The Hornet's Nest

I hosted a Force on Force game with the Colorado Springs Gamers Association on Saturday, playing a scenario from the Road to Baghdad supplement, "The Hornet's Nest."  The scenario description:

Objective Pistol, Outside As Samawah, March 22
On March 22, 2003, a Hunter Killer Team (HKT) from C/3-7 CAV "Crazy Horse" approached a canal bridge at Objective Pistol.  Based on reports from an SOF unit in the area, the team expected to be greeted by Iraqi regulars eager to surrender.  Instead, they became embroiled in a fierce firefight with irregular Saddam Fedayeen troops.  This would be the Cav's first encounter with fanatical irregular troops in civilian garb, but it would be far from their last.

The US player starts with an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) that has just followed an Iraqi insurgent truck into a courtyard, only to discover that the courtyard is was the center of an insurgent headquarters.  An M1A1 Abrams tank backs up the BFV, though it starts the scenario outside of the courtyard.

View of the board from the side with elements labeled.

As with other Force on Force scenarios, this one was exceptionally well balanced.  The scenario lasts 8 turns.  US victory points as follows:  10 points for keeping the BFV in the courtyard for 4 turns, 5 points for the BFV and the Abrams withdrawing from the table via a marked exit direction.  Insurgent victory points as follows:  3 points per US Soldier seriously wounded or KIA, 5 points per US Soldier captured, 5 points if the BFV is immobilized or destroyed, 10 points if the Abrams is immobilized or destroyed.

Turn 1:

The view from the US edge of the board at scenario's outset.

The situation from the Bradley IFV's point of view.

The Bradley opened fire on the insurgents n the courtyard, pulping three insurgents from Cell 1; return RPG fire proved ineffective.  Cells 2 and 3 opened fire with their own RPGs, but all missed, and the Bradley inflicted 3 more casualties.  The Abrams tank moved forward, but Insurgent Cell 4 held its fire, hoping for an easy shot on the tank.  All of the insurgent elements made their morale checks.

Turn 2:
The insurgents received reinforcements with both a leader and a Heavy RPG, which allowed them to both move without rolling to activate and bring a big stick to the fight.

In the courtyard, the Bradley was still taking on the world, dishing out three more casualties on Cell 1.  The Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT) moved up even with the opening to the courtyard.  The tank had line of sight on the building housing Cell 3 and opened fire with the intent of dropping the building.  The building did not drop, but the tank shell killed one insurgent.

The Americans continue to slug it out with a horde of Iraqi insurgents.

The insurgents in Cell 4 had a deck shot on the Abrams, and let loose with two RPGs.  Both bounced harmlessly off of the tank.  The tank swiveled its turret, returned fire, and dropped the building.  All of the insurgents inside, save one of the RPG gunners, were killed in the building collapse.

That used to be a two-story building.  Used to be.

The insurgent from the hot spot made a rapid move and entered the fray, but ended up adding little to the insurgents' cause.

The insurgents from the hot spot showed up just in time to bounce an RPG off of the Bradley IFV and get shot up.

Turn 3:
The Bradley pivoted back to the wall on its left and continued pouring fire into Insurgent Cell 1, causing 3 more casualties.  One was the RPG gunner, but he would shake off the wound in the casualty check at the end of the round.  Most likely a rock that hit him when a 25mm round pinged off of the ground.  The cleared line of sight allowed the Abrams MBT to level the building housing Insurgent Cell 3, causing 3 insurgent casualties, including the remaining RPG gunner at that location.  The insurgents attempting to return fire, and losing, drew a Fog of War card - the Golden BB.

The M1 Abrams blows up the building housing Insurgent Cell 3.

The remaining insurgent RPG gunner from Cell 4, who survived the building being dropped, passed his morale check after his harrowing experience.  He now rolled for initiation, passed, and played the Golden BB card.  The Abrams erupted in a ball of flame.

Ouch.  That hurts.

View of the Abrams' destruction from the RPG gunner's vantage point.  Holy smokes!

Two of the Abrams crew members survived (two were crispered) and dismounted to the left rear of the vehicle and sought cover.  The Abrams wreck was blocking the Bradley's planned route of egress out of the courtyard, so the situation had suddenly become quite dire for the Americans.

Turns 4 and 5:
Insurgent casualties showed up again at the Hot Spot, but would fail to activate because they didn't have a leader.  The turn ran rather uneventfully, with the Bradley exchanging fire again with Insurgent Cell 1, inflicting one casualty, and receiving ineffective RPG fire.  The insurgents that previously ran into the courtyard from the Hot Spot attempted to close assault the Bradley, but failed the necessary Troop Quality roll and chickened out.

Come on, guys, let's assault the Bradley.  Guys?  Guys?

Insurgent Cell 2 rolled successfully to activate and move into the middle of the courtyard.  They won initiative, fired an RPG at the Bradley, missed, and saw the Bradley's return fire reduce the RPG gunner to ground chuck.

The insurgents from the hot spot, however, activated and moved to the courtyard.  The Bradley reacted to their attempt to open fire and pulped two cell members.  Even with the penalty for rapid movement, the Heavy RPG gunnery in the cell, who survived the Bradley's salvo of fire, launched a round into the front of the Bradley and rolled a catastrophic hit, causing the Bradley to brew up, killing 4 of the 5 Soldiers in the vehicle!

This is going to hurt the American victory point total.  A lot.

The surviving Soldier dismounted out the back of the Bradley.  He decided to make a rapid move out of the courtyard and off of the map.  As he sprinted out, he came in view of every insurgent element in the courtyard and beat all but a couple in initiative rolls.  In one, he drew a Mad Minute card from the Fog of War deck and laid low one of the insurgents.  This entails emptying most of your available ammo supply with increased firepower.  Not being sure whether the card required him to remain stationary, we rolled a Troop Quality check to see if he could continue his movement out of the courtyard.  He succeeded, and ran off.

"Say hello to my little friend!"

As the turn wrapped up, the two tankers who escaped the burning Abrams exited the board.

Turn 6:
The remaining Bradley crewman continued his flight off of the board, making an amazing number of save rolls as a group of five insurgents shot at him. 

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.  Especially when you've had your teeth kicked in.

We called the game at this point and tallied victory points.  The Americans had 7 (10 for remaining in the courtyard for 4 turns, 3 deducted for a Fog of War card based on bad press from unit actions); the Iraqi insurgents had 33 (10 for destroying the M1 Abrams, 5 for the M2 Bradley, and 18 for the 6 x US KIA).  Decisive victory for the Iraqis.

On a closing note, the scenario was actually very well balanced.  The Bradley lasted four turns in the courtyard before it finally succumbed to RPG fire.  Had the Golden BB card not killed the Abrams and blocked in the Bradley, this could have been a totally different story...

Libya: Outskirts of Zawiya

I was lucky enough to meet up with Little Nicky on Sunday and play a game of Ambush Alley Games' excellent Force on Force.  This is the first time I've played with someone who knows the rules better than I do, and it was a great time.  We showed up at Collectormania just southeast of Denver without much of a plan, but I told Nicky that I had wanted to play a game set in the Libyan civil war for some time, and he humored me.

The game is set in the early stages of the civil war, before NATO air power came into play, during the pro-Gaddafi forces' offensive to retake Zawiya, on or about 4 March 2011.  The Gaddafi regime forces are tasked with pushing through the board and capturing an anti-Gaddafi leader at the objective building at the far end of the map.  Anti-Gaddafi forces must protect their leader and inflict as much damage on the regime forces as possible.

Regime Forces:  A reinforced combat reconnaissance patrol, composed of one motorized rifle platoon (3 x BTR-80 with three 7-man infantry squads), 2 x T-55, and one technical with a single-barrel 23mm antiaircraft gun, is making an initial push into the outskirts of one of the axes of advance into Zawiya.  The elite (by Libyan standards) Khamis Brigade troops are Troop Quality 8, Morale 10.

Anti-Gaddafi Forces:  The anti-regime forces have five 6-8 man squads at each of their Hot Spots, four technicals (pickups with machine guns mounted in the back - two with DShK, two with PKM), and two static DShK emplacements.  Troop Quality 6, Morale 10.

Captain Ibrahim ordered the convoy forward, scanning the surrounding hostile suburbs  of Zawiya through the T-55's viewfinder.  No messing around this time.  He had ordered the motorized infantry platoon leader to drive through resistance.  He and the other tank, as well as the technical, would provide sufficient firepower to get the infantry right to the objective.  Just as he had been taught in the academy - keep the offensive moving, 20km per hour, guns apply overwhelming firepower as needed.

Initial Disposition of Forces:  Libyan forces advancing from near edge of board.

Side view:  Rebel forces visible at Hot Spots 3 and 4, with a DShK technical next to Hot Spot #3.

Side view:  Rebel forces with technicals at Hot Spots 1 and 2.

Turn 1: The lead BTR rolled down the road, and a rebel truck-mounted DShK activated to open fire, but in the contest for initiative, rolled a 1.  The resulting Fog of War card raised rebel morale to 12, but the BTR wrecked the technical with effective fire.  Meanwhile, the rebels at Hot Spot #5 activated and fired an RPG at the convoy, to no effect.  The regime forces' fire proved likewise ineffective.

Rebel technical loses a machine gun knife-fight.

Middle BTR struck an antipersonnel mine, which had no effect on the buttoned up crew and infantry inside.  "What the hell was that?"

The DShK crew on this roof exchanged fire with the lead BTR as well, with no effect on either party.

The lead BTR also got a shot off at this technical, reducing it to one-half speed.

Turn 2:  As the regime forces continued their push to the objective, the firepower of their vehicles began to overwhelm the anti-Gaddafi rebels.

This DShK emplacement felt the brunt of both the BTR-80 and T-55; by the end of turn 2, their corner of the building was rubble and the heavy machine gun crew were all casualties.

The rebels at Hot Spot #5 fired off an RPG at the BTR-80 in the photo.  They missed, but return fire from the BTR and the T-55 either wounded or scared off several of the rebels, including the RPG gunner.

The rebels from Hot Spot #4 entered the fray, squaring off with the regime's rear security vehicle, a 23mm antiaircraft gun mounted in a pickup.

The rebel RPG and small arms fire managed to wound two of the three technical crew and immobilize the vehicle.  The 23mm AA gunner was not wounded, and his return fire pulped four of the rebels.

Rebels at Hot Spot #1 fired an RPG at the lead BTR-80, but failed to damage the vehicle.  Return fire from the BTR caused a couple of casualties.

 Turn 3:  Regime forces continued their march to the objective and racked up more rebel casualties. 

Rebels at Hot Spot #2 entered the fray, fired an RPG that failed to connect, and suffered a couple of casualties.  This happened a lot.

Regime troops dismounted from the rear BTR-80.  A brutal exchange of fire laid low the rest of this rebel squad and knocked out the 23mm AA gun on the government technical.

The lead BTR-80 again exchanged fire with the rebels to its front, inflicting more casualties.

The lead BTR-80 blew past this rebel squad and technical, but reacted to their fire, causing a couple of casualties.

Additional fire from the T-55 and middle BTR-80 caused more losses.

Newly arrived rebels at Hot Spot #5 caused a casualty on the dismounted regime squad, but were wiped out by effective return fire.

As turn 3 drew to a close, rebels from Hot Spot #3 assaulted the dismounted regime squad.  The rebels were all either killed or run off, but he squad suffered several wounds as a result.  Only three uninjured squad members remained at the end of the turn.

Lead regime elements at the end of turn 3.  A DShK technical, shown in the lower left corner, opened fire on regime forces but was blown up by return fire.

Turn 4:  As regime forces closed on the objective, rebel RPG fire began to have some impact on regime armored vehicles.

The lead tank was reduced to half speed by a rebel RPG.  The tank's machine gun failed to fire as well due to a Fog of War card.

The lead BTR-80 also took an RPG hit that reduced it to half-speed, but it still managed to move to the corner of the objective building.  1st squad dismounted from the BTR and advanced toward the objective, exchanging fire with the rebel DShK on the roof of the objective building.  As rebel luck would have it, their fire had no effect and the DShK gunner became a casualty.

3rd squad conducted CASEVAC, loading the five serious wounds on to the trail BTR-80.  The trail tank, meanwhile, ended enemy resistance from Hot Spot #5.

A rebel sniper team, perched atop Hot Spot #1, fired at the dismounted 1st Squad.  The sniper fire failed to connect, and return fire took out both members of the sniper team.

A rebel jeep sporting a PKM rounded the corner of Hot Spot #1 and opened fire on 1st Squad, but failed to inflict casualties on the regime forces.  Return fire from the infantry destroyed the jeep.

As turn 5 kicked off, the lead BTR-80 took another RPG hit, reducing it to half firepower on its KPV machinegun.  It still managed to return fire and wipe out the rebel RPG team.

3rd Squad completed its CASEVAC and the uninjured soldiers mounted the top of the BTR-80.  The trail T-55 continued to provide covering fire, killing an RPG gunner.

2nd Squad dismounted from its BTR-80 as it reached the objective.  The insurgents on the roof were able to re-man the DShK machine gun, and opened fire on the exposed infantry.  As the rest of the engagements went in this game, the rebels missed, and regime forces' return fire killed the DShK crew.

At this point, we called the game in favor of the regime forces.  Though we didn't set out victory points in the beginning, the regime forces had effectively crushed rebel resistance and had one squad on the objective building and another about to enter.

In retrospect, we should have given the regime forces less armor or the rebels a captured tank or other anti-armor capability.  Regardless, it was a fun game, and I look forward to playing with Nick in the future.

Army Men: Green vs. Tan, Objective Cigar Box

I played a game with my eldest son (4 years old) this week.  AAR/Battle Report follows:

On the center of the dining room table is Objective Cigar Box, a building that must be seized by either side for victory.  The boy commanded the Green Army, with three fire teams and a tank, and I commanded the Tan Army with two fire teams and a tank.  Soldiers with small arms can hit anything that they can see, wounding on a 5 or 6 on a d6.  Bazookas use a blast marker (Lego piece), and flamethrowers use a fire template (whisker).

Layout of the table.  Both sides need to advance into and seize OBJ Cigar Box in the middle of the field.

View from the Tan Army's HQ, my end of the table.

View from the Green Army's HQ.

Tan fire team bolts from cover toward OBJ Cigar Box.

Green fire team moves out from cover, shadowing Tan movement.  The Tan troopers are out of flamethrower range, as demonstrated by the flame template (whisker).

Green fire team shoots and lays low all of their Tan opponents except the Tan flamethrower trooper.

On the other side of the field, the Green tank emerges as the Tan commander's fire team emerges from cover.  The blast template shows the tank's fire on the Tan troopers.

The Tan commander and his RTO are exposed in front of the Green Tank.

I told the Green commander that the Tan tank moved from cover toward his forces.  He responded that the Green command team was asleep.  They were tired and needed a nap.

All of the troops involved in the initial firefight now converge inside of OBJ Cigar Box.

First, the Tan flamethrower trooper unleashed his whisker-shaped gout of flame and crispered most of the Green soldiers.  The Green bazooka trooper applied his weapon in close quarters battle in response, to deadly effect.

The Tan and Green tanks face off on the other side of OBJ Cigar Box.  The Green tank prevails, crushing the last hope for the Tan Army.

The Tan commander, seeing his offensive capability crumble, decides to live to fight another day.  Here we see him and his RTO fleeing the field.  The Green Army takes OBJ Cigar Box.

Postscript:  The Tan commander suffered a final indignity as the Green commander placed him in a jail made of sandbags and made him take a nap until he was going to behave and join the good guys.