Khe Sanh Déjà vu (2 of 2)

Mark I, Mark II and Kevin finished the mission yesterday.

The 1^st wave of insurgents came at the base from the north and south east.  The south east force was hesitant and stuck to the orchard.  The two northern insurgent units sprung to their feet and ran to the northern compound walls.  Both ran into minefields, but they shrugged off the threat each leaving maimed comrades in their wake.

The northern defenders were unable to stop the attack and in time succumbed to the insurgent fire.  The insurgents then used satchel charges to blast holes into the compound.

The situation at the begining of Turn 4

The 2^nd wave of insurgents came in from the east and west descending the slopes.  The base was able to bring more fire to bear, and these assaults were largely repulsed.  The 1^st wave insurgents now occupied the bunker above the roadblock and were to be a thorn-in-the-side of the base defenders for the rest of the battle, pouring fire into the southern defenders.  The base directed artillery and the whole southern defence firepower at these insurgents, but to no avail.

The SAS stop the VBIED, while under fire from the T-55 (in the sheepskin of a T-72!)

A VBIED came surging towards the base gates, but the SAS guarding the gate shot up the vehicle before it could get close.  A dozer, plated in armour, was a more difficult prospect, it survived the fire, eventually pushing through the bases gate, but Captain Richard Sole used an AT-4 from the central building balcony to destroy the dozer before it continued on its path of destruction.

The base defenders start to stack up Activations (yellow chits)

A T-55 arrived to the south of the base, the base had only one AT-4 remaining.  Captain Sole shouted from the balcony down to the M240 weapons team who had the AT weapon, the team was under fire from the insurgents on the hill, but managed to move past the burning dozer and Humvee and bring their weapon to bear.  The rocket hit the tanks mantlet, but unfortunately the tank continued to fire, though its aim did appear to be off.

The 2^nd Wave attempted to assault the forward observer’s position on the hill, but fire from the base repulsed the attack.  The arrival of the third wave was heralded by two salvo’s of 107mm rockets, four of the first nine rockets smashed straight into the central building in the base.  Several ODA soldiers went down.  The base was holding out mainly due to the effective fire of the two special force units, if they fell the base was doomed.  Luckily the insurgents could not take advantage of the rocket mayhem and by the time the insurgents assaulted the ODA soldiers were back up and firing.

The insurgents assault into the pre-fab compound

A vicious melee broke out amongst the pre-fabs, the 1^st wave insurgents charged into the pre-fab area, and in a brutal hand-to-hand fight killed four defenders.  A team of SAS slowed the assault down with fire, while the fire-brigade (two spooks with six mortar crew) charged from a pre-fab and were able to stop the insurgents, routing the last two who fell to fire from the ODA.

The reserve that was hiding in the large prefab repel the insurgents from the pre-fab compound after the SAS softened them up.

The ODA team on the roof put a stop to any insurgent ideas of using a 23mm AA gun on them.  The third wave of regular Hotakistani infantry arrive in the north and head towards the northern compound wall.

The insurgents pushed a 23mm AA gun onto the hill top only to be brought down by the ODA.  If this weapon had been able to fire it would certainly have made the central building a hell hole!

Pouring on the hurt.  The base defenders were able to bring heavy firepower to bear on the 3rd Wave regulars, basically putting an end to the northern assault.  The purple markers indicate units which have suffered a serious wound or failed their TQ after suffering a KIA.

By this time both sides were becoming spent, a last VBIED in a Mercedes exploded in the mangled gateway, destroying the gate house, and killing the surviving SAS soldiers.

The US fire team at the gate tries to destroy the rampaging T-55 (actually a QRF T-72, I left my Peter Pig T-55 at home!)

The damaged T-55 rammed the outer defences and the five US soldiers swarmed over the tank attempting to destroy it, but to no avail.  The lead HUMVEE from the lost convoy arrived and dismounted two soldiers with AT-4s, they engaged the tank, destroying its gun.  The final insurgent 107mm rocket salvo landed on their own T-55, the engine started to burn and the crew had to abandon, being cut-down by the UN gate defenders.

The situation at the end, the base is a ruin, the SAS finally succumbed to a car bomb and were finished off by insurgents.  Note the nice "hole" markers make by Mark.

The arrival of a Challenger and two Warriors from FOB Breakbone heralded the end of the battle, the insurgents faded into the hills, and the surviving base defenders dispatched the last few who remained.  The battle proved to be the bloodiest battle so far in Malikastan, both sides had suffered 50% casualties.  The Patrol Base was a ruin, both of its building were rubble, the prefabs were flattened, and the outer walls had four gaping holes.

The shell-shocked survivors recovered their numerous wounded amongst the bodies of dozens of dead insurgents.  A convoy of trucks arrived from FOB Breakbone to collect the base defenders.  The special forces Apache was blasted to scrap as the convoy left.  There was not much ammo to destroy as the base had been close to running dry.

Major D. Zaster was happy he had been able to rescue at least half of Patrol Base 55’s personal.  The lost convoy was still crawling towards FOB Breakbone through the narrow roads of the greenbelt.  A small UAV launched from the FOB flew towards Azmakassar, the HQ stood in disbelief staring at the columns of tanks and vehicles heading towards the FOB past the smoking Patrol Base 55.  The real fight was about to begin.

Figures used: QRF, Rebel Minis, Flashpoint, Peter Pig and Khurasan

Terrain: GZG, Gamecraft, Battlefront and lots of homemade.  The mat by Bill.

The new breach markers made by Mark are excellent, not to mention the wound and flame markers! 

Comment: Wow!  It was like the Somme in WWI, we ran of wound counters in two of the turns.  Facing fanatic (D12 morale) TQ D8 insurgents is hell.  The two special force squads certainly supplied the bulwark of the defence.  The four 107mm rocket salvo’s to hit the base were close to being game changers each time, but the defence held.  Overall a fun game, but it took us 2 days to get to a draw!