Monday, December 7, 2015

Downtown Iraq - Modern AAR

I got together today with Dan Kerrick, Matt Hilzendrager, John Lantz and Wade Shows to play through our first game of Bolt Action modern using my new troops and scenery for the middle east.  The scene here is early years of the invasion of Iraq with US forces moving into a built up area to clear key objectives and resistance.

The game in progress as Iraqi Army units move onto the table.

Overall the rules worked out very well.  The objective with them in their current forum is the keep the core rules in a position to work for both asymmetrical and symmetrical warfare, with the army lists and scenario rules tilting the action one way or the other.

A few things I need to adjust/add:

  • Heavy weapons treat all buildings as light cover.  Small arms continue to treat buildings as heavy cover.
  • Add the -1 modifier to the shooting to hit modifiers in the sheet (forgot to add it initially).
  • Helicopters that fail an order test fly off the table if airborne or remain landed if on the ground.
  • Iraqi Army and insurgents are inexperienced but with a small modification.  Their damage value is still a 3+ for shooting but in close quarters it increases to 4+.

Order of Battle

OOB is summarized in the images below.


Order of Battle
United States of America
USMC & US Army

Order of Battle
Iraqi Forces
Iraqi Army & Saddam Fedayeen

Scenario Overview

The objective for the US forces was to clear the mosque and market.  See image below of the table layout (prior to adding scatter terrain or rubble).

Table layout and objectives.

The objective of the Iraqi and Saddam Fedayeen forces is to inflict maximum casualties on the western forces.  The game lasted 6 turns.  Saddam Fedayeen forces must deploy within 6" of the objectives they are tied to (see special rules below).

Scenario special rules:


  • The Saddam Fedayeen units recycle.  The three "non-martyr" units recycle so long as the mosque is uncontested by western forces.  The two martyr units recycle so long as the market is uncontested by western forces.  When a Saddam Fedayeen unit is eliminated, put an order dice aside to track for victory point reasons.  At the end of the turn add order dice back into the bag for these units - they can move back onto the table from the Iraqi entry points in the next turn.  The market and mosque are uncontested so long as no western units are located within the compound/market area/buildings.  As soon as the areas are contested units associated with the objective (as mentioned earlier) can no longer reenter the game.
  • Although all Iraqi and Saddam Fedayeen units are classed as inexperienced they count as regular in close quarter combat (killed on a 4+ instead of a 3+).
  • The BMP-2 cannot use it's ATGM (no ammo).
  • The Bradely is limited to two TOW shots.
  • All US infantry squads have the "medic" rule.


Victory Points

Determine victory points for the US forces as follows:


  • Add all eliminated Iraqi and Saddam Fedayeen orders dice from the game up - divide that number by 2 (rounding up) - that is the number of VPs awarded for enemy units.
  • For each cleared objective add 3 VPs.

For the Iraqi and Saddam Fedayeen forces, victory points are awarded as follows:

  • Each killed US model is 1 VP.
  • Each objective is worth 3 VPs each.

A 1-5 VP advantage is a minor victory.  5+ difference is a major victory.  Even is a draw. 


The Game

Lots of pictures of the game below.  Final VP count was 13 for the Iraqi and Fedayeen forces and 16 for the US forces - a minor victory for the US.

Total KIA:  US lost 13 and the Iraqi/Saddam Fedayeen lost 61 and two vehicles.


























Some additional pictures from the others below.












So there you have it.  I have a lot more scatter terrain to work on (much of it is still on order).  I pulled together what I could in the run up to the game.  I'll also be taking pictures of the models here over the next week and doing some posts for those.  I have a bunch of Iraqi signs I need to print off and do up as shop signs and billboards.

I hope you've enjoyed the report --- more to come for sure.

22 comments:

  1. Extremely cool looking game!

    Who does those Iraqi Regulars? They look somewhat like Eureka, but I have never seen them before!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! You got it correct, they are the Eureka "Afghanistan" Russians ... they've been the closest figures I've found for doing pre-occupation Iraqi Army/Republican Guard. All in the paint job there ;-)

      Delete
  2. A really inspiring board!
    Thanks for the nice report and those great pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a magnificent game. Your table is astounding. Inspiring. Thanks so much for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So rad to see this all come together! The whole board looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brilliant as usual Jay! Those Cresent Root buildings are the bees knees for sure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ivor! I agree, Crescent Root has their "stuff" together --- given they come out of the box like that they are very much worth the $$.

      Delete
  6. Wonderful looking game and table. Really impressive!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! Terrific board, thanks for sharing. That place looks a little familiar, though...

    I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Really awesome looking board and models!

    I read through the modern combat rules posted but could not find the "medic" special rule. Is it different from how medics are handled in regular BA?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I'll be adding it to the 1.2 update but yes, same as normal BA except there is no figure or separate unit, the 4 man squad just gets the same rule for each squadie. Still play testing it though ;-)

      Delete
  9. F...ing amazing!!! where did you get the 28mm buildings? did you make it yourself? best regards. Adrian.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! The buildings are from Crescent Root Studio, highly recommended :-)

      Delete