Force on Force - skirmish in Yemen

It's been a long time since I've played a game of Force on Force but I was persuaded to dig it out by my son who was back (briefly) from uni.  He cobbled together a very contemporary scenario set in present day Yemen.

A drone strike has been launched on a high value target and a force of US special forces (obviously not 'offically' there)  backed by some (not very good) Yemeni soldiers are sent in to recover the remains of the target or to capture him if he is still alive.  In the town, recovering from the effects of the drone attack are some good quality Al Qaeda troops backed by less effective local militia.

The US troops arrive first (they're terribly keen...)  with the Yemeni military turning up after a few turns.  The insurgents also get reinforcements which arrived randomly, also after a few turns.

The building in the centre may as well have a large X on it.

As you can imagine the troop quality for the US is very good, and they are also much better equipped than the insurgents.  The AQ troops are pretty good but the Yemenis and Militia are all pretty poor.

The game started with the US pretty much pinning down or wiping out any squads that got close, but they were also struggling to advance towards the target building.  All the Yemenis arrived on turn 3 and (following a dice roll) arrived on the Left side of the table.  In FoF the reinforcements arrive at "Hot Spots" around the table and luckily for me my reinforcements popped up in buildings surrounding the Yemenis.  The resulting firefight proved pretty bloody on both sides but I did lose most of one of my 2 AQ squads.


It was looking as though the path to the target had been opened up when the US troops got intercepted by my remaining AQ squad which had been patiently hanging back and waiting for a good opportunity.  Some lucky dice rolling led to all 4 of the special forces being hit.  In FoF troops remain 'down' until someone can go and do a 1st aid check but as there was no one close enough to get through, the US forces remained wounded/pinned and out of action and the Yemenis decided to withdraw under fire, leaving their allies behind

An excellent scenario...we decided afterwards that it probably needs a little tweaking to get the balance between the very effective (and armed to the teeth) special forces and the numbers of reinforcements on both sides.  In these asymmetric games it's a challenge not making the Special Forces too special but not having them succumb to too many insurgents.  In the event I was lucky to initially wound a US figure and then take out the remaining 3 in one round.

We're thinking of trying a similar style scenario using Skirmish Sangin for a comparison and when we eventually get round to it I'll post the results.

AQ troops look on as the drone strike hits...

US Special Forces engage the militia...

...which quickly results in most of the Militia being hit

Yemeni troops arrive rapidly to support the US troops

...but are ambushed by the local militia

Grand Theft Merrostan

Another game of Force on Force this week.  I've always tended to work through scenarios from the FoF books but this time decided to use my own.  I continued with the Imagi-nation setting of Merrostan [so called because the club is based in Merrow] following the game we played a few weeks ago.  Partly this is because I've always been slightly squeamish about playing games set in ongoing conflicts... I know this doesn't bear too much close analysis but there you go!  It also allows me to play fast and loose with force composition and get out the random collection of vehicles and kit from my AK47 games

This weeks game pitched Merrostani Government troops against the brave fighters of the Merrostani People's Liberation Front (MPLF).  Both sides had learnt a truck carrying a valuable cargo had been abandoned in an isolated village and dispatched troops to secure the prize.

The village centre

 

Although most troops were evenly balanced, the Govt Troops were slightly better armed and had brought along an uparmoured Hummer and a Panhard armoured car for support.  The MPLF were a bit more varied with a steadier hardened cadre accompanied by 2 BTRs (clearly some dodgy deals going on between Russia and Merrostan!), and a poorer quality section (but with high morale) and a couple of Technicals.  Anthony and Martin took the Govt side while Steve and I were the plucky rebels , with me commanding the poorer quality hordes.

In order to prevent either side making a rapid move in turn 1 and nabbing the truck, I restricted moves in the initial turn to tactical... assuming that everyone was cautiously approaching the town in case of ambushes.  After this cautious start the MPLF seized the initiative and advanced on the left side of town.  Steve pushed the first BTR ahead of the infantry where it almost immediately fell victim to a well aimed AT round.  Undaunted he repeated this with BTR #2 which escaped with 'only' a knocked out gun.  Steve's infantry meanwhile cautiously advanced through the buildings on the edge of the village. 

The BTRs come under fire

Over on the other flank I'd quickly established that my infantry really were pants.... it's surprising how significant a single die shift can be!  My technicals, inspired by Steve's BTRs' bravery, advanced and paid a similar price, coming under heavy fire from Govt troops in buildings on the other side of town.  My squads and theirs exchanged fire repeatedly with the MPLF slowly being eroded by the superior gunfire from their enemies but at least they were tying down several units who were being distracted and using up their reaction fire dice.

The Technicals charge out and  fail to learn from the BTRs example!

Having lost most of our vehicles and all of our vehicle mounted firepower, Steve decided on an unusual tactic... ramming!  His mobile [but gun-less] BTR raced through the village and crashed into the rear of the Panhard.  Having established that there weren't any rules to cover this we agreed that some damage was possible if the Panhard failed to react and get out of the way.  Both the Armoured Car and the infantry squad failed to react [presumably baffled as to what on earth the driver was doing!] and the infantry had to draw a Fog of War card which caused a random casualty on the unit. In the excitement of the crashing APCs one of the infantry leaned out a little too far from his rooftop position and fell to his death!  After all that the Panhard was fine, if a little dented!

Crunch!  There goes the no claims bonus!

A second FoW card led to the adjacent Govt unit being overcome with a sense of dread... probably caused by seeing their friend plummet to his death!... and sheltered in a clump of trees, refusing to advance any further.

By now the firefight on my flank was slowly wearing down my troops although there were still enough to cause the Govt troops problems although they were also fairly intact.  In the village centre the fight had turned into a close range fight with squads on both sides being knocked down in rapid succession.  The Hummer had also come under sustained fire from several squads who failed to knock it out but did disable it's HMG and forced it to retreat.

As the evening was drawing to an end it looked as though things were going to end in a stalemate when Steve revealed his cunning plan... the crew of the knocked out BTR had been skulking in one of the buildings since the early part of the game, keeping their heads down and chose their moment well.  They sprinted out and into the truck, tearing off down the road to safety and victory and leaving everyone else staring at each other across the town centre, slightly confused about what to do next!

So a narrow victory for the MPLF.  As always we forgot several useful and/or important rules, despite having written up a checklist for each player of 'things we usually forget'.  We did remember to draw Fog of War cards [thanks to Steve's reminders] but forgot that we could use Suppression fire and smoke which might have been a useful tactic for my poorer quality militia.  We also really didn't get the hang of vehicles [or at least Steve and I did... Anthony and Steve seemed to be managing fine!].






  

Ambush in Merrostan

This week we played through another scenario from the Force on Force 'Classified' scenario book.  This supplement deals with special forces type ops from WW2 to the present day, including a number of more cinematic scenarios.

We played through an early 70s Middle Eastern Scenario [sorry... the book's in the loft so I cant give you the specific name!] but the scenario involved an Egyptian Commando squad launching an attack on an IDF convoy of trucks.  I'd taken a little poetic licence to accommodate the figures I had available....

As the Guildford Wargames Club is located in Merrow, the IDF became the Merrostan Govt Forces and the Egyptians became the Merrostani People's Liberation Front.  Similarly the vehicles I changed the scenario to suit the range of models I had available so the half track and jeep were converted into an up-armoured Hummer.

Sadly my photos of the game appear to have disappeared from my phone so you'll have to use your imagination!

The Egyptians/MPLF have a very limited 6 turns to hit the IDF convoy and then escape off the table.  Early on Andrew who was commanding the IDF/Merrostan forces. and I decided that we'd give the MPLF a little longer to carry out their raid.  This is the 2nd scenario I've played out from the Classified book and like the Vietnam game we played a few weeks ago [there's a post about it elsewhere] the scenario is much more cleverly balanced than I'd given it credit for.

The MPLF should have stayed hidden behind the patchy woods/scub, allowing the convoy to advance down the road into a cunningly laid ambush.  Instead I showed my hand far too early,  Andrew, being generous, continued down the road for a turn despite having spotted me before pulling the trucks off the road and tucking them out of sight behind some scrub,  The MPLF squads piled forward and loosed off several RPG7s, immobilising the Hummer and hitting one of the trucks,  The truck crew were forced to hunker down in the truck, pinned, before a 2nd RPG round brewed up the truck and the crew sensibly decided to bail out and into the adjacent wood.

The remaining trucks had by this point unloaded the troops they were carrying into the woods, who proceeded to blaze away at the encroaching MPLF squads.  One of these were forced back into cover with heavy casualties but the remaining groups returned fire.  Really this was the point at which I should have headed for home... I had little chance of being able to target the remaining trucks which were my main objective and was coming under increasing fire from the Govt troops hunkered down in the woods. 

After  a couple of rounds of trying to blast them out with RPG and small arms fire the MPLF decided that withdrawing was the better option after all and bugged out.... unfortunately 2 of their squads were all 'down' after receiving heavy fire and were promptly captured by the Govt Troops.  In the end the Government had a narrow victory... if I'd pulled out a turn or 2 earlier I would have swung the game by taking out the Hummer and 1 of the the 3 trucks but the cost of losing several prisoners to the Imperialist oppressors lost me the game!

As before the scenario seems to hinge on some careful timing of actions and on having a well thought out plan at the start.... had I stayed in cover until the trucks had moved far enough along the road the game could easily have swung the other way.

We have another game of FoF lined up in a couple of weeks so I think I'll keep the Imagi-Nations of Merrostan and the MPLF which allows a bit more freedom in choosing vehicles and equipment and avoids the slightly uncomfortable feeling I always get when gaming contemporary wars... I know... there are lots of arguments why that makes no sense whatsoever but it makes me feel better :)

Goood Morning...erm....Merrow!!!!

One of my purchases at Salute was the latest Force on Force book... Classified.  This one takes a bit of a departure from others in the series which tend to be focused around a particular theatre or campaign (eg. Afghanistan or Somalia etc).  This volume is based on Special Forces operations from the end of WW2 to the present.

Scenarios range from WW2 raiders in the Pacific  to present day Afghanistan.   Very appropriately for this kind of action there is also a 'Hollywood' section with scenarios based on The Guns of Navarone, Predator, Clear and Present Danger and another one I couldn't work out... sadly no sign of Ross Kemp though!!  As I already had a FoF game pre-arranged for Monday night with Andrew this seemed like an ideal chance to try out one of the scenarios.  Andrew had probably been expecting an Afghanistan based game but was confronted with a table strewn with jungle... we were going to 'Nam!

One of the scenarios depicts a 6 man Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol [LRRP] trying to make their way back through enemy lines to a safe point at the other side of the table.  Apart from the road snaking across the table the rest of the terrain was dense jungle so fast movement was going to be an issue.  Opposing the patrol were 3 PAVN squads and a MG section lead by a 2 man command section.

 

The PAVN squads were forced to deploy randomly from a number of 'hot spots' around the table, limiting their ability to concentrate on the patrol.  The LRRP began moving rapidly off down the road, hoping to gain some distance before too many enemy troops appeared.

Run!!!

An enemy squad appeared at point 1 and after an exchange of fire were forced to move their single casualty back to their tunnels for some attention.  The LRRP took advantage of this and legged it off down the road before encountering another PAVN squad.  Andrew sensibly decided to avoid engaging the higher quality US troops and reacted to the fire by retreating back into the jungle, but annoyingly keeping his squad between the LRRP and the safety of the village.

The PAVN MG section emerge from their tunnels

By this point the PAVN forces were beginning to emerge too rapidly for my liking from various tunnels and spider holes all around the table and were closing in.  My plan [...no really... I really did have one!] was to try and knock out at least one of the enemy squads and use the gap to push through to the village.  I guess there is probably an optimum distance at which the US player should run or fight and I obviously missed it!  The PAVN troops closed in, cutting off the route to safety...

I tried pushing through the main blocking squad but they continued to fall back ahead of me before finally making a stand.  The rules allow units to react to enemy activation by firing or moving so I tried taking advantage of this and using the reaction to slip around the unit but Andrew continued to tighten the noose...

Look... there's the village!

By now the lead PAVN unit was beginning to take quite a battering but their morale held up and they refused to retreat.  At this point the US troops took their first casualty.  As you can see the village was in sight and there was still a [very, very slim] chance that I might make it to safety.

Andrew then threw everyone into a last assault on the beleaguered patrol.  The Vietnamese officer went down in a hail of gunfire drawing the US squad into a firefight [surely worth a medal!] and the LRRP were wiped out in a very cinematic last stand

The last stand of the LRRP

As I said I suspect I misjudged the point at which I should have kept on running for the village but we were very, very close!  Before the game I had expected the LRRP to be significantly more highly rated  than the PAVN troops.  Force on Force uses the principle that a die roll of 4+ is a success but troops are differentiated by the type of dice you roll to achieve that.  The US troops were using a d10 and the PAVN forces a d8 which gave a slight edge to the LRRP but not a huge one.  Given how close they got to the village I guess the ratings were actually quite well balanced.

A fun game with a dramatic last stand within sight of safety... Rambo would have been proud!!

Black Truck Down....

A year or so ago my son convinced me to get a copy of Force on Force... apart from Warhammer/40k etc and a bit of dabbling it was the first time that he's shown a real interest in a specific period or set of rules.  My theory is that FoF is probably the closest tabletop game to an XBox session of Call of Duty and combined with his unhealthy obsession with old episodes of Ultimate Force was the driver behind this!

We've built up forces of US Marines and assorted Insurgents using Peter Pig's excellent AK47 range and acquired a load of Middle Eastern style buildings.  Combined with some B&Q sandstone coloured floor tiles it all looks very effective.

We've played a few games at home and at Guildford and last week Andrew and I tried out the 'Contracting Trouble' scenario.  I've played this through a few times now and it makes for a very difficult mission for the US player as they only have 6 turns to complete the mission... I'd like to say it's impossible but my son has proved me wrong on this one by this by defeating me several times [and as both sides!]

The scenario has a pair of contractors trapped in a town centre with their broken down vehicle [in our case a truck] as hordes of Insurgents close in.  The US player has to move in, rescue the contractors and get back off the table in one piece. 

Andrew took the US side and began moving through the town, using the buildings as cover.  A lone Insurgent armed with an RPG popped up and attempted to ambush the Americans but then lost his nerve and failed to fire in time.  A brief hail of gunfire later and the Marines stormed the building he was in and claimed first blood.  The Marines were split into 2 fireteams and the 2nd group ran into heavier opposition and became bogged down... their fire was effective at putting down the insurgent group opposite them but failed to actually cause any casualties. 

The USMC advance towards the contractors

Fireteam 2 remained stuck for several turns slugging it out with the enemy while team1 made steady but slow progress on the right, creeping towards the contractors.  Andrew's frustration was growing with each turn as the US failed to make much progress and the number of insurgent units grew every turn.  RPG fire from the buildings above the contractors kept the Marines back until a series of very effective rounds of fire knocked out most of the Insurgents and allowed Fireteam 1 to reach the contractors and move them into the cover of a nearby building.  Somehow this team had made it across the table unscathed but Fireteam 2 were taking quite a battering with casualties beginning to mount.  They also finally managed to suppress the opposition but at this point we'd reached the end of turn 6.  There weren't many Insurgents left [although presumably more were on their way] but the US troops were now cut off, injured and the situation finished looking pretty bleak. 

On a points basis the US actually won but only just... they had managed to reach the contractors and caused a lot of casualties to the enemy [although this wasn't a factor in calculating the points]... the dead and injured they'd suffered however gave a strong propaganda boost to the Insurgents so overall probably a draw.

The Fireteam comes under fire from an RPG team

As a set of rules FoF works well.  The mechanics are relatively simple with everything [more or less] succeeding on a roll of 4+.  The deciding factor is the dice that each unit uses... the US rolled a d8 while the Insurgents used a d6 which makes a major difference in quality.  The rules aren't the best laid out and I always find them very confusing but others seem to cope ok with this so perhaps its just me!  The reaction process by which units can interrupt  each other also has the potential to be confusing and could easily lead to disputes but providing you can reach a reasonable and sensible agreement with your opponent this shouldn't be too much of an obstacle.

I've been eyeing up the card scenery produced by Scalescenes as a possible source of buildings for an alternative setting for these rules using their industrial and dock buildings and I'll post an update if I ever manage to get round to this!