Force on Force: Modern Skirmish- A Coalition setback

The Brothers assembled recently on a cold winter's night. We were down on numbers, only Paul, Ross, Phil, Nick (junior), Richard and myself gathered to pit some US Marine fire teams and a covert SAS team against a small pocket of Taliban insurgents.

The Location: a Village called Wadifakawi located on the Afghan/Pakistani border.
The Brief: The area had been cleared of enemy insurgents over a year ago but intelligence reports have determined that there has been unsual activity of late. An SAS team was inserted into the Pakistan side of the border to observe the town. They regularly sent reports that weapons were being stockpiled by small numbers of enemy insurgents. Due to the politically sensitive nature of the border region, no air support could be used or heavy vehicles. ( this made it easy for the umpire, yours truly,  to introduce the Force and Force rules to the Brothers!)

The Center of town: the DSHK 12.7 mm behind sandbags - the building was where the weapons cache had been hidden

The Mission: Two US fire teams of 4 men each, a sniper team and a GPMG team were to sweep the village to find the cache of stockpiled weapons. The SAS were to only engage if requested to by the Marines.

Phil's Fire Team Bravo (left) and the sniper team (right)

    Phil and Ross played the Marines and my son Nick- who knows the rules better than me - was the SAS team.
      Richard and Paul played the nascent insurgents. They chose, unbeknown to the Coalition force, a location for the stockpiled weapons.

The Marines got off to a great start, Ross positioned his GPMG team on the roof of an outlying house and set them on overwatch for the rest of the game. They would take out at least 8-10 of the enemy by game's end.
Ross' fireteam  (Team Alpha) advanced into the town but soon found themselves under fire from a mortar and a group of insurgents in a nearby ruined house. A combination of GPMG fire and fireteam lead wiped the small group out and the sweep continued.
Phil's fireteam (Team Bravo) advanced well into the town clearing some mediocre resistance away fairly quickly. But the Coalition forces had underestimated the numbers and determination of the insurgency and Phil very quickly found his fireteam making heavy contact with at least 3-4 times their own number. Even with the added support of his sniper team, he took casualties and was forced to withdraw to a nearby house.

Ross' MG team on the building, covering Fire Team Alpha below them

 Richard and Paul, scenting blood, left 2 small units to hold Ross' team and 'piled on' their forces in the direction of Phil's fireteam which was now taking fire from the insurgent mortar and a Dshk 12.7mm heavy machine gun. The game entered a crucial phase as the sweep had stalled, so Ross called on the SAS who quickly made for the bridge and entered the town. The insurgent 12.7mm turned its fire on them and gave Phil  time to get his sniper team into a nearby tower. There, accurate sniper fire pinned two insurgent units down . Ross added his MG team and the Taliban hesitated in their attacks.
 But the 12.7mm then fired an extremely lucky burst, and both man in the sniper team were down- there were groans of dismay - although Paul started singing: 'Come Mr Taliban, tally me banana'!

The Insurgent Mortar....normally can't hit a thing, but they got lucky this time!

Phil's Fire Team Bravo- about to break cover

The insurgents assemble behind an old house

Fire team Bravo break cover and get caught in the open by the mortar and two insurgent cells- and take serious casualties

Fire team Bravo- taking fire from two Taliban cells

The SAS cross the bridge and come under heavy fire.

Ross was faring better and after dealing with the threat to his front sent his Team Alpha to assist the beleaguered Phil. Dragging the seriously wounded sniper out the of the tower, and the body of his spotter, the US forces withdrew to a nearby house. At this point the SAS took out the Dshk , but one of them was seriously wounded. The Marines had two seriously wounded and two dead. Angered at the poor intelligence and lack of planning and heavy support, the Coalition forces withdrew leaving Wadifakawi in the hands of the insurgents.

For the Brother's first game of Force on Force ( I had played many with my son before) it went pretty smoothly and most of the boys seemed happy with the mechanisms. The Coalition forces have promised to come back with more firepower...and the insurgents will be waiting to say 'hello'!

The SAS on a rooftop keeping the heads of the Taliban down