"Operation Dragon Forge, Fight #5" Topic

All,

AKA, Unit 101's 5th Fight of Operation Payback

It's 0315 on 11 Jul 1990, and Unit 101 is in Lebanon, closing in on The Mayor in the village of Jezabyl. The village is very small, and inhabited only by people that are well armed and loyal to The Mayor, and the tactical problem is that the platoon needs to take The Mayor alive. They're plan is simple and straightforward: Team 1 will bust the door down (this fight), and then Team 2 will dart through and grab the target (next batrep, at least assuming this works). Meanwhile, the sniper and MG teams will be to the southwest, in position to isolate the enemy compound (keep reinforcements from getting in) and prevent escape (keep the target from getting out).

Overview of the table, north is right. You see a shallow stream running north-south, with an orchard at top right (northwest), several walled compounds, and a few crop fields. I'm playing this solo, using Ben Lacy's skirmish rules "Final Combat." These are super detailed, and you know I'm simple, so I'm using the activation system as written, and I'm using the movement, spotting, morale, casualty determination, and firing pretty much as written, though simplified just a hair. This game was fun, and didn't take as long as I thought it would, but was still longer than I generally am looking for. I really like the activation system, so I'll probably work to make shooting, spotting, morale, and casualty determination. Oh, and I didn't really mess with postures too much, everyone just kept moving forward. Part of that was I don't have figures to reflect the different postures (standing, kneeling, and prone) and I didn't really want to use more markers for it, though I'm considering getting some more Peter Pig US Marines so I can do this. The only problem is, I can't find suitable bad guys where I can do the same thing (no one makes modern prone bad guys!).

The Cuban entry team, from left: Tank (TQ 4), Rung (TQ 3), Dozer (TQ 4), Switch (TQ 3), Rake (TQ 5), and Cypher (TQ 4). The bad guys have two leaders that are TQ3, the rest are TQ2 rabble.

In the still of the night, the Cuban Special Forces soldiers creep forward up the creek. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link

The rules worked out great. The game was kinda long, but that's true anytime you play a set of rules for the first time, and there are a lot of modifiers to look up (firing, spotting, morale, hit location, figuring out impact). And I couldn't find my D20, so I was rolling two D10s, which I like better anyway (I always hate rolling only one dice, just a personal hangup). In any case, the next fight will be using the same rules, the same way, then I'll look at changing things up if I think I need to. Hope you liked it, I certainly did!

V/R,
Jack

AAR is a fun read. Looks like a good game, visually appealing too.

On a technical note, 2d10 do not give the same results as 1d20. They form a curve centered on 11 tapering to 2 & 20. You have a 1% chance to get a 2 or 20 wit a 10% chance for an 11. No way to role a 1. d20 gives an even 5% chance for any number… But then it's your game, still looks like fun

You continue to entertain and inspire me sir.

Very cool and was keen to hear your thoughts on the game.

Jack… that was awesome…. thanks for trying it out. Let me know if I can help in any way. I look forward to the next one. :)

Talisman – thanks, and of course you're correct regarding the D20. Using two D10s was a field expedient solution. In the second game (to be posted on Thursday or so) I converted the D20 to percentiles for D100. Probably still not perfect, but close enough for me.

Defender – stop, you're embarrassing me! ;). I'm glad you liked it, and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read and post a comment.

Ivan – it was pretty cool! I guess between this and NEIS, I'm breaking out of my quick and simple mode ;)

Ben – thank you, and sorry it took so long. I feel like I'm set for WWII and higher echelon rules, but these are really great for handling the disparity between my SOF and the Mediocre Bad Guys. Good stuff, and I was just paging through "Tier One" to see which scenarios I could pull out for this campaign.

V/R,
Jack

Sometimes something that is a bit heavier and "chunkier" can be fun :-)

Yeah, I'm starting to realize that sometimes you feel like a nut…

V/R,
Jack

If it took you this long to figure out, you really are dense :D

It did, and you can my , you sorry er!!!

On the other hand, I've been called worse ;)

V/R,
Jack

Jack,
Great stuff as always. Recognize alot of stuff on the board including the creek. His rivers are amazing aren't they?

Joe

Joe,

Thanks man, and yeah, the rivers are fantastic. I just wish the glare wasn't so bad in the pics, they look much better in real life.

V/R,
Jack

Agreed. I am impressed with the stuff just below the surface.

Joe