Sunday, May 31, 2015

Combat Mission Black Sea - The Unfair Death of PFC Roller and The Predictable Demise of Most of His Squad

SPOILER ALERT: these two micro-stories are from a canned CMBS scenario. I will not mention the name of the scenario and avoid birds-eye views of the battlefield, but I recognize that you may realize which scenario is this from.

This scenario is an encounter of Stryker-based US infantry against a mixed Russian force that includes armor. The main, maybe only antitank asset of the US is Javelin missiles. So, early on, I am forced to command my US forces to split the squads in two teams (AT team and infantry). In this screenshot, the the infantry of 3rd Squad is occupying a way forward combat patrol when it comes into contact with a Russian APC (to the right).



The infantry of 3rd Squad engages the Russian APC at point blank.

Nobody in or out the Russian vehicle was spared.
Unfortunately, the men over-stayed at their position and were summarily cut to pieces by follow on Russian vehicles.

Shoot and scoot! It will never let you down.

The Javelin team suffered a very similar fate to the infantry. They tried to bug out, but their retreat route was not covered enough.

The Javelin team in the foreground has just destroyed a Russian APC, but the armor threat is high (red icons). The enemy has already fired upon my men (note the HE round on top of their heads).

The enemy fires doesn't stop. In this screenshot the leader of the Javelin team (right) becomes a casualty. 
Excruciating moments. PFC Roller makes a run for safety. Note the non-covered route he is forced into.
A combination of capricious folds in the terrain and just good old luck saves the man from immediate death. In this screenshot he is looking for concealment to set up yet another ambush on the enemy armor.

He soon finds the telltale sounds of engines and goes into hiding.

And while he was  hiding, out of nowhere appears this Russian vehicle who kills PFC Roller. The animation indicated that my man died by enemy fire, but the sudden nature of this event makes it appear like he was crushed under the wheels of the vehicle.

Tactically savvy or not, nobody said war was fair.

Cheers,







4 comments:

badanov said...

The Rooshuns do luv their "knife fights"

JC said...

Hi badanov and thanks for your comment.

As much as I try to put distance between my US troopers and them, the closer they come.

:)

Cheers,

Unknown said...

Seems to be SOP, honestly. I get it, telling your men to charge to close range is completely different from them being told to dismount and shoot everything that's around their vehicle. I think also with the Russian army acting as it has in the last few conflicts (Rifles refusing to dismount in combat) maybe the squad refused and the driver did the only thing he knew how to do--drive over the threat.

JC said...

Or an scenario designer's decision to move the troops mounted ...
Cheers,