Special Ops Extraction

We tried a new mission type for our latest Force on Force game, a special operations team extracting an enemy VIP in the Middle East.  In this case, it's a scientist with deadly WMD knowledge who the terrorists would rather kill than surrender to the Americans who came to retrieve him forcibly.

This game took place at night, with visibility limited to 18 inches for the terrorists, who lack night vision goggles (NVGs).  The eleven operators are d10 Troop Quality, d12 Morale, and the terrorists are d6 TQ and d10 Morale.  The four-man team moving with the scientist, the transport team, suffered the Dependent penalty and could not make a Rapid Move.  The overwatch team was set up outside the compound ready to move back to the extraction vehicles at the far end of the board.  The vehicles were being guarded by three female operators that eldest daughter wanted to paint while her brothers were painting.  Eventually, she'll have five of them, so they'll be Fem Force Five, but until she finishes a couple more they'll just be the Fem Force Three. 

The chances of the terrorists sounding the alarm increased with each turn - roll a d6 and get a 6 on turn 2, get a 5 on turn 3, and so on.

Here is the compound where we had just liberated the scientist over the dead bodies of his two guards. 

The plan was to take the back road and avoid detection.  The overwatch team began to move, but a unit on the roadside saw them, and we knew we were in for a long night. 

The overwatch team exchanged a round of fire with the enemy fire team that had identified them, and the whole neighborhood was alerted.  We shot all but the leader of the squad, but took a casualty of our own - one of our men was wounded but living.

That brought their reinforcements moving toward us.

The ensuing round of fire gave the overwatch team another casualty.

The overwatch team pulled back behind the corner of the objective building and made successful wound checks at the beginning of the next turn – no wound for one casualty, a light wound for the other.

The overwatch team quickly recovered and went on the offensive, laying low the enemy fire team blocking the transport team’s movement.

And both teams moved out of the target compound and into the street…

Another group of terrorists emerged to confront the assembled fire teams, but got shot down in short order.

Of course, this just brought more terrorists out of the woodwork…

Another terrorist cell encountered the firepower of the two fireteams, dropping a number of fresh casualties on the ground.

More importantly, however, we had to worry about enemies lying in wait on the rooftops along the extraction route.

The terrorists also got their act together and called in a technical that came barreling down the road.

The technical, however, didn’t last very long.

After picking their way through the neighborhood and several more exchanges of fire, they reached the extraction vehicles being guarded by Fox Force Three.

Post-script:  This was a closer game than the above report really shows.  On several occasions the advanced first aid chart that elite troops use in Force on Force saved the operators.  Both fire teams were slugging along with wounded troops and were a bad roll away from mission failure on several occasions.  I feel like this was about the limit for Troop Quality d10 regulars versus TQ d6 irregulars.  The game system really does balance differing troop types well.

Final Assault on Zawiya, 10 March 2011

This battle follows up two previous games I've played in the Libyan Civil War's opening in March of 2011.  In Outskirts of Zawiya, a reinforced platoon of Ghaddafi's loyalist forces rolled toward the rebelling city and mopped up resistance.  In Zawiya City Center, 8 March 2011, the army and rebels fought to a standstill over a contested patch of the cityscape.

In this battle, Ghaddafi's elite Khamis Brigade, along with some regulars from other units, make a push to consolidate control over the rebellious city.  A platoon of government infantry with BMP-1s in support advances into the heart of the contested urban area with several dozen insurgents in opposition.

The Khamis Brigade troops wear red berets, and are Troop Quality d8, Morale d10.  The other government forces are TQ d6, Morale d8.  Son #1 had the government troops and I ran the insurgents.

The government forces pose for a platoon photo before they head into the contested neighborhood.

The government forces are off to the races, with Khamis Brigade leaders signaling a general advance.

Insurgents lie in wait.

An insurgent sniper team stands ready to pick off government troops.

A government machine gun team takes to the roof of a building to establish an intermediate support by fire position.

The machine gun team and the snipers lying in wait spot each other, the MG team wins initiative and keeps the snipers either wounded or suppressed.

View from the MG team - insurgent team lying in wait beyond the wall in the distance.

Fog of War card hits the government forces - indirect fire hits a randomized unit...

 ...and the government forces take casualties in their assembly area...

...and insurgent RPG fire is directed at the crucial MG team on the rooftop.

More insurgents advance to counter the government troops.

An insurgent team at the top of the mosque loses initiative and takes a shot from the BMP-1.

Reverse view of the now-remodeled mosque roof.

CASEVAC of the MG team member injured by artillery fire.

The insurgents get hit with a Fog of War card that strips them of artillery support:

Line of sight check on the government left flank.  The insurgents lose the initiative check and take casualties.

Similar results on the government right flank...

Government forces pouring into the neighborhood.

A Fog of War card brings an insurgent MG team into the fight, complete with the Punisher-themed gunner here.

Insurgents race across an alleyway and shed several troops in the process.

A Fog of War card largely neutralizes a key insurgent team.

Government BMP advances with infantry support.

Son #1 talked about moving an MG-heavy squad of Khamis Brigade troops to a roof to establish another intermediate support by fire position.  I was skeptical - I didn't think they would have good line of sight from the proposed position, and I warned him that even if they did, they could end up taking on an overwhelming number of insurgents.

I was wrong.  He put the squad on a rooftop, and they won a series of initiative checks and lay waste to several insurgent teams.

Here's some of their handiwork:

Government forces storm an insurgent position previously neutralized by a Fog of War card.  It's a bloodbath for the insurgents.

Government forces take casualties during their advance.

Two insurgents with RPGs jump out from behind a corner and try to take out a government BMP.  They lose initiative and pay the price.

Government forces turn the corner and open up their advance on the left flank.  Insurgent forces have been largely broken by this point.

To add insult to injury, a Fog of War card gives the government forces a T-72 main battle tank.  At this point, we called the game, with the insurgents having been pushed out of the neighborhood.

The dead insurgents stacked up...

This game went a bit differently than I expected, but we had a great time and it largely reflected what happened in the early phases of the Libyan Civil War.

Elhiem Elite Taliban and RPG Gunners Painted

I’ve got a couple of games played and awaiting write-ups, but haven’t found the time to get them done. In the meantime, here’s some pics of some Elhiem minis I’ve painted, I think they came out rather well:

Hope to get the battles they fought in posted soon. Stay tuned!

Sadr City Showdown

Baghdad, 2005.  The occupation of Iraq has soured and Sadr City has fallen under control of the Mahdi Militia and the political machinations of Muqtada al-Sadr.  A slightly understrength US infantry platoon is attempting to retake some lost ground from the militia forces and kill or capture this vaguely Usama-looking fellow:

He's in the compound at top right of the map below, and the US forces start at the bottom.  Militia cells stand between the US forces and victory.

The view from the US staging area.

US troops secure a building in anticipation of the advance.

The militia headquarters compound.

A militia cell got spotted by US troops on a rooftop, and promptly dropped to American fire.

An insurgent cell lays shot up in the foreground after losing an initiative roll and getting pasted by the Americans.

Another insurgent cell bites the dust.

The two Humvees reinforcing the US troops rush forward, perhaps recklessly, to engage a courtyard full of insurgents in a courtyard.

The Humvee gambit works, but one is at half mobility and the other at half firepower.

The Americans, having run out of people to shoot for now, rush toward their objective. 

Aerial view of the American advance.

Insurgents rush from their headquarters to take up a better defensive position, but there's a US Humvee at the far end of the street...

The insurgents lose initiative, and are lucky to lose only one man to the .50 caliber fire.

The insurgents completed their run across the street, but they roll some ones on their morale check - this causes additional shrinkage of two more insurgents who decide they have a better place to be and are taken off the board.  The cell is also frozen due to a failed morale check.  Did I mention that the insurgents have failed pretty much every roll this game?

Collateral damage.  A pickup truck goes up in the exchange of fire.

The Americans set up the Humvees in overwatch on their leftmost axis of advance and start to push to their objective.

The building at left of shot fills up with newly arrived insurgents...

...who fail an initiative roll against the Americans and are promptly gunned down.

On the American right, a fire team mounts the roof of a building and goes into overwatch to cover the fire team advancing to the objective building at the rear of the shot.

Another insurgent cell spawns behind the building on the left flank, the same building where their comrades were just shot to pieces...

...and they also fail an initiative roll and get wiped out by point blank .50 caliber fire and a fire team  of Americans.

Then the Americans pull a Fog of War card that gives them a reinforcing special ops team, which they place on the roof where a fire team is already providing overwatch.

The overwatch position gets line of sight on the leadership cell in the objective building, and with the additional firepower of the Troop Quality d10 special ops team, promptly wipes out the Mahdi militia leadership cell.

Well, I've never seen so one-sided a game.  Every die roll, from reinforcements to initiative to shooting, went the Americans' way.  The boys playing had a good time, but I'll have to recalibrate this scenario if we play it again.

If you want to see a library of other games set in Iraq that aren't so one-sided, check out my Force on Force:  Iraq page, where I've already added this game.