The Green Team is still consolidating the beachhead and preparing to advance toward Riverfork when the OPFOR reacts more vigorously to a mistake I made during turn 11 (Figure 1).
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| Figure 1 - OPFOR reaction |
The bulk of my Infantry is arrayed in a North-South line along the railway line waiting for the arrival of the artillery. I was too hasty in placing a regular Infantry in the village closer to the OPFOR's position. During the AI's turn the heavy artillery fired on it prior to the Heavy Infantry and AT halftrack's attack. I think I was very fortunate that the attackers did not deploy in a way to enable flanking bonus.
FA/A Battery responds to this counterattack by inflicting three points of damage on the GMC. Cav/B Sqdn moves to cover the other batteries advance and attacks a damaged U.S. Recruits that had been hiding in the jungle after being pummeled by 1/D Coy during t urn 7. The Infantry attacked by the AI retreats behind our lines and is still capable enough to dispatch the Recruits.
I again took the opportunity to illustrate how tanks are not the uber-weapon some seem to claim. True that the auxiliary M3 Stuart is an inexperienced light tank but the prognosis promises losses that I feel are unacceptable. Tanks are useful and excel in mopping up heavily damaged units that retreated after combat but are easily countered by AT weapons.
Figure 2 gives an overview of what is happening at the start of turn 13. My artillery park is gathered at the northern Depot and is starting to show some wear. They will still fire at the OPFOR's Heavy Infantry but they will then need to rest. The auxiliaries are still covering the river crossing where it reaches the bay. The three infantries south of the jungle clump are in need of repair and rest before they resume operations.
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| Figure 2 - Calm before the storm |
And then there's a flurry of activity as per Figure 3. Cav/B Sqdn moves to provide flanking support to the northernmost Marine's attack on the OPFOR's Heavy Infantry and then delivers the coup-de-grace. Eng/A Coy leapfrogs the front line to reveal a minefield. Eng/C Coy advances to contact with the AA Gun revealing another minefield. The Marine garrisoning the village is the next to advance and also attacks the AA Gun prompting its retreat. To conclude the assault the regular Infantry takes the town, destroys the AA Gun and is poised to attack the towed AT Gun in the next turn.
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| Figure 3 - Towards Riverfork |
Figure 4 illustrates land mine sweeping. Each minefield yields the same 387 XP as the naval minefields in the bay. Note that FA/A Bty is already moving forward to assist and that it remains outside the OPFOR's artillery range.
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| Figure 4 - Land minesweeping |
Figure 5 is a demonstration of the Heavy Infantry's ability to emulate an artillery unit by conducting mortar attacks.
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| Figure 5 - Heavy Infantry mortar fire |
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