The Western Way of War today.

[Suhiir]

Based on the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) it certainly seemed the Iraqis knew how to defend from dug-in positions. While most of the Coalition forces were well trained they were not combat vets, whereas the Iraqis were. Then there was the probability they'd use chemical weapons, while they're not really that lethal to well trained/equipped troops they do cause non-lethal casualties and they are a REAL pain in the butt (FYI Nuc-Bio-Chem was my primary specialty) to deal with. Finally we knew much of the Coalition had a significant technological advantage, but no one had ever fought a major ground campaign with such a tech advantage so we intentionally didn't view it as "Wunderwaffe".

So, yes, we expected significant casualties. Believe me no one was happier then we were when the Iraqis turned out to be a paper tiger.

[IronDuke99]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

(FYI Nuc-Bio-Chem was my primary specialty)

Gas, Gas, Gas!

Had the highly dubious pleasure of doing the Portland Down battle run in the British Army many moons ago, which was the highest level NBC training back then. Couple of days in a 'Noddy suit' and wearing a respirator for 24 hours while instructors sprayed CS gas all over the place.

Most of us were smokers and a lot of us were doing smoking drills when no one was looking. Only the Platoon NBC Cpl (not the most popular of blokes) really enjoyed it.

[IronDuke99]

In game terms it is generally very easy for a Western force to win a defensive battle against the AI.

I have set up games where a reinforced Company of Royal Marines, with some Heavy MG's, etc, in a defensive position, and with some artillery and air support, were able to defeat vast hordes of AI controlled Taliban, with relatively small losses.

The challenge is to use a Western force to attack a dug in non-peer enemy and win without suffering heavy losses. This is much more difficult.

I have been working on a contemporary game based on the British Army taking out a dug in Zimbabwe armoured force -no doubt wish fulfillment, since I detest Mugabe- and they can certainly win every time, but it is doing so with relatively few friendly casualties that is the harder thing to do in the game. In reality I am fairly sure many of the enemy would start to run fairly early on. To get this right in the game as shahadi says you have tinker with preferences, etc...

[shahadi]

Originally Posted by IronDuke99

The challenge is to use a Western force to attack a dug in non-peer enemy and win without suffering heavy losses. This is much more difficult.

You may have seen scenario #87,"Pookie Leads the Way." Check out the scenario text for Special Rule and Speical Victory Conditions.