Monday 2 November 2015

Skirmish Sangin (Club game)

Dave's fire team are the first 4 figures I am the tail end Charlie.
Well yesterday  at the club I took along Skirmish Sangin.Only 4 boards out of the 8 I have, The first 4 boards I built for the project so I probably used up all the best ideas on the boards!!! The guys did like the boards and now want to play "Stargrunt" on them or Northwest frontier or Western Desert ot Biblicals or Crusades or Riff war (that's my idea, just saying!) You get the idea make some terrain and the guys want to play on it!

Anyway we were playing the Recon Patrol scenario from the rule book but with one very slight (major) change. The Taliban could decide where to place the ambush. They selected a stretch of quite exposed road. Dave my (my ally and squad leader for this game) set his figures up first leaving my fire team in a slightly more exposed position. As we were a patrol being in buildings or behind walls was not really a viable option. But we hugged the walls and low enclosure walls as much as we were able given the limitations of the terrain.

 The Taliban able to spot and shoot first hit 2 of my guys. One by the door (a grenadier with L85a2, shotgun and Underslung grenade launcher) by the door. Luckily only a flesh wound, the armour mostly saving him. The other guy, not quits as lucky, a light wound but would be dead without armour.
 The mission had not changed at this stage so Dave had his fireteam flank and make the most use of cover he could. All the while I am under fire. Not all one sided and I do fire back.
 The guy by the door, now prone (knocked off his feet) tries to first aid himself and fails and crawls along the ground towards his comrades. My guy other guy (with LSW) that is also wounded and very exposed crawls into the area between a field and a low wall. Takes up position and covers the rest of the fire team. Shame I have no idea who will support him and dress his light wound.

 The Taliban maintain firing positions and Relfie gets one onto a roof who takes a severe wound the next combat phase. He lays there moaning and groaning for the majority of the game (the figure, not Relfie).
 My lightly wounded guy between the field and the wall exchanges fire with the Taliban, does well, until Ian opens up with a PSHK. The light machinegun does a lot of damage and the armour can only save so much health and he becomes critically wounded, unconscious and that changes the mission.

Our new mission is to rescue him.






 The lightly wounded (only a scratch) man by the door spends several turns crawling to a comrade, who is covering with a "Minimi". A quick first aid checkreveals he is just battered and bruised and groggy but otherwise OK to fight on.

Dave continues to flank.  No doubt arguing that killing the enemy will allow for an easier rescue. And if he succeeds it will.








Covering I send one man out to offer medical assistance. I try to avoid the lines of fire the enemy are using.

Against the far building you can just see an enemy "Dicker"





 Look there he is. All he is doing is poking a head around the corner and NOT firing. Dave my squad leader urges me to fire at him. But the rules of engagement are such that I cannot as I see no weapon and take no fire from him. In reality it could be a kid looking to see what is going on.
 So I move out of sight and climb the building. Ian with his PSHK manages to spot and shoot my assistant squad leader. With only a 5% chance of hitting he rolls 04 and hits! I now have 2 men out of the fight and 2 left to retrieve them.
 Crawling through the field ne closes on the wounded LSW.
 He gets close but Ian and Relfie are both trying to kill him and he takes a wound and falls unconscious out in the open( well the poppy field)
 I do get my grenadier up onto the roof and fist aid my assistant squad leader. The first aid roll is a success and they stay out of sight. I have 1 man left and still 2 to rescue!
By the time he gets into a position to start to rescue the first wounded a novice Taliban with a knife wounded himself drops from the roof and starts to crawl towards one of my wounded.

Dave, remember Dave who went flanking! has manoeuvred into position behind the Taliban who are firing at my wounded guys and manages to kill them all.

Conclusion: A much more closely balanced game than with my nephew.  Due to the errors made I by my reading of the rules we should call it a draw. Personally I think it is a marginal Taliban victory but the media would claim a major Taliban victory! Only 2 wounded Taliban survived but we had 3 wounded British. Most importantly we all learnt the rules and the guys could remember the chances of hitting and the cover deductions and bonuses. If we were to play the game a few more times I think we would have it down pat and not need to have me semi continuously look things up.  Everyone says they will happily play the game again so to my mind that is a win for all concerned.

Final thoughts. I would like to try the rules in a couple of different settings not just modern Afghanistan. I can see them working as early as the Vietnam conflict and the Arab Israeli wars and that be a little less contentious.

Thanks for reading today. Have a good day from Foggy Kent.
All the best Clint

14 comments:

  1. Very nice! What are the scale and make of the figures, please?

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    1. Thank you Roy. the figures are a mixture of manufactures but all 20mm. Most of the Brits are Elhiem but with some Britannia (grubby tanks) most od the Afghan are MJ figures

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  2. It's no surprise they liked the boards Clint, they are excellent! It sounds like you all enjoyed yourselves, sometimes the most important thing about gaming. I'd say it's a win for you Clint. Well done dude!

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    1. Thank you Bob. With 2 wounded and they would need to be flown home and spend several weeks in hospital it deffinitly is not a win for them.
      This is an aspect of post ww2 wargames that I enjoy. it is not so important to kill the enemy, but Not to get killed yourself.

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  3. Bright sunshine in this part of Kent, just saying...lol
    Lovely board as I've said before Clint, the game looks good,as you say could be a bit contentious at the mo but with the right setting...

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    1. Thank you Gobbo It is nice and sunny here now as well.

      The boards will get used again and again they are quite versatile and can be used for many periods.

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  4. 'twas a great game Clint, thanks. My tactics, if you are outgunned, then move so you are not, don't fire back. If you are thinking about opening up on the enemy with a 50/50 chance then don't, wait for back up. Net result, reached enemy base line and corralled the Taliban into a killing field, suffered no wounds and killed 400 of the enemy, or close enough anyway :)

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    1. Thanks Dave. It was a fun and good game.

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  5. Great pictures, the new boards look great. Always nice to see figures in their natural enviroment... in a game.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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    1. Cheers Pete. I have always liked terrain and wargames figures to match. I don't always manage to do so. But when I make an effort I am thrilled that others enjoy the terrain as well. And the club members appreciated it this time.

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  6. And who wouldn't want to play on boards that look as good as that?

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    1. Thank you Michael. You never know I might feel inspired to make some more boards for a different project next year........ no idea what yet though

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  7. That's one of the besta aars I've read, full of drama and from it the impression that it was tight and closely fought action - must have been very enjoyable and satisfying for you introducing it to your group.
    The terrain looks great and some of the villagers must have had happy memories of Lawrence driving the Turks out !

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    1. Thanks Joe. Yes it was used for Laurence of Arabia as well. It was a very enjoyable game and closely fought and could have gone either way. I am sure there are things we all would have done differently and perhaps got a different result. Good fun though

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