[DS] An incomplete AAR :-)

Hello All,

I did not think of doing an "AAR" so I did not keep good notes. Here is what I
remember along with notes of what I believe I should
do different. If I have something wrong Ted please join in :-)

We set up a defense scenario using the boarder raid from the DSII rulebook as
our guide. The table had a couple of hills, two small lakes, about six spots
of forest, and three "urban" areas. The three objective markers where placed
one per urban area. Ted needed to place a ground unit on each of the markers
and then pull at least half of his units off the table.

My force was:
1 HQ Squad (1 HQ vehicle + 1 Area Defense Vehicle)
1 Hvy Tank Platoon 1 Light Tank Platoon
1 Anti-Tank Platoon
1 Size 1 Walker Cadre (4 Walkers) 1 MRL Battery 1 Infantry Platoon

Ted's force (from memory) was: 1 HQ Vehicle
1 VTOL w/HEL/5s
1 MedVac VTOL 1 Area Defense Vehicle 1 Heavy GEV Tank Platoon 2 Med. GEV Tank
Platoons
1 Platoon of Size 1 GEV w/GMLs
2 GEV based Infantry Platoons 1 MRL Battery

Ted made a two pronged attack up the sides of the table. Each prong had a med.
tank platoon and a GEV based Infantry platoon. His heavy tank and small size 1
GEVs went up the right side.

On my left the attack was blunted but at a high cost to me. On my right the
story was different. I was not able to kill enough to stop him. By the end of
turn five he had enough stuff in place that I would not be able to stop him.
We called the game a victory for him.

Thoughts overall: We did not have a turn limit of any kind. The game could go
on for ever if we wanted it to. This made it a war of attrition. I had to kill
two or more elements for each element I lost. And of course I failed to do so.
This could have been avoided with either a) a limit on time or b) the ability
to bring in reinforcements over time.

Another thing is we both took and accepted losses that IMO where greater

then would have been acceptable in most situations. I believe as a pick up
game we both saw everything as expendable. In some cases we fought units down
to 25% or less of their size and still had them move forward. Had this been a
campaign game I do not believe we would have allowed this level of loss
without a pull back. Just an observation.

Now what did I do wrong? The way I see it I did many things wrong. First I did
not continue to hit a unit until it was gone. Thus at the end of the game Ted
had 10 of his starting 11 units left. Now some where down to the last vehicle,
but that did not matter. 10 of his units where still on the table.

I failed to understand how important spotters were to my artillery. I would
use a second battery and more spotters if I was doing this one again.

I would have traded my light tanks and Anti-Tank platoons for more
troops. The 1 platoon I had the 1 walker platoon worked well. They each killed
more then their value in enemy elements.

Last thing I did wrong was once I saw where Ted was going I moved forward to
meet him. I was wrong, I should have waited and let him come to me.

Overall, I believe the game was great. I know Ted and I both enjoyed it.

So that is what I want to finish these notes on. We had fun!

Good to get even an incomplete AAR!

First, VTOL's may not have greater than size-3 weapons (p.14). This may
or may not have had an effect on the game.

In a game like this it is often a race to reach the objectives. If you can
occupy them first (with the correct units), it may be difficult to dislodge
you. This is why there are often extra objective markers placed. Only the
player trying to enter the objective knows which ones are true and which
ones are fake -or- knows which ones are of primary imporatance and which
ones are of minor importance. If both sides are trying to take objectives, it
is sometimes good to have each side roll randomly to determine the importance
of each objective.

The force that you fielded did not seem to be an optimial mix for the game.
But a commander does not always get to choose his forces. Infantry in an urban
area are TOUGH to dislodge.

You are correct, Forward observers would have helped in the game quite a bit.
Artillery is powerful in DS2. Wait for your opponent to move and call a strike
on where it stops. With no command activation, the target cannot move and is
usually swated.

It sounds as if his 2 proged attack led you to split your attack. If he needed
to take all three (of 3) objectives, then concentrating on one arm of the
attack may have been preferable (in part it depends how close the objectives
were to his starting possition).

Did he have to take the objectives with infantry or would any unit work? If
any unit, it would be more difficult, and taking the objectives yourself may
have worked. If it required an infantry unit, then specificially targeting the
APCs (if fire was not drawn by an attack) may have been part of a good
strategy.

I agree. A time limit (actual time or number of turns) is often a good
motivator for a game. It keeps the action going and can force a player to take
chances. In the game you described, you could have had reinforcements arriving
in X number of turns. If Ted's units were not in place by that
time, he would have to try to withdraw with x%+ of his force intact. Or
he could have had reinforcements comming. You would have had to keep him from
taking 2 of the 3 objectives by the time reinforcements arrived and then get
off the board with x% of your forces.

As a defender, you should have had either supperior numbers or been closer to
the objectives. This is a failure I had in the first year I ran the Moonbase
Xi DS2 scenario at GZGECC. The LLAR had to enter a base with infantry, then
get them off the board again. The UN forces were too far away from the base at
the beginning of the game to keep them from stopping the LLAR from entering
the base.

Anyway, just a few thoughts. Feel free to ignore what does not make sense to
you.

-----
Brian Bell bkb@beol.net
http://www.ftsr.org/ds2/
-----

> -----Original Message-----

> lakes, about six spots of forest, and three "urban" areas. The three

> a ground unit on each of the markers and then pull at least half of