The Taliban are here in force, with two groups, a technical and a sniper hidden in an outlying house. They expect quite a lot of help from their brethern in the area [insurgency level=6]
Two sections, bolstered by a GPMG team [in some superb rocky cover] are strung out in a loose line assaulting a Taliban-controlled village in the green zone.
A large group of Taliban emerge on the rooftop controlling the route into the village, but they immediately take fire from the section advancing towards them, aided by the GPMG team and are wiped out to a man before they can put down any effective fire
The Taliban commander decides to amass forces before attempting the next engagement, and his sniper team, though not properly spotted by the British, is denying them some obvious lines into the village
Despite the sniper (who fails to react in time) a fire team with medic in tow advances ahead of it supporting units to take control of a building. It awaits the full British plan to evolve before moving on and hunkers down to avoid some glancing shots from the Taliban
The 2nd Section, having taken a circuitous route around the Taliban right flank has finally entered the village outskirts.
[Your correspondant has been alerted to certain events by a local Afghan which were omitted in the official report]
Meanwhile in the main advance the left-hand fireteam was caught out of position and took terrible casualties despite the supporting fire from the GPMG team nearby. One soldier was killed outright and three seriously wounded. The other fire team with the attached medic was not in a position to aid them, and hunkered down to await the expected flanking movement from 2nd Section to occur.
[This correspondant has not been able to find any photographs of this firefight, and can only assume that the MOD has suppressed evidence of the losses to avoid a media frenzy on the home front]
Using the poppy fields as cover, they Taliban sniper can't get a bead on them from here either. Now they can support the main advance while closing down the known Taliban house on the edge of town
The 1st fire team reaches the wall underneath a large tree, providing a base of fire to take control of the Taliban house beyond. A fierce firefight erupts as the Taliban advance along the opposite wall to contest control
The advancing Taliban technical is taken out by small arms fire from the 1st Section, and it careens into the wall where a Taliban squad had taken cover. They rush away and engage the British but after a few minutes they are almost completely wiped out. Their leader survives, but moments after the gunfire subsides a rogue mortar shell lands right next to him (most definitely from supporting Taliban units outside the village) and finishes him and his force off
Meanwhile the advance fire team of 1st Section has moved to the rooftop to pour fire onto the other Taliban in the area, and again the Sniper in the distance doesn't engage them
A raft of Taliban reinforcements fail to dent British progress, and again their supporting sniper fails to give them any aid [through the five-turn game this sniper failed to be activated or react a single time! Though his very presence did affect British action]
The two sections of British troops take control of the village in a well-orchestrated pincer move. The Taliban sniper steals away to tell tales of his bravery and deadly exploits
A nice wrap-up of gaming for last weekend. Although we didn't get in a few other games we'd had our eyes on, we did get to watch most of Generation Kill, eat a kick-ass Chili, down some beers and some fine whiskey!
