FRAGO CPX Battle Along the Tziepov AAR

pmaidhof

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Today's CPX was based upon the April 1999 Marine Corps Gazatte's Tactical Decision Game 99-4 Battle Along the Tziepov, by then Major John F. Schmitt USMCR. The general situation was that Blue Forces "(advancing north with the mission of destroying 'Red Forces' en route to an operational objective some 30km north)" and Red Forces "(advancing south) have clashed head to head along the trace of the Tziepov River." The OOB's were essentially as described in the TDG. "Upon contact, in an effort to sieze the initiative, both forces have started shifting forces west, trying to turn the other's flank and establish a bridgehead on the far side of the river."

Map997c

This map is my interpretation of the map features in Tactical Decision Games #99-4 Battle Along the Tziepov, and 99-6 Battle Along the Tziepov Continued authored by then Major John F. Schmitt, USMCR. The TDGs can be found in the April 1999 and June 1999 editions of the Marine Corps Gazette respectively, published by the Marines Corps Association.

http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/PDF/9904.pdf
http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/PDF/9906.pdf


Terrain is as follows:
E0 - Clear
E1 - R1
Towns - Town/R2
Woods - Woods/R2
Orchards - Woods/Clear.


Map997c will be submitted to Paul Csokay for posting on tacopshq.com for future use.

The RedFor Players: Anthony Eischens - 1st Mech Bn (rein), Regt'l AT Battery, Regt'l Reconnaissance Company
Henk Stoffers - CO, 3rd Mech Battalion (rein), Fire Support Coordinator
TimA - T-72M Tank Battalion, Regt'l Anti-Air Battery

2nd Mech Battalion (rein) was planned but went unemployed.

The BluFor Players:
Frank 'Brains' Moody - 1st Battalion (Tank-heavy), Alpha Company 1st LAR (rein)
Bernard Cousin - CO, 2nd Battalion (Mech-heavy)
Brad Leyte - 4th Host Nation Battalion
Matt 'Rattler' Olmer - 5th Host Nation Battalion, Fire Support Coordinator

3rd Battalion (Motorized) was planned but went unemployed.

Neutral Observer: Paul Csokay

Both forces had a battalion of artillery in direct support, 152mm for RedFor and 155mm for BluForrespectively. RedFor also had a 122mm MLR system in DS. Air Support was essentially what comes automatically from the TacOps engine.

Friendly Fog of War was in effect

RedFor consisted mainly of the BMP-2 w/AT-5 Spandrel combo, T-72M tanks, BRDM2 recon, BRDM2-AT, and ZSU-23/4.

USMC BluFor consisted primarily of AAV-7P, M60A3, TOW HMMWV, 81mm Mortar HMMWV, LAV-25, and LAV-AT. The grunts anti-tank weapon was M47 Dragon. Host Nation BluFor consisted of Leo1 tanks, M113 APC, Milan ATGMs. The HN forces also had the only BluFor air defense assets, "Javelin" shoulder launched SAMs.

At the start, both forces start in the extreme eastern corners, RedFor in the NE and BluFor in the SE. For whatever reason BluFor seemed to more out of its assembly area somewhat quicker, although that may have been a function of RedFor be restricted somewhat by bridges to their close proximity west and south.

In what seemed like forever, the two forces advanced toward the two Tziepov crossings at Thorpe Bridge and Fouse Bridge. Red seemed to be feinting toward the closer Thorpe Bridge while sending what appeared to be their main body around through Emamiville and onto the Fouse Bridge. Blue seemed to have a somewhat balanced advance toward the two bridges although there was what appeared to be a slight weighting toward Thorpe Bridge.

Within the firt 8-10 turns as Blue's lead elements were closing on Thorpe a Red Recon-by-Air-Strike on the bridge actually took it, the Umpire Tools/Engineering Bridge, down. Most of us seemed surprised, I for one had not seen that before. An urgent request from Blue asked for bridging support, so I added two M60 AVLB's to the rear of their main force.

Despite my careful placement while viewing the map in terrain analysis mode, Red was experiencing some difficulty crossing some of my bridges, the so-called "pile up routine" taking its effect. In the spirit to keep things flowing I magic-moved some Red, and later some Blue, units that were hung up for what seemed to be inordinate amounts of time at bridge crossings.

In the end, time was our collective main enemy, and after 4+ hours we called it a game. Prior to ending, Blue's Alpha LAR, and 1st Battalion had effectively used artillery and mortar smoke to cover its crossing of a AVLB at the then destroyed Thorpe Bridge site, as well as "concealed" AAV-7 amphibious crossing, and had pushed 1-1.5km north of the crossing before entering in a sharp engagement with Red tanks and BMP's. 4th Host Nation occupied Leon Ridge while Blue 2nd Battalion held the Fouse Bridge site, and even crossed some AAV's across the river and up onto Lafferty Heights. Red units were somewhat non-descript in the scenario so I hope that individual red commander's chime in with who actually did what. It appeared to me that Tony went west-southwest while Tim and Henk went south.

In the shortened end, it appeared that both sides effectively contained each other, although given another hour or so blue may have punched through along Highway 9 toward the Clarkson and Heredia Bridges as Blue seemed to be beginning to take a toll on the Red units. Only time would have told.

Technical Issues:
This was only my second attempt at hosting a Tacops Multiplayer CPX. TacOps did crash three time in the course of the scenario which I'm sure amped up frustration on the part of the players. Despite the first time surprising me, all three I can trace back to using the umpire tools to add a player, change a PIN, Magic-Move a unit, or add something requested. I wanted to try to save each individual players orders that they had already input. It appeared that if I tried to use the tool that pulls in an individual player's orders, in the attempt not to lose them when I send the SitUpdate, if they had not yet "finished" their orders, a fatal error would occur and TacOps would have to close, causing me to have to restart with the last autosave and have everyone rejoin.

The question is that if a Host/Umpire does something that now causes the engine to require a SitUpdate to all players, how does the umpire send the SitUpdate without overwriting player orders, or causing this fatal error when selecting a player who had, according to the "Network Status" not finsished his orders?

One other point was the somewhat slowness of the combat turn. Realizing that the turn does not end at the same time for all computers, overall the turn does not end until everyone's computer completes the turn. Both sides and on the admin channel various people called out to others to ensure that "clicks" vice "animations" were selected for combat resolution, so without inspecting everyone's computer, I can only guess that everyone had selected "clicks".

All in all I enjoyed it. I enjoyed reading the communication and teamwork between players. It was also amazing to see how many unit markers were flowing across the map.

 

pmaidhof

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Here are the BluFor and RedFor orders respectively.

Blue

Situation: During a movement to contact, friendly forces have met a
significant enemy force along the trace of the Tziepov River. Due to
prohibitive terrain to the east, both forces and pushing units to the west
in an effort to flank each other. The Tziepov and its tributaries of
approximately 400m in width. The riverbanks do provide for fording by
amphibious capable units. The terrain is rolling farmland. While there is
good trafficability in the lowlands (clear), higher terrain is considered
slow-go (rough1). Key Terrain in addition to the waterways consists of the
east-west Highway 30 in the south; the east west Highway 18 in the north,
crosses the Middle Brach at Heradia Bridge; the south-north Highway 7 in the
west, crossed the Tziepov at Fouse Bridge. Highway 7A branches of to the
northwest just north of the Tziepov; The south-north Highway 9 in the east,
crosses the Tziepov and the Middle Branch at Thorpe Bridge and Clarkson
Bridge respectively. Lafferty Heights in the west, north of the Tziepov.
Leon Ridge - center map, south of the Tziepov. Towns of Gunnington and
Pageton are along Highway 30 in the south as well as Emamiville along
Highway 18 in the north.

Situation/Enemy: Sensors indicate an unidentified regimental-sized unit
moving west along Highway 18 toward Heradia Bridge. The enemy is equipped
with the T-72-series tank, and BMP-2 APC. Their AT capability generally
that of the AT-5. They are expected to have moderate indirect fire support.

Situation/Friendly: The MEF has dispatched a brigade-sized task force to
locate and exploit the enemy's rightflank. The brigade consists of a tank-
heavy battalion (1st Bn), a mechanized-heavy battalion (2nd Bn), a motorized
infantry battalion (3rd Bn), a reinforced Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR)
Company (Alpha), and two Host Nation (HN) mixed battalions (4th Bn and 5th
Bn, each consisting of two tank companies and two mechanized companies).
The HN battalion are battle-hardened and capable of most basic missions.
The brigade is supported by a battalion of direct support (DS) artillery.
Your USMC forces are equipped with M60A3 tanks, LAV-25/LAV-AT, HMMWV-AT, and
AAV-7 AMTRACs, the HN is equipped with Leopard 1A5 tanks and M113 series
APC's. Your AT weapons consist of TOW, Dragon, and HN Eryx and Milan.


Situation/Friendly/Higher Intent: Move with all due haste west along Highway
30 to secure the bridges in the vicintiy EMAMIVILLE-GUNNINGTON-PAGETON, or
at least deny the those crossing sites to the enemy until relieved.

You forces will enter along Highway 30 in the southeast corner. The lead
unit is the LAR company and the 1st Bn. The remaining forces are staggered
and will appear based upon player availability.



RED

Situation: During a movement to contact, friendly forces have met a
significant enemy force along the trace of the Tziepov River. Due to
prohibitive terrain to the east, both forces are pushing units to the west
in an effort to flank each other. The Tziepov River and its are
approximately 400m in width. The riverbanks do provide for fording by
amphibious capable units. The terrain is rolling farmland. While there is
good trafficability in the lowlands (clear), higher terrain is considered
slow-go (rough1). Key Terrain in addition to the waterways consists of the
east-west Highway 30 in the south; the east west Highway 18 in the north,
crosses the Middle Brach at Heradia Bridge; the south-north Highway 7 in the
west, crossed the Tziepov at Fouse Bridge. Highway 7A branches of to the
northwest just north of the Tziepov; The south-north Highway 9 in the east,
crosses the Tziepov and the Middle Branch at Thorpe Bridge and Clarkson
Bridge respectively. Lafferty Heights in the west, north of the Tziepov.
Leon Ridge - center map, south of the Tziepov. Towns of Gunnington and
Pageton in the south as well as Emamiville in the north.

Situation/Enemy: The enemy has been stopped along the trace of the Tziepov
River. They are equipped with M60 series tanks and marine APC's. They are
expected to have moderate indirect fire support.

Situation/Friendly: Division has dispatched a regimental-sized force to
locate and exploit the enemy's left flank. The regiment consists of a Three
mechanized rifle battalions, a tank battalion, an artillery battalion and
one MLR battery. You have T-72M and BMP-2 IFV's. Your reconnaissance
consists of the regimental reconnaissance company (BMP/BRDM-2). Your AT
missiles are essentially AT-5 and below.


Situation/Friendly/Higher Intent: Move with all due haste west along Highway
18. Attack south to cut Highway 30 vicinity PAGETON-GUNNINGTON.

You forces will enter along Highway 18 in the northeast corner. The lead
unit is the reconnaissance company and the 1st mechanized battalion. The
remaining forces are staggered and will appear based upon player
availability.

Questions?
 
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