Solved POW #6

"A short-cut is often the quickest way to some place you weren't going." ~Anonymous

"We've got trouble," a voice says suddenly over your radio. "Nine bogies at the driveway. They're charging us in two groups." "I'm on the north lawn," you answer quickly. "What do you want me to do?" "Backtrack through the east woods. Stick to the path, you'll make better time. We'll regroup at this end of the path and see if we can do anything with more bodies." "Roger," you answer, "I'll be there in a minute." "Beginning tactical retreat across south lawn now."
You and your four troops formed an independent tactical squad for your team. You had more experience than anyone on the team but the Commander, and were armed with CPS 1700s for versatility. You quickly indicate that you need to reverse direction and begin moving back the way you came, towards the stone path through the woods.
But on the way back, you suddenly encounter a fence of water. Enemy troops blast your troops from the woods on both sides with heavy weaponry. You troops instinctively recoil, and lay down cover fire while they back away. You regroup just outside the forested area. "They've got troops between us!" you shout into the radio. "We were ambushed on the path." "Blast," your radio says. "I suppose there's no chance of getting through?" "Not much," you reply. "At least, not in a timely manner. We could cut through the forest, but we can't take the path. They can bottle it up way too well at certain points if they've got enough firepower." "Agreed. Go around the other way, I'll try to work something out on my end."
You make quick time across the north lawn for the third time this morning and reach the dirt path running between hedges. You urge your troops through the turn around to find four enemy troops in pursuit before you duck in yourself.
"Ack!" your front troop shouts back as a surprise attack strikes him in the face for the second time. "They've got this side guarded too!" You whip out your radio. "Bogies in west forest!" "Darnit, how many troops do they have with them for this battle?" You glance nervously over your shoulder at four enemies on the north lawn who are getting rapidly closer. "You mean you don't know?" "They made a last-minute roster change and I didn't have time to look at it before the battle." You swap weapons with an ally whose attention is free to fight and begin re-pumping his weapon. "What's your status?" "I backed against the house to keep them from forcing me up the path. I thought I could break through their lines and go back the other direction, but they're too well-organized. They've got point men with medium weapons strafed by bombers, which makes for a dozy of a blockade. They're starting to surround me."
"What do you want me to do?" you ask. "Uh . . . any ideas?"

As a catch-all, for those enemy troops to get between the two parts of my force would probably have required them to go through the house, which is probably cheating, which makes for a good excuse if we lose.

But I'm not going to leave it at that. It looks like there is a good chance that there were only four men guarding the east woods, and that they are now pursuing me. There is also a chance that the two troops I've seen in the west woods are the only ones there, but I'm not going to bet on that.

First, I suggest my Commander use the path while its still open to him and cross his fingers. If there's anyone else in there, his unit may get bottled up in the middle of nowhere without room to maneuver and get completely drenched. If there's no one else in there, it will get our units a lot closer together and put us in a much better tactical position.

One troop stays at the corner of the hedge path to guard -- in a narrow area like that one person with a heavy weapon ought to be able to hold his own. The rest of my unit heads across the north lawn -- again -- and engages the four pursuing bogies. Since my unit is experienced, well-disciplined, and fairly well-equipped, we ought to fare pretty well.

If we route them and they head back towards the east woods, three of my troops follow them at top speed to make sure they don't have time to regroup. I contact my Commander and let him know he's going to have company, then I go get the defender I left at the hedge and we also head east.

If they stick around and make a fight out of it on the lawn, we try to maneuver and get past them. Its a wide area for only four of them to jam up, so its safe to assume that at least a couple of my troops should be able to get past. Two of my troops then make a run for the path while the other two of us try to keep the enemies busy. The two that remain are going to get REALLY WET, but that can't be helped.

The point of getting some of my troops back down the path is to make sure that if there are any more enemies guarding it, they get attacked from both sides. If they only have to worry about one side, they should be able to wreak havoc. If they get caught in a pincer attack, they'll need a lot more people to hold their ground than they would need otherwise, and we've got a good shot of breaking through. Once my troops meet up with my Commander's and we deal with any intervening enemy forces, they push through back up to the north lawn.

By now, if the enemies guarding the west lawn wanted to push through the hedge, they have, and if any enemies stayed on the north lawn to fight, the defenders I left there are getting beaten pretty badly if those enemies are any good at all. Fortunately, the calvalry has just arrived.

My commander then leads his forces westward. Seven soldiers is enough to make trouble for anyone who tries to get in his way at this point. Whatever enemy forces are left on the north lawn or in the west forest, he should be able to route them. If there are so many that he can't route them, the enemy has a major advantage in numbers and we are in deep trouble. For the time being, we will assume that my commander goes on his little crusade and starts mopping up all these annoying enemy units.

My unit plunges east again, just into the woods, and guards the path. That way, we can ambush the large enemy unit if they're still following my commander, which should be loads of fun. We stay there for as long as we have the advantage, and then retreat when the enemies regroup.

My unit then retreats to the hedge area, which we use to restrict their deployment. Only so many people can fit along that path at once, so we should be able to ambush the leading person or two at each corner, get them soaked, and then duck out the back before they can return serious fire.

After that, we proceed into the west woods, where the rest of my team's forces are waiting for us. We promptly set up a battle formation and duke it out with the enemy force, which is hopefully still chasing us, but this time with superior numbers. That ought to conclude the major part of the battle.

If the enemy force that was fighting with my commander's force chooses to discontinue pursuit and go around the house the other direction, then my commander will meet them again somewhere near the west woods. At this point, he will contact me via radio, and we will regroup on the north lawn, where we can ambush any enemy forces as they come out of the hedge area.

If my commander's forces are insufficient to route the enemies guarding the west forest, we are, as I said earlier, in deep trouble. My commander should withdraw his forces to the north lawn and guard the exit from the hedge area while my unit continues to guard the east woods, and we pretty much keep doing that until they break our lines, at which point the whole thing degenerates to a chaotic melee and everyone comes out completely drenched.

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