Cold War Commander: Skirmish

 

Using my own lists, first run-out was "Contact"...

 

A few clicks outside the FOB a helo has crashed amid the ruins of a bombed out & abandoned village. Local Tali are onto it in a flash and are trying to remove anything that looks useful...it is unclear whether the crew have survived as radio contact has been lost. A small detachment of Royal Marines, supported by SBS and a Scimitar & a couple of WMIK Snatch Landies, have been rapidly despatched to salvage what they can - and, most importantly, stop the local Tali from acquiring anything useful...

 

Lists I've used are here: CWC Skirmish

 

Scenario:

Objective: crashed helo - which is where the Taliban CO & his entourage begin the battle

Turns: maximum of 6

Victory conditions: Royal Marines must break the Taliban forces & destroy the helo; Taliban must survive until endgame

Deployment: Taliban are guerillas and will always deploy last

 

Forces:

 

Royal Marines:

CO = Lieutenant Henson; + 3 x RM (fireteam, SAW)

HQ = Corporal Denton; + 3 RM (fireteam, SAW)

HQ = Sergeant Smith; + 3 SBS (fireteam, SAW)

Recce unit = Scimitar

Support Unit = Sniper

Transport Unit = 2 x WMIK Land Rovers

 

Taliban:

CO = Abdu Khan Yassir (Tier One) & 7 Taliban (Tier One)

HQ (Local) & 6 Taliban (Local, RPG) x 4

Support Unit = Sniper (Local, Lee Enfield) x 3

 

Deployment: 

View from British right flank: Royal Marine fireteams & WMIK support

 

WMIKs on right flank

 

Sniper & Scimitar support the SBS fireteam on the British left flank

 

As above

 

Lt Henson (wearing beret) & fireteam

 

Corporal Denton (beret) & fireteam

 

Khan Yassir & crew check out the helo

 

 

Snipers on the high ground

 

Overview of Tali startpoint - everything else is in ambush positions, covering approaches & expecting contact...

 

Yassir & his crew are Tier One - better trained & prepped than the Locals...

 

Turn One:

The Marines seize the initiative - but Corporal Denton is having radio problems & can't communicate with his fireteam who stall, along with their supporting Snatch, on the right flank; over on the left flank the sniper takes his first shot - and inflicts a hit on one of Yassir's crew swarming over the helo. The Scimitar also acquires targets at the crash site - and takes out two Tali and suppresses another...

 

 

The SBS fireteam advance as the Scimitar & sniper fire...

 

In the British centre, Lt Henson brings his fireteam into the first ruined house - with close support from the Snatch

 

In the first turn, the Taliban snipers on the heights fire on initiative and manage to convince an SBS trooper to go to ground. Yassir & his crew hold their position.

 

Turn Two:

The Marine sniper, having spotted his Tali counterpart open up, fires a warning shot across his bows...meanwhile, as the Scimitar moves up to support the SBS fireteam (who advance their firing line to the ruined wall to their front), Yassir triggers an IED at the corner of the ruined house - to devastating effect: one dead SBS trooper, the other two diving for cover & the Scimitar suppressed as well!

 

Instantaneously, the approaching SBS have triggered an ambush - Local Tali pop up from concealed positions in the ruins and open up:

 

 

- with surprising accuracy...

 

...and manage to take out all the SBS troopers; well-aimed RPG fire causes further damage to the Scimitar, whose crew begin to reverse away from the threat:

 

Corporal Denton shakes the sand from his radio & manages to move his fireteam forwards on the right flank; Lt Henson, though, is more hesitant in the centre, shaken by the impact of the IED & ambush on the SBS troop.

 

Furrther Taliban RPG fire forces the Scimitar even further back - sniper fire meanwhile is ineffective & Yassir, excited by this success, cannot communicate effectively (his joy is so great) and the Taliban fail to capitalise further.

 

Turn Three:

Corporal Denton blunders on the right flank - and the ensuing crossfire sees the suppression of the WMIK and a Marine...

 

Lt Henson, though, demonstrates his professionalism and recovers from his previous hesitation to direct the fire of the Snatch onto the Tali ambush position, killing the Leader of that group and forcing another to dive for cover; Henson then leads his fireteam in classic fire & manoeuvre to take the fight to the insurgents - in the process they drop a further five Taliban - as they close though, close-range opportunity fire hits Henson - but to no effect as they take out the survivor of the ambush group:

 

 

The Taliban snipers again open fire - this time, while two shots are ineffective, one manages to spot Lt Henson - a near miss shakes him and he goes to ground, uncertain of what's happening

 

Yassir seizes the initiative to bring more Taliban to the fight, sensing that the balance has swung...as they arrive, the Locals fire on initiative, dropping another Marine and forcing his mate to duck for cover...at this point, a well-aimed RPG finally smokes the Scimitar: with the writing this clearly on-the-wall, Corporal Denton withdraws the Marines, calling in for an airstrike on the crash site as he does so...

 

 

 

 

 

Debrief:

A cracking solo game - I'm pretty pleased with my lists for this skirmish - although further testing is needed. The game played out well - with the Taliban playing to their strengths with a devastating co-ordinated IED & ambush. Had this not been so effective, it is likely that the SBS troop would have seized a commanding position on the left flank while the Marines fire-manoeuvered their way to control the objective...

 

Good stuff - I'll play these with a variety of scenarios to thoroughly test the lists as written.