US SOF vs ISIS, Outskirts of Mosul

As various forces (US, Iraqi, and otherwise) advanced into Mosul, we felt that a game of Force on Force was in order.  This game actually took place in October, I'm just a bit tardy getting it to the blog.

A US SOF element advances into Mosul on a reconnaissance mission, looking to gather intelligence on the location of, and if possible neutralize, an ISIS leader named Mohamed Faisal.  They soon find themselves in the midst of many ISIS cells and are forced into a pitched battle.

Mohammed Faisal, has his temporary headquarters in a junkyard.  He's the bald-headed fellow in the front center.

Here's an aerial shot.  The compromised SOF element is in the background in the ruined house.

The SOF boys prepare for attack on multiple fronts.

SOF reinforcements are en route.

Advancing up the street to reinforce...

Across the street from the recon element, an ISIS team loses one in an exchange of fire...

And another ISIS cell draws a Fog of War that inflicts one of their elements with dehydration...

...and it's applied to the ISIS team advancing through some trees to the SOF recon element's rear.

And the flanking ISIS element is Shaken...

Mohamed Faisal's headquarters group takes cover and exchanges fire with the SOF recon element...

...while a Fog of War card gives the Americans an uparmored HMMWV vehicle as additional reinforcements...

Multiple US reinforcement elements advancing:

As the embattled recon element holds on...

Other ISIS cells activate as the US turn ends, advancing toward the sound of the guns.

Mohamed Faisal's headquarters element takes a number of casualties, even though they have some solid cover...

Turn 2 opens with an exchange of fire between an ISIS cell and US SOF with HMMWV gun-truck support:

And the ISIS team across the street from the US SOF recon element suffers more casualties...

...as does another ISIS team advancing to support their headquarters element:

Turn 3 finds the ISIS cell flanking the US SOF recon element Shaken again, and now the US HMMWV has arrived to ruin their day...

...the ISIS team that was caught in the open by the Americans is no more...

...and the Americans have strong-pointed a building to support the surrounded SOF recon element.

A lucky Fog of War card gives ISIS forces a technical that might just turn the tide...

...and the recon element has its Morale reduced.  It's all coming up ISIS right now...

...but the ISIS team across the street is rebuffed and Shaken in an exchange of fire...

...and a volley of fire kills more of the ISIS headquarters, and Mohamed Faisal is down...

...and American firepower blows up the ISIS technical!

Reverse angle of the wrecked ISIS vehicle:



A decisive US victory, helping the Americans move into Mosul.  And now added to my Force on Force Iraq Campaign Page.  Hope you enjoyed.

Batrep Roundup, 4 June 2016

Well, it's been a bit more than a week since my last Battles of the Week report, so this will just be a Batrep Roundup.  Lots of tabs to clear.

First things first - you should check out my Memorial Day game of Force on Force with the boys.  Set in modern Syria, with US special operators and Kurds making a lightning raid on a pesky GPS jammer that's holding up the bombing campaign against ISIS.

US operators departing the objective.

This AAR has also been added to my Force on Force:  Iraq (maybe it should be Iraq/Syria?) page and Force on Force:  Special Operations page.  Check them all out.

Here's what everyone else has been up to:

Winners of the Internet:  This title is temporarily held jointly by Kaptain Kobold for his superhero batrep focusing on Excalibur (extra points for semi-obscure comic title - I've got issue #1 in my closet) and Natholeon with the adventures of Delta Wave.

Sound Officer's Call has been busy.  Here's the second half of the Napoleonics report I highlighted in my last post.  Here's a 2-part World War II game with Germans and Soviets squaring off:  Part 1 and Part 2.  And a surprisingly good experience with Axis & Allies Miniatures.

Baron Von J has a neat battle report focusing on the French Foreign Legion in Mexico, where they have another opportunity to give their lives in a miserable place for the glory of France.

More outstanding LoTR from Into the Maelstrom.  And another battle in that game by Little Wars VA with some cool terrain pieces and about a hundred models on the field.

ForkusPrimordius has an Infinity batrep up, with some great modular terrain on display.

The Man Cave's gladiator campaign kicked off.  Not a genre I've ever played, but it seems one could have a good setup on the cheap.

Some gorgeous Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes over at Stalker 7's place.

Title of the Week:  The Conclusion of the Bloody Battle of Hacking and Slashig with some Roaring and Rolling of dice on the Kitchen Table.  Ha!  Site added to the blogroll.

Rabbits in My Basement has a modern Afghanistan AAR up.  And BIG Force on Force has a what-if violent Brexit game posted - here's the mission briefing and the gameplay.

Craig's got a game of Bolt Action up, with Free French versus Zee Germans.

The Fawcett Avenue Conscripts have several Necromunda games posted.  Very cool.

Here's some American War of Independence played with the Guns of Liberty rules.  I understand that the rules are due to be released by a commercial publishing house, looking forward to picking them up.

Preacher by Day has a couple more Pulp Alley games up - a VIP Escort and follow-on Investigation scenarios.

And finally, a Frostgrave roundup:  Two from Fencing Frog - Lair of the Ice Spider and The Hanghaied Princess; The Dark Templar suffers losses in a game that got nasty (discussing the probability curves of the Frostgrave rules and coming up wanting) and chronicles his warband's recovery; and one battle shown from three different perspectives - Illusionist, Necromancer, and Druid.

That's all for now.  I played another game with my boys last weekend that I've yet to write up, so check back in soon for the AAR.

US SOF & Kurds vs ISIS, Memorial Day 2016

To commemorate Memorial Day 2016, the boys and I set up a game of Force on Force set in modern Syria.  As recently reported in the news, US Special Operations Forces have been spotted near the ISIS capitol in Raqqa, Syria, aiding Kurdish fighters.  We joined them in spirit with a game of Force on Force.

Scenario:
The US SOF and Kurd operations against the ISIS capitol have been hampered by a GPS jamming device that degrades accuracy of GPS-guided bomb.  A platoon (-) of elite Kurds and accompanying US SOF troops are consequently conducting a lighting raid into a town near the suburbs of Raqqa to facilitate future JDAM strikes.  ISIS has been caught off-guard, while the US/Kurd troops plan to run the whole way, accepting penalties for moving beyond tactical movement rates (6" per turn).  The US/Kurd plan was simple - their left flank would assault the objective while the right tied blocked enemy reinforcements from interfering.

US SOF are TQ 12/Mor 12, Kurds are TQ 8/Mor 10, ISIS fighters are TQ 6/Mor 10.

Layout:
US/Kurd forces enter from the right side of the board as pictured below, the GPS jammer is located in the building in the lower left corner of the board.

ISIS to the left, US & Kurds to the right.

Looking down the US/Kurd right axis of advance - an ISIS checkpoint looms at an intersection.

US/Kurd troops on left axis of advance, heading for the objective.

Looking down the left axis of advance.

ISIS fighters guard the GPS jammer, shown in the building at left.  A technical and several ISIS fighters provide security.

Turn 1:
The US & Kurdish forces start their march down the board, putting effective fire on to all ISIS fighters who oppose.

US/Kurd forces move down the left axis off advance.

Kurdish technical gunner on the .50 caliber mounted in the technical wins initiative and lights up the ISIS technical at the checkpoint blocking the US/Kurd right.

ISIS checkpoint technical goes up in flames.

ISIS fighters get cleaned off of a rooftop when they try to engage the US/Kurd right.

Things were bad enough for the ISIS folks with the one-sided exchanges of fire.  They got worse when an initiative roll brought some tough love in the form of a Fog of War card.

The Fog of War card dictated that ISIS fighters were paralyzed by a command & control mix-up (perhaps a US deception or diversion?) and couldn't maneuver until after the end of the next turn - meaning that they were stuck in current positions until the end of Turn 2.  Both devastating to the ISIS faction and appropriate for the scenario.

The guys who drew the Fog of War card take some hits from US/Kurd small arms fire.

Turn 2:
In spite of their command & control paralysis, the ISIS troops received reinforcements - a handful of fighters show up at the GPS jammer site, hoping to keep the US/Kurd forces from reaching their objective.

More meat for the grinder.

The US/Kurd left moved forward and brought some enfilading fire on the ISIS checkpoint previously engaged by the US/Kurd right.  ISIS won initiative, but failed to connect with the US operators in the lead.  After drawing a Fog of War card, the US return fire proved deadly.

The Fog of War card draw gave the US/Kurd forces an unnecessary bit of reinforcement - an Uparmored HMMWV.

Always nice to have more friends like these.

Meanwhile, the US/Kurd right moved up to the previously-engaged checkpoint position and reduced further resistance.

The ISIS boys dropping like flies.

Dismounted US and Kurd fighters continued their sweep in the urban sprawl between their two flanks.

And another Fog of War card brought another Uparmored HMWWV for the US and Kurd troops.

Turn 3:

The state of affairs at the beginning of Turn 3.  The US and Kurdish troops have marched halfway down the board.

ISIS reinforcements brought a technical armed with a medium machinegun (PKM) directly at the US/Kurd right flank, prompting an exchange of fire that immobilized the Kurd truck and put the ISIS MG out of commission.

Follow-on fire from dismounted Kurds destroyed the ISIS truck.

Meanwhile, the technical at the head of the US/Kurd left moved within striking distance of the objective.  The ISIS technical rolled out to meet them but was quickly put out of commission.  The Kurd on the .50 caliber technical won an initiative roll against the ISIS troops on the roof of the objective bunk house and managed to take down all but one fighter... the fighter with the RPG...

...who managed to miss anyway.

Turn 4:
ISIS got a few reinforcements who tried taking on the Kurds at the destroyed checkpoint site.  It didn't go well for them.

The ISIS fighter with an RPG on the objective reloaded and tried to engage the US/Kurd technical again, but failed to make the initiative roll he needed... and paid for it.

Another one bites the dust.

Meanwhile, the US/Kurd troops advancing down the center of the board came up on the back side of the objective compound.  The ISIS troops that previously arrived at the GPS jammer site moved to confront them.  ISIS took heavy casualties.

Turn 5:
ISIS got more reinforcements, to include an additional machine gun.

The US special operators had by this time reached the objective building and made entry, quickly overwhelming the ISIS fighters inside.

Clear!

Turn 6:
The US and Kurd troops securing the back side of the objective had a final showdown with the ISIS reinforcements, which proved as one-sided as every other exchange of fire in the game...

...while the operators left a charge on the objective building to close out the operation.

Operators departing the objective as the charge goes off.

That wrapped things up pretty decisively and we called it a game.  I'm adding this AAR to the Force on Force: Iraq (yes, it's in Syria... close enough) and Force on Force:  Special Operations pages that chronicle my Force on Force battles.  Hope you enjoyed, and here's my belated thanks to all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this great nation.