The Smell of Cordite and Kahwes in the Morning 2.1.0

A nicely made and small-scale mission showcasing the new toys of 4.3, overlaid with a very reasonable mission that challenges your employment of said tools.

I enjoyed that I actually had to perform recon and be selective with how I employed my attack-drone. At one point I was using all of my recon assets (2x drones + dismounts) to try and gain a detailed understanding of the enemy before I arrayed my forces and committed.

My only feedback:

The mission doesn't end nor does it ever indicate that you're completed the objectives. I was just waiting for something to happen. I'd recommend scripting events for the objectives and an End event that ends the mission. I did score a major victory in the end 250/250, but it would be nice for the player to know when its over.

Some Spice:

Randomize the placement of the enemy tank defenders / tank Coy - this would add a ton of replayability! I'd love to play this one again, but now knowing the location of enemy high value targets would spoil it. 

Difficulty: A fairly straightforward mission: clear two objectives of enemy presence. You've got sufficient forces to accomplish both, and a little bit of planning will go a long way. Difficulty can be subjective: I'm going with easy overall IF you properly employ the assets that you have available with advantageous terrain. Failure to do so elevates it to "Medium" quickly. The T-72B3 is the bright shiny object here to serve as the proverbial hammer, but don't neglect employing your BRDM-2s to identify *how* the enemy has established his defense, and how you can exploit it. The Swingblade 600 is also fun to play with, but don't neglect the recon capabilities that it offers you. 

[X] Easy
[ ] Medium
[ ] Hard
[ ] Kobayashi Maru

Duration: Completion fell in around the 45 minute mark with some creative maneuver involved. I could definitely see this mission taking over the hour mark, depending on the player's tempo. 

[ ] Less than 30 minutes
[X] 30 Minutes to 1 Hour
[ ] 1 to 2 Hours
[ ] Longer than 2 Hours

Balance: BLUEFOR is slightly favored in this mission based on the enablers available to you (Recon, Swingblade 600, T-72B3, plenty of artillery.) You aren't an unstoppable juggernaut where you can just rush in and expect to win, but you've got enough to handily do the job *if* you use all of your available assets appropriately. 

[X] Favors BLUEFOR
[ ] Favors OPFOR
[ ] Favors Neither

Overall: Definitely a good mission that highlights the "big ticket" items introduced in version 4.3. The mission set feels plausible, and there is definitely some fun to be had with tackling some of the tactical problems that present themselves in the scenario 

without feeling overwhelming. 100% worth a download and a playthrough.

[ ] Awful - A Waste of Your Time
[ ] Bad - Significant Design Flaws
[ ] Average - Limited Replayability
[X] Good - Worth a Download
[ ] Excellent - A Benchmark Scenario; Must Download and Play

Feedback: I would recommend the following changes to take this scenario from "good" to "excellent:"

1. Place a deployment zone to enable the player to remount troops, change formations and spacing, etc. Size can be dependent on how much freedom you want to give the player in regard to deploying his forces.

2. Add events on the blue side to signal when objectives are considered captured. This'll give some needed feedback to the player on if they have completed that task.

5. Add an event that ends the mission; a radio message to the player telling them they are successful would also be helpful so they know they are successful. It removes the "guesswork."

6. The Swingblade is fun, but due to the low quality it *might* be useful to give it a specific high-value target to hit. Destroying an enemy HQ in the town could activate an event that causes certain elements (as mentioned under the spoiler) to arrive much later, or not arrive at all, for example. 

Anyway, a good mission overall. I look forward to some updates and some of your future work. 

Premise: You have to clear 2 objectives from the Syrian Army. You only got 1 tank platoon and 2 mechanized platoons and 2 drones. The area is quite big, the terrain outside of the roads slows you down significantly, and especially the first objective offers a terrain advantage to the defenders. Also, it is unclear where exactly the enemy units are. Hence, you have to diligently recon the area with your drones which takes  time. Next, you should make use of your generous artillery detachment and at the same time assess how much damage the strikes do. Ultimately, with only little time left, you need to move forward in a coordinated manner so that you have both your 30mms and your T-72 guns at hand and hope that no well hidden ATGM units survived the artillery, or any other nasty surprise for that matter.

Contrary to Mirzayev I have found the scenario very challenging. Maybe this is due to having been reworked with Apocalypse 31's and Mirzayev's input or I am simply not as good at Steel Beasts as thought I was. After failing for the 4th time, I decided to – in accordance with Russia’s doctrine – indiscriminately shell the OBJ with cluster ammunition, then do more precise strikes with drone reconnaissance. And only then move my ground troops forward.

  I have two gripes:

1.        When I finally came around to clear the first OBJ, a trigger caused the mission to end but I wasn’t even close to the 2nd objective, and I didn’t run out of time either nor had I endured too many casualties which leads me to the assumption that the trigger was “X amount of enemy forces destroyed”. However, with 1 objective still entirely untouched (except for artillery strikes) I would not consider this a completed mission. [EDIT: I've reread the briefing now: the mission automatically ends when you have OBJ Buratino to simulate "the high tempo of operations demanded from a Russian tactical battalion group". However, you get point deduction for not taking the other OBJ. At the same time, you won't get any points for speed bonus so I find this design a bit flawed. I still had enough time and enough manpower to clear out the other OBJ as well but when the mission just automatically ends, that's not really up for me to decide anyway.]

2.       Also, I don't really see Russian forces fighting the Syrian Army. You can easily think of an alternate storyline with Syria being overthrown by a pro-Western puppet or whatever. But fact is, Russia waged one of the most intense wars of the past 2 decades in Syria and it was not against the army but on their behalf. For me personally this interferes with the immersion a bit, especially since the FSA or other groups also used the equipment used in this mission by OPFOR so there is really no need to presume it is the Syrian Army Russia is fighting against here.

For those flaws I wanted to give ‘only’ 4 stars initially. However, there is so much goodness to be found here:

1.       The title of the scenario is great

2.       the map is interesting and full of life, not too big, not too small

3.       the mission is multilayered (recon, attack, sweeping) and there is certainly more than 3 major ways to go about it ...

4.       … which together with the randomized enemy positions makes this scenario highly replayable

5.       equipment and RoE are authentic

6.      Situation is plausible and credible (Russian deploying T-72B3s in Syria)

7.       Realistic, practical showcase for 2 major new toys of 4.3

8.       You’re playing non-Western equipment which unfortunately is a rare occasion in Steel Beasts

Even now that I’ve ‘succeeded’, I feel the urge to revisit the scenario to see if I can do better or find another way to tackle the assignment. So I just can’t help myself, I have to give this scenario 5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended!