OGRE Battle Report [BatRep #8]
The Battle of Scrap Metal Hill, or What price victory?
The sun rose bruised over the outskirts of Dresden on this Saturday morning. The air was cold [about 44 degrees Fahrenheit] and mostly cloudy. The Feralco Deutshland Industrial Park and the Industriepark Schwarze, just to the east of Dresden and north of the Grossenhain Airfield were two more targets of opportunity for the Soviet Federated States forces, so they moved in force on this area after the Battle of Dresden just a few weeks earlier.
The SigInt squadron suggested that there was little left of the Pan-European forces anywhere near these facilities and that they might be used for the production of ammunition or even conventional vehicle production.
Signal Intelligence was correct: There were no Pan-Euro forces in the area...
What they failed to see was the North American Combine Armor Division moving south to deny those facilities and retake the airfield from the Soviet Federated States.
The strategic map:
Scenario - Four objective zones on the map with one 5 point objective in each players' deployment zone - these generate no Victory Points for the player who owns that objective. The players' must take their opponents 5 point objective to score those points. There are two (2) point objectives in the middle of the map on each side [east and west]. Victory Points are awarded at the end of each players' turn if the objective is not contested.
Forces involved: 300 Points of Soviet Federated States vs. 300 points of North American Combine Armor
Objective - Occupation and Defend. Objectives on the map provide points every turn if a player has a unit wholly within that zone and is not contested. There are (2) 2-point areas, and (2) 5 point areas. The 5 point objectives are inside each players' deployment zone and the owning player scores no points for that objective.
Tactical maps:
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| The view from the NAC northern corridor tactical map |
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The view from the SFS southern tactical map
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| The view from the east with Scrap Metal Hill to the bottom left |
Once contact was made, the SFS Commander was hard pressed to maneuver his armor into the eastern corridor where the bulk of the NAC armor began their assault.
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| A SFS Heavy OGRE Company escorted by a GEV squadron moves forward to the western objective. The NAC armor division was far to the east and these forces were out of position from the beginning. |
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| The eastern SFS defenders would take the brunt of the NAC spearhead |
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SFS HQ detachment defends the southern objective. Most of these forces would move east to support the defense of the hill.
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From first contact, the SFS forces had to react to the assault rather than act against the aggressors, forming a static defense of what would come to be called 'Scrap Metal Hill' by the NAC commander.
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| The view from the SFS defense on the hill. |
The NAC assault:
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| The main thrust of the NAC offensive moves through the eastern objective and begins the assault of the SFS home objective. |
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| The SFS mobilizes a static defense of their home objective on the top of an intervening hill |
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| Soviet GEVs and heavy tanks form the defense |
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| NAC SuperHeavy, heavy and light tanks form the backbone of the attacking forces, supported by GEV Squadrons |
Desperate to impede the advance of the NAC armor, the SFS Commander orders the launch of a cruise missile, but intervening fire from a flanking GEV squadron shot it down before it could reach the armored columns.This leaves the SFS Southern Objective with but a few artillery pieces and a missile tank for defense. (Along with an empty missile crawler!)
Eager to support his defenders, the SFS Command GEV gets too close to the action and is wiped by the NAC escort squadrons early-on:
On the western front - all is quiet. The objective is secured and the SFS heavy armor company moves east to support the middle corridor defense. A NAC heavy tank company with GEV and infantry move up:
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| A NAC heavy tank company supported by a GEV squadron and heavy infantry move up the middle |
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| The super heavy OGRE Company moves east to deal with the push in the middle and keep the defense on the hill from getting flanked |
From the northwest and north, the SFS Commander decided to send a small squadron of LGEVs and a missile GEV to harass the NAC Objective and try to take out the missile crawler lurking within... the plan worked!
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| The missile crawler and it's deadly payload was eventually taken out by the pair of LGEVs on the hill... |
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And that's when the OGRE made the decision to turn north towards the NAC objective. The fight for the hill rages on in the distance.
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The SFS heavy company moves to the middle corridor and gets a bloody nose!
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But in the end - the artillery fire directed by the southern objective defenders won that skirmish - and the battle for the hill commenced in earnest
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The Battle of Scrap Metal Hill
With the eastern and western objectives decided, the focus quickly became the NAC assault on the SFS defenders on the western hill:
SFS contracts to form the static defense of the hill
Both sides move up to engage after a few initial skirmishes
After the armor opens up on both sides, the NAC SuperHeavies make a run for the southern objective
Up close and personal on the hill
Four NAC SuperHeavies and 3 LGEVs to the south are all that remain
The fight spills over towards the SFS southern objective as another two NAC Superheavies and a SFS SuperHeavy are destroyed
On the next to last turn of the game up north:
The Mark II would take this objective on the next turn - the last turn
On the last turn of the game - 2 NAC SuperHeavies take the southern objective from the SFS artillery crews
This was a brutal engagement from the start for both sides. The NA Combine Commander overloaded the eastern corridor and the SFS Commander had to scramble to defend. In the end - the NAC had 2 SuperHeavies and 2 light tanks and the SFS had an OGRE MK II (minus a secondary battery) a heavy tank and a LGEV on the table. Both sides lost almost an entire Combat Brigade Team on this one hill! Thus, the NAC Commander has dubbed it Scrap Metal Hill... somewhere west of Dresden. Until next time - for there will always be another Scrap Metal Hill.
FINAL SCORE:
Soviet Federated States: 35
North American Combine: 33
DRAW!
