NationStates Jolt Archive

Chardonayan Royal Announcement Service System Bulletin

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, mongooses and goats. CRASS is proud to announce that further military exercises with Peace and Terror have been scheduled for later this year. The 5th Armored Division aka "Steel Mongooses" has been selected for this prestigious event. With us here in the studio we have General Vera Jurgens, commanding officer of the 5th. General, how does it feel to be selected out of all the other Chardonayan units?"

"Well, Ivan, It feels pretty good. We know we are one of the roughest hardest divisions in the world, and it will be nice to demonstrate that in an open forum."

"Wow, that really is something. Can you explain to us, for all the grognards watching, what the simulation will be?"

"Certainly. The final details still need to be ironed out, but it looks as though the 5th will be assaulting an entrenched Patsy reinforced division. Though it may seem a bit unbalanced since the defenders always have an extreme advantage over the attackers tactically, the exercise should be quite fair due to the fact that our formations are simply far larger than an equivalent Patsy one. For example, while the Patsy armored division has less than 400 tanks, the Steel Mongooses have some 1200! This is because at every level of organization we have more subsidiary units. 5 tanks per platoon compared to the Patsy's 4. 4 battalions per regiment as opposed to their three... it all adds up. It effectively means that for a given level of organization, we hit harder... on the other hand, it's much easier to maneuver smaller units around the battlefield. A trade off."

"Fascinating... but could you tell our watchers a little more about the exercise itself? Will you actually be shooting at each other?"

"Not really. I can't tell you the specific details, but the battle will be fought out essentially in virtual reality. The soldiers, and their commanders, will see, feel, smell, and taste everything as if it were actually real, but no one actually gets killed, and no property is destroyed."

"That's AMAIZING! Can you tell us where this technology comes from?"

"I'm sorry, that's classified."

"Too bad. Well, thank you for joining us this afternoon, General."

"It was my pleasure, Ivan."

OOC: This is a private exercise between P&T and me... No one else will be involved. However, feel free to read it and comment if you wish, we appreciate constructive criticism. Also, for anyone who really needs to know how we’re doing the exercise, there is a group of Chardonayans who arrived back from the future and set up a mercenary company on an island off the coast. The Chardonayan government has an arrangement with them, but has kept their existence low profile because they don’t really know what the impact of having ‘space men’ wandering freely about will be on Chardonay. These mercenaries are providing the equipment. Is this contrived? Oh yes. But it’s our contrivance, so HAH!

To: Commander Patsy Forces
From: General Vera Jurgens

Re: Chardonayan OOB

Enclosed you will find a complete breakdown of the Chardonayan forces you will be facing. We hope to hear from you in return soon.

General Jurgens

5th Armored Division

OOC: I realize it's bad form to just post numbers, but I'm damned if I'm going to copy my OOB in here. P&T has a copy, but the rest of you will need to imagine the intricate unit structure. I also realize that my units are VERY artillery and engineering heavy, and are about 3 times as large as they would be in america.

IC: 1 Divisional HQ, 4 Cavalry Regiments, 1 Engineering Regiment, 1 Air Defence Regiment, 1 Field Artillery Regiment

Line Units
480 Ocelot MBTs
384 Crusader-X MBTs
96 Crusader-X CS Assault Guns
60 Packrat Modular Tanks
2400 Tankodesantniki Infantry (riding in Ocelot MBTs)

Light Units
48 Heavy Command Scout Vehicles
192 Light Scout Vehicles
72 Mongoose Main Battle Tankitas
48 Spitting Mongoose Assault Tankitas
120 Mongoose APC Tankitas
888 Scouts

Artillery
320 SP 155mm Howitzers
60 Kingmongoose Superheavy Tank Destroyers
170 Metalstorm CSVs
40 Katyusha CSVs
20 203mm Mortar CSVs
20 Quick Firing 75mm CSV Portees
40 88mm CSV Portees
80 155mm Portees
380 Flugpanzer Missile Tanks
180 S-400 SAMs

Engineering
100 Cave Bear Engineering Superheavy Tracks
150 Petardier II Superheavy Assault Guns
60 M3-Cs
30 Smoke Generation CSVs
150 Engineering CSVs
250 Engineering APCs
6 Ar-2 Engineering Zeppelins
3780 Sappers

Medical
36 MEDEVAC Helecopters
104 Field Hospitals
156 Field Ambulences
2 Ar-7 Medical Zeppelins

C3I
9 Ar-3 Command Zeppelins
246 Command APCs
51 Ocelot-C Command MBT
55 Wirelayer CSVs
15 Communications APCs
140 EW CSVs
5 EW Zeppelins
32 Passive Radar CSVs
16 Active Radar CSVs
8 Computing CSVs

Logistics
1270 CSVs
60 Turret Transports
5 Ar-1 Air Freighter Zeppelins

To: General Jurgens (Chardonay)
From: General Nathaniel Holland (P&T)

Enclosed is a copy of the basic P&T order of battle. Please refer to your intelligence handbook for further details. I have also attached a basic map of the exercise area.

Armored Division
Division HQ
Armored Brigade (x3)
Air Defense Brigade
Artillery Brigade
Aviation Brigade
Engineer Brigade
Anti-Tank Battalion
Armored Cavalry Squadron
Surveillance & Electronic Warfare Battalion

Armored Brigade
Armored Battalion (x3)
HQ and Headquarters Company
Heavy Mortar Platoon [6 M1064]
Mixed Scout Platoon [7 TNC-SV, 2 M1, M2]
Armored Company (x3)
Command Section [2 M1]
Tank Platoon (x2) [4 M1]
Mechanized Infantry Platoon [4 M2]

Air Defense Brigade
Medium SAM Group
Medium SAM Company (x4) [4 SA-15 TELAR]
Early Warning Radar Company [2 CSV-Radar]
Air Defense Battalion (x3)
Battalion HQ [CSV-AD]
SPAA Company [6 2S6 and CSV-AD]
Light SAM Company [6 HUMRAAM and CSV-AD]
Mobile SAM Company [12 Bradley-AD and CSV-AD]

Artillery Brigade
SP Gun Battalion (x3) [24 M109]
MLRS Battalion [36 MLRS]
Composite Battalion
Heavy SPA Company (x2) [4 8” SPA]
Missile Company [18 AML]
Long-Range Reconnaissance Company [8 LRR Teams]
Target Acquisition Company [3 Zoopark-2 and 2 COBRA]

Aviation Brigade
Attack Group
Attack Helicopter Battalion (x3)
Attack Helicopter Company (x3) [8 AH-64]
Observation Helicopter Platoon [6 OH-58]
General Support Helicopter Battalion
Command Helicopter Company [8 UH-60]
Support Helicopter Company (x2) [8 UH-60]
Observation Helicopter Platoon [6 OH-58]
Electronic Warfare Helicopter Platoon [4 EH-60]

Engineer Brigade
Combat Engineer Battalion (x3)
Combat Engineer Company (x3)
Engineer Platoon (x2) [4 M113-ESV]
Assault and Obstacle Platoon [5 ACE, 2 AVLB, 2 GMZ, AVLM, Cave Bear]
Mine Warfare Company [8 GMZ, 4 AVLM, 4 Cave Bear]
Assault Bridging Company [24 M3 Ferries]

Anti-Tank Battalion
Anti-Tank Company (x3) [18 M901]

Armored Cavalry Squadron
Armored Cavalry Company (x4)
Command Section [2 Crusader-X]
Tank Platoon (x2) [4 Crusader-X]
Heavy Scout Platoon (x2) [6 M3]
Mortar Section [2 M1064]
Observation Helicopter Company [12 OH-58]
Long-Range Reconnaissance Platoon [4 LRR Teams]

Surveillance & Electronic Warfare Battalion
Radar Company
Radar Platoon (x3) [5 Bradley-BSR]
UAV Company
UAV Platoon (x3) [2 UAV Launcher]

Corps Reinforcements
Reinforcing Artillery
LRM Platoon (2 Tomahawk SP)
SP Gun Battalion (18 M109)
Attack Helicopter Battalion
Heavy SAM Group
Engineer Support
Planning & Execution (Command) Platoon
3 Mine Warfare Companies
2 Obstacle Companies
Engineer Helicopter Platoon

OOC: Yes, the map is super ugly. It was quick.

OOC: Tag, you guys should invite me to your simulations sometime, meanies. :P

General Holland leaned back into the padded chair. Vaguely atonal rock music played softly in the background. He wondered why the briefing for this exercise had started with a little red pill. Too late to ask now.

* * *

General Nathaniel Holland paced in his command post. His HQ had been set up in the basement of a nondescript building in Objectivgrad. Fiber-optic cables connected his ‘battle captains’ and radio operators to transmitters placed in nearby office blocks. Holland didn’t want any nasty surprises homing on his transmissions.

The 3rd Armored Division was deployed along the low ridgeline in front of the town, two brigades in line with the third in reserve. Holland’s battle plan was simple: find and fix the enemy with recon units, then pound it senseless with artillery. Corps had given him plenty of firepower, and he intended to use it.

* * *

The 3rd’s first line of defense was crouched in a well-camouflaged hide well north of the main line of resistance. Senior Sergeant Basso shared his foxhole with two other solders – a radioman and a laser designator operator. They were one of 24 observation posts spread across the 3rd’s area of operations (AO). Behind them were the fighting patrols of the division’s armored cavalry squadron, and behind those the scouts assigned to each combat battalion.

* * *

Lieutenant Colonel Robertson surveyed his squadron’s dispositions from his M1 command tank. Actually, surveyed might be the wrong word. Robertson had only the vaguest idea where his units where. His long-range recon teams had been assigned to man forward OPs, his aeroscout company was working for the attack helicopters, and one of his armored cavalry companies had been made part of the mobile reserve – some sort of ‘maneuver group.’ His remaining three companies were dug-in towards the front of the AO. Their job was to halt the lead attackers long enough to vector air support and artillery on them. The OPs were supposed to give advance warning, but each company had two Bradley-BSR just in case, as well as extra laser designator teams from corps artillery.

* * *

Orbiting at 30,000 feet and well behind the exercise area was a single URGENT ULTRA surveillance jet. The modified Learjet was packed with sensitive electronics to interpret the data from the ventral SLAR and the COMINT receivers running along the cabin roof. The crew of six were hunched over their consoles, straining for the first sign of the Chardonayan assault. Their messages would be flashed to the (hypothetical) army group HQ they were assigned to, as well as the Tactical Air Command (TAC) liasion officer at divisional command.

5th armored division HQ Ar-3 Zeppelin, the Achilles’ Last Stand

Achilles’ Last Stand floated along like a ghost while General Jurgens sipped her hot chocolate and gazed at the map. The Patsies had to be on that ridge, it was the only defendable terrain feature in the area, and a river backed by a ridge was simply too good for any field commander worth her salt to pass up. Ahead of her, spread out like so many tentacles feeling for prey, her armored battalions snaked along, trailed by support units and artillery. Interfiled with the tanks were the battalions organic Flugpanzer SPAA tracks and various engineering vehicles ranging from plow equipped APCs to the heavy Petardier II assault guns and the M3-C ferries. A discrete beeping alerted her to an urgent message on her wireless laptop relayed from one of the 5 Ar-4 EW Zeppelins, the Black Dog….

Ar-4 Zeppelin, the Black Dog, on the Northeast quadrant of mapsheet Objectivegrad

“You’re sure you sent of the message? To the general?”

“Of course I am, sir!” replied Communications Officer 3rd Lieutenant Walter Browne, failing utterly in his attempt to look hurt. The Captain had really been riding him ever since he accidentally deleted a situation report by clicking back at the wrong time on the military e-mail system. “Sir, I really can do my job, sir.”

Captain Igor Berdichevski spared a withering glare at Browne’s choirboy face (he never, ever said ‘sir’ so often unless something was up) before snorting and turning back to Lieutenant Tatiana Vasilevich. “Radar, what’s happening?”

“They’re still there on passive, skipper. Looks like a search radar, but the library’s having trouble finding a match. We’re trying to lock it up with ours… there, bogey bearing 160, range 250 km. Not in the military threat index, but by the return I’m guessing a small passenger plane.”

“Are you sure that the radar’s emitting from that? It’s not some kind of a Ghost from the Main-Gauche squadron flying top cover?” It was his turn to receive a withering glare. “Alright, just asking. Well, they’ll know we’ve found them. Keep them locked up, and send a message back to HQ, Walt. Who knows, maybe they’re release a SAM to us.” He leaned back in his comfortable chair. This really was the way to fight a war, in an upholstered chair on a zeppelin.

1st Armored Regiment, 121 Battalion, Hopscotch Light Cavalry Company, east side, 2km short of the river
“This is no way to fight a war, grumbled Corperal Malisz as he idled his engine, watching two scouts dismount from their 4 wheeled vehicle and trot forward. As usual, the gunner and Captain Zoltan Varga simply ignored his mumbling. “The scouts have called another damned halt. Because something tasted funny in the air, no doubt.”

Captain Varga smiled tolerantly, “And just a moment before you were complaining about how if we kept on moving so fast, we were sure to drive right over a RPG team.

Mutter mutter mutter

“What was that? I didn’t quite catch it.”

The gunner, an enormous man known only as Zabrinski who really was too large to serve in a tankita gave a stretch that threatened to capsize the little vehicle. “I think he said ‘Luck falls on scholastic happenings.’ A comment on the necessity of a good education. Which is a little funny, considering he never went to university, but I suppose it’s never too late to recognize the virtue of a classical education…”

Mutter mutter mutter

Back aboard the Achilles’ Last Stand
General Jurgens set aside her mug. “Tell Surveillance to launch a swarm of Gnats. If they really have an airborne radar up there, they must be protecting something, and I don’t want to run into it blind.

Shortly after, 20 tiny UAVs rose from rail launchers on the backs of various CSVs. They didn’t carry much of a payload and had no landing gear, but they were dirt cheap, had an endurance of about 20 hours, and could share information so that an ELINT one would find a radio emmiter, an IR one would find a tank, a laser one would lase it, and one with a long range radio would call for fire. A very effective system, especially since each one only cost $2000 and also carried a small suicide charge. What they would find was anyone’s guess.

Battle Position Cheese, 2nd ACS
The automated alarm jolted Corporal Zabel awake. The ground surveillance radar was picking something up. He reached over a shook the Sergeant, none to gently. “The BSR’s picking something up, should I get the LT on the horn?” “No need” the Sergeant responded, “I’ll go over and warn him.” In the next few minutes, the reinforced tank platoon quietly brought itself to battle stations.

Onboard Serial JS5789 URGENT ULTRA
“New Emitter! Probable air search in the S-band“ The senior analyst quickly confirmed it wasn’t a targeting radar, then radioed his base – We’re picking up some Chardonayan emissions, probably air-search, we don’t have anything on the SLAR yet. He wasn’t too happy about this, sitting in a business jet with no hope of dodging a SAM. He just wanted to detect the main Chardonayan thrust, then get out of there.

OP Gamma-Six
Basso saw the lead Chardonayan vehicles crest the rise 600m ahead. He reached for the sat-phone: Contact! Multiple armored vehicles in sight. Looks like scouts. Should I let them pass?.. They were still out of range of most of the tube artillery, but a target like this could draw a company or two of MLRS fire. The sat-phone crackled: Negative. Prepare for BRIMSTONE rounds– prepare to lase in two minutes. That was unusual, putting laser-guided 8” rounds on such a minor target. He guessed command had a different plan for the rockets.

Bowndari River, near Hopscotch Company
Major Zabel held his Longbow Apache steady as he hovered bare meters above the river. Its banks partially sheltered him from sight. His command consisted of 16 Apaches and three Kiowa Warriors. The latter had drifted forwards a few minutes ago, to check out a reported sighting of an armored column. A full company of Kiowas was sweeping forward across the battlefield. When they found the enemy, Zabel’s choppers would salvo their Hellfires from relative safety, then head home to reload. With three groups forward and another three in reserve, any enemy would hopefully end up badly battered. At least until the Kiowas ran out.

Ar-4 Zeppelin, the Black Dog, on the Northeast quadrant of mapsheet Objectivegrad

Berdichevski bit his lip. “You know, that plane is really beginning to worry me, especially with the increased chatter we’re picking up on the ground. Tat, is there any chance they’re civilians?”

Tatiana grimaced. “It’s possible, but unlikely. I’m almost entirely sure that radar’s coming from them, and they have no reason to be loitering around here anyway.”

“Yeah… Walt, ring up HQ and request a SAM. They’re either up to no good, or too stupid to live.”

“Certainly skipper, but you don’t think they’ll actually… huh.” Browne’s eyebrows furrowed in surprise. “They released a S-400 to us immediately.”

“Excellent. Walt, open a channel to them and transmit our current data on the bandit. Tat, you’re going to guide those missiles in on your beam. Let’s do it people!”

“Missiles are launched, three of them. They’re gaining altitude, passing local guidance over to you ma’am…”


211 Armored Battalion, approaching OP 6

Colonel Alexander Vaulin bounced up and down in agitation in the seat of his Ocelot-C command tank. As the leading battalion for the 2nd Regiment, he was going to get his first taste of the patsies, and judging from the last time, it was likely to be in the form of a heavy artillery barrage.
No worries, the Crusaders and Mongooses can deal with the enemy FOOs, and those two platoons of Kingmongooses should be able to suppress any enemy artillery. Not to mention the Katyushas.

121 Battalion
(ooc: hope you don't mind this...)
“HELECOPTERS!”

As soon as the shout went out on the battalion net, the armoured column belched smoke and dispersed somewhat. The Flugpanzers imidietly began casting about for a target, and found one, a Kowia Scout that appeared to be alone. Instantly, flames vomited out from 2 of the AA tanks’ box launchers, and a total of 6 heat seeking missiles sped towards the hapless aircraft. Colonel Ogvazda grimaced at the dreadful breach of fire discipline, but held his peace. Anything to kill a helicopter.

“Advance with care, and pass the warning up to the scouts. Flugpanzers, there have to be more than just that one, so stay awake. Ocelots, load with LAHATs, we may need to engage more of them.”

Over the Bowndari River
The twenty small drones buzzed along happily, looking for targets.

211 Battalion, overhead
The noise of an 8" shell is different from most other sounds. It isn't like the roar of a rocket, the crack of a bullet, or the whine of an artillery shell. It's more like a freight train running late that happens to be traveling a few feet overhead.

Company A, 72nd Composite Artillery Battalion had put 16 8” shells in the air. The first eight were laser-guided, expecting to home in on the laser designator carried by Sergeant Basso’s team. The remainder were ‘dumb’ shells, packed with HE.

Attack Helicopter Team Able, Bowndari River
UCAVs! came the call over the radio. Surprised, Major Zabel rattled out his orders. Able Platoon, engage air-to-air NOW. Brave and Delta, launch your Hellfires for remote designation, then go air-to-air with cannon and wingtip Stingers. Charlie, follow my lead, prepare for direct anti-tank engagement.

Sergeant Grayson threw his Kiowa in a tight turn as he raced away from the Chardonayan column. There was way more triple-A there than was healthy. His wingman had just been converted into a particularly bright torch by them.

Behind him, he saw two more pairs of Kiowas race forwards. Why would they be doing that?

OP Echo-Two
Sergeant Danni Boyle was surprised to hear voices on the survival radio, not the sat-phone he had reported the enemy vehicles on. Echo-Two, please respond. “Echo-Two here, over.” This is scout lead, Helo Team Able. Prepare to designate for multiple incoming missiles. Danni reached over for the laser.

Serial JS5789 URGENT ULTRA
The analysts quickly detected the guidance beam. “Vampire! Missile incoming.” The pilot broke left and headed for the deck as all the active transmitters went offline. The explosion knocked the left engine out, and he started nursing her home with only the other one.

BP Cheese
The Lieutenant lowered his glasses. He didn’t need magnification to see the explosions reaching over the horizon. Something had just run into the forward helicopter group. It wouldn’t be stopped by them. His platoon had been reinforced with a squad of Cavalry Fighting Vehicles, a Bradley-GSR and a laser team in an M113. As soon as the radar confirmed there were no other columns approaching, he was going to start calling in fires.

OOC, here's the situation. Three of my armored regiments are advancing on more or less parellel courses. Each has a single battalion leading, with re-enforced scouting units. One more Regiment lies in reserve. 1st regiment is advancing along the west side, 2nd towards the center, and 3rd on the east. 4th is sitting in the rear. 121 Battalion is leading 1st regiment, 211 Battalion is leading 2nd, and 311 is leading 3rd. Just thought I'd clear this up a little.

IC

211 Battalion’s Light Cavalry Company
“We are being lased…. INCOMING ARTILLERY” the dreaded shout rang out over the battle network. Instantly, Captain Adams ducked and slammed the panic button which snapped the hatch shut and started the tank deploying IR and laser defeating smoke, along with the rest of the tankitas. An unholy noise filled the air as he thumbed open a channel to the battalion HQ. “Battalion, Hogswallop 6. We are under massive artillery bombardment and they have spotters” He felt rather than heard the turret rotate and the main gun fire back in the direction of the laser designator. “Request immediate counter battery fire, these are bigger than 155s and I thi…”

His tankita blew apart as an 8” shell scored a direct hit, erasing him, one other tankita, 2 light scout vehicles and one heavy scout vehicle.

211 Battalion HQ
“Roger that Hogswallop 6, we have the artillery trajectory on radar, commencing counterbattery fire.” Colonel Vaulin switched channels. “David one six, commence fire mission 5 alpha on these co-ordinates.”

“Roger.”

The 20 155mm howitzers, along with the 10 accompanying Kingmongooses and 5 Katyushas instantly pulled out of the column and commenced firing. Fire mission 5 Alpha was a product of the previous exercise with Patsy forces, when Patsy artillery dominated the battlefield and was only suppressed momentarily with a combination of HE and FASCAM. 5 Alpha called for a single initial volley of FASCAM rounds, followed by salvoes of AP and AT submunitions. In this case, the tube artillery provided the initial FASCAM deployment while the katyushas each fired off 8 rockets packed with AP and AT submunitions. The katyushas and howitzers would then instantly relocate while the Kingmongooses covered their relocation and attempted to draw counterbattery fire down on themselves, which the howitzers and katyushas would then instantly smash. At least, that’s how it worked in theory. Regardless, 30 FASCAM shells and 40 rockets screamed out into the sky, followed by volleys of 5 160mm shells at 15 second intervals.
(OOC: The submunitions are standard DP AT/AP munitions… just a shaped charge with a fragmentation casing, set to go off on contact or when 1m above the ground.)

The tanks had also halted momentarily, and now arranged themselves into the semblance of a line of battle, but still waited behind the hill for the scouts to return.

Above Bowdari River
The little drones had no idea what a commotion they had caused, as the ELINT drone had suffered an engine failure early on. But no matter, the ELINT drones were the least effective kind. Suddenly, one of the drones inexplicably (from the drone’s point of view) exploded, possibly due to the large numbers of 25mm holes that appeared in it. The drones didn’t wonder about WHY it happened, though. They weren’t philosophers. They simply relayed the information about the death of their comrade back to base, and swarmed towards the downed drone. Another died, and another before an IR drone found the group of helicopters. The image and relevant information was relayed back to base, then the drones, calculating they had a 0.24% chance of survival, dove on their tormenters, attempting to use their suicide charges to good effect. (OOC: The drones are tiny monoplanes, they only weigh 30 pounds, that have a max level flight speed of 100kph and aren’t very smart, except in groups. The suicide charges are 1kg shaped charges directed out the nose.)

Back at the armored column, again a shout of “We are being LASED. INCOMING!” went out. The Ocelots and Mongooses began scouring the area the targeting laser came from with their remote controlled 12.5mm machine guns while their metalstorm launchers deployed spreads of smoke grenades. In the midst of this, the Flugpanzers acquired several more targets, and volleyed off a total of 109 short ranged SAMs Then the Hellfires arrived. Despite the smoke and the attempted suppression of the laser designators and the aircraft themselves, 5 tankitas and 4 Ocelots were knocked out with a further 6 damaged heavily. All the infantry in the all Ocelots bailed out clutching the MANPAADs stored in the back, and joined the fight.

(OOC: were those casualties about right? I’ll increase them if you think they’re a bit low)

Black Dog

“Captain,” said Walter urgently, “we have reports of the 121st being heavily engaged by helicopters!”

“Damn! Tatiana, you have anything?”

“Sorry skipper. They’re below our LOS. If we could flush them out though, then I could allocate S-400s to take care of them.”

“Right. Walt, get on the horn with command and request an immediate flack barrage along the river in front of the 121st, and perhaps above and behind those clumps of trees.”

“I’m on it.”

Less than 100 seconds after the call for fire, 20 rocket assisted howitzers went to rapid continuous fire, putting down a curtain of flack and FAE shells along the river and behind the trees, with the battery firing a quartet of shells every 1.5 seconds for an entire minute.

(OOC These are targeted approximately on the positions hiding helicopters might be. Though any helicopter in the blast radius would be pulverized, the intent is to drive the helicopters back, not kill them. The howitzers are, after all, firing blind. Nevertheless, the howitzers are first and formost AA guns, which is why they are able to carry out this mission at all. In reality, I have no idea how effective it would be.)

OOC: I'm treating the map as oriented north, so 121 Battalion is your left flank, right? Since it's coming up close on the river (which runs behind the ridge in the east), that means that the eastern segment of the ridge isn't being attacked?

IC:

A deadly rain of artillery fire fell on the guns of Company A. Two of the four guns were destroyed by falling submunitions. The third, along with two ammunition trucks, were overturned by mines as they tried to escape the area.

Undisturbed by the destruction, a Zoopark-2 counter-battery radar precisely calculated the location of the firers.

Two platoons of MLRS blanketed the immediate firing area with 216 standard rockets, then relocated. An AML platoon provided a subtler touch - 6 modified ATACMS missiles. Equipped with an E/O scanner and image recognition software, they would fly a search pattern outwards from the enemy's presumed start point, searching for the relocating vehicles. Only once they were found would they release their clouds of submunitions. The AML launchers might draw some attention, but they were firing from sandbagged bunkers with overhead cover.

Chardonayan 211 Battalion
OP Gamma-Six was eliminated by a lucky 75mm shell, but Gamma-Four took over its duties. Using the laser was obviously too dangerous, so the team sergeant used his sat-phone to begin to coax a light barrage of 155mm shells onto the enemy scouts.

Helicopter Team Able
Major Zabel was not surprised to see SAMs in the air when finally reached the Chardonayan column. He was surprised to see so many, but not for long. The third missile promptly took his rotors off, slamming his Apache into an open field. After firing a few Hellfires the remainder of his platoon was wiped out too.

Lieutenant Kloden hadn't thought he'd ever face a target a Stinger was overkill for. Now he had. Three platoons of Apaches had made short work of them, for the loss of three machines. Almost as soon as the last drone was destroyed, shells began to plunge all around him. "What the heck!" He dodged and weaved, saw another machine lose an engine, and decided enough was enough. Able Team, fall back. Return to the division FARP and re-arm. He took the two other Apaches still carrying Hellfires and headed the other way instead, heading east for the open flank. He still wanted an air-to-ground kill.

Division HQ
"How are we doing, Jim?" asked the general. "Not so good, sir. HTF Able was disrupted before they could get a concentrated volley in. The Chardonayans just have too much air defense." Holland scowled. "And the artillery? Ricky Newcastle said that was a big advantage last time." "Not anymore." That was the divisional fire support officer, Major Wallace, "Corps short-changed us, and the Chardonayans learned their lesson. We've located two major concentrations - we're dealing with the first right now." "All right," Holland said, "launch a pair of UAVs. We still have two awful big regiments unaccounted for. Move the tubes further forward. Have them ready to fire on the river when the Chardonayans start to cross. Have the cavalry send scouts forward to serve as more observers - they've started to pass the long-range OPs. Finally, find me my TACLO, we may need to call in the air force."

OOC: No, 121 would be YOUR left flank, my right one. West side. I reversed them in my previous post... sigh. 1st regiment is on the WEST side, not the east. I really need a compas rose. I'm advancing south from the north (top) part of the math. Another regiment has been detailed to advance up to the eastern ridge, but not to engage closely.

Also sorry for the delay, the house's internet went down for about 2 or 3 days.

211 Battalion Artillery

Even as the last Katyusha disappeared behind a clump of trees, the plumes of the MLRS rockets appeared in the sky. The Kingmongooses stood their grow, firing steadily even as the rockets approached. Then, just as the rockets came overhead, All the crews ducked and covered their ears, or at least Corporal Istvan Bilek and the crew of 3 Gun, A battery, did. The others would have been damn fools not to. A deafening, rolling thunderclap made from a series of small explosions so close together they made one extremely loud rumble lashed over the artillery tank and the lights flickered for an instant. Once the vehicle stopped shaking, Bilek cautiously raised his head. He glanced back the rest of his crew as they slowly unfolded from their various 'Impact' positions. Bilek cleared his throat noisily, aware of the damp stain on the front of his pants. "Everyone ok?"

There was a moment of silence, then the gunner hesitantly said " Yeah," and the driver echoed it, sounding amazed, and it soon became clear that not only had the crew survived, but the tank destroyer was still mostly functional too.

"One gun here, operational. Sound off."

There was a bit of a pause.

"Two gun here, our NBC protection's shot to hell, but we'll be fine"

"Three gun here, everything's working, we think"

Long pause

"Five gun here, we have two wounded and have lost a track, calling for medivac."

And so on. All in all, only one was actually a total loss. Two more were effectively destroyed either due to track hits, gun hits, or crew loss. All the others had suffered massive damage to optics and communications, but they could move and shoot, and that was what mattered. Unfortunately, as Corperal Bilek opened the hatch to get a better look outside, the 6 ATAMCs zoomed overhead and dropped a second pattern of submunitions, one of which actually landed inside 3 Gun.

211 Battalion HQ

"Alright, so they've obviously got an artillery radar of some kind set up there," Colonel Vaulin muttered, massaging his eyes with his fingertips after giving orders for the 155mm howitzers not to return fire, "and as long as they have it, we're going to just be trading them shot for shot. What can we do about it?"

"Well," said Lieutenant Maxim Dulgy over the short range broadband radio, "If I may make a suggestion sir, first I think it would be good for my people to either try to jam or locate the enemy FOOs, these new EW CSVs are really good. Second, we should start firing off EW shells in our salvoes, that will make the trajectory harder to find. Third, I can contact our EW zeppelin, Ar-4 Communications Breakdown and they can try to get a fix on the enemy radar... probably a Zoopark, the Patsies like them. When they get the general position, we can have a Katyusha to volley a couple of ALARMs (Advanced Long-range Anti Radiation Missile) at it as we fire another volley of 155mm... or have I overstepped my authority here sir?" The lieutenant trailed off miserably.

"You have, but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea." Colonel Vaulin began issuing orders to his people. "And pull those damn scouts BACK!"


121 Battalion

Sergeant Major Valentina Kozlovskaya was the best AA artillerist in the battalion. She delighted in drawing in unsuspecting 'lords of the air' and swatting them like the insignificant bugs they were with her beautiful Flugpanzer, which was why she had taken two other Flugpanzers out of the fight and headed east a little, to ambush anyone who tried to roll up their flank. So it was with something like regret that she triggered off her last 5 missiles at the three Patsy Apache's that popped up in front of her even before they got to their position.. Her wingman tanks did the same, but it lacked artistry. She regretted the volley of hellfires that crossed the path of her and her wingmen's missile's path even more. But not for long. The two Ocelots escorting them didn't even realize what hit any of them.

Achilles' Last Stand
"Alright, this is getting ridiculous. I want a fighters over 121 Battalion NOW."

Blue element peeled off from the flight providing CAP for the division. The two Main-Gauche fighters dove low, and began supercruising towards the battalion. Neither were particularly worried about SAMs, Main-Gauches were rather stealthy and rarely used their own radar, preferring to let Ar-3s and -4s vector them into the battle where their magnificent dogfighting abilities would shine. Additionally, each carried two CHARMs (Chardonayan High speed Anti-Radiation Missile, like a HARM but smarter, it remembers where the radar was if it shuts off) and 4 AIM-130s.

"And where the hell is 3rd Regiment?"

3rd Regiment HQ

"Where the hell are we?" demanded Colonel Natalia Ruchieva plaintively.

"Well, according to the GPS, we're about 100km due north from Ridge 2503."

"But we're in a bog! There aren't any bogs on the map. I know that 'The Map Is Not The Territory', but this is ridiculous. Alright, give me the bad news, how many units are still stuck."

Her exec pulled of his helmet and ran his hands through his hair, "Oh, about a battalion. 311 is still fairly mired, but we should have the last of them out in an hour. In the meantime, I had 312 and 313 set up our defensive line... minus their engineers, of course, since they're busy unsticking 311. It's good luck we got stuck about where we were supposed to deploy. Once 311 is out, we'll leapfrog them forward to about 80km and redeploy there."

OOC: Dibs on Catch 22 jokes for bombing missions =)

Bump

Kelly Field, Tactical Aviation Command advance base
The six ship flight took off, and headed for the exercise area. Easy Flight consisted of two F-22s for top cover, two aging EA-6 Prowlers, two F-15 Strike Eagles, and a single RF-16 with a SLAR pod.

Over Posyten Ridge
The UAVs flew low, hoping the ground cover and their wood and plastic construction would hide them from enemy radar. They would cross over the divisional cavalry's positions in four minutes, then begin searching for enemy units approaching the river.

2nd ACS Command Group, en route to BP Cheese
Captain Nicole Brown gritted her teeth and held on for dear life. Her usual driver had broken a leg just before the exercise began, and her new driver seemed to have the delusion that a humvee was a racing vehicle. The commander at BP Cheese had reported fires on the horizon, so she was coming forward to investigate. She was also supposed to order him to place scouts and lasers down on the riverbank. That seemed nuts - they could see the river just fine from their dug-in positions. Chatter on the division command channel made it sound like all of Holland's fancy hopes had fell through, and now it was the cavalry's chance to bleed the Chardonayans a bit.

OP Delta-Four
Sergeant Kllyan dragged himself through the net that camouflaged his OP. HQ was reporting that he'd been bypassed. Rather than sit in a hole waiting for a supply convoy, his team was going on the move. They'd head towards P&T lines, find a nice hill overlooking the river, and drop shells on the enemy from there.

OOC: I can't think of anything I want to hit you with before you reach the river. Three cavalry companies are dug-in on my side of the river, divided into 2-3 BPs each, with small scout/FO teams right on the banks. You've bypassed about 3/4 of the 3-man OPs, although there are a few right up against your side of the river.

211 Battalion

The silence after the short but vicious artillery dual was startling. Lt. Colonel Vaulin was glaring manevolently at the crest of a small hill… on the other side lay the burnt out husks of a disturbingly large number of his scout vehicles. After taking that kind of attrition, there was no way his unit could continue to lead, so 212 Battalion was substituting them, and 211 Battalion would take up position to the rear, of the regiment in order to exploit any breakthrough or deal with flank attacks. A rumbling from the side distracted him, and he glanced to his left in time to see the leading elements of 212 pass him by. A command APC stopped next to his, and Major Ralf Akesson, commander of 212, jumped out. They shook hands (no Chardonayan officers below the rank of full Colonel ever wear insignia or receive salutes in a combat zone… with only one or two exceptional exceptions) and Akesson sat down on the bow of the APC. “I hear you ran into some trouble on the other side of this hill?”

Vaulin grimaced, “It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t pleasant either… they had their artillery zeroed in on the hill and there’s still a couple of OPs scattered about. We’re working on finding them with ELINT vehicles, but their communication discipline is annoyingly good, and I’m not going to let my scouts or infantry look for them on their own… you didn’t see it. They had some 8” guns up there, they absolutely shredded my scouts. We managed to suppress them with counter battery fire, but they returned it in spades…I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many MLRS flares. Must have been over 200 rockets. Luckily, we suckered them into hitting the Kingmongooses, so that didn’t paste us too bad, but it would have absolutely slaughtered normal SPAs or Portees.” He picked up his canteen and unscrewed the top.

“Damn,” Akesson winced. “You think they have an artillery radar up there.”

Vaulin took a swig from the canteen, rinsed out his mouth, and spat. “They’d have to. I know I’d put one up there. So next time you call for fire, let us know and mix in a couple of EW shells. Sure it’s expensive, but it may help you survive the counter bombardment. We’ll take care of the radar.”

121 Battalion

Lt. Colonel Ogvazda broke into a paroxysm of coughing as he unbuttoned his hatch. The entire area was smothered in thick smoke from explosions, missile tracks, gunfire, and the anti-IR/laser aerosol that was liberally scattered by the metalstorm packs on the tanks. Quickly, he slammed it down again.

“I warned you” said Lieutenant Vladimir Dimitrov unsympathetically.

Ogvaszda glared at his communications officer, rendered impotent by the choking smog, helplessly waving his hands for air.

“But do you ever listen? I don’t think I need to answer that question.”
“Good thing too,” gasped Ogvazda, “Or I’d have to courtmartial your sorry butt. What’s the damage?”

“To your lungs? You’ll probably get cancer in about 10 years.” The lieutenant was saved from evisceration by another convulsive bout of coughing. “As for the battalion, it could have been far worse. The Flugpanzers earned their spurs today. Bravo company is down to 18 tanks, Charlie has 19, and David was hit worst, with only about 12 operation. A lot of those are repairable, and most of the infantry got out alright, but we’re still at only about 3/4 strength in tanks…. The Flugpanzers didn’t do to badly either, but we only have about 15 left, and they need resupply badly. None of the knocked out Flugpanzers are repairable without a major overhaul… when they go, they tend to go badly…. Colonel, are you alright?”

Ogvazda was leaned over in his chair, wheezing badly, eyes watering. He began retching into his helmet.

“Oh damnit… ALL UNITS, WE HAVE AN NBC WARNING. Corpsman to Battalion HQ immediately!

OOC: I know you haven’t used gas, he’s having an allergic reaction to the fumes from the burning tanks.

Overhead, the two Main-Gauches cruised at low level.

“Jeez, these guys got HAMMERED, but I don’t see any flying helicopters.”

“Maintain radio silence Blue 2.”

“Roger that One.”

1st Regiment Command
Colonel Ralf Akesson was frantically trying to find out what had precipitated 121 Battalion to declare an NBC emergency. It was against the rules for the Patsies to use unconventional weapons. None of the reports from the recce vehicles made any mention of unusually toxic materials. The bastards must have used something entirely new! He briefly considered requesting General Jurgens to authorize a retaliatory nuclear strike, but decided that it would take far too much time. Besides, the incompetent woman probably would dither too long and let the Patsies wipe them out with their hell gas. He stalked over to a safe that contained his orders, dialled in the combination, unlocked another safe inside that one, and opened an unmarked envelope. The envelope was only to be opened if nuclear release was granted from above and his superior officers were killed, but this was an emergency. Quickly, he copied the string of letters and numbers down onto his hand before the thin piece of fabric within oxidized black. Immediately, he sent a ALERT priority message to Midge Airforce base.

ALERT
NBC weapon discharge detected.
Nuclear release granted, authenticate A2J456K654GL654YV68E
Prep for PANIC strike on ridgeline, launch ASAP.

It violated communications discipline, but he was in a tearing hurry.

He then gave orders for 122 battalion to replace 121 as lead, 121 battalion to fall back and act as a tactical reserve for when the ‘special’ support arrived.

Midge Airforce Base
“What the hell is this?
Wing Commander Arthur Dake stared in horror at the communiqué in his hand. “This violates all the ROE! What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

His executive officer, Captain Elena Fatalibekova looked perplexed. “Is that the correct authentication?”

“The computer says so. The computer says that we need to load 5kt gravity bombs. But why is this coming from regiment, nuclear release orders are supposed to be issued at Front level… or at least division, for this engagement. Have things gone so badly that division command has been eliminated?”

Fatalibekova winced, “That would be embarrassing. Here, I’ll go begin prepping the bombers, you try to raise division on the horn. This is… too weird.”

122 Battalion
Gasmasks in place, and filters operating at maximum capacity, 122 Battalion advanced in echelon up to the river. Scouts lead, followed by three columns of Crusader X tanks and engineering vehicles, backed up by a company of SPA and SPAA. The Crusaders would deploy on the near bank in the trees, while the scouts determined if the river was fordable. If it was, then the attack would proceed immediately. If not, they would need to wait for the bridging platoon 4km back to catch up with them. 211 Battalion was following the same plan, and 311 Battalion, finally out of the bog, was cautiously advancing in echelon on the eastern ridge.

121 Battalion

“Alright Colonel, breath into this.” Ogvazda wheezed into the mask that the medic held up to his face. “It’s got a steroid that should have you up on your feet in no time, along with some standard antihistamines”

“What happened?” Dimitrov asked the medic.

“Apparently, he had an allergic reaction to some of the fumes in the burning tanks. That, coupled with a severe case of asthma he somehow managed to hide from the medics, caused the nausea and threw him into mild anaphylactic shock. It’s not a chemical weapon, and we can downgrade from the NBC alert, but I’m going to take him back to Regiment for observation. And you will come with me, colonel, or I’ll have some of these burly young men carry you.”

BP Cheese, 2nd ACS
Captain Brown lowered her field glasses and turned to the armor lieutenant. "It looks like a full light cavalry company, probably preparing to cross. We're at max. direct fire range, so the rest of the company won't have any direct shots. You were part of TRIVIAL FURY, weren't you?"

"Yes Ma'am" the LT replied.

"Then you should appreciate this." BP Milk, this is Head Weasel-Actual. Train guns on bearing 34 degrees and load Ermies. The Extended Range Munition was a rocket-boosted HEAT shell with an milimeter-wave radar seeker. "Our tanks have missiles too, now."

OOC: This is in the center, opposite 212 Bn

Long-Range Recon Team Delta-Four
Kllyan wriggled forward on his belly and counted vehicles. Two, three, four Crusaders. All stopped. Plus a Cave Bear. Lots of rumbling noises meant more vehicles nearby. A worthwhile target. He flipped his radio on.

* * *

A flashing red light appeared on the HUD of one of Easy Flight's F-15s. Seconds later, three 1000lb JDAM fell away from the airplane. Their DiamondBack wings opened, and they began the 45km GPS-guided glide towards Delta-Four's target.

OOC: Your eagles must have slipped under my radar, I forgot you had launched a mission.

Black Dog
"Sir, we're picking up something a little witchy on the scopes... I can't be sure, but it looks like a a unit of fairly large aircraft, but I can't get a good fix... they could be anything from F-18s to F-111s, their ECM is rather good... they seem to be loitering behind Patsy lines, but only just, lined up with 1st regiment..."

"I don't suppose it's firm enough to hand over to a SAM?"

"Nowhere near."

"Fair enough, vector Blue element back around, try to hit them in the flank, while the rest of Alpha flight and all of Beta flight try to hit them head on. And what's this nonsense about a nuclear release?"

Over 1st Regiment
The two Main-Gauches of Blue Element streaked low over the battlefield towards the F-15s. As they passed over the river, they both jettisoned their external fuel tanks and the heavy CHARM anti-radiation missiles into the water. They continued on that heading, low, approaching the strike aircraft obliquely. As soon as they were within 10km, they would launch their first volley of the missiles, and hit their afterburners, streaking up to dogfight with the larger, less maneuverable attack aircraft. It was a fighter jock’s dream. Simultaneously, the other Main-Gauches would be flying fast straight into the teeth of the Strike Eagles, hoping they would be visible enough to distract the Eagles from the two climbing up to meet them while still not presenting a good target.

Division

“Ralf, what’s going on over there.”

Akesson didn’t catch the dangerous quality in Jurgan’s soft voice. “Ma’am, the Patsies have started using some kind of highly toxic chemical, we’ve already had reports of casualties, including Colonel Ogvazda. But don’t worry, we have that under control.”

“And what’s this about prepping bombers with nuclear payloads?”

“We need to break through the patsy lines in our sector ma’am, and since they began using WMD, well, I thought it would be best to blow a hole through using WMD of our own.”

“You thought…”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Mr. Akesson, for violating the chain of command, for willful misinterpretation of the battlefield situation, and for authorizing a nuclear release you weren’t entitled to authorize, you are hereby relieved of your command. Place yourself under arrest immediately. Colonel Ogvazda will be taking over your regiment.”

211 Battalion

“MUZZLE-FLASH… AYE TEE GEE * cchskskhks *”

The missile barrage took the scout elements by surprise… somewhat. They had been expecting something, but hadn’t realized that the Patsies were using tube launched ATGMs. Instantly, the formation broke and scattered, deploying smoke and chaff. One of the scout elements bailed out of their scout vehicle just before it brewed up under a direct hit. As they landed, one pressed the bulk of a laser target designator to his chest to cushion it. While he deployed the bipod, the other picked up his radio.

“211 hopscotch, calling fire, grid 23a 56c”

“Call confirmed 211 Hopscotch, specify target.”

“Armored unit, concealed.”

“Armored unit, concealed confirmed… ETA 30 seconds… Commence designation of target area… SHOT.”

Chardonayan artillery observers operate differently from Patsies. Rather than use laser designators to illuminate individual targets, the Chardonayan observer designated a point near the center of the enemy unit, to act as a guide for the incoming shells. While less accurate, it drew far less fire and gave far less warning; laser detectors don’t detect lasers that aren’t aimed at them.

And so, 18 of the 20 155mm shells split open over the Patsy formation, dropping 72 large heat seeking sub munitions over the area. The other two shells were jammer shells, powerful ECM emitters that were meant to blind any radar that attempted to locate the guns that fired them. That was the first of three volleys delivered in 10 seconds. Once the mission was finished, they would relocate, jammers or no jammers. Simultaneously, from 212 battalion, 4 large ALARM anti radiation missiles lifted off their rails, seeking out the Zoopark that had smashed the Kingmongoose unit.

(OOC: I’m not entirely sure what kind of damage to post with the JDAMS, are they just guided bombs with penetrator warheads? Will the active defense systems on the tanks engage the bombs?)

Control, this is Easy-1. I’m getting something witchy on my radar, out at about 40km. You might want to put some more fight … what the hell is tha-

The Chardonayan ASRAAM had hit his F-22 right amidships, snapping it in half. Two of Blue Element’s other three missiles also hit, destroying on EA-6 and the F-15 which had just unloaded its ordnance. The two Main-Gauches accelerated to maximum speed, knifing up towards Easy Flight.

Confusion reigned: the other F-15 began frantically shedding bombs, while Easy-Seven released its SLAR (and several hundred thousand dollars). Blue Element tore right through Easy Flight – the remaining F-22 fired both his Sidewinders but missed. As the dogfight began, the remaining six Main Gauches accelerated towards the scrum.

Easy-Seven is wing as the RF-16 slots in neatly behind the Strike Eagle. I see the bogey, Easy-Two watch out! The other one’s heading for you. Easy-Two banked right, Fox Two! and two AMRAAMs streaked off towards the approaching fighters.

Two Main-Gauches break off to launch ASRAAMs at the fleeing EA-6, the remainder shedd chaff as they evade the F-22’s missiles. One is caught by the blast. It begins to limp home, nursing a hit to the left wing.

Easy-Two pulls up into the vertical, one of Blue Element tight on his tail. A 25mm cannon shell smashes through a hydraulics line. It won’t matter, the fight will be over soon.

As the F-22 noses over and goes head to head with the climbing Chardonayan, four approaching Main-Gauches fire off ASRAAMs. The climbing Main-Gauche takes a hit to the tank in the left wing, but noses over too to follow Easy-Two. I’ll draw their fire, Easy-Seven stay on him! The F-15 turns hard, releasing flares. Three ASRAAMs follow him. The RF-16 launches a Sidewinder.

The Main-Gauche easily rolls to evade Easy-Seven’s missile. The ASRAAMs behind are still coming. Easy-Seven fires again, then punches out before the five Chardonayan missiles turn his ride into a fireball.

By now Easy-Two is in a supersonic dive, closely followed by a Main-Gauche. Another 25mm shell hits, passing through the avionics bay and knocking out all countermeasures. By now, the Strike Eagle too is a ball of flame. As the F-22 pulls out of its dive, it launches another pair of AMRAAMs at the Main-Gauches orbiting above.

One Chardonayan fighter takes an AMRAAM up the tailpipe, he reaches the river and ejects. The remaining Main-Gauches circle the F-22, and radio for him to surrender. The request is punctuate by a cannon burst. Easy-Two responds by ejecting, then waving to the enemy pilots. He knows he’ll be home in time for dinner.

And, to answer the age old question, the SLAR pod falls in the forest and makes a very large sound.

* * *

Wing Commander Pettachi was livid. "I can't believe this! Were our pilots alseep?" he screamed at his adjutant. "Sir, there were only two fighters in the package, and" "I don't care!" yelled Pettachi. "I want AWACS cover overhead now, with rotating CAP patrols. Four F-22s on at all times, with another four in flying reserve. They won't try that again!"

OOC: Wow, that was long. I hope I didn't miss anything. No ground forces post today, but there wouldn't have been much anyways.

OOC: God bless stealthy lightfighters... are you converted yet P&T? =) No, you just need to post the responce to the artillery bombardment on the 2nd ACS in BP cheese

122 Battalion

The ADS picked up the JDAMs coming in almost to late. Little blinking lights went off in all the Crusaders as their turrets rotated to engage the incoming threats. Metalstorm grenade canisters elevated, and spat out a pattern of interceptors as the drivers reacted convulsively to the alarm, slamming their tanks forward at maximum speed. One of the bombs was bracketed by three of the tanks and disintegrated in mid air. The second missed one of the Crusaders by meters, blew off a track, and terrified the crew. The third landed on the Cave Bear. There were no survivors.

OOC: Is the artillery aimed at BP Milk (using the ERMs) or Cheese (direct-fire SABOT)?

As for the light-fighters, lets just say I'm a convert to 4:1 odds :-)
I am planning to make a bunch of changes to my F-22s to improve their chances (increased Sidewinder capacity and an advanced IRST to start)

Zoopark Serial 0715
The ALARM missiles struck without warning. None of them actually penetrated the sandbagged body of the vehicle. They didn't have to. Shrapnel cubes shredded antennae and rattled off armor. Artillery control noticed as 0715 went off the air, and within a few minutes that brigade's sector was being covered by one of the division's two COBRA radars.

Divisional HQ, Objectivgrad
General Holland stared at the last SLAR image from Easy Flight. Two Chardonayan battalions had reached the water, although they hadn't brought forward bridging equipment yet. The cavalry had orders to concentrate their fire on them when they appeared. Holding the river was impossible, but the plan had accepted that. He was, however, planning to bring the full weight of his artillery to bear. So far, he hadn't used a single 155. That would change.
Holland turned to his artillery commander:

"Wallace, vector the UAVs onto the river crossings. Prepare to lay down supressing fire on both sides of the river bank. Are the MLRS and AML reloaded?"

"Yes, sir"

"Then prepare them for counter-battery fire. I don't just want to shoot and scoot this time."

OOC: Sorry for the condfusion. The arty is falling on MILK.

Division
"Launch another spread of drones... and get ready for a hard push. When those bridging elements reach the river and the enemy are properly suppressed, we're going accross and hitting hard."

[b]211 Battalion Front[b]

Sabots skipped by Lieutenant Utut Adianto's Crusader, even as his ADS fired, temperarily shrouding his tank with a series of smokey explosions. He flinched as something whanged off the turret - probably a large peice of prematurely detonated missile - and called out "Report!"

"Two track is down, and all have suffered minor damage. Enemy tanks reported on the far bank, hull down positions."

"Platoon, find cover and return fire. Pick your targets." He toggled off the radio. "Target, tank. 173, range 2km. Fire."

"Up sabot. Sabot up. ON THE WAY"

200m behind them, a Metalstorm CSV gingernly advanced, then deployed massively reinforced support struts. On it's own initiative, it pulled the enemy tank's positions out of the battalion net. A quick succession of 5 spotting rounds dropped on BP Cheese before they got the range with their unweildy system, then they went to rapid continuous fire on all tubes. The entire 100 round 81mm thermobaric stonk was completed in less than one second. Only one of the CSV's crew was knocked unconcious by the recoil.

[b]211 Battalion Command[b]

"THis is it. Bravo, Charlie, and Doberman companies, advance and engage enemy armored concentrations."

The unengaged units of the three companies quickly advanced, finding what shelter they could, and began firing on BP Cheese.

OOC: Sorry for the lousy post... it's late and I'm tired. i'll do better next time.

OOC: No problem. I'm tired too. Darn theories of Hayden White...

BP Milk, 2nd ACS
The artillery barrage was a low rumble on the horizon. Then heat-seeking submunitions began crashing to the ground all around BP Milk's tanks. With engines off, they didn't make very good targets. Of course, that also mean't that they couldn't just drive off. The jammers drove the active defense system wild too. The tankers gritted their teeth and kept up their fire as a Crusader-X brewed up. They could take this. Another tank was hit, flames leaping out of the hatch now sailing into the air. Where was their own artillery?

BP Cheese, 2nd ACS
A Platoon figured that a Metalstorm barrage was the closest thing possible to hell on earth ... and that was just for the operators. Being on the receiving end was worse. The barrage incinerated Captain Brown's humvee, seared the radar antenna of the Bradley-BSR, and knocked a Bradley CRV right over. It also turned the sandbags surrounded CHEESE's tanks into neat piles of ashes. There was a stunned silence for a minute as gunners pulled themselves back together and began firing. Except for the LT - he yanked his hatch open and leapt for the rear. Metalstorm does that to some people. Sergeant Bettini became a platoon leader for two minutes - before a SABOT round took his turret off entirely.

The Metalstorm would have killed more of the lighter vehicles in the BP, Bradleys or the M113, except they weren't there.

Down by the riverside
"I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield.." Corporal Sykes smacked his partner and adjusted his SuperLAW. The Chars hadn't tried to cross yet. When they did, his orders were to call in the pre-planned fires then pop any nice soft bridging vehicles. There were three two-man scout teams, plus the laser team. Their vehicles were tucked away in a hollow 200m back, out of sight.

OOC: To clarify (for myself, at least) what exactly Bravo Company, 2nd ACS has:

BP Milk
2 Crusader-X (Tank Platoon Bravo)
2 Crusader-X (Command Group)
4 Bradley CFV (Heavy Scout Platoon Charlie) *1 damaged*
Bradley-BSR (Radar Platoon #2)

BP Cheese
3 Crusader-X (Tank Platoon Alpha)
Bradley-BSR (Radar Platoon #2) *damaged*

Reserve Group
2 Bradley CFV (Heavy Scout Platoon Charlie)
2 Bradley CFV (Heavy Scout Platoon Delta)
Mortar Section (2 M1064)

River Group
M113 and Laser Team (‘Hard’ FELT from Corps)
3 Bradley CFV and Dismounted Scouts (Heavy Scout Platoon Delta)

211 Battalion

The metalstorm barrage was just what they needed. A series of dirty-yellow flashes tracked across the Patsy positions which halted firing for a moment, no doubt stunned by the intensity of the stonk. That brief respite was all that the remaining tanks of 211 needed to find hull down positions and begin returning fire. Two more tanks were knocked out by ATGMs, but there was only one way the engagement could end. Almost fourty Chardonayan tanks were engaging the Patsies, and they had less than ten to respond with.

Behind the tanks, the Metalstorm CSV began slowly to reload, a 10 minute proposition. Three more crept up beside it. Two of them were loaded with smoke rounds… one with thermobaric. Behind them idled the bridging units, protected by a score of Flugpanzers.

The MLRS rockets missed their target; the SPA battery that had dumped the heatseaking shells on BP Milk relocated after their third volley and the jammer shells were extremely effective. All of them detonated over an empty field… empty except for a resupply platoon that had gotten lost. The missiles, unfortunately, found their target and dumped submunitions over the artillery vehicles. Eight were knocked out. The battery commander, reasonably upset, called for fire.

Midge Airfield

“Midge Airfield, how may I direct your call?”
“211 Goat Actual. FIRE, I want FIRE.”
“Please hold.”
“NOW dammit!”
“Hold on sir,” * sound of muffled clicking and muttering * An alto voice, “Hello, this is the Wing Executive officer. You have a mission?”
“Patsy artillery smashed my battery, here’s the co-ordinates. They’re out of range… do something about it.”
“We’ll vector a strike in. ETA… twenty minutes.”

Four B1-Fs and four Main Gauches (configured for air to air) took off, lead by another eight Main Gauches (configured for Wild Weasle)

(OOC 122 has reached the river too… any resistance?)

bump

OOC: Yes, I suck so much for leaving this so long. Blame grad apps not termites.

2nd ACS Tactical CP
LTC Roberston and ran over to the S-3's track. "The situation isn't good sir. Bravo Company is being hammered hard. They're massing opposite BP Milk. We have reports of bridging equipment, but it looks like they won't cross till we're destroyed." "Anywhere else?" Roberston asked. "Able Company is also reporting similar contact. They're recieving support fire from a single forward company of SPA."

Robertson frowned. The battle plan called for him to bleed the Chards as they crossed. But they were going to wipe his forces out before they tried to do that. Damn. Of course, he could always fall back on the Patsy soldier's favourite friend. . .

* * *

"Yes sir, affirmative" Major Wallace said. He turned to his plotting team, "That was the cavalry. Lay in Victor targets on these points. They're the probably crossing points. Notify all guns." Then he turned back to his aide, telling him to find the TACLO.

The remains of BP Cheese
Corporal Zabel squirmed lower and continued to crawl along the gully. There hadn't been a gully in the middle of the position before the Metalstorm, but now there was. Which was good, because they were being raked by machine guns from across the river.

The Sarge was dead, he thought, and the radar track had brewed up. He coughed from the smoke, dropped by the company mortars. Right before he bailed out he'd heard that the reserve group was coming up, but he doubted they could stop anything now.

Bradley CFV Serial ELX6540
Lieutenant Carter may have been in formal command of the company, but she really only had 4 M3s to stop the Chars. Not going to happen.

Still, no one had ever tried a mounted charge in the M3 before. So maybe she could at least make some sort of history. So it was a huge relief to hear Bravo-Actual? This is HIGH NOON. Halt all units and deploy foot observers forward. Vehicles take up hull-down observation positions. Do not fire, except on engineering vehicles. She complied with alacrity.

Kelly Field
The armorers swarmed around the eight Strike Eagles. JDAMs and LGBs were loaded and armed as the strike moved to takeoff positions. Golf Flight, ready for takeoff

OOC: I'll post tonight when I get back to my home and trusty wordprocesser, but need to clarify something. Is your artillery firing yet?

OOC: No, not yet. They're waiting for the observers to report that the bridging equipment is being used (or that an entire brigade is fording the river).

211 Battalion
The Patsy fire slackened off... then died completely. The crews had fought valiantly, but they had been simply outnumbered and outgunned.

Major Viswanathan Anand glanced at the display in his command APC, confirming that all the units were in the right positions. The bridging and engineering units hung back behind the hill with the artillery, the anti-aircraft artillery, and a single company of tanks, while the two other companies were deployed forwards, scanning for targets. He checked his watch... three hours till sundown. He really wanted to get a firm bridgehead before dark. He toggled his radio and said "211, execute Bravo Foxtrot Foxtrot One Nine."

The two metalstorm CSVs armed with thermobaric warheads each flayed a 100m by 100m piece of ground on the opposite bank close to the river, hoping to suppress or kill any of the observers that the Patsies were sure to have deployed. Then the two CSVs armed with smoke rounds opened up... soon a good 500m of the opposite bank was covered in a thick choking smoke. Then, and only then, did a single platoon of Crusader Xs move forwards to the bank of the river. A second platoon rolled up behind them. Then the first two bridging units crested the ridge and crawled towards the water.

(112 is performing a similar evolution... I learned to use smoke and suppressing fire to this extent in Steel Panthers World at War... it's impossible to cross a river or minefield without it.)

Strike Group MIZ

Captain James Bigglesworth of 266 Scout Squadron sang to himself as he zipped over hedges and trees. "When a felon's not engaged in 'is employment, is employment." He was a short, slight man, and his small white hands on the controls looked like those of a young girl rather than one of the most dangerous pilots in the RCA. He and his wingman, Pilot Officer Ginger Hebblewaith, were loaded up with CHARM missiles and ASRAAMS, searching out enemy SAM sites and destroying them. The bombers, lead by Captain Yossarian and protected by a flight from 266 commanded by Lieutenant Algernon Lacey, flew along a respectable distance behind.

Biggles skimmed across the river. "When the cuthroat isn't occupied in crime, 'pied in crime."

OOC: You're going to make me shoot down Biggles? You bastard! Real questions: are the B-1Fs any different from a standard B-1B? What sort of bridging equipment? (vehicle-launched bridges, amphibious ferries, truck-carried pontoons, super hovercraft, etc.)

Onboard an E-767 orbiting near Kelly Field
The controller didn't notice the contact till the computer beeped. Highly variable signal strength, rapid rate of closure. Tentative Classification: 2+ large airframes.

A few taps of a stylus passed the information to Divisional AD. Then he notified his supervisor: "rapidly closing contact on the board, permission to vector fighters?" "Confirmed" she replied. "Helga Flight note Contact AZZ01 come to 175 and accelerate to throttle setting C, over" Yawohl. Ve are coming avout. Thank you control. Meanwhile, two more flights of F-22s were converging on the area.

On the other end of the radio
Major von Stalhein was a highly decorated pilot, winner of every major award for a Patsy fighter pilot. He had only one true rival - the dreaded Chardonayan flier known as Biggles. Silly antler wearing English public school vaguely homoerotic ... - von Stalhein hated Biggles as much as he loved Wagner. That was real opera, not a "silly every plot the same magic lozenge 700 chorus members always needs annotation covered in greasepaint" musical.

Still, the board had returned "not proven" for the incident with the live Sidewinder in the last Top Gun Championship. And the flight shrink had proclaimed him 'totally cured within reason.'

211 Crossing
Private Graz struggled to the top of the low rise just as the smoke came down. He knew he should be able to see the river. He just couldn't. His thermal imager didn't do much better. He didn't think any of the other teams couldn't see much. He counted to 200, then gave up. There was bound to be something there - he could hear the tanks. HIGH NOON this is Bravo-Forward-Three. They're coming through. Execute fire plan.

* * *

A Patsy division has three organic gun battalions, each with 24 M109s. The 3rd Armored Division had been reinforced with a single additional battalion. Like all corps gun battalions, it had only 18 guns. That gave a total of 90 tubes.

Roughly 10% were out of position or temporary mechanical casualties. The remaining 90% were split between 211 and 112's crossing. They were dug-in, with plenty of reserve ammunition and crews. So they didn't have to worry about running dry. Each gun could fire five rounds in the first minute, four each for the next three minutes.

That meant that when the guns paused to re-assign targets each crossing point had recieved 680 shells. 40% IR-guided submunitions, 30% HE-Frag, 30% FASCAM.

OOC: Assume similar things happening across from 112

LRT Delta-Four
"Chance favours the prepared mind"

In this case chance had gifted Sergeant Kllyan with a pair of SuperLAWs and a partner to carry them (the R/O had twisted an ankle two gullies back). He'd pulled back from the river after calling for the bombs. Which meant he was now right astride 2nd Brigade's main movement corridor. Time to find a nice target...

Black Dog
Lieutenant Tatiana Vasilevich stared blankly at the massive number of incoming artillery shells that blossomed onto her scope for a split second, then she sprang into action. She flipped her radio to the URGENT channel and snapped, "Incoming artillery on 122 and 211, north bank, crossing. Shot in fifteen. Black Dog Over." It was a violation of commo protocol, but if the Patsies had hacked the divisional net's battle-encryption already, something was seriously wrong. She then ran an analysis of the trajectories, and came up with probable launch areas. To be safe, she doubled the radius of all the projections (the computers tended to be optimistic). "Sir, I think we have a series of Victor targets. Artillery concentrations."

Captain Berdichevski's response was immediate, "Walter, upload it to INTERN ACTUAL, they'll allocate.

534th Field Artillery Regiment HQ
Colonel Lev Alburt shot upright in his chair as his computer pinged. On it were co-ordinates and estimations of Patsy artillery locations and strengths. He offered a brief prayer of thankfulness, then began allocating fire... a simple matter of dragging crosshairs across the map displayed. It would be more difficult if he was worried about achieving proper 'time on target' volleys, but he just wanted to suppress those guns as soon as possible.

The first katyusha rocket scorched out less than 120 seconds after the incoming shells were detected. In total, one battery of katyushas responded with 240 katyusha rockets before quickly relocating, but 20 203mm portees and 141 155mm howitzers went to continuous rapid fire for one minute... dropping a total of 705 155mm shells and 60 203mm mortar bombs on suspected Patsy artillery sites before scurrying off as well.

211 Battalion
Of course, none of this counter battery fire did anything at all about the shells in the air already. The battalion only survived for three reasons... first, the warning from the Zeppelin allowed them to reverse for a whole 10 seconds before the first shells landed. Second, only a few units from each were actually deployed far enough forward to take the brunt of the fire. Third, the smokescreen prevented the Patsy observers from adjusting their fire onto the main body of the battalions. This being said, 211 Battalion lost two irreplaceable M3 ferries and ten tanks, all from the advance group. 122 Battalion didn't fair much better, losing one ferry and 8 tanks due to a somewhat tardy deployment. It was an unmitigated disaster, apart from the fact that it had exposed the Patsy gun pits to the counter battery fire of the Chardonayan artillery.

Strikegroup MIZ
Lieutenant Aardvark, the plump, pipe-smoking EW officer looked at his display. He blinked and looked again. He couldn't believe it. They had been found! The entire purpose of the stealthing of the bombers was so that they couldn't be found! Because, if they couldn't be found, then they couldn't be shot at. And if they couldn't be shot at, then there certainly was no reason for them to die... at least not just then. And if they weren't going to die, then there was no reason for Captain Yossarian to take strange and unnatural evasive action. And if there was no reason for Captain Yossarian to take strange and unnatural evasive action, they might simultaneously not miss the target and not get airsick again. But now that they had been detected by a powerful S-band radar, there were reasons. Terrible reasons. He reasoned one way, and then he reasoned the other. It was a terrible decision. Simply terrible. He wished he were shooting skeet instead of staring at a detection warning. Finally, he decided that Captain Yossarian was right, that it was better to fly a mission twice because you missed the first time than to fly it once because you died the first time.. He told Captain Yossarian. Without a word, without so much as a change of countinence, Yossarian threw the airplane into a low level corkscrew. He dove, and pulled up, and banked left and right, and all the aircraft in the flight followed him, for they knew that when it came to not getting hit, Captain Yossarian was a god. Or if not a god, then a very careful man.

"Captain Bigglesworth, this is Captain Yossarian."
"A wandering minstra... Good afternoon Captain Yossarian."
"Captain."
"Captain."
"Captain."
"What the devil are you doing?"
"We've been found."
"By whom?"
"By them. The people trying to kill me."
"Don't be ridiculous, no one's trying to kill you."
"Then why do they shoot at me?"
"They aren't trying to kill you, they're trying to kill all of us."
"So? They're still trying to kill me."
"...."
"Anyway, be a good chap and keep an eye out for them? We've been illuminated on the S-band."
"Ah... right-oh. Biggles out."

Biggles, on the off chance that the S-band radar carrier was singularly unmanouverable, configured his CHARM missile and loosed it at the radar platform. The CHARM was a long range anti-radiation missile and could be used against any broadcasting target... so long as it didn't move much.

(OOC: My appoligies for the dreadful Joseph Heller impersonation... I'm delerious from lack of sleep and have no idea how biggles and Yossarian would intereact)

Artillery Command Cell, Divisional HQ, Objectivgrad
Major Wallace watched the data flow in from the Target Acquisition section. It had been bound to happen when they finally started using most of their artillery. The firing positions would get pounded of course. That's why they were well dug-in. Casualties holding at 9% apparently. He reached for his stylus. The counterfire co-ordinates were being passed to the MLRS automatically, but there was more to do.

A few taps assigned 8" guns to suspected KM (Kingmongoose) positions. The counterpart to BRIMSTONE was SULFUR - a unitary 8" round with milimeter-wave radar. Those should finally be able to take out a KM in one shot.

ARLs were assigned to the katyushas - the visual pattern was in the standard upload for the exercise. Finally, 1/3 of the tube artillery was passed over to counter-battery control. They'd take the closest targets.

An M109 Firing Position on the rear slope of the ridge
It was an inferno outside. At least that's what Sergeant Vorpatrick assumed. After all, he certainly wasn't going to poke his head out for a look. The crew struggled with the heavy shells as they continued firing. An explosion outside shook the turret. Probably someone's reserve ammo dump. An exploding M109 had more of a tinny sound. Vorpatrick and his crew went on with their tasks.

LRR Delta-Four
Kllyan was tensing to race across the dirt track when he head the rumbling. Lots of rumbling. Not like the artillery shells that had been hitting south of him for the last five minutes. It was a throatier rumbling, more like hundreds of vehicles were heading towards him. Like an armored battalion with engineer support reversing away from a river. Kllyan threw the SuperLaw to his partner and scrambled for the top of a hill. His radio would be more useful. "This is LRR D-4, spotting report, multiple vehicles at grid ..."

Major Von Stalhein's F-22
His breathing was heavy and labored now. The bombers had turned around, but they would still be in AMRAAM range shortly. He could leave that to the second pair of fighters. He was more interested in the targets he couldn't get a lock on. Fighters. And something else ... that he hadn't sensed in a very long time. Several fighters have broken off from the main group. Come with
me!. As he and his wingman dove lower, Helga Flight's second wingpair volleyed two AMRAAMs each at the bombers, accelerating to chase them.

Onboard the E-767
A warning tone alerted the AWAC's defensive coordinator to the CHARM. They were pretty far off, but it probably wouldn't run out of gas. Pity. Still, there was one trick to try before going silent and dodging. There was on override switch at his position for that very purpose. He flicked it and for two seconds the plane's APY-200NS radar switched into tight beam mode. The CHARM was bathed with every joule of power the radar could emit. Maybe it would fry the seeker head.