The Marauders defeated the British force and were masters of the battlefield, but the locals insisted that at least a company of British infantry managed to get away, possibly to get reinforcements. Unwilling to risk the local population, Col. Mustafa instead ordered his troops to fortify themselves on the four high hills just to the west of the town. If the Marauders expected an immediate response from the coalition troops, they were disappointed, as nothing happened for the rest of they day. As twilight approached, however, the unmistakable rumble of powerful engines could be heard to the west. Heard, but not seen, as visibility dropped inexorably with each passing minute...
BATTLE 12
Iraq v. U.S. Army, Iraq Defense
Visibility: 6
Turn: 36
The VP clusters are located on the western slopes of the four hills. The hilly terrain will of course slow any movement, meaning that reinforcement of troublesome sectors will be difficult. The extremely low visibility means that units with extra vision will rule the battlefield, and the 0-vision Marauder units will be unable to support one another with fire. I expect localized carnage - wherever the Americans choose to push, it will be without advance warning, and whoever stands in their way will simply have to do their best.
The veteran troops are positioned behind the VPs - their job will be to re-take any captured VPs and to provide the hopefully decisive punch in any particular sector. The forward troops include the Bedouin tribe - with their horses, these troops can at least hope to detect the American approach, and then retreat if necessary. Of course, any units with superior vision will just be able to cut them down even as they retreat - so their mobility will be key.
Ultimate success will depend on identifying the attack routes taken by American high-vision units (including armor), and then setting up side and rear shots to eliminate the expected armor. The hilly terrain will make long-range Z-fire more difficult to conduct. It remains to be seen whether these four non-descript hills will become the Marauders' Golgotha...
If the early smoke barrages are any indication, the attack will occur right down the middle of the VP clusters. Several Marauder companies are in the way, but the overall distribution of AT weapons is scarce.
And yet, it is down the road that the initial American advance appears to be moving. One Marauder AT gun is beginning to engage the opposition - and since most of the American AFV have 0-vision, the AT gun is firing with relative impunity... this is a rare situation where the vision advantage has worked in the Iraqi favor.
Until it doesn't. Six Abrams tanks appear in the northern sector. The Bedouins are effectively trapped in their trenches, and the AT gun is receiving effective return fire. Since most of the infantry was concentrated further south, where two of the three VP clusters lie, the northern hill looks in danger of being completely overrun...
There was simply no way to stop the Abrams tanks - of which there appear to be at least eight. The Bedouins are slaughtered, and the crew of one AT gun simply goes AWOL rather than face the monsters. When an Abrams tank approaches a neighboring hex, the entire crew abandons the AT gun; it does not save their lives - but it does reduce my most effective AT weapons by 1/3 with no shot fired. The Mountain platoon is slowly moving up in support - but can they stem the tide? It may be a case where the tanks have to be drawn in, and isolated from their infantry support...
By turn 13, the Marauders have managed to knock out 1 Abrams - but the remaining juggernauts have the run of the battlefield. With their superior vision, they are able to shred any unit that opens fire, without taking any fire in return. RPG and Recoilless sections have been decimated. Ordinary infantry sections with AT weapons are seemingly never where they would need to be to take a pot shot at one of the lumbering giants. Slowly, slowly, Marauder squads try to position themselves for ambushes, but without success so far. All VPs are in American hands presently. About the only thing that is going well is that U.S. infantry assault through the wooded sector in the southern part of the map is being repelled.
Without a doubt, this is the greatest slaughter the Marauders have experienced. Several veteran units are eliminated - since they were the only ones with AT weapons, they were also the only ones taking shots and getting spotted. Remaining Marauders sit tight with their small arms and grenades. Those with Molotovs or fire bombs attempt to at least make a difference against the remaining American armored vehicles, but with limited success. The Abrams are essentially invisible - they appear like ghosts or fire unseen, dealing death at will. They operate in groups, which makes ambushes difficult - but when one Abrams left the company of its fellows, it was successfully ambushed by an engineer unit... two down, at least eight more to go.
The Abrams tanks are drawn toward a VP cluster to recover it, and finally an ambush goes off. The final AT gun immobilizes one and takes out another, only to be itself destroyed by a third Abrams. If only the first two AT guns had put paid to 4-5 Abrams, the Marauders would be in much better shape now. As it is, the cat-and-mouse game will continue...
A Marauder engineer was surrounded by Abrams tanks and biding its time for a possible assault; instead, it was spotted and attacked by the American tanks. The engineer absorbed some damage, then fired at an Abrams, frontally, and... destroyed TWO tanks with one shot of the flamethrower. The warhead size of 45 probably helped.
Slowly, slowly, the Abrams ranks are thinned, but at appalling cost. The battle draws near its end, and the best I can hope for is to avoid unnecessary losses and perhaps take out the remaining tanks. Enemy infantry advancing across the northern hills has caught up, and is now supporting the tanks - which means that my non-AT units finally have targets to shoot at, but it also means that my AT units are easier to spot for the Americans. Still, with each turn, with each Marauder drop of blood, the enemy is being reduced...
As the northern sector has been quiet, I use the remaining Bedouins to charge forward to engage enemy mortars. Even then a Stinger unit, of all possibilities, opens up and pins one of the Bedouin bands. Therefore, only two Bedouin bands are actually fit enough to charge the four identified 81mm mortar units, each of which has 3 81mm M29 mortars. These weapons have been responsible for considerable carnage on my side, and have thwarted several attempts to close assault an Abrams simply by pinning/routing my squads. The Bedouins will hopefully provide some payback.
Tactically, nothing further changed, except for that small Bedouin excursion in the north. Enemy tanks made their push to recapture the southern VPs and were eventually ground down to dust, with fire bombs proving effective in both destroying and routing the tanks. The last kill came from an Abrams which was routed by a fire bomb, escaped, returned to the battlefield, and then its crew bailed out and was eliminated by the Marauders. This is the reverse of the situation with my AT gun earlier in the battle. I suspect that the Abrams was still in a "routed" status, it attempted to withdraw east, but encountered a Marauder unit which caused its crew to automatically bail. The tank itself was then destroyed. Enemy infantry met a similar fate, although some of their units had Vision 10 - fortunately they were on the move to recapture the VPs. By staying in the woods, Marauders were able to take pot shots and retreat as necessary. Eventually, the infantry advance was whittled down.
In the end, a decisive victory was achieved, but given the cost, it was not worth it. The battle looked bad from the start - low visibility, hilly terrain making the use of support weapons more difficult, and the fact that it was an assault defense - meaning that the Americans could afford that Abrams company - all combined to create a battle where heavy losses were always on the cards. About 1/2 of the Bedouins are down for the count (of course, their ranks will be replenished with tribesmen seeking revenge), and B company has ceased to exist as an experienced battle unit - it will be reconstituted with raw recruits, to be guided by the few veteran squads. But before any reinforcements, the Marauders must make ready for an American counter-attack. A special battle ensues...