Thursday 19 January 2017

Tomorrow's War Battle Report: Lost & Found

Tonight I played the introductory scenario of Tomorrows War with my son: Lost & Found.  US Marines vs the DPRG on the planet Glory.  From past experience I knew that the odds were against the DPRG.  So, saying that I gave them an extra GPMG team to their forces hoping this would even things out a bit.  US forces had a Troop Quality of D8 while DPRG forces were a meager D6.  I changed the tech level of the scenario as well, dropping the DPRG to tech level 1 instead of 2.












Colony World: Glory
Area: Foix Gap, near the DPRG border
Year: 2295

US Mission: An American aerospace fighter has suffered engine failure and crashed in disputed territory near the DPRG border.  The pilot has managed to eject and is currently held up in a nearby ruin awaiting rescue.  Nearby US marines are ordered to advance swiftly and extract the pilot before he is captured by Communist forces.  The pilot must exit the board by turn 8. 

Victory points:
+3 for making contact with the pilot
+10 for exiting the pilot before turn 5
+7 for exiting the pilot before turn 8

US Force, 13 men, TQ D8
Tech level: 3
1 Squad Leader
3 Fireteams (2 rifle men, 1 SAW gunner AP1, 1 SLAM gunner AP2)

DPRG Mission: An Imperialist Air Pirate has been shot down over the People's Paradise.  The pirate managed to eject from his aircraft and is attempting to escape from the People's justice.  Prevent his rescue at all costs.  Destroy or capture any Imperialist forces which attempt to intervene.

Victory points:
+2 per US marine KIA
+1 per US marine seriously wounded
+3 per US marine POW
Pilot still on the table at the end of turn 8: VICTORY

Communist Forces, 25 men, TQ D6
Tech Level: 1
Lieutenant
Medic
Tech Officer
GPMG Team, 2 men (AP 2)
4 Fire teams (3 riflemen, 1 SAW gunner AP1, RPG Gunner AP2)

Battlefield, 3'x3' table.

Pilot

Communists await the Imperialist forces

Ford in the river.


Turn 1
The US marines advanced into the nearby woods and fields.  Unfortunately, the DRPG was waiting for them.  Enemy units waited until after all US marine fireteams were on the board before they activated.  Three of them and the GPMG team poured fire into the left most US marine unit, while a forth moved behind the building in the center.  When it was all said and done the US marine unit was pinned down and wiped out, with no DPRG casualties to speak of.   

End of Turn 1.  US Marine Platoon is wiped out, with no DPRG casualties.


Turn 2 began with some hesitation on the US side.  However, confident in their technological prowess (TL 3 vs TL 1) another US fireteam advanced to the river ford with the team going on overwatch to cover their advance.  A furious firefight ensued between both sides, leaving two DPRG fireteams wiped out.  However, lady luck was not with the marines: their command squad fell off overwatch and the remaining DPRG fireteam and GPMG team caused 4 casualties on the marines in the river, wiping them out!  This was very bad since the DPRG fireteam was still beside the house and within rapid movement distance of them.  They activated and with no one to oppose them, moved into cohesion distance with that unit and captured them.

End of Turn 2.  Another US Marine fireteam is wiped out.  DPRG takes several casualties as well.

DPRG fireteam wiped out.
DRPG casualties: one wiped out fireteam and one casualty in another.

Oh no!
 
US Marines captured!


End of turn 2.
 Turn 3 began with the DPRG winning initiative!  Another furious gunbattle ensued with more casualties being inflicted on the communist forces.  However, the DPRG unit with the American POWs won it's reaction test and escaped behind the building with their prisoners.  This was the final nail in the coffin for the marines.


End of Turn 4.

Final DPRG situation

Final US situation
 At this point we called the game.  There was no point in continuing since even if the marine fireteam could make contact with the pilot the DRPG already had enough victory points for the win.  The US had a clear tech advantage but the dice were simply not in their favor. 

Communist casualties amounted to 3 dead, 5 seriously and 4 lightly wounded.  American losses were 2 dead, 1 seriously and 1 lightly wounded men and 4 prisoners of war. 

Victory points were:
US: 0
DPRG: 17 plus an automatic win due to the pilot being left on the board.


VICTORY FOR DEAR LEADER!

3 comments:

  1. As the old saying goes " no plan survives contact with the enemy " . That said I'm not really surprised by the outcome here, motivation and the fickle dice gods almost always beats technology. This is really a special ops mission the only way it would work with conventional forces is numbers and or off board support i.e. air or artillery.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've played that scenario three times now, and each time it has been quite close. If I recall correctly both sides have won. The Marines have a hard time limit, so they cannot simply hang back and use their superior firepower to win. I've always been impressed by the design of the scenario, as trying to balance two very disparate forces with a scenario specific objective is quite difficult. The designers did a really good job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you there. I have found this scenario always a close run affair as well. The DPRG does not need to outfight the marines. Indeed it cannot (unless like in my example they are very unlucky with their dice rolls).

      Delete

Visitor Total