With the early game well under way the Central Valley attack from the CW last turn was a disaster, which was lucky for us. They had to take 2 Bn losses (AL101/D01) as I elected to hold the position. Well 1 only, but they elected to take their option and then chose to lose a valuable unit versus a ‘scout’ sized unit…
like the 9th Divisions Cav unit and then retreat?
Not sure what happened there. Bad news is these suckers come back fast anyway and can be rebuilt with 1 PAX..
The CW plan so far seems to be press Route A the coastal route and hedge bets on B/C. The way his power units (Punjab are positioned they can swing either direction. Later in Turn 3 we will see where the rest of the Foreign Legion go and that will give us some insight.
For now I am happy to make the choices painful and await an opportunity to smack a solo unit or something fun.
Marion 6th Chasseurs V Bn 1Met arty Lebanese 6 Lebn and V 1Col arty will pound on the 2/2 Bn of the 17th Pioneers [non replaceable]
The 24th Mixed splits 2/3’s support the Valley route and the strongest CF and AR unit head to Damascus.
On the coast we split stacks up to make targets less appealing for Naval bombardment. We drop 20 CF air attack on the two Bns from the 21st Inf Division, which of coursed resulted in DG’ing them.
Air sweeps the Southern CW Airforce Gladiators v D 520’s, forcing them to inactive mode.
In the Mountain valley arty will fire upon the non replaceable Pioneers. The forces will attack! Note that Banias the unit in Reserve might try to support? But it is not fueled. The same situation regarding fuel exists for the Royals on the coast in the foothills of Tyre.
Supply is pressed forward to needed areas. The Central valley attack will cost 6t with arty… yep a bit of overkill but we need the assured kill if we are going to do that darn attack.
In the Kiswe area (Route C) the western flank feels thin, but has the benefit of cruddy terrain. Kiswe itself is heavily defended and has units in reserve to support. The Wadis should slow forces down on the Eastern Flank.
Combat Phase:
The result is an Ao1/DL1o1. So while we kill the enemy we must also either take a step loss or retreat. Since we do not want to advance, we retreat the attackers. I’m hoping there is not too much in the area to mount an effective attack against the now slightly exposed defenses.
A solid surprise roll compensated for a failed arty attack (-2Col for size and terrain), the Vichy pick up 4 shifts in addition to the below base line chance of success. [Note I include these post attack as I cannot see the enemy until I commit to the attack.
That wraps the Vichy back to back turns up. The CW now have their Turn 3. I wonder what they will do now? My hope is that we have stung them in Central and delayed them along the Coastal route for another turn. So CW Generals will focus their efforts upon the Syrian Desert and Kiswe. If so that would hopefully mean no attacks by them this turn.
I am mindful of not having to spend supply on defense if I am attacking/counter attacking in the turn prior. With just 6t per turn coming in the supplies are not endless. I think if I were the CW I might try to take advantage of that.