Combat Mission Black Sea - Pedro Navaja Got Reactive Armor

In the immortal Ruben Blades' salsa song "Pedro Navaja", a pimp stabs a woman of the street without noticing that she is carrying a Smith & Weason revolver. Both end up dead, Pedro shot and the woman stabbed. A similar quick end by simultaneous blows almost happened to my Russian T-90. Fortunately, there was reactive armor ...

This is a continuation of my previous blog entry. A platoon (-) action with an armored detachment from a Russian reconnaissance company. After much blasting, the armored vehicles had made it to the hamlet and are finding some stubborn resistance from Ukrainian dismounts.

The dreaded road bend is now showing its sharp edges in the form of trenches and some detached BMPs. It's easy to destroy a BMP if you catch it on time, but the infantry has staying power. 

Emboldened by the destruction of that Ukrainian BMP and encouraged by the commander's tight timeline, I move my T-90 forward and get a nasty surprise on the left. From the apparently abandoned trench, Ukrainian dismounts manage to launch an AT rocket, which is luckily intercepted by the APS.

The Ukrainian infantry lost that lucky shot and somehow try to outrun the T-90 crew. The quickly find themselves hit by the coaxial MG.

My transgression of moving my armor too fast has to be corrected and the meager infantry force we had moves forward to clear the trenches and the hamlet. Note the AT gun we destroyed before.

The mighty infantry-killing powers of the BMP-2Ms were expected to manifest in the form of cannon fire, not by missile throwing. War is a system of expedients, I once read.

Beyond the bend, that's where my infantry is sent to observe. They are now the tip of spear. The road stretches straight in front, but they can't see anything ... 

... But something nasty comes their way. There is some significant firepower in front of my forces.

Time is running fast, I need to send something very well armored to the front. I try to resort to all types of trickery but I always come back with a laser warning. There is an enemy tank ahead. 

Instead of sliding in, I end up using a tiny slope just south of the bend. I inch my T-90 until it gets a target. Everything happens at the same time: laser warning, my T-90 firing and hitting an enemy tank ...

Destroyed and all, the enemy crew managed to throw one at us.

The reactive armor of my T-90, protecting my tank from the same destiny of Pedro Navaja.

Aftermath, from the enemy perspective. Note the AT gun and the infantry positions on both sides of the road (blue icons).

My number was not up this time, which is unusual, "surprises that life throws at you."

Cheers,