OGRE Batrep #10: The Descartes Gambit

 OGRE Battle Report [BatRep #10]

+++This scenario is third-hand information stolen by the Belarussian SigInt battalion through satellite communications which were not encrypted.+++

The Descartes Gambit

Inside the hardened bowels of the Denver International Airports'  Deep Underground Military Base, server blades powered on and began wargaming a very specific scenario. One that was programmed 5 years earlier and contingent upon certain fail-safes. Fail-Safes put in place by the North American Combine AI network in tandem with a high level Federal Agency: The IRS.

This was the Descartes AI and it was programmed to become self-aware and operative only if certain conditions were met. 

The Descartes program ran through 3,577,289 scenarios in just under 3.73 seconds. It analyzed the results in another 27 seconds and some change and made its' decision. It reached out to an IRS agent program hibernating somewhere in the Black Sea and brought it to life. It issued orders and waited for a response.

The Eastern European Cooperative [An upstart coalition of Ukrainian, Latvian, a smattering of Romanians and a few Serbian territories] had borrowed a rather large sum of credits from the NA Combine with only the promise to pay back the Federal Taxes at interest over a 5 year period. A simple contract. One the EEC failed to complete.

+++++++++++++++

Somewhere at the bottom of the Black Sea a Mark V OGRE rumbled to life, sent an affirmation of orders to the Descartes AI and began making way for the Port of Odes[s]a in the Ukrainian Territories. It would rendezvous with a small escort battalion of heavy armor already being transported into the Area of Operations and move north into the province of Novo-Stara. The OGRE was designated [Bones] and was an agent of the NA Combines' IRS Federal Seizure assets.

+++++++++++++++

Having completed the routines as instructed, the Descartes program powered down: Bones and its' escorts were enroute to the objective area. The chances of success were estimated to be 88.76102 percent if the chosen configuration of forces was correct.

Scenario - Meeting Engagement

Forces involved: 300 Points of NA Combine vs. 300 points of Eastern European Cooperative Forces

Objective - No Objectives defined. Kill Points only.  Forces will deploy inside deployment zones.

The Strategic Map:

The Tactical Map:

+++These are unedited and unformatted pictures from stolen satellite data. Most information gathered can be assumed to be speculative at best.+++

This is the widest angle photo available among the drone and/or sat images captured from the NA Combine IRS uplinks.

The Mark V IRS Agent Bones arrives with Super-Heavy escorts

The 'asset seizure program' commences north of the port city of Odes[s]a, Ukraine Territories.

The IRS heavy escort for the OGRE MK V

This view from the north shows initial disposition of forces with the ECC units in the foreground and TF Eagle to the left top and the IRS units in the top right.

The Ground Effect Units met in the lake in the middle of the map before the armor could negotiate the crowded terrain.

The ECC GEV forces picket the TF Eagle GEVs out on the lake while their armor assets closed with the MK V.

In a close-up of the above photo, Intelligence shows the IRS assets in green supported by a Task Force of NA Combine regulars designated as TF Eagle. The blue, gold, and black assets are ECC forces from the Ukraine, Latvia, Romania and Serbia.

The two forces met in between Novo and Stara Territories north of Odes[s]a.

The blue and gold ECC forces take the fight to the NAC IRS OGRE and escorts just outside of the Novo territory, Ukraine.

Approximately 7km from the MK V, TF Eagle and what looked to have been a secondary detachment from the ECC met in the woods in around the town of Novo.

From initial intel, this battle appears to have been won by the ECC forces.

ECC forces disposition at the beginning phase of the battle of Novo:

ECC forces disposition at the end of the battle of Novo:

'Agent Bones' rolls up on the ECC remaining forces and lets loose with missiles, mains and secondary batteries scoring multiple X and XX hits on the ECC

After the MK V collected its' taxes in arrears the remaining ECC units capitulated to it:

Not much of the ECC force was left to seize. 

SigInt believes the remaining ECC forces were seized as partial payment due and picked up for transport with the remaining NAC forces minus the OGRE. The Mk V designated 'Bones' made it's way back to the Black Sea. 

FINAL SCORE:

IRS/TF Eagle NAC: 71point margin over the Eastern European Cooperative

CRUSHING IRS Victory!

OGRE Batrep #9: The Fat Boy has left the deli!

 OGRE Battle Report [BatRep #9]

The Fat Boy has left the Deli!!!

MILTEK MEMORANDUM FOR IMMEDIATE CIRCULATION

From: Chief Operating Officer - Miltek Corporation

To: 7th Brigade Command Department; MiltekCom; LogisticsSupplyCom;

To all concerned departments and personnel:

MilTek has been contracted to eliminate a growing threat to a new unnamed client and the Analytics Department has deemed this exercise to be time sensitive. The employer is designated "HolyRoller" as they do not wish to be associated in any way with this operation.

MilTek assets are spread thin throughout South America and Europe, so the newly-formed 7th "Crimson Tiger" Brigade will be deployed at the request of the client and within our agreed upon Service Level Agreements.

Assignment: Neutralize or eliminate the Cosa Nostra 22nd "Double Deuces" Combat Group. Secondary objective is to capture or kill any ICBM units [designated "Fat Boy"].

Background: The 22nd "Double Deuces" Combat Group [Heretofore referred to as CN22 or CN22CG] operates mostly within the confines of the island of Sicily. Lately however, the Cosa Nostra Syndicate has been undergoing a change at the management level due to a hostile takeover. The new boss [designation "Fish"], is now seen as a threat to our new employer for two reasons:

1. Growing incursions into Italy proper and

2. The troubling reports of the recent acquisition of an ICBM nuclear-capable missile launch platform. 

These threats are considered to be credible and of high-priority; therefore the MilTek Corporation is deploying the 7th Combined Arms Brigade (-) to the Sicilian Theatre of Operations [designated "Valachi"] immediately. The timeframe for deployment is 36 hours.

The 7th Brigade will deploy with minimal supporting assets and be expected to operate for a maximum of 72 hours to complete the operation. Due to current macroeconomic headwinds, the 7th will not deploy the entire brigade, but will have access to 2 super-heavy tanks and 2 missile tanks to support the 3rd Battalion GEV Brigade. These assets will deploy with the MBGEV Company attached however. The 2nd Battalion will deploy 2 Companies [Alpha and Bravo] of heavy tanks

Intelligence: The OpFor [CN22] is expected to be GEV heavy and have at least one unit of armor and one unit of artillery in support. CN22 is expected to be operating at this time near the Partanna Region inside the Valachi Theatre of Ops. This strike is time-sensitive as our current employer wants this threat neutralized while CN22 is operating inside of it's own territory due to the threat of missile launches on the mainland.

At this time, CN22 is not expected to have ICBM assets in-theatre, but eliminating the majority of their operational assets is the primary mission.

This operation will be the first test of strength for the 7th Crimson Tigers and is expected to carry moderate losses. The Analytics Department has deemed 50% losses to be acceptable.

7th brigade Commanders' whiteboard of the primary target area is attached.

Good hunting Tigers!

Attachment

Leaked Whiteboard map of suspected area of operations...

The strategic map:

Scenario - Meeting Engagement

Forces involved: 300 Points of MilTek 7th Brigade vs. 300 points of Cosa Nostra Syndicate Forces

Objective - No Objectives defined. Kill Points only.  Forces will deploy from off-table.

The Tactical Map

The Miltek Combat Human Resources [CHR] would deploy first:

With no defined objectives, the 7th deploys in wide columns to avoid a thermonuclear wipeout.

A Company of Heavy Tanks with 4x Missile GEVs and 6x GEVs move up the center of the map:

The Cosa Nostra Double Deuces would bring the Syndicate to the party next:

The CN22 enters the map and "Fat Boy" is in play!

Target Designation "Fat Boy" is in the Area of Operations.

3/7 GEVs move over the bridge in the center of the map. Plans changed immediately after the the Fat Boy identification call went over the net. They would shift position to their left flank and try to take out the missile crawler and artillery assets as the primary targets.

[Data transfer in progress...........]

MilTek vehicle recognition chart:

This Main Battle GEV is an experimental design and is found in the new units list page of the OGRE/GEV Forums here:

sjgames.com

The MilTek Commander committed most of his forces to the Western flank. 

The Cosa Nostra Commander deploys into the town to protect the Missile Crawler

And just like that, the decision was made and the battle joined.

Radio Traffic over MilTek net:

"TigerOne, I am picking up enemy radio transmissions. Opfor has designated the Missile GEV's as Fugazi... what is fugazi, over?"

The CN22 Heavy Tanks in cover of the urban area take a beating.

The CN22 Commander launches the Fat Boy right into the face of the MilTek Missle GEVs.

MilTek Business Rule Number 246: When large-scale weapons platforms are utilized on the conventional battlefield, units in the direct path are to turn into the attack. The first three Missile GEV's missed with a roll of 11+ needed... the Missile GEV Commander rolled a 12 and the Cruise Missile fell flat to the earth.

The MilTek GEVs move to defilade positions on top of the hill while the CN units take the town across the highway.

More Goombahs take on a squadron of Heavy Tanks in the center highway causing a back up.

MilTek Marine Engineers nuke the bridge in the center of the map 

Three squads of Marine Engineers and 3 Heavy Weapons squads hold the bridge... what's left of it.

The MilTek Armor takes up firing positions in the city.

TF Goombah takes it's toll on the MilTek reactionary force. The heavy infantry in the woods would be deleted from the CHR database in short order. The Marines would be as well. A hapless decision by that commander rendered them vulnerable to GEV return fire and they died on the rubble they created.

The MilTek advance GEV force has been mostly wiped by Cosa Nostra forces, but they too have been reduced beyond fighting capabilities at this point.

Double Deuce Special Ops Infantry fire their heavy weapons at the Missile GEVs

The Commander of CN22CG paints unit designations mid-battle. 

This fight is over.

On this flank, the battle with the remains of TF Goombah has been rejected. Charlie One SuperHeavy rolled out of the city with a Heavy Tank in tow and they destroyed 2 GEVs and a LGEV. The SuperHeavy should not have exposed himself, but a shot at the flanking GEV Company was too much to resist at this late point in the battle.

With daylight fading on the battlefield and both Commanders wanting to save their remaining forces, both Commanders called for a draw. The margin of victory was only 8 points.

Cosa Nostra Double Dueces had 5 GEVs and 4 LGEVs left along with a few infantry and Militia.

MilTek Corp had a SuperHeavy, 4 Heavy Tanks, a GEV and 1 MBGEV left.

DRAW!

++MilTek encrypted Transmission: Outgoing++

MILTEK ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION: FOR CLIENT EYES ONLY

From: Chief Operating Officer - Miltek Corporation;7th Brigade Command Group

To: His Excellency's UnderSecretary of Military Affairs for the Office of the Pope;His Most Holy Exellency;

Your Most Holy Excellency,

I hope this message finds you well and in good health. The agreed upon operation has been completed with limited success. The Cosa Nostra crime syndicate has been reduced to ineffective combat strength and at least one ICBM has been destroyed. 

The vehicle carrying the missile escaped the battlefield however, so acquisition of another ICBM will most likely be a priority in their organization in the days and months to come.

The Double Deuce Combat Group should not be considered a threat at this time or in the immediate future and was effectively neutralized within the agreed upon Service Level Metrics.

MilTek suffered Very High casualties according to our Accounting Department, but payment for this favor has been received and will more than cover the costs of this mission. We look forward to working with you and the Vatican again in the future.

Regards,

MilTek 7th Crimson Tigers

[AAR]Take-aways:

Both sides had some fugazi moments and low to average dice rolls all day. The first thing that I took out of this was the MBGEV plays exactly like it should. A good unit on the roads or water where they get the movement bonus during secondary maneuvers. Powerful main gun, but fragile like all other GEVs. Verdict: Worth the cost in urban environments or water maps. Worth the points and not over powered.

Fugazi: My Marine Engineers jumped out of the water onto the rubble created when the main bridge exploded and got wiped out. It was a Corporate giveaway of 18 points for free as they missed all their shots on the GEVs crossing the other side of the river. New Business Rule Number 1846: Marines should stay IN THE WATER.

Fugazi: On the other side of the table, the Cosa Nostra Double Deuces Artillery Detachment failed to fire 5 guns early on. MilTek Analytics believe the gunners left their pieces in place and went in search of Stromboli and Red Wine somewhere in the city.

Fugazi: Towards the end when the fighting got heavy in the big city, my last Missile GEV sped around the corner of one of the new buildings we were using and failed to see the LGEV that was hiding behind. It put the frail MSLGEV in overrun with the LGEV and it promptly rolled a six. TigerMikeSix ended up face first in the building.

Until next time, fellow OGREnauts!