AAR: The Iraqi Lost Legion - generated campaign

[raginis]

BATTLE 14
Iraq v. U.S. Army, Iraqi Advance
Visibility: 51
Turn: 29

After its grueling experiences in the previous battles, the Marauders decided to strike out across a road-less area, hoping to avoid any enemy concentrations. Col. Mustafa moved his men in a wide formation, with the infantry marching in columns and support units following behind - in the case of the old T-55s, well behind. With the sun shining and the sky clear, the Colonel hoped to reach a line of hills some three kilometers ahead and get a better view of the land ahead. Alas, as the Marauders were making their way through a patchwork of agricultural fields, the Bedouins came under machine gun fire - from the direction of those hills. With good visibility, no cover, and only some concealment offered by the extensive crop fields, the Marauders were caught in the open - and Col. Mustafa concluded that the best way out is through. With only 29 turns available, the battle will involve the Marauders marching into the teeth of the defenses, with their support weapons giving them a fighting chance...



The crop fields are the only notable feature of the landscape. If Abrams tanks are present, then the high visibility will mean that they will rule the battlefield, with smoke useless against them. The advance will occur in columns, in spaces between the fields.



The Bedouin units, being on horseback and thus more visible, draw the first fire from enemy MGs... No casualties so far, but a follow-up artillery barrage is to be expected. The lack of concealment and cover works both ways - the American MGs are located in the open terrain, and eliminated by Iraqi HMGs.



Marauder attack continues apace. American rifle squads eventually open up as the Iraqi forces get into range, but they are again just as exposed, and almost as easily spotted, as the advancing Marauders. Long-range support weapons are enough to pin these units, and the infantry continues to inch toward the VPs.



It appears that the Americans chose to place their defenses within the crop fields - this means that the Marauder advance is not encountering them head-on. The fights are piecemeal, with sufficient support weapons being brought to bear to avoid major losses.




It looks like the major American resistance in advance of the VPs was concentrated in the central sector. The southernmost push, consisting of two PA companies and the Bedouins, overwhelmed its opponents with sheer mass, and was not significantly slowed. The lone company pushing directly through the center had to spread out and engage the Americans shooting at its left flank; its most advanced squads have also already received fire from the VP defenses on the hills. The northernmost two companies have not been fired at yet - they continue their advance at a steady clip, still in column formation.



Like any other respectable Iraqi irregular force, the Marauders do possess several MG-armed pickup trucks. These units can be useful as mobile support weapons, but they are extremely vulnerable to pretty much all kinds of fire. A Super Dragon launcher puts paid to one of these trucks, but is itself quickly spotted.



The US forces have additional troops near the VPs, but as before, these soldiers open fire in a piecemeal fashion, and are quickly suppressed and dispatched. The Bedouins to the south avoid the VPs for the moment, and instead will seize the high ground and determine if the Americans have any reserves - if past battles are any indication, the capture of VPs should trigger a counter attack. The tribesmen have acquitted themselves well, using their old Bren MGs en masse to suppress the few units that stood in their way, and even closing to saber range against a retreating squad.

AFTERMATH: A Decisive Victory was achieved with, perhaps for the first time, every single opposing unit being eliminated. The increased visibility would have served the Americans well had they possessed units immune to small arms fire. Alas for them, they brought only infantry with some MGs and 60mm mortars for support. The American units were very easily spotted - for example, the Iraqi HQ unit was able to spot a MG section from over a kilometer away, after the latter had fired perhaps 2-3 times. And so, with their superior support weapons, the Marauders have punched through this defense. After two battles where the Abrams tanks took their toll, this relatively easy contest was a welcome respite... although Col. Mustafa knew that this luck would not hold.

[raginis]

BATTLE 15
Iraq v. G.B. Army, Iraqi Defense
Visibility: 62
Turn: 35

The Marauders had successfully disengaged from the American forces, but were now slowed by difficult terrain, with a rough-sloped river bed and a lengthy bridge over water too deep to ford. As Col. Mustafa pondered the best way to get his men and equipment across, he received an urgent message from scouts who had occupied a 100m hill on the other side of the river - what looked like a sizable unit was moving along the road toward the river. Perhaps inevitably, given the presence of a river and a bridge, the troops turned out to be British - but unlike the previous engagements, this time it would be the Marauders who would have the time to dig in and prepare for the coming assault...



The battle will take place on an interesting map from the Iraqi perspective. There is an exposed 100m hill on the British side of the river, from which fire can be directed at the road. The bride is long, and wooden - a sapper unit ought to be able to destroy it, as could, theoretically, the 120mm mortar section. Should the Iraqis do that immediately? Count on being able to do it in the heat of battle? Should the exposed hill be manned by defenses, recon only, or no one? To give up the western bank is to give up the westernmost VPs, which are quite valuable. In the difficult terrain, it may be possible to stop the British and defeat them in detail, with a possible decisive victory in the end - but that means that the westernmost VPs have to be kept, or recaptured. Thirty-five turns is long enough for the British to do the same type of damage that the Americans did a few battles back - or it may turn out to not be enough for them to advance, given the terrain. Finally, both the northern and southern edges of the map offer avenues of advancing behind British lines. The northern one offers more rugged terrain for protection - but it is the southern one that is well-away from the road that the British are likely to use, and it is somewhat screened by the hills. We shall see what happens.



With the battle taking place in excellent visibility, the British are quickly spotted. Marauders did choose to place some units on the big hill on the western side of the river, and the Bedouins are waiting in the valley just south of that hill. The Brits brought a helicopter, but it is an anti-tank variant.




The Scimitars forged ahead and were quickly dispatched by close assault, but now the Challengers are following up, both in the south and in the center. The helicopters were chased away with some AAMG fire - the few recorded hits were not enough to get past their front armor, though.



The Challengers advance straight toward the southern-most objective, and are successfully ambushed. British infantry has yet to appear. Marauders have suffered some losses - one AT gun and its truck are gone - but in general the defensive line is barely touched.



The infantry finally appears, and is able to target the forward slopes of the big hill in the south. This means that the remaining Challenger finally has some support. The few Iraqi squads in this area are effectively pinned down by the British grunts. Because of the rough terrain immediately behind the forward Marauder units, bringing up reinforcements is time consuming - but that same rough terrain protects those reinforcements from British artillery...



... while in the center, the British just merrily drive their Challengers right into a prepared ambush - these are definitely the easiest tank kills the Marauders have had so far.



The British continue their infantry advance, with the final Challenger immobilized...



Reinforcements are flowing toward the main battle area, but the British maintain their local advantage - their infantry squads are excellently equipped, as usual.



In the center, a British infantry unit finally makes contact with the Marauders. Heretofore, only a few tanks wandered blindly into an ambush and were obliterated at close range. Due to the cover, the British again have local superiority, while any reinforcements will take a while to get involved.



The British essentially did not use the bridge as an attack avenue. The few squads sent this way were chased away by Marauder HMGs. A Marauder engineer did try to take out the bridge, initially, but fortuitously failed (despite using up all of its satchel charges) - this means that now a small flanking maneuver can be attempted...



... which never really gets off the ground, as the battle ends - with no captured VPs and mounting losses, the British simply break off the engagement.

In the end, this was a short, brutal, localized fight, with the painful loss of a few more veteran units. Rough terrain meant that not all Marauder sections could get their shots in, which affects unit development. B Company, for example, remains essentially a green unit. However, one should be careful with complaints, because the gods of war have a strange way of granting one's wishes...