If I can advance underwater up the river, then I’d bring my jumpers up that way so they’re not exposed to the artillery or LRM Carriers any more than necessary. Get them as close to hex-row 28xx as possible while remaining underwater and then jump straight out of the river and onto or over the berms.
Ideally, this “River Force” would also mount as many SRM packs with inferno ammo as possible to take out vehicles, infantry nests, artillery pieces, and bunkers as quickly as possible, The best force using canon designs would be a Crockett 5003-0, two Catapult Butterbees, and two Whitworth -1S. That’s 14 SRM-6s or 84 infernos per turn on five jumpers. Should be a massacre as soon as they clear the river.
Other SRM-packing jumpers would work like the Highlander -733, Victor, Guillotine -3L, Crusader -3L, Wolverine, S-Hawk, Wyvern -6N, etc. If I could bring handheld inferno SRMs (one-shot or regular), that would work well with some of these designs to make up for their lower number of SRM packs.
On land, I’d forget about jumpers and just try to run the mostest the fastest thru the road on hexes 1717 to 2214. As it appears covered by two bunkers, I probably wouldn’t bother with the side ramp on hexes 2321 to 1917. Minimum speed of 5/8 or better so they can mostly ignore the artillery on approach and again mounting as many SRM inferno packs as possible. Ideal force using canon designs would be three Kintaro -18s and two Javelins. That’s 13 SRM-6 packs or 78 infernos per turn on five runners moving 5/8 to 6/9. Will probably lose a couple on approach, but it will be a massacre once the rest enter.
Other potential canon mechs for “Ramp Force” include the Ostroc, Champion -2N, Wolverine, Scorpion, S-Hawk, Trebuchet -5S, Sentinel -1S or -3K, Assassin, Jenner, and Commando. Again, if handheld weapons are allowed, those would work well with some of these designs to supplement with more SRM infernos.
To help cover “Ramp Force” from the LRM Carriers and field guns on approach, I’d park a couple LRM-toting lights behind cover in the woods beyond the 15-hex clearance zone. Assuming I could have a couple infantry units spotting from those woods or a VTOL (Ferret) spotting from out of range, these lights would toss smoke rounds indirectly over and into the path of “Ramp Force”. Not much choice for “Cover Force” here — basically looking at a couple Valkyries or downgraded Thorns. If I couldn’t have a couple conventional spotters, then “Cover Force” would just run behind “Ramp Force” tossing smoke round directly over and into the path of “Ramp Force”. Alternately, if I could use some conventionals to toss LRMs, a couple Harasser (LRM) or similar could serve the same function so these mech slots could be allocated to “Ramp Force” or “River Force”.
Alternately, “Cover Force” could include a couple Firestarters that run ahead of “Ramp Force” and set the woods at the base of the berms on fire for smoke cover. But this seems like a high-risk (those Firestarters will die), low-payoff (random wind direction) strategy. I also considered Mech Mortars for “Cover Force”, but there are no canon designs in this time period AFAIK.
I also considered a strategy of mass indirect LRM bombardment using multiple Archers, Longbows, Dervishes, etc. from cover beyond the 15-hex clearance zone. This might work if the spotters were unreachable VTOLs (Ferrets) beyond range. But if not, the spotters are probably vulnerable to the Scorpions and artillery. Even the LRM-toting mechs might get whacked early by the artillery if they are unfortunate enough to set up in pre-plotted hexes.
I agree with other posters that air support or counter battery fire is the best solution here. But short of that or a viable indirect-LRM/mortars-from-cover strategy, it’s really about getting as many infernos inside that firebase as quickly as possible. And that probably means jumpers coming up the river using the water as cover and a charge by fast runners under whatever smoke cover can be afforded.
Obviously, if the defender’s hovertanks are on that river at the wrong time and/or the road into the fire base is mined, then this strategy is compromised.
Here’s my ideal force in total:
River Force
CRK-5003-0 Crockett
Catapult “Butterbee”
Catapult “Butterbee”
WTH-1S Whitworth
WTH-1S Whitworth
Note: All SRM launchers have access to one or more tons of inferno ammo.
Ramp Force
KTO-18 Kintaro
KTO-18 Kintaro
KTO-18 Kintaro
JVN-10N Javelin
JVN-10N Javelin
Note: All SRM launchers have access to one or more tons of inferno ammo.
Cover Force
VLK-QF Valkyrie
VLK-QF Valkyrie
Conventional spotters, if any?
Note: All LRM launchers have access to one or more tons of smoke ammo.
Again, if substituting designs in “River Force” or “Ramp Force” with fewer SRM packs, consider using handheld weapons for more infernos.
Lastly, before taking this assignment, I’d ask the CO if we could switch missions. Seems like my company should be running the diversionary strike, and the rest of the battalion or regiment should be assaulting firebases!