We continue watching Douglas and David play Assault the 1983 detailed tactical sim of 80’s warfare.

Scenario 11 AAR – Turn 3-4

After crossing open ground the Soviet assault slows down a bit as the T-80s and BMPs deploy. Up north, most of the tanks appear to shift to the center of the map after running up against the abatis and some mines on the northern edge of the map. Down south David pushes fast to get his forces into the woodline on the ridge and on the south map edge. During T3 Airmobile React Phase I try to scuttle about with my PAH-1 I’d pushed forward, only to have him shot down by an SA-13 David had deployed the previous turn. That would be doing recon the “hard way”. That PAH-1 had a full load of missiles on him, so it was painful. Note also that the Germans are using artillery-delivered chem smoke to provide friendly forces some cover toward the south edge. The German infantry can spot and fire missile ammo (Milan missiles, presumably) through chem smoke, so I wanted to see how it might work as cover. German helos continue to do spotting pop ups from behind the line.

During Turn 4 David continues to cautiously advance in the south, with a company of Soviet infantry dismounting and preparing to push forward to try to find the obstacle lines and cover the work of the Soviet engineer platoon. Those engineers are extremely valuable since they can clear abatis hexsides. In close terrain with obstacles, the infantry in this game take on a whole new importance. In addition to being hard for tanks/APCs to kill, they have more robust morale ratings than the Soviet recon or tank companies, so dismounting them to push forward here is a great idea.