Khemed Invasion AAR

The final battle took place in Area C on the map. A US win would meet the victory conditions. 

Turn 1 

The Marines began by landing infantry and mortars on the athletics track, securing the LZ and moving to one of the stands (Khop End?!) to overwatch the Old Town. 

I allocated 6 potential locations before the battle for the Khemed forces and marked them with a D6 then rolled randomly to determine which force would go where. In the Old Town, a force of armour- AMX30 tanks was poised to spring and ambush. An infantry force was holed up around the Hilton hotel with 2 T62s in support and a third infantry force was located in a small wooded area. 

Turn 2

The Marines advanced through the stadium and into the Old Town. The FAC successfully called in and air strike, and F18 with PGM's, however overconfidence and a lucky hot from a SAM shot the Marine Aviator down. Which made me want to then have a downed pilot model with the Marines then having to secure the crew after randomly determining where they would have landed. A side project and idea for the next game... 

The Khemed FAO called in their BM21 launchers but will have incurred the wrath of his superiors, as the mosque was caught in the blast zone. I diced for damage to all the buildings as I don't feel we do this in normal games and there's always the likelihood of damage to property occurring during the Third World War! A number of buildings took hits (6 hits, saving on a 6.) The artillery took out a US infantry stand and suppressed 3 of the 4 Abrams. The T62s decided to take advantage of the stunned US armour and raced into firing positions. Two rounds of fire destroyed an Abrams. 

Turn 3

The US JTAC made another call and this time an AH1 Seacobra answered the call. I'm not entirely sure of the rules regarding helicopters in CWC2, I opted to use it as an onboard asset, rather than a single use airstrike. AA fire had no effect and it loosed off some ATGW and cannon/rocket fire, suppressing an AMX30 and destroying a BMP2. A US HQ unit ordered the Abrams to fire but failed. The CO stepped in and directed the armour to engage the T62s, destroying one and suppressing another. In the Khemed turn, the FAO failed to call anything in and the AMX30s withdrew to the roundabout behind their position in order to get a better firing position on the advancing Abrams. 

The Seacobra that hung around, dodged 3 turns of SAM fire and did great work with a number of ATGW attacks. 

The T62s advance to danger close range. 

Turn 4 

The Abrams continued to advance, the Seacobra knocked out another AMX30 and the infantry continued their advance through the Old Town. 

The Khemed moves were limited to shaping into new firing positions and the FAO again failing to call anything in. 

Turn 5

The Marines close assaulted an AMX30 that was caught in an alley, knocking it out. The Abrams advanced, doing a half move, firing on a -1 then moving again. This scored 3 hits which the AMX30 saved! Opportunity fire from RPGs suppressed one of the Abrams and forced it to fall back. The Marine infantry returned fire, causing suppression then finishing them off with mortar fire. 

The Khemed FAO successfully called in some 152mm artillery, knocking out 1 Marine infantry and another Abrams and damaging more buildings and destroying more (plus I could use the nifty Paper Terrain damaged buildings that fit under the whole models!)

 The Khemed infantry withdrew so as to not risk friendly fire from their artillery but then blundered! The CO would now have a CV of 5 for the rest of the game. 

Turn 6

The final turn, the final AMX30 was suppressed, the Marines continued to advance and knocked out more infantry. They were now in command of both both road junctions, which I deemed was enough for them to control the BUA. They had enough infantry supporting the Abrams plus more infantry lined up in their transports as a reserve to make any further Khemed resistance a fairly dangerous and futile gesture. 

At the top of the picture, the Khemed forces are checking out of the hotel in light of the tour party from the MEU arriving en masse. 

A fun game. The close terrain was a great leveller, reducing the superiority of the Abrams and requiring close cooperation between infantry and armour, which is just as it should be. I sometimes find that due to Real Life, kids etc, starting a game at 10pm isn't ideal as I lose a bit of focus and resolve, especially when thinking about the need to spend an hour packing up afterwards! However, the campaign has been successfully concluded and I can focus on Crisis Point and perhaps my Khemed '83 project, however, this needs some thought as I don't want it to be a rehash just with M60s and LVTP5s. But I do want to use my L7V Corsairs and other 'classic' pieces of kit. Something to think about anyway. 

Thanks for reading.