Force on Force AAR: Contracting Troubles

The US Offensive on the PRA rebel held town of Churchill continues. CIA Agents trying to obtain solid intel on the positions of PRA forces in the town came under fire from militiamen loyal to the PRA, the operative and her driver were both wounded in the attack. UAV drones indicated that the agents were alive but were surrounded by militia and in a neighbourhood expected to be hostile to the American troops. A patrol of US Marines was near by and battalion HQ redirected them to extract the agents as expeditiously as possible. The marines were forced to abandon their AFV due to roadblocks- leaving one fire team to guard their extraction point (off board) the team leader proceeded on foot with two fire teams, 

This mission is simple, but requires good luck and a lot of speed. There is only six turns, which means the Marines will have to hoof it if they want to compete the mission. They can't afford to get bogged down in a protracted fire-fight with the militia, as that will draw in the whole neighbourhood and it's going to end up like Mogadishu all over again. The luck element comes in because the militia forces are reinforced at random each turn, and from a random location on the board. If the rolls goes badly for the US they can find they have a whole bunch of militiamen cutting off their exit. If they are lucky then the militia will arrive piecemeal and not present too much of a challenge. 

The marines (Regulars with D8/d10, with body armour) are much better than the militiamen (Irregulars, D6/D12, No body armour) but the constant reinforcing of the militia each turn can mean that the militia forces can eventually overwhelm the US marines with shear weight of numbers. 

James took the roll of the Marines, and because Vlad couldn't make it I played the Africans. It was James' first game of FoF. 

USMC entering the neighbourhood on foot

 The Marines entered the neighbourhood and positivity identified the two US Agents in cover by their wrenched car. They also identified a number of militiamen sheltering in a near by house, taking pot-shots at the injured agents.  The team leader lead his men into cover with good sight line of the intersection and opened fire on the militiamen, injuring two of them, including their leader. The militia retuned fire without effect. 

Militiamen threatening the US agents

US Agents sheltering by their wrecked car

 The second marine fire team them proceeded to advance rapidly through the shanties, using all available cover to reduce the line of sight from the militia.  More militia started to arrive but they had no leaders and so instead of fighting they just milled about, chewing chat and acting tough, firing AK's into the air etc. That sort of behaviour might intimate the average Zugandon villager but didn't impress the Marines. 

Second fire-team making their way to the agents

The team leaders fire-team went on over-watch, effectively countering the militias attempts to prevent the marines advancing. The second fire-team closed on the militia in the house closest to the US agents, and succeed in neutralising the opposition during a close quarters  exchange of fire. They then rescued the injured agents and proceed to exact them down the same route the had arrived by.  The militiamen in the surrounding buildings attempted to stop them but the fire-team on over-watch responded with effective fire and the team managed to move back into cover with the injured agents. 

Second fire-team extracting the injured agents

More militiamen started poring in, attracted to the sounds of gun fire. One of the militia groups had a leader, and he finally got them organised. The Marine squad leader's fire-team, on over-watch, found they had a lot of work to do, but they performed well, laying down a storm of fire that kept the militiamen away from the fire-team with the agents.  More militia arrived and threatened to cut off their exit point but they were leaderless again and failed to do much other than acting tough. One guy with an RPG, who was well positioned to attack the second marine fre-team, realised he had forgotten to bring the ammo and was effectively holding a piece of piping (the result of a fog of war card). 

A hornets nest of angry militiamen

Finally the second fire-team extracted their targets safely, and then the squad leader lead his fire-team back to the extraction point, before heading back to base. 

The second fire team extract the injured agents safely

The squad leader leads his men back to their AFV for exaction

This was text book stuff- the two injured agents were extracted by the marines and the marines never suffered a single casualty. As I said earlier this mission is supposed to be tricky for the marines and really requires a lot of good luck on the dice rolls. Fortunately for James he has never been short of luck with the dice,and my reserves kept arriving without leaders, then failing their quality roles so that they couldn't activate unless fired at by the marines (which James was sensible enough not to do). James also never failed a reaction test so that meant that every time I tired to fire at him he blasted away at me, reducing the effect of my shooting. That said, I can't take the victory away from James- he performed well, using one fire team to over-watch the other, and using cover very effectually to block line of sight. 

Force on Force Battle Report: A few Blocks of Hell

The US contribution to I-Coz has been scaled back over recent months, with many US Army personal withdrawn to bases, but the US Marine Corps continue tocombat the Peoples Resistance Army (PRA) in the coastal areas of Zugando. A resent push by the PRA southwards from Seatown along the coast road have threatened the fragile stability of the coastal region. The dismal performance of the Zugandan Army lead to the PRA capturing the sea port of Churchill. The USMC have been tasked with driving the PRA back out of Churchill and retaking the town. 

Intel on the ground is sketchy, but it is known that PRA 'regulars' are in the town, as well as large numbers of militias (of questionable quality) from Seatown.

I played 'A Few Blocks of Hell' out of the FoF rules as an introductory game for Vlad. I used the game right out of the rule book, only substituting USMC figures for US army, PRA Regulars for Syrian Jihadists and African Militia for Iraqi Irregulars. 

Vlad's brief, as the USMC, was to take two squads (9 men each) through a neighbourhood of Churchill to take two strategically important buildings - the burned out mission building and the watchtower. Ideally he should have both teams at over half strengthen in the two buildings by turn 4 for a clear win. Failing this he needed to take both buildings by the end of the game (turn 6). We decided not to have Victory Points for capturing people as when I have played this mission before it had too dramatic an effect on the results, distracting from the main mission. 

My mission was simply to stop the USMC getting into and holding the buildings before the end of the game. 

The Set Up

The lay out of the shanty town around the mission building. 

In addition to armed militia in the streets there were several units of militia hiding in the buildings. The militia in the bicycle repair shop proved particularity well placed to delay the Marines.

At the beginning of the game this unit debused from their VW camper van, looking for a fight. They found it!

Other militia men take advantage of an excellent firing position to attack the Marines in the street below.

The Mission

US Marines entered Churchill, taking up covering positions near the  market. One fire-team positivity identified a group of men by the VW van as hostile militiamen (the were waving AK47's and RPG7's around in an aggressive manner) and their team leader instructed them to open fire- causing casualties and pinning the militia. 

A second USMC fire-team sprinted towards the mission building, but the militia in the bicycle repair shop spotted them and opened fire- causing two casualties (one of them serious). The other two fire-teams took up positions to cover the market.

The PRA regulars headed towards the watch tower and the mission building to protect them. One team took up position in the watchtower with an excellent view of the whole neighbourhood. 

The militia on the roof of the two story building fired down onto the marines in the street- seriously wounding one. 

Turn two saw the Marines advance stall as they were forced to deal with their serious causalities. They fired on the militia on the roof top- wiping them out. The bicycle repair shop, despite being only made from breeze block, proved good enough to protect them against the majority of the marines fire, and the militia retuned fire, seriously wounding two more marine (who were evacuated off the street to a waiting medic station).

PRA Regulars taking up position by the burnt out mission building

The PRA regulars commanding a good view from the top of the watchtower

Turn three, four and five belonged to the marines, as the when aggressive. The militia by the VW got struck down by a mortar shell that tore them apart (a Fog of War card) . Two Marine fire-teams fired on the PRA in the watchtower killing two and seriously wounding another two- leaving only one combat effective. The last remaining PRA  raced into the mission building, closely followed by a marine fire-team. A violent close quarterer battle ensued, in which the marines killed all three remaining PRA members, securing the Mission Building.

USMC secure the burnt out mission building

In turn six the only militia still in the fight were hold up in the bicycle repair shop. A fire team of marines tried to assault them, but came off worse in a fire-fight, with two of the marines KIA. The militia finally gave in to the pressure of the marines fire-power when a fire-team seized the watch tower and opened up on the bicycle repair shop with UGLs and GPMG, reducing the breeze block structure to rubble and wiping out the defenders- 

Marines capturing the watchtower

The marines took had two killed in action, 4 seriously wounded and 2 lightly wounded. They had taken out all the militia and PRA fighters (40 militants in total) with at least 10 of them as comfirmed kills. And they had seized both objective buildings by round 6. A bloody affair, but there was no question who had won. 

Light Transport Plane

The CIA covert team move in to secure a light transport plane, a Beach Bonanza V Tail, believed to be being used by wanted war criminal and arms dealer Henry Gwapondi to smuggle weapons and supplies to PRA outposts in the jungle. The CIA agents are going to place a discreet tracking device on the plane in the hopes it will lead them to Mr Gwapondi, who they would very much like to question. 

I bought this plane on Ebay for £5(+£3 PP) fully painted! Perfect for an objective for Black Ops!

Move CIA Covert Operatives

Two more CIA operatives for the covert team.

CIA Covert Team

Sometimes you need to make a lot of noise and destruction. That's when we send in the marines. Sometimes you need something more covert. Field agents, on the ground, with an in-depth knowledge of the fluid situation are an invaluable asset in the war against the PRA. The CIA and MI6 have a number of agents in the field feeding back a constant flow of Intel on the constantly changing face of the war. This is very dangerous work, and relies on their skills at developing local assets to assist them. The threat of danger is ever present and these covert agents are always ready to protect themselves and their assets. 

These figures are from Spectre Miniatures. I painted them as I plan to use them when I try out Black Ops, a new small skirmish game from Osprey. 

Militiamen with Bad-Ass Hyenas

  Worrying report have been circulating of PRA militiamen training hyenas as attack 'dogs' for some time, but last week intrepid photojournalist Felix Champ managed to photograph them. Quite how wide spread this practice is is difficult to say, but there have certainly been repost of PRA commanders keeping the viscous animals as pets. 
  The local CIA commander was unimpressed by the reports. He was quoted as saying "TIA. This is Africa. Things like that happens every day." 

  Don't think I have taken leave of my senses. Some gangs in Africa actually do like to keep Hyenas as 'pets' because it makes them look bad ass. If you Google images of pet hyenas you will found plenty of pictures. 

In Call of Duty the African gangs use hyenas as attack dogs, which kind of gave me the idea. The CoD mission 'Fatal Extraction' was really the inspiration for me to start Zugando anyway, so hyenas have been on my 'to-do' list for a long time. 

Call of Duty hyena

I have converted these figures. They were from the Northstar Africa range, and I added collars and muzzles from Green Stuff, and added chains from the local bead shop. The militia are from Spectre Miniatures. I painted six hyenas, but have now decided that is a bit excessive, so two have been re-based to use in a post-apocalypse setting like Across the Dead Earth. 

PRA Militiamen for Spectre Miniatures

Asymmetrical engagements are where it is at, and I am pretty sure you can't have enough militia. Hordes of gun-toting, dope-smoking bad guys tearing through the town on gunned up Toyota technicals! 

  Does it get any better? 

  Here are some more militiamen for my PRA forces. I have used the figures from Spectre Miniatures that I got when I backed their Kickstarter last year. They are nice figures, with some good detailing. Scale-wise they fit better with the Empress miniatures that with The Assault Group. 

The Headman

Some Flunkies