[GZG] GZG ECC XII: Saturday Afternoon AAR

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Players
Ron Leonard - ESU 57th Division
Tom Ball - ESU 57th Division
Kevin Chase - NAC/NSL
Randy Stoda - NAC/NSL
Bob Makowsky - ESU 57th Division
Mystery Player 6 - NAC/NSL
(Anyone knows who was who a bit more precisely - I know by face, but I'm
bad
with names - please clue me in....)

Rules: DS3 (the bits I understand so far.... with help from John L)

ESU Forces 4 Groups of:
1 AD element - AA sensor platform vehicle, AA artillery 2 x HEL
1 tracked MBT element - 3 x MBT Size 3, HKP/3
1 tracked APC element - 3 x APC Size 3, GMS/L, RFAC/1
3 infantry elements (57th Combined Division) ALSO:
4 Coastal Defense Turrets (size class 7, armour 8, HVC/5, HEL/2)

NAC forces:
2 wheeled APC elements - 4 x HMW APC, GMS, RFAC/1
1 wheeled FSV element - 3 x HMW FSV, HKP/3
1 wheeled AA element - 2 x HMW AA platform, 2 x HEL/2
1 wheeled TD element = 2 x HMW AT, dual GMS/L
8 infantry elements (Royal Scots Borderers) 1 boxcar 'battle taxi' VTOL
element = 4 x VTOL, unarmed 4 airmobile infantry (Parachute Regiment)

NSL forces:
2 GEV MBT elements - 4x size 3 light GEV MBT, HKP/4
2 GEV APC elements - 4x size 3 light GEV APC, DFFG/1
1 GEV AG element - 4x size 3 light GEV AG, MDC/5
1 GEV scout (hoverjeep) element - 4x size 1 jeeplet, AGL
4 KSK Special Operations infantry elements 8 Panzergrenadier hardshell
infantry elements

Later reinforcements:
1 x Stilleto VTOL (helo) - size 3, stealth 2, gunship with GMS\L and
RFAC\1

Initial setup: City in mid board. ESU side has cultivated fields on their
board edge. Sides have hills, swamps, etc. NSL side (waterfront) has beech and
water as well as some islands. Board is 6x6, 6x4 is land, 6x2 is water. ESU
starts in city and around key targets, NSL comes in over water, NAC comes in
from one end or the other (their choice) on land. ESU forces split up and
hidden.

ESU defensive objectives: 1) power plant 2) local chairman and his cronies
(ah, politics) (near gov't center) 3) starport (source of supply and denial of
same to enemy) 4) local comms facility and hospital

NAC offensive objectives: 1) power plant 2) starport 3) government center 4)
comms center

Initial attack: NSL hover tanks lead the way, meeting nasty fire from the
coastal defense batteries and some ESU tanks. Players first encounter with
firefight mechanics. NSL platoon more or less destroyed without ESU losing a
tower (their armour bounced several hits).

NSL regroups at one board end, with the heavy hitter MDC/5 assault guns
behind an island midway down the board. NAC pours on from the beachward
corner of one side and heads for the first objective - the starport.
NAC/NSL
forces finally destroy the coastal defense tower near the NAC entry point to
allow them a bit of peace.

This time, the attack uses cover of trees and hills reasonably well and gets
to the edge of the starport before a major furball breaks out, with infantry
APCs and tanks from the ESU revealing to engage.

NAC VTOL joins the fray, flying NOE and eventually being crippled by enemy
tank and GMS fire, landing near starport field. (no SAR bird unfortunately).
NAC continues push into starport field, firing past parked ships to destroy
ESU APCs and tanks. Air def units on both sides employed against enemy ground
units.

NSL tank destroyers join firefight against coastal defence towers with the
help from a few NAC vehicles. Eventually, 3 out of 4 coastal defense towers
are destroyed by continued fire. MDC/5 eventually proves its worth, but
it costs the NSL half that unit and the other half's morale is shattered.

This does, however, clear the way for the final push into the starport.
Boxcars land troops on the ESU side of the starport ready to move on it then
on to the power plant. APCs deploy troops all across the starport to clean it
out then move towards the power plant and the front of the urban area with the
government offices and local chairman's neighborhood.

By the end of the slot, everyone had seen the firefight mechanics. The ESU was
a bit bored due to having well setup static defense. Until late in the
game, only about 1/3rd of their units needed to activate. The NAC and
NSL were bogged by the coastal towers and no real safe axis of advance. The
towers held out longer than I (ref) expected. I'd have dropped their armour
a level next time - probably shorten their life by a turn.

At the end, the NAC had captured the starport, and blown apart two elements
of enemy APCs and an element of tanks as well as 3/4 of the defensive
towers. But most of the ESU tank forces had not engaged, the main NSL tank
forces were reduced to one unit of MBTs and the NAC only had 3 FSVs which
weren't as good as tanks.

The NAC had lost some vehicles and guys and their first VTOL (two more could
have arrived). They would have been in a position to fight the ESU for the
power plant and consider an attack into the city, but the ESU infantry was
largely intact and would have made the city and powerplant fights challenging
as would the ESU tank forces.

ESU reinforcements, which I didn't provide but had planned, would probably
have driven the NAC/NSL back out, given their previous losses and the
strong ESU grav tanks coming (and a VTOL with some PA) unless the NAC got some
additional reinforcements fast dropped to the starport field.

There is some feedback for the DS3 development team I will be providing. I
hope the players could see the potential for DS3 as a bit more interesting
model of this sort of combat than DS2, now long in the tooth. The dual 15
min/20 second timescale takes some getting used to and players have to
be able to elect when to pursue or break off firefights, but the feel is good
to me - we played 60 minutes of in-game time in 4 hours. Without the
explanation and with some more experience and more of the fast play rules,
we probably could have reached a resolution on 2nds/3rd objectives in
the 4 hours.

Overall, I think the ESU did the right thing in structuring their dispersed
defense for mutual support. The NAC did well at using cover once they realized
how vital that was and they used combined activations well to get multiple
elements in position for the next firefight to start. The NSL helped a lot by
crushing the towers, even if it did cost them a lot of armour.

If you read the link's historical background, the 57th combined division of
the ESU under the pole Padowski held out like blazes for seventy days. The
fight over Nottingham/Grunwald relfects this - the NAC and NSL may have
taken and held one objective, or may have been pushed out by powerful ESU
reinforcements. In the long run, the NAC and NSL would be able to dump enough
resources at the problem to win, but it would be long and slow and
the ESU would make the NSL/NAC alliance pay for every inch.

Just like in the future history.

TomB