Modern Bolt Action - Outskirts of Baghdad AAR

Finally got together for a game with the guys!  Decided to pull out the modern Iraq stuff since it has been a while since we played modern Bolt Action.  Fear not, my Waterloo preparations remain in full swing other than taking some time today to play a game.

NOTE:  Picture heavy, tons of pictures below.

I really wanted to start this post off with a Die Hard movie reference ... something like: "Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring ... except four assholes in standard two-by-two formation advancing ..." --- hahahaha ... hey, if you can't make yourself laugh, why bother!  Anyways ...

This was a fictional engagement on the outskirts of a major city - in this case we called it the outskirts of Baghdad.  The battle saw two combat teams from the USMC fighting against elements of the Iraqi army and insurgents. 

Acting on intelligence that the mosque is HQ for a large insurgent group and harboring a large weapons cache, USMC have been ordered to seize a foothold on the main highway into the city, clear out the blocks surrounding the mosque, and clear the market while protection civilians who are in the area and may be attempting to flee the fighting.

Table was setup as below ...

USMC OOB:

Combat Team Alpha:

• 1 x M1A2 Abrams Tank
• 1 x AAVP-7A1
• 1 x Squad Leader
• 3 x Fireteams (2 x Assault Rifle, 1 x SAW, 1 x Assault Rifle w Grenade Launcher)
• 1 x Humvee (uparmoured)
• 1 x SMAW Team

Combat Team Bravo

• 1 x M1A2 Abrams Tank
• 1 x AAVP-7A1
• 1 x Squad Leader
• 3 x Fireteams (2 x Assault Rifle, 1 x SAW, 1 x Assault Rifle w Grenade Launcher)
• 1 x Humvee (uparmoured)
• 1 x Sniper Team

In addition to the above forces:

• An intelligence drone is on station for D3+1 turns (rolled a 2 - so 3 turns).  USMC decided to bring the drone in on turn 2-5.
• A Cobra Gunship comes on station at the start of turn 4 (specific colored die was added to the bag).

Iraqi insurgent forces had 7 cells each with 6 figures (mixture of assault rifles, RPGs and LMGs).  A T-55 tank and BMP-1 (with ATGM @ -1 pen) could enter at the start of any turn for the Iraqi army.  The BMP-1 carried a section leader and 2 x infantry fireteams (6 figures each:  4 x assault rifles, 1 x RPG, 1 x LMG).  A technical with HMG and another with a recoilless rifle could also enter at the start of any turn.

All insurgent cells move out from the mosque on turn 1.  While the cells did not regenerate for this game, we used golf tees to mark locations of insurgent forces.  When discovered the insurgent player could deploy any insurgent cell they wanted at that time.  We had some basic spotting rules in place for discovery of the golf tees.  The easiest way was for the intelligence drone to use it's "detect" action to automatically reveal any golf tee.

The USMC was able to complete their objectives but took some casualties along the way.  Most notably was the ATGM from the BMP knocking out an M1 Abrams ... John Lantz managed it ... Roy did the math and there was somewhere in the vicinity of a 2% chance that it would do it ... John rolled very well.

Another great moment was John rolling for Amateur Hour on 2 x RPGs at one time - he rolled snake-eyes and they both blew up!  Anyways, it was a really fun game and enjoyed by all.

Pictures below ...

John Lantz also took some pictures with his phone ...

Hope you enjoyed the pictures - more to come!