Tomorrow's War AAR - The Rescue

Background

It was unusual.  Being pulled off the usual pointless "presence patrols" and being sent off into the boonies.  All of a sudden the vehicles we were in drove off Route 6 and dropped us off in the middle of nowhere.  We piled out, wondering what was going on.  Our sixth senses were tingling.    

The patrol commander, Klotz, gathered us in a huddle and gave a quick set of orders for a fighting patrol.  I'll spare you the details, but The Company wanted this done.  One guy- another merc- had become separated from his unit during a gun battle with a gang of prawns in the area.  The Company's board were worried- they didn't want a captured human being beheaded (or eaten even!).  The negative effects of District 9 were still being felt today.

How did I feel about it?  I felt for the guy- the trapped soldier.  If it was me- yes, I'd want Zulu Platoon kicking down doors and hosing enemy with lead.  So I checked my magazine, fell into formation and started patrolling forward.



This was played using the "Downed Pilot" Scenario from the Tomorrow's War rule book.

In this case the DPRG Border Legion has been substituted by the prawns and the USMC has been replaced by the mercenaries of MultiNational United.

MNU must located and escort the "Downed Pilot" aka "Trapped soldier" off the friendly table edge within 8 turns.  The prawns must prevent this from happening and if the opportunity presents- inflict casualties on the approaching MNU.

Combatants

Prawn Militia- Christopher Johnson Platoon
Troop Quality D6/ Morale D10

1 Command Section
- commander with rifle
- medic with rifle
- squad leader with rifle
- 2 riflemen
- 1 grenadier
- 1 gunner with light support weapon

3 Rifle sections
- squad leader with rifle
- 2 riflemen
- 1 grenadier
- 1 gunner with light support weapon

MNU PMC- Zulu Platoon
Troop Quality D8/ Morale D10

1 patrol commander with rifle

Leading 3 fire teams each with:
- 1 fire team leader with rifle
- 1 rifleman
- 1 gunner with light support weapon
- 1 grenadier armed with a SLAM


Setup

MNU enter from the right

The four prawn squads set up in ambush on the other side of the river (yellow dice indicating positions).  The mercs walk on the board from the right.  The man to be rescued sits in the hut next to the purple die (green die in the picture below).

4 yellow dice for the prawn sections

The Game

Advancing cautiously

The initial turns consisted of the mercs cautiously picking forward through the woods to get eyes on the target building.  The prawns stayed hidden- waiting for their moment to strike.

Time to push it!  Advancing onto the river bank.

One fire team cautiously picked their way over to the river bank by the bridge, the mercs casting a wary eye on the nearby woods.  Nothing.  Then in a sudden roar of noise, the ambush was sprung.  Two prawn squads passed their troop quality rolls to ambush, whereas the third failed dismally with a 2.

In a furious exchange of fire, the mercs gave as good as they got.  Inflicting 2 casualties on the prawns closest to them, knocking over the prawn commander's grenadier in the building and inflicting a further two casualties on the prawn section farthest away.  This was for the cost of 3 downed MNU.

The MNU squad (hunkered behind the stone fence) able to support their beleaguered fire team opened up on the nearest prawn section inflicting several more casualties.  The prawn command section, with their grenadier down failed the reaction roll against the MNU squad behind the fence and to make matters worse- ended up getting suppressed by the MNU SLAM!

Exposed prawn squad- casualties mount

The prawns retain the initiative after this furious set of exchanges.  Luckily for the prawns most of their casualties are lightly wounded (and one who dusts himself off).  The MNU fire team that was hit has one seriously wounded and two lightly wounded.

The one remaining prawn section still in hiding attempts to ambush the nearest MNU fireteam in a treeline across the river.  Unfortunately they fail their troop quality test- undisciplined beasts!  To add insult to injury, they fail their reaction roll against the MNU fireteam and find themselves on the end of a hiding- suppressed with two casualties (lightly wounded only- luckily).

Stand off over the river

The MNU fire team exposed on the river bank quickly withdraw to the relative cover of the nearby woods.  They still give a good account of themselves though, hammering the prawn squads who dare to fire on them.  Indeed the prawn command squad- supposedly protected by their mud brick building got smashed by the MNU fire team in cover behind the fence- causing another 3 casualties.

Mortared by the Fog of War and then shot at!

Fearing the worst for the battle, the prawn section that was the last to come out of ambush (and on the edge of the battle) tried to scamper into a nearby building to get eyes on the main battle.  Unfortunately, they rolled a one on a reaction test and were hit by a stray mortar barrage- inflicting three casualties.  One of whom turned out to be seriously wounded.  Not that it mattered, as subsequent rounds of fire between it and MNU resulted in the prawn section being wiped out!

Firefight ensues, as the mortared prawn squad is wiped out in its building.

Things were rapidly spiralling out of control for the prawns as the firefight dragged on.

Another Prawn section succumbs to fire

Poor reaction rolls resulted in another prawn section being wiped out!  Rather ominously they rolled a 1 on their reaction test, earning the "It's a bad day to die" Fog of War card.  Some good return fire by the prawns bounced off MNU armour- D6 troop quality versus D8 troop quality was really telling.

Another squad of prawns wiped out!

Another round of fire resulted in a third squad of prawns being wiped out.  Things were definitely looking grim!

Remnants of the original ambushing prawns

A final burst of fire from the remaining MNU fire teams silenced the command prawn squad in the mud hut with brutal efficiency.  Suppressed by a SLAM launched by the MNU squad behind the stone fence, they were picked apart the second fire team who bounded from the tree line onto the river bank.

Conclusion

As silence descended over the battlefield, it was apparent that the PMCs had run off the prawns.  But had they been able to rescue the trapped soldier?  It was turn 12 and they hadn't made contact with him.  (The scenario gives 8 turns to reach the trapped soldier AND usher them off the board).  Even given the extra length of the field compared to the scenario, it was clear that rescuing the man had failed.

We never found him.  A blood trail, spent rounds and a scrap of field dressing.  That was it.  The boss had us do a walk through BDA of the positions we had been taking fire from.  No bodies were found- prawn or otherwise.  Pools of ichor- that prawn blood- yes, but no bodies.  

I didn't like this- and I wasn't the only one.  The prawns normally didn't care about recovering casualties let alone bodies.  That was something humans did.  Or more precisely, humans fighting in an insurgency.  

It was a feeling of foreboding as we remounted our vehicles.  For the guy that got taken- and for us.  It was turning into a warzone of the worst sort.  How little did we truly know.