Week 8 AAR: It's a Traaaap!

[The game acted as an introduction to three new prospective FOF players.  The insurgents paid bitterly, but the majority were poorly trained students fighting at night against well-trained French who possessed night vision.  The game proved the case that the insurgents players need the will to suffer casualties and the regulars required the will to preserve.]

The setup and initial dispositions

After bumping into a large group of insurgents, the French realised that the trap had been sprung on them, and their escape route was barred.  Commanding one fireteam to go into overwatch, the French lieutenant decided to retreat his force to the east, towards the flanking force (who were called in for support), and then south.

How close the French and insurgent started.

To prevent the insurgents from following, one fireteam was tasked with wiping out the nearest enemy team, a task they carried out with relish before they headed back to join the main group.  Meanwhile, a technical had been spotted by the sniper team, who shot but missed.  The technical driver reacted by accelerating towards the nearest French fireteam, and attempted to run them down in the dark.  The startled Frenchmen could only throw themselves out of its way, shooting the gunner as it passed.  The overwatch team then poured fire into it, bringing it to a halt.  The platoon sergeant then dragged the wounded driver from behind the wheel, and took him prisoner.

The insurgent's attempt to run down the French ends in failure, two dead, one captured.

With a severe lack of high or roofed buildings to operate from, the JTAC team was limited in its ability to choose targets; the only clear option was a group of insurgents in a building (hotspot 1) blocking the exit route.  Atmospherics caused communications problems, but 'Spooky' delivered a number of 105mm shells near the target, killing several insurgents.  The large calibre shells crashing down forced the Foreign Legion patrol to wait a while up the road, until the JTAC called the aircraft off.  When they were able to move in, the AMX10RC blasted a hole in the southern wall of the compound, providing a clear line of fire for it, and an easy way out for the infantry; the VBL's took station to prevent insurgents cutting off the escape route.

The two French fire teams tasked with clearing the central square had to fallback when the insurgent fire set the building alight, this caused a bottleneck and slowed the withdrawal for a period.

The French overwatch begins to burn

The Flank group arrives and insurgents mass to attack, the last French move through the burning compound.

At this point, the JTAC spotted a more dangerous target - a T-55 appeared by the mosque on the north side, and threatened to turn the French retreat into a rout.  'Spooky' was informed, and duly targeted the tank, damaging its optics, engine, and wounding 2 crew, but failing to knock it out.  The aircraft had to withdraw before the job was complete, due to a sandstorm blowing up.  Before this, however, the tank had spotted the JTAC team, and blasted the building they were in; one was lightly wounded, and had to be evacuated from the building by the sniper team for medical treatment.

Elsewhere on the ground, the French were beating off probing attacks by the insurgents, including several suicide bombers; all attackers were met with a wall of fire, and failed to reach the UN lines.  Even a VBIED was destroyed by a French AT-4CS.  The insurgents began to mass in desperation, as it looked increasingly likely that the French would escape.  Wave after wave of 'students' then rushed the retreating French, until, finally, the inevitable happened...  a fireteam was isolated and overrun in a fierce close combat.  When the dawn broke, the insurgents discovered dozens of 'martyrs' lying in the ruins (hotspot 1).  The rest of the UN platoon, and their single insurgent prisoner, had withdrawn back to the FOB, feeling grateful that their casualties had been so low, but mourning the loss of their 4 brave colleagues, who had died providing the rearguard.

OUTCOME: 12vp each. DRAW

What could have happened differently?

Hmm, Smoke.  The French could have used smoke grenades and smoke rounds from the mortar to make it even harder for the insurgents to bring fire to bear.  The lack of fire positions was difficult to overcome, as nearly every building that insurgents or UN entered proved to have no roof (or too weak).  Insurgents could have been more patient, and massed before attacking, though this would have given more freedom to the French.

Another option was bringing in the French flank in the NW, this may have helped?

In the end the insurgents gained TQ (from 6 to 8) which helped them in the final assault, and a sand storm brewed up, preventing the Spooky from finding targets.  So, bad luck did play a part in the French victory ending in a draw.