CapnJim's Modern Stuff - Balczaki-Soviet Bridge Fight Full AAR - Pg 54-10 Aug 25

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Ooooh, exciting!

Is it tomorrow yet?

[CapnJim]

Thanks again, guys!

Is it tomorrow yet?

Here in the States?  No.  But for you folks across the proverbial pond?  Yep!  So, here we go with the thrilling conclusion to our Battle Report...

Part 3:  Go! Go! Go!

Where we left off, Capt. Kayda had led his Marines against the east end of Zhankopat, while the Co. XO had led Lt. Asonovovich and his Balczakis against the north side of the town.  Thus far, they have rescued the Ambassador and the other hostages, and had cleared 3 of the 4 Objective buildings.  But at a cost.  The Ambassador had gone down, but was OK.  A Marine was dead, and 4 Balczakis were wounded, though all 4 of those were able to get back in the fight.  The Marines who stormed the town hall in their 2nd assault had not only retrieved the body of their fellow marine, but had captured a member of the BFF.  The rescue force, with those under their care, were now headed to the Rescue LZ.  But the BFF wasn't quite done yet...

More of them came in across the bridge.  They shot down a 5th Balczaki trooper near a group of downed BFF fighters, and fired RPGs at the AH1.  But with little effect.



The AH1, once again, sidled over closer to the BFF fighters who had fired at it, and, once again, opened up with its mini-gun. And, once again, 4 BFF fighters went down.  A lone BFF leader fired his shotgun futilely and out of frustration at the chopper.  The leader would pay for his impudence.



Meanwhile, the rescue force made its way to the Rescue LZ.  After securing it, they popped smoke, and called in the Rescue Blackhawk.  And they waited.





Marines brought up the rear with their prisoner, and kept on eye on things as they too moved to the Rescue LZ.



After the Marines had cleared the apartment building that formerly held the hostages, a few civilians who had been hiding there made a run for it.  Nearby Balczaki troops kept an eye on their countrymen and women.



As mentioned before, the BFF wasn't done yet.  As the units escorting the hostages moved past Objective Building 3 (it hadn't been cleared yet), they came under fire from that building's upper floor.  Once again, the Ambassador went down, as did one of the his Balczaki escorts.

 

Marines and Balczakis returned fire, and kept moving the hostages.  With the AH1 busy at the bridge, the Co. XO called in the Army's Apache.  Its pilot moved to line up a shot at the building with the BFFers in it.  Yet another burst from a helicopter mini-gun was heard.  And yet more BFF fighters were dispatched.  Unfortunately, the mini-gun jammed.  But before it did, its rounds ripped through brick and wood and glass.  And BFF fighters.



The rescue bird arrived on the scene, and landed at the Rescue LZ.  Now, the only noise to be heard was the sound of 3 helicopters and the shouting and chattering of determined armed men, both American and Balczaki.  The gunfire had stopped completely.  The wounded Ambassador, the other unharmed hostages, the prisoner, the dead Marine, and 2 dead Balczaki soldiers (the last 2 Balczakis that went down died despite the best efforts of the Balczaki medic and the Navy corpsman) were put on the Blackhawk.  It lifted off and headed back to the base in west Bhamfuhk.





The mission was complete.  all that was left was to do one more sweep of Zhankopat to gather any useful intel and to check on any possible survivors from all the downed BFF fighters, of which there was almost 60.  The Marines did the intel sweep, while the Balczaki troops checked on the BFF fighters.  Unfortunately, none of the BFF men survived. 

Once their work in Zhankopat was done, the rescue force headed back to their LZ, calling in their CH46 Sea Knights as they headed there.

And, that, dear readers, was that.  We played a company(-)-sized fight using Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles for 10 turns in right around 3-1/2 hours. 

And, if any of your are curious, the Ambassador ended up surviving his ordeal(s),and is under the care of US Navy doctors.

[HerbertTarkel]

Great looking battle, lots of urban fun!

[carlos marighela]

 
Luvverly stuff! Choppers saved the day again.

Bhamfuhk sounds like it's the arse end of the universe but clearly Zhankopat is beyond even that.

[mikedemana]

Great game report, Jim! Sounds like the rules and your adaptions for the various weapons worked out great. I would say the U.S. got its revenge. One KIA for U.S. forces is probably an acceptable number at the State Department considering who was rescued. The local forces who assisted may feel differently, though...

Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

Great looking battle, lots of urban fun!

Thanks.  Yeah, they had fun running a sort of gauntlet from the target building to the LZ...

Luvverly stuff! Choppers saved the day again.

Bhamfuhk sounds like it's the arse end of the universe but clearly Zhankopat is beyond even that.

Yes - it's a recurring theme in many of our modern games.  One of these times, the flyboys will be too busy at the O' Club...And yes - Balczakistan itself is a bit out of the way.  But apparently with some level of strategic value to the US...

Great game report, Jim! Sounds like the rules and your adaptions for the various weapons worked out great. I would say the U.S. got its revenge. One KIA for U.S. forces is probably an acceptable number at the State Department considering who was rescued. The local forces who assisted may feel differently, though...

Mike Demana

Yes - the adjusted distances/ranges worked just fine.  And TWO Americans died trying to rescue the Ambassador - that SpecOps team leader died in the first botched attempt.  But even that is still likely within State's "acceptable losses" parameters.  My guess is the Balczaki troop casualties don't even factor in to State's calculations...

In any event, things are abrew.  We're not done in Balczakistan yet...

[CapnJim]

A hobby shop in the next town north of us here in SE michigan has some 1980s vintage Soviet diecast vehicles, market in 1/43 scale.  They have BTR60PBs, BRDM2s, BS3 AT guns, and SU100s.

I bought 3 of the BTR60PBs, intended to be used as my Balczakis' motor rifle platoon rides.  Here is one and its box.



Here it is, with 28mm figures to show scale.  Oddly enough, it measures out at about 1/48 in length and width, but 1/41 in height.  As you can see, it's a bit tall, shall we say.




I already had 3 BTR80s I got from eBay a number of years ago.  The were market as 1/50 scale, but they measure out at 1/55 almost exactly.  Here is one, with figures for scale.




Here they both are, side by side, from a few different angles.





The BTR60s are a bit big (particularly their height), but I'm gonna use them anyway.  They will be re-painted into Balczaki livery, just as soon as I decide what that is...

[carlos marighela]

Nice! A bit big but hey, cars were bigger in the 1960s.

The Balczaki livery should definitely be 'hairy'. 

[carlos marighela]

Actually, I'd go with basic Soviet green and some white buzz numbers. That way it can see service under any number of owners. Everyone loves Soviet Green.*



* A cancelled '90s sitcom with Ray Romano as a a Russian tank commander living with his extended family in Pinsk.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

That is going to be some climb to get to the access door on the side!

Otherwise they look good.

[Andy in Germany]

Just found and caught up with this thread: as you said, your ambassador seems to have the same misfortune as mine, stuck on Ascension...

[CapnJim]

They are close enough for government work.  Which, or course, is what national armies do...

Actually, I'd go with basic Soviet green and some white buzz numbers. That way it can see service under any number of owners. Everyone loves Soviet Green.

I think I'm thinking a basic green/light brown camo scheme.  Probably with some numbers on 'em.  They would still be versatile that way.  They may need to portray Cuban BTRs in El Perdomo, although I haven't yet decided what degree of involvement the Cubans will ultimately have.  In the Top Secret RPG games we've played, the Cubans and the KGB are involved with the rebels/terrorists, each with their own motives.  The Americans don't have any troops there, yet, aside from the Marines at the Embassy.  So far, in those RPGs, American involvement has been in the form of a "private" corporate security contractor.  Of course, that may change should a coerced change of government occur...

Heck, I may even make El Perdomo a British Protectorate, with a nominally involved Governor General.  That would provide an excuse (not that I probably need one...) for me to get some of those 1st Corps British troops. 

[CapnJim]

Just found and caught up with this thread: as you said, your ambassador seems to have the same misfortune as mine, stuck on Ascension...

Yep.  Apparently, diplomatic posts can be dangerous assignments...

[CapnJim]

This Friday coming, we're going back to Balczakistan.  This one's gonna be Balczaki troops vs. the BFF, and will be inspired by the Alamo scenario in the Force on Force Road to Baghdad scenario book.

I'll post scenario details sometime this week, prior to the game.  Stay tuned...

[AKULA]

Those diecasts aren't bad