In the end, we didn’t try Force on Force as Franaine didn’t have enough terrain. So we tried the introductory scenario for Ambush Alley, Contractor Trouble.
As always, Franaine put together an incredible table. And, as always, my camera skills just don’t do it justice:
Somewhere in Mogadishu, I think.
The scenario starts with two wounded contractors (of the Halliburton or Blackwater variety, not Mike Holmes) hunkered down next to their broken-down pickup. Hard to see them in the photo, but you can see the pick up. Two fireteams of Marines are sent to extricate them and tons of local militia think otherwise.
Ambush Alley is a neat game, I have to say. Very fluid, lots of shooting, quite cinematic. My PDF of Force on Force is 155 pages, somehow. But the game is pretty straightforward once you get into it.
One of the neat concepts is ‘Out of Contact Movement’, which lets unseen groups of bad guys move anywhere on the table until they are in line of sight of the good guys.
Here we have Somalis sneaking up behind the Marines:
We'll show you who owns Mogadishu!
How’d the game go? Well, frustrating for me. Combined with a lack of sleep, the frustration made Dan a less than ideal opponent. “Bitchy” might be a good word. My troops were soon surrounded and seemed unable to cause many casualties, while Franaine’s Somalis kept pouring onto the table. So much so that we ran out of Somalis to bring on.
It was only in reviewing the rules that I discovered the problem: I wasn’t returning fire in reaction to attacks by the Somali irregulars — little wonder I was being so thoroughly outgunned! I’d started off doing it right, but then we somehow lost track.
Nice to know the problem was me, not the game. I’m now quite looking forward to trying it again.
This week’s beer was another Phillips product — Springbok. Lighter than the Double Barrel and not so much to my taste. Not bad, but not my new fave either.
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