Combat Report Summer 1961With the new chemical STABIL-ICE, the ice cream industry in Mereth booms. Soon, children from across the globe will recognize that signature Merethan ice cream and how it makes their stomachs cold. Health regulators are, to put in mildly,
concerned about the impact of putting in a refrigerating-chemical in ice cream, but the Mereth military ensures the public that it does
not mess around in ice cream safety.
The administration staff of a museum in Cannala have complained about the Aratamian military's imports draining their supply of "Privateer" trucks, which was the first truck ever developed by Cannala. A spokesman from Aratam simply stated that Aratam is not apologetic for saving money, and that the routine break-downs are just a "part of the experience" for Aratam's soldiers.
New DesignsThe
"Hydra" EMFT-61 comes into play around this time, boasting a four-barrel anti-air mundane autocannon and basic radar targeting assistance system. The Hydra is also designed with anti-infantry in mind, but the fact that the gunner sits in a mostly-open cage on top of the chassis (where the rest of the crew sits) makes it not exactly
perfect for front-line combat.
Also done by Aratam is the
Macaw Strike Craft, a variant of the Parrot but now equipped with a turboprop engine and foregoing its normal guns for two 500lb missile/bomb mounts. This
would go with the MAGIC Mk. 2 Hellfire missile imported by Aratam, but the missile's expense leaves it only being fit in Aratam's Spearhead-B jets.
Mereth, however, without anything like the Hellfire to import from Forenia, develops their own missile: the
ME-GVM-61 "Penguin", a G2G tactical missile that fits either an ICE or HE warhead and is guided remotely via operators from the launch truck looking at a feed from the Penguin's integrated TV camera. It has a range of 50km and a lethal radius of 50m.
STABIL-ICE revolutionizes Mereth's ice cream industry and also has the side effect of improving the jet engines in the Blizzard. STABIL-ICE only reacts at specific temperatures, allowing for Mereth to forego the giant diluted ICE tanks in the Blizzard for a much smaller STABIL-ICE tank. This increases the Blizzard's range to the point where it can reach Long range - long enough for it to have
some impact at sea, even when launched from land.
Being imported from Forenia is the M3 Sorraia GPMG, which finds its use in emplacements and being casually held by soldiers in Bear Armor. Though power armored soldiers have a
bit more trouble with reloading and aiming the thing. It isn't exactly designed with power armor in mind,m after all.
The MountainsAratamian soldiers dread the sight of a Penguin missile coming in the distance, which often means they only have moments to spare.
Even though more often than not Penguin missiles end up detonating off the mountain passes and on peaks in the mountain due to the difficulty its operators find in guiding the missile into the narrow passes, the site of a detonated Penguin is a frightful one. Aratam's reinforcements often end up passing by these impact sites, and see the lifeless frozen remnants of former Aratam soldiers. One can see soldiers frozen in mid-step, attempting to run from the missile. Bits of shattered Hydras and Halberds scatter the ground, falling apart after hit by a stray stone falling from the mountains above or even just wind.
Occasionally, Goldeneye soldiers successfully prevent successful Penguin impacts, moving everyone and everything they can away from the impact site before the missile hits the ground. But only a few Goldeneye soldiers boast awareness high enough to have any impact on the Penguin's effectiveness. The Penguin simply moves too fast for the regular enhanced awareness of most Goldeneye soldiers to have enough of an impact. The few that
do predict impacts are hailed as heroes and often put at the front of Aratam's most critical force movements.
But ultimately, despite the terrifying renown it holds towards Aratamian troops, the Penguin isn't too effective. Its accuracy and agility, while not awful, ends up in most missiles just hitting the side of a mountain. Yet with this being said, the Penguins most certainly have an impact. Just not as big an impact as Mereth's military would like.
Flying over the mountains the battle in the air rages on. Spearhead-B pilots are a bit better off thanks to their new Hellfire missiles, yet a Hellfire hitting a Merethan Blizzard is a
rare sight. The Hellfire had enough trouble hitting Lightning Streaks in the Forenian-Cannalan war; the faster, more agile Blizzards are even worse targets. Without any clumsy slow bombers to target, the Hellfire isn't a particularly impactful weapon. Mereth's air force continues to reign supreme, but have continued trouble in impacting the ground as their only ground-support craft is the Very Expensive Blizzard. While rare and not the most accurate of things, AA fire from Hydras protecting tactically important sites means Merethan aircraft can no longer bomb with impunity too. Aratamian soldiers on land usually don't find themselves worrying about enemy aircraft.
Rarely, a Macaw or Spearhead can have their screen of sacrificial Parrots hold long enough to drop a few bombs on the ground, but the sheer rarity of this happening means these occurrences hold no substantial impact on ground.
The worsening lack of relevance held by the air theatre towards the ground leaves the battle on ground largely unimpacted by either side's aircraft. The Hydra tank, when making a rare appearance in the front lines, can easily dispatch even Bear-armored soldiers (even if they aren't as reliably killed). Until its gunner is inevitably shot out of the turret, that is. Especially when nearly every soldier in Bear Armor is holding a HMG capable of spraying enough bullets in the general area until one goes in the general direction of the turret and kills the gunner. Though while Bear soldiers learn to appreciate the M3 Sorraia, many cases of broken wrists and worse eventually teach the infantry a collective lesson to be
very cautious (often to the point of foregoing entirely) if trying to use the MG completely unmounted, thanks to their unarmored hands.
The Halberd remains largely ineffective, with its poor anti-infantry capabilities proving to be its downfall.
The summer of 1961 sees Merethan troopers clad in power armor advancing through frozen graveyards and wielding heavy machine guns. Their advantage isn't particularly great, but it's more than enough to ensure Mereth gains territory.
Mereth advances in the Mountains.
[M: 2/4; A: 2/4]The Sea/The PlainsAratam's advance onto the shores of the plains is an immensely troubled advance.
Their lack of any official lander, while not
crippling, severely hurts them. Blizzards, now with enough range to begin hitting sea targets, are a menace to Aratam's navy as they attempt to protect their landing forces. Again, Blizzards are rare, and they face (still-very-lackluster) competition from Aratam's naval aircraft and naval anti-aircraft weaponry. But they're enough to sink a few vessels.
Penguin missiles find a use here, as well. Mereth command's patented method of "just throw enough missiles at the enemy until something hits something" manages to
also sink a few unlucky ships, though the
vast majority of missiles uselessly splash into the sea.
Despite this, Aratam's navy still finds itself beating Mereth's. The Merethan airforce is at a lesser disadvantage but the occasional Blizzard sortie out onto sea from land with little to even guide the planes isn't enough to do much more than harassment; whereas Aratam's carriers still allow for full aerial assaults against hostile ships.
The Aratamian forces that
do make it to land fight a more balanced battle than that in the mountains. The vast open plains restore Aratam's armor to relevance. Halberds can shoot out emplacements and clustered troops in the distance and have plenty of time for their main cannon and accompanying infantry to eliminate power-armored troops before they get close enough to ICE tanks. The Hydra finds a use in eliminating infantry at medium range. Occasionally a lucky RPG shot disables or destroys a tank, but they have a much better survival rate here on the plains than back in the cluttered tight mountain passes.
Aratam's infantry mostly slowly advances behind the few tanks their nation fields. Their rifles are about as good as Mereth's at range thanks to the powered shots' improved accuracy, but machine gun fire from the Sorraia is a scary thing that oftentimes forces troops into trenches or directly behind tanks waiting for emplacements to be shot out. When the infantry of both nations do find a chance to directly clash, Aratam usually comes up on top thanks to their magnetic-assisted rifles and enhanced soldiers, but oftentimes this doesn't happen.
A tactic favored by Mereth is burrowing behind Aratam's trenches. They can't breach the surface directly near any hostile forces - they'd be swarmed immediately and Goldeneyes can notice a nearby Burrower if it gets to close to the surface - but they
can open up passages far behind enemy lines where Mereth can begin a two-side attack on the same Aratam position from. Soldiers and Goldeneyes find themselves frequently assigned to patrol the land Aratam manages to hold in order to locate Burrower tunnels, but a decent number of tunnels stay secure long enough to assist in major offensives.
The battle here is a slow one. Merethan infantry sits in trenches, with Bear-armored soldiers ICE-ing any Aratamian soldiers or vehicles unlucky enough to be the ones advancing over or into trenches and occasionally popping up to attempt to RPG Aratam's vehicles or lay down suppressing fire. Aratam's forces also largely sit in trenches and hastily-constructed bunkers, relying on slow methodical advances with plenty of armor support.
Penguin missiles find a better use here as well, being able to soften up distant Aratamian fortifications too far away for Sarukh ICE rockets to be effective at as well as assisting defenses of important beaches. They even see some use in completely stopping Aratamian armored advances, though Mereth command is cautious about the potential of the missiles hitting friendly positions when used in the front-line.
Overall, Aratam's forces find a small advantage on land but their troublesome landing prevents them from gaining ground, and Mereth's navy is just below the point where it could have taken advantage of this opportunity to advance at sea.
Neither side advances. Fall of 1961 will see another beach landing by Aratam.
Neither side advances in the Sea or Plains.
Sea: [M: 0/4; A: 4/4]; Plains: [M: 4/4; A: 0/4]Event: Financial AidDuring one of the Cannalan embassy's many alcohol-fueled parties, the ambassador from Cannala informs Aratam government officials that Cannala has deemed it worthy to ramp up funding of Aratam's war efforts. He doesn't remember saying anything about "funding" the next morning, but a call to Cannala and eventually El Presidente confirms that yes, additional resources
will be sent.
Aratam will be able to choose +1 Ore or +1 Oil to import from Cannala starting next turn. Imports will take up a TC unit.
Meanwhile, deep underground in the Forenian embassy, a more serious conversation is taking place. Forenia remains vested in the Merethan war effort, but feels that they need additional evidence that Mereth is worth providing additional aid to. After some discussion, a possible deal is brought up: if Mereth agrees to be the recipient of a fairly notable amount of Arstotzkan and Moskurg rebels (who
still plague Forenia) being relocated here permanently, then Forenia will authorize additional resources being sent.
If Mereth agrees to the deal, they will be able to choose +1 Ore or +1 Oil to import from Forenia starting next turn. Imports will take up a TC unit.
[M: 2/2; A: 0/2]
Mereth: The majority of Mereth's population live in this area in the Tundra, surrounded by a plethora of natural resources making the climate much easier to bear.
2 Ore 1 Oil[M: 4/4; A: 0/4]
Tundra: A frozen landscape with few features. The more northern land starts to be more populated with features facilitating human life, allowing the development of a bustling civilization.
[M: 4/4; A: 0/4]
Taiga: A large snowy forest. Cold, but full of life.
[M: 4/4; A: 0/4]
Plains: Largely flat terrain full of grass and the occasional hill.
[M: 0/4; A: 4/4]
Sea: Relatively shallow water with beaches next to the Plains and Swamp perfect for ports. Control over this region allows ship-based support (not cargo or troop landing) to be rendered to your forces everywhere but the
Taiga and
Desert.
1 Oil[M: 2/4; A: 2/4]
Mountains: Treacherous (and often narrow) mountain paths with extreme height differences, the coldest weather on the continent, and only the rare passage viable for anything above small-scale movements.
1 Ore[M: 0/4; A: 4/4]
Desert: Desert terrain facing little rain and fairly hot temperatures.
[M: 0/4; A: 4/4]
Swamp: A swamp, filled with large stretches of shallow still water, lots of bugs, and lots of swamp-y plants and fauna.
[M: 0/4; A: 4/4]
Jungle: A hot and humid jungle (and rainforest) filled with trees obscuring the sky from the ground. The northern land begins seeing a few clearings, perfect for human habitation.
[M: 0/2; A: 2/2]
Aratam: Cities surrounded by jungle with plenty of natural resources and conditions fit for relatively comfortable living.
2 Ore 1 Oil