Quotes

Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile. - Samuel Longhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Force on Force - US Army vs Taliban - Enduring Freedom: Sangin Ambush

Tonight I was able to get my second game in of Force on Force. Nick Johnson provided the terrain and the Taliban miniatures and Bill Kehrman provided the US Army troops complete with HMMWVs and Strykers.
We played the Sangin Ambush scenario substituting US Army for the British Army. Since I would be playing John and Ray again, I opted to go ahead and take on the role of the Taliban again.. I had plenty of Taliban troops which is good since they have a habit of melting away when coming under fire from any kind of regular force. Included this time were a couple of old Soviet DshKs, I was hoping these would add a little punch to my assault.

In this scenario, one of the AFVs has been disabled by an IED and the objective for the US (in this case) is to recover the wounded and get them off the board by turn 8. The Taliban have attempted to cut off the lead element consisting of two HMMWVs and a Stryker with a truck rolled across the road. The rear elements consists of the remaining three Strykers which includes the disabled vehicles.








Turn 1 starts off with the HMMWVs taking off to one side of the board to try and out flank the Taliban positions. Hidden Taliban units try to react to the fire only to discover that HMMWVs can take the damage and deliver it as their positions are ripped apart by AGL and M2 .50 cal fire. One Taliban group is almost wiped out as the M2s from the lead Stryker joins in. I also discover that my RPGs are nearly as effective as I had hoped as they bounce off the bar armor of the Strykers. The DshK had little to no effect on the HMMWVs. The US medic and the fireteam from the HQ AFV dismount and head to the disabled Stryker. Taliban fire is pretty ineffective especially with US troops staying buttoned up in their vehicles. I move one group up to prepare to move through a door in the wall and straight into the disabled Stryker.

Turn 2 the HMMWVs continue to spit fire at known Taliban positions causing casualties and only taking sporadic fire in return. The US medic and the fireteam reach the disabled Stryker and their Stryker moves up in support. The Taliban assault group bide their time waiting for the right moment. Another Taliban group goes down after they revealed their position with an RPG shot in Turn 1, they never get a chance to return fire in Turn 2, with one RPG gunner going down and the other running from the scene taking his RPG with him. The first DshK is wiped out but the other bides its time in hiding hoping that a target it can deal with comes into sight. A donkey cart rolls out from a sidestreet and calmly proceeds across the battlefield.

Turn 3 with the HMMWVs ocupied and other Taliban units taking overwatch fire the assault group decides its now or never. They pass their check to start the assault, two Strykers in overwatch are slow on the triggers and miss their chance to fire at the Taliban charge into close combat with the HQ fireteam. Three rounds of close combat ensue. At the end the Taliban have taken no casualties and have taken down the medic and his supporting fire team. At the far end of the board two motorcycles roar down the road towards the fight.






Turn 4 the assaulting Taliban are rapidly dealt with by Stryker weapons and dismounted fireteams. The Taliban get one last shot in a golden BB from the hidden DshK that takes out the lead Stryker as it comes back to help the rest of the unit. Two dead and one seriously wounded are the result as the Stryker goes up in a spectacular fireball (The result of one of only two fog of wars cards that were drawn this game).





At this point we called the game. Although the remaining US forces were starting to mop up the remaining Taliban they had suffered to many losses to make up for the points they would earn to get the wounded from the first disabled Stryker off the board. Chalk up another Taliban win for me.

So yes, in the end I pulled out a convincing win. However, I was incredibly lucky to do it. Since my attempts to knock out AFVs were terribly unsuccessful I had to take a huge gamble to stop the medic and his fireteam from getting into the disabled Stryker. To pull this off I had to make an check to assault (4+ on a D6), then avoid the overwatch fire from not one but two Strykers (a head to head skill check with me getting to roll a 4+ on a D6 for a success and beat my opponents opposed die roll consisting of a 4+ on a D8). Both Strykers rolled a 3 or less and completely failed their attempt to cut down my unit. I then fought three rounds of combat with the US Fireteam taking no casualties, killing four troopers and capturing one. The odds were definitely not in my favor. However, I'll take home the win with a night of hot dice rolling. Maybe its time to head to Las Vegas.

11 comments:

  1. Great little report. I'm very interested in Force on Force, so I love seeing recaps of it in action.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have enjoyed all the games I have played so far! I would like a chance to play the regular forces sometime though.

      Delete
  2. Nice report my friend. 28mm for the figures I suppose. What scale are the vehicles ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually these are all 20mm, I know that Nick's Taliban are all from Elheim miniatures. I think that Bill's US Army are Elheim as well. All the vehicles are 1/72 scale kits, probably Dragon but I'm not sure. I'll have to ask Bill. I know the HMMWVs are Dragon, but they are from Dragon Armor line and already built up and painted.

      Delete
  3. Are the buildings from Gamercraft? I like how you finished them. Can you describe what you did and what colors you used?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The buildings are all from Gamecraft and are the MDF versions. The extra for the MDF versions is well worth the price as these buildings travel constantly to the local FLGS and are used at the local conventions. Unfortunately I can't give you any of the details on their construction as they belong to Nick. Roll over to his blog at: http://littlenickysgameroom.blogspot.com/ and ask him. They played this same scenario last Thursday (apparently a very convincing win by the US).

      Delete
  4. A great report and some excellent photos as well! What is the road made of and where did you get that??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I think the road is a paper product of some kind just based on the way that Bill folded it up. I'll check with him and find out what its made of and who produces it.

      Delete
    2. Okay, the road is made by Busch and you can find it in their catalog here: http://www.busch-model.com/katalog/e/artikel/9710-h0.htm
      The picture is somewhat deceptive since they show a four lane road here and its really only a two lane road.

      Delete
  5. Sounds like a great game. You did much better than the Taliban last week, so that's something be happy about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nick runs a great game, but I wish my dice were always that hot!

      Delete