Combat Team Advance at Woodhill 1994 v1.1 (4.023) 1.1

Coop with ArcAngel this evening. I enjoyed the recon prior to the attack, allowing the two of us to plan the attack after the scout. Great kit, nice map. Watch out for.....................spoiler. Never mind. 

Great SP sce.Interesting and fun as all of his sce are.Realistic and believable in all aspects.Good job.

Another nice one from Panzer Leader, i enjoyed the focus on reconnaissance in this one, and the small force size makes it fun. Nice map/setting and vehicles too.

Personally i wouldnt call it a 'difficult' scenario though.

Thanks for the Upload 

Squinting through my binoculars in the early hours of the morning, my eyes strain to see any silhouettes or signs of movement amidst the heavy vegetation standing in stark contrast to the arid environment. BMNT has arrived, leaving my NVDs useless, and making the prospect of determining the enemy's composition on QUINTUS that much more difficult. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I pick up what might be a slight dust trail; though it may very well be another case of my mind playing tricks on me. Overriding control of the turret from my gunner, I scan in the general direction of 11 o'clock. CONTACT, PC! GUNNER, AP, PC! My gunner, previously yawning and struggling to keep from "resting his eyes," is now fully alert, staring at the white-hot image of a BRDM-2 centered in a background of neon green. IDENTIFIED! he yelled excitedly, his voice raising a pitch. FIRE AND ADJUST! My wingman, responding to the previous contact report, moves up to my vehicle on line at close interval. Like a well-lubricated machine, the "talking of the guns" begins, with AP rounds penetrating the hull of the BRDM-2.

The small anecdote above is but a single experience in Panzer_Leader's scenario, Combat Team Advance at Woodhill 1994, and is but also a small part of why any Panzer_Leader scenario is immediately added to my "must play" list of scenarios for Steel Beasts.

The mission itself is not complicated; determine the enemy composition of QUINTUS, before committing the full combat power of BG Leopard to seize the aforementioned objective. While many scenarios will begin with you immediately having full control of all elements in your Company, in this case you begin with control of one Troop (Platoon) of ASLAV-25s, with the remainder of BG Leopard established in their Assembly Area. In this way, you are forced to devote your full energy to conducting a proper zone reconnaissance of the AO. I decided to divide my Cavalry Troop into two sections, and after a short road march on the road, sent them on their way to move in a stealthy manner. While I was able to gain observation of QUINTUS with the western recon section, fairly early, I did not feel comfortable making the assessment that there were only PT-76s. I decided to act a bit more aggressively with my eastern recon section, killed an enemy BRDM-2 an OP in the disruption zone, before maneuvering to establish a support by fire position overwatching QUINTUS. I had my eastern recon section maneuver simultaneously forward to gain better observation, before determining that there were no T-55s located IVO QUINTUS. With this information, the full might of BG Leopard was at my command. 

I sent the Troop of Leopard AS1s to road march to the north-west at top speed, while my artillery rained HE down on the enemy's forward defenses. Two Troops of Mech Infantry followed behind, content to let the tankers do the majority of the killing. As the Tank Troop began to crest a hill just before the enemy's forward defenses, I sent my Recon Troop forward from their hide site to establish a SBF position. From there, AP and HE, of both the small and large caliber variety, rained on QUINTUS, destroying the enemy, and the town. No doubt my superiors would give me an ear-full later for not fully understanding the definition of "acceptable collateral damage." QUINTUS was seized to the tune of 1x ASLAV-25 destroyed by an ATGM; certainly not a bad outcome. From there, it was but a simple matter of repulsing the enemy counter-attack, with the Recon Troop and the Tank Troop acting in the traditional Hunter-Killer roles. With the enemy counter-attack burning on the highway, the mission concluded with a major victory. 

I want to make it clear that this mission could have easily gone quite the other way; the enemy could have been reinforced with T-55s, my Recon Troop could have had less success, and I could have consequently chosen a less-effective direction of attack for my Tank Troop. Replayability is one of the perks of this scenario, meaning that your "perfect plan" might not work during the second playthough, but you have enough combat power available within the Battle Group to allow you the tactical flexibility to try something completely different to what I did above. While my Mech Infantry spent their time taking a nap in the comfort of their M113s, the presence of T-55s would have forced me to employ them in a meaningful manner. 

What strikes me the most about this scenario is the accessibility that it possesses; while you do end up controlling a Battle Group, I never felt overwhelmed by the unit count. Starting with only controlling a Recon Troop certainly played a part, and in my opinion makes this a good scenario for a newish player to Steel Beasts who wants to branch out from only controlling a single Platoon-sized element, but doesn't want to be overwhelmed with a mass of "stuff" upon pressing the Start button. While I haven't played this scenario Co-Op, I have no doubt that it would lend itself well to such play; each player controlling a Recon Section, at the start makes logical sense, as does delegating control of the Tank Troop and the Mech Infantry for the attack. 

Overall, if you haven't stopped reading this review to download the scenario, do so now! You will be rewarded with an experience that represents the best of what the Steel Beasts Community has to offer!