Sunbather_

Taken from my review just so that it appears more clearly as feedback: 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. What's worse, this suggests to you to go to OBJ Tarhun first while I think the beauty of this scenario is that you can decide how to approach it.

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!

Powerful Abrams need to engage OPFOR troops in a Greece-like landscape. Your platoon needs to be the spearhead before mechanized infantry can be triggered to attack. You have a few ways to go about this. Go full frontal, rely heavily on recon and then take out the enemies with mortar strikes, flank them and have a go at them one at a time, or even try to attack together with the mech infantry. Setting and premise and the fact that there are meaningful triggers make this scenario good. What's not so good is that the mission is quite easy and it ends quite abruptly. There should be a secondary objective or something. After all, though, I've played this mission a couple of times now already so it's definitively fun and engaging. Especially when you're new to Steel Beasts this scenario is perfect to learn the game. The amount of units you have to manage is very low (1 platoon), the Abrams is obviously a forgiving vehicle and although navigating the terrain cleverly can certainly give you an advantage, the terrain is never your enemy here (i.e. you can move freely about the map and you can concentrate on learning the different move orders and formations and fire limits etc.). On top of that you get a first glimpse at how triggers work.

The premise is simple. The enemy is about to attack. Spoil their attack! A hilly map with lots of forest that limits you to the use of roads which obviously could make you very vulnerable to the enemy. But this works the other way around as well for you have very good vantage points which allow for effective mortar strikes or falling into the flank of the enemy. The premise and the map could easily warrant this scenario 4 stars, maybe even 5 if there was some other element to the scenario (e.g. after spoiling the attack, sweep up the rest of the enemy in the Northeast). Unfortunately though , the mission is over in like 10 minutes and it isn't even hard to achieve a total victory. In fact, because I like the outset so much I immediately had another go at the scenario. But again, it ended prematurely just when I was 'getting into it'. The underlying issue is a strange idea of what constitutes heavy losses for a Soviet attack. That's not how the Soviet doctrine would have worked. In fact, when I am looking at the discrepancy between your equipment and their equipment in the briefing, I see another flaw. How does an East German attack only consist of SPW-70? It's a shame, it could have been great. I had insane fun for 2x 10 minutes though!

The briefing is very immersive due to the wording and the situation and plan of the mission are also credible and promise to be fun. Your forward company of 2 tank platoons and 1 mechanized platoon needs to set up a hasty defense in order for the rest of your battalion to move up. Unfortunately though, due to the AI scripting or the AI itself, in combination with the map heavily favoring the defender, the scenario turns out to be heavily unbalanced. I ended up And I must add that I wasn't very focused while playing. Although the scenario could have been much better, it certainly wasn't a complete waste of time. Playtime: As advertised the scenario takes about 90 minutes. Of those I skipped probably 45 minutes. Planning time was 15 minutes, so you will end up with 60 minutes of raw playtime.