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

[Kourtchatovium104]

Intriguing introduction and always great photos of your table! 

[mikedemana]

Or: "Why did you shoot me...? I'm just recording audio for my Tik-tok feed!!" 

Well, maybe not... 

Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

I'm guessing.... WHOOMPH!

More like POOF!  But we'll get to that...

Intriguing introduction and always great photos of your table! 

Thanks.  Appreciate that!

Or: "Why did you shoot me...? I'm just recording audio for my Tik-tok feed!!" 

Well, maybe not... 

Mike Demana

Maybe not is correct.  No TikTok in 1991...

Having said all that, it's time for the AAR to commence.  As such, I present to you, Dear Reader...

Part 1:  It Was Another Quiet Day on Patrol.  Until It Wasn't...   

Two men were standing around, chatting, near the red sedan by 2 brick buildings at the east end the town plaza.  A close observation of them would indicate a bit of anxiety.  Like they were waiting for something.  Or someone.  A woman had just come out of the other brick building, and crossed the street to the corner of the restaurant.  As she did so, she said, just loud enough for the 2 men to hear "Igor just phoned.  They're coming."



"They" were the now-daily Soviet patrol, who were indeed coming.  Up the street from the southwest.  They moved slowly and carefully, with some men advancing while others keeping an eye out for trouble.  Three of them advanced up the left side of the street, while 3 more the right.  The patrol leader kept near their BTR-80, whose gunner scanned the area for potential targets.  It was cloudy this day.  Again.  But at least it wasn't as warm as it had been, and they weren't sweating their asses off. 



The Soviet soldiers kept moving.  Slowly.  Carefully.  The patrol leader didn't like it - he had a bad feeling about today.  His senses, honed by his time in Afghanistan, told him something wasn't quite right.  He would find out if his senses were right soon enough.  His men on the left kept moving along that wrought-iron fence, while his men on the right moved along the buildings into the plaza.  He went right, with them.  The BTR-80 backed them up.  The patrol leader cautioned them, in a stern but calm voice "Keep an eye out, boys.  Watch the rooftops..."  He could see a man by the phone booth across the plaza, and that woman at the far corner.



Another man moved from in front of that Asian restaurant (he liked their food, and he recognized him as the owner...) over to the guy by the phone booth.



What the patrol leader didn't see was the priest and a well-dressed couple in the church courtyard.  The priest moved to the corner of the church, furtively watching for the Soviets.  He had seen the hand signal the woman across the street had given him.  The couple moved closer to the church building.



That women moved along the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, next to the black sedan.  One of the 2 men by the brick building followed her, while another crossed the street and headed behind the row of buildings with the restaurant.



It was then that there was the first hint of trouble.  A sniper appeared on the roof of the big gray building with the wrought-iron fence in front of it, and fired at the Soviet PKM gunner.  The gunner ducked down behind the fence, while one of the Soviet soldiers behind him opened fire on the sniper, wounding him.  The sniper's shot and the Soviet soldier's AK74 fire was nearly simultaneous - the soldier had heeded the patrol leader's cautionary statement.

Worse (at least it should have been...), this was when the priest walked out to the patrol leader in the plaza, as the leader and some of the soldiers had advanced further into it, followed by the BTR.  The patrol leader tried to shoot the priest once he figured out what was about to happen, but in his haste he missed.  The priest's vest detonated.  Sort of.  It was apparently shoddily made, and, while it did indeed go off, its only apparent effect was a dead priest.  The patrol leader was not affected, aside from an intense ringing in his ears, and some bits of blood and gore splattered on him.  The BTR was not affected either, aside from some afore-mentioned splatter.



More trouble followed.  The shifty-looking fellow by the phone booth reached into the car, lit a Molotov cocktail, and threw it in the direction of the BTR-80. Being a big strapper, he overthrew it, and it landed between the BTR and a building across the plaza. 



It was about then, the poor sniper on the rooftop bled out, and succumbed to his wound.  (Note:  I don't normally discuss game mechanics during my AARs, but Ted and I thought this worth showing.  In Fistful of Lead, a wounded figure can attempt to recover and get back in the fight.  The player rolls the appropriate die - in this case, the PBR fighters were D10s, as were the Soviets for that matter.  He activated the wounded chap on a 2 card, which allowed him to roll 2 die, and pick the best result.  He rolled 2 1s.  Natural 1s on such a roll result in the figure succumbing to his/her wounds.  So, he died...).



By now, the Soviets were working their way through the plaza.  And they were now on full alert, trying to keep their eyes on everything and everyone...



   

Remember the woman and that guy by the black sedan?  She reached into the car and pulled out an FAL.  For her troubles, she was shot down by the alert patrol leader.  Her friend, stunned by what he had just witnessed, stood there, perhaps acting like he too might arm himself. Well, he should have, as another alert soldier shot him, wounding him.  He crawled toward the corner of the nearby building.  The other guy, who had gone behind the buildings with the restaurant, went inside the one next to the restaurant, grabbed his AK, went upstairs to a window, and opened fire of the Soviets in the plaza.  The Soviets responded with PKM and RPG fire.



As that was happening, the big strong Molotov cocktail-throwing fella hightailed it around the corner of the building in front of which he was.  Two Soviet soldiers chased after him, catching up to him at the back corner of that building.  The Big fella beat the snot out of both of the Soviet soldiers...he then grabbed one of the Soviet's AK74s just in time to himself get shot down and wounded by the BTR-80's coax.  Having noticed the 2 Soviet soldiers had not returned from chasing that guy, the BTR crew drove over to investigate.  They did not like what they saw, and took appropriate measures...



I'll end Part 1 here.  Here's a view of the scene from the roof of that big gray building overlooking the plaza.



I plan to post Part 2:  Dimitri Gets a Medal. tomorrow or Tuesday.  Until then, please enjoy this gripping tale!   

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Another good AAR. The patrol certainly seemed to be on the ball.

[cuprum]

Interesting!
A small note. Most Soviet armored vehicles were designed for combat operations in conditions of radioactive contamination and had appropriate protection against the penetration of radioactive dust - a device for creating excess pressure inside the hull. If such a system is in good working order, then the use of Molotov cocktail bottles will be ineffective - the Molotov mixture will simply burn on the surface of the hull. The maximum effect is blinding the crew for some time and difficulty breathing due to the burnt oxygen.
Here is footage from the Ukrainian Maidan in 2014. Two armored personnel carriers of the Ukrainian police are trying to break through the barricades of protesters and they are attacked by a large number of Molotov cocktails. This does not produce a significant effect. The crews remained alive and the armored vehicles received minor damage.

[carlos marighela]

Great AAR. I heartily endorse any scenario that allows you to take pot shots at the clergy.

You don't even need an overpressure system for Molotovs to be ineffectual. Any number were lobbed at Pigs and Saracens and armoured Land Rovers over the years in Northern Ireland and rarely did they disable the vehicle or cause much more than a little singeing to the paintwork.

As long as you have no open hatches or sustain a hit on a vent or opening that causes either an engine fire or triggers the fire suppression systems aboard, you should be golden. Open topped BTR-152s on the streets of Budapest, well that's a whole other thing.

[cuprum]

Yeah, I didn't think about it. There are also automatic fire extinguishing systems. There's practically no chance...

[mikedemana]

Great start to the AAR, Jim! As to the sniper bleeding out, I can only shake my head sadly and say, "Ted, Ted, Ted..." 

Side note, I saw your new recruit Dave E down at Cincycon this weekend. When I asked him about gaming with you guys, he was full of praise. He said every game is like an award winning convention game...!

Anyway, looking forward to the next chapter!

Mike Demana

[commissarmoody]

Another Amazing looking game. 

[CapnJim]

Thank you, gentlemen.  And thanks, cuprum, for that video.  Luckily for the Soviets, they didn't need to find out if the BTR's over-pressure system was "in good working order", since that PBR chap put too much arm in his throw.

Anyways, back to our story...

Part 2: Dimitri Gets a Medal.

By now, the restaurant owner had ducked back inside his place of business (presumably hiding in a closet in the back), and that well-heeled couple had retreated into the church hall.

The BTR driver (let's call him Dimitri) was not happy.  The BTR's gunner had wounded the PBR bastard who was near the inert forms of 2 of his squad-mates.  But he had gotten back to his feet.  Enraged, the driver crawled out of his vehicle, and ran at the PBR PoS at full bore.  He tackled him, and zip-tied his hands.



At the other end of the plaza, the PKM gunner (Ilya, shall we say) and the RPG gunner (how about Mikhail?) had taken out the PBR f***er who had been firing at them from the upper floor of one of the buildings on the north side of the plaza.  At least he wasn't firing at them anymore.  The other 2 Soviet rifleman and Mikhail moved to the east end of the plaza, to check on their patrol leader.

 



They needn't have worried.  The patrol leader had survived worse stuff in Afghanistan.  He got back to his feet, and directed his right element to keep moving north up the street.  He then turned around and kept an eye on what his BTR was up to.



Dimitri dragged/pushed/shoved his prisoner back to the BTR.  He (carefully, I'm sure) stuffed him inside the BTR and secured him there.

 

Dimitri then went over and dragged one of the fallen Soviet riflemen back to the BTR.  As he was doing so, more figures appeared on the roof of the big gray building with the wrought-iron fence in front of it.  One RPG round streaked toward the BTR, detonating but not penetrating.  It did, however, rattle the BTR gunner.  Another RPG round then whooshed toward Ilya and his PKM as he stood near the fountain.  Ilya then had a bad day, taking shrapnel from the RPG round and a bullet from the other guy up on that roof.  His day got a bit better, as he staggered to his feet.  He could barely hear the chatter of the BTRs gun through the ringing in his ears, and could see rounds impacting the roofline near those 2 chaps up there.  Ilya's PKM added its fire to those impacts.



 

While the patrol leader fired at the guys up on that roof, his right element kept moving north up the street, carefully and deliberately.



Then, an act of utter cowardice occured.  While Dimitri went to pull the other downed Soviet riflemen back to the BTR, the gunner decided he had had enough after another near RPG miss.  In a fit of panic, he got up and out of the BTR, jumped down, and ran away up the street.  We don't know where he went, but Heaven help him if the PBR gets their hands on him...



Ilya's hearing came fully back to him.  So did his senses.  While Dimitri was fetching the last downed rifleman, Ilya limped over to the BTR and took cover behind it.  He kept up what fire he could at the 2 PBR guys on that roof.



Dimitri got the last rifleman into the BTR.  Ilya climbed in, too, albeit painfully.  The patrol leader seeing his left element was back in the BTR, headed north to join his right element.  The guys on the roof, out of RPG rounds and unsure what, if any, effect they would have on the situation from this point on, snuck away, and things got quiet...

 

...quiet, that is, except for the sound of that BTR-80's Soviet diesel engine revving.  Dimitri, back in the driver's seat, got them the Hell out of there, and drove to join the rest of the squad north of town.





And that, my friends, is that.

Post-Script

We have a few observations from the game.  But first, an administrative detail.  On the PBR Scenario Sheet, in the Victory Points section, the last point should read "...+5 points."   My apologies for the omission.

And now, the observations.  First, we don't use Fistful of Lead's Ready action a whole lot.  I used it almost every turn in this game.  It came in handy, too.

Second, in a weird twist, the Soviets' body armor worked almost every time (save a couple times).  Our luck with armor saves is mixed, at best.  The effectiveness of the body armor came in handy, too.

Third, we figured the Molotov tosser was a big fella.  He overthrew the thing, and single-handedly beat the crap out of two Soviet soldiers while unarmed. 

Fourth, with the BTR driver (Dimitri) taking that big fella down and retrieving his comrades, he oughta get a medal or something. His gunner, on the other hand... 

Who won?

The Soviets pulled out the win, 13-9.  Had that gunner not scurried off, it would have been a much bigger victory.  But a win is a win.   

The Soviets had 2 Out of Action, 2 Wounded, and 1 Runaway.  Out of 9 troopers altogether.

The PBR had 5 Out of Action and 1 Captured.  Our of 8 fighters total.  The 3 non-combatant civilians all survived without a scratch.

There you have it.  Hope you enjoyed it!  Ted and I enjoyed playing it!

[Doug ex-em4]

I certainly enjoyed it…! Visually, a delight and the action was pacey and full of interest. The shenanigans round the BTR could have turned out very different. Looking forward to the ongoing action.

Doug

[commissarmoody]

Badass game! Interesting, intense and enjoyable to read. 

[Dr. Zombie]

That both looks and sound like an awesome game.

[CapnJim]

I certainly enjoyed it…! Visually, a delight and the action was pacey and full of interest. The shenanigans round the BTR could have turned out very different. Looking forward to the ongoing action.

Doug

Thanks, Doug.  We're looking forward to more Tales from Balczakistan.  Just as soon as I figure out what's next.  I have some ideas... 

Badass game! Interesting, intense and enjoyable to read. 

That both looks and sound like an awesome game.

Thanks, guys!  It was a great game.  The scenario could be quiet versatile, too.  Americans in Iraq/Afghanistan, British in Northern Ireland, etc.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Great AAR.