JUST ANOTHER BLOWER

[DAWGIE]

 HERE is another BATREP i posted on TMP recently, and again i thought i might post it here as well.


THE STORY


THE blower glided over the surface of rolling flatlands and tall grasses, relentlessly closing the distance between it and the desperate infanty clinging to their borrowed, hilltop defense positions. . . the turret swiveled slightly, the fusion gun elevated slightly, seeking a target near the top of the hill. with a deafening CRACK! and blinding blue flash, the blower's main gun spat death to whomever it may concern down range. . .


JOCKO tried to sink below ground level in the bottom of his "borrowed" fighting position as the fusion bolt blew apart the sand bagged bunker 25 meters to his left, and failed, of course. but still many would not have believed 2 meters of muscular, combat laden human soldier could get soooo low to the ground. as he cowered, another fusion bolt blew something and someone else to hell closeby and the dirt clods fell like rain into JOCKO's hole.


how long could they be expected to sit here and catch hell with no chance for payback, he wondered. the platoon tac-comms were full of confused chatter between platoon leader and her NCOs; everyone was trying to talk at once and kept cutting off the other transmissions. JOCKO eyeballed the single-shot ATM launcher he had with him inside" his hole". damned thing would bounce off the blower's armor at this range and from the front. JOCKO sighed resignedly. looks like MOTHER JOCKO's favorite was going to have to do this, like it or not . . . JOCKO glanced at the 5 anti-armor combat badges on his right sleeve, and tried to feel reassured by them. he HAD done this before, and on his sleeve was the proof. this was just another blower . . .


just another blower . . .


JOCKO glanced over the rim of "his hole". the damned thing was starting upslope, raking the hillside to his left with blasts from its main gun and the tri-barrel coaxial VRF fusion gun as it glided upward at a leisurely pace – ignoring the sparking machine/assault rifle bullets glancing off its armored hull/turret along with the occasional red flash and dirty brown cloud that marked the strike of a launched grenade. apparently JOCKO was the only ATM packing soldier left on the hillside. crap. this was not his day. if he
engaged that monster he was going to die on this alien world, far from home!


JOCKO risked another quick peek over the edge of "his hole"; the blower was turning to his left for some reason he could not see. if that continued he would be presented with a devastating rear end shot that would ruin the blower crew's whole day!


just another blower, JOCKO. just another blower, and this one is presenting its butt side to you prepatory to a proper ATM reaming!


his mind made up, JOCKO popped up, with the ATM launcher at the ready. the rear end of the blower looked even bigger in his optics than it did to his unaided MK I eyeballs. he could read the blower ID number painted on the hull above the armored skirts; 12-12-12.


"THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!" he bellowed as he triggered the ATM. the round blasted clear of the tube with a bellow of its own and JOCKO watched the fire and forget missisle streak toward the blower's stern. . .


when the ATM hit, the round went through the armot like a finger through wet toilet paper, and the resulting catastrophic detonation sent the turret cart wheeling through the air. JOCKO did not see where the turet landed, however. . .


OOPS! forgot to duck JOCKO thought as the concussion from the blast knocked him back down into "his hole". JOCKO saw constellations of stars, maybe even whole galaxies of stars, as his little corner of the universe went pitch black . . .


BASICALLY this is the story of what happened when a wandering enemy hover-tank, far behind enemy lines, encountered a solitary and under strength platoon of light infantry attempting to defend a hilltop comm center.


neither the infantry platoon or the enemy blower were supposed to be there; just the personnel and vehicles manning the mobile comms center.


the infantry was passing through the area, saw the comm center on the hilltop, stopped for directions and a bit of news about WTF was happening in these parts. the comms team were busy setting up a relay station for the brass further to the rear.


it was while the platoon leader and NCOs were inside the comm center getting THE WORD UP, and the infantry were sprawled all over taking it easy that the blower's dust cloud first appeared, headed their way. no one on the hilltop was prepared for a fight this far from the actual fighting, and the infantry possessed the only real AT weaponry for many klicks around around the hilltop.


the enemy blower was lost; all of its comms. computers and navigation systems had been knocked out in an earlier fight. the TC was winging it in an attempt to reach a designated rendezvous point behind enemy lines when he stumbled over the hilltop comm center being set up, and decided to waste it.


from long range the blowe began to obliterate the convoy of infantry transport vehicles, all soft skinned cargo trucks mounting only HMG for defense. the surviving inifantrymen scrambled up hill towards the comms center and a hoped for refuge from the blower's main gun. while they did so, the blower shifted its fire to the sand bagged revetments where comm center vehicles were parked, then onto the main bunker, missed, and finally the comms tower itself, dropping it with one shot. now it was time to finish off the smaller incompleted defensive bunkers and individual fighting positions that made up the comm center defensive perimeter.


 since the defenders were outgunned at any targeted location by the blower, all they would do was to hunker down inside their "holes" and hope for their personal best (survival w/o maimed). it was uncanny how the random rolling of D6 singled out area where anyone with an ATM launcher was holed up (most never got off a shot!). the remaining soldiers who were not outgunned blazed away with their (impotent!) weapons until finally JOCKO tested and decided "a man has to do what a man has to do" and put paid to the rampaging blower with his single shot ATM launcher. . .


the resulting explosion was soooo close, i tested to see if JOCKO was "hit" and sure enough. he was OUT OF THE FIGHT from the concussion !!!!


with the fight over, the survivors radioed for needed medevac birds, treated the injured as best as they could (including JOCKO), and tried to salvage whatever they coould from the ruins of the hilltop comms center and the wreckage of the inifantry convoy.


all in all a very satisfactory conclusion to a very satisfactory skirmish game game i fought out using 5150 from THWG. the skirmish was fought on a 3 ft by 3 ft table to resemble a low hill, rolling plains, and tall grasses. the bunkers wer home made as was all of the terrain features, and everything was scaled to 28mm to match my soldiers and (cardboard) computer printed vehicles. the battle last less than 2 hours and was a nail biter for me since i was playing the comm center personnel and visiting infantrymen.

i rate the comm center troopers as REP-3s because they were basically rear area troops not expected to fighting an enemy blower. the majority of the infantry were REP-4s, with a sprinkling of newly joined REP-3 replacements.


JOCKO was a REP-4. how did i come by the name JOCKO? well you see i have always named my individual skirmish soldiers, and "JOCKO" was scribed on the base in big white letters . . .


anyway, i had a good time, and recomend everyone one check out the THWG yahoo site and the THWG site for fun and games!



DAWGIE

[Luthaaren Von Tegale]

Hi Dawgie,
looks like I'm reading through your batreps in reverse order, having just read AMBUSH!

Great read again - sounds like you had a real blast! I'm amazed you got the action in on a 3' table with 28s as with that table I'd assumed you were using 15s; then again I guess the real cinematic action was taking place in your mind while moving the toy's around the table.

I'll be trying this one out with some 40K troops in the near future, as well as the AMBUSH! scenario.


                              vT

[DAWGIE]

GLAD y'all like the BATREPS.


when i am cramped for space (i prefer my good ole 10 ft by 5 ft folding tables set up, but that is in the garage right now and i cannot get access to  it) vehicles, especially powerful vehicles like the hovertank, actually begin their moving and firing from maximum main gun range off table.  this gives me more actual room for using 28mm soldiers and terrain.


i determine from which table edge the vehicle/vehicles are coming from, and if there is LOS from vehicle/vehicles to any  potential target(s) on the tabletop. likewise i determine if their is LOS from any targets or non targets to the off table vehicles during their aproach (see actual vehicle/vehicles or say, a dust plume in the air above the moving vehicle, etc). thus exchanges of gunfire can take place before the vehicle/vehicles get to the table top.  same thing for off table firesupports, inbound aircraft , helos, or dropships.


activation is actually determined like this in the THWG reaction system: a battle is played in turns, and battles can have an unlimited number of turns, but always follow a strict sequence  of events.

a. select 2D6 of different colors.  you have one color, your  enemy, or the game engine in solo or all players vs THWG engine, has the otherr color.

b. roll both dice. this is the ACTIVATION SCORE. 

c.  if the dice are the same (rolled doubles), neither side can fire or move but both sides can reload, change or pickup a weapon. 

d. if the dice are not doubles, then read each D6 individually. the higher score determnes which side can ACTIVATE their forces first.

e. this D6 score also determines which REP level or higher groups  that the corresponding side may activate. roll RED 4. only figures from the RED FORCE, that are REP-4 or higher, or grouped under the command of a REP-4 or higher leader may move.

f. now  we get to the good stuff! RED FORCE activates first and  moves first, with all individual or group activations from the highest REP to the lowest REP.

g. RED moves. the RED individual or group moves around, say the corner of a building and   BLUE FORCE individual or group sees RED FORCE.

h. BLUE takes an INSIGHT REACTION TEST.


i. maybe BLUE  cooly blazes away at RED.

j. maybe BLUE blazes away at RED with a rushed snapshot.
 
k.  maybe BLUE does not shoot at RED.

 l. if BLUE shoots , BLUE either hits RED, or misses RED.

m. if BLUE hits RED,  RED rolls to determine how bad the hit is.

n.  maybe RED is only stunned by the hit.

o. or maybe RED is knocked out of the fight, or killed outright. 

p. but if BLUE missed with his shot, RED  takes a RECEIVED FIRE REACTION test.

q. maybe RED shoots back.

r.  maybe RED ducks back for cover.

s. maybe RED runs away.

t. RED  and BLUE continue to fire back and forth at each other until either RED or BLUE gets hit, run out of ammo, ducks back behind cover, or runs away.

u. when all the reactions  are finished, now it is BLUE's turn to ACTIVATE.


what to me, as a former combat soldier, is neat, is that  BLUE gets to react to RED's actions_now_just as BLUE would do in real life.  soldiers start to "think" and "respond"
 according to what "they" think is best, and not always what you want them to do. this produces some truly memorable tabletop  firefights, CQC, desperate holding actions, bogged down attacks, berserker attacks ignoring all personal danger,  reluctance to expose one's self to danger,  taking insane chances to rescue a wounded mate, and sometimes craven cowardice. but is is all going on at the same time, up and down both sides of the firing lines, not IGO-UGO style. the player finds himself very much in the pposition of platoon leader, platoon sergeant, squad or fire team leader; you can order, you can lead, you can rally, or you can hunker down and pray for the best!

there are a number of different reaction tests, but only two of them are used most of the time and after a few turns pkayers will have memorized them and will rarely refer to the  rules.


and you can use any figures/vehicles you already own or want to use with all THWG rules! yep, there are no official figures required so you play with what you already have! figure scale that i have personally seen runs from 15mm to 54mm; the rules will work with everything in between, too.  figures previously mounted for other rules systems  will also work, so there is no tedious remounting duty!


DAWGIE highly recomends THWG rules for solo, same side or player vs players gaming.