Just Our Luck

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



As the survivors take cover at the crash site, the sniper team are patched in to the Cobra gunship - it zooms in but the light air defence knocks it out of the sky and all future air missions are put on hold. An air of disbelief gathers over the US players, but they get back down to business sharpish



The leading Humvees go off-road and overwhelm the first Iraqi squad behind the market - they take a lot of hits, sounds like the Iraqis are concentrating fire on the rooftop .50cals



An intense firefight erupts in the square - the sniper team pick off most of the Iraqi HQ, and even the helicopter crew (led by the unwounded crew chief manning the M60) account for a lot of the rooftop Iraqis before taking too much fire



The third Humvee joins the rush across the marketplace, but while knocking out Iraqi resistance there takes some serious damage to its transmission. It rolls forward to park in an alleyway ahead. The fireteam dismounts from now on



On the other flank, the Abrahms has been forced to take a detour around a suspicious object but when it rejoins the fray the HQ Hummer takes a hit, stalling it. The platoon LT and is hit bailing out and the Sergeant has to take on water. Everyone on this side of the battlefield begins to take fire from the rear as one of the Iraqi units bypassed takes to the rooftops and opens up.
The Abrahms is unable to fire its main gun as the barrel is right over the Humvee's bailed-out crew



The Sagger team lying in wait at the main entrance to the square is surprised by the sudden appearance of one of the Humvees, but it can't get a bead on the fast-moving vehicle before the machine gun suppresses their location and drives through



Meanwhile, at the crash site, the sniper team have moved to the other side of the helicopter to secure that approach against an Iraqi machine gun team and another rifle squad, but when they do that, two small Iraqi groups move in to surround the aircrew - even the Iraqi commanders are getting their hands dirty



Unleased, the Abrahms shows its ass-kicking powers at full stretch. The nearby Iraqi team which had caused the dismounts from a Humvee some trouble gets some grief of their own. The Marine machine-gun team from the HQ Humvee advances alongside



The first Humvee arrives on the scene, wiping out the Iraqi squad which overran the aircrew - a quick headcount shows that everyone's still there



The machine gun dismounts arrive on the other side of the helicopter - they help secure the buildings alongside



The Iraqi commander is dragging away a prisoner - looks like the Iraqi captured an injured pilot



The sniper team rushes to the rescue, taking careful aim at the Iraqi holding their comrade - though exhausted and running low on ammunition, the sniper makes no mistake



A close-run victory for the US, coming out of an honours-even 2-2 run-up earlier in the day!

As per my recent convention formula, I'm using the same map in the last scenario as in the penultimate one - this time of course, because I ran two sets of missions simulaneously the 3rd and 4th scenario's setups fitted together for the 5th.



All five players left standing at the end of the night - prizes were awarded for 'Most Daringly Optimistic Manoeuvre' and 'Acts Above and Beyond All Likelihood'

HUMINT

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!



The local mobs hurl abuse at the Iraqi soldiers, who have no luck in trying to identify the traitor amongst them. They are taking serious fire from the Marines, despite the attentions of the tank which is now dominating the battlefield (positionally at least)



The T-55's engine conks out, but with the tank commander staying buttoned up (he knows there are snipers out there) the Marine rifle team rush across the open ground and take cover behind the large shop.



Like some kind of action heroes, they dodge 100mm gun fire and hunker down on the rooftop, shooting up the Iraqi squad trying to quell the angry mob and grabbing the informer



The three marines' luck runs out as they recross the ground with the informer and it's up to the sniper team to intervene



They scamper out, and get the informer out!



No one can quite believe it - with 3 KIAs and 1 seriously wounded man, and under the gaze of a main battle tank, the Marines snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat!

Off to Hobocon to run my Fear, Honour & Interest campaign tomorrow. Will post the fifth and last scenario from the Road to Basrah campaign on Sunday/Monday when I return...

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.



An Iraqi Sagger team fires at the lead Humvee but misses and the return fire from the top-mounted .50 cal kills the rooftop crew.
Iraqi infantry stay hidden in the buildings to the Humvee's left and await their chance



An Iraqi T-72 surges out of the shadows and advances to flank the US vehicles. It targets the Humvee (which accelerates around to the other side of the Abhrams, but the American tank seems well aware of the threat and quickly turn the turret, suppressing the Iraqi crew with a well-placed (if non-penetrating) shot



The DShK in the square's small park opens fire on the Humvee, causing it brew up - the crew quickly get out. The Abrahms takes the time to suppress the machine gunners, while advancing into the square and calmly destroying both Ba'ath Party HQ buildings



The hide behind the Abrams, but start to take fire from other Iraqi infantry nearby. Another Iraqi T-72 comes out from a side street behind the trees and a three-way tank duel erupts.



The Abrahms destroys one T-72 gun, but is unlucky to be knocked out by the other (which is the last shot coming from that T-72 - variant supplied by the lowest bidder)



However, if both T-72s thought they could turn back the American attack with their machine-guns and intimdating presence they were wrong.
A second Abrahms rumbles into the square. This party's over!

The Lost Lieutenant

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. [Thanks to Mr. E for bringing along the vehicles for this one]

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



The HEMMT's turning circle means it's well behind, and a lurking Iraqi squad behind it open fire. It's a tough truck and it lumbers through the torrent - taking a few shots to the wheels, slowing it down and as it turns the corner one of the crewmen is badly wounded.



The Cargo Humvee careens around the corner - a previously unseen AT-3 Sagger team on another rooftop are set up to take a shot, but the Marines shoot one of the crew and the missile goes out of control



The Carvo Humvee has almost made it to safety, as the HQ guns through the junction - the Iraqi DShK team take casualties and keep their heads down



The Iraqi infantry are moving quickly now, trying to get a bead on the convoy as it passes by buildings. The .50cal mounted on top of the Humvee is destroyed and one of the Marines is wounded - they all bail out and take cover.



The Iraqi squads continue to concentrate their efforts and the pressure on the HEMMT intensifies



The bailed out fireteam of Marines tries to cover the truck, but the HEMMT brews up in the firefight. As the Iraqis move in the Marines fight their way off the junction



So close for the Marines this time, but in the end the Iraqis clinch this 12-6.
The Marine player thinks the only chance is to get out of the ambush zone as quickly as possible, so maybe another security Humvee would even things up a little?
With two victories for the Iraqis in the morning, what does the afternoon session hold for the Marines...

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



The Marines take command of the rooftops, driving the Iraqi squad back behind the small mosque but coming under fire from a .50cal hidden in the trees just inside the compound wall



A second large squad of Iraqis in the palm trees takes heavy fire but holds out against the Marines' advance along the road. As the firefight with the Iraqi .50cal intensifies, it seems that the compound wall is made of plasterboard and the Iraqi defenders go down



A technical arrives to help out the Iraqi forces, spewing machinegun fire as it careens down the street



The 4x4 doesn't last long, most of the crew is killed as it turns the corner and the engine conks out



Crossing the road to set up alongside the compound wall, the leading fireteam triggers an IED, which wounds two men. They take more fire, and wonder why the hell the Iraqis didn't do something about the wall and repair their defensive perimeter!



A second fireteam crosses the road only to find themselves confronted point blank with a resurgent .50cal! Despite the scare of their life, they survive the torrent of bullets



The Iraqi defence now starts to draw back to protecting the gun, even the HQ personnel and artillery crew have shouldered their AKs



Newly arrived on the battlefield are four unusually well-trained Republican Guardsmen. Their position is immediately compromised by a fire in the building and they move across the street. They're engaged by gunfire and the Marines get the drop on them, taking some hits but killing two of the Iraqis



The Marines break through the wall to wipe out the crew of the .50cal and the nearby HQ personnel - the fireteam behind them capture the Iraqi officer and begin to move back to interrogate him



The two elite Iraqis hold out killing one of the Marines and making sure the gun isn't destroyed



A close-run affair: 9-8 to the Iraqis who despite their losses held onto the gun - the Marines claim would've surely overrun the position soon though...
[and yes - I know that the Marines are not in the right gear]