This is a bit overdue, but on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, I got together with Balin (AKA Cloudcaptain) and his two friends Jeff an Luke to play a few games of Ambush Alley. Now, I have had Ambush Alley for a while and been working on scenery and miniatures for what seem like forever, but this was the first chance to really use the rules and see what mayhem would ensue. I decided we would use the first scenario since out of the four of us, only I really familiar with the rules, and I was going to act as a game master while Jeff and Luke took control of the Marines and Balin the insurgents.
The battlefield was setup pretty much like it is in the rules scenario with a few substitutions. Most of the buildings were done by Shawn at Ambush Alley Games, and I must say they are very nice. Even my wife was impressed by them. The walled compound with the bushes around it was built by me from thin pieces of high density foam. I also built some corrugated metal fencing and concrete walls to add to the battlefield. The cars and construction equipment are 1/87 vehicles from Wal-Mart. The trees and terrain mat are from theterrainguy.com (the mat is the brown gray smooth urban and the trees were bought loose and I painted and based them). The minis are a mix of mainly Peter Pig with a few Rebel minis thrown in on the insurgent side. Balin traded me the minis but I think they were paint by nnascati on the Ambush Alley Forum.
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The scenario is based around two contractors (Black Water) getting into trouble with their SUV out of commission and them having to hold out against some unfriendly locals while waiting for help to hopefully arrive. The marines have gotten a call telling them they are the only close unit to the contractors and their 2 fire teams (2 rifles, M203 and SAW) and Corporal (Rifle) are the only thing that will prevent these two contractors from being dragged through the streets on the evening news. When the marines arrive the contractors have been holding their own for 30 minutes and are now injured and running low on ammo so the marines need to get to them and get out before the milling locals coalesce into something more organized. At the same time the marines are coming up the street to the contractor's position from the south, a group of local militia leaders in the north corner are making a bee line for a group of their buddies manning a "check point" to go take care of the foreigners. Various other gunmen are also on the scene making life hard for the Americans. The longer this mission takes, the more "normal" Iraqi citizens are going to go home and get their own gun to take a few shots at the infidels (especially if the marines are laying waste to the neighborhood). The marines have to get to the SUV, collect the contractors and get out to the north or west. Not too hard as long as they keep their wits about them.
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Jeff and Luke looked over the terrain and saw that there was the rear of a group of stores running down their left side with a metal fence forming a private back area behind the stores. On the left was a series of arches between two buildings with some low walls and a few palm trees. Sine the SUV was in a fairly open area with many buildings overlooking the position, the marine leaders decided on a plan where Fire Team a would position itself on one of the retail store roofs so it could cover the Corporal's and Fire Team B's advance to the SUV. No sooner had the marines started to move than an Iraqi popped out with an RPG, but he took one look at the Americans and their guns and tried to change his mind. Too late, he was cut down by a hail of well placed gun fire. Fire Team A entered the first building and climbed to the roof. Fire Team B moved into the area by the arches and planned to hunker down by the low walls and palm trees while A got into position, but they ended up facing another RPG and an Iraqi militia leader. Fortunately, the well trained marines made short work of the locals.
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As the marines moved into their positions, the militia leaders and gunmen moved to close in on the marines. A couple of new bands of gunmen came out onto the streets and joined their fellows in defending the neighborhood. One of these new groups found itself on the other side of the arches from the unsuspecting Fire Team B. The contractors were still taking fire and the marines were cautiously closing in on them.
Fire Team A started their turn trying to move across the roof tops of the stores in the middle area of the table, but cam under fire from gunmen coming toward their position from the checkpoint. The ensuing combat did not leave many casualties, but slowed the marine's progress. While Fire Team A was still trying to get into an overwatch position, Fire Team B engaged several small groups of Iraqis and made little progress toward the objective. The Iraqi leaders from the North corner were almost to the center of the West side of the battle field when they were joined by a group of fresh gunmen, effectively cutting off an escape route for the marines to the West. Another large group of gunmen with a leader and RPG came into the battle near the walled compound in the North East corner. The marine commanders started to take note of the increasing number of insurgents and began to realize that they were taking far too long in accomplishing their mission and that further delays were going to weigh heavily against them.
Finally the marines agreed that time was running short and speed was of the essence so they changed their tactics. Fire Team B made a run for the contractors, grabbed them on the go, and successfully dragged them into the building by the SUV. Fire Team A fired on the Iraqis from the check point and then left the buildings to try and link up with Fire Team B. More insurgents entered the battle field and the Iraqis began forming into a much more coercive force as the leaders spread out and took command of the gunmen.
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While this was going on, the insurgents at the walled compound began to exchange fire with Fire Team B with neither side taking any damage (both sides firing from the roof of their respective building). Fire Team A made a run across the street to the building where Fire Team B was held up, but they came up short right next to the SUV and a hail of insurgent gunfire ripped into them. One marine went down in the barrage and the others were now going to be forced to try and get him to cover before they could check his condition. Things around the SUV were going from bad to worse as more insurgents began coming in line of sight of the position.
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The marine's leadership went into a frenzied huddle trying to decide how to handle the fast declining situation. Seeing that having Fire Team A run to the current position of Fire Team B and then moving out would waste valuable time, the decision was made for both fire teams to link up at a building on the corner of the intersection and then fight their way in mass to the Northern edge of the board. The plan seemed solid since few of the insurgents were on the North side. Now it was time to set the plan in motion.
Fire Team B made a dash across the open intersection to the corner building (we moved only one marine to the middle of the intersection for spotting purposes) only to have numerous insurgent positions fire upon their advance. At this point disaster struck. The marines rolled a 1 on their reaction dice resulting in Fog of War coming into play (we were using the optional FOW rules for the scenario). The insurgents had been laying in wait for a rescue team to arrive for the contractors and had zeroed in a group of light mortars on the SUV. The scream of incoming was heard moments before the marines around the SUV were thrown around like rag dolls by the explosions. All four marines were now down around the SUV and no one was moving. Fire Team B ran the gauntlet of gun fire and made it to the corner, but the marines were deeply demoralized by what they had just witnessed and the thought of trying to go back into the intersection for their buddies seemed like suicide. After a discussion between the marine leadership, it was decided that the game had effectively come to an end and that Balin's insurgents had clearly taken the day since no scenario open to the Marines seemed to offer any hope of victory and throwing away more lives was out of the questions. Next time the marines will likely be a little lighter on their feed and less inclined to stand around while the enemy is organizing his forces for a coordinated attack.
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The Ambush Alley rules ran very well and very fast, getting a big nod of approval from all players. This was a much needed after the holidays gaming break and I look forward to many more in the near future. We are all waiting for the Force on Force and Sci Fi rules to come out next year to continue the fight on Earth and all the way to the stars.
A few pictures from game two . . . . sorry, no AAR for this one . . . .
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I might even get the AAR written up faster next time!!!
Thanks,
Jeff
thinks Mark's work is among the best available for all-around gaming and painting.
