[SG2] AAR: Escape from Tangana - Very Long

This weekend past, a small pod of gamers (myself and Adrian Johnson from the
list, plus Peter Forsythe (was at Lancaster this year past), and another 3
players and 1 spectator) sat down to play a fair sized SG2 battle. I think fun
was had by all, and some instructive lessons were learned.

This is an abbreviated AAR. I may (if I have time) post a more detailed AAR to
the web (with the photos if our host gets them developed this Millenia).

BACKGROUND/SETUP:
OU Colony world of Tangana, disputed with the PAU. (Note, this isn't official
placed anywhere... I didn't have Nyrath the Incredibly Wise's starmap stuff
handy). It just made for an interesting conflict.

OU has fledgling colony present (typical OU colony - spread out, low
pop, very tough settlers). The PAU, ever expanding and hungry for resources
and land, land their own "squatter colony". The OU government protests, but
little is done. So, the OU government decides to send the squatters packing,
and dispatches a reinforced battalion strength force (the 133rd Rapid Reaction
Force) to Tangana. The 133rd is a well equipped, well trained unit.

The 133rd enters Tangana local space, lands the body of the force in interface
landers and other shuttles. Air cover is not believed to be necessary, and
atmospheric storms on Tagana make it dangerous in any event, so the landing is
executed after a sensor sweep of the surface to verify intel estimates of the
hostile forces. The trip from the landing site to the Colony site (over the
horizon, so as to provide some safety to the landers) will take the better
part of two days, given the abscense of roads and such. The 133rd leaders feel
there might be "slight" resistance as the PAU settlers may be armed, and there
may be one or two platoons of PAU troops or mercenaries to protect the colony.
They brief their force accordingly.

Unfortunately for them, the PAU have decided they want Tangana (due to
prospector reports of the mineral deposits on the rich, geologically active
world) and have decided to stake their claim forcefully. Expecting the OU to
try to evict them, they have (with the help of their FSE friends (friends in
exchange for favours and considerations in other places and times)) setup an
ambush for the OU force. They have deployed two full line battalions with
artillery support (no air due to previously mentioned atmospheric issues) in
concealed positions (caves which make them immune to overhead sensor sweeps)
plus they have one "light" battalion of foot infantry reserves (settlers).
They
are assisted by elements of the  FSE 2e DBLC (Demi-Brigade Legion
Colonial). The FSE provide better weapons, better soldiers, and some much
needed combat experience. Much of the PAU force is of questionable quality.

Sadly, for the OU, the ambush goes off successfully, and the majority
of the OU force is caught in transit by the combined PAU/FSE force.
The battle is brief, but furious. The OU are caught flat footed, but are
excellent soldiers. By the time the battle is in its dying stages, the 133rd
RDF is severely mauled and broken up. But two of the PAU Battalions are
decimated, and the FSE force is pretty badly scarred too.

This sets the stage for our scenario - the attempt of a surviving OU
Platoon (rearguard) and their local colonist auxilliaries to escape from the
ambush site and make it to the interface landers and off planet. The PAU and
the FSE (angry after having been so badly chewed by the OU) are out for blood.
They want to prevent the OU force from escaping, and render it militarily
ineffective.

THE SETUP: In order to escape, the OU force (with some wounded, too few
vehicles, and those vehicles badly damaged) must escape off the far end of the
board, after crossing a very rocky and violent river. Wheeled APCs attempting
to swim the river run a high risk of being caught on rocks, or of foundering
if they are already holed. AC vehicles crossing the river may do so, but they
move very slowly and the board is setup in such a way as to make this
difficult. There is a bridge, right in the centre of the board, across the
river. The map consists of a number of hills (Geohex normal and mountainscape)
and quite a bit of treed land. There is a cleared path down the centre of the
board, the channel that one sort of expects the fleeing OU force to travel
down.

Just in front of the bridge, along the path the OU will flee along, is a set
of fighting positions dug by an OU holding force (two sections) left to hold
the bridge as the force advanced. Unfortunately for them, a mercenary company
with arty support overwhelmed them and took the positions. The mercenary force
is employed by the PAU and is the "blocking force" that will make it difficult
for the OU force to just drive across the bridge and off the board.

The OU force is pursued by FSE and PAU forces (two platoons plus an AC tank
and some jeeps).

FORCES:

OU SIDE:
--------

OU 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 133rd RDF. (all in Enh Part Light Arm
(D8))
command squad (5 men including an EW operator) (veterans)
                - 5 ARs
1 2 man medic detachment (the medics were on secondment from NAC Queen's Own
Rifles as part of an exchange) (regs) 1 2 man sniper detachment (vet)
                - 1 Gauss sniper rifle, 1 AR
3 9 man infantry squads (1 vet, 2 reg)
                - 1 SAW, 8 ARs, 4 IAVRs per squad

OU Local Colonists (all in Ball Fat (D6)) 1 command squad (reg) (4 men) 3
squads of six (reg, reg, green)
                - each squad had a SAW and a marksman and ARs for normal
folk
                - 1 squad had 2 SAWs, 1 squad had a GMS/P (Sup Guidance,
3 rounds)

3 stabilized wounded to start the game

2 Unarmed Hover Jeeps (Armour Value 1, Basic Sensors, Comms, ECM)

3 Wombat APCs (Aliens APCs, AV 3, Enhanced Sensors, Comms, ECM,
FireCon, Twin Rotary SAW, Twin DFFG/1s, EW packages)
        - 1 APC was missing SAW turret, weakened armour, half speed
        - 1 APC was missing DFFG turret, had weakened armour (-1 AV)
        - 1 APC had damaged electronics, half speed

FSE SIDE:
----------
PAU Mercs (Blocking Force) (all in Ball Fat (D6)) command squad (reg)
                - 6 men, including a marksman with a conventional sniper
rifle 3 rifle squads (reg, green, green)
                - 6 rifles
                - 1 GMS/P (Basic Guid, 3 rounds)
                - 1 SAW

FSE 1e Platoon, 2e Company, 2e DBLC (all in Enh Part Light Arm (D8)) command
squad (6 men) (reg)
                - ARs
                - 1 SAW
                - EW trooper
                - Flamer
3 infantry squads of 9 men (reg all)
                - marksman with sniper rifle
                - SAW
                - 7 ARs
weap det (4 men)
                - 2 GMS/P (Enh Guid, 4 rounds)
                - 2 SAW

PAU composite platoon (regs in Ball Fat (D6), light inf in BDUs (D4)) command
squad (vet)(6 guys)
                - EW trooper
                - SAW
                - ARs
2 regular rifle squads (reg, green)
                - 6 ARs
                - SAW
                - GMS/P (Basic Guid, 3 rds)
2 light inf squads (move D8") (reg, green)
                - 1 had 6 men, 1 had 7 (one had a GMS/P (Basic, 3 rds)
the others did not)

2 Armed AC Jeeps (HMG) (otherwise same as above)

AC Char VII Tank (Armour 3, HEL/3, HMG, Enhanced Electronics (Sensors,
Comms, ECM))

ORDERS:
OU - Escape, take any FSE prisoners possible, do not abandon wounded
OU Colonists - Escape - kill any PAU possible (that ethnic cleansing
thing....)
FSE - Destroy OU force, capture OU (honour demands attrocities not be
permitted)
PAU Platoon - Destroy OU force, kill any OU colonists (it works both
ways)
PAU Mercs - hold the bridge - deny it to OU forces - hold until
relieved

NARRITIVE:

With the exception of the blocking force, all forces entering the board were
fatigued and were at STEADY morale to start with. The blocking force was
CONFIDENT and rested.

The PAU blocking force was setup with a good command of the centre of the
table. It had a squad in the fighting positions covering the bridge, another
across the river on a ridge covering the bridge, and another across the board
on a hill to basically give fire to any area of the centre of the board. The
command squad was on a high ridge behind the fighting positions. The "safe"
area the OU were trying to get to was "west" and the area they were enterring
from was "east". The fighting positions and the ridge the PAU Merc command
squad were deployed on were "north" of the middle of the board.

The OU force entered the board. On their end of the board, there were two
treed hills and a passage between. They drove the empty APCs between these
hills, hugging the hills edge for maximal cover. They took the entire infantry
force and the two jeeps bearing the wounded up the northmost hill (on the
right of their axis of advance) and through the light woods there.

The FSE and other PAU force were an undetermined distance behind. They would
enter sometime "shortly".

It seems the OU force figured their APCs were vulnerable (one had a Pavlov
reaction having lost 8 or 9 men in a squad at Autumn Assault in the same type
of vehicle). So they decided the infantry would slog it out. They also figured
they might have to fight a two front battle, so they wanted to be deployed.

Almost immediately when the OU force became visible, the blocking PAU mercs
opened up. Their first casualty was inflicted by the command
squads marksman - it was the commander of the OU Local Colonists. Good
start! Then the GMS fire began. Unfortunately, the OU had clear EW superiority
early on (9 chits to 0 chits) and good ECM. The PAU had poor quality
equipment. Many, many, many rounds were fired during this scenario, and many
were jammed or missed, and a few hit but didn't penetrate.

The OU force moved up over the wooded hill on their northmost side, and their
APCs started to force the middle. They brought their veteran snipers to the
woods edge, and started hammering the Merc command squad. Their shooting was
excellent. Meanwhile, more GMS rounds bounced off the APCs and the APCs fired
fusion guns at the ridge holding the merc command squad.

About three to four turns into the game, the PAU light infantry entered along
the woodsline of the woods on the hill to the south of the OU force. They were
taken under fire by colonist snipers immediately. The OU colonists were
apparently the "rear gaurd" for the OU force. One squad in particular was hung
back most of the game. Their fire was effective though, injuring and
suppressing the PAU light infantry.

A turn later, two armed FSE jeeps with an FSE infantry squad enterred the
board about half way up (from the south). This put it just abreast of the hill
south of the longitudinal gap the OU APCs were traversing. The OU infantry had
by this time, using fire and manoevre, advanced about half way to fighting
positions of the PAU mercenaries. The two jeeps disgorged their infantry
squads, and took up firing positions and began engaging the OU forces. The
infantry took up positions in the woodsline and began rocketing the APCs.

The OU marksmen noticed this unit, and opened up on it early.

The OU continued its advance, eventually storming the ridge the mercenary
command unit was on, capturing the battered remnants (the snipers had chewed
them up). There were brief disussions of ignoring orders and commiting an
"attrocity" but instead the mercs were
disarmed and let go (they weren't the FSE after all - the OU wanted
them to use for embarassment value vs. the French). The OU veteran rifle squad
had made it to a position near the merc fighting positions but repeatedly
botched close assault rolls (finally, the squad on the bluff came to their
rescue pouring fire into the TOP of the infantry fighting positions). Other OU
and local colonist forces advanced, with a couple of colonist squads holding
the rear and the APCs engaging the woods line on the south hill to suppress or
kill the forces there.

The african regular infantry and command enterred through the woods on the
southmost hill, as did the remainder of the french force. More GMS bounced off
APCs, but hopes were high due to the fact their were now 6
EW chits on the board for the FSE/PAU. The OU were feeling pressured,
so they forced a squad across the bridge in the center (after finally
capturing the infantry fighting positions). They also forced an APC across the
bridge. Unfortunately, that exposed its side armour to a French GMS back in
the retrograde part of the woodsline on the southern hill the french entered
on. From about 30" away, the GMS finally did something and disabled this APC.
There was a mercenary squad there to meet the OU squad that crossed(the one
that had been across the river covering the bridge). A close assault was made
by these mercs, but the OU colonists ran before them. The PAU Mercs tried
pursuit, came up short, and started getting shot to bits by OU formations on
the bluff formerly occupied by their own command squad and by shots from
snipers now inhabiting the fighting positions. The merc squad thus pinned
pretty much died.

Back on the other side of the river, the two remaining APCs were raising Cain.
The french and africans were in the woodsline of the southern hill gamely
trying to shoot at the OU, but their GMS were feeble (rolls of 1, 1 or 1,3
were not uncommon) and the APCs weapons and the OU marksmen were really
chewing them up (GMS operators,
marksmen, SAW gunners, squad leaders - all fell before the OU veteran
snipers and the occaisional shots from the marksmen with the colonists). The
african morale, never good to begin with, quickly degraded to shaken or broken
in many cases. The french had tougher morale, but were losing the only units
that could successfully engage the foe.

The OU were moving their infantry up and over the bluff behind the infantry
fighting positions, and down the other side to the waters edge. There, their
one surviving hover jeep was slowly ferrying units across the water to safety.

To counter this push, the FSE realized they had to push too. They moved a
squad into the foliage along the edge of the river, went IP and commanded the
approach to the bridge. No one would cross the bridge. Their one remaining
jeep crossed the river, took up position in the woodsline there, and began
engaging any visible OU squads to good effect. The jeep would fire, then pop
smoke, thus defending itself. This pattern repeated itself quite a few times.
The FSE sent one unit up a cliff, but in a questionable decision (mine!),
allowed it to remain exposed in favour of reactivating other units. As a
consequence, one of the more fascinating "memories" of the day was created. In
one turn, three squad leaders were killed in this unit. ("Someone's just shot
the Sgt! Cpl, you're in charge now. Okay, then we're <crack, body
tumbles>....Okay...Senior Pvt, now you're in charge...<crack,
thump>...okay...you were in charge...anyone want the job? Aw, come on...we
need a new squad leader...."). The unit broke that round.

Eventually, a GMS killed a second APC, but not before a fusion gun from the
third baked the french tank the minute it appeared on the board. Fire from the
powerful FSE rifles penetrated already weakened armour on the remaining APC,
killing the driver, but the gunner held on and kept suppressing the french
elements in the woodsline to prevent them from stopping the OU from escaping
across the river.

Shortly after this, we called the game.

The end result of this battle was: The OU would have escaped with a majority
of their platoon and settlers intact. They'd lost a jeep and 1 wounded, plus
about 4 casualties from the infantry, plus the leader of the colonists, plus
about 3 vehicle crew (and they'd have lsot a 4th). So call their casualties at
game end about 11. If we're generous enough to assume the remaining good
morale french could have hurt the escaping troops, maybe they'd have killed
another 4 or 5. Or maybe not.

In return, the PAU/FSE side had about 7-9 wounded (some stabilized,
some unresolved), and about 20 dead. Presumably their would have been
25-30 dead if the FSE/PAU pressed the attack on the fleeing force.
Their morale was mostly broken, and they were entirely out of GMS rounds. If
the rifled hadn't felled the remaining APC, the OU gunner could have driven it
off the board over the bridge.

CONCLUSIONS:
- The OU got away lightly. They achieved their major victory condition
of escaping mostly intact, although they lost their already damaged vehicles.
But most of the people were saved, as were there colonists (even their
reargaurd).
- The FSE had more "morale" damage than real loses, but they had a
leadership gulf, and had lost many specialist troops (GMS or marksmen). The
PAU were badly shaken and had quite a few casualties. The PAU mercs were
annihilated as a unit.
- PAU/FSE die rolling sucked (few missiles hit, and those that did
often failed to penetrate).
- OU tactics were sound (they used concentration of fire, firing SAWS
seperately or marksmen in order to keep french and units suppressed and to
kill key people). They didn't make any mistakes. (Now mind you, watching the
veteran OU rifle squad fail to close assault twice when they needed a 3 on a
d10 was funny).
- FSE decisions were less sound (ie letting the one squad get sniped
to death) but they also had bad luck - if the tank had survived one
more round, it would have baked an APC almost gauranteed. If it had got two of
them, then all the attention the 6 squads of troops had to pay to the weapons
platforms could have been directed against OU infantry and the whole story
might have been different. I'd call that a TSN Turning Point(TM).
- EW is quite a boon.
- Marksmen, employed correctly, make quite a difference.
- Scenario balance wasn't all that bad. Despite outnumbering the OU
nearly 2:1, the PAU/FSE had (for the most part) poorer kit, and poorer
morale and leadership (lots of 3s). They also had few weapons (other than the
tank) that had a GOOD chance of slagging even a wounded APC. In all, about 26
or 27 GMS shots were fired, and 2 APCs died from them. Despite uneven casualty
counts, the OU was pressed (or felt so) until they managed to break morale on
a number of french and african units. They actually contemplated surrender
early in the scenario (but that has a lot to do with Ken's excitability!).
- Using 2 IAVRs per rifle squad during key assaults makes a big
difference.

It was fun, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I'd call it a decisive OU
victory. Congrats to Gary, Ken, and Peter for a well run fight!