I ran a game this Sunday at Rapier Con 2009. This is our local convention in Jacksonville, Florida put on by the Jacksonville Garrison which is the gaming organization I belong to down here. This game was sponsored by Ambush Alley Games, The Jacksonville Garrison, Miniature Building Authority, Stan Johansen Miniatures, and Rob's buildings. (I cannot remember the name of Rob's company but he does his own buildings which are very nice and are suitable for 15 to 20mm figures). I ran a combination of Contracting Trouble, Turkey Shoot (with active sniper fire this time), and a made up 'get the UN guy to safety'. I also added a radio personality to the M113 that came in with the LVTP-7 (AAR-7).
Player One was Jim Berhalter who had the LVTP with the sniper team and a fire team of Marines, the M113 and a fireteam of four Marines, and a HMMVW with two marines with M16s. The troop quality was a d10 as was the morale d10.
Player Two was Mitch Mitchell and he played Tacforce International contractors who's mission was to escort out the VIP Information Technology guru out of the combat area. Troop quality was a d10 and the morale was a d12.
Player Three was Rob and Rob's son (I cannot remember Rob's last name but I will look for it in my notes later). They had a pair of three HMMVWs with two men in each making up the total fireteam. Their mission was to extract the UN from the damaged M113 in town. Troop quality d10, morale d10.
The game took place in Bagdad July 2008 and is a fictional scenario. The insurgent level was set to 3 and the insurgents were played by me. I used the reinforcements table from the Turkey Shoot scenario and the stress rules from Day of the Ranger.
The first couple of turns had player one enter the board with the LVTP who was immediately attacked by an RPG crew. The LVTP failed to react first and was interrupted by the RPG but the armor stopped the hit. The M113 then engaged MaDuce and proceeded to turn the RPG owner into Swiss cheese. At which point player one two a few more turns to get to the building where they were to deliver the snipers. There was a large crowd standing in front of the building and a rusted VW Bug. Player one made their quality check and noticed that one of the civis held a cellular phone pointed in the direction of the VW - too late - the IED hidden inside the bug exploded, destroying the tailing HMMVW and damaging both the LVTP and the M113. The M113 suffered a mobility breakdown and lost 6 inches of movement and the LVTP lost a firepower die. The marines quickly gunned down the culprit, luckily missing the innocent civilians in the process which was a good thing because a FOG of War card was drawn that set up a news crew right down the street from player three. Player one then assaulted the building, no one there, and set up shop at the top of the roof.
Player two meanwhile attempted to move past the falaffel house who's owner was out for a leisurely stroll. Being contractors they immediately rode up to the man and demanded he drop to the ground. The man kept walking and a warning shot was fired. The man then dropped to the ground and surrendered. After questioning the man they let him go. He was the manager and was late for work. Meanwhile as the contractors are questioning the manager of the falaffel house a group of insurgents appeared at a nearby hotspot and opened fire on their lead SUV, destroying it completely although the men were able to bail out safely taking crew quality 4+ checks. Player two had to fight his way through a few more groups of insurgents but ended up not losing any contractors and getting the VIP safely out of the combat zone.
Player three rolled in to town in a close convoy formation. They had to stop at the bazzar and use the loud speaker to get people to move out of the way. The congestion in the street caused them to be a bit late getting to the UN Peacekeepers by vehicle. The decision was made to disembark some members of the team and go through the buildings to the trapped UN Peacekeepers. The team spent a turn stacking and then assaulted the building. A brief fight ensued which wounded but did not kill a member of the team. The building was neutralized and the UN Peacekeepers were rescued.
Player one then started shooting their sniper. I ran it to where every six hits counted as a kill for a person of interest in the bazaar. The player racked up two kills (5 points each) before turn three when they had to pack up due to being spotted by the news crew and hit the road. The LVTP decided to run over the insurgents and the news crew went scattering. The insurgents attempted to set up a 7.62 gun and a few more rpgs but in the end the marines were victorious and the insurgents were unable to stop them.
I used the solo play rules and the insurgents ended up forming a HUGE mixed mob in the bazzar where there was a firefight at the end of the game but at 10d8 versus 10d10 each turn the firefight ended up being mostly a stalemate. The last group of insurgents were given the stats of d8 and d10 for the fayhadeen. The insurgents for most of the game were d6 quality and d10 morale.
Everyone had a great time and the game was liked by all. They liked how the regulars were able to move and then the insurgents had to interrupt. They were all veteran gamers but had not played Ambush Alley before.
Player One's LVTP column heads to their destination.
Passing by the VW
Insurgents behind a building
It's a bomb!
Pictures of the action
The UN
Tackforce HQ
We are leaving!
Building clearing
(now greatly undervalued, of course...)
