Ambush in the Sangin

Last week my good friend Bill and I had some fun playing a decently vehicle heavy scenario of Force on Force.  The scenario is based on one from the Enduring Freedom book, except that instead of  British Marines we used American Army.  Bill has painted up a beautiful force of Yanks and some fun toys to go with them.  As usual my Taliban were the bad guys on this day.

Things to note: I know there aren't palm trees in Afghanistan, however I don't have enough tree bases to fill up the table yet.  The Hot spot markers aren't painted, and nor were the motorcycle born RPG teams.

The layout... US Stryker column has been ambushed.  3rd Stryker has hit an IED and is knocked out.   Local insurgents have pushed a truck in the road to attempt to seperate the US forces.  US forces must rescue the crew and passengers of the downed Stryker.

Turn 1 went according to plan for the Americans.  Bill's Strykers positively identified the DSHK teams hiding in the buildings, and blew them to pieces.

His command element also left the safety of their Stryker to attempt to set up a perimeter and check on the downed Stryker

The Taliban tried to react, but my professional dice rolling skills decided that the Taliban were...

I guess those soviet legacy radios weren't going to cut it today... This was a pretty pivotal moment in the game as it stopped my Taliban from maneuvering into better fire positions.  Bill pretty much got to choose his fights for this and next turn.

Bill took this opportunity to set up a better perimeter with his men.  Lots of disembarks with not a lot of disruption from the Taliban.  Things were looking good for the US.

Hummers decided that those guys in the building looked dangerous.  After they attempted to fire upon the hummers, the hummers decided that they indeed were dangerous and showed them what a .5 cal and AGL could do.

Taliban sit tight, trying to figure out the Russian encoded "Handbook" for their in-operable radios.

Medic and Platoon HQ move toward the downed Stryker.  Taliban attempt to shoot them as they cross the open, but the over watch Strykers keep their heads down, while hitting a few in the process.

Hummers continue to thin out the insurgent presence in the building ahead.  That RPG gunner went down 3 times, only to decide that each time it was just a flesh wound!

Another hot spot getting pounded by American firepower.  

Fire team moves from the safety of its Stryker to get a better shot on the pinned down enemy.

Some of the Taliban decided to just run away instead of get shot...

Not much left of this hot spot, however one of the American soldiers did get seriously wounded in the exchange of fire.

Bird's eye view.  The hummer with the AGL took a blue on blue hit knocking out its main weapon.  Then an RPG hit cause the crew to bail out as live ordinance entered their vehicle, but didn't detonate.  Taliban have now fixed their radio's and attempt a coordinated crossfire of the American troops.  

This was the building before the entire American column reacted.

Same compound, less Taliban inside... less cover.  The Americans did manage to get to the downed Stryker, and what they found wasn't pretty.  Multiple KIA and seriously wounded.  Just 3 out of 9 soldiers were capable of walking.

Not many Taliban left.  The Americans have loaded up almost all of their soldiers by this point.  Just need to pull out and head back to base.  

By this point we called it. The Taliban had nothing meaningful to attack with, and the Americans were clearly capable of getting off the table in 4 more turns. The Americans barely won 15-14. We did some discussing of the victory conditions and feel that the crew and passengers inside the Stryker really shouldn't be calculated into the final tally. Bill nearly lost to something he had no control over. In a convention setting I would probably forgo the victory points all together and just let the players enjoy the game.

Bill and I both agreed that the Fog of War card that I pulled was the biggest reason the Taliban lost. That card is pretty harsh. We have play tested most of the cards, and have found that some are very fun, flavorful and make the game a much more enjoyable experience. Other cards are just very mean and don't make for a balanced game. We have been slowly weeding out the trouble cards. That card has definitely been weeded out. Basically we are looking for cards that make the game more fun, not a 1 sided face smash. However, this was a very fun game. We really learnt a lot about the vehicle rules and how vehicles work in the game. We were both very pleased. It also looked really cool, and there were some definite cinematic moments.

Hope you guys enjoyed this one, I took a lot of pictures of the action.