Tecala Rescue

Call in the search parties - I'm still alive! A long summer hiatus, set in motion by a hectic period in work and then kept going by holidays and the like. Anyway, hopefully things are back to normal and you'll be hearing from me at my more usual rate.

You may recall this scenario from before the summer - based on the climatic rescue scene from Proof of Life. I ran it twice at Hobocon, a local Dublin games convention last weekend. 

Terry Thorne, a Kidnapping and Ransom specialist and former member of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment is assigned to negotiate the return of building engineer Peter Bowman. While overseeing the construction of a dam in a Tecala, Bowman was kidnapped by the country's left-wing insurgency, the ELT.

Through connections with the oil company Thorne has arranged for the army to make a push across the river and draw out the main force (about 100 fighters) of the ELT, while he and a small hand-picked team (Dino’s Panama crew) mount a snatch and grab mission to rescue Bowman and another hostage, Calitri.

The ELT camp

Downtown 2 & 3 overlook the barracks and Peter's house. They'll move down to rescue him, while Terry is on overwatch

Most of the rebels are engrossed in a game of football on the parade ground, they're completely unsuspecting of the attack

It takes then some time to organised themselves once fire breaks out. The ELT group by the barracks spotted Downtown moving off the hill and opened fire, putting both of them to ground. Terry will have to proffer medical aid while rescuing Peter himself.

As the camp erupts, Uptown open fire on the groups pouring off the parade ground. They can't stick around for long, and move towards the farmhouse where Calitri is located

Dino goes down under fire from the two guards, but Uptown shoots them down and gets Dino back into the fight quickly

The football players move into towards the farmhouse, hoping to overwhelm Uptown and prevent any escape

Terry's return fire does have a positive effect - the ammo dump behind the rebels blows up, taking out one of them and driving them back to cover - he's out of the fight however - it's all down to Uptown now.

Uptown rescue Calitri, keeping the rebels nearby under fire - they can see no sign of Downtown and have got to make it to the landing zone soon

11-8 to the ELT, Downtown's initial surge was ill-conceived but ultimately just plain unlucky. We set it up and tried with some different players later that day

Sittangbad - Scenario

This is an old school scenario refitted for modern times and for use with Force on Force.

A major Taliban offensive in Helmand has been thwarted by British forces and the resulting counter-offensive has the group running for the hills. The local leader is unwilling to loss his most valuable supplies and has set up a rear-guard operation in advance of the main bridge across the Sittang to give him time to evacuate his headquarters.

Download the full scenario
You can view an earlier report of the action at Sittangbad.

Off tomorrow for a short campaign of epic Commands & Colours: Napoleonics taking on a joint British-Russian expedition to free the Batavian Republic from the French grasp!

Lead Painters' League continues

Apologies for the prolonged hiatus, it's been a busy few weeks at work and at home (including an outbreak of Chicken Pox!).

Season 7 of the Lead Painters' League continues with Round 6. An especially wide variety of subjects this time I feel (though I inadvertently seem to have picked out a seam of Dark Ages entries!). As before I'm not picking out my favourite pieces, but I'm hoping to highlight a few match-ups which are (or ought to be) very close.

Chindit Support Weapons vs. Darkenwald Scouts

Here We Make Our Stand vs. Dystopian Legions Britanian Infantry

Named Men vs. Citizens, We Must Feed the Revolution 

Head on over to vote for your favourites!.
I had been preparing a summary post showing highlights of Salute from other people's blogs (like this one from 2011); if anyone really wants to see it, let me know...

Blue Squadron

So, I've kicked off my main project for the year: Raid on the Diomedes

A single multi-purpose fighter

Along with the main pilot's wingman

Two pairs of the fighters will provide protection for the Diomedes

In case you're wondering they're from Brigade Games' Squadron Commander Range (these are the EuroFed line). So, I'll start doing the attacking craft soon (in red!)

Inspiring this Gazebo Hunter #4

Preparing some articles for the upcoming fifth issue of the 'all things to all gamers' e-zine for the UK & Ireland The Gazebo; while you're waiting here's my article from #4.
You can view and/or print it from here but if you want to download it instead you'll need an account (pretty quick sign-up though).

I've always been interested in what inspires gamers to break new ground and start another project. This series of articles is a brief overview of things which caught my eye over the last few months - some have already prompted me to try something new, some may lurk in the long grass until their time has come. I hope that something here grabs your attention and calls you to action!


Blog

The Anderson Collection is a lovely showcase blog. Every period the author takes his hand to is done superbly, but the latest river crossing set during the Napoleonic era on the Peninsula is a great set piece. Those pontoons look lovely, but so simple.

If landing on a defended shoreline piques your interest, I heartily recommend taking a look at progress over at World War 20mm as they take on Omaha Beach. (You may have noticed more recent photos as this game appeared at Salute!)

Miniatures

Antenociti Workshop continues their sterling line of slick 28mm sci-fi with their civilian anti-grav Matador Aircar. I’m a big fan of their realistic take on urban sci-fi, using quite of few of their cars in my Tomorrow’s War campaign already.
While Gamecraft are better known for their modern-day 6mm and 20mm buildings, they also have quite a collection of 15mm historical buildings. This World War Two office/residential block would be perfect late-war urban battles.

Non-Fiction Book

The Jason Voyage by Tim Severin won’t surprise anyone familiar with his usual approach to the legendary journeys of historical figures. This is his incredibly interesting and informative account of his efforts in building a replica of the Argo and its trip from Greece to Georgia following the route to the Golden Fleece.

Fiction Book

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie is set in the same world as The First Law, but follows the fortunes of key individuals during the three days of a battle. Excepting the Black Company, I can't think of as anti-war a fantasy novel as this. There are some lovely touches to this work and I wonder if anyone out there will do an adaption of the Saga rules for it…

Film/TV

Going slightly off-piste now, I caught the web series Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome recently. I’m not entirely convinced by the actor playing the young Adama, but the action sequences were done quite well and it seemed to fit into the overall series mythology.

I am planning something along these lines at some stage, but it’s a slow-burner of a project so I think you might see it in early 2014…

Random Site

Michael Yon is an American journalist and photographer whose pieces always impress me. Obviously his work is of importance to anyone interested in Afghanistan and Iraq, but I found two recent posts on mud and tracking incredibly fascinating.

The Gazebo is on Facebook & Google+

Lead Painters' League - Season 7

Round 2 of Season 7 of the Lead Painters League is underway over on the Lead Adventure Forum.
If you're not familiar with it get yourself over there to see some fantastic eye candy (as well as people going through their lead mountains at a cracking rate!)

In summary, paint up a team of miniatures, you're randomly paired off with another contestant, everyone votes for their favourite in the pairing and then onto the next round. There are ten rounds after which a league table of sorts has been established. There are bonus points for matching themes in three of the rounds. So there were a lot of command teams being used for Round 1. Have a look at the rules.

I'd urge you to join up, take a good look and vote

Like last year, I won't be telling you any of my favourites, but I will highlight a few match-ups where the opponents are very closely matched:

Scooby's Gang vs. Great War in greyscale

Skid Row vs. Masked Cannibals

Ghosts vs. The sorceress and the zorgls

Cracking stuff, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the field cranks out over the next two months.

Proof of Life - Scenario

Recently, I wrote up a Force on Force scenario based on the rescue mission from Proof of Life for The Guild. Have a look at the scene on YouTube

Terry Thorne, a Kidnapping and Ransom specialist and former member of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment is assigned to negotiate the return of building engineer Peter Bowman. While overseeing the construction of a dam in a Tecala, Bowman was kidnapped by the country's left-wing insurgency, the ELT.
Through connections with the oil company Thorne has arranged for the army to make a push across the river and draw out the main force (about 100 fighters) of the ELT, while he and a small hand-picked team (Dino’s Panama crew) mount a snatch and grab mission to rescue Bowman and another hostage, Calitri.

Scenario Information
Duration of Game: 6 Turns
Initiative: Asymmetric – Rescue Team has the initiative throughout
Table Size: 3’x3’

Rescue Team Mission
Rescue the two hostages and get them safely to the LZ.

Rescue Team Victory Points
Each hostage recovered safely: 3pts
Each hostage to LZ: 5pts
No team members left behind: 3pts

Rescue Team

Rescue Team Basic Attributes
Confidence Level: High
Supply Level: Abundant
Troop Quality/Morale: D8/D10

Downtown
Terry w/M4 (D10/D12; Hard to Kill)
Downtown 2 w/M4
Downtown 3 w/M249 (Lt. Support, AP:1)

Uptown
Dino w/M4
Uptown 2 w/M4/203 (Lt. Support, AP:1)

Map

Uptown / Downtown: Rescue Teams

1-3: ELT Groups

ELT Mission
Protect the ELT’s base by turning back the attackers and keeping control of the hostages.

ELT Victory Points
Each hostage still under ELT control: 5pts
No hostages reach LZ: 5pts
Each rescuer seriously wounded/KIA: 1/2pts

ELT Forces

ELT Basic Attributes
Confidence Level: Confident
Supply Level: Normal
Troop Quality/Morale: D6/D8

ELT Group [1]
1x Rebel Leader w/AK
4x Rebels w/AKs

ELT Guards [2]
2x Rebel w/AKs

ELT Groups [3]
1x Rebel Leader w/AK
14x Rebels w/AKs

SPECIAL RULES

SNAFU
Dino has been over this mission a thousand times, it’s FUBAR but he’s up for it! At the start of each turn (except Turn 1) roll a D6:

(D6) SITUATION EFFECT
1 Breakfast Place one rebel outside the door of each hostage location. They’re heading back to the barracks. Ignore this result if the alarm has already been raised
2 Morning Stroll Place one rebel halfway along either the lower or upper path (rebel player’s choice)
3 Straggler Place on rebel at the LZ exfiltration point
4 Lame Bowman has an injured foot. Terry cannot move rapidly with him.
5 LZ Secured The rescue team have some extra time; game length is 7 turns
6 Ammo Dump Explosion Heavy fire leads to an explosion in the ammo dump – AP:3 in a 3” radius. Reduce ELT supply to abysmal.

Buildings
Buildings provide a Solid Cover bonus (+1D). All buildings are rated at 3D6.

Surprise Attack
Having taken out the nearest sentry silently, the rescuers haven’t been spotted yet. The ELT groups can’t be activated until either the group at the barracks or at the farmhouse spots the rescue team or someone opens fire.

Sparse Jungle
All of the open ground in the area is semi-cleared jungle. While not enough to count as solid cover in-and-of itself, it will count as intervening cover.
Before the camp is alerted, rescue teams moving at tactical speed can make a TQ check to avoid detection by rebel groups.

Parade Ground Chaos
Once the rebel camp is alerted the group playing soccer on the parade ground spring into action. Roll three D6 separately and break the 14 rebels into groups of that size and deploy each group on one side of the ground. Place the leader with the first group, and any additional rebels (out of the 14) with the leader’s group.
Numbers exceeding 14 exit the Officer’s Hut a turn after the camp is alerted in one group.
e.g. a 4, a 3 and a 5 are rolled – the leader attaches to the first group of 4, and three other groups: of 3, 5 and 2 (the remainder of the 14) are formed.

The Hostages
Bowman is inside the structure marked ‘Peter’s House’ on the map. Calitri is inside the ‘Farmhouse’.
Both hostages will stay put until their Terry or Dino reaches them. It’ll take a TQ check to convince them to trust their rescuers.

Kidnapping & Ransom
Terry is an experienced K&R specialist – he ignores the -1 die of firepower and may make a quality check to move rapidly when with a dependent.

The Ammo Dump
A rebel group with a leader can equip itself with a LAW (Med. AP:2/AT:1(M)) if it reaches the ammo dump and makes a TQ check.

Claymore
Terry is armed with a single claymore mine. Use the standard rules (pg. 76) but he only gets a single TQ check to use it.

*****

Here's a copy of the scenario on PDF if that's helpful
Will post a full report and any amendments I make when it happens...