Turn #5
... and the rest of my Merkava Tank Coy is released, those that were not fired upon yet. Also, a couple of platoons of Arm'd Infantry becomes available, and I am rushing them towards the Syrian special forces who are threatening to cut my supply route towards the front.
Battle for the Rawia Vital Ground
There was some indirect fire shelling hitting the area, obviously plotted by the commandos. I lose an M3 Mortar vehicle to them (the wreck marker on the map), and as they are now under low Combat Efficiency status (Out of Ammo symbol showing), they need to resupply and regroup before returning to firing missions. I drive them out of LOS of Syrians so they'd be safe against further casualties from Syrian shelling.
At the same time, I am swinging my Merkava's towards the Syrian armored push, but not before they've released an HE barrage towards Syrian commandos. Here's the end-of-turn situation at my rear, with Contours ON, showing the height differences in the area:
Front Sector / South
Meanwhile, the situation at the front sector is becoming critical. The Syrian artillery and T-72s keep shelling my forward positions, and I lose an ATGM SP to them, while the remaining squad (2SP) becomes Disrupted. They recover in time for my turn, so time to return the favours! With no APCs nor AA assets in range anymore, it is time to start hitting those Syrian Engineering AFVs, to keep them from removing the minefields and blocks.
In 2D, the terrain markers show only a Block, when there might be a minefield in the same hex too. The minefield becomes visible, once the block is first removed. So either assume all blocks are mined, or click at the hex, and check the Hex Info Box information, for it tells not only the minefield too, but its strength while at it as well. No need to be guessing should you just check them out one by one.
As the ATGM teams done their damage, there's still a Syrian Engineering AFV in the south. There's a Syrian what seems a MANPAD team next to it, so time to hit 'F3' to bring up Arkady's Unit Viewer, and to find it under the Syrian OOB, to see its range.
Just to make sure I identified the Syrian unit properly, I hit 'Ctrl+i' to display 2D Unit icons, then switch back to NATO icons with another 'Ctrl+i.
MANPAD team it is. Helos are a Soft target by the way. 12 hexes it is, and just outside their range my Cobras swing in firing a salvo of ATGMs at the Syrian AFVs, causing some kills for the first time in the scenario.
Helos are good for four Missiled attacks before they need to return to their HQ to resupply. One more mission left with them, then.
Having completed their attack, I swing the other Cobra to High altitude, and send it to spot on the Syrian commandos who've gone hiding. No way I am sending any ground vehicles their way blind! The other Cobra swings to south to return for some serious Syrian helo hunting.
Front Sector / North
To the North, the Syrian armored forces are breaking out to the north. They've built a bridge over the anti-tank ditch there, with their bridge-laying vehicles. I need to do something, so I swing in two sections of Jeeps armed with ATGMs to hit at their rear.
The cat and the mouse game in this modern battle field then swings against me. I lose the other Jeep section upon the approach to Syrian Op Fire, I hit at their Engineering AFV platoon, but when retreating back to cover another op fire salvo destroys the remaining two! The hunter became hunted, and did not live to tell about it.
Here's the end-of-turn situation at the Northern edge of my front sector, showing the break-away Syrian battle group, and my remaining Jeep ATGM section, celebrating their successful fire mission on those Syrian Engineering AFVs (wreck marker), just seconds before being killed-in-action while scooting back towards the orchards for security:
Visible is the remaining Syrian Engineering AFV. It is Disrupted, I hope it does not recover by the beginning of Syrian turn, so the block would stay in the road. There's no minefield there, so it is a hindrance at best, but since it is targeted by my ATGM teams I very much like all vehicles having problems by-passing the sector.
End Turn Statistics
At the end of turn #5 the losses are accumulating, with friendly casualties beginning to stack up too.
The score is at -149, with the Syrian armored battlegroup determined to capture the Objectives upon my supply route...
Over to Warhorse, for turn 6!
