ROCK SCISSORS, PAPER: Illustrated Strategy Guide

Ice, 09/2001

This is a fairly straightforward defensive mission that serves as a good introduction to tactics in
STEEL BEASTS. I make no claim to any specialized knowledge of real-life military strategy or
tactics; the tactics advocated in this guide are intended to make you a more effective player of this
superb (and apparently realistic) simulation of tank combat.

If your initial terrainalysis and defensive tactics are effective, you will be able to halt the
overwhelming momentum of the Red assault and mount the counter attack without too much
trouble. If your defense succeeds with most of your original forces (1/A and 2/A) intact, you may
be able to stage the counter attack before the reinforcements (3/A, C/O, X/O) arrive in sector,
thereby earning the “Quick Victory” bonus and maximizing your score. HOWEVER: you can
get stomped on in the early going. If your initial two platoons get over-run, there will still be
about ten minutes before the reinforcements arrive. The reinforcements will then have to fight
their way up the length of the valley against Red armor that has now had the time to find its way
into strong defensive positions of its own. The difficulty of the mission will now “snowball”.

The Plan

i. Study the terrain

You must prepare to take out about two and a half enemy vehicles for every one of your initial
allocation of Leopard tanks in order to halt the Red advance in its tracks. The best way to tip the
balance in your favor is therefore to find good hull-down defensive positions. You will be able
to pick off the advancing T-72s as your AI driver maneuvers in and out of cover as your loader
reloads.

Use the LOS tool in the map screen during the planning phase. Tip: you need to create your
defensive waypoints about five feet behind the maximum elevation of the hill you intend to use as
cover. Any less and you will be too exposed. Any more and the AI will not recognize your intent
and the driver will not maneuver accordingly when the fighting starts.

You also need to find overwatch positions in the valley so that both platoons (presuming that
you are not sending one through the forest to the east) can cover each other. Use the LOS tool to
determine what each unit can “see”. The more of an intersection that exists between each
platoon’s field of view (FOV) the better.

Finally, you need to study the terrain for secondary positions. You do not want to be doing this
when Red arty is raining down on your head or you are about to be over-run. You must plan for
maneuver. Figure out where you want to go: In which direction, how far and how to coordinate
the maneuvers of both units.
ii. Make your plan

Use SB’s planning tool to its full potential so that you can fight while the AI handles much of the
maneuvering.

A simple plan (for the Maneuver Defense); you can get much more elaborate if you want
the AI to handle more of the maneuvering. Note detail below…

This involves plotting routes to well-considered primary and secondary defensive positions. Use
Assault mode, at top speed. Engage mode will cause your tanks to hesitate at any sign of contact
whereas want you want is to get them into their initial pre-plotted positions as soon as possible or
they will be over-exposed, over-run and plumb out of luck. Use Column formation if you are
routing your tanks very close to the treeline; this will keep your vehicles out of the trees where
they might sustain damage and/or lose LOS to the enemy.

Use conditioned routes to anticipate indirect fire. Red has top arty support and dedicated
spotters, so do not allow your units to linger. It’s better not to have to improvise either. Make a
conditioned retreat route from your initial positions, the conditions being:

- Unit [this] sees at least [1] Red [forces] [anywhere]

- After true delay by 2:00

From your retreat waypoint make another route (Engage) to a secondary defensive position. It
does not need a condition. From this waypoint make another conditioned Engage route with
exactly the same conditions as above. This will create a defensive “triangle” (see illustration
below) that will allow the AI to handle maneuver and hopefully keep your units one step ahead of
arty while you do the fighting.
This triangle of conditioned routes will enable 2/A virtually to take care of itself while
you fight with 1/A. See how the battle plays out…

All this will set you up very well for the battle. You can create other waypoints/routes on the fly
knowing that at least you have a solid foundation from which to meet the Red hordes.

The Battle

Two of these battle plans are played out in screenshots in Appendix I (Static Defense) and II
(Maneuver Defense).

1. The initial defense

You have several options:

Static defense (ROCK): [See appendix I for screenshots] If your terrainalysis has been good
enough, you should be able to stop the incursion with withering barrages from good pre-plotted
covering positions on either side of the valley. The advantages are that you have more firepower
to throw at the enemy, from more angles. If you succeed you will be in a very good position,
presumably about halfway up the valley, to launch the counterattack. The disadvantage is that
you can be outflanked by Red from the eastern side of the forested isthmus, as indicated on your
map. You might still be able to cover penetrations into the valley further south from your initial
defensive positions but if you have taken too many losses within 1/A and 2/A you may not be
able to change your direction of fire and will find yourself cut off with enemy armor to your rear.
See how this plays out in the screenshots in Appendix I.
Maneuver defense (SCISSORS): [See appendix II for screenshots] This is the most audacious
move and the most likely to fail, although the upside is considerable. If you find initial defensive
positions strong enough for 2/A on the western side of the valley (and you are advised to let the
AI handle maneuver with conditioned routes as described above) you can use this unit to delay
the Red assault while you send 1/A rapidly up the old logging road through the forest. The
advantages are twofold: You will cut off any secondary Red axis of attack to the east of the forest
if you are fast enough and by looping around the isthmus you will be in a superb position to
attack Red from his rear. You may even be able to occupy the entire valley in this way, in short
order and without using your reinforcements. This is exhilarating when it works, but the
disadvantages are: You can get hit when you emerge from the forest to the east before you see the
enemy. If you lose this secondary battle with advancing Red armor, then not only will you leave
2/A to meet the main Red attack on its own but you will also have failed to cut off Red’s eastern
axis of attack.

Defense in depth: As above, but plot your secondary defensive positions much further to the rear.
This plan anticipates a pretty overwhelming enemy attack (which is accurate) and enables you to
use smoke and cover to protect your units as they withdraw tactically, still engaging and wearing
the enemy down. A further advantage is that by the time you reach secondary defensive positions
further south, you will be able to keep any further incursions via the eastern avenues of attack to
your front, rather than to the rear. The disadvantages are obvious: If you take too many losses the
Red tanks will be setting up in your own back yard (the southern valley) while you withdraw. In
other words, you will be giving ground.

Combination defense: Send 1/A through the forest after it has assisted in the static defense. This
is a sound, if slightly cautious approach. It might be “the best of both worlds”, ensuring
maximum firepower for the static defense and maximum maneuver subsequently, with 1/A well
positioned to counter attack from the north if it gets around the isthmus. However, any delay in
sending this unit up the logging road might well mean that it will miss the Red advance to the east
of the forest, leaving Blue outflanked. Try it…

2. The counterattack

This does not involve as many key tactical decisions as the defense and it should proceed fairly
well as long as you have not taken too many losses in the defense or lost ground.

Counterattacking with 1/A or 2/A: The strategy of a confident commander. Do not do it if it may
involve giving up control of the southern valley. This might happen if the game decides that your
forces are too thin on the ground compared to any lingering Red forces or any that might yet
emerge from an unprotected southern axis. If one of your units is positioned near PL ALAMO
by the time the dust settles after a successful defense, send them across as long as sufficient
forces remain to preserve control of the south. If you succeed in occupying the northern valley
with this unit before the reinforcements arrive in sector (i.e. before you get the message that they
are deploying) you will wrap up the mission with the “Quick Victory” bonus and somewhere near
maximum points. Similarly, if 1/A has successfully fought its way around the isthmus, it may
well be numerically strong enough compared to surviving Red forces to take the northern valley
from the north, all by itself…

Using the reinforcements: Wait for the reinforcements if you have any doubt about retaining
control of the southern valley. You may still win a Major Victory if you preserve enough of your
assets. Preserve the overwatch positions pre-plotted for the C/O and X/O and send 3/A
thundering up the valley in Assault mode, mowing down all resistance and retaking the north
within five minutes. HOWEVER:

If the Red assault has broken through your initial hasty defense, prepare for a fight. Red will
have had time to place its armor in some very, very strong defensive positions below PL ALAMO
and your reinforcements can get hammered brutally and quickly, ending the mission in an
ignominious defeat. If you suspect the presence of significant Red forces in the south, you must
grab control of 3/A, the C/O and X/O as soon as the AI hands it over, re-plotting its routes to
meet suspected Red lines of fire. You can win this battle at the very southern end of the valley
and proceed to the counter attack but you must be prepared.

Red fires smoke and withdraws to the north: You will get a radio message if this happens and it is
a spectacular sight. However, do not rest on your laurels. You still need to take the northern
valley from the enemy, he’s not giving it to you, and he’s still fighting…

A few notes on the Red battle plan

It would be irritating to program so many major random tactical elements into the Red plan that
every time you played the mission it played like a different mission. That is why the Red T-72
assault along the main axis works basically the same way every time YET…

There is a lot of random complexity in the behavior of Red’s support units, especially those
responsible for the assault east of the forest. And one T-72 platoon of the four you face has three
different attack routes dictated partly by multiple rolls of the dice and partly by what it
“observes”. Virtually all of the Red IFV routes are subject to variation, governed by the success
(or otherwise) of other aspects of Red’s battle plan and responses to Blue’s reaction. Many Red
“choices” are generated by a genuine roll of the dice. No aspect of Red random behavior is made
so random, however, as to be tactically incoherent. It’s tactical first, random second. There are
at least five random or variable conditions that influence what sort of enemy response (if any)
awaits you if you send a unit up the old logging road through the woods. One unit alone has five
different routes that are dictated entirely by sets of conditions, both random and responsive to
Blue maneuvers.

So, the idea here is to keep the mission consistent enough for the player to be able to compare one
performance to another and evaluate the effectiveness of a particular plan yet also to include
enough random complexity to keep him on his toes.

Good luck!
Appendix I: ROCK: Fighting the battle with a Static Defense

First contact: And first blood to Blue.

1-½ minutes later Blue has killed 9 Red T-72s from superb defensive positions on both sides
of the valley. 2/A has lost one Leo.
1/A withdraws to its secondary position just in time as a Red HE barrage hits its previous BP.
1/A’s maneuver was handled entirely by the AI. However…
Another HE barrage called in by a surviving Red FO unit in the hills nails 1/A in its new
Position. Luckily 2/A’s two surviving Leos are not letting Red IFVs through…
AAR: Now the final Red T-72 platoon emerges from the woods. Fortunately 2/A can cover
This incursion also, dispatching all three tanks before they reach 1/1A
It’s time to send 2/A north to counter attack. The southern valley will remain secured by the
arriving reinforcements. 3/A has an enemy BMP-2 platoon in its sights.
As soon as this last Red incursion is halted, the enemy assault collapses and they fire smoke
To cover their retreat. 2/A is mopping up a pocket of resistance with HE.
Here’s what that smokescreen looks like from 1/1A

A quick, clean victory with acceptable casualty levels

Appendix II: SCISSORS: Fighting the battle with a Maneuver Defense

This plan sends 1/A straight through the forest to the east via the old logging road.
1/A takes out a Red T-72 platoon looking to outflank the Blue defense. 2/A has successfully
engaged four more enemy tanks on its way to its secondary defensive position. Both units
have lost a tank.
Approx. 9 minutes from first contact and 1/A is in a position to attack Red from its rear. And
2/A is decimating enemy units around PL ALAMO.
AAR: 1/A hits a T-72 from behind. This vehicle is hidden from 2/A.
Less than a minute later the Red assault collapses and with 1/A in their rear, surviving Red
units have nowhere to go. The vehicle circled is the Red FO, which caused so much damage
in the Static Defense approach illustrated above.
It’s all over. Another Major Victory for Blue and a 2-point higher score than in the
Static Defense version also illustrated…