DAR: Yom Kippor War - Sinai

[RERomine]

Marginal Victory

Turn 22

North Sector
Friendly tanks held their position while infantry moved forward, jumping a couple of enemy mortars and turning one flag. One mortar was immediately destroyed and the other was destroyed running away at the end of the turn. One platoon moved forward toward the flag I knew I needed two turns to get to. They were engaged by eight enemy tanks seen in the center sector and several AA guns. Needless to say, my infantry got stopped cold.

Center Sector
I peppered the enemy infantry visible and then zipped one BTR out to turn one flag and a ZSU-57-2 to turn another. Other than that, I took a few shots at some running infantry because the shots where there. Artillery hit the enemy infantry and one mortar.

South Sector
Poked around looking for the enemy tank and AA gun in the area and the best I got was a general location. My tanks held their position.

Casualties

Friendly: Estimated 5 casualties.

Enemy: Two 81mm Mortar sections destroyed, estimated 15 enemy casualties.

Total Casualties

Egypt

Men: 108
Artillery: 1
Soft Vehicles: 0
APCs: 10
AFVs: 1
Air Transports/Helos: 0
Aircraft: 0

Israel

Men: 411
Artillery: 7
Soft Vehicles: 0
APCs: 18
AFVs: 19
Air Transports/Helos: 0
Aircraft: 2

Score

Egypt: 6744
Israel: 1143

Final Comments

While it was only a marginal victory, it was a strong one and I'm not really disappointed with it. Getting a decisive victory out of this battle would have been very difficult because the Israeli units out class mine across the board. Since the objectives were scattered all over the map, it ensured they would meet me on at least even odds in some places. Even odds mean I'm at a disadvantage because of quality. The AI force gets a 50% point bonus, so I was probably out numbered.

My plan seemed fine, but the enemy didn't cooperate with me. They kept a large number of tanks back in their deployment zone. Out of 30 tanks, 15 remained unmoved during the entire battle. Since some of the objectives were in the Israeli deployment zone, I would have to deal with those before I could capture them. I had expected the AI to dash forward with all their armor, my Sagger missiles destroy them and then I push in with my armor and clean up. When the AI didn't do that, I had to start moving my Saggers to get some shots. There wasn't enough time to move again to get the remaining tanks.

As expected, the Israeli infantry was very tough. Combined arms succeeded in pushing some of them back. That all changed with they got mech infantry and armor reinforcements in the middle. It took a lot of support on my side to stop them and take the flags there. The only two flags my plan called to capture I didn't have to begin with. It would have bothered me more if I had failed to recapture flags I had earlier, because it implies the enemy is taking control. As it is, I chalk failing to capture the two I was after to lack of time.

Being careful to keep my tanks from being destroyed seems like it is resulting in improved experience. They performed much better than the first campaign battle. I still can't get careless since the AI out numbered me 3 to 1 in tanks at the beginning of the battle and the Israeli tanks and crews are very good. None the less, I might be able to get a bit more aggressive with them as their skill improves.

I've attached the save just before I ended my last turn.