Combat ReportNogrania has elected to push the
Fjords and
Swamps, through the Mountain lane.
Toskesh has elected to push the
Mountains and
Badlands.
Combat in the Mountains/Swamp borderIt's Autumn in the mountains, which means the weather is starting to turn cold and the winds have picked up. This is bad news for Nogrania's new Draft helicopter; it sees some use landing their new Wictor NMG crews in hard-to-reach overlooks and ambush points, but when the wind picks up it becomes impossible to be perform the precarious drop-offs required. An attempt is made to use the Draft as a gunship by firing the NMG's mounted on the doors at troops on the ground, but the inaccurate fire combined with the plentiful cover in the mountains means their attempts are foiled more often than not. This, combined with their non-existant armor, means using the new helicopter as a gunship in the Mountains is unproductive. The Wictor is more useful, able to guard valuable choke-points in the mountain passes. Toskesh soldiers find their new Páo-shē RGL's to be useful in this regard, when they actually have them. The heavy weight is not well-appreciated when marching up and down hills, and unless they're expecting to run into a NMG they will often elect to go without. But when they
do have it, and they
do encounter Wictor nests, then the explosive rounds are helpful in clearing out the emplacement...unless they run out of ammo. It's a bit of a toss-up between the Wictor and the Páo-shē, really. Despite this tie, Nogrania still has the advantage with their Hippo and Paradigm walkers - and the Hippo now has anti-infantry Wictors mounted on it.
Nogrania's attempts to push into the swamps are not particularly successful, however. The soggy ground means the limbs of their walkers will sink into the mud unless they stick to the narrow roads, and even then they can become easily stuck. Toskesh's Qi-Chu hovercraft is infinitely more useful, able to harass the intruders in their homeland. They're not restricted to roads or muddy countryside either, and can glide across shallow ponds of stagnant water that dot the countryside. Artillery barrages pepper Nogrania's frontline non-stop, and Toskesh drop-squads appear behind their lines with alarming frequency. The Draft is able to mimic the Qi-Chu's troop deployments, perhaps with even greater efficacy. As long as the Draft is high enough it can fly over enemy forces and isn't limited by things as silly as "roads" or "pillboxes" or "trees". Nogrania squads roll out with their Kotow rifles and do damage, but they're out-classed by the enemies Xi-52 Dài-I rifles and the rare Páo-shē grenade launcher. Tree cover is sparse, but it's still enough to hide targets on the ground for when the Draft attempts to work as a gunship. Nogrania's first foray into Toskesh's homeland...does not go well.
Neither side is particularly effective in their attempts to gain ground, but between the two of them Toskesh does slightly less-bad. They manage to gain ground and re-establish a foothold in the Mountains.
Toskesh has pushed the frontline south and gained a foothold in the Mountains! Nogrania has failed to hold the Mountain territory and will not gain +1 on their Economic Development Track for it.
Combat in the BadlandsToskesh makes a valiant push into the Badlands this year. The weather has cooled down and become much more agreeable for the boots on the ground, and infantrymen don't complain quite as much about marching with full loads of equipment. Here in the flat open terrain the Páo-shē is more useful in defensive emplacements, as users are likely to get shot before even getting in range. Understandably, this does not help for assaults.
Nogrania makes better use of their Draft here than they did in the Mountains or Swamp, as the wind only picks up during dusk and dawn and there's next to no cover on the ground. Troops can be dropped easily behind enemy lines, though Toskesh is easily able to see where they were dropped and quickly eliminate them. As a gunship it's marginally more effective; the NMG is inaccurate as hell and prone to jamming, but it's able to easily get a lot of ammo downrange quickly and spray exposed troops. Rifle rounds will punch through the Draft like tissue paper, so these gunship moments are more often than not "fly-by" attacks.
Toskesh's assaults do not go well. Nogrania's front line is now reinforced with NMG emplacements, which have a greater range than Toskesh's new Páo-shē RGL's. The chances they'll actually hit what they're shooting at is very low, but infantrymen are not particularly happy to be assaulting rapid-fire machinegun nests again. Even worse, Toskesh doesn't have
any armor to support their assaults. The best they can manage is their Qi-Chu's as a sort of mobile artillery, but it's not enough.
Jin Na is repositioned to the Badlands, in order to bolster the assault and inspire the troops. The High Council has seen fit to promote her to the rank of Corporal and give her a squad to command in an effort to demonstrate the rewards of bravery, which has raised the ire of some of the more senior soldiers on her squad. A Qi-Chu drops her and seven others off behind enemy lines on the eastern flank with the mission of hitting Ironcaster artillery emplacements in order to facilitate a Toskesh assault on that position. She hefts her new Páo-shē and sets off, quickly encountering the Ironcaster emplacements...along with a newly upgraded Hippo. She fires quickly, landing a row of 25 mm grenades along the lower glacis of the Hippo's body, and then another few on the ground far behind it. The last two hit the front-left leg of the Hippo, getting a lucky penetration and hitting a hydraulic piston inside the armor. The Hippo sags slightly, but the turret turns towards her and opens up on the coaxial NMG. Jin fumbles with the new box magazine as bullets tear up the ground around her, but manages to reload and fire off five more rounds before the first .303 round catches her in the neck. Jin Na bleeds out in the sands while the rest of her squad is slaughtered by the Hippo.
Jin Na has been KIA!Nogrania has maintained their hold on the Badlands. They have gained +1 point on their Economic Development Track!
Combat in the FjordsNogrania makes an attempt to gain a foothold in the Fjords this year. Their biggest help is their new Draft helicopter, which allows them to drop into enemy territory the same way the Qi-Chu does, without being restricted to the ocean and beachheads. These air-dropped troops struggle without heavy weapons and their less-advanced rifles, but they succeed in disrupting Toskesh lines. Their drops are often telegraphed by the big, obvious helicopters, but they can move quickly and air-lift out once their objective has been completed. Once they're high enough, Toskesh simply has no answer for the helicopters overhead. In terms of effectiveness, the smaller troop loads are made up for by the ability to land anywhere, putting it at about equal effectiveness with Toskesh's Qi-Chu's.
Nogrania's NMG is useful mostly in their Hippo tank walkers, allowing them to repel infantry without strict infantry support. The 45 mm RGL emplacements are a problem, though, and Hippo's are frequently lamed or destroyed in attacks on Toskesh's front lines. This is a problem, since the assault must either be stalled for them to maintain pace or they must be left behind altogether. With just infantry-on-infantry combat and (somewhat) equal artillery support, Toskesh wins out frequently, if they can lame enough Hippos. Nogrania can still make progress, but it's greatly limited. Despite their struggles, Nogrania still has both a naval advantage
and Ellis Green supporting their push this year. The Herald-class destroyers see limited effectiveness with their 2" artillery, and without any sort of lander Nogrania's naval bonus amounts to hitting whatever they can find from the shores.
Corporal Ellis Green sits in his Commanders cupola, one hand holding the receiver of the Wictor and the other resting on the crank. It was certainly nice to have a machine gun again - er, a
NOT-machine gun. That's what the Wictor was called, he reminded himself.
NOT a machine gun. Regardless of what it was called, it was a damn useful tool to have. It was nearly useless at range, but once a target was close enough he could just fire until he hit
something. The Hippo gracefully crested a hill and he surveyed the pillboxes that dotted the landscape ahead. A "thump" echoed out from one, and Ellis ducked back into his hatch just in time to avoid a shower of shrapnel. The 2" cannon responded, sending a round of HE into the gunport of the pillbox and blowing it apart. It'd been a direct hit on the forward leg, Green noted. The pistons were shot and the leg was dragging in the dirt, meaning their speed was cut to a fraction of what it had once been. He grimaced, gave the order, and the Hippo slowly trudged towards the enemy lines.
The fighting is pitched and brutal, but Nogrania barely scrapes out a win. If it weren't for the fact that they had Ellis Green
and naval support, the battle would surely have gone to Toskesh. Their better-equipped infantry was a large factor that did a good job of answering Nogrania's own troops and armor, but their own lack of armor and sea support really hurt them. The Páo-shē isn't the best weapon against armor, but so long as Nogrania never fields anything heavier it should be a somewhat decent counter.
Nogrania has pushed the frontline north and gained a foothold in the Fjords! Toskesh has failed to hold the Fjords territory and will not gain +1 on their Economic Development Track for it.
Foreign Interests: We have elected to "sell" the Draft to the United States this year. The US doesn't seem particularly impressed with the Shire turboshaft so much as they are with the design itself. Whether or not they've been developing their own turboshaft helicopter is confidential, naturally, but they take plenty of notes and ship the diagrams off for their own engineers to look at. In return they have presented us with a
Resource Credit. When spent, we will gain +1 Ore for that round that does not require TC.
Other News:William Shockley develops the junction transistor in New Jersey, which will soon revolutionize electronics. Armistice talks to end the Korean conflict began at Kaesong, headed by the Chinese and United Nations. Fighting continues elsewhere n the two countries, but little ground is exchanged. King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates his throne and King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. The Dalai Lama returns to Tibet and Japan signs a peace treaty with forty-eight other countries in San Francisco. The USSR performs a nuclear test, detonating a 38.3 kiloton device designated as "RDS-2", which was tested based on a tritium "boosted" uranium implosion device with a levitated core. This is the second such test they've performed, the first being back in 1949. The USSR denies claims that they've been developing and stockpiling nuclear weapons, and go on to claim the United States has been testing nuclear weapons of their own in Nevada. The United States denies these claims. The U.N. launches an investigation to look into whether the nuclear programs of these two nations are developing offensive weaponry. Walt Disney's animated musical film "Alice In Wonderland" is released in American theatres.
Theatre Progress:Mountains:
Nogrania - 2/Toskesh 1
Badlands:
Nogrania - 3/Toskesh 0
Fjords:
Nogrania - 1/Toskesh 2
Eastern Sea:
Nogrania - 2/Toskesh 2/Neutral 1
Jungle:
Nogrania - 3/Toskesh 0
Frozen Swamps:
Nogrania - 0/Toskesh 3
Author
Topic: Arms Race: Iron Behemoths - Nogrania - GAME OVER (Read 52985 times)