Who do you think you are... Ross Kemp? Force on Force AAR

Saturday I got to host a fun game of Force on Force by Ambush Alley Games.  It was just a fun learning game between my Modern British Army against the dreaded Taliban somewhere in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan.  

The premise of this scenario was that a curious group of reporters had made their way into a local village and wanted to interview the town elders.  Accompanying the reporters is the platoon commander with his HQ elements.  The commander wanted to learn more about the town and try to create a relationship with the villagers.  He brought his medic along to help treat any villagers that might be suffering from injuries and disease.  For safety reasons the commander has a squad sweeping the town and and quick reaction force available for extraction.

Unbeknownst to the commander, the local insurgency has an insider among the town elders and plans to ambush and capture the civilian news reporting team to take hostage and use as a bargaining chip.

Fairly moderate Afghan Village.  The reporters are deep into the interview process as the commander stands by to ask questions and understand the village's needs.

Taliban start positioning themselves around the village to ambush and hopefully capture the news crew.

Quickly after the first rounds of gunfire the quick reaction force responds and races through town to extract the HQ element and news crew.

Elements of the squad that was sweeping the village find a weapons cash.  They quickly clear the area and disable the cache.

Insurgents attempt to storm the compound containing the Platoon HQ and news crew.  The Platoon Sergeant takes a serious wound, but the HQ element manages to hold off wave after wave of insurgents.

The MRAPs continue to race to the HQ element while the top gunners start to verify enemy contacts and neutralize them.

More Taliban making their way through the village to surround the British Forces.

Wave after wave attempts to breach the compound.

MRAPs are slowed down by a stray donkey cart.  Wary of a possible DBED (donkey born explosive device), they wait till the cart passes by.  Meanwhile Taliban attempt to flank the MRAPs and fire off a round at the rear armor.  The round flies through the air, hits the MRAP and doesn't explode.  Apparently the Taliban's arms dealer supplied them with some duds.

Combined firepower from the MRAPs and British units take their toll on the Taliban.  Most of the Taliban flee the battlefield instead of becoming casualties.

Elements of the first British squad flank the exposed Taliban and unleash a torrent of firepower

Just a few of the Fog of War cards that were dealt this game.  Both players had a god given talent for rolling 1s.  Lot's of random civilians which really made it feel like the players were fighting in a real village.

Was a very fun game.  I have not played a game of Force on Force for quite some time.  Still my favorite rule set by far when it comes to asymmetrical warfare.  Needs some fine tuning still for two trained forces combating each other and the rules are definitely in dire need of reorganizing.  Only thing I couldn't figure out was exactly how to resolve was an IED hitting the bottom of an MRAP.  I just used side armor values plus all the benefits the MRAP gets against IEDs.  What does everyone else use?

Warriors and MRAPs done!

Finished my Warriors and MRAPs.  Wanted to take pictures the other day, but I misplaced my tufts and wanted to only take pictures of the final product.

I hope the picture quality is alright.  I had about 4 lights in the room and 3 on the table shining on the models.

Elhiem Brits with Warrior

MRAPs done and based:

Hope you can see all the weathering I did on the vehicles.  I have been arguing with myself about basing my vehicles or not, I really like how they look on the bases and I think I will do all of my vehicles this way.

Thanks for looking!

FoF AAR: Sangin Ambush

Thursday was our weekly meet up at one of our friendly local game stores and I had prepared a game of Force on Force.  I have sort of found a new favorite scenario out of the Enduring Freedom companion book called Sangin Ambush.

I slightly modify most scenarios to cater to the models and terrain I own.  In this case there are suppose to be Viking APCs, but I like to use my MRAPs.  Some terrain placement is also different, but the overall feel of the scenario is still there.

The idea of this scenario is that the 3rd MRAP in the column has been knocked out and the Royal Marines need to rescue the crew and passengers and get back to base out of the Ambush Zone.  However the Taliban are heavily armed and have a different plan in mind.

 The Taliban have pushed a truck in the way of the second MRAP.  Coalition forces are weary of a suspected Vehicle Born IED.

12.7mm DShK HMG teams are on the left side of the column ready to ambush any troops that get out of their MRAPs

British Forces take some unlucky hits early from one of the DShK teams.  This resulted in the death of the Medic and the JTAC becoming a serious wound.  The MRAPs used their GPMGs to neutralize the DShK, but the damage had already been done.

The lead Land Rover WMIK suffered from a mechanical failure and found itself immobilized.  AK and RPG fire also managed to immobilize the other WMIK.

Concentrated firepower from the Land Rovers did a good job of neutralizing the Taliban cells near the front of the column.  ISTAR discovered a person of interest in the area and the Land Rovers not able to capture him, decided that destroying him and his reinforcements was a reasonable alternative.

British forces manage to pull all of the passengers and crew out of the disabled MRAP unharmed, however their firepower was not capable of stopping a massive cell of insurgents to pour out into the street and kill most of the platoon's HQ element.  These Taliban were dealt with, but not without great cost.

I stumbled with a few rules as I had not run a game in a while, and probably gave some fatal tactical advise for the players controlling the Brits.  As usual was a fun game and it is always nice to get my friends playing.  Kurt and Gary didn't disappoint with the plethora of 1s rolled for reaction tests which caused a large amount of Fog of War cards to be drawn.  First time playing with Jayme and it was a blast.

I plan on working with my friends in writing some fun new scenarios to play.  We are also trying to come up with some fun what if scenarios.  Will probably run a game or two at Tacticon in September.

More WIP: British Infantry and MRAP Pin Wash

For those of you that don't live here, this is Colorado on May 1st... Awesome huh?

Well I have been plugging away at my Brits slowly but surely.  Here are my MRAPs with a pin wash of Ak Interactives enamel wash OIF & OEF thinned with some white spirits.

My first try with enamel washes and I really liked it as I was able to go back with a brush and white spirits and clean up areas that were messy.  Next step I think will be a dry brush, then some minor highlights and I think we will be onto weathering!  Oh I also sealed the model before the Enamel wash as it apparently helps the wash flow in the cracks and recesses much better and doesn't damage the paint underneath.

Onto the Infantry!

Not sure what I am doing different, but these seem to be a lot more time consuming to paint than the first lot of Brits I did about a year ago.  Same technique, maybe I am just rusty on infantry.  So I have 9 guys that just need to be dipped and then they are done.  Another 5 guys need the camo stripes painted on then they will get dipped too.  That leaves 4 dogs and a camera crew to do after that and the infantry is done for the Brits.  Just as a heads up, these models look terrible before they get dipped.

Here is a picture of what they will look like after the dip and matte coat.

That's it for now.  Saturday should be a nice sunny day so I should be able to get more terrain work done.  Last Saturday I carved out hills for Afghanistan.  This Saturday I will finish sanding them and get some plaster on them and my sci fi forests should get based and ready for painting.

Hopefully I can get some more painting done Thursday or this weekend.  I want to be done with this British project by July 1st.

WIP Filter Chipping and MRAPs

Two posts in the same week!? You got it! I have actually been smart and put my current projects on my desk so when I sit here watching movies, youtube, etc all I have to do is pick up my paints and get to work.  So here are my MRAPs at their current stage.  They have had all of their airbrush work done, black has been applied to the tires, windows, inside of the hatch door and turret machine guns.  I made an attempt at chipping.  Right now at times it looks like there is a camo pattern on the tank.  From other angles it looks good.  I have also applied my first filter on the tanks using Mig Brown for Desert Yellow.  Waiting for these to dry and I think I am going to apply a second filter of the AK interactive Africa Korps Filter.  The Africa Korps filter will probably just go on the top of the MRAP.  Not 100% sure I will do this, need to see how the MRAP looks after the first filter dries.  

What do you think so far?  The chipping will hopefully be toned down after a pin wash is applied, a possible highlight and then weathering pigments.  

I am personally pretty pleased with how these are coming out.  I can always go back and dry brush over some of the more prominent "chipping".  Filters are definitely fun to use, but very smelly. Ventilation!