Operation Black Anvil - The Frontier Lancers 1.0.2

Excellent mission!  Had a blast 👍

- Nice African terrain and huge AO.

- Authentic enemy recon and main body.

- Nice mix of blue units.

- Great for replayability, many different options on how to defend.

- Large scenario; quite hard to manage for inexperienced players

- Great option for coop

No crap, there I was...Up to my elbows in mud and jaraguá grass. The smell of myrrh from a nearby village had drifted into the cab of my dusty jeep and for a moment I was transformed to another world as I sipped the last of the warm Ethiopian brew out of my tin canteen.

I was suddenly transported back to reality as a T72B3 pulled up next to my jeep drawing dust and smoke into my peaceful break. The tank commander opened his hatch and looked around, highly confused. I sighed louder than I should have, disappointed with yet another blunder from our tank crews when suddenly one of the noncoms started yelling at him and he continued moving along. I shared a smirk with a nearby Centauro commander as he enjoyed his injera and rice with his crew. We both knew.

Those T72 crewmen were so dense. "Amaris finest?", HA! The tanks, recently "loaned" in a backwater deal from an unnamed "Amari partner" were great to have compared to our older T-55's but their crews may not have been the best trained before being shipped to the frontier.

"Operation Black Anvil?" I laughed and cynically thought to myself. I had seen it all in my 10 years as a Frontier Lancer fighting the Nyumbians, just as my father had done 30 years ago. This was an African folk story as old as time. Ananse and the Pot of Wisdom, The Cheetah and the Lazy Hunter, and now the great game between Amari and Nyumbia.

And what of the Nyumbians? What did they want and why did they continue to persist in their seemingly worthless cause? Dedicated to their cause, for sure, but also utterly predictable. Their equipment, commanders, and tactics were all outdated and aged. Their idea of tactical brilliance was rushing towards the enemy with as much equipment as possible. As long as we could operate the autoloaders on our tanks and Centauros and reload our missiles quick enough we would be fine.

But the question remained: when and where would the Nyumbian commander strike? To my front we had three potential axis of advance, one of which seemed highly unlikely as it was a direct route across the harsh desert terrain to their estimated objective. While the other two trailed a dirt road passing by the only two hills in the area - which were already occupied by my scouts.

The radio suddenly erupted: "Nyumbian recon spotted to the north!" shouted a young voice with just enough fear in it to prop me up in my uncomfortable jeep seat.

Without any hesitation our Centauros began moving towards their pre-designated battle positions. I signaled to my jeep driver and we began moving forward. The drive took less than 5 minutes but it felt like we had driven thorugh the entirety of Tigray!

Our observation post had seen distance dust trails from a Nyumbian advanced recon party but had since lost contact. I found myself glued to the map and repeating "where will he strike?".

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a crested francolin drinking from a small puddle when suddenly a violent explosion rocked the ground. "gudi newi!" shouted one of the soldiers as a nearby Tiger vehicle exploded and began spewing black smoke. Just as he began to collect himself a missile zipped by, striking the radio antenna of a second, nearby Tiger vehicle. "Igizabihēri yifiredi, they've got our position!" yelled a noncom- but he was barely able to get his words out before mortar rounds started raining on us like it was the month of the kiremt! Between the explosions I heard a muffled cry come from a dismounted observation post to my left. I quickly ran to their position, disregarding the incoming mortars, but their bodies looked more like awaze sauce than anything resembling humans.

I stared in shock for a moment before I saw the incoming Nyumbian force, which looked like a shamal of dust and wind before my eyes. Suddenly, the armored vehicles of the Nyumbian force emerged from the dust, barreling towards our position.

My Centauro's began engaging, but the undulating terrain of the desert made target acquisition difficult. One Centauro was destroyed by a direct hit from a Nyumbian tank while a second suffered a mobility kill. Like a galad running from its shopkeeper, I bolted back to my jeep. Frantically, I radioed for my tanks to reinforce only hoping it was too late.

Further on our flanks, I could see our brave warriors fighting with all of their might to stop a platoon of Nyumbian motorized infantry. RPGs were fired like volleys of arrows from an Aithiopikoi Toxotai, but one by one the BTR's burned like the sun on a warm Dallol day.

As quickly as the tanks arrived, they were in the action. Round after round discharged loudly onto the Amari plain- one by one, the Nyumbian vehicles burst into flames. Then, suddenly another call came over the radio. "Nyumbian Armor to the east!". "Kitehen lebdaw" I thought. Fortunately, I had not committed all of the tanks into this fight, and while the enemy commander had almost fooled me, he was now made the fool.

The day ended with an enemy in retreat, and a warm cup of Ethopian coffee - just as it had started. Our casualties were high, but the Sun, the Moon, and Venus were on our side today. Knowing the terrain, the enemy, and ourselves helped us win the fight before it started- and once again deny the wicked Nyumbian aggressors victory.

Very interesting and challenging scenario

We played it with +15 guys and was still challenged. Nice setup, nice map and nice and different platform mix.

Well worth playing for sure.