Now that we have covered all the basics of Decisive Action, including fire combat, movement and opportunity fire, and activations and actions, it’s time for the piece de resistance: Assets. These are the combat multipliers available to the commander (i.e., you) to dispense with as he or she sees fit and include capabilities like Close Air Support (CAS) aircraft, UAVs, electronic warfare, and attack helicopters, as well as more colorful optional assets like chemical weapons and drone swarms.
Of course, this smorgasbord of bellicose lethality is not an all-you-can-eat buffet: rather, you will have to make some tough decisions about what Assets you want served up to complete a particular mission, as well as when the serving is going to happen. Each mission provides a list of Assets you get pre-mission for free and a list of other Assets you can acquire with Operations Points (remember, Operations Points are an abstraction of the time and attention the staff and commander have to direct orders for changing Activation cards, calling in artillery, and, in this case, communicating with a higher echelon to request support). Assets can be “bought” either before the mission begins or while it’s taking place, but requesting them beforehand costs less Operations Points since the staff can focus all its attention on these tasks without getting distracted by Private Perkins umpteenth request for orders shouted over the radio above the din of artillery rounds going off. Nevertheless, the tactical situation may unexpectedly end up requiring a different tool, so you as the Commander will have to decide if you can live without that extra A-10 Close Air Support sortie or not.
