"A Few Blocks Of Hell" - a Force On Force game report

Two players, infantry units only. Regular forces vs. regular forces.

Scenario played:
"A Few Blocks Of Hell", US Army in Fallujah, out of the FoF (Osprey) rulebook.

Optional rules used for the scenario: "Juba" (a sniper for the Jihadists) and "Raindancer" (a FO with medium mortars on call for the Army).

Forces:
Haymaker 1-1 (Squad Leader 1)
Haymaker 1-1-A and 1-1-B (two standard fire teams)

Haymaker 1-2 (Squad Leader 2)
Haymaker 1-2-A and 1-2-B (two more fire teams)

Raindancer (FO)

versus

Local Jihadists troops 1-5 (JD1 -JD5)
Syrian Street Fighters (SY1 and SY2)
"Juba" with spotter (Sniper Team/ weapons team with SVD rifle ( not suppressed), team starts hidden)

Table set up like indicated by the scenario (more or less)

TURN 1:
Initiative: US Army (as dictated by scenario)

1-1 merges with 1-1-B and they make a rapid move and decide to fire on JD1 once in final position. Using the method that works best, I moved the Squad Leader figure along the path they will run. JD1 and JD2 want to react.

My opponent declares that JD2 will react when the Army passes an open spot on an intersection. Reaction Test failed, so the US boys reach their destination, then the intended target JD1 declares it will react now. Reaction Test failed, now the Army goes first in the firefight. The US Army attacks.

One Jihadist gets hit and and goes down. We rolled to find out who got hit, the Leader goes down. With a casualty ("callous" was used to quicken things little) the Jihadists take their Morale Test. They were retreating.

1-1-A makes a rapid move with JD5 trying to catch them in the open. Reaction Test fails.

1-2 (leader) and 1-2-A rapid move towards their mission objective. JD2 again  tries to react and fails. "Juba" fires his sniper rifle but thank god, he fails to do damage. I chose to use the chance and try to spot the hidden sniper team, since he fired a weapon that is not suppressed but I fail to turn that bonus into something useful and so I move on, unable to find the location of the Sniper shooting at my boys.


TURN 2:
1-1 and 1-1-B rapid move towards a corner of a house and want to fire onto JD2. They'd like to react and fail (again). The fire of the Army resulted in zero figures down and no suppression.

1-2, 1-2-A and 1-2-B as well as the FO (Raindancer) move towards their objectives by rapid movement and aren't seen by anyone.

JD1, JD3, JD4 and Juba move to get into positions allowing to intercept the Army on their march to the houses they are looking for.

And before I foret to mention it:
1-1-A und Raindancer together with 1-1-B declare to be on Overwatch now.

TURN 3 (now it is getting really interesting):
Beginning with turn 3 initiative can change according to the scenario. So, we roll and guess what: the Jihadists actually beat me to it.

The local Jihadists JD1 fire on my advancing fire team and I fail to react in time, fire is exchanged and the RPG taking its toll on my Army soldiers. A rifleman was hit and went down. Making the Morale Test I fail and they withdraw to cover.
Raindancer and fire team 1-2-B also react to JD1's intensions and win the reaction test. With my opponent rolling a "1", the FOW card "Death Or Glory" was drawn and played on JD7 (random). The fire onto the Jihadists resulted into them being pinned.

They also lose their Leader, check Morale, fail and withdraw off the table! (no cover available).

JD4 was activated and moved with tactical speed into position to fire upon 1-1-A. My soldiers want to react and I fail the test with another natural 1. Fog Of War turnes out to be "In Your Face" and grants me 3 extra victory points. Thanks a lot.

We exchange fire and my fire team survives without a scratch due to bad die rolls on my mates' side. My return fire kills a rifleman and they have to test Morale. They pass and stand (but keep being suppressed until rallied).


Payback time. 1-2 and team 1-2-A move tactically and fire upon JD4. The Jihadists declare a reaction and I remind myself of the still placed markers on some units that went on Overwatch. I roll the die and still fail. Noooo!

So the reaction between Jihadists and my squad leader and fire team 1-2-A follows. Another 1 rolled results in FOW "All Clear". I had won the test so I finally open up on the JD4 squad. Three hits scored, three guys down. The following Morale test fails and the holy warriors retreat 11 inches into cover.

JD4 fails to rally but since they are in cover they just stay there.
I make my First Aid check on my downed Rifleman and have to find out the boy is dead :-(

1-2 and team 1-2-A on Overwatch.

TURN 4:
The US keeps initiative.

1-1 and 1-1-B rapidly move (time is becoming an issue to reach the objective). Since no one can trace a LOS onto them they just walk as I please.

1-1-A however is seen after I activate them and so JD5 declares its reaction with fire. 1-1-A wins and JD5 receives four  figures being struck by incoming fire, gets pinned by the sheer volume of fire and yet is capable to achieve a STAND on their Morale Test! The lonesome survivor shoots back but of course that was to no effect.

1-2-B and the bored FO (hadn't called in my arty yet) moved tactically and are seen by JD2 who immediately react by fire. Since I declared units on overwatch last turn, Squad Leader 1-2 and team 1-2-A open up and suppress JD2 with their Leader being shot. They pass their Morale test and stay were they are.

The Jihadists and all Syrian Street Fighters move with rapid speed into new positions to flank the Americans.

JD4 flees off table since they failed their Morale Test again.

TURN 5:

We began the turn but decided that its impossible for the local insurgency to stop the US to claim the houses on top of the scenario map. Even with less victory points for not reaching it by turn 4, the Army would have won with 18 points for killed Insurgents even without owning the objective. The "In Your Face" card would have done the rest. So we stopped it there.

Its noteworthy that the text above is missing some very specific details, so don't be surprized if something seems not to make sense. Can't tell you why though (seriously, deal with it).  The pics are from the game but not placed in between the write-up to display any events described, just some random images taken during the game, nothing else!

CLASSIFIED: Special Operations, 1940 - 2010 PDF Version released

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"Classified Special Operations" is the latest release for Force On Force. It will also be available in print on February 19th, 2013.

You can find it in AAG's webstore or wait for the printed version that will also be available via amazon etc.

Modern US Army: my latest additions

Like I said in my previous postings, currently I am working off all those little things that I kept buying over the years but never painted. xD
The little addition to my US Army force shown below are a couple of those items that were sitting on the "to do" list for way too long...

 From left to right: Elhiem medic, Stonewall Platoon 20 grenadier, Force of Valor wounded soldier with comrade (repainted), Stonewall Platoon 20 rifleman, Elhiem "breacher" with shotgun

The same models' back show the various loadouts from different eras. Normally you shouldn't mix them as they are representing different timeframes of action. I just placed them next to each other cause they were painted at the same time and because it shows you how they mix size-wise. All are labelled as 1/72 or 20mm.



Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

Some of the latest pics show recent progress. I finished off most of the details that still were to paint and added posters and shop signs.
The sand that was put into place at the lower end of the building was to conceal the flaws of the house (many of them). I've painted it to match bases and my desert gaming board.

I also painted the sidewalk that goes all around the building. The yellow and white stripes are typical for Iraq (they really have them).

The water tank and the electrical collectors got their rusty finish.

You may have noticed that also the satellite dishes have been attached now.

The corrugated metal roof has turned out better than expected. Probably the part I like most on the building.

Rooftop air cons painted now and Pola lamps attached.

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

Wo-hooo. More progress :-) Spent some hours to rust n' dust a couple of things. Basicly all you do is painting small random blotches of Scorched Brown, paint a smaller blotch of Bestial Brown on top, add one of Red Gore and finally add tiny dots and lines of Blazing Orange. Looks like rusty metal doors. There is probably better ways to achieve that look, but hey - for the work of a couple of minutes it didn't turn out tooo bad, did it?
Rusty corrugated metal. I started with a mixture of 25% Bestial Brown, 25% Red Gore and 50% water and painted on a bascoat of this redish-brown colour. I then reduced the amount of water in the mix step by step and painted on random (!) blotches. Due to the wet paint (lots of water) it took a while to dry. Once dried, I painted on streakes (from top to bottom) with pure Bestial Brown and pure Red Gore (use variable length for the "stripes"). With a tank drybrush I then brushed a mix of Blood Red and Red Gore from left to right. Finally, a wash of thinned down Dark Flesh was put into the recesses. When the wash had dried, I used an old drybrush (a really messed up thing) to dab on small dots of Blazing Orange.

The garage doors where painted with Ice Blue and got a filter of thinned down Black Wash (not Citadel foundation one, the old one).

Basicly the rust effects where done exactly as on the metal doors above on the other side of the house. Blotches of various brown colours, each "dot" smaller than the one I painted on before. Then red colours and finally the Blazing Orange highlights. Finally I once again took the base colour of Ice Blue and covered all messy parts/mistakes that occured.

Off for more details now.

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

I was experimenting with the base colours of the Iraqi house I am currently working on. Some friends passed on pictures they took in the middle east and those turned out to be a huge source of inspiration as well as a good reference for painting.

This is the "base colour" although it actually is four colours!! I started with a tank brush (GW), painting the entire building in Dheneb Stone. Once I was done, I used the same brush size to paint on some "streaks" of Kommando Khaki, followed by Iraqi Sand (Vallejo) of which only on the edges of windows and rooftop some streaks were applied. Khemri Brown was used from the top down, streaking on some random "rain marks".
Finally, some Charadon Granite was used to splash on some spots of darker brown. These marks can be all sorts of things - bullet holes etc.

After the base colour(s) dried, I used masking tape to mask the upper part of the building. I wanted some colour to break up the overall sandy look. A red stripe goes all around the building (its about the height of a 20mm figure).

Using the same colours as for the base colour and parts of an old Citadel miniature blister "sponge" (the stuff GW puts behind its miniatures in blisters), I was weathering the red stripe that leads around the first floor.

I just dabbed the sponge into one of the base colours at a time, dried it on some kitchen roll and then went ahead putting colour down in a random pattern. Finally I blended the worn, chipped paint into the upper half of the house by drybrushing the passage between sand colour and red stripe with Vallejo Iraqi Sand.

That left me with the bricks being visible in the open parts of the stucco. Reference pics clearly show that both, classical "terracotta" coloured bricks and sand coloured ones made from mud are used widepread in the middle east. Sometimes even both on the same building.

I was trying the red ones first and liked it that much that I decided to use solely red bricks.

I started with a base of Bestial Brown in all open stucco holes. On top I dabbed Red Gore which was followed by Blazing Orange in a random pattern. Make sure you don't paint over all layers you painted before - leave some parts visible. A wash of strong thinned down grey colour was used to determine the joints between bricks.

After the grey has dried I brushed Mig Pigments (African Sand) into the gaps and used thinner to fix it in place.

Now off to paint details! :-)

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

Basecoat added. It really comes together now. I already painted up some parts. More pics of that progress later.

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

I am going to expand my terrain collection for Iraq games with Force On Force by a couple of "urban" buildings. While I do already have a lot of houses, most of them are rather "rural" by their shape and size.

This is going to change now. For quite some month there was this unbuilt Stonewall Combat Scenics "two storey residence/shop" lying around my stash of unbuilt stuff. It was only a couple of days ago when I realized it is a) missing parts (roof and some doors) and b) doesn't fit at all.
This was the worst piece of terrain I ever came accross. But it doesn't help me - I need to get it fixed.
So here is what I came up with - tons of materials from even more sources.

The building like I said is from Stonewall. I had to replace the missing roof with styrene sheet.
Thanks to not fitting at all, plenty of putty was used all around. The satellite dishes are from S&S as are the bigger air conditioners.
Rooftop mounted AC are from S&S, lamps by POLA (H0 scale), the balcony is from another kit by Lasermodellbau (Najewitz), the corrugated metal shed from a Conrad Garage in H0 scale.
An old measuring cup with H-profile styrene sheet underneath makes a good water tank. The smaller AC units are also from Lasermodellbau.
The electrical collector was made from scratch, using Italeri parts.

Generic Iraqi Force: Infantry support weapons

A couple of days ago another packet arrived at my home. Mark T. has sent back to me all of my Iraqi Gun crews - a mix of S&S and RH Liberation Miniatures. He was tasked to paint them to standards as he did with my Republican Guard last year. I completed the miniatures by adding a few details here and there, putting tufts etc. on bases and finally built and painted all weapon systems they are going to man. Thanks for your help, mate!

Iraqi Gun Crew #1: RH Liberation minis with RH Liberation Type 63 towed (Chinese) 107mm rocket launcher.
Iraqi Gun Crew #2: RH Liberation miniatures with RH Liberation SPG-9 73mm Recoilless Rifle

Iraqi Gun Crew #3: RH Liberation miniatures with MAC 1/72 Soviet mortar (plastic piece that comes with their UAZ jeep)

Iraqi MANPADS team: Soviet-built SA-7 Grail (IGLA) gunner (RH Liberation) with spotter (S&S Models)

Iraqi DshK team: Gun crew and DshK by RH Liberation, additional team member by S&S Models.

I saw a sign.... The Road To Baghdad: Iraqi Highway Signs

Force On Force's first supplement is called "Road To Baghdad". I am in need for more Iraqi looking terrain. I thought an "actual" road to Baghdad would just do, especially as it is used in some scenarios/missions.
Task Force 1-64 on its way to Baghdad.

I made the highway signs using styrene profiles and sheets from Evergreen.

The actual signs came from a decal sheet from TheSquare. They were applied onto 1mm styrene sheet and then glued into place.

This layout only displays a fast scene I set up for the pics. The gaming table for the scenarios will be twice this size to give the Americans a challenging distance to travel while being attacked from left and right.

These road signs aren't exactly in scale as they are from Verlinden's range for dioramas in 1/35.

Nonetheless I think they fit just fine.

Another shot of the Verlinden variant.

The roads are from ESLO terrain of Germany. Lamp poles are 1/87 H0 scale and the telegraph poles from Italeri.

TF 1-64 scanning for targets.

Just another generic shot from the miniature's perspective. :-D

More terrain to come...