"Dogwood Crossing" Up!

[HotTom]

Second in a series of Tactical Vignettes adapted from Armor Magazine.

You are CO of a company team (-). You are given the mission of engaging a Red MRP manning a combat outpost, seizing a Support By Fire position and bringing direct and indirect (arty -- sure wish SB would give us mortars) fire on the main objective that the rest of your task force is attacking.

There's a bit of tank gunnery practice but the key to this mission is masking your movements with smoke and terrain and judicious (and generous) use of arty on every target that pops up.

The task force river crossing and main attack are a pretty good show (IMHO) and I've left the other team CO tanks playable so you can go along. Lots of Shock and Awe!

Have fun with it!

HT

[IrishHussar]

Hi HotTom
Thanks in anticipation
Irish Hussar

[Zipuli]

Nice scenario, really easy (or was I just lucky?) but enjoyable. I really liked popping them T-80s from 3000+ meters, made me feel good :). Thumbs up!

Zip

[HotTom]

Zip,

The hard part is figuring out how to do it. I suspect you're experienced in looking at topo maps and can see the terrain by just looking at the contour lines. That's the skill that's needed in planning this one. The doing it really is pretty easy once you've figured it out. Except maybe a 3000 meter shot. S! :)

You were a bit lucky. The AI reds are very random in this, particularly the dismounted infantry. I just put them in one place and set them for defend. Mostly they stay where I put them but sometimes they get very aggressive and wander around to where they can spot you. Once I finished with only one tank and two Bradleys even after killing all the Red vehicles because their dismounts kept calling in arty on me. I've also gotten through exactly the same solution without losing a vehicle. Go figure...

And, yeah, desert terrain should be a snap for someone who lives where there are 10 trees per square meter :)

I've done most of your scenarios and they are both very realistic and very challenging. I think you do what I'm trying to do: Telling a story. I like that.

HT

[3Star]

I liked it. Like Zip, I didn't find it particularly challenging, but it made a very nice change of pace. Then again, perhaps non-panzerphiles/Neophytes might have a bit more trouble and it could serve as a good training tool. (Heck, isn't that what it's for in Armor?) Could do with scoring, based solely on Team B's performance. (The other two teams losses are out of your control, after all). Good op order.

I'll come back to it in a week or three, see if the random effect makes it any more challenging.

NTM

[chappy]

good one tom

[smogover]

Does anyone know if they are still writing the Tactical Vignettes? The last one I can find online is from 2000. Anyway, thanks for making some scenarios out of them Tom :)

[Zipuli]

Well HotTom,

I had some trouble with the dismounts, one of my Abrams was badly mauled by ATGMs and I had no idea where it came from, but after changing fire positions I could shoot 'em up with .50 cal. The artillery caused no problems, as I tend to move quite a lot and have the Ssnake's "W"-defensive positions where the tanks will automatically relocate to another firing position if arty or heavy fire is received. Also received few hits from BMP ATGMs but only to the stronger parts of the tank, so no real damage done.

I tend to think desert is actually quite hard for me, as I'm used to the forested terrain with only smaller opens etc. Now, in the desert it's quite normal to me to make some 5 kilometre manouvres to better firing positions, in my normal games it's more like 50 metres because the terrain restricts the movement so much :). But it's a good practise!

Keep 'em coming!

Zip