P.A.C.T Western Donner Land Wargames (Ausozera, IC)

[Empire of Donner land]

P.A.C.T Western Donner Land Wargames
A PACT Operation to ensure readiness against a Dominion Conflict

OOC

Backround

Beginning Post-Modenan War, the PACT Western Donner Land Wargames are to test and ensure readiness against a high-intensity Dominion Conflict. Such operation will intend to spot weaknesses in PACT forces as well as strengths within it both on the REDFOR and BLUFOR sides. The location of the Wargame is to simulate a possible Dominion-PACT conflict on the Donnish-Vanquarian Border, with BLUFOR on the defense and REDFOR on the attack.

Mechanics

On a map, there will be 3 Victory Points, and the operation will last for 3 days. If by the 3 Day limit, OPFOR has captured 51% of the Victory points (2 VPs), OPFOR wins. However, if OPFOR captures only one and three days pass, then BLUFOR wins. Victory will be measured by how long BLUFOR lasts and how many VPs have been captured.

Major OPFOR Victory: All 3 VPs taken within the 3 Day Time limit.
Minor OPFOR Victory: 2 VPs taken within the 3 Day Time limit.
Major OPFOR Loss: No VP taken within the 3 Day Time limit.
Minor OPFOR Loss: 1 VP taken within the 3 Day Time limit.

The Victory Points will be decidedly placed in areas of tactical and strategic Importance on the Map. Both REDFOR and BLUFOR will know what areas these are. It is up to REDFOR and BLUFOR respectively to organize and carry out a plan to take and defend these points.

Combat

Small Arms will use live fire chalk ammunition. For such reason, safety goggles and masks are required to protect the eyes and mouth of personnel. Artillery will be checked by marshals in the field, if a hit occurs, the unit being hit will be notified and take action and/or take casualties. Cannons, such as those on Anti-Air or Tanks will use a laser-tag like system with receivers on the turret and hull, each will have one on the front, sides, and rear. The crew will be notified if they're penetrated or have not been penetrated and have to leave the battle zone as a casualty.

Infantry Casualties will be handled by medics in the field, and if their wound is considered fatal, they will be taken off the battle zone as a casualty permanently. If it is not a casualty, they will be taken off the field and cannot return until the next day. Marshals will ensure no cheating occurs. Artillery casualties are always considered permanent.

Map

Wargame Map
Red: Defenders Deployment Zone
Blue: Attackers Deployment Zone
Green: Victory Points

Deployment zones will be on the west and east sides of the map. This is considered behind the lines, artillery cannot be fired into them and units of the opposite sides cannot enter them. These areas are where casualties will be sent to and return from, and where all units of the given forces side will be deployed from, the exception being that the Defensive Force will be deployed in the field already.

Supply will be represented by Supply Vehicles traveling on roads to the frontline in the battlezone. They are able to be intercepted and "destroyed". These trucks must return to the deployment zone as casualties, and the units its supplies were going to of course will not be supplied.

REDFOR: 15,300 Personnel
- Don - Mech - 5,000
- Esgonia - Mech - 5,300
- Urran - Mixed - 5,000

BLUFOR: ~10,000 Personnel
- Vacif - Variable - 3,200
- Anowa - Mixed- 2,000
- Granzery - Armored - 2,400
- Valaran - Mech - 800
- FAP - Amphibious - 1,000

Referees/Marshals: Royal Anowan Mounted Police & Donnish Military Police

[Grozav Inima]

BLUFOR Forward Operating Base Gamma,
7th Royal Armoured Regiment,
Donnerland

---

The Kingdom of Granzery had, in the past, not taking its obligations to the P.A.C.T. perhaps as seriously as it should have. In past wargames or even live fire conflicts, Granzery had often only provided a battalion, or a couple of companies. This time was different, with a new administration came a new desire to demonstrate Granzery's national security. To that end an entire Armoured Regiment had been deployed to Donnerland for the annual wargames, one of the largest contributions to BLUFOR, including almost a hundred tanks, all of which being highly modernized 102M Árpád II MBTs, a modernization program for the older 89M Árpád tanks, which were themselves an upgrade for the perennial T-72B.

The commander of this particular officer was Colonel Ferenc Csacsi, a long time officer of the Royal Granzerian Armed Forces, with over 20 years of command experience, and a further eight years of experience as a minor officer. While the overall battleplans would be organized by the Command Staff of Vacif, the tactical operations and organizations of Granzerian troops themselves would be in his hands, and he had every intention of ensuring that his men and equipment were prepared. Stepping out from his command tent now, he raised a hand above his eyes to block out the glare from the sun, not that it did much good, much of the glare came from the reflections of the snow below him.

He produced a pair of aviator sunglasses from his pockets and put them on, cutting down much of the glare. He looked out at the camp, soldiers scurried back and forth performing some variety of duties, while tanks, APCs and IFVs maneuvred out in the snowy fields behind them. In Granzery the temperature typically did not get this low, the troops had been outfitted in heavy winterized gear, with balaclavas to keep their faces warm, winter goggles to keep out the glare of the sun, as well as heavy winter coats, waterproof and well-insulated. Thankfully the Árpád IIs were more than capable of maneuvring in the snow, as were the 95M IFVs, but the wheeled KPHS APCs struggled to make it through the light snow, with heavy-duty chains they could make it through, but nowhere near their ideal top speed. If he were to requisition new vehicles for this operation he would make sure to bring more of the outdated BMP-1s and MT-LBs, both had been mostly retired from Granzerian service, but in winter situations like this he could definitely see the merits of an all-tracked force. Some food for thought he would relay to his superiors.

Followed by some of his entourage he made his way down to mingle with some of the troops. "Sir!", "Good Morning, Colonel!", he was greeted by the troops as he passed, giving them a salute and nodding in their direction he continued walking until he reached the HQ of D Coy, 133rd Combined Arms Battalion, one of 7 Tank companies in the Regiment.

"Colonel!" the Captain of the Tank Company greeted him with a salute.

"At ease, Captain," Colonel Csacsi said. "Just inspecting the readiness of the troops, how are the Árpáds?" he asked, looking out at the eight tanks of the Company, one was running, with some kind of mechanic or engineer fiddling with its insides.

"Of course, Colonel, all is fine here, just need to check the engines and steering of this old girl here," the Captain said, pointing to the running tank. "The rest of the vehicles have already been checked over at least twice, and they are as ready for combat as they will ever be."

"And the men?" he asked.

"The men are highly motivated, Colonel, we've got some of the most well trained boys in Granzery here, most of these guys know these tanks better than you know the back of your hand," the Captain said.

"Hmph, good," Csacsi said absent-mindedly, still looking intently at the tank which was still running, as it began to flash some of its frontal lights. "I'll, uh, leave it in your hands then, Captain, I'd better go check on the Infantry."

It was mostly pointless, wandering around the FOB and checking on troops, there wasn't a whole lot his presence would achieve right now that he hadn't already achieved in the leadup to today. This was more to clear his own head, he'd be poring over maps and tactical reports for hours, it was good sometimes to get out of the Command centre and mingle with some of the men who were risking their lives for you, theoretically so, in this case.

As he walked past some of the Infantry Platoons he greeted the Lieutenants and Captains in charge, making sure everything was in order, giving a motivating statement or two if it was necessary, which it often wasn't. He did get the impression that many of the men still felt slightly cold in spite of their winterized gear, something else to relay back to command when this was all over, he supposed.

The simulation would begin shortly, and they would have only three days to attempt to overwhelm a numerically superior force using their own strategising and a simulated overwhelming air superiority. Csacsi was fairly confident that it would be possible, but secretly he felt the odds were against him and the rest of BLUFOR.

Well, Fortune favours the Bold, he thought.

A Granzerian 102M Árpád II on Maneuvres

[Anowa]

---

_{Master Corporal Soren "Vél" Valiantsson, IS
1st Air Cavalry Division, 1st Squadron, 2nd Bat, A Company, 1st Platoon. Forward Support Controller.
En Route to Staging Area
Donnerland}

---

_{5/18/2018 - 01:36 PM AST}

---

The wounds he'd gotten in Modeno wouldn't risk tearing open again, the physical ones at least. That was the turnaround time for troops in the Anowan military. You're given enough time to ensure that your body wouldn't break under the basic strain of combat. Though with the losses of his old unit, and the fact of the matter that Anowan Highcomm strongly prefers troops to have known each other from early on, Soren was transferred to an Air Cav division. It was a change of pace at least, and at the very worst at least he wouldn't be defending a mountain pass until everyone else was dead and he'd run out of ammo again.

Two things made him stand out, besides the small trio of gears painted onto his helmet ^[1]. The two six pointed stars above the Master Corporal's chevrons on his plate carrier. Everyone in the Anowan military knew what the two royal blue stars meant. They were a BDU equivalent of of the purple neck device of Ilian's Star, highest decoration someone in Anowa could get without dying. Sometimes Soren wished he had. No matter how long he spent with these people, he always got looks that people thought he couldn't see. The jagged flames around his unit patch beside it drawing more attention. He got an invitation to undergo SPECTRS training, but he was still sitting on that, thinking about what it meant.

Both were awarded to him in less than a day of combat action, and less than a week after submitting his AAR. He had read the radio transcript of that night, and he honestly didn't think he sounded that calm during it all. Rossel had noted he sounded like a machine. The name stuck, despite her being transferred to a non-combat unit due to the loss of her arm.

Looking back into the helicopter's bay, the only two people not strapped in with shiny gear and bog standard everything was the crew chief, and himself. This platoon was green as grass. Granted that might've just been the fact that everyone was issued the new camo pattern of 'grey plating and white garb'. that was now the standard. Why waste money on painting ceramic and metal plates when you can leave them and issue two colors of clothing? Soren did have to admit that whoever thought it was a good idea to line the inside of his gear with actual animal fur ^[2] had their head on straight.

As the massive SH-12J landed, it's doors slid open and everyone not already standing did so. The attack helicopter was as if someone made an IFV fly. 25mm nose gun, and 4 pylons that could mount anything from anti-tank missiles, to laser guided bombs, to dumb rockets. If Soren could remember right, the nose gun was having laser guided and airburst munitions developed for it. It's whole body was either resistant or rated for 12.7x99mm AP rounds. It could carry 24 passengers, and it was a loud son of a bitch. The dual rotor system causing such an up-stir of snow and wind that hearing anything would be like trying to whisper above the wrath of Thor.

Sighing as the man stepped out of the cloud of snow, he spotted the set of tents to be used for the Anowan staging point, Colonel Augustýn Dohnal standing among a few other officers, of a similarly high rank, majors or captains. Soren very much wanted to avoid them at the moment, one of the few quirks of being the recipient of an Ilian's Star, was the fact that everyone was now obligated to salute you in a non-combat environment. But despite wanting to avoid them, he did have to stick with his platoon commander, a man whom Soren didn't get the common courtesy of meeting before being whisked away. But he saw the Ensign butter bar striding up to one of the Captains like he owned the place. Soren immediately disliked the man, secretly thanking the gods that a simple exercise was where the man would lose his sheen.

They gave their introductions out of earshot, and Soren approached, as did a number of NCOs and other radio operators, though a few kept their distance. Soren included. Sitting himself down on a rock, he took a small respite from the standing in more gear than the average Anowan had to carry, which even then was nothing to scoff at. There was a reason nearly 2 years of time in training ^[3] was dedicated to physical conditioning. To that end, he started field stripping his weapon, making sure it was clean, immaculate, that it would never miss-feed or jam again. Snow was nearly as bad as sand in some aspects, but sand and mud didn't melt, snow did. Worse came to worse, you could piss on your gun to get the ice or snow loose.

Donnerland reminded him of home, snowy, quiet, peaceful, or at least now. The activity of military vehicles and bustle did little to remove him from his nostalgia, living near or on a military base most of his life meant that the sound of high powered engines or practice gunfire was simply background noise for the man. After a few minutes of this, the 17 year old stood up, finally seeing it as time to inform his CO of his arrival.

---

[1] trio of gears painted onto his helmet - Anowan Grooming Policy is rather lax for a modern military, namely in terms of uniforms. Updated in 2005, the year after the KITE system was introduced, the sub-section on uniform maintenance noted the difficulty of identification of squad and unit members in combat due to the concealing nature of the new BDU. As such, small changes such as painted symbols or emblems have been allowed so long as combats capability is not hindered or camouflage is not broken. AAF tattoo policy solely forbids racially or culturally derogatory tattoos, and facial hair is allowed in all forms so long as it doesn't interfere with gas or oxygen mask seals.

[2] Animal fur - Hunting in Anowa is known as a national past time, culturally speaking those in Nordland and Thule see hunting and skinning an animal as a right of passage, and Anowan family ceremonies for marriage, adoption, and celebration of a child's birth -literally 'bloodjoining' ceremonies- usually involve hunting and killing an animal as a family. The most common furs used to line Anowan military garb are arctic animals, like arctic hares and foxes, young seals, and polar bears.

[3] AFBT - Anowan Forces Basic Training runs for approximately 4 years, a majority of which is spent working on physical conditioning and endurance. Anowa's conscription laws being as they are, start at age 12 and continue to age 16. The first three years being the 'basic' tasking where one learns simple personal drills and regimes, like simple medical care, CQC training and SERE training By 15 the average Anowan has a First Aid certification in both wilderness and urban settings, and has a G-3 rating in Krav Maga. The final year of training is dedicated to a select MOS, be it infantry, helicopter pilot, or SIGINT analyst. Depending on the complexity of the MOS, training may be extended another number of years until the age of 18, such as Aircraft pilots. ship officers, or military police.

[Urran]

12th Urranese Army Mechanized Brigade
Enroute to Staging Area

2018/05/18

Donnerland. Urranese troops had been here before, for much less friendly purposes. Now that the were part of PACT, they were actually somewhat welcomed for a change. At least that was the plan. The Urranese military was treating this particular war game a variety of different ways.

Firstly, it provided a great opportunity to test whether or not Urran's plan of having quick reaction brigades could work in practice. Because of this, instead of choosing a much more practical and perhaps fiscally responsible method of transporting an entire mechanized brigade all the way to Donnerland, such as using a few commercial ro-ro vessels, the Air Force had airlifted the entire brigade to the host country in a mere 96 hours. The higher ups were, of course, thrilled by this. It was more than a proof of concept, it showed the world that Urran could organize and move large numbers of troops globally with minimal warning or prep, further cementing the foothold that they were attempting to gain in the world.

The second way that the big wigs were treating this was as a publicity stunt. Instead of just shipping their troops to the games, they drove on the main roads and made a few stops along the way to showoff the hardware to the locals. This is, if all went well, give the local Donnish an up close look at actual Urranese and their hardware instead of just hearing about them through the media.Seeing both Urranese and PACT flags flying from Urranese vehicles would hopefully make a good first impression on their civilian hosts.

This worked both ways, of course. Urran had only provided a small number of ground troops to the war so the vast majority of Urranese had not had the opportunity to go to Donnerland or interact with their new allies in any real way. Putting a face to who they were going to be working with in the future was a big boost to morale before the games even started.

Fortunately for Donnish road workers, all of the Urranese vehicles were wheeled so as not to damage the roads, but also because they were easier to transport and could drive themselves to the staging area instead of having to shut down two lanes of traffic to accommodate extra wide loads, like tanks on their transporter trucks.

The Urranese ORBAT had, however, shifted a bit during deployment. The Type 600 missile system was withdrawn for a variety of reasons, most pressing were developments overseas that made Urran feel that it could not afford to deploy it for a small scale war game. The air defense battery was instead replaced by another battery of M777 howitzers.

All 5,300 troops arrived safely enough to the staging area in time for the opening ceremony and the commencement of the games. Luckily for Urran, at least one of the allies on REDFOR had a similar language other than basic. This could hopefully provide an edge in combat.

//Character development to commence in the next post.