AAR Rheindahlen

Ok, I clearly opened a can of worms with the close assault questions. I'll
read the rules again really really carefull before continuing.

In the meantime, here is a small AAR of the Action 2001 show at Rheindahlen
JHQ. Derk has probably some corrections and extra tidbits.

Rheindahlen is about a 3 hour drive from where I live in Delft(Holland). As we
wanted a relaxed weekend, and nobody was participating in the DBM tournament
we left Delft at 9.00 on Saturday morning. Just before crossing the border we
had lunch at a McDonalds in Venlo, after which we arrived at the JHQ at about
13.00. The show was already in full swing as a lot of people had arrived the
previous evening.

The show was held in a sports hall and was much bigger compared to when I
attended two years ago when it was help in a much smalled venue. There were
about 6 traders with different goodies, a lot of clubs from Germany, Holland,
Belgium and even the UK, and a huge bring and buy.

I shot some photos on film, and I will put these up on the Murphy's Heroes
website when the film is full.

There were two really noticeable demos. One was a huge 1/300 demo of a
coastal invasion using epic miniatures. This consisted of two tables of 2x8
meters each with a small isle in between. These guys probably robbed a bank or
something to be able to afford all the stuff that was on the table.

The other was a small, but really nice looking, participation game of
Megiddo(?) by the Lance & Longbow Society(?). I always get confused by all
those societies:-) This was only 2x2 feet big, but the landscape looked
really great.

In total there were about 20 demos. Unfortunately, most were only demos and
not participation games. We were guilty of this ourselves as well with
Stargrunt. We didn't actually invite anybody to participate, and we had too
many rules discussions to make it fun for casual participants anyway.

After saying hello to everybody we set up our table and were ready to start
the first scenario at about 14.00. This was an ambush scenario were an
attacking force had to cross the table diagonally and the defender was hidden
all over the table using counters. The attacker had 4 squads, a walker and one
sniper. The defender had 3 squads, 2 snipers, 2 minefields and about 10 dummy
counters. This scenario was great fun for everybody, even for the attacker who
got a bit paranoid after his sniper got too close to one of the minefields( we
didn't tell him the range was 2 inches). His sniper wasn't even wounded, but
he was a lot more carefull after that in scanning everything and clearing out
the table step by step. It didn't help much that both his eyeball Mk1 and
enhanced sensors didn't have much success in identifying counters. The
scenario ended at about 10.00 or 11.00 late at night when the defending
players last squad was badly mauled. The one mistake with this scenario was
that I didn't put a timelimit on it. This meant that the attacker could take
his time clearing out positions before
advancing a bit, instead of taking more risks/casualties and crossing
the table in good time.

Scenario 2 was one I downloaded. There is an airstrip with lots of buildings
and a control tower. The control tower has to be taken within a time limit so
that a landing can take place. The defender had 1 squad of technicians who had
to be kicked out of the tower before they could perform any acts of sabotage
and a few other squads. The attacker came in with 4 squads and a walker. The
original scenario specified more armour which we didn't have, so we increased
the time limit from 15 to 20 turns. This was a really close scenario which
eventually was won by the attacker with only 2 turns left. This scenario was
ultimately won by a close assault from one of my squads on the building with
the technicians. They were kicked out, but my squad was badly mauled as well.
After that an enemy squad in a nearby room close assaulted me. This really was
an example of a close assault being very dangerous. My squad failed its
reaction test and retreated. In the followup
he caught me and we did a hand-to-hand combat, which my squad
fortunately won.

During this scenario we had several problems with close assaults and the use
of buildings. We used buildings as hard cover, while we should have made them
armoured point targets. I found some additional info on bildings on the web,
so we'll try to accumulate a lot of info before trying something like this
again.

This scenario took a long time so around 2.30 at night we called it quits. As
it was a military base breakfast was between 8.00 and 9.00. To be able to get
anything before the food was either cold or gone we had to get up at 7.30
(argh!). We continued the scenario at 9.00 and were finished around 11.00.

After that we started the 3rd scenario which was a rescue mission. Even though
we didn't get to finish the scenario before the show ended at 14.30, we had a
lot of fun as the outlook for winning the game changed a few times during the
course of the scenario.

Setup: a table with lots of cover and a big clearing just to one side of the
center of the table. Close to the center of the table a group of VIPs has
crashed who have to be rescued. Most of them are wounded, so they have to be
treated before they can be moved. The enemy has several squads, a walker and a
sniper who arrive at random times at random points on the edge of the table.
The rescue mission consisted of 1 command squad and 3 other squads who have to
be dropped on the table. Each squad had a medic.

I chose to do an orbital insertion in turn 1 for my first squad so that I
would have a secure position around the VIPs. The other squads would be
parachuted in turn 3 or later. The orbital drop was right on target on the
VIP's position. It took me only one turn to get most of the squad reorganised
around the VIPs and another turn to get the remainder in place as well.
Unfortunately the medic disappeared head first into a nearby swamp, so I had
to wait a few turns for a medic from another squad before starting the
evacuation. I chose the drop point for the other three squads near the edge of
the clearing so I could secure a route of the table for the evacuation. The
first squad that was parachuted in landed relatively close together, except
for the medic who hit the only rocky outcropping nearby. Splat! Around this
time an enemy squad entered the table near my projected evacuation route,
which wasn't good as they were also very close to the drop point for the
remaining 2 squads. My command squad landed on one side of the rocks, while
the enemy had moved up to the other side. Of course the medic chose to do
something exciting and landed in the middle of the enemy. Fortunately I had
the initiative, so the medic could run away to his squad. On the other hand
his squad was now pinned down behind the rocks, so it was unlikely they would
reach the VIPs anytime soon. About this time a second enemy squad entered the
table at the same corner and reinforced the first squad. This wasn't good as
my last squad landed in the middle of the clearing and immediately caught
fire. The took two casualties but eventually managed to get to safety.

Things looked grim. Four out of five VIP's were wounded and no medic in sight.
The commanding officer made a potential disastrous career choice and decided
on field dressings. Two VIPs completely recovered, one was stabilised and one
died. This left enough VIPs to carry the wounded and dead one, and left the
squad free to provide security.
> From this point on things began looking better. The other three squads
At this point I found out how fast a walker can walk. The thing did a double
move(24") and came into sight of the VIPs, who promptly panicked(green3).
After that the walker only caused a suppression before being blown to bits by
a LAW. However, it had done its job in that it took the VIPs 3 turns before
getting unpanicked. By this time another enemy squad and a sniper had closed
in on their position.

We had to stop at this point as the show closed. However, the outcome was far
from sure. One of my squads was moving to reinforce the VIPs and their
accompanying squad. My two remaining squads were trading fire with the first
two enemy squads who were by now unsuppressed because I had to concentrate on
the walker. On top of that an enemy squad was close enough to begin a close
assault. These were green as well, but I didn't know that.

All in all we had great fun, but we had some problems interpreting the rules
(close assault), and we also did some things wrong(buildings). After the first
two scenarios we introduced some rules for overwatch which we felt was
something that was clearly missing. After browsing the internet I found some
rule sthat were fairly similar to what we did.

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Just my 2 bits owrth...

> On Tue, 13 Mar 2001, Frits Kuijlman wrote:

> Ok,

I'll do my worst.

<snip bit about the rest of the guys arriving late;) >

> I shot some photos on film, and I will put these up on the Murphy's

I took some as well, will scan them once I finish the film.
> After saying hello to everybody we set up our table and were ready to

He actually got very paranoid well before that, when my green sniper opened up
fire on him. The two snipers kept all his troops occupied for a good while,
completely stopping his advance in it's tracks. If he'd pressed on against the
snipers he'd probably taken less casualties than with the careful approach he
took now.

> His sniper wasn't even wounded, but

I'd like to point out that by then, I'd taken out all of his armour (1 walker,
but that doesn't sound nearly as cool), pretty much annihilated one squad and
seriously hurt another. I didn't die completely in vain...

> The one mistake with this scenario was that I didn't put a timelimit

Yes - he could pretty much concentrate his entire force on one bit of
terrain, take it, then concentrate on the next, etc. He didn't make anywhere
near as much of an advantage of that, as he could have, though.

> Scenario 2 was one I downloaded. There is an airstrip with lots of

It was a very fun scenario, even if everyone was getting very tired when we
had to break for the night.

> During this scenario we had several problems with close assaults and

One problem we had was again the lack of overwatch. If you start close enough,
it's possible to walk up to a building and fire in through the windows, before
the defender has a chance to react. This proves a heck of a lot more effective
than close assault, but is this a desired effective
tactic????

> This scenario took a long time so around 2.30 at night we called it
Even though
> we didn't get to finish the scenario before the show ended at 14.30,

I'll elaborate a bit here, since I've got the inside scope on this one. The
scenario was as follows. A shuttle with VIP's had been shot down and
crashlanded smack in the middle of hostile territory. The friendlies dispatch
an emergency rescue operation, to amn area under hostile air cover. The
hostiles have approx. a platoon in the area, which will respond, trying to
capture the VIPs to interrogate them.

The terrain was heavily wooded, with patches of woods seperated only by narrow
parths covering most of the table but for a clearing in the middle. The only
conscious VIP has already moved his collegues to a bit of cover near this
clearing, set a beacon, and popped smoke for visual recognition. As umpire, I
had created a large open space so that the NAC player could opt for a
relatively safe dropzone, with only extreme rolls resulting in casualties.
This was not to be;)

In order to extract their VIP's, a rescue operation had been mounted in a
great hurry by NAC-like forces. The rescuer (NAC-alike) had at his
immediate disposition one Pathfinder group of 6 figures in full armour, as
well as two infantry squads and platoon HQ squad (8 fig each). The troops were
on average veteran quality (I had the pathfinders drawn from a
50/50
elite veteran mix of counters, and removed some of the elite and added
regulars for the infantry) All squads included one medic, for this mission.
Mission motivation was medium, and the troops were fresh, starting as
confident.

The opposing player had a force consisting of 3 8 figure squads in heavy
armour, with a missile launcher and gauss rifles, one command group,
a sniper, and a recon walker. Also, the player could call on a 3-tube
mortar battery. The player was told to create two patrol groups, before being
given any further briefing; he made a group of 2 squads, and a group of the
remainder. They were patrolling the area when an urgent command to get their
asses to the crash site and capture the VIP's was received.

His closest group (the one w/o walker) had a chance to arrive from turn
2
on, needing a 6 on d6 to arrive, 5,6 on the next turn, then 4-6, etc. On
a succesful roll the first squad would arrive, with rolls continuing the next
turn. The setup for the other team was similar, only starting a turn later,
and needing an 8 on d8 to start with.

Upon arrival of the first squad, an entry point would be decided at random,
anywhere around the table, with the exception of the NAC
EVAC-direction. Further squads of the same group would arrive from the
same point. All squads would arrive in single column.

The NAC player had the option of EITHER air-dropping all troops, or
choosing to do an earlier, orbital drop with the pathfinders.

> I chose to do an orbital insertion in turn 1 for my first squad so

This rather daring drop surprised me, and was incredibly risky. But it worked
out well enough, except for the medic.

> I chose the drop point for the other three squads near the edge of the

And another medic down the drain....

> Around this time an enemy squad entered the table near my projected

Especially since the enemy had a line of sight on the infantry squad and
opened fire right away. Luckily for the NAC, they suffered no casualties.

> My command squad landed on one side of the rocks,

This was the first example of madly bouncing counters in the game; the counter
skipped 30 or so cm off to the side, landing smack in the middle of a hill,
10cm from some very surprised hostile forces.

The first squaddie lands right there, the next on a rock, crashing to his
death. Due to some incredibly lucky dicerolls, the command group mostly lands
exactly on the opposite side of the hill.

> Of course the medic chose

As in, just about on top.

> Fortunately

Actually, you didn't. The other guy did, and gave some effective fire,
shredding the squaddie on the hill, but missing the medic. The medic legged it
for dear life, and astonished everyone by getting away.

> On the other

As umpire, I felt both players seemed to forget the essence of their mission,
here. The opfor player had a bit of a hard time since he had one
squad pinnen nearly continuously, but the other  was free to move - and
COULD have mocved due to abundant cover. Similarly, the NAC player could have
fallen back onto the EVAC route, overed the approaches, and guide the VIPs to
safety.

Instead, ALL NAC squads were engaged in a firefight with only 2 enemy squads,
eager for blood. The VIPs were told by the accompanying squad to
'head yonder way' while they were taking long-range potshots at the
enemy. The VIP's didn't quite feel comfortable with that, I mean, this is
enemy territory, right?

> At this point I found out how fast a walker can walk. The thing did a

Who were about 12 inches or so from the nearest friendly unit.

> After that the walker only caused a suppression before being blown to

Also, the VIP's had gone from their initial shaken morale to broken, and were
trying to make it to cover. Since they were not on the radio network, the
player was infromed he needed to get a squad to them in order to rally them
and get them moving again.

> We had to stop at this point as the show closed. However, the outcome

In addition, an other enemy squad had finally disengaged from the firefight
and was moving in a supporting position to aid the close assaulters.

> All in all we had great fun, but we had some problems interpreting the

The overwatch rules I intriduced were fairly simple. A unit could declare to
go into overwatch, and would get an arrow counter to indicate the direction.
They'd then get to try and interrupt any enemy action within a 45 angle around
this arrow. To do so, they'd need to test quality vs an unmodified range die.

Well, that's it pretty much:)

Cheers,