Saturday, September 18, 2010

Combat Mission Afghanistan -Landing Zone from Hell: Forming Up in the Middle of an Enemy Kill Zone

This Combat Mission Scenario has me a bit puzzled.

Briefing says that I am in command of an airborne battalion (-) conducting an air assault on a fortified complex in some remote mountain area. When I saw the tactical map below I thought that somebody put the wrong picture in the briefing.

We are the red forces, right in the middle of the enemy. Are you sure this is not a Muji ambush?

 When I hit the OK button, I realized that the tactical map was correct. Whoah!

Our fearless battalion commander has skillfully landed us into an enemy kill zone. Click the picture for a better view.

Boy, that's a tough spot to have our desants!

First things first, I order massive suppressive fires on each hill top.

Combat Mission tip of the day: even when you can't see the enemy, area fire impacting nearby an enemy unit will have them suppressed. Click the image for a better view.

What to do next? Attack each hill simultaneously? I thought of extracting my troops from the kill zone, so I can attack the hills sequentially.

Would this work? Extract the battalion from the landing zone, move it into assault possition 1 and take Hill 2131. The leave some fire support detachments and FOs in Hill 2131 to support the attack from position 2. The third hill would fall by itself. Click the image for a better view.
Now, the stunner: this is a mini-version of an air assault that happened during the real war. During the early hours of April 12, 1987, the 1st Air Assault Battalion conducted this assault as part of a bigger operation by the Separate Air Assault Brigade. In real life, the Soviets succeeded attacked each hill simultaneously with one company and took all the real estate after a short firefight.


So, I better stop whining and keep it simple.

BTW, it has been a long time since I don't command a whole battalion in Combat Mission.

Wish me luck.

Cheers,


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoa indeed! That looks like a very desperate situation to be in willingly. I know what scenario I'm playing next.

Bil Hardenberger said...

J, looks like quite a pickle. Hehe, good luck. It'll be interesting to see how it goes for you.

Check out my mods on the Repository if you want to get rid of the neon trees in the game.

When you are comfortable with the game and if you are interested, perhaps we can play a PBEM?

Bil

Anonymous said...

While it looks like an interesting tactical problem, they should never have put themselves in that position in the first place!
tFS

JC said...

Gents,

Thanks for your comments.

Bil,

How are you doing?
I know about your mod and I will add it soon. Let me practice a bit and I will get back to you. Any scenario in particular?

tFS,

This thing happened in the real war, pretty much as showed here. Yikes!

Cheers,

PFF said...

In the real operation, the CAS provided by the Mi-24 attack helos was very important.

http://vootatico.com.br/archives/832

Unfortunately, we don´t have the air support in this game.

JC said...

Hi PFF,

That text also appears in "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" by Lester Grau. Thanks for the link.

Do you have a link for the english version? I barely pass at portuguese, but I can understand it (I'm from Argentina). I'm not so sure about other readers, though.

Cool site, man.

Cheers,

PFF said...

The post is a translate from The Bear Went Over The Mountain.

Congrats for your excellent blog!

Bil Hardenberger said...

" Let me practice a bit and I will get back to you. Any scenario in particular"

Nothing in particular, but I would prefer something infantry v infantry... when you are ready we'll chat.

Grimm said...

So, what did happen? Did you pass this mission? :-)

JC said...

Ey Grimm,

It's a tricky one. I am in turn 15 (out of 40). I will let you know.

Cheers,