In Country

Some of those new Vietnam War Americans saw some action this weekend. As I was using a mash-up of Savage Worlds and Force on Force, the after action report ended up over on Savage Timmy's Playhouse. 

We made some characters for a new campaign and played a quick trial action. You can read the report and see the rest of the pictures here:

In Country 

Force on Force at ToonCon

I ran a game of Force on Force Saturday evening at ToonCon. I’m doing this report before the Afternoon game because there’s less pictures and I had all the scenario information already typed up before hand, so it will be quicker…

I used the Gone To Ground scenario from Classified: Special Operations Missions 1940–2010. I’ve run the scenario before and it seemed like it would be a good one for a convention game.

SITUATION

Since colonial times there has been tension in what is now Timbogo between the majority (ostensibly Christian) Timbo peoples in the North and East of the country and the Bongogo peoples in the West and south who continue to practice their own indigenous religion.  

Tensions have flared in recent weeks and there have been rumours of genocide taking place in central Timbogo. A team of MSF doctors stationed in Timobogo and a visiting journalist, who have witnessed the atrocities firsthand, have been trying to get out of Timbogo. They finally made it aboard a helicopter that was to fly them out to a neighboring country only to be forced down by gunfire as they approached the border.

A force of French Foreign Legionnaires stationed in said neighboring country was immediately dispatched to extract the French nationals. The team was able to reach the crash site but their transport helicopters were driven off by ground fire. The team did, however, locate the French civilians and holed up with them in a cluster of abandoned buildings along a lonely, dusty road, with the forces of the Federal Army of the Republic of Timbogo (F.A.R.T.) and local militias closing in…

SCENARIO

Duration: 6 turns

Initiative: French have initiative for the game

Fog of War: Determined normally by Reaction Tests

Table Size: ~3’x3’

FRENCH MISSION

The Team had to protect the civilians from the various Timbogan forces converging on the area. They had to hold on until the end of Turn Six when the French higher-ups would give the green light to some Close Air Support to clear a landing zone for the transport helicopters to pull them out.

FRENCH VICTORY

In no French civilians were captured by the end of Turn Six the French team wins. Otherwise, they lose.            

FRENCH FORCE

Initiative Level: D10

Confidence Level: High

Supply Level: Normal

Body Armour: (+1D)

Troop Quality/Morale: D10/D10

French Forces 

French Foreign Legion CSAR Team

1x Team Leader - FA-MAS

2x SAW-Gunners – Minimi

2x Grenadiers – FA-MAS with UGL

2x Riflemen - FA-MAS

2x Medic - FA-MAS

1x AT Gunner w/ ATGM (AP:4/AT:4 M)

5x French Civilians - Dependants

TIMBOGAN MISSION

Capture the foreign spies and agitators, dead or alive! They must be stopped from spreading tmore lies and stir up the rabble – an example must be made of them!

TIMBOGAN VICTORY CONDITIONS

F.A.R.T. Forces win if the are able to capture one French civilian

TIMBOGAN FORCE

Initiative Level: N/A

Confidence Level: Confident

Supply Level: Normal

Body Armour: None

Troop Quality/Morale: Militia D6/D10, Army D8/D10

Three Timbogan teams start on the board and reinforcements arrive each turn.

THE GAME

Two players showed up for this one – Rick and Bob. Rick took the Africans and Bob took the French.

I got so immersed in running the game and keeping it fast-paced I completely forgot to take pictures until the beginning of the second turn. I would have liked to take notes – because there was some crazy stuff that went down, but it’s kind of hard to do that while keeping a good convention game going… so here’s a few pictures and a bit of what I remember going on…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

I think on Turn One Rick got his FIRST BTR-60!? Maybe it was the second turn…? Sorry, I am really damn tired - but I want to get this done because I don't know when I might get it done if I don't do it tonight! 

No, it must have been the first, because I remember this was the first turn that these guys ran out of the wadi and miraculously only took one casualty!

Over on the other side of town the other Militia were also taking casualties.

And the first BTR-60 got lit up pretty quickly. This must be the second turn. I’m pretty sure the first turn the French AT gunner knocked out the main gun, but the vehicle carried on. On the second round of firing it brewed right up! The passangers bailed out without trouble, but the crew were both injured (one turned out to be KIA)

Africans trying to surround the village.

I totally forgot to bring my Gas tank, so I just ignored that part of the scenario…

The SECOND BTR-60 arrives.

Rick was trying to rush the buildings with the French and kept getting murdered out in the open and teams ending up pinned and having to sit out for a turn dealing with seriously wounded casualties.

One French team did take some casualties earlier in the game – with a couple of seriously wounded. There was also a lot of lightly wounded. And guys that just got back up an continued fighting. Those two medics turned out to be super handy!

On the last turn (or maybe second last turn) Rick rolled a T-55 for reinforcements!!

It took a suspension hit – halving it’s move – but the crew stayed inside and fired on the building with all the French civilians. It was the first time I ever did a building destruction roll – the building survived. But the French took some casualties.

Basically the French sat on overwatch the entire game and just creamed the Africans as they tried to rush the building. I wonder if it might have been better to just pour on the fire for a few turns and then all try to rush the building on the fourth or fifth turns…?

I think by the time it was over there was over fifty Africans on the table. In the end six of them were killed in action, and seventeen were seriously wounded. I stopped keeping track of light wounds as pretty much every team had a few…

Of the ten French Foreign Legionnaires five were seriously wounded, and the rest were lightly wounded – some were wounded twice! Two of the French Civilians were killed in the action, but none were captured during the six turns.

In the last three turns of the games I think I saw more Fog of war cards come out than in any other game we’ve ever played… The Africans got a sniper team that caused the French some serious trouble. The second BTR-60 was actually taken out by a predator drone that buzzed into the area. Others were useless (“I gave it a good Smack” or ones that gave the players 3 victory points) and I’m sure there was another two… Golden BB and Hydration…?

It was mad. A lot of back and forth and it seemed like it could go either way right down to the last turn - which is pretty much how I remember the other times I've played this scenario! Fun was had by all! Especially me!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I will get that Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878 report done… it might be tomorrow (or “later today” as it is well past midnight…) 

Edinburgh

Rick stopped by in the evening to play some more Force on Force. I had a little more time to prepare – and we had a little more time to play – so I cooked up something a little more elaborate than the game I’d played earlier in the day…

SITUATION

September 1984

There has been fierce fighting for the last two weeks in Edinburgh, Scotland, since the Soviet 76^th Guards Airborne Division landed. As the Soviets supplies dwindled the UK forces have been slowly gaining the upper hand. UK forces have been clearing pockets of resistance in outlying neighborhoods.

SCENARIO

Duration: 8 turns

Initiative: Soviets have initiative.

Fog of War: Determined normally by Reaction Tests

Table Size: 5’x4’

BRITISH MISSION

Cordon and sweep the area for Soviets – don’t let them escape!

BRITISH VICTORY POINTS

1VP per Soviet Seriously Wounded, KIA or POW

5VP if no soviets leave the western edge of the table.

BRITISH FORCE

Initiative Level: D8

Confidence Level: Confident

Supply Level: Normal

Body Armour: None

Troop Quality/Morale: D8/D10

British Forces – elements of the 1^st Bn Royal Highland Regiment (the Black Watch)

Blocking Party (starts on table)

Sergeant Anderson - SMG

Section No.1

LCpl. Gilchrist –SLR

Gunner – L4 Bren

Assistant Gunner – SLR

Rifleman - SLR

Section No.2

Cpl. Ross –SLR

Gunner – GPMG

Assistant Gunner – SLR

Rifleman – SLR

SF-GPMG Team

Gunner – SF-GPMG

Loader – SLR

(Weapons Team Bonus)

Sweeping Party – Enters East Edge of table starting on Turn Four

Command Section

Lt. Paterson – SMG

Signaler – Pte. Young - SLR

Medic – Cpl. Todd

Section No.3

Cpl. Stewart

Gunner – L$ Bren

Assistant Gunner – SLR

Rifleman – SLR

Section No.4

LCpl. McLaren

3xRifleman – SLR

Section No.5

LCpl. Craig – SLR

3xRifleman – SLR

Section No.6

LCpl. Watt – SLR

3xRifleman – SLR

Section No.7

Cpl. Ritchie – SLR

Gunner – GPMG

Assistant Gunner – SLR

Rifleman – SLR

Section No.8

Cpl. McQueen– SLR

Gunner – L4 Bren

Assistant Gunner – SLR

Rifleman – SLR

SOVIET MISSION

A large British force is approaching from the east. The soviets cannot let themselves be surrounded and destroyed they must escape off the western table edge.

SOVIET VICTORY POINTS

1VP per British Seriously Wounded, KIA or POW

5VP if half the Soviet force can make it off the western table edge by the end of Turn Eight.

SOVIET FORCE

Initiative Level: D8

Confidence Level: Confident

Supply Level: Low

Body Armour: None

Troop Quality/Morale: D8/D8

Red Forces – Elements Soviet 237^th Airborne Brigade

Leytenant Borris Pavylchenko– AK-74

Sniper – Ryadovoy Khalipov - SVD

Team No.1

Team Leader Serzhant Bobrov– AK-74

Gunner – RPG

Assistant Gunner – AK-74

Rifleman – AK-74

Team No.2

Team Leader Serzhant Yeltsov – AK-74

Gunner – PKM machine gun

Assistant Gunner Serzhant Laskutin – AK-74

Rifleman – AK-74

Team No.3

Team Leader Serzhant Pushkin – AK-74

Gunner – RPG

Assistant Gunner – AK-74

Rifleman – AK-74

Team No.4

Team Leader Serzhant Ahernikov – AK-74

Gunner – PKM machine gun

Assistant Gunner – AK-74

Rifleman – AK-74

Team No.5

Team Leader Serzhant Ikashev – AK-74

Gunner – RPG

Assistant Gunner – AK-74

Rifleman – AK-74

THE GAME

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

SF-GPMG team looks out over a desolate street in Edinburgh.

The blocking party set up. The SF-GPMG team is in the bottom right corner The rest of the blocking party is further ahead. To the left is LCpl. Gilchrist’s section, to the right is Cpl. Ross’ section, and between them is Sergeant Anderson commanding the blocking force.

Soviets fleeing the searchers move towards the blocking element. 

From left to right; Serzhant Bobrov’s team, Serzhant Yeltsov ‘s team, and Serzhant Pushkin’s team with Leytenant Pavylchenko and Khalipov the sniper. Ikashev and Ahernikov team’s were on the other side of the road

TURN ONE

LCpl. Gilchrist’s section spotted the first of the Soviet paratroopers moving towards them and opened fire on Serzhant Bobrov’s team. In the exchange one of Gilchrist’s section was shot.

TURN TWO

The casualty in LCpl. Gilchrist’s section turned out to be very seriously wounded and the section spent the turn trying to patch him up.

Khalipov the sniper set himself up on overwatch… kind of out in the open…

Serzhant Bobrov’s team surged ahead. Cpl. Ross’ section made to fire on them but Khalipov the sniper decided to interrupt first.

Khalipov’s shots only drew Ross’ section attention and in the exchange the sniper went down.

In the exchange of fire between Cpl. Ross’ section and Serzhant Bobrov’s team each took one casualty.

Meanwhile the other soviet teams were rushing up the road.

How things looked at the end of Turn Two. I think the SF-GPMG had tried to react to Serzhant Bobrov’s team rushing out into the road and failed so they were so busy looking over in that direction to see where they had gotten to that they totally missed the three other soviet teams rushing up the road toward them!?

TURN THREE

The casualty in Cpl. Ross’ section turned out to be only lightly wounded and back up on the firing line in no time. The downed man in Serzhant Bobrov’s team, however, was more seriously injured, and the team had to halt there, in the middle of the road, to attend to him. Luckily Serzhant Yeltsov‘s team was right behind them and ready to charge past into the fray.

The GPMG team opened up as Serzhant Yeltsov‘s team ran out from between the two ruined buildings – but had little effect. LCpl. Gilchrist’s section, the target of their attempted close assault laid down some withering defensive fire and took down the man in front of Yeltsov, who flew back and knocked the two over. More or less ending the charge before it even got started!?

LCpl. Gilchrist’s section then turned their attention to the Soviet paratroopers in the street to their right. Serzhant Ikashev’s team made a dash for cover, and LCpl. Gilchrist’s section let them have it. Three soviets were shot down in the exchange, but one of LCpl. Gilchrist’s men was also hit.

The intensity of the combat kicked up a notch as the section continued to engage the other Soviet teams moving in the street. When the dust had settled Cpl. Ross’ section had taken two casualties, failed morale twice and fallen back from their original position, and the SF-GPMG team had been wiped out, in exchange for only one more soviet casualty.

TUNR FOUR

The casualty in LCpl. Gilchrist’s section was only lightly wounded. And the “casualties” in Cpl. Ross’ section – whose screaming had forced him to abandon his original position, turned out to be completely okay. (Pte. Niven had been hit in one of his kidney pouches where he kept a bottle of ketchup – he simply cannot each ANYTHING without ketchup- and the exploding bottle had covered him and his mate Pte. McLurg with red paste and left then screaming thinking they’d both been hit). Despite that, they spent the turn “regrouping” – probably laughing themselves silly for a moment while lying in cover.

Serzhant Ikashev’s team had suffered two seriously injured and one lightly wounded. Serzhant Pushkin’s team had also suffered one lightly wounded. Serzhant Ahernikov’s team has taken cover behind a pile of rubble in the street.

The man in Serzhant Yeltsov‘s team who had been shot as they leapt out to charge had been shot dead.

Things went badly for the Soviets at this point as nearly the whole sweeping party arrived, hot on their heels!

(from left to right, above, are: Cpl. Stewart’s section, LCpl. McLaren’s section, LCpl. Craig’s section, LCpl. Watt’s section, the command section with Lt. Paterson, and finally, in the bottom right corner, Cpl. Ritchie’s section)

Again the soviets in front of LCpl. Gilchrist’s section attempted to enter close assault. This time it was Serzhant Bobrov’s team. This time Gilchrist’s section’s defensive fire was not so effective – and there was no one else to give them any support.

In two quick rounds LCpl. Gilchrist’s section, along with Sergeant Anderson, were wiped out. They had only caused one soviet casualty…

Elsewhere, Serzhant Ahernikov’s team, was wiped out in and exchange of wire with LCpl. McLaren’s Section and LCpl. Craig’s section. One of LCpl. McLaren’s men was also shot in the exchange.

Serzhant Pushkin’s team made a dash for cover, exchanging fire with LCpl. Craig and LCpl. Watt’s sections. One of Pushkin’s men fell as they ran and one of LCpl. Craig’s men was shot.

Serzhant Yeltsov‘s team prepares to scarper as Cpl. Ritchie’s section  moves into a firing position.

TURN FIVE

The Soviet wounded in the close assault was only lightly injured. The three members of LCpl. Gilchrist’s section that were still standing when the soviet overran their position were killed instantly. Sergeant Anderson had been overpowered and captured, stripped of his weapon, then summarily executed.

Serzhant Pushkin’s man turned out to be totally okay. The man that had fallen had only stumbled on loose rubble in the street.

The chap in LCpl. Craig’s section that had been hit also turned out to be totally okay. The casualty in LCpl. McLaren’s section, however, was quite seriously wounded.

What remained of Serzhant Ikashev’s team went on overwatch.

Serzhant Yeltsov‘s team scarpered before Cpl. Ritchie’s section could lay down some effective fire.

Cpl. Ross’ section’s laugh-fest ended abruptly when they realized LCpl. Gilchrist’s section had been annihilated and they were now taking fire from Serzhant Bobrov’s team. Cpl. Ross’ section returned the fire taking down one of Serzhant Bobrov’s men.

Serzhant Pushkin’s team dashed from the cover of the building to the rubble heap in the middle of the road. LCpl. Craig and LCpl. Watt’s sections reacted and Serzhant Ikashev’s overwatching team interrupted LCpl. Craig’s sections fire. Two of LCpl. Craig’s men were injured, and int eh exchange between Serzhant Pushkin’s team and LCpl. Watt’s section, both suffered one casualty.

The state of things at the end of Turn Five.

What a mess. Time is running out for the Soviets!

In the End Phase the British Command team made a dash towards the road so that Cpl. Todd, the medic, might be able to assist with LCpl. Craig’s casualties.

TURN SIX

LCpl. Craig’s section suffered one lightly wounded and one seriously wounded. Cpl. Watt’s team only suffered one Lightly wounded. Serzhant Pushkin’s man was okay – clumsy bastard just keeps tripping over everything!? Finally the casualty in Serzhant Bobrov’s team was only lightly wounded.

Serzhant Yeltsov‘s team continues to run for it!

Serzhant Bobrov’s team continues to exchange fire with Cpl. Ross’ section. Three of Serzhant Bobrov’s are injured in the intense, close range firefight.

Serzhant Ikashev’s team tries to make a break for it but are shot down by LCpl. McLaren and LCpl. Watt’s sections.

Serzhant Pushkin’s team makes a dash straight up the road but the intervening rubble prevents any of the british from getting a clear shot.

TURN SEVEN

All three of the casualties in Serzhant Bobrov’s team are seriously wounded – including Serzhant Bobrov himself.

Lt. Paterson, who had moved up to the soviet snipers position at the end of the last turn, found him to be seriously wounded.

Serzhant Yeltsov‘s team makes a break for the table edge – fire from Cpl. Ross’ section takes down two of them, but the third passes morale and drags his wounded comrades across the table edge with him. One turned out to be okay, the other was seriously wounded.

Serzhant Pushkin’s team exchanged fire with LCpl. McLaren’s section taking one casualty before making it to cover near the original SF-GPMG position

TURN EIGHT

Serzhant Pushkin’s team member they had dragged from the street turned out to be dead. They found the two British GPMG guners to be only lightly wounded, but shot them down where they’d been cowering under cover. The three remaining Paratroopers then fled off the table… but not before Cpl. Ross’ section could put some bullets in the backs of two of them – seriously wounding them!

The remaining member of Serzhant Bobrov’s team tried to fire the teams RPG at Cpl. Ross’ section but was gunned down before he could finish loading. He was killed in an instant….

British

KIA: 6

Seriously Wounded: 2

Lightly Wounded: I lost track… a couple…

Soviets

16 Seriously wounded, Killed in Action, and other POWs left on the table.

Of those than made it off only three were okay the other three were seriously wounded.

The British scored 19 victory points for all those wounded, dead and prisoners, but were denied the additional bonus five for not allowing any soviets to escape.

The soviets didn’t even get close to half their troops off the table and only scored 9 points for the seriously wounded and dead they suffered upon the British (or Scots, rather…).

A good game. I’m starting to get a better sense of the game. Not one Fog of War card came out – though I think we may have missed one opportunity in the excitement of the moment…

In terms of scenario design, I think if I'd staggered the arrival of the British sweeping party things might have been a bit more challenging for the British and not so harsh for the Soviets.... 

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have a big batch of Modern Germans on the workbench I’m plugging away at for some reason. It seemed like a good idea at the time I started…?

I really need to work on some terrain and vehicles… 

Barbarossa Tank Battle - Force on Force

As our original plans fell through this afternoon, Gary stopped by for a quick game of Force on Force. To do something quick I thought I'd throw out a few tanks to try a small scale tank battle. 

As there are no stats for this stuff I sort of made stuff up as I went... and in teh process made the guns WAY to powerful.... Ah well... we'll know for next time. 

Gary had the Pzkw38t



I had a T-26




and a BT-7

(and I had a light AT gun hidden some where)

Gary spent two or three turns approaching cautiously - always leaving one tank on overwatch.



I tried shooting one of his tanks with my AT gun... I should have waited another turn until they were within "ambush range"...



As it was his overwatch tank interrupted and blew away my gun befroe I could get any effective shots off... Teh crew survived, however.



Teh new turn he tried to run for cover with one tank and I got a side shot in - bowing it up... well... I scored a "Vehicle Kill", not a "Brew-up" but it was out of action, nonetheless and all the crew were injured!



Teh other two tanks decided to go around the woods the other way.



I rolled out my T-26 to get a shot and they blew it up... this time they DID brew up the tank! Now on a brew up it says the crew get a -1 dice shift to troop quality for determining crew casualties... but the T-26 crew were already D6 Troop Quality to begin with... so I'm not sure if they were all meant to be automatic casualties... or if I should have just rolled d6s....? I rolled d6s and only one was a casualty...



The remaining two panzers started to try and sneak around both ends of the woods my remaining tank was hiding behind.



Not wanting to wait for that, I rolled out and blew another one of the Panzers away!



Then the BT-7 turned around to go face the other one. I got a shot off first but (miraculously) only damaged the Panzers mobility. The crew passed their bail check and fired back, blowing up the BT-7.

This was sort of a last minute "let's see what happens" sort of game so I didn't work out any victory conditions or victory points... Other than to say Gary's objective was to exit the opposite side of the table... As I mentioned I made the guns on all the tanks WAAAAY too powerful. If we rolled the firepower on the light tanks back a bit, there might have been a bit more of a shoot out - than simply whoever shot first blew up the other tank...

Fun was had. Lessons were learned. Altogether a positive afternoon.

Rick's coming by to play another game this evening so I'm off to get that ready... stay tuned for that next report.

Tensions Flare in Timbogo

I ran a couple of games of Force on Force Saturday. Both were the same scenario from the new companion volume Classified: Special Operations Missions 1940–2010. The scenario (“Gone To Ground”) was one of the “generic scenarios” and I set it in my fictional African nation of Timbogo.

(I also got in a game of Ambush Z yesterday, but my camera batteries were dead and I was too busy keeping things going to really take any notes… so… no report of that game, sorry…)

SITUATION

Since colonial times there has been tension in what is now Timbogo between the majority (ostensibly Christian) Timbo peoples in the North and East of the country and the Bongogo peoples in the West and south who continue to practice their own indigenous religion.  

Tensions have flared in recent weeks and there have been rumours of genocide taking place in central Timbogo. A team of MSF doctors stationed in Timobogo and a visiting journalist, who have witnessed the atrocities firsthand, have been trying to get out of Timbogo. They finally made it aboard a helicopter that was to fly them out to nearby only to be forced down by gunfire as they approached the border.

A force of French Foreign Legionnaires stationed in and neighboring country was immediately dispatched to extract the French nationals. The team was able to reach the crash site but their transport helicopters were driven off by ground fire. The team did, however, locate the French civilians and holed up with them in a cluster of abandoned buildings along a lonely, dusty road, with the forces of the Federal Army of the Repuiblic of Timbogo (F.A.R.T.) and local militias closing in…

SCENARIO

Duration: 6 turns

Initiative: French have initiative for the game

Fog of War: Determined normally by Reaction Tests

Table Size: ~3’x3’

FRENCH MISSION

The Team had to protect the civilians from the various Timbogan forces converging on the area. They had to hold on until the end of Turn Six when the French higher-ups would give the green light to some Close Air Support to clear a landing zone for the transport helicopters to pull them out.

FRENCH VICTORY

In no French civilians were captured by the end of Turn Six the French team wins. Otherwise, they lose.            

BLUE FORCE

Initiative Level: D10

Confidence Level: High

Supply Level: Normal

Body Armour: (+1D)

Troop Quality/Morale: D10/D10

French Forces – French Foreign Legion CSAR Team

1x Team Leader - FA-MAS

2x SAW-Gunners – Minimi

2x Grenadiers – FA-MAS with UGL

2x Riflemen - FA-MAS

2x Medic - FA-MAS

1x AT Gunner w/ ATGM (AP:4/AT:4 M)

5x French Civilians - Dependants

TIMBOGAN MISSION

F.A.R.T. Forces win if the are able to capture one French civilian

TIMBOGAN VICTORY POINTS

TIMBOGAN FORCE

Initiative Level: D8

Confidence Level: Confident

Supply Level: Normal

Body Armour: None

Troop Quality/Morale: D8/D8

F.A.R.T. Forces

Two militia teams and one regular army teams started on the table… more were coming…

THE GAME(S)

As I mentioned I played the scenario twice today – once in the afternoon with the kids – to see how it would work out - and then again, later in the evening, with the regular Saturday evening crew.

GAME ONE

Finnegan decided he’d like to play the African and Keira wanted to play the doctors…. After much explaining I think she finally clued into the fact that they would take no real part in the game and so she said she’d play the French with me…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Timbogan Militia in a wadi approaching the southern end of the cluster of buildings – where the MSF doctors and reporter were holed up with four Legionnaires

F.A.R.T. Regulars approaching, through the scrapyard, from the east.

More Timbogan Militia approaching through another, heading to wards the north end of the French position.

The French positions in the buildings.

Again with the French positions – from the other end of town.

Keira inspecting our positions wondering when she might get to roll the dice and/or move the doctors.

TURN ONE

WE decided to put all the French on overwatch for the first turn and see what the Timbogan forces might try to get up to…

The Militia at the north end of town started things up firing upon one of the French Fireteams.

The French, on overwatch, reacted and fired first taking down FOUR of the Militiamen. The Militiamen passed their morale and continued with their firing. They successfully caused one casualty! The French failed morale and were pinned. 

Next the F.A.R.T. Regulars in the scrap yard to the east opened fire on the same team of Legionnaires and took down the remaining two in the team!

AT the south end of town. Timbogan Militia fired on the French in the building with the Civilians. The French took down three of them, and the militia’s fire was entirely ineffective.

TURN TWO

The medic in the South building dashed across to the Northeast building to see what was up with the team there and found the other medic to be seriously wounded and the other two team members lightly wounded.

Among the Timbogan forces the casualties had been a bit more severe – they’d suffered FOUR killed in action, two seriously wounded and only one was able to carry on with light wounds!?

There was a rumbling to the east and casting a glance that way the legionnaires spotted a BTR-60 rolling up the road towards their position!

The F.A.R.T. Regulars in the scrap yard fired on the Northeast building again and hit the medic as he was working on his fellow medic and hit both the others a second time!?

The two Timbogan Militia teams weren’t able to activate this turn due to their horrific casualties the previous turn.

The BTR-60 rolled up the road firing on the South building. The French AT gunner fired of a shot at the BTR-60 taking out it’s main gun! Before they were able to do this, however. Ricocheting 14.7mm shots hit the gas tank at the far end of town…

KA-BOOM! The gas tank went up and the team in the Northwest building had to flee into the adjacent building.

TURN THREE

The French team fleeing the flaming wreckage of the gas tank dashed into the Northeast building and checked their fallen comrades. The Medic and grenadier were dead and the SAW gunner remained only lightly wounded (and the other medic was still in serious condition…).

A few more Militiamen arrived, infiltrating up the wadi to the north of town.

The Militia to the south of town exchanged fire with the French in the South building.

This apparently drew their attention away and allowed the BTR-60 to move up closer to the buildings, presumably to dismount the troops within(?) without being blown up the AT gunner (the exchange had made the French “fall off” overwatch).

Militia to the north of the buildings also fired on the Northeast building, but the fire from the Legionnaires took down the remaining two in the team! The newly arrived militia also poured fire into the Northeast building – which only served to draw the attention of the Legionnaires within, who shot two of that Militia team – causing them to fail morale!

Fire from the F.A.R.T. Regulars in the scrap yard took down ANOTHER TWO legionnaires in the Northeast building.

TURN FOUR

Checking their two downed comrades in the Northeast building. The Legionnaires found one to be seriously wounded and the other only lightly wounded and able to soldier on! Only two of the Timbogan Militiamen could be checked (as the other two were in a team that was now all down) and were found to be more or less fine. One was lightly wounded, the other had only had a bullet buzz past his ear and startle him, he was completely okay…

Yet another group of militia arrived at the northern wadi!

The only French able to take action were the ones with the civilians in the south building. They didn’t go on overwatch this turn but, rather, took the initiative. They split their fire – the AT gunner fired on the BTR-60 and the rest poured fire into the wadi to the south. 

BOOM! The AT-gunner scored a catastrophic kill on the BTR-60 lighting up the fuel and ammo the thing blew apart killing all inside! The rest of the Teams fire took down a militiaman in the Southern wadi.

The Three Legionnaires in the Northeast building exchanged fire with two groups of militiamen and the F.A.R.T. Regulars in the scrap yard. Mostly the fire was ineffective, though one militiaman in the Northern Wadi was shot.

TURN FIVE

We didn’t get to finish this turn (or the game for that matter) but we did find that the Timbogan militia had suffered two more serious injuries and another light wound and that another squad of F.A.R.T. Regulars arrived at the Southern Wadi….

Hard to tell which way this one could have gone. Finnegan wasn’t playing the Timbogans particularly aggressively so I doubt he would have been able to capture any of the French civilians in the next two turns…

In total, here are the casualties sustained:

French Foreign Legion

KIA: 2 (Medic and SAW-gunner)

Seriously Wounded: 2 (Medic and Grenadier)

Lightly Wounded: 2 (Saw Gunner and Grenadier)

Still Okay: 4 (Team Leader, 2 Riflemen, and SAW- Gunner) – plus all the French civilians!

F.A.R.T. Forces

KIA: 14!

Seriously Wounded: 4

Lightly Wounded: 3

Okay: I think there were nearly 20 still okay on the table when we had to call it quits….

GAME TWO

Later in the evening Dave, Patrick and Rick popped by to play – what we hoped would be a quick game (as Dave and Patrick had to get up early and I had to leave around 10 to pick up the kids from the Ballet!). Dave decided to play the French and Rick and Patrick played the F.A.R.T. Forces.

Timbogan militia in the Southern Wadi with a French fire team in the building opposite.

Timbogan militia in the Northern Wadi, with French fire teams in both buildings and the French Civilians in one.

A view of the whole “village” (if we can call it that…) from the south

TURN ONE

Once again the French had a murderous first round taking down five of the militiamen in the southern wadi and another five in the northern wadi. The Militias fire was completely ineffective.

The F.A.R.T. Regulars in the scrap yard, however charged out to the cover of the crates and junk near the Northeast building. In the dash one of their number fell. Once in position they poured fire into the building taking down three of the Legionnaires within and one of the French Civilians!?

TURN TWO

Checking on all the wounded… The F.A.R.T. Regulars that had fallen had only tripped as he went over the wall under fire and was completely okay. The Militiamen, however, had suffered one killed in action, three seriously wounded and five lightly wounded (one other turned out to be totally fine…). Among the French , the civilian was totally fine – he’d been hit by a chunk of mudbrick flying off a wall that had taken a hit from a F.A.R.T.  RPG round. Two of the legionnaires were totally fine – both having taken hits in the equipment chest, the bullets were slowed enough as they went through magazines that they were totally stopped by their body armour! - but the third was pretty seriously wounded.

Reinforcements in the form of a F.A.R.T. Regular squad arrived…. But I don’t seem to have noted where!? I think it was the Southern wadi. They did exchange fire with some Legionnaires, and took a casualty for their troubles.

The other F.A.R.T. Regulars stormed into the Northeast building – taking the Legionnaires within, more or less, completely by surprise!?

The Legionnaires were wiped out (all three killed in action) and the Civilians captured!

Wow… on Turn Two… Things weren’t looking so good for the Legionnaires.

TURN THREE

Things were looking even less good when the BTR-60 arrived… At least it was buttoned up.

The French, in desperation, started firing on the building with the French civilians – they even fired one of their ATGMs in there!? There was a whole pile of Timbogan reactions to this that mostly failed or were ineffective. The French fire caused five casualties – luckily none of the civilians were hit. The other French team actually tried to close assault into the building but there was some arguing amongst the team as to the sanity of such a move (failed TQ test) and they didn’t go in the end.

In the end phase the one team of Timbogans that didn’t react to the French fusillade earlier in the turn started trying to make their way towards the building – to back up their comrades and get those civilian captives away from the furious Legionnaires.

BOOM!! Though ineffective in trying to silence the French firing earlier in the turn, ricocheting shots from the 14.7mm gun on the BTR-60 hit the gas tank and it went up!

TURN FOUR

Checking their comrades the F.A.R.T. Regulars in the Northeast building found two had been killed, two were seriously injured, and one was able to get back up and pick up his rifle – though half his left ear was gone and he couldn’t seem to hear much (lightly wounded).

More F.A.R.T. Regulars arrived in the Wadi to the south..

The Legionnaires poured more fire into the Northeast building. This drew a lot of ineffective fire from the Timbogans, but the French fire was telling – all three remaining F.A.R.T. Regulars were shot in the exchange of fire.

Then came probably the most epic moment of the evening…. The other French team declared that they would split their fire – the AT gunner firing at the BTR-60, the other two at a group of F.A.R.T. Regulars in the wadi to the south of the building – then dash across the street to occupy the building with the French civilians in it (as it seemed there was no more fire coming from there…). The AT-gunner immobilized the BTR, but then turned to see his two comrades go down from the F.A.R.T. Regulars return fire…. So he shouldered his two remaining rockets, his FA-MAS, his comrades firearms (including a Minimi) and dragged the two of them across the street into the building, where he deposited his wounded comrades with the only other surviving (seriously wounded) legionnaire and started kicking rifles away from wounded F.A.R.T. Regulars and raging something terrifying that may have been French… but could just as easily have been Lithuanian. One of the surviving F.A.R.T. Regulars later swore his eyes glowed red “like the devil himself!”

TURN FIVE

It turns out the two Legionnaires were only lightly wounded so their comrade needn’t have treated them to roughly – dragging them across the street and all… Of the F.A.R.T. Regulars in the building two were seriously wounded and the other was totally unscathed, cowering in the corner…

Four more Timbogan militiamen arrived in the Northern wadi.

The Legionnaires remaining in the Southern building dashed across the street – firing at some militia in the open. This drew a lot of fire, which was, as usual,  mostly ineffective… The French took down two militiamen…

The team already in the building again split their fire between Timbogan Militiamen and the BTR. The AT gunner completely missed the BTR!? The other chaps took down another two militiamen. The F.A.R.T. Regulars in the BTR debussed and dashed for the cover of the scrap yard.

TURN SIX

Checking their downed mates the Timbogan militia had suffered another seriously injured, two lightly injured and the other had only gotten a bunch of gravel in his eyes from bullets that had struck the ground directly in front of him – he was now back in the action.

Then another BTR-60 showed up…

Knowing that the rescue shoppers were on the way the Legionnaires concentrated on the Timbogans that were potentially close enough to close assault this turn – which turned out to be one group of militia… They were shot up pretty good.

In the return fire three Legionnaires were shot…

In the last turn the AT gunner used up his last rocket and blew up the newly arrived BTR-60 – not a catastrophic kill as in the last game – but a vehicle kill none the less – one of the crew and one of the infantryman inside were injured in the blast

Dave really pulled it out of the fire! At the end of the second turn we thought it was pretty much all over for the French... but thought we’d play it out for giggles… By the end I think Patrick was pretty much cheering for the French to get out.

I sort of lost track of a few of the casualties – situations where one trooper was lightly wounded, then later killed or seriously wounded… but I think this is pretty close:

French Foreign Legion

KIA: 3

Seriously Wounded: 3

Lightly Wounded: 3

Okay: 1

Only one of the ten came out unscathed….

F.A.R.T. Forces

KIA: 5

Seriously Wounded: 10

Lightly Wounded: 10

1 BTR destroyed, 1 BTR immobilized.

Of course as the ground support arrived to clear a way for the extraction helicopters there would have been many, many more Timbogan casualties…

I think I need more Africans… at least a few more with heavy weapons – I realized I have no militia-types with heavy weapons, and the regulars didn’t have very much either… I had so steal a few of my Generic Middle East Regulars to supply heavy weapons (especially all the RPGs!?) to the units. (Did anyone notice?).

I’d also like to track down some modern-ish African civilians.

This was a lot of fun. I need to play more.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have a feeling that VBL will get some paint on it this week as the French are likely to be drawn further into the conflict brewing in Timbogo… I should finish up the T-72s I have as well… or some zombies… or some terrain… something modern, anyway…