Ambush Alley Video

Irish gaming podcast crew The Adventuring Party posted this brief video of my Ambush Alley game at Gaelcon. It's not a tutorial or anything like that, but you do get an idea of the frenetic pace of the game.



On the downside, you do get to see me give an impromptu spiel / salespitch!

The Defence of Wilson's Wadi - Campaign Scenarios

Here's the first of nine scenarios in the Wilson's Wadi campaign. There are campaign outcomes written into each scenario but they could easily be played as stand-alone games as well.
A link to the full pdf is at the bottom.

The Body
8 Turns
Day 1 - Morning

MISSION BRIEF
Lt. Wilson and Cpl. Harris have just been shot whilst investigating a possible enemy sighting at the Wadi. Their status is as yet undetermined and their position well away from friendly forces sparks off a struggle to recover them, alive or dead.

BRITISH MISSION OBJECTIVE
Recover the bodies of Lt. Wilson and Cpl. Harris, alive or dead.

TALIBAN MISSION OBJECTIVE
If alive, capture the enemy soldiers alive, or if dead use them as bait to lure their comrades into danger.

TABLE SET UP
A shallow creek runs through the battlefield, overlooked by high banks. Lush poppy fields along with a few small farming cottages are scattered on the south bank. A small mosque lies further away from the creek.

Deploy the British at B, placing the casualties at A
Deploy the Taliban on the Hotspots, with not more than one unit at any location

BRITISH FORCE COMPOSITION
British forces are well-supplied and have high confidence (TQ D8 / Morale D10)
1x Infantry Section of two four-man fire teams (2x SA80s, 1x Minimi, 1xSA80 wUGL)
1x GPMG Weapons Team (1xGPMG, 1xSA80)
1xMedic

TALIBAN FORCE COMPOSITION
All Taliban forces are Locals. They have normal supply and have high confidence (TQ D6 Morale D8)
1 Leader (D10 Morale)
3 Groups of 8 (1xRPG, 1 RPK. 6XAKs)
1 Sniper Team (1 Dragunov, 1 AK)
Insurgency level is 3 and a d6 roll must be made lower than 3 to bring forces on to the table. If successful, the Taliban player rolls 2d6 and consults the Reinforcement Table.

REINFORCEMENTS TABLE
Roll 2D6
2 1d6 (AKs) + 1 (RPK)
3 1d3 (AKs) + 1 (RPG)
4 1d6 (AKs) & Roll Again
5 1d3 (AKs) + 1 (RPG)
6 1d6+2 (AKs)
7 1d6 (AKs) +Leader + 1 (RPK)
8 1d6+2 (AKs)
9 1d6 (AKs) & Roll Again
10 1d6 (AKs) + 1 (RPK)
11 1d6 (AKs) +Leader + 1 (RPG)
12 2d6 (AKs)

FOG OF WAR
Fog of War cards are drawn as normal after Reaction Tests.

ASSETS
No Assets.

SPECIAL RULES
The status of both British casualties at the beginning of the game is unknown. A test may be made as soon as a unit is nearby at the end of the turn.
Roll as usual, but subtract 1 from the roll per turn played.
Lt. Wilson and Cpl. Harris do not count as casualties for Taliban victory points, only if captured.

CAMPAIGN OUTCOME
Taliban Victory - British units drop to Confident in Scenarios 2 & 3
British Victory – Reduce Taliban insurgency level by 1 in Scenarios 2 & 3

VICTORY CONDITIONS

BRITISH
Each Taliban Unit broken or destroyed +1
Wilson or Harris recovered alive +5 each
Their bodies recovered +2 each

TALIBAN
Each British soldier captured +5
Each British soldier killed +3
Each British soldier seriously wounded +1

The full campaign and all nine scenarios are here in a single pdf

The Butcher's Yard

Evening - Day 3
The Defence of Wilson's Wadi

After two days of non-stop scenarios, including full terrain changes in between each game (and of course late nights, a few beers and early mornings) I decided not to play the 8th scenario. Another more substantial relief column scenario, the result of which could affect the turn length of the final game.

From six scenarios the Taliban had won three, the British two and a single draw, with the honours shared from the more important third games of each day. I totted up the victory points from the seven scenarios to find that the raw score echoed this impression of a balanced campaign where the Taliban had a slight edge.
The tally was 70-59 to the Taliban.

*****

The final Taliban assault on British positions takes place – can the British hold out until a major force from Qandahar can drive them off?

The Taliban close in - an off-board sniper team wreaks havoc on a group, killing its leader outright



Depleted Platoon has its back to the wall - and is holding all fronts against the enemy



First long-range firefight is lost by British - two are killed and two seriously wounded in the fusilade which draws fire from all over the battlefield



Javelin team comes out of basement! Their fire helps secure one side of the compound but they are quickly low on ammunition



British concentrate efforts - this helps to limit their exposure to the 360 fire



Taliban sniper arrives to make life hard for British - this helps keep the British pinned back and covers an advance by the Taliban up close



Lone Taliban fighter doesn't realise his group has been wiped out - this large group thought its time had come and rushed the compound, but they were caught in the open and punished. The last man was unimpressed and passed his morale.
At this stage though the British are sorely pressed. But they have one last hope - they finally have artillery on call and their attempts to get into a position where they can call down a fire mission on the large group just outside the compound seals their fate.
The Taliban successfully assault the compound survivng a point-blank Javelin attack!



Medic evacuates, putting his pistol to good use to take out the lone Taliban ahead of him (beating him to the draw!) The two soldiers still on their feet follow him out attempting to call in fire on the compound as the Taliban are inside - the "danger close" request fails



The Taliban have taken the compound but the sound of rotors is growing in the distance



*****

So a famous victory for the Taliban, overrunning the British compound (in Turn 7) after killing four and seriously wounding eight. And a dark weekend for the British Army.

I suppose in present-day Afghanistan a British platoon taking heavy casualties (including having men taken prisoner) and under such pressure would've had the full force of ISAF including the nearby airfield at its disposal.
As the creator of the campaign I have to ask myself, was the final scenario fair? Should I have allowed the British to top up with more troops for the final battle? If so what use were the previous victories for the Taliban, and what penalty for the lack of concern for casualties by some of British players. I could have allowed it while awarding a certain number of victory points to the Taliban for that fact. In retrospect this might have been the best way to maintain scenario and campaign balance simultaneously.

*****

Thanks for reading. I'll be posting the entire campaign in a pdf when I catch my breath!
To all those who played over the entire weekend - I had a blast and I hope you did too. See you next time

The Scoop

Morning - Day 3
The Defence of Wilson's Wadi

A news team shows up with a small escort looking for an interview and some vital background shots. A nearby British section needs to get them the hell out of the area before they're killed or kidnapped.

Peaceful village outskirts - no Taliban are present (though the insurgency level is '11') and the Afghan civilians are scattered throughout the village



WRI News team and escorting PMC park in the village



Goats overlooking ford, with parked Jingle Truck in the background



First interview of the day - it takes a few attempts to get anything usable from the woman



A veritable horde of Taliban arrive - but nothing much happens for a while as they discuss their plans



Small group of Taliban are looking to outflank British position



Frontal long-range assault doesn't go well - the group are forced back into the poppy field



But WRI cameraman is well set up to catch it



Bikes arrive to pursue retreating PMC - who have unwisely decided to become involved in a firefight with the Taliban. The news team leap into the contractors' SUV while they are still on the rooftop and drive away



The news team manage a A1 bootleg to get the truck out of there, as PMC get out on foot



The British do take a serious casualty as they attempt to suppress the nearby Taliban - unluckily for them this action is caught by the cameraman (on the back of the SUV)

*****

The British nick this one despite the Taliban's luck in having their sole VP doubled by the cameraman's lucky roll. The outright winners though are WRI who got two good interviews and caught two significant firefights on camera
A bit of a light scenario in the morning before we move into the climactic battle

An Aggressive Posture

Evening - Day 2
The Defence of Wilson's Wadi

The British actively patrol the village perimeter to keep the Taliban off-balance. Gaining some intelligence of their plans for tomorrow will also help them to hold out.

Local Taliban concentrate to meet patrol - all of them highly motivated and ready to engage thanks to the presence of leaders in all four groups



British patrol sets off in a tight formation with support from the rear by the GPMG team



Taliban remain out of contact but move in close - a very astute use of the terrain to move the groups in close



Taliban keen to put RPG in WMIK - somehow the WMIK remained untouched throughout - this movement was well chosen by the Taliban, as it kept out of sight of the British infantry



Group circles around to British left flank



British fire team take friendly fire from aircraft - this is the team that withdrew to leave its casualty with the newly arrived Javelin team



British advancing through poppy fields to compound - multiple teams have this small Taliban group in their sights



Javelin team opens fire as WMIK reverses away from the fields - a well-chosen drainage trench protects the Taliban from some of the worst effects



A Taliban sniper team shoots into compound - this fire is vital in contesting the British attempts to shut down the tunnel inside



Taliban unit forced to withdraw back through the poppy fields and wiped out



Taliban advance stymied by an IED - these local guys mustn't be aware of Tier-1 activities



British team inside compound in trouble - they are saved by the lack of activity in the tunnels and they recover in time to shut it down with a satchel charge



Last major Taliban force steps on IED just as it prepares its attack



Aggressive British advance to clear the last remaining group from the canal-side



These Taliban are most certainly getting shot!



*****

Given the British were missing an entire section at the beginning of this mission from the scenario baseline, I let them raid the larder to get a WMIK. Even so I was impressed with the dividends the steady and methodical approach paid.
A victory 22-3 puts everything back in the balance for the third day. Just three wounded on the British side but it'll still be bare bones of a platoon which takes to the field...

Friendly Faces

Afternoon - Day 2
The Defence of Wilson's Wadi

Senior local Afghans, friendly to ISAF are being held by Taliban forces. The British feel that their position will become untenable if they do not maintain good relations with the local population and rescue the elders.

Rescue mission kicks off



Afghan elders escorted in for interrogation - their location will be hidden and the interrogation occurs during gameplay



First fireteam led by Trust Native Guide - who gives the fire team an bonus to reaction



They rush from cover to cover, trying to avoid getting caught in the open



Sniper team are well hidden - they are keeping an eagle eye on the roof-top Taliban sentry group



Avoiding contact and skirting around the Taliban sentries' controlled zone - no reinforcements will be rolled for until someone opens fire



They reach the first target house and stack up to breach and clear the building - so far this is going like a Rogue Spear mission



Second fire team in support gets hammered by patrolling Taliban - amazingly enough they won the reaction against the Taliban group crossing open ground in the far distance but failed to inflict any casualties on them. The return fire wiped out the four-man fire team and attached medic!



First fire team clears house and captures the Taliban leader and the Afghan elder alive - somewhat inconceivably the interrogators' D8 had failed to beat the elder's D4 for three turns in a row and the gambit of placing the interrogator in the nearest house (thinking he would then be moving away) has failed spectacularly



Second Sniper team shows up to overwatch the village as the first sniper team has legged it to give first aid to the downed fire team



The Taliban patrol moves into the second building and avoiding fire from the British, wipes out first fire team too



The Taliban leader survives their follow-up assault which kills one and captures the other three. The elder (who has been interrogated succesfully) and the traitorous local guide are executed on the spot.



The second sniper team has been hit as well, and attempts at their recovery almost prove tragic (both are found to be dead as well)



*****

A game of two halves - initally the British were doing so well, but the ninja-like performance of one of the sentry groups proved their undoing.

The British lost this one a staggering 22-0 and lost four KIA, two WIA and three captured. It has proved a filip for the insurgency and more leaders join the Taliban during the evening.