static AA guns are a better bet versus helicopters if you have any raised terrain at all to stick them on. AA vehicles are vulnerable to the lethal ATGM's many israeli helicopters carry, where as the static guns are not. A decent ranged AA gun can keep 'copters at arms length just by causing evasive action even if it does not hit them.

[Imp]

Well you are very persistent in what is very much an uphill struggle so some thoughts.
As said if possible cluttered terrain not open & despite being a meeting a slow move out till his air is dealt with if has helos is more than acceptable.
Need to fight 2 battles for the air battle your killers are RBS 70 manpads TOR-1s & 80 Range AA guns as helos have 60 vision. All other AA assets are deterents that might get lucky while these guys get in position. What you buy depends on game size if you think he might buy SEAD etc the out gessing game.
Keep TOR-1s well back & relocate often to avoid arty if vision is high with dust trails a few trucks in your arty park can make false dust trails when they move.
The AA guns consider moving some forward if terrain allows in first couple of turns.
Can use some as deterents if need when other AA moves but generally cut range down to 65-70 or even less if can risk it. Now if he leaves a helo within range you can take multiple shots in your turn rather than playing the max range dance. AAA is the one set of units its worth micromanaging ranges on to sucker people into the kill zone vs helos.
The other aproach is half a dozen mobile at least EW 5 SAMs, hit chance is not good its hard work firing relocating rearming but the odds will get them eventually.

The ground battle I would generally do low key till his air is at an acceptable level the worst problem with those helos in my view is there scouting ability if vision is below 60, start every turn by locating his helos with your radar AA so you can get an idea of what he can see otherwise any ambush is probably blown.
Your tanks are totaly ouclassed if have any armour use only to snipe at his APCs as have MGs only or for infantry support.
Your infantry do not have particulary good RPGs so gang up on tanks. Need to be able to draw fire or whatever to let you get in position from flanks rear or to assault.
Cheap APCs can help this if he leaves tanks open draw fire & then send them in as a mech assault. 2 Squads who recieve no or minimal fire should take it out normally.
Tanks are a lot easier to kill if suppressed or damaged so unload use the W key to fire your RPG. Only if it still survives assault it with your last shot once its heavily suppressed. RPG teams do not work that well in mech assaults to few shots & men to asault so use them to fire at the tank in the first place if possible. The hard thing with planing these is remember the tank could pop smoke at any time & ruin your plans.
Good luck.

[KV7]

Having played Iran in a few campaigns, I don't think this is a difficult task at all, mostly becuase the Iranian stuff is so cheap.

For ~5000 points I would be somewhere like this, give or take;

Foot infantry:
6 companies Basij
12 Nader sections
+ some Snipers and Scouts to advance 4 hexes ahead.


mechanised infantry
4 scout secs
12 of the cheapest sniper unit
4 HMG teams
16 boragh apc, or maybe SKOT.

Missile troops
8 * Toophan 2 section, with 8 ammo containers, 8 apc's to carry
8 * Strela section with 8 ammo containers, maybe with apc's as well if you can't cover the advance from deploy zone.
Helicopters
1-2 sections gunship, plus ammo dump section to reload them.

Arty
9 platoons of M110, with 9 ammo dumps, one per platoon.
2 SA-6 sections, only if visibility is bad.

In an open meeting engagement, bus the scouts, snipers the HMG's, the Toophans onto high ground, only move up behind cover. sit the ATGM an HMG on the hill and march the snipers and scouts forward ahead of the HMG and ATGM position. Alternatively if you have hills in your deploy zone with good los fill them with toophan and Strela teams.

The rest move up as foot infantry.

If he advances, the Atgm's will start cooking his tanks and Apc's, and you can cut up the infantry on the ground with the HMG's, plus put the 8 inches onto the troop/tank concentrations.

If the advance keeps coming, the suppressed remainders will be ambushed by the Basij, snipers and recoiless. A platoon of Basij at 28 points will take down a Mervaka no problem, just mob it after buttoning it with the HMG, arty, or sniper. The trick is to stop moving and set the op fire range to 1, the +15 morale means they will not run when the tank runs into them. You will probably suppress it pretty bad or maybe force into retreat, then you can mob it next turn with the other three squads, or put a Nader/RPG up its ***. If it stops advancing the ATGM, gunships and arty will kill it.

If you have lots of ground to cover and adequate cover, especially hills, it may be worth using groups of 4 boraghs to bus the basij to the back of a hill, then rush back to pick more up and ferry them. Send the scouts and snipers over first as a scouting wave. If you engage any infantry, snipe them and dump the enemy with arty, then use the Basij to advance in and mop up once they are routing, and draw any fire from stragglers. Once you can see them you can snipe them.

Without exaggeration, I can say I have achieved a x100 kill rate this way, against an AI enemy at 150% troops. A real person will of course be a much bigger challenge, but it should still work okay.