Force on Force: Modern Skirmish- Bundeswehr vs the Taliban

My son ( Nick Junior) and I decided to put his new 28mm Eureka Miniatures Bundeswehr through their paces recently. The task was simple for the Germans- a routine patrol through 'pacified' territory with the usual 'hearts and minds' visits- knocking on doors and being nice. Well in this scenario, each building that the Germans went to a D6 was rolled. On anything but a '1' all was okay. But eventually the dreaded single digit put in an appearance ( it wouldn't have been much of a game if it didn't) and this indicated a weapons cache.

 German Patrol No1 approach the house where the stashed weapons were found. Tail End Charlie watches the patrol's rear.

Well things went rapidly downhill for the Germans as they attempted to take the man prisoner. The situation exploded and the Germans called in support. As luck would have it ( a fog of war card) a sand storm had blown up grounding the US Black Hawk and supporting troops so the Germans were on their own......and things were looking pretty grim. It turned out that the Taliban had been infiltrating weapons and men into the village and these now turned out in force to confront the luckless Germans.

Patrol No2 moves through the deceptively quiet streets.

My son Nick has been hanging around Nick senior too long and rather than beat a hasty withdrawal he decided to take on the Taliban. All of them. With just one five man and one six man patrol he figured that, as far as he was concerned they were Bundeswehr ( he likes the name), he could beat any local insurgency. At first he withdrew from the house where the problems started, but a group of insurgents emerged to follow them down the street. Returning fire, the Germans suffered one man lightly wounded but destroyed the small 3 man cell that had followed them.

The hardcore Taliban take position on the roof of a house and start blasting.

Drawn by the automatic fire, more insurgents 'piled on'. The German discipline and training, however, very quickly became apparent with two cells quickly downed but the hardcore Taliban began to pour into town from the nearby hills and scrub. Both German patrols leapfrogged, firing and moving to the edge of the town they forced the Taliban back into the ruins and rugged terrain. The Germans then moved out into the open but suddenly came under fire from a HMG and insurgent cells from the rooftops from inside the town. The Germans realised that they were heavily outnumbered and despite the fact that they had inflicted 15 casualties - they had only, at this stage,  two heavily wounded - from Patrol 1- they began a fighting retreat. Patrol No 2 had one last bit of bad luck as the ran into an incoming Taliban cell. In the very close range fire fight, 1 German was killed and two more were seriously wounded. The Taliban were wiped out. The Germans finally got away!

The Germans move thru the village square and are hit by HMG fire -in the distance.

The Taliban, drawn by the fire, come in from the nearby hills

Patrol No 1 followed the fleeing insurgents into the hills and scrub behind the village- only to find it swarming with Taliban fighters

 

Patrol 1 take up firing positions at the end of the street

Patrol 2 moving to take the incoming Taliban from the hills

Patrol 2 Deploys and hit the enemy hard.

More Taliban cells join the fight

More Taliban emerge from the ruins at the far edge of the table. Nick said in exasperation- 'How many are there? Where the hell are they all coming from?'

Patrol 2 and a Taliban cell walk into each other- a blistering fire fight ensued.
The Germans survived (with 1 dead and two heavily wounded).
The Taliban didn't.