From: "Patrick R. Collins" Subject: Desert Victory - 73 Easting (long) I finished my recreation of the battle at 73 Easting using Omega's Desert Victory. In short, 9 M1 and 13 M2 took on 15 BMP and 40 T-72. At the end, 1 M1 and 2 M2s held the field. Fortunately, history was different than this. The setup was Maps G and D, arranged as below G D ->N with north as marked. The US forces entered the field from the west, in bounding overwatch formation. The Iraqis (hereafter OpFor) were in four companies, with two BMP recon units. The BMP co was on the top of the hill in the center of the field. The two BMP recons were to the west, about midway from the center to the edge of the map. The three tank co and the batt HQ were arranged on the slope behind the hill, to the east. The Tank Co's and HQ were out of sight from the western map edge. The US forces had swapped platoons, and entered in three groups - a TK platoon and M2 platoon with a TK HQ, a TK platoon and a M2 platoon with a M2 HQ, and a M2 platoon. I used no ARTY, either off board or via on board units, no air, chemicals, or electronic warfare. The latter because I made the assumption that EW units are with the TOC or other HQ units not present, and that the M1/M2 have no such capability. The game was originally set to be six turns, since I thought the real life limit of three turns was too short. As it turned out, three turns was just the right amount of time! As the US forces entered, the Opfor recon units retreated (as per plan) to the flanks of the hill. This left the US with nothing in range in their first fire segment. The US forces had instructions to destroy vehicles (as in real life). The BMPs were to hold, while one TK co came around the north side of the hill and deployed. The other TK co would drive to the forward slope, while a third flanked the south side of the hill, into the US forces rear. This, at least, was the plan. The first US group to get in range was a M2, with TOW. The BMPs needed a very low probability to get a hit, while the US had an excellent change of destroying most, if not all the BMP co. Well, the BMPS made an 04, while the US missed with a 96! Scratch 4 M2s. In the next exchanged, 2 more M2 die, but three Opfor BMPs join them. It is now round 2 of turn 1. More M2's are destroyed, as the recon units both are killed. The M1 finally get into range, and destroy most of the BMP's. Saggers are hell. Not much happens, as the US forces have nothing in sight the rest of the round. The US does a miss contact roll, and get separated even more as a M2 platoon sights a TK co in the distance and heads for it. Round 3 (still turn 1) has lots of action, as two of the TK co enter range, unfortunately for them, prime M1 range, while their return fire is rather ineffective. M1s kill 7 T72, and M2's account for another 3, and a BMP. US losses are two M1s. Round four finds the opfor tk co finally deploying, but just in time to be wiped out. The second is not yet in position (or visual). Two BMPs, two T72 and a HQ die, but a BMP takes 2 M1 with it. At the beginning of Turn 2, the US finally manages to make contact, and implements a change of orders - take the high ground and hold it. The second TK co loses the race to the faster US forces, and the third TK co is still implementing the original plan, with the batt HQ trying to make contact. Round one finds forces still moving, so only 7 T72 are lost, and no US. Round two is different, as Opfor still misses contact, and 9 T72 exit the map. along with a M2 and a M1. Round three finds 6 more T72 going, along with 1 M1. At this point, the map was clear of Opfor, but the US forces were in no shape to do anything but wait for more US forces. A dear won victory indeed. What did we learn, Charlie Brown? Well, next time I won't lead with my M2's. Let the Abrahms take point. I haven't decided if there is any point to dismounting the INF. I need to think about that, but I never considered it here. Use emplacements whenever possible. It wasn't in this game, but the modifiers can be the difference. As Iraqis, (sov's in MBA) make sure all units have orders to get CLOSE on contact. I should have dismounted on the hill, but didn't think of it. Remember how much faster the US forces are, and plan accordingly. My clever scheme to flank the US actually just led to the classic mistake of piecemeal commitment of forces. For those interested, the turn consists of three phases, first and third are reinforcement and admin phases, phase II has four rounds, each round having several segments. The order of action is interesting, as US ARY fires, the Opfor moves first, the US shoots (no missles), a simultaneous shoot, where you can use missles (units that shot guns before can shoot again), then the US moves, then Opfor shoots, no missles, then another simul attack, but units shooting before are not eligible to shoot. In between, various other things occur, like helo movement, air support, chem effects, etc. If enough people REALLY want it, I'll try to PDF the card that has the order of actions. The point is that the sequence can dictate your tactics, and lets some US superiority shine through. Using EW might have made a difference, but both sides rolled so badly I doubt it could have been worse. What I think IS needed, is some sort of "burning oil" visibility rule. Of course, that would tend to tilt the game more to the US, so other tinkering might be in order. All in all, a fun, tense game. A play again. Regards, Pat pcollins@prairienet.org Last Played: Air Bridge to Victory (PBEM), Guadalcanal (via www.cincpac.com/ff.html), Desert Victory - 73 Easting In Progress: April's Harvest, Rough Riders http://www.prairienet.org/~pcollins