Person Of Interest - game report

[Sgt. Scream]

Some members will remember this report as it was already posted in some forums a couple of months back. But this forum right here is so damn inspiring, I just can't hold back and wanted to post a little of my work here as well. Sorry for the write-up of the events that took place in this Force On Force after action report, its a little cheesy occationally.

March 16, 07:34, briefing room....

Major Dickens: "Good morning, Lieutenant. Seems like Special Forces have successfully kicked up some dirt and started to flush out some people we have a special interest in, well.....uhm.....talk to. Have a look at this Predator UAV life feed - Intelligence assets have identified a senior leadership figure of the insurgency hiding out somewhere in the outskirts of Samawah. A cordon has been thrown around the area already and troops of your platoon of infantry will be sent in to capture the person-of-interest...."



This scenario is based upon Donogh McCarthy's work for a campaign game ("Black Day At Garmsir") with British troops facing Taliban (Get Scenario). Lack of the latter and British troops made it necessary to re-write parts of the scenario to fit my available miniatures.
So, instead of Afghanistan we are now in Samawah in Iraq after the rise of the insurgency. The United States Army is going to face the Insurgents, while trying to capture a person of interest alive for interrogation.























Chris

[Last Chancer]

Great report Chris. Been interested in getting into Fof. Still have a ton of old battlefield evo minis. How does Fof compare?  They sound similar with the reactions.

[VoodooInk]

Welcome aboard and thanks for the report!

I've been a fan of your minis and terrain for quite some time. Nice to see that you've finally made it to Lead Adventure Forum!

[Arlequín]

Outstanding AAR there Chris! As VoodooInk says; nice to see you here! 

[Sgt. Scream]

Great report Chris. Been interested in getting into Fof. Still have a ton of old battlefield evo minis. How does Fof compare?  They sound similar with the reactions.

Pheeew... How do they compare? To be honest: not at all. The very ideas behind the two games already differ significantly. While BF Evo tries to handle (and does) large quantities of soldiers and wargear like tanks, flyers etc, FoF sends in only a couple of soldiers, mostly less than a full platoon. While BF Evo brings in an interesting aspect of being able to "do something" in the opponents turn, FoF constantly goes back and forth between two players. You can act and react to about everything. FoF also handles stuff BF Evo doesn't even care about: wounded soldiers, ammo supply, confidence of troops etc. Furthermore, FoF is fun to play as the "Fog Of War" events can really mess up a game that so far was running good for your side. See my report above where a sudden change in the weather conditions ("who goes there?" event card) has drastically reduced my chances.
BF Evo is a good game for what it does, FoF I only recommend to experienced players as it really needs a lot of thinking. It can occasionally appear to be over-complicated, but once you've grasped the basics it actually is really simple.

FoF offers a really tactically challenging game experience. Once you have realized that you actually need to care about miniatures (in this game) the way you need to care for real life beings, you know your game is closer to real life than any other you have played before. You don't remove regular soldiers just like this, you need to make sure they get medical attention or even MEDEVAC in FoF. You also realise that the ability to "pop smoke" is something that comes in handy once you have seen what a soviet DshK does to a squad in the open. The whole fire and maneuver drill to include supression fire with light MGs - FoF has all of it.
The most important difference however is the lack of a points system in FoF. In BF Evo (actually in most games) you have an army list with points attached to everything you can field. You pick this or that until you reach the limitations of the game's point amount.
FoF works different: you pick the troops specified in a given scenario and your only goal is reaching the mission objectives. No stupid "shoot until you annihiliated the opponent". You make almost no victory points by destroying troops, while you get a lot of them for fulfilling your objectives. You do not necessarily have to field exactly what is in the scenarios (you can make up your own like I do, based upon a computer game), but you should stay close to its limitations.

If you have more questions, either post away here and I will try to answer them or get registered in the games' own forum (AAG forum).

[Agis]

Welcome Sgt! (always the same people on the forums...)   

Great report and even better comparison of Evo and FoF!  

[Poiter50]

Have to say I agree with his comparisons, very succinct! 

[Ulu Elsomalien]

Welcome Sgt! (always the same people on the forums...)   

Great report and even better comparison of Evo and FoF!  

Welcome and thank you for the comparison, now I will have pictures of your minis without leaving LAF (I rarely go to AAG forum  )!

[Last Chancer]

Chris. Thanks for the comparisons. Appreciate it. Will head over to the aag forum and do a little more research. One thing Ive heard about is that Fof can be played solo. With my regular opponent moved away, I've been searching for a game that has a good solo capability until I can find a new "regular" gaming group.

[Rob_bresnen]

Phew Chris! What A battle report! Epic stuff there.

It kept me gripped right to the end (usually I find myself just looking a the pictures and skimming the text). I love your figures and scenery, and the photography was of a good standard too: I especially liked the UAV Point of View shots- nice touch. The narrative was excellent, and really shows of FOF in a good light.

Look forward to seeing some more!

[verd]

Great report! Thanks for share it.