Malikastan Mission Briefing - A Tale of 2 City Fights

It was not the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was not the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of unquestioning belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it had been the spring of hope, it was now the winter of despair, we had had everything before us, we now knew we had nothing before us, they all thought they were going direct to Heaven, but they were merely turning to dust—in short, the period was so far back to jingoistic isolationism, that some of its noisiest authorities tweeted on it being finished by Christmas.

December 24 2019
The forces of the world, some under the umbrella of the UN, some under independent command and now encircled the garden city of Hotaki in Malikastan.  The fanatical followers of the long dead Hotaki saw that his prophecy of the "coming of the Franks" was upon them, and when the "Franks" entered the tomb of Hotaki all the warriors of Hotaki who had died over the last several hundred years would rise from their graves and bring on the final days.  Hotaki warriors sat in their prepared positions contemplating their rewards or contemplating on the joy of seeing their many fallen comrades join them once more with tales of Paradise.

A week ago, on a cold winter's morning, the pincer movement of the two vanguard armies entered the City of Hotaki.  The British had offered the name for the operation as Operation Put-In, a good rugby term.  The Americans changed it to Operation Tweet.  The Russians merely called it Operation Trump Card.  The US President tweeted how "clever" the Russians were, and how the Russian forces would put the efforts of the US, French and British armies to shame.

We are playing a Malikastan mission this Wednesday.  And, maybe Brisbane will play the other pincer.  The Russian pincer will involve the attempt to capture a hill overlooking Hotaki City, upon which sits a World Heritage ruin of the pre-Hotaki era.  During the capture of the ruin by the Hotakistanis they had been destroying portions of the ruins to bait the west in attacking the city and thereby bringing about the beginning of the Final Days.

For the last two days the Russians have been fighting through the IEDs and fortified positions to get to the base of the hill.  Their first assault on the hill was repulsed with heavy casualties.  They have now brought up heavy self-propelled artillery to "gently" remove resistance so from the ridge line so that their VDV (paratroopers) can gain a foothold on the hill.

Victory Points
Malikastani Terror Brigade & Hotakistani Regulars
+2 VP for each time the Russian player fires the 155mm at a position on the hill
+1 VP per Russian KIA or Seriously Wounded
+5VP per Russian Vehicle destroyed

Russian VDV (Paratroopers)
+5VP if the Russians hold the ridge line at game end or beyond
+5VP if the Russians have advanced to the edge of the board
+1VP for each MTB or HR fire team/crew destroyed.

+5VP for each armoured vehicle of the HR destroyed

Turns: 7
Russians start with initiative and automatically hold initiative for turn 1 and 2.
From the beginning of turn 3 roll for initiative as normal
Conditions: Clear.  At the beginning of each turn roll a D6, on a 4+ a wind picks up (see Dust special rule).  Roll a direction dice and a wind speed.  At the beginning of each turn reroll the wind speed dice.
Play Area: 4'x4'

Russian Paratrooper (VDV) (INI10, TC8, MOR10)
Full VDV Platoon (minus the weapons support section)
One 2S23 Nona w\120mm
One Tunguska
One 2S19 MTSA 155mm
One T-72 arrives at the beginning of Turn 3.

Malikastani Terror Brigade (INI D6, TC D6, MOR D12) REGULAR
Team 1 Leader w\AK, 3 w\AK, 1 w\RPG (AP3/AT3M), 1 Suicide Bomber (AP3/AT3L)
Team 2 Leader w\AK, 3 w\AK, 1 w\RPG (AP3/AT3M), 1 Suicide Bomber (AP3/AT3L)
Bunker (3 crew) with DShKa HMG (5D10)
VBIED (Sedan, Uparmoured Soft, FA2D6, SA2D6, RA1D6 AP6/AT2M)
AT Minefield (AP-/AT4D8H)
AP Minefield (AP4D8/AT1D8L)
Two IED (AP4D8/AT2D8M)

Hotakistani Remnant Armoured Brigade (INI D6, TC D8, MOR D8) REGULAR
Two T-55

Special Rules
DUST.  Place a dust cloud behind any vehicle that has moved.  Place a dust cloud in front of any 100mm gun or larger that fires.  Dust blocks LOS until it dissipates or moves.  Place a large dust cloud at the location where the 155mm shell explodes.  At the beginning of each turn roll a D6 for each dust cloud, on a 4+ it dissipates, otherwise it moves on the wind.
Medical.  The Russians have normal medical,  Malikastani/Hotakistani have Caveman Evacuation.
Prepared positions and ratlines.  The Malikastani/Hotakistani forces have well-prepared positions,
Mines.  The Malikastani/Hotakistani player may place three minefields, one of which is fake, one of which is AT and one of which is AP.  Any unit moving in a minefield will trigger a mine on a failed TC.
Remote Detonated IED.  The Malikastani player also places two IED anywhere in the 2/3 of the board away from the Russian edge.  The crew of the bunker must
Explosive Rule: All blasts have a diameter equal to their number of AP dice.
Loaded: The Russians are carrying unlimited supplies of RPG.

AAR - The SMAFU prologue - The Russians smash through the roadblocks

We played an impromptu prologue to the SMAFU mission.  The mission was “designed” around the Russian paratrooper convoy heading into the city and their first contact with the insurgents at the city limits roadblock.  Basically any Russian unit destroyed in the mission would arrive on a TQ following turn 3 in the next mission (Mission: http://bigfof.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/smafu.html) .  All units exiting before Turn 7 in the prologue would arrive on Turn 1, others would arrive on Turn 2.

Units:

Russian VDV Paratroopers – 10/10, a platoon of VDV

Russian VDV Vehicle Crews – 8/10, three BMP-3

Russian Air support on TQ8 – HIND Gunship

Insurgents – Regular 6/10 (one primary and one secondary insurgent per turn, the insurgents start with three guarding units on board, each 1xleader, 2xAK, 1xRPK and 1xRPG(+1/+1M)) 

Russian hold initiative until Turn 3 from then on it is contested.

The Roadblock - The Russians advancing from the airport to the CBD

Two Russian BMP-3, fully loaded, headed up the main street.   A third turned left exiting the road and flanking through a truck-park.  The lead BMP approached a roadblock built of rubble and vehicles and opened fire on five insurgents it spotted behind the barricade.  Three went down in the opening fusillade.

 

The BMP's advance, while insurgents flank (taking advantage of Out of Sight movement

The second BMP moved to the right of the lead IFV and spotted a group of insurgents in the courtyard of a compound.  It fired on them, killing two.  The insurgents in the area now reacted to the threat and started moving around the right flank of the Russians.

The firefight hots up with two Russian paratrooper squads debussing and engaging the insurgent with deadly fire.

The two BMPs on the main road debussed their load and brought fire to bear on the flankers and on the survivors in the compounds.  Accurate fire whittled away the insurgents and any return fire was shrugged off.

The insurgents suffering under withering fire

The flanking BMP runs into growing resistance

The flanking BMP continued its march, and crossed the lateral load, seeing movement ahead it stopped and the troops debussed.  The Russian commander ordered his BMP driver to push through the roadblock, leaving two squads and the third BMP to clear away and surviving insurgents.

 

The insurgent T-55 advancing to cover the roadblock

The circling HIND warned the commander that a T-55 was approaching the area, but could not engage.  The Russian commander ordered a paratrooper with an RPG-27 to move up to the barricade and engage the tank.  The tank was destroyed before it could do any harm.  The commander continued his clearing of the roadblock.  By now the rear was cleared of opposition.  The flanking unit had however run into resistance that would continued to build, including a Hotakistani Scorpion.  The Russian shot down every insurgent they encountered and did not suffer in return.

 

The flanking Russians advance against opposition following the destruction of the T-55.  A brave technical swept in behind the Russians only to be destroyed.

A few RPGs were fired at the BMPs but with no effect.  The Russian commander received welcome support with the arrival of a "liberated" T-72 crewed by paratroopers.  With the destruction of the insurgent T-55 and the arrival of the T-72 the Russians now switched to full speed ahead.  The Russian commander moved to destroy the Scorpion which was holding up his flanking BMP.  Unfortunately, as he destroyed the Scorpion a second Malikastani turncoat T-55 arrived, at close range they fired at each other with no effect.  The second central BMP now moved ahead to support their commander, the T-55 fired on the second BMP and the BMP exploded killing all its crew.  The T-72 now surged through the barrier and smoke of the brewing BMP and destroyed the second T-55.  The road was now clear, the Russian commander ordered his men to now join up with him and move on out.

 

The Russian BMP push through the roadblock as insurgents attempt to knock them out with desultory fire.  In the top right a Russian paratrooper squad destroys a technical.

The roadblock rudely dismantled.

Just as the Russian had broken through an insurgent in an apartment building put an RPG through the flanking BMP,  which caught fire and injured its crew.

 

The second T-55 engages the lead BMP.  The first T-55 burns, while in the distance the exploding BMP is hidden in the smoke.  The Scorpion burns after being hit by a 100mm shell from the lead BMP.

The battle ended without a paratrooper injured, two BMPs destroyed, three Russian crew men dead and three wounded.  The insurgents had lost two T-55s, two technical’s, a Scorpion and a two score men.  However, their sacrifice at the roadblock had forewarned the insurgents at the prison, and they rallied to now meet the oncoming Russians. 

Effect: The insurgents receive a Turn 0 in the SMAFU mission, allowing them to receive one turn of extra reinforcements and have a free turn to move.  The Russians now arrive on Turn 1 with a full squad of paratroopers and only one BMP-3.  On turn four onwards the paratroopers can roll for a TQ for the arrival of a further two BMPs.

Comment: TQ10/MOR10 Russian Paratroopers are nasty.  I divided the squads into two fireteams.  With multiple UGL and SAW, plus the odd RPG, they spew a lot of lead.  And TQ10 in defense is a hard nut for TQ6 insurgents to harm.  The insurgents, however, were able to slow down the Russians enough to delay them and managed to destroy two of the IFV.  The insurgent commander was patient to setup positions and wait which made it painful for the Russians, having to slog through resistance line after resistance line.  The Russians never tried one to call in the HIND gunship, and after that failure no targets were available.  Maybe the squad leaders should have done something.   For an impromptu mission it proved to be fun and balanced.

This is the Russian Paratrooper organization we made and used for the mission (if anyone can give corrections on this they are most welcome):