Taking Novi Sobor

Rebel forces last night under the cover of darkness occupied the village of Novi Sobor, with the help of six tanks, and some local militia.

If the rebels can hold Novi Sobor, they will prevent our forces from intervening in the almost weekly attacks and attempts to place the Black Forest region under their control. 

Most seriously is that Novi Sobor occupies the main east west road that enable us to resupply, and deploy our forces in the north and in the Black Forest region.  If the enemy holds Novi Sobor, they will force us to use the much longer coastal roads.

Novo Sobor is in the area of operation of the Chernarus 33rd Mountain Motorized Rifle Brigade, which has been the main force in countering rebel operations in south Zagoria since earlier in the year.

As a reminder, changes in command and strategy earlier in the year has left every part of south Zagoria under the control of the army (Chernarus Defense Forces)(CDF), except for the region north of Berezino and the coastal areas.  Those are in the area of operation of the Chernarus navy (Chernarus Naval Forces)(CNF).

Elements of the Chernarus 4th Separate Light Rifle Brigade holds a small arc southeast of Novi Sobor.  Those forces will take an active role in the army's counterattack, expected to take place as soon as tonight.  CNF forces will aid operations with their SU-25 ground interdiction aircraft flying out of their base at Balota.

Moschnyi Island amphibious landing operations

Two scenarios, both of them amphibious landings on Moschnyi Island , the Chernarus owned island in the fictitious Green Sea. Both are unopposed landings.

Both have similar objectives: to land a naval light infantry force supported by two ground interdiction fighters to secure a location, one in Kyslin, one at Musil Heights.

The basic strategic objective is to compress enemy forces and bottle them up on the eastern end of the island, until sufficient forces can be deployed to take over the island.

Only one has a subsidiary objective, to cross open ground and take the heights against an enemy fixed position. The height itself is meaningless, as it contains one log residential building and a barn, except to serve as a platform for an artillery observer.

The Musil Heights scenario is based on a minor operation during the Kursk campaign in WWII, 74 years ago this July, where the Germans could secure a height where they could observe artillery as far as visibility will allow. The Soviets knew what was at stake, and they fought the Germans to a standstill.

In the end the only thing the Soviet accomplished in their preventative counterattacks was to destroy the Germans' offensive capacity in the east for the rest of the war. And in so doing, destroying so much of their own offensive capacity, it would be nearly a year before the Soviets could mount a full assault on German forces again, next time in Bagation in July 1944.

In both scenarios, losses for the Chernarusian are usually heavy, minimum 30 percent. And in both I can play the whole scenarios without getting shot and killed, about half the time.

In other words,a great time.

Kyslin:

Attack on Chernarus Intelligence Assets in Altis

Situation: Your Chernarusian Tier One teams are holding an intelligence asset, recently snatched from Russian rogue military at a safe house in northern Altis. It is 0430 hrs and you just received an anonymous phone call that your location is compromised and that a Russian GRU Spetsnaz team will be on you in a matter of minutes.

Intelligence: You only know of a Russian team coming to your location, but you also know the Russians often hire local emigres, and retired Russian and Chernarusian rebel operatives for additional tasks and security.

Friendly Forces: A six man team, part of team loud is at the guest house providing security while the asset is being interrogated. At the safe house itself, you have your four man team. A long range sniper is nearby.

A friendly militia unit is not too far away, but it is an open question whether they will come to your aid.

A friendly local militia group consisting of two technicals is based in Ioannina, plus you have a B-25 attack aircraft based at Stratis. As long as communications are not cut off or compromised, they should come to your aid.

Operational Orders: Your orders are to get the hell out of Dodge. The package at the guest house is the mission. She must be protected at all costs and delivered to Ioannina as soon as possible.

Spy Craft in Arma 3

Bear in mind I am trying to have as much fun as I can with this game, and at the same time, maintain some semblance of a serious air about it.

Four years ago the president of Chernarus, a former Soviet mobocracy, charged its intelligence service, the ChIS, with going overseas, finding and disrupting as much as possible all rebel international criminal activity. This activity along with financial help from, you know, rogue Russia military commanders, was fueling the insurgency in Chernarus.

Now, the asset was a new university graduate who took her first job as a translator for an unidentified NGO in Altis. Her folks and friends were so proud the day she took off for Altis to meet her new boss and co-workers.

Upon arrival, her new employers took her passport and trundled her off to a building somewhere in eastern Altis to begin her work translating.

When she realized she was working for the rebels, she tried every way could could to escape, to no avail. Her constant escape attempts caught the attention of a local criminal gang, friendly to the ChIS, who told the ChIS about her.

A decision was made to do a smash and grab, get her to the safe house, gain as much intelligence out of her as they could, then smuggle her out by cargo ship, through Pyrgos, which is a rebel stronghold. (I haven't put together the snatch scenario or the smuggling scenario yet, but it will be fun, I s'pect)

Now, the B-25 bomber is a dedicated attack aircraft brought to Altis to provide some light fire support. The plane is based in Stratis, about 120 kilometers south.

All the airfields/airports are monitored by criminal gangs, including the Chernarusian gang anyway. Stratis is occupied by NATO forces friendly to the Chernarusians and the only airfield available to them.

A 76 year old bird will get the attention of enemy forces in Altis, but in Stratis, with the cooperation of forces there, can be hidden from view, as an indicator that the ChIS operates in the region.

As for the sniper. He is armed with a .406 bolt action Cheytac rifle. As powerful as the rifle is, the shooter maybe gets one or two shots off before the Russians grid him and eliminate him. I have run the scenario about seven times and of those I heard his shots in two. He is like a speedbump in the scenario.

Of the seven, or so times I have run the scenario, I successfully got the asset out and to safety three times, the other four having been shot and killed.

In other words, a great scenario.

Depiction of Pogroms in Arma 3

A few pogrom wargame scenarios exist in FPS games.

In Call of Duty Modern Warfare, the SAS team is sent to a village in Azerbaijan to stop civilians from being killed. In another scenario, Price is sent to recover an informant while aiding a Russian team in stopping attacks on civilians by rocket artillery.

I call those Tears of the Sun scenarios. Attacking a numerically superior force even the tactically superior forces and suffering losses is hard.

One of the best scenes in the film Tears of the Sun was when the SEAL team decides to enter a Fulani held village where attacks on civilians are ongoing.

Of course the team team suffers no losses and the bad guys are all wiped out.

The way it should be, always.

In Arma 3, stopping a pogrom is not as easy. I have written three scenarios for Arma 3 where Chernarus military are called on to at least investigate civilian attacks. I have at least one, recently concluded, that attempts to do just that -- stop executions of civilians.

In the former instance, a CDF armored task force is sent into Grishino after the CDF was warned that "they are killing everyone." The main mission is not to stop that attacks; they already have taken place. But to evacuate any civilians who want to leave and to record the locations of any mass graves.

The CDF team is not outgunned, but they are tasked with attacking a fixed location then clearing Grishino from a numerically superior force, including tanks. Then the task is to hold the town against three mixed infantry counterattacks before being ordered to withdraw.

In the latter, a six man Chernarus naval spetsnaz team is tasked with preventing another pogrom in the southeastern Altis town of Selakano.

Supporting forces include one B-25 bomber, maintained by the Chernarus Intelligence Service (ChIS), and a small band of locals guerrillas. Another supporting unit are two ChIS snipers armed with M-200 bolt action rifles, who have been monitoring developments in town, and are the reason why the Chernarus special forces team is there.

Several tasks await the team, the first being to stop the execution of four civilians in a courtyard of a residence, which is usually done by the snipers. The second task is to eliminate the commander. Third is to free six civilian hostages who are presumed to be the next to be shot.

The last is to clear the town of all enemy presence.

I tried in several run through to successfully complete the scenario and have failed everytime. Except tonight. I didn't record the game, but I will the next time.

CDF denies covering up massacres in the north

A Chernarus Ministry of Defense spokesman died charges that the Chernarus Defense Forces are covering up pogroms in northern towns Tuesday.

An unidentified Russian blogger in his Living Journal blog post said that a recent operation in Grishino by the CDF found mass graves nearby, but the CDF are trying to cover up for the perpetrators. 

Guerrilla groups sympathetic to the government have been accused in the past of committing violent acts against unarmed civilians in the northern territory held by rebels forces. Part of that territory includes Grishino.

When asked about the commander of the unit involved in the most recent operation, the Chernarusian 33rd Mountain Motorized Rifle brigade, the spokesman, Captain Pavel Mednichenko said that brigade commanders aren't allowed to publicly comment on combat operations.

Captain Mednichenko said that further inquiries should be directed to the MoD's NGO liaison.

Chernarus MoD denies giving out cell phones to volunteers

Scandal in Chernarus as the Chernarus ministry of defense denied it had anything to do with MOD affiliated military contractors giving burner phones to members of an NGO.

An unidentified spokesman for the MOD said today that primary means of fresh intelligence for the Chernarus military has been reports from visitors returning from visiting their relatives in the north, not from calls from individuals with burner phones.

Some NGOs claim giving burner phones to their members endangers their lives, and have demanded the practice be stopped immediately.