Combat Mission - Black Sea : Ukrainian Civil War, Part 1

You read that title correctly! We're going back to Combat Mission, but this time, we will be in the Black Sea!

Both my brother and I chose Ukraine as our faction, so we're having a bit of a civil war here. Equally interestingly, we are fighting it out on what seems to be the same map as we met on so long ago, in Combat Mission Red Storm. We'll see how that turns out with modern equipment involved.

The area we will be contesting

As usual, here's my little analysis of the situation :

Mission - seize North and South of village against enemy attempting same.

Enemy - Unknown composition, probably approx. 2 Coy + to a Battalion of Mech Inf in size

Troops - 2 Mechanized infantry companies with Battalion command, augmented with Fast Air, one BM Oplot under Battalion and one SP149 Shturm under B Coy.

Terrain :

Observation and Fields of Fire - Many open fields provide optimal engagement areas on the flanks. Line of sight broken by intermittent woods, as well as the village itself. Terrain generally means that crossing the East-West road will put our maneuver elements in vulnerable positions. The flat nature of the area make every wooded position a potential firing position for covering the surrounding fields.

Cover and Concealment - The Village itself and the small farm to the East provide the only real hard cover, with woods providing a degree of cover and concealment. An approach up the centre should be largely concealed, as well as pressing up onto the West flank to the woods just short of the road. The East flank is largely open, and cover in the farm should be exploited to control that avenue.

Obstacles - the major obstacle to movement is the centre of the village, which will impede safe armoured passage, but provide optimal positions for infantry to occupy defensively. These positions, if seized by the enemy, can be reduced by vehicles well clear of their danger zone. They will restrict movement from one flank to the other once we are engaged between the North and South Village.

Key Terrain - KT 1 : North Village, KT 2 : South Village, KT 3 : East Farm, KT 4 : West Woodline KT 5 : Wooded Approach into South Village. These will be prioritized on the advance.

Avenues of Approach : East side is exposed to our troops and the enemy's - I expect little movement there except for swift flanking attacks, which can be controlled. Centre is covered and an obstacle to safe vehicle movement, but the buildings and the woods entering South Village provide a covered and concealed approach for light elements. West approach has enough woods to break up long lines of sight, but also open avenues for vehicles. I expect decisive maneuvers to be performed there.

My annotated map - a confused jumble by design. If the enemy find it, I'll be able to kill them before they can glean any useful intel from it!

Time - 1 hour to decide control of the Village

Civilian Considerations - Civilians have been evacuated, civilian considerations nil.

The battle will begin shortly, and for a change, I will be trying to get video rather than or alongside photos! Stay tuned to see how that works out...

Fourth Battletech Battle!

Wow, I sure am getting plenty of mileage out of this particular game!

Once again, my brother and I lined up for our weekend Battletech battle. This time, we would have 85 tons in an urban environment.

Thanks to the handy Mech Factory app for Android (and maybe other platforms? I have no idea), I am using my new Hatchetman variant, named "Hot Rod" for the flames I painted on around its waist.

Assuming Mech Factory keeps me within the rules properly, he should be legal... I say should be because I still haven't managed to struggle through the long rules on unit creation in the Tech Manual, so I'm leaving it fully up to the app to regulate me.

Here are the combatants on their field of battle, an unnamed urban area in the Inner Sphere. On the left are Lizbeth and I, in a Jenner and my Hatchetman,  on the right my brother's recon Lance, a Dervish and a Spider.

The Lances converge rapidly, since all 'Mechs are fairly light (I stripped a lot off my Hatchetman to pin on some extra speed and jump jets, since mobility was always my complaint regarding it). The Spider performs a daring move (not least because we are still learning the related rules), jumping over my Lance and perching on a building to spot for a volley of LRMs from the Dervish, which has found its own place atop a small building.

Failure of the volley sees the Spider pounded by the Jenner. The Spider shifts its goal from spotting to tangling one on one.

Unable to resist, I order a Death from Above from both my 'Mechwarriors.

That said, perhaps I should have resisted... Both miss, and when my Hatchetman slams into the roof beside the Dervish, the building collapses under them!

All downed 'Mechs scramble to their feet, and the Dervish makes another spotted LRM shot at the Jenner as well as firing on the Hatchetman. The LRMs fall short again, but its direct fire tear off the left torso (and by extension, the left arm) of the Hatchetman!

On its return shot, the Hatchetman's own small lasers find a weak point, melting away armur and ferro-fibrous bone to detonate the LRM ammunition in the Dervish! Simultaneously, the Spider receives a lucky gyro hit, falling to the roof beneath it to be kicked to death by the Jenner.

Another great game, but I'm afraid my brother will stop playing with me at this rate! Crafty guy that he is, though, he is already talking about making up some custom 'Mech designs of his own. To complement that ambition, next game, we will be taking the timeline forward!

Welcome the Clans to the battlefield next time in the Dark Ages!