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For the next battle, I am back to being the British.

Here is a look at the VP locations

A look at the Soviet forces

The approaches for the Soviets

Soviet option 1

Soviet Option 2

Final soviet option

Ready for another great AAR!

If I were the Soviets, I'd choose Option 3.

WP usually have more units, and if you bunch up your forces too much you get blasted by artillery and airstrikes. Furthermore, NATO quality superiority is usually a given, so by focusing on a single attack vector allows NATO to set up a killzone that can decimate your forces while you are unable to leverage your numbers.

There is also another factor in favor of a push north of Melle: the high hill there is a superb spotting and sniping place. I'd do my best to set up shop there with some scout unit and maybe some AD and ATGM. From there you can both rain fire on the town and on the whole middle-northern part of the map.

In the south there is another geographical feature of some importance: the southeastern hill from which you can fire on everything that tries to cross the river and the town of Schlachten. I'd surely try to sneak a unit (maybe an expendable Mech Infantry one) there by hugging the southern edge of the central hill, then run toward Schlachten and set up a reverse slope defense there.

This way you will force NATO to spread up its forces, and you should still have some reserve with which exploit the most favorable front, as per Soviet doctrine. Probably it will end up joining the very, very likely melee in Melle, but a Tank Company or two could tip the scales at Schlachten or north of Melle, allowing for an armored offensive in NATO backfield.

I always try to reach the NATO backfield and hunt their guns because I'm very very wary of their artillery: their command cycle is so fast they usually fire twice as many times as my artillery, and counterbattery fire never seems to work for me...

Now, the WP helos... I don't know. I'm always conflicted about their use: if you send them forward, NATO can take some early casualities and slow its advance, giving you time to move forward and snatch some strategic position. Waiting for the enemy from prepared defenses and ambush position is a potentially game-winning strategy. This tactic, however, almost guarantees you will lose your helos early, so no "flying reserve" if the enemy manages to surprise you during the middle-late game...

Stucco,

Thanks for these thoughts. I will try to counter them as I plan the Brit defence.

Here is what I have to work with.

Good luck with the Abbots...
If they're the same mob from 'A Thin Tan Line' they should be Court Martialled or shot.

I have to admit I'm not sure what is off with those guns and unfortunately I've had zero time to go back and dig with all of the work on Southern Storm. Jeff is reworking a majority of the Arty/FSCC code and we want to do some major refactoring of the combat routines to better isolate the various engagements in their own "module of code" so we can better isolate any bugs/tweaks in the future and also make it easier to add new functionality in an area without tripping over spaghetti code of the more unitary module we have in RS. [8D]

Well, you can complaint how ineffective these Abbots are. As two time WP PBEM player on this map, I have to complaint "Where is my arty?!" .[8D]

I am slowly setting this scenario up too. I'm interested in what you do with the initial British forces and how you are setting them up. My current plan is to make two mixed battlegroups with one deploying in Melle and the other in the woods to the southwest of Melle. My Recon troops would then try to blow the bridges southeast of Melle and then retreat. Thoroughly enjoy reading your AAR's! they are very informative.

ORIGINAL: booboo130

I am slowly setting this scenario up too. I'm interested in what you do with the initial British forces and how you are setting them up. My current plan is to make two mixed battlegroups with one deploying in Melle and the other in the woods to the southwest of Melle. My Recon troops would then try to blow the bridges southeast of Melle and then retreat. Thoroughly enjoy reading your AAR's! they are very informative.

Yeah, Mike's AARs are amazing.