Quitting Qatab: Turn 19
According to Wikipedia, AT4s and M72 LAWs are “generally ineffective against current modern main battle tanks”. Thankfully, Mortensen's squad rarely consults Wikipedia before ambushing MBTs.
(Quitting Qatab is an open-to-all game of Combat Mission: Shock Force 2 in which NATO forces are orchestrated by commenters while Qatabi units are computer controlled. Each daily turn covers one minute of action. For a scenario outline and summaries of earlier turns, click here)
Starting the penultimate turn orderless and vulnerable, strong-willed life-fond Swamp Thing decides she'd be far happier tucked behind the South Beach bluff and bee-lines for redA77.
Manually detoured to avoid the T-72s, Extricator ends up sheltering behind the same sandy prominence.
While our two on-shore AAVs hide, 100 metres to the west ten potential passengers are fighting for their lives against tracked titans.
The T-72M LAWed last turn receives an AT4 in the side five seconds into this one. The 84mm kidney punch leaves it looking lifeless and probably saves the bacon of Yuen and his chum.
Mortensen's men are considering putting another HEAT warhead into the tank's vitals to make certain when a worthier target presents itself. The commander of the second T-72 gets 0 out of 10 for risk assessment, or, if you're feeling charitable, 9 out of 10 for pluck.
The Marines of 2nd Squad might be “Tired” and “Nervous” but they're also armed to the teeth with man-portable one-shot armour harmers.
In the space of four seconds all four of these tubular tank ticklers (1 x AT4, 3 x LAW) are levelled and launched.
Overcome by the sudden influx of exhaust smoke, the eight tank hunters instantly pass out. Coughing like consumptives in the smoke-filled room, the eight tank hunters watch as the badly shaken behemoth (all four shots were hits) suddenly remembers it has a pressing dental appointment.
Is the reverser going to spit a shell at its tormentors as it backtracks north? It appears not.
Is it going to get Javelined to death before it reaches safety? Possibly! At T+40 Yuen unpins and goes for his hat-trick.
Although the range is extremely short, Jav shots don't come much more difficult. After skimming a rooftop, narrowly missing a pigeon loft and a satellite dish, the missile slams into a wall behind the moving target.
Demonstrating commendable fighting spirit, Yuen's assistant also has a shy at the backpedaling T-72. When the tank emerges from behind the redn71 house, the spotter/loader bombards it unsuccessfully with his UGL.
One retreating T-72 and one dead one (two smouldering tankies bail-out of the lead T-72 towards the end of the turn)... I'm lining up QUIESCENCE as my Turn 20 strap word when something big and bulletproof appears at the end of Road 73 altering my plans.
The situation at T+60:
Mortensen's squad is taking MG fire from a third T-72 (redb73). As they have no AT weapons left, and Yuen is also out of rockets, the only chance of stopping this latecomer looks to be Quidditch Five Zero. A “Target identified” radio message mid-turn suggests our Apache is on the verge of opening fire on something*.
* Hopefully something Qatabi. CMSF2 does model friendly fire and target misidentification
Ample Annie is now Absent Annie. Our Strait swimmer reached the perfectly perpendicular fog-bank at T+55.
