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.

Battles of the Week, 15 May 2016

Another week, another roundup of the week's best in battle reports.

First, I should note that I finally got around to playing a game and writing it up.  Here's the first chapter in my new campaign, Modern Warfare: Alien Invasion.  I've been searching for a rule set that can smoothly handle superheroes mixed in with hordes of henchmen, and not found what I'm looking for.  So I'm writing my own set of rules, with a working title of Heroes, Heavies, and Hordes.  Before I throw in superheroes, however, I'm going to ensure that it gets combat right.  More reports to follow.

Battle of the Week:  Big Lee wins the internet this week with a pirate treasure hunt skirmish game.  Gorgeous board, good write-up.  Would love to do something like this sometime.

Close runner up:  Bridge of Kazad Dum at Into the Maelstrom, recreating the iconic battle from The Fellowship of the Ring.

Little Wars VA has a Team Yankee AAR up.  I remember reading both the novel and the comic book back in the day.

Some Napoleonics up at Sound Officers Call!  I've never fallen in love with this genre, but have seen some amazing day-long games recreating Jena and Waterloo.

Kaptain Kobold takes his 40k on the road, which looks like a very relaxing time.  And some WW II Chain of Command, with a good-looking board and minis.

Battlegroup Overlord at This War Without an Enemy.  Glad to see someone else digs 20mm/1-72 scale.

And, it wouldn't be a week without a bit of Frostgrave, this time from The Miniatures Man.  I've never played the game, but it does produce a lot of great batreps.

Modern Warfare: Alien Invasion, Chapter 1

After-Action Report
D+23, 2143 Hours
SGT Ray Parsons
A Company, 1st Battalion, 138th Infantry Regiment
Missouri Army Reserve National Guard

We got lucky, I guess.  We went out to a roadblock that the county had set up before things got real bad.  One of the sheriff's deputies had gone out to an intersection out at the edge of friendly territory.  We'd relieved the guy after he'd been out there for a shift - he left his vehicle out in the intersection so that folks wouldn't head out into no-mans land - and the company had kept a squad out there ever since.

Our position - a fire team on the roof of the store, another out at the police SUV with the squad leader.

The lucky part is when the attack happened.  We were in the process of changing shifts, so we had two full squads on site when the attack came.  It was a good thing.  I was in the parking lot outside the store that we were using as an overwatch position along with the rest of 3rd squad.  That's when one of the guys on the roof started yelling that we had some of those lizard men approaching the position, and fast.

Shift change in the parking lot, interrupted.

So I got my fire team shooting at the things approaching the roadblock, and Staff Sergeant Johnson and the guys out in the intersection started banging away, too.

We've got company!

We laid a lot of fire into those things, and I swear that I saw them jerk a bit when they got hit, but they kept on coming.

Grenade launcher scores a hit on the approaching aliens.  Didn't stop them.

About to have a close encounter.

Up on the roof, the rest of 1st squad was pouring it on while my squad leader, Staff Sergeant Kovach, ran around the back of the store to protect our flank.  Good thing he did - more on that later.

The boys of 1st squad spot the enemy.

Those things kept coming, in spite of a hail of gunfire.

We finally got some lucky hits with the aliens charging the intersection, dropping two of the three lizard men coming from that direction.  The third ran back to the trees to find some cover.  The fire from their guns hadn't been effective up to that point.

The roadblock position finally scores some good hits.

Then, Specialist O'Reilly out at the roadblock got nailed.

Specialist O'Reilly gets hit.

Some of the other aliens - the ones that wear suits and have the bigger guns - showed up in the woods down the road.

More aliens show up.

At this point things got hot on the right flank.  The three lizard aliens got closer to the shop we had garrisoned.  Good thing Staff Sergeant Kovach and the rest of the squad went over to secure that side of the building.

Staff Sergeant Kovach rounds the corner just in time.

Midway through the fight.

We started to get lucky with our fire here.  The M203 gunners kept dropping rounds on both the lizard aliens and the ones in the armor suits.

Grenade launcher drops one on the alien position.

We kept up the fire on the right, too, hoping to keep the lizard aliens from getting on top of us.  We knew that if they reached our position it was going to be a bad day.

Fire from two US positions lays wounds on the lizard men approaching the American right.

At this point, the guys at the roadblock grabbed O'Reilly and moved back to the building as we provided covering fire.

Carrying O'Reilly back to the parking lot for MEDEVAC.

At this point, things shifted.  Someone scored a lucky hit on one of the aliens in the woodline, dropping him.  The other two armored guys picked him up and carried him off.

Parallel alien MEDEVAC.

Around this time, the guys on the roof and the other side of the building really picked up their fire.  They had three of the big lizard aliens approaching fast through a copse of trees.

Aliens break through the woodline.

As the aliens got close, though, they were exposed to two full fire teams' worth of firepower, right up close.

The US right fends off the alien advance.

So we fought 'em off on both flanks.  Shame that O'Reilly didn't make it, but at least we held.  The company commander increased the detail at that intersection to two full squads after that.

----------

This is my new campaign (campaign page to follow) - modern warfare against an alien invasion.  I'm writing the rules for this as I go (working title is Heroes, Heavies, and Hordes, and is intended to allow mixing modern forces up to platoon size with superheroes, aliens and the like), so the first game focused on infantry alone.  More posts to follow.

Fantasy/Historical/Sci-Fi Battles of the Week, 9 May 2016

If you were looking for modern battle reports/AARs, you're in the wrong place  Go to this link.

Otherwise, business as usual (though it took an extra day to get done)

Game of the Week:  Car Wars at Hot Wheels scale, with an epic arena.  Oh, you had me at hello.  I was raised on Car Wars, among other pursuits, and bought a copy of the re-issued game last year.  If only I had the time to do something on this scale.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle between the Empire and Wood Elves at Xin's place.  A somewhat one-sided affair, but a good-looking one.

Frostgrave at Anatoli's place, with the additional risk of giant worms eating people.  Good times.

English Civil War at the Tas Man Cave.  Impressive models.  I just watched A Field in England, a psychedelic horror-ish film set in the English Civil War.  Not sure what the hell happened, but it was hard not to finish once I started.

Preacher by Day has been busy.  A Pulp Alley convention game, running over Day 1 and Day 2, and a roundup of pics of other games, all gorgeous.

To the Strongest at Hook Island.  As always with these guys, a good-looking game.

Rome versus Carthage from the Band of Wargame Brothers.  Big game, and very cool.

Battles of the Week, 1 May 2016

Great week for gaming for a lot of folks.  I've been in the garage crafting terrain, so another game will get played shortly with some snazzier woods.  Here's the weekly roundup of batreps/AARs:

Battles of the Week:  Pulp Alley campaign from two perspectives.  Here's one battle from the Egyptian cultists' perspective (great looking website, by the way), and as viewed by the Vatican's hit squad.  Here's a second battle, as viewed by the Egyptians, and again from the Vatican's pew. Apparently, priests make great snacks for giant spiders and sea monsters.  Both sites added to the blogroll.

Shakowkings has two good battles up - a pulpy game of 7TV2 and a game simulating a viking raid using the Blood Eagle rules.  What's brilliant is that the vikings are the characters from the History Channel show, Vikings, and Blood Eagle is an episode named after a particularly nasty method of execution.

Golden Age Supers at the Baron's place.  Gets extra points for superhero gaming.  I need to get back to my planned Avengers campaign.

AWI over at Steve's place.  Very cool.

To The Strongest at Big Lee's place, as he's indoctrinating a member of the next generation of wargamers.

LoTR at Little Wars VA.  Good game.  I'm very pleased with the minis associated with this game, though I've never played it, and my ability to buy them on eBay, painted, for $2 or less a piece.  GW's marketing decisions continue to suck in tons of new wargamers who leave the hobby a year or two later and flood the market with their now unwanted painted minis.  I'm not complaining.

Battlesworn old west shootout at The Stronghold Rebuilt.  Great mashup of game and genre.  If you missed it, here's his pulp Battlesworn batrep, Fu Manchu's Halls of Horror.  And here's some ACW for you, a DBA post with some fantastic pics, and another battle in his One Hour Wargames project.  Dude is just killin' it.

Starship Troopers at Skill Level 0.  Visually impressive battle report.  Good looking stuff; adding to the blogroll.

WH40K at Into the Maelstrom.  Part 2 of a campaign.  Check it out.  Napoleonics at Into the Maelstrom.  LoTR at Into the Maelstrom.  Triple duty in three different genres.  Impressive - adding to the blogroll.

Preacher by Day has a sci-fi Pulp Alley game up.  Recommend you go there and read the archives - a whole slew of cool Pulp Alley games using WH40K minis are posted.  Added to my blogroll.

Frostgrave over at Anatoli's Gameroom.  Great looking board.  Added to the blogroll.

Handy tip:  Wee Blokes provides a link to free paper terrain from Osprey for Frostgrave (though it works fine for any game, so long as you need a ruined city for your battlefield).

Battles of the Week, 17 April 2016

Here's the batreps that I enjoyed the most this week:

Song of Blades and Heroes at Stalker 7 - Best looking game of the week.  Absolutely beautiful, great gameplay and pictures.

Epic Napoleonic game at Big Lee's - I've seen these games played, never participated.  Hope to do that someday.

Necromunda League at Fawcett Avenue Conscripts - Good looking game.  It's a shame that Games Workshop lost interest in supporting this game.

Fistful of Lead variants at Baron Von J's Blog - Cool scenery, and I believe that the downed "spaceship" is an old G.I. Joe toy.  Got one in the garage.

Battlesworn at The Stronghold Rebuilt - Great game that comes right down to the wire, as the scenario intended.  Definitely worth a look.

Naval Thunder at Campaigns in Miniature - Never played this game, but it looks good.

Fighting Sail at Bob's place - Another maritime game, this time pointing out a potential flaw in an Osprey set of rules.

Neil Thomas One Hour Wargames battle for McPherson's Ridge at Sound Officer's Call - Beautiful, detailed, and historically accurate game.

Xin's Lair - Two games of note that I've read at this blog:  (1) a huge convention Frostgrave game with an epic, multi-scale battleground that was put together, at least partially, at the last minute - very impressive; (2) an old-school Warhammer Fantasy Battle game.  Adding this blog to my reading list.

Finally, not a battle report, but cool nonetheless - the GURPS stats calculated for the M41 Pulse Rifle of Aliens fame, and a video of a working mock-up that someone made.  Pretty cool.

Battles of the Week, 10 April 2016

I'm starting a new series of blog posts on the battle reports/batreps/AARs that I enjoy.  As you'll notice, the blogs I read, listed to your right in the full version (sorry, won't see it on the mobile version) feature more than a few wargaming blogs that produce good reports on the games that they play.  That's a big part of why I blog - of all the wargaming content on the interwebs, I enjoy reading batreps/AARs the most.

So, without further ado, here's a few posts that caught my eye this week:

Epic 30k at Fawcett Avenue Conscripts - Imperial Fists and Sons of Horus go toe-to-toe over control of a government building complex, heavy casualties ensue

Arc of Fire at sediment's wargame blog - a modern game I've never played, but it seems to handle conventional forces relatively well.  Two games played - Game 1 and Game 2

Bolt Action at Craig's Wargaming Blog - reinforced US Paratrooper and German platoons face off

Frostgrave at Colgar 6 - A beautiful write-up with color-coded icons to indicate the multiple factions seeking treasure in the frozen city; just marvelous

Combat Patrol Playtesting at Buck Surdu's Blog - Unique opportunity to see a batrep/playtest report as a WWII game is adding supplements for other historical periods

Elves & Dwarves vs. Orcs & Goblins, Battle for the EverFrost

For the first battle of the Campaign for the Darkened Wood, a series of battles played with the Savage Worlds Showdown rules, a force of Orcs and Goblins will face off with a coalition of Wood Elves and Dwarves that seek to prevent the Orc Shaman from harnessing the dark energies of a place rich in magical power.

Deep in the heart of the Darkened Wood, there lies a mystical place touched by unknown and mysterious magics.  This place, the EverFrost, features three pillars of blue, frozen stone that stays frigid in spite of its placement in a lush and green forest.  A force of Orcs and Goblins, led by Chieftain Urg and Shaman Grimnobb, ventured to the EverFrost on the eve of the Summer Solstice, when the contrast between the summer heat and the cold of the EverFrost pillars will heighten the power that Grimnobb can direct into a devious spell.  Sensing a disturbance in the magical realm based on Grimnobb's dark designs, Dwarf mage Forgoth Greybeard and warrior Erik the Berserker lead a Dwarf warband that unites with a similarly-motivated band of Wood Elves, led by Chieftain Eofar and Swordmaster Turwyn, hoping to keep dark magics out of this world.

The goal of each warband is to have their mage standing on the EverFrost on the last turn of the game.  Now, on to the tale of the tape:

The Elf-Dwarf coalition.  Elves on the left, led by Chieftain Eofar and Swordmaster Turwyn.  Dwarves on the right, led by mage Forgoth Greybeard and warrior Erik the Berserker.

Orc and Goblin warband.  Chieftain Urg (still a work in progress paint job) and Shaman Grimnobb in the center.

Positions of the warbands at the game's outset.

Turn 1:
Orc and Goblin forces drew, on average, higher initiative and raced for the EverFrost pillars and into nearby woods to provide cover from notoriously accurate Elven arrows.

The fear of arrow fire was not irrational; Elven archers advanced and fired a long-range volley at the Goblins on the Green Horde left, connecting with one arrow.  The Goblins spent a benny to soak this damage and keep the unit moving at the same pace.  Another volley, this one aimed at Orcs, sent two arrows bouncing off of Orc shields.

Position of the forces at the end of Turn 1.  The two minis out in front of the Elven line are their Chieftain and Swordmaster.

Turn 2:
The Green Horde largely led the way with initiative again.  The Dwarven Mage fired a bolt of magic that hit an Orc but failed to wound.

The Orc shaman and his retinue moved forward to mount the rocks at the edge of the EverFrost, and the archer accompanying the mage fired an arrow at an opposite Dwarf that fell harmlessly to the earth.

The Elves and Dwarves continued to advance toward the EverFrost, with a number of arrows fired and failing to connect.  The Elven Chieftain and Swordmaster were able to mount the rocks around the EverFrost.

View from the Elven left flank as their Chieftain and Swordmaster mount the rocks around the EverFrost.

Turn 3:
In the Green Horde initiative draws, two Jokers came up.  On the resulting roll for associated random events, the Orc player designated a unit of Elven archers to suffer a -2 on all rolls this round.  This would prove fortuitous.

The Elven Chieftain, the best archer on the field, moved to a position of advantage on the EverFrost rocks and fired an arrow into the Orc shaman, causing two wounds to the mage.  He would recover one of them with a benny-driven Soak roll.  This critical shot threatened the Orcs' chances for victory - with no mage standing on the EverFrost rocks at games' end, they would lose those victory points.

Both sides continued to move toward each other.  The Orc chieftain moved to a place of partial cover between EverFrost pillars, and the temporarily hindered Elven archer unit took some shots at him.  The -2 modifier meant the difference between him hits and misses.

The -2 modifier applied this turn to this Elven archer unit saved the Orc chieftain from being wounded.

The Goblins on the Green Horde left moved all the way around a patch of woods to try to envelope the Elf/Dwarf right flank.

The Orc Shaman moved forward and cast a Blast spell with great success in spite of his lingering wound.  He inflicted one wound on the Elven chieftain, and two on the Swordmaster.  They both spent bennies to Soak wounds.

Blast marker of the Orc shaman's spell completely covered the Elven chieftain and swordmaster.

Turn 4:

Positions at the start of Turn 4.  Flanking Goblins on either side of the Dwarf/Elf line, seeking to find a maneuver advantage.

The Orc left charged into combat with the Dwarven hero Erik the Berserker and two of his brethren.

The Orc and Dwarf lines meet alongside the EverFrost.

The three Orcs managed to roll three 1s for their attacks.  An Orc charge against the lead Elven archer similarly failed.

The Orcs come up snake eyes.  And another 1.

On top of the Everfrost, an Orc spearman charged forward and stabbed Eofar, the Elven chieftain, inflicting two wounds, with one being soaked.  Eofar's counter-thrust missed the mark.

Turwyn, the Elven swordmaster, leapt forward and scored the first kill of the game.  Bringing his greatsword crashing down on an Orc, he killed the beast instantly, and its lifeless body fell from rocks around the EverFrost.

Turwyn, Elven Swordmaster, vanquishes an Orc that falls dead to the earth next to the EverFrost.

The Goblins' run around the patch woods on the Elf/Dwarf right brought them almost within striking distance of the Dwarven rear, but the Dwarven unit, led by Greybeard the mage, responded with a magic missile.

The closest any Goblin came to a successful flanking maneuver.

One of the Goblins fell to the earth dead, a smoking crater in its chest.

The lead flanking Goblin falls dead, breaking the unit's momentum.

Back on the Elven left, a flurry of arrows brought down one and shook another of the Goblins seeking to charge out of the woods and into the Elven flank.

Accurate Elven arrows repulse a parallel flanking attack on the other side of the field.

Turn 5:

The battle swung toward the Elves and Dwarves.  All Orc and Goblin units that took casualties failed their Spirit checks (morale rolls) and started their flight from the field.  The Orc and Goblin right flank, including their shaman, began to flee.  The two Orcs engaged in combat with the Elven chieftain and swordmaster fell to sword blows as they tried to flee, and Elven arrows rained down on the Orc shaman as he fled, inflicting more wounds on him.

The Orc Shaman flees the field as his retinue broke, only to receive harrying arrow fire as he tries to leave the battle.

Combat on the Elven/Dwarven right proved rather inconclusive, and we decided to call the game at that point.  The Orc shaman was going to either flee the field or be shot down in a hail of Elven arrows in the next turn, either outcome fatal to the Orcs' hopes for victory.

The Orc line breaks and flees the field.

Post-battle impressions:
1.  The Savage Worlds Showdown system works well.  I thought that the bennies (re-roll tokens) would be a nuisance, but the concept has grown on me.  I can see how strategic use of them can really influence the course of a game.
2.  Some models need to have stats adjusted.  The Orcs had a d6 fighting skill, which made hits on some models all but impossible.  Some or all need to be shifted to a d8 fighting skill.
3.  The game was fun, and, with a few more under our belt the system should play pretty quickly.