Silver Lions campaign (spoiler alert)

[Choowee]

Just a quick debrief of my attempt at Silver Lions.

Campaign ended in decisive defeat for me on the second scenario. I managed to capture Hill 300 and half of the village, but suffered loss of all my armor. What a fight in the village! It got so desperate that I had to call forward the medics and mechanics, but the Russians were too well prepared and dug in, and the support troops lacked heart to be of much help(rightfully so I guess).

In critique of myself, I lost a lot of armor to RPG's by putting myself into easy ambush situations for the Russians. But in my defense I did not think I had enough mech infantry to do the job. Attacking fortified hills and a village in wooded terrain seemed a losing battle from the start due to lack of boots on the ground. The West Germans provided some scout units (who actually fought like "lions" compared to my own troops), but they were needed for the assaults and paid a heavy price. The scouts won all the medals this day though for sure.

I was stripped of command and wish the next leader better luck. I would like to know if anyone else has tried the campaign yet and how did it go? Was anyone able to capture both hills and the village in scenario 2?

 

[Double Deuce]

Thanks for the AAR Choowee. Where you been, haven't seen you around lately in the SP area?

 

[Choowee]

I was in the process of a big move, will finally be done this week and ready to go full time again. The campaign looks great, my command was definately lacking that day and I am interested to see how others are doing.

 

[NickFlynn]

I'm currently playing this campaign. It's pretty fun so far- I like the fact that you are stretched pretty thin by the size/composition of your core force.

The first battle, I ended up with a marginal victory. I was way cautious in my advance down the road to the first village, so I ran out of time before I got all the victory hexes.

Second battle, I escaped with a draw. I attacked the southern hill with E platoon dismounted, with the M1s of D platoon in overwatch. This turned into a bit of a bloodbath, especially on the M113s. Meanwhile , the MP platoon (supported by the Dragon teams) cleared the road into the town, with the M1 of C platoon in overwatch from the big hill in the middle of the deployment area. The MPs managed to infiltrate through the woods and take out the Soviet HQ, but they were shot up fairly badly. I managed to keep my tank losses at a minimum which was nice, but I think I only got the victory hexes on the two hills.

A couple of questions:

Will the "Mechanic" fix a disabled tank during a scenario if I stick him in the same hex and keep fire away from him?

Does the "Medic" have some postive effect on my infantry? How does that work?

One of my West German scouts was holed up in a building overlooking the Soviet mortar positions. I was able to call in fire from the a tank with LOS to the unit, but later I moved the tank. The scout had been sitting unmolested for several turns (at least 4). I put him on the radio to call in another barrage, and the next turn the mortars attacked his hex! Was this an example of EW in action, or did they just finally happen to spot him that turn?

Thanks,
- Nick

 

[Double Deuce]

A couple of questions:

Will the "Mechanic" fix a disabled tank during a scenario if I stick him in the same hex and keep fire away from him?

Does the "Medic" have some postive effect on my infantry? How does that work?

One of my West German scouts was holed up in a building overlooking the Soviet mortar positions. I was able to call in fire from the a tank with LOS to the unit, but later I moved the tank. The scout had been sitting unmolested for several turns (at least 4). I put him on the radio to call in another barrage, and the next turn the mortars attacked his hex! Was this an example of EW in action, or did they just finally happen to spot him that turn?

Thanks,
- Nick

Glad you are enjoying it. This was my 1st one with the new WinSPMBT engine so its not as balanced as I would have liked it. Made some newbie design mistakes that could only be fixed by complete redoing of the campaign. :OHNO:

The "Mechanics" and "Medics" are only there to show their presence as part of the unit. They can move, shoot and communicate like any other combat unit BUT have no special abilities. Another reason I wanted to include the medics was because our actual medic during that time frame I later met here as a member of these boards (20 years later). He is the leader for the F1 Medic unit (although he wasn't a Corporal at the time). Can you guess who that is?

Most of the other leaders are actual as well, at least the ones I could remember. Those I couldn't remember for sure I replaced with leaders from my last unit in the early 90's. I even put myself back in the turret of D-22 so try not to get me killed would ya.

All in all it was more a trip down memory lane than anything. It really made the work well worth it and very enjoyable. At some point I would like to do some using all the units I was part of but that might take some time.

As for the WG Scouts, it may have just been lucky spotting. I doubt the Soviet units in that scenario had EW equipment to detect them otherwise.

 

[NickFlynn]

Thanks for the feedback, and the good campaign. I'll try to keep you from being shot up in Scenario 3.

The "EW" spotting thing was uncanny - it seemed like the moment the scout keyed the radio for the artillery strike, he was in a world of hurt.

If you are sitting around bored, update the Mexican Drug War campaign *grin*

- Nick

 

[NickFlynn]

Finished Scenario 3 (Rescue the Turkish workers) tonight. My best performance so far, decisive victory (1600 to 150). I only lost one APC (scout ambush), unfortunately with a mech squad and Dragon team onboard. Two of the support scout squads got shot up a little bit, but stayed in the game.

Fun scenario, maybe a little on the easy side - I'm not really very good, so...

The next one, a blocking action, looks promising - nice map.

- Nick

 

[NickFlynn]

Scenario 4 - complete rout for the Yanks. The game was over in 10 turns and my only losses were two support scout sections. I had the M1s on the high ground in the center of the map, and the Russians attacked piecemeal, allowing me to snipe at will. There was one really heroic bit - a support scout section and M113 held up an entire motorized platoon at one of the wooden bridges for 3 turns without any support. The scout section eventually was overrun, but not before taking out two infantry squads and an APC.

- Nick

 

[NickFlynn]

Scenario 5:

Perhaps I was getting a little cocky, because I ended up getting my ass handed to me on a plate by Ivan. The computer ended the battle early (turn 19?) but it was pretty reasonable because I was shot up pretty badly. I think I had about 2 M1s and two APCs left at that point. The missiles did most of the damage, but the Russian infantry got their share too. I thought I did a reasonably thurough job of smoking everything up, but it turns out I didn't. I ended up with a draw, but that was a gift - I had a lot of victory hexes, but the losses were heavy.

At least I get to continue on - one more screw up like that, and I'll be relieved of command for sure.

I saved the game before the battle, so I think I'll replay this sometime and see if I can figure out how to avoid those missles. (I'd love to hear some ideas about how to attack against infantry with a lot of covering anti-tank missiles.)

- Niick

 

[NickFlynn]

Scenario 5 (replay):

A lot more smoke, a better line of approach, better use of infantry for spotting purposes (plus the obvious intel advantages of having played the scenario before) resulted in a decisive victory for the good guys.

I managed to secure both intersections and the three hills before the north/south road. I ran out time before I could assault the hill to the east, but I guess I piled up enough points for the win. The French engineers, supported by a Dragon team did a bang up job on the north crossroads. They captured it and held it against an APC counter attack. Flamethrowers and satchels charges did a number on the BMPs.

Oh, yeah, embarrassing admission - I have referred to my tanks as M1s throughout this thread - I think they are M-60 Pattons with thermal sights. I just assumed they were M1s. Doh!

- Nick

 

[NickFlynn]

Scenario 6 (This is continued from the scenario 5 where I got my butt kicked)

This is a fighting withdrawl along a road towards new positions. There were some cavalry scout support units and two mortars. My force was down three tanks and the F0 unit (not enough repair points from the last disaster.)

Cautious advance down the road with dismounted infantry scouting the fields on either side of the road. We were able to detect the ambush ahead, and attack it methodically. Ended up losing one APC and one jeep to a missile team, and unfortunately a tank to RPG fire. Other than that, losses were light. Meanwhile the cavalry scouts worked their way down the road to my position. With the road secured, we made a mad dash on the last three turns for the victory hexes (located at the far end of the road). Didn't get to them all, but enough to ensure a margninal victory.

Got enough victory points to rebuild the lost tank and one of the ones previously lost, so I go onto the next scenario with one platoon at half strenght. It's the same attack scenario that you go to if you win Scenario 5.

- Nick

 

[NickFlynn]

Scenario 7

The scenario is an advance on the Russians. I managed to secure the main north/south road, and advance up onto the large hill in the the SE area of the map. I didn't get all the victory hexes, but on the other hand, my losses were fairly light. I lost two support units (1 Marder w/infantry squad, and one Panhard armored car. Core force losses were two M60s and an APC w/infantry squad on board (all to missile fire) and also one of my Dragon teams went away when an artillery round hit the jeep he was riding in.

Fun battle - I think I'm getting smarter about keeping my tanks alive in a missile rich environment.

- Nick

 

[Mustang19]

This is probably my second favorite WinSPMBT campaign. Too many campaigns focus on infantry, but this one puts you in the very interesting position of commanding obsolete armor against a well-designed defence.

I played through the whole campaign without cheating (meaning replaying missions) except for scenario 5 (which I won but lost my HQ) and the very last one (those T-62s in the south had good enfilade positions). The secret is to concentrate your forces and put your cheap jeeps and trucks up front to draw fire from RPGs, use up their shots, and give away their position. I concentrated in one spot and ran like hell toward the enemy, and although I always took heavy losses, I always won except for one draw (on mission 2) and one minor defeat (mission 3, IIRC, I held the objectives but lost almost all my expensive armor).

There were some bugs, but most of them where minor. In one of the scenarios, you do a rearguard/retreat action, and all you have to do is avoid taking the victory objectives until the last turn so that the AI dosen't charge at you. On Mission 2, one of the German scout units is invincible to fire and never gets shot at. But I still had plenty of fun, and every single map was a tactical challenge that needed a clever plan to overcome. These are the best kind of campaigns, the ones that make you use your head.

 

[Double Deuce]

There were some bugs, but most of them where minor. In one of the scenarios, you do a rearguard/retreat action, and all you have to do is avoid taking the victory objectives until the last turn so that the AI dosen't charge at you. On Mission 2, one of the German scout units is invincible to fire and never gets shot at. But I still had plenty of fun, and every single map was a tactical challenge that needed a clever plan to overcome. These are the best kind of campaigns, the ones that make you use your head.

Maybe I should have had you help playtest.