Saturday 23 May 2015

Cangames 2015 - Force on Force Battle Report...part 2

Howdy troops,

Well this is my last battle report and post from this years Cangames in Ottawa.  If it hasn't been clear, I did enjoy the con this year just as much as I did last year...I think the only difference I would make for next year is to actually sign up for less games...and let the last minuteness guide me to my games...we'll see how that works next year.

The last game I played was another Force on Force scenario.  This did not come from any of the books, instead this was a collaboration between my buddy Duncan and Ed...there were certainly a couple of twists along the way with this one...in the end I think it may in fact have been one of my favorite games yet.

The Scenario: African terrorist group has managed to acquire the components to construct a nuclear device and have a missile and launcher to launch it with!! The bomb-making parts, the bomb maker, and the launcher are located in the heart of a Somali ville.  It is the task of Delta Force to infil via HALO drop, secure the components, maker, and launcher, and extract via helicopter.

Enemy Forces: Simply put, this is Somalia.  Intel suggests that there will be limited enemy forces at time of insertion, however the longer you are on-site the more reinforcements that will be available to the enemy...quelle surprise!!

Friendly Forces: Initial insertion is 4 teams of operatives.  There is a force of Humvee equipped Rangers available on QRF.

Imagery:
 Nowhere-ishu, Somalia

Objective #1, Bomb-maker 

Objective #2, bomb components

Objective #3, missile and launcher

The Game:

The game brought the usual suspects...Duncan (GM), Ed (Ranger commander), Mike (Delta commander), myself (Al), and Chris (Shabbab)...it seems to be Cangames tradition that we end up loudly gaming a FoF scenario to much delight (at least our own...apparently we have a 'rep').  The initial deploy was pretty similar to pictured above...Chris and I had a few small groups of AS (TQ 6) and Mike had his Delta's (TQ 12...ouch!!).

Delta's quickly and quietly inserted...without hesitation they started moving to secure their objectives.

First engagement was Delta stacking to take down this 4 man AS team...it went relatively quickly and quietly...except for Ed 'whispering' head shot, head shot, head shot as each terrorist went down...

You can see the rooftop in the top-left, now secure...Delta troops are on the bomb parts and near the launcher... 

all objectives secured by Delta...out of view are the team that took the Bombmaker...that as well went very smooth, TQ12 vs. TQ6...not much of a fight...another 4 man AS team down...Bombmaker secured... 
all objectives secured by Delta...

GM Narrative:

Delta has secured the objectives and called in for extraction.  As the helicopters neared the centre of town, SAM fire erupted from hidden positions in the hilltop ruins.  One helicopter is shotdown.  Delta's objectives are now: 1.keep initial objectives secured, 2. secure the crashsite, 3. takeout the SAM sites on the hilltop.  The Q has been alerted, Rangers inbound...Delta are now TQ10 (I believe the Rangers were too...can't recall now that I think of it)

Chopper down...

The sound of the SAMs and crash has brought out the trash...hotspots are now full of AS terrorists...

As well as 2 machinegun emplacements covering the crashsite... 

UAV footage of the crashsite and SAMs to the left of it in the ruins... 

The rest of the Game:

The next few turns saw the Delta's and terrorists exchange fire...Delta's took several light wounds and terrorists kept dropping.  All the hotspots were active with AS groups starting on them...the most bothersome for the duration of the game was #3 (immediately near the launcher and bomb components)...as the dice Gods would have it, Chris and I consistently rolled for reinforcements of 6+ troops that showed up at spot #3...

Here come the Rangers...AS group above the arch at hotspot #1...they didn't last all that long, caused some trouble...Fog card turned that building into swiss cheese...and then it burst into flames...goodbye hotspot #1...

Rangers in contact...#1 annoyed Ed a lot...even if it was for a short time...mobility and maingun hits on the Hummers...

Burning building means the Rangers have to skirt around to the right...they also receive 3 more Hummers as reinforcement...

Nice big group of soft-skins...clearly visible to hotspot #5...


While the vehicles and the Rangers took a beating...the Delta's continued to rack up the light wounds and a couple of severe...they did manage to get a sniper team via the Fog cards...
Sniper team was placed in the tower to provide near-all around support...it quickly made short work of the terrorist team atop the green-roofed warehouse and hotspot #5. 

Rangers fighting through...

The Rangers make it through...battered but they get to Delta...enemy hotspot in the building next to them will keep them occupied...

#3 hotspot continues to harass the Rangers...just as the Hummers make it in they take a pasting from the terrorist...
Lead Hummer down!! The third vehicle takes a mobility hit and snares up the middle vehicle...the Rangers get out of the vehicles and over the next couple of rounds fight their way into the #3 hotspot...at one point the Rangers have the roof, they did not shutdown the spot, and this resulted in AS fighters in the basement...the hotspot was shutdown the next turn...

While the Rangers are occupied, the machinegun positions continued to harass the Delta troops with the Bombmaker...they eventually get bored with this and go about securing the SAMs...they do what TQ10 troops do best...

Delta moves into cover...

Races past the positions...Chris and I failed our TQ test to react to their movement...

Delta spidermans up the wall and moves into position...

It looked a little tenuous when a group of AS reinforcements popped up at the hotspot between the two SAMs...
...but a ill-timed Fog card put them to sleep...they were eventually taken out by Delta...

Approx two turns later both SAMs were secured an all terrorists in the ruins were wiped out...

Endgame:

The Rangers managed to clear out around their convoy and we conceded that the US had met their objectives.  The cost was fairly high for Mike and Ed...they had lost 2-3 hummers, at least 2 more were damaged...there were a couple of KIA amongst the Rangers and Delta and there were numerous light wounds and some severe... 

All in all...a great scenario and another excellent FoF game to be had...can't wait for the next one.

6 comments:

Duncan said...

Glad that you enjoyed it. I am really pleased with the look of the table.

Stan M. said...

The table looked great...really great response from my TMP post...any chance we could get you to write up the scenario? BTW, the Ambush Alley Games folks (Shawn Carpenter) seemed to like the table as well...great job Duncan

Mike_A said...

Was a fun game, the report makes it seem very serious also which is quite funny.

Duncan said...

My laptop is currently behaving badly but I will try and post the scenario some time this week

Stan M. said...

I suppose next time we could just have some video of us laughing like a bunch of idiots...that might be more accurate...

Stan M. said...

That would be awesome thanks...if you need a hand let me know.