Tuesday 18 March 2014

Afghanistan. Operation Prince.

Keith and I had a game last year using Force on Force rules. The scenario was a known Taliban reinforced area that the allies planned to take control of. US Special Forces would land at the far end of the table and SAS would speed in Land Rovers to their support. Meanwhile US infantry with motorised support would sweep from one end of the table to the other. Taliban hotspots were placed on the table with a few Taliban placed in hidden positions. First move the US special forces prepare to drop from helicopter to surprise the Taliban. Supported by an Apache all looked good. UNTIL an amazingly lucky shot hit the chopper which crash landed. Now this was quite literally due to some amazing dice rolls but turned the scenario into a rescue mission. The pilot was non other than Prince Harry. There goes my Knighthood!!! The scenario now became a rescue mission with the SAS being tasked to rescue the Prince and his co pilot. In the meantime the US special forces went into defense mode. GAME ON.
Start line for US forces.
Black Hawk down and US Special Forces rush into position.
Meanwhile white Taliban mercenaries rush to take up attack positions.
An Apache circles to give support but is running out of fuel.
The best place to defend is a local building so the guys start running for cover.
Taliban start to catch the Prince and his party in a cross fire
Exciting or what???? Well so exciting that I forgot to take anymore pictures. Anyway the Special Forces took the house and prepared it for defense. The SAS raced towards the Prince's position but hit an IED losing one man and a Landrover. US troops in a Stryker raced towards the objective but were hit by US artillery in a Blue on Blue. Losing one man and their vehicle. The main US infantry captured the main village after heavy fighting and were able to support the SAS in their advance on Quads and then by foot. The stream was defended by Taliban who were quickly dealt with but the small bridge gave way under a HUMVEE so transport was now stuck. Meanwhile the US Special forces and the aircrew defended their house against heavy attacks in which 4 US troops were killed and countless Taliban. As the Taliban broke through the outer compound the Prince and his co pilot decided to jump out of the back window and run for the SA position across the stream with the last of the US special forces covering their backs and the SAS advancing in a Who Dares Wins charge, and despite heavy fire they managed to get across the stream to safety. Just. Phew. Great game but next time I promise to take more pictures. Sorry.

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Richard Lardy visit.

Well hasn't time flown by. Its approaching two years since I last posted which is quite frankly rediculous. However life has just been far too busy in so many ways. Empress Miniatures has taken over our lives in a huge way but there is a little light at the end of the tunnel now and I am determined to make the most of it and get back in the Blog saddle as much as I can. Therefore it seemed proper to restart my posts with something spectacular and what can be more spectacular than Richard coming to visit our little Empire and have a play test with his latest WW2 rules, Chain of Command. Richard very kindly visited and we got a small group of chaps together to play a SCW game. Great fun was had as Richard explained the rules and dice were duly rolled. The scenario involved a Spanish village being held by Republican units against Nationalist Carlist attackers. The start of the game was the patrol section as units moved towards each other. Not the round flag discs. The the attack began. Republicans chose to defend the church and stables whilst the Carlist moved in. A Nationalist T26 quickly destroyed a milita armoured coach. Whilst Carlist units pinned down Republican troops other Carlist forces charged in from the flank and quickly over ran all enemy forces. The Republican commander in his captured CV33 decided to beat a very hasty retreat as the Carlists went about their work. A great game. The Republican forces were perhaps a little weak and the Nationalists a little strong in the unit lists but nothing that could not be slightly changed. The rules gave a very interesting game and the initial section of patrolling is a very interesting way of introducing players to the conflict on the table top. Have to say well done to the Lardies for their clever ideas and I heartily recommend them for players who are looking for some fast action tabletop rules.