This is the one I've been waiting on for a couple of years, now I just have to wait for a check to clear so I can order it….. boy am I impatient.
I will probably break out the minis today and start preping them for the second tour…… I'd been running a cooperative campaign in which four of the club each control a squad and are completing missions individually or in cooperation for bigger scenarios. We took a break when the new style THW rule formatting came out and have been waiting for the update to FNG.
To give you a quick idea how cooperative games work, I assign an overall mission and place PEF (possible Enemy forces) on the board. Some of them are static (remain in place) and some move about. During a "Patrol" mission, the squad moves through the field of play (tabletop terrain) and attempts to accomplish their mission. The last one involved checking out a cave complex in the Iron Triangle. As the move and come into sight of the varuious PEF, they are determined to be either decoys, actual troops, ambushes, or even booby traps. If its not a dummy counter (rooled randomly) we determine what it is and deploy it reasonably. Conflict then continues with enemy now on board. As the trooper engage or pull out, their is always the possibility of activating other PEFs which might complicate things more.
The players have good reason not to waste their troopers in a single big push. The causulties (KIAS, MIA, and wounded) as part of the same squad that will be assigned the next mission. Dead soldiers might not get replace fast enough and usually its by a FNG (Freaking New Guy….basically a raw recruit straight from basic). Wounded soldiers may miss anywhere from 1-6+ months of scenarios also. So accomplishing your current mission is important, but you still have to maintain a fighting force to survive the war…… This produces tough decisions for the players as they weigh the importance of each mission against the mounting casualties. And as often as not you'll here the call for "Medic!" or "Medivac" or even "All troops fall back to Rally point Bravo"
We've been running it in 6mm with cm's substituted for inches. Gives a really great game.
I guess next week we'll be firering the old squads up and bringing them back from R&R. The only problem is that the new ACTA SF is arriving at one of their houses this weekend so we will be competeing for club time.
Skipper
reports from OrcCon 2008.
