The Iraqi plan for the defence of Basrah is to suck the attackers in and grind them down in an urban battle which will dull the appetite of the British and American people for the war. The Coalition is refusing to play this game and will conduct a series of raids and psychological operations against the Iraqis, wearing down their will to fight, while the main invasion force rolls northwards to Baghdad.

Az Zubayr is a small town sitting astride a major junction just south-west of Basrah and it is here that the Coalition plan is first put into effect.

At the weekend I ran five linked scenarios using Force on Force for Trinity Gamers. Originally I would have envisaged doing the Basrah campaign using my British forces, but a little counterfactual has some Iraqi regular forces sitting astride the US Marine Corps' advance...

Crunchy



Friendly intelligence assets inside Az Zubayr have alerted coalition forces to the presence of an artillery battery hidden inside the town.
A raid to destroy the guns and capture the battery HQ has been sent in.

The reinforced squad of Marines move towards the compound where the suspected artillery is located, hugging both sides of the street, the squad leader keeps his GPMG team and the attendant Corpsman in reserve.
An Iraqi squad lurking in an alleyway on their left flank opens fire



Full report at http://donoghmccarthy.blogspot.com/2012/05/crunchy.html

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My Wargaming Blog Land War in Asia

very cool ! great pics

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who dares , wins!

Thanks Matt

The Lost Lieutenent

A small American HQ unit has taken a wrong turn, and the 2nd Lieutenant has his GPS upside down. They need to get out fast before Iraqi forces can cut them off.

Somehow I forgot to take a picture of the starting board!



An up-armoured Humvee leads the convoy with the HQ Humvee behind that. A HEMMT 8x8 truck and a Cargo Humvee complete the convoy.

The head of the convoy makes the tight turn to head back to the main road, leading the way, the up-armoured Humvee directs its fire at a squad of Iraqis on a corner rooftop - between the .50cal and a couple of marines leaning out the windows they put paid to them, albeit taking damage to the .50cal

Rest of the report at http://donoghmccarthy.blogspot.com/2012/05/lost-lieutenant.html

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My Wargaming Blog Land War in Asia

Drive-By

A series of short sharp incursions into administrative centres in the town is being made by armour units backed up by infantry. This drive-by is met with stiff resistance, including a few Iraqi tanks.



The small punitive column rolls in - its targets are the two Ba'ath party buildings on the opposite side of the square.

http://donoghmccarthy.blogspot.com/2012/05/drive-by.html

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My Wargaming Blog Land War in Asia

An intelligence asset is stuck in a bad neighbourhood and needs to be rescued. He’s being hunted by a local cadre of a Republican Guard unit and a Special Forces team has been sent in to rescue him.



Amongst the quiet open market, three groups of locals congregate - with a few Republican Guard cadres closing in on the informer, the USMC recon team appear



The Force Recon Marines throw a bit of a wobbly, just as they've started to engage the Iraqi soldiers, a T-55 rolls into the market square. The Marines don't have any anti-tank capability!

More at http://donoghmccarthy.blogspot.ie/2012/06/humint.html

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My Wargaming Blog Land War in Asia

Most dangerous thing in the world is a 2LT with a map...

And those are some good-looking scenarios, Donogh!

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Platoon Sergeant to his new 1stLT:
Sir, I like to do things the easy way, and I hear you like to do what works... Let's just toss the book now!

You broke my code

Final part of the campaign

A Black Hawk has crashed in the vicinity of Ba’ath party administrative buildings. A rescue mission has been sent in all-guns blazing but the remaining Iraqi Army units in the town see this as their chance to make their mark.



The road to the crash site is long and hard, and the planning routine for both sides at the beginning was interesting. The US players concentrated their discussion on the best lines of strafing for the on-call Cobra. The Iraqi players contended that they should shoot it down, but primarily decided to concentrate everything on overrunning the crash site - while hunkering down to allow the rescue column to pass through the initial defences



More at http://donoghmccarthy.blogspot.com/2012/06/just-our-luck.html

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My Wargaming Blog Land War in Asia

Great campagin and awesome AARs, i tip my hat to you.

Donogh,
Great job - did you post the actual scenario sheets for these like you have in the past so my club can replay them?
Thanks,
Tom Konczal

I 2nd a request for the scenario sheets. These look like GREAT scenarios!
Thanks for posting

Chris

Love the downed Blackhawk base. Gives me an idea for the 1/295th version I'm working on for DotR.

Tom

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Tom Oxley
OD Green Old Fart
FoF: RtB, EF, AV, CWGH, DotR, BW, DMA, Fal, C-SOM, SOG

great pics thanks for sharing !!

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who dares , wins!