Here are photos of our 'Base Camp Zulu' game we played this weekend. For a full report on the game see below.
The game sets up
The Militia camp - supply dump in the center
Militia guard the boats at the river crossing
A militia MG post
Militia in fox holes - a mine field to their front
Mbopo's lads appear in the bush.
You can see that mortar fire has already set fire to the supply dump inside the camp.
Tanks close in and begin firing into the camp
Mbopos troops capture an MG post and enter the camp
The militia begin evacuating the camp and crossing the river
The camp is occupied while a T62 and the commandos advance to cut off the river crossing
Victory! The camp is occupied.
This game is part of an ongoing semi
RPG type campaign I have been running for the last 18 months. It
involves the actions of the TEAM who get different jobs to do in exotic
locations. A lot of their work has been in the Republic of Zangaro in
Africa where General Mbopo overthrew the previous government of
President Kimba. This game was for General Mbopo's forces to occupy
and destroy a base camp for the Holy Ghost Resistance Army who support
exiled
President Kimba. I had asked Scott who does not live in Canberra to give
me a
plan of battle. Scott is a wargamer as well as a serving armored corps
officer.
Scott had two infantry platoons with tank support (PT76), one commando
squad,
one independent tank company (T62) and two mortars in support. He sent
me a very
detailed plan. I stuck to the plan. I texted him throughout the game
sending
SITREPS and he replied with orders etc. This kept him busy all day, he
came back
quickly each time. There were a couple of moments when things could have
gone
badly awry for Scott but fate was kind to him. The first of these was
when one
of his T62s was hit in the mantle by an RPG7. The RPG penetrated the
mantle with
the chance for a brew up. The dice Gods intervened and Ian rolled a 1
for damage
which meant no damage just a crew morale check. When the crew did this
check
they panicked and reversed the tank back into the bush. It then took
them 3
turns to get their act together and re-enter the battle. This left one
T62 in
place without a morale check as all it saw was it buddy reverse into the
bush.
That T62 continued to fire into the militia positions killing two and
causing others to abandon their fox holes. It later transpired that one
of
these KIA was not an indigenous militia man, but there was very little
left of him to establish a
firm ID of just who he may have been (it was actually one of the TEAM).
Meanwhile Scott's Combat Team 1 (CT1)
advanced with its PT76. Having been told before the battle by Scott to
watch its
flanks CT1 spotted a team of four enemy moving in on their right flank.
These had been sent out with RPGs to hunt the tanks. CT1
moved to engage that enemy and killed two and severely wounded another.
The
sole surviving enemy hastily withdrew. One of these enemy killed was
better
dressed and much better equipped that the others although he was of
African
appearance (he was one of the TEAM). Only two TEAM members wer ehit
during the game and each time the casualty dice was rolled it rolled 1
which is KIA - the dice Gods were NOT being kind to the TEAM at all.
Scott's CT2 then cleared the flank for CT1. CT1
then moved to engage the enemy to its front. As they did this an RPG hit the
CT1 PT76 and penetrated the armor, but then Ian rolled another 1 and there was no
damage (he copped a LOT of flak for his hopeless dice rolling). This just meant
the tank had to do a morale check. This resulted in that PT76 tank reversing
back into the bush where it remained for one turn before returning. A claymore
mine then detonated in the face of the CT1 infantry and this resulted in only
one KIA to CT1 and no other injuries - another round of good luck. The enemy MG
facing CT1 fired but hit nothing - more good luck. Return fire from CT1 killed
or wounded all the enemy in the MG position. CT1 pushed ahead.
Early in the battle it became apparent that the
enemy were using a small UAV. Several attempts were made to shoot this down but
appalling marksmanship resulted in this not being done until the Commando squad
opened fire and shot it out of the air.
As the battle developed the enemy sent a squad of
six against the left flank of Scott's T62/Commando position. The commandos
engaged this enemy squad killing and wounding five of them - more good luck.
When It became apparent to Scott's men on the ground that the militia were abandoning
their positions in the camp and withdrawing one T62 sensing that the enemy may
escape began moving with commando squad to cut off the enemy at the river
crossing point. This was not according to Scott's plan but I texted him saying
it was initiative and he could tell them to stop and they would. He let them go.
The T62 and commandos did not cut off the militia by the end of the game but it
was a good try. CT1 and CT2 pressed ahead and occupied the camp. The militia
managed to evacuate three of their four12.7 MG.
After the militia had fled a Helo arrived (it had been delayed) and Scott
put four commandos aboard and flew along the route of enemy withdrawal. The Helo
was destroyed with all on board by enemy aircraft (obviously NOT indigenous AC -
actually USN from a carrier off the coast but all very hush-hush).
Scott ordered his ground troops to follow up but
they found only discarded items of little worth, no weapons or further en
casualties.
The results of this fight were:
Mbopo's Forces - captured enemy camp and supplies.
Approx half enemy supplies still intact. Captured one 12.7mm MG.
Mbopo's losses - 5 KIA + Helo (1 KIA battle, 4 KIA Helo plus Helo crew)
Militia forces
18 KIA - one non indigenous, one suspected non
indigenous
