PBEM Dawns First Light

[Ardi]

Hello all! I've bought this awesome game couple months ago, right after it was released on Steam and after I've greatly enjoyed it, I gifted another copy to my friend, who was also into Cold War era. A week ago we finally managed to play against each other, and I was ultimately crushed in "Rhino" scenario. So for the next game I picked Dawns First Light (neither me nor my opponent played it before, so it was making things interesting), and also decided to try and write an AAR on it, since there seems to be a lack of them in this forum.

So I've started as American commander. For those unfamiliar with scenario, my starting forces were 1 Mechanised Battalion, 2 Engineer companies and M109 Battery. As for reinforcements, in 40 minutes I would recieve heavy artillery battery of M110, and in 1.5-2 hours I would get 2 companies of M1A1 with Chapparal AA battery and another M109 battery. Another two companies of mechanised infantry are to arrive in 3:40 and 5 hours respectively. Also in 4 hours I would recieve air support of A-10 section.

Info on Soviet forces was very brief and uncertain. There was only 40th Tank Regiment which was mentioned in particular, so I didn't know what to expect exactly. Thus I was preparing to face any composition, though I expected it to be tank-heavy.

So this was my initial deployment.

Red crosses - planned bridge destructions (ideally).
Orange crosses - initial minefield deployement by M109 battery.
Since 2 shorthest roads as well as area with minimum water obstacles was in the south (and also there were most of the objectives), I decided to put there main force, which is 1st Mechanised Battalion. From my experience I've learned the power of artillery, and presuming that its amount in Soviet force will be high, I spreaded my forces a bit, creating a little depth in my defence. Also I put there all my mines.

Company C though was put a bit to the north, to blow 3 bridges in Schlierbach. A risky task, but I hoped that hill on the right bank will cover them. Also I wanted to slow down Soviet advance as heavily as possible, so decided to blow up as much bridges as possible, leaving only 2 bridges over Richerbach (long river in the middle of the map), so I could bring my reinforcements in, if necessary.

One of the engineer companies was placed in the northern flank in Babenhausen. I considered this route as unfavorable to Soviets and did not expect big attack there. In case there will be no Soviet elements, this company could perform counterattack to the south, or to retreat to Munster by the northern bank of the Gersprenz (river flowing trough Munster).

[Ardi]

11:29

The first minutes were kinda surprising for us both. My opponent understood this scenario from its description as meeting engagement like "Rhino" scenario, and didn't expected to meet my forces so soon. On the other side, though I expected some Hinds, I didn't think that their numbers will be this overwhelming. But since I know, that Vulcan work effectively only on the distance of 1-1.5 km, I put them a bit behind, so they won't be seen and picked up from distance, instead they would be able to shoot at helos passing by them (I expected my opponent to send them deeper in my rear and was not mistaken).

Also, since Soviets did not expect to face oppression so soon, they suffered heavy losses from mines, ATGMs and artillery. On the northern road they lost around 20 tanks and another 10 - on the southern one.

And there was quite lucky thing for me - my arty on FSCC managed to hit (I suppose) Soviet HQ, since I was able to do 2 turns in a row.

[Ardi]

11:57 (south)

Soviets managed to clear first line of obstacles and to spread a bit, but lost around 10-15 tanks and couple of Tunguskas in the process.

Also I've decided to move M150 Platoon a bit to the side and on the highground, so they'll have bigger area of fire.

[Ardi]

11:57 (north)

On the northern flank the main battle against helicopter swarm happened. C Company lost half of their vehicles as well as personnel, all M150 ATGMs, all Vulcans and almost all headquarters. Some other units suffered losses as well. But my IFVs and Vulcans performed surprisingly well - around 15 Hinds were shot down. Some of the remaining retreated and some pushed further to find my artillery. They succeded in it, but by constant manuevering my M109s managed to escape attack and didn't lost any pieces.

Also M110s entered the field and landed some successful shots.

Offtop: I've managed to embed pictures in the first three posts sucessfully, but now this matrix antispam thing preventing me from doing so.

[Ardi]

12:47

On the southern flank my infantry suffered significant losses, mostly from artillery fire, and was pushed back a bit. After it I lost almost any vision of Doviet troops in that area. On the north C company continued to lose men, but in return at least one Soviet motorized rifle company was wiped out by the American artillery fire. Also I hit some Soviet artillery by counterbattery, destroying 4 pieces.

Also I recieved reinforcements of 2 tank companies of M1A1, couple of AA platoons and the last artillery battery. I decided to place one company within battle formations of A and B Companies, and second one - on the several highgrounds behind the positions of C Company.

Hind section in my rear found the M109 artillery battery again, as well as my main headquarters. Since even whole tank company with support of Chapparals couldn't drive them away, I've prepared to suffer significant losses from enemy artillery.

[Ardi]

13:01-16:04

Actually a stalemate. I lost just a couple of M109s to artillery fire, and destroyed whole Gvozika's battery in return. During this silent period I was forming my defence line, but it appeared that I heavily underestimated the Hinds' ATGM power. 1 Abrams platoon was completely destroyed in like 20 minutes after giving away their position by firing at Soviet tanks in the opposite forest. Chapparal fire was ineffective at this distance, and 1 of them was lost to artillery fire.

On the south Hinds alwost completely wrecked AT platoon. Some Soviet tanks pushed back my infantry, but but suffered losses as well. Also I've attempted to do A-10 attack on the forest, but unsucsessfully, and 1 plane was shot down by SA-11. My arty and M1A1 though claimed a few vehicles.

[Ardi]

17:20

Soviets gained some success. Hinds flawlessly destroyed another M1A1 platoon and severely damaged another one. Chapparals didn't managed to hit even once, and all went down to Soviet arty. Yet they were avenged by M110s destroying another Soviet battery. My arty, though its recieved some counter-battery fire, was well protected by the buildings in Münster.

Also my brave C company, which bravely fought in Schlierbach, was completely destroyed. But they did their job. There was already made a second line of defence on the banks of Kleestädterbach, and another one was formed on Richerbach by the reinforcing forces, so the northern flank was still safe.

On the south Soviets, suffering from artillery dire, still pushed with their tanks through the woods. On the far north there were some recon engagements, where both sides suffered minor losses.

[Ardi]

Note: Antispam again prevents me from uploading screens, so I'll do it as soon as possible.

17:47

Actually it was the last turn. Soviets tried to push with the remnants of their force, consisting of two tank companies supported by motorised rifle company, but one tank company was wiped out just in a few minutes by concentrated fire of M1A1s, M150s and M2A2s, destroying only 1 Abrams in return. Other elements suffered losses as well, and after that my opponent surrendered.

Conclusion: unfortunately, this game was decided at the start due to my opponent's miscalulation. But since I didn't play this scenario before as well, I was preparing myself to anything and stayed focused till the end. Even in this unfortunate course of events Hinds still proved themself tremendously powerful, and if I played against more experienced Soviet opponent in this scenario, it would be extremely hard to stop 30 Hinds just with few Vulcan and one Chapparal batteries. Though if Hinds are somehow dealt with, Soviet ground forces are not that scary in this scenario, due to the amount of good defensive positions and quite low number (well, for Soviets). Also American artillery in this scenario is like five times more powerful than their Soviet counterparts.

So then, I'll make a few posts and try to make next AAR better by picking a more interesting game and without any delays due to matrix anti-spam.

[Mad Russian]

Concerning the distance, direction and timing of contact between forces in the scenarios, your friend was right. This was a Meeting Engagement(ME). And he met you. What he should have considered is that very few of my ME's are set with forces on the map edges with you having to move to contact across the entire map. And Meeting can occur at almost any time or place on the map.

Most sides have recon elements added their forces. It is always smart to lead with those to minimize surprises. Just as in real life. I'm glad the scenario played well for you.

Good Hunting.

MR