Force on Force AAR: Contracting Troubles

The US Offensive on the PRA rebel held town of Churchill continues. CIA Agents trying to obtain solid intel on the positions of PRA forces in the town came under fire from militiamen loyal to the PRA, the operative and her driver were both wounded in the attack. UAV drones indicated that the agents were alive but were surrounded by militia and in a neighbourhood expected to be hostile to the American troops. A patrol of US Marines was near by and battalion HQ redirected them to extract the agents as expeditiously as possible. The marines were forced to abandon their AFV due to roadblocks- leaving one fire team to guard their extraction point (off board) the team leader proceeded on foot with two fire teams, 

This mission is simple, but requires good luck and a lot of speed. There is only six turns, which means the Marines will have to hoof it if they want to compete the mission. They can't afford to get bogged down in a protracted fire-fight with the militia, as that will draw in the whole neighbourhood and it's going to end up like Mogadishu all over again. The luck element comes in because the militia forces are reinforced at random each turn, and from a random location on the board. If the rolls goes badly for the US they can find they have a whole bunch of militiamen cutting off their exit. If they are lucky then the militia will arrive piecemeal and not present too much of a challenge. 

The marines (Regulars with D8/d10, with body armour) are much better than the militiamen (Irregulars, D6/D12, No body armour) but the constant reinforcing of the militia each turn can mean that the militia forces can eventually overwhelm the US marines with shear weight of numbers. 

James took the roll of the Marines, and because Vlad couldn't make it I played the Africans. It was James' first game of FoF. 

USMC entering the neighbourhood on foot

 The Marines entered the neighbourhood and positivity identified the two US Agents in cover by their wrenched car. They also identified a number of militiamen sheltering in a near by house, taking pot-shots at the injured agents.  The team leader lead his men into cover with good sight line of the intersection and opened fire on the militiamen, injuring two of them, including their leader. The militia retuned fire without effect. 

Militiamen threatening the US agents

US Agents sheltering by their wrecked car

 The second marine fire team them proceeded to advance rapidly through the shanties, using all available cover to reduce the line of sight from the militia.  More militia started to arrive but they had no leaders and so instead of fighting they just milled about, chewing chat and acting tough, firing AK's into the air etc. That sort of behaviour might intimate the average Zugandon villager but didn't impress the Marines. 

Second fire-team making their way to the agents

The team leaders fire-team went on over-watch, effectively countering the militias attempts to prevent the marines advancing. The second fire-team closed on the militia in the house closest to the US agents, and succeed in neutralising the opposition during a close quarters  exchange of fire. They then rescued the injured agents and proceed to exact them down the same route the had arrived by.  The militiamen in the surrounding buildings attempted to stop them but the fire-team on over-watch responded with effective fire and the team managed to move back into cover with the injured agents. 

Second fire-team extracting the injured agents

More militiamen started poring in, attracted to the sounds of gun fire. One of the militia groups had a leader, and he finally got them organised. The Marine squad leader's fire-team, on over-watch, found they had a lot of work to do, but they performed well, laying down a storm of fire that kept the militiamen away from the fire-team with the agents.  More militia arrived and threatened to cut off their exit point but they were leaderless again and failed to do much other than acting tough. One guy with an RPG, who was well positioned to attack the second marine fre-team, realised he had forgotten to bring the ammo and was effectively holding a piece of piping (the result of a fog of war card). 

A hornets nest of angry militiamen

Finally the second fire-team extracted their targets safely, and then the squad leader lead his fire-team back to the extraction point, before heading back to base. 

The second fire team extract the injured agents safely

The squad leader leads his men back to their AFV for exaction

This was text book stuff- the two injured agents were extracted by the marines and the marines never suffered a single casualty. As I said earlier this mission is supposed to be tricky for the marines and really requires a lot of good luck on the dice rolls. Fortunately for James he has never been short of luck with the dice,and my reserves kept arriving without leaders, then failing their quality roles so that they couldn't activate unless fired at by the marines (which James was sensible enough not to do). James also never failed a reaction test so that meant that every time I tired to fire at him he blasted away at me, reducing the effect of my shooting. That said, I can't take the victory away from James- he performed well, using one fire team to over-watch the other, and using cover very effectually to block line of sight.