Well, with the now confirmed demise of our good Captain General M'Gumbo Isgood in the Peoples' Republic of Northern Gambola, and the hopeful onset of relative political calm that ought come with it, we now turn our attention to Balczakistan (our fictional former Soviet Republic).
As you all may recall, from days gone by, Balczaki Freedom Front terrorists/freedom fighters had taken the members of an NGO medical center hostage in late 1990. US Spec Ops types went in and rather successfully rescued them. Then, as the BFF was angered and embarrassed by that, they struck the Balczaki Interior Minister's country house, where he was hosting the US Ambassador to Balczakistan. While the Balczaki Army guards were able to hustle their Interior Minister away, the US Marines were unable to keep the BFF guys from snatching up the Ambassador (fer shame, fer shame, fer shame...
). He has been a guest of the BFF since then. But it's now Spring of 1991, and the US would like its Ambassador back. Mind you diplomatic efforts have proven futile, so it's time for, um, more direct methods.
Intel has determined that the BFF is going to move the Ambassador from one safe house to another, and has obtained the route and timing of the move. The plan is to interdict that movement, and bring the Ambassador home, alive hopefully. Here is the site of the US's ambush:
Salient features are marked on the map.
We'll be using the
Fistful of Lead core rules, with the vehicle rules from
Galactic Heroes. The BFF convoy will consist of a sedan, with the BFF leader, a driver, and the US Ambassador. They will be accompanied by 2 technicals (each with a driver, an HMG gunner, and 3 guys with AKs). They must enter from the entry point on Turn 1, and get the Ambassador, still in their care, off the field at the exit point. I will play the BFF bunch.
The residences are occupied. The one nearest the entry point has a single guy there, who begins next to his car. The one near the NW corner, has a couple and their dog, who begin outside in their yard. The one near the south board edge has a single guy and his dog. He is outside working on his tractor. I will also play the civilians, who will activate on a single card. They will move randomly. Mostly (
). The US players will be warned that the BFF is operating in territory friendly to them, and to exercise appropriate tactical caution regarding the civilians. depending on what the US folks do, the civilians may affect the action...
I will give the US players a choice of forces. They may choose either a 9-man US Marine squad (d10s, with body armor (8+ save) and the Camouflaged trait), or a 7-man Spec Ops squad (d12, also with body armor and Camouflaged). Either way, they will be accompanied by 2 People's Balczaki Resistance fighters (d8, with the Ranger trait, which will also apply to any US figure within 3" of one of them when the US figure activates - the PBR fighters know their way around). The US players may also choose 1 type of roadblock if they'd like. It will be either a felled tree, a stack of crates and other stuff, or a "broken down" vehicle (which will have 2 more unarmed PBR fighters with it, who can arm themselves as an action if they are adjacent to a door or the trunk of the vehicle). I will provide the US players with a map, on which they may mark their hidden starting positions and the roadblack position. They will be revealed when they are within LoS of any BFF fighters, or they shoot. I will allow hidden movement, as long as all the movement is out of LoS of BFF folks or civilians.
We will play this Friday (the 9th). Of course, I will post an AAR afterwards (likely in a couple weeks, as we have company that weekend, and Da Boss and I are gonna be on a little vacation 12-15 July).
In any event, stay tuned. Regardless of what happens here, Balczakistan will be heating up now...the US will be somewhat annoyed that the Ambassador had been captured, and the PBR may strike at the last remaining Russian troops left in Balczakistan. Ideas, ideas....
16 September 2025, 06:35:07 PM