Black Ops - Bag Boris

Anyway, as I was saying...

Last weekend MBB and I had a game of Black Ops by Osprey publishing. We picked a scenario from a the May issue of Miniature Wargames with Battlegames - Bagging Boris. I changed the names from the scenario to fit in with some fictional Eastern European/Slavonic imagi-nations (they are also names of countries in the Ace Combat series).

Briefing

June 2008. Republic of Estovakia, suburbs of Svzhod

The breakup of the Belkan Republic, and the subsequent brutal and bloody civil war between the emergent ethnic groups of Estovakia in the north and Sokovia in the south has finally died down. The civil war was characterised initially by brief periods of intense fighting between professional military units followed by a protracted period of unconventional warfare conducted by militia units and local irregulars. Looting, raiding and war crimes were common on both sides. Only the intervention of UN forces on the ground, and trade embargoes to both sides, has finally forced the leadership to the negotiating table. A shaky cease fire is now in effect whilst formal peace talks begin. 

You have been dispatched by the UNBELK task force commander to assist with maintaining the fragile ceasefire. Working with civilian UN investigators you have located and arrested “The Butcher of Kakariko” - Boris Yaroslav – for crimes against humanity. He is in custody and is being detained by local law enforcement under supervision of the civilian UN observers. The observers are unarmed and have expressed concern that the local police have sympathy for Yaroslav, who is a hero to the ultra nationalist factions in Estovakia.

You have exfiltrated the city with Boris, your vehicles being pelted with rocks as you left. Ten miles from the city you were ambushed and your vehicles immobilised. You have escaped the immediate ambush zone and have arranged for two RAF Pumas to pick you up at a rendezvous point nearby.

It is unlikely that there will be any aid for you if you do not make the landing zone in time. The Estovakian military has stood down, but there are any number of local militia groups, including Boris’s own Svzhod FC, who are only very loosely under control of the central command.

Rules of Engagement

You have been fired upon and may now use lethal force to prevent the escape of your prisoner and prevent enemy forces killing or capturing your men. You may engage any armed combatant either in uniform or otherwise. You may not open fire on any structure that contains civilians or from which you have not already been fired upon.

UNBELK Forces:

Lt. Carnahan (Professional Ace, L85A2, Body Armour, Tough)

Fire Support Team (2 soldiers) (Professional Heavy, 1x L7A2 GPMG, 1x L85A2, Body Armour)

Section Alpha (3 soldiers) (Professional Soldier, 2 x L85A2, 1 x L85A2 with UBGL, Body Armour)

Section Bravo (3 Soldiers) (Professional Soldier, 2 x L85A2, 1 x L85A2 with UBGL, 1 x MBT LAW)

Boris (Civilian) Boris has his hands zip-tied together and his mouth covered with gaffa tape. He may not run and cannot move more than 6 inches per turn. Whilst he is within 1 inch of an UNBELK soldier he remains subdued. If that soldier is engaged in CQC or moves away from Boris he is no longer controlled and will act as an enemy soldier.

MBB was Lt Carnahan and his brave men, and I was the Svzhod Militia. We had four teams of three riflemen, a GPMG heavy squad and two aces, Both aces and half of the riflemen were asleep in the buildings. The remaining riflemen and the GPMG were deployed on-table as guards, who would use random movement until they spotted an enemy.

The game started with a few rounds of the UNBELK forces sneaking around, with the guards all ambling around in different directions.

The setup. Svzhod FC guards in position. UNBELK troops in cover to the left.

Lt. Carnahan and the UNBELK troops, with Boris in tow (he's the chap with the headscarf).

Szvhod FC GPMG squad on the hill.

This all changed when one of the guards did a sudden 180 and charged back up and over the hill (the one helpfully marked "HILL" on the map above) he had just walked down from - obviously he had just realised he left his phone up there or something.

Lt. Carnahan, who had a reserve action, spotted the militiaman as he crested the hill and fired off two rounds. He missed with both (much to the irritation of his nearby Support and Alpha sections "Bloody Ruperts!").
The startled guard let out a shout of alarm, which, along with the two shots, put 4 noise markers on the table. Carnahan redeemed himself shortly thereafter as his action came up again, and he closed with the militiaman and dispatched him in hand to hand combat.

Lt. Carnahan mucks it up, then saves his honour.

But the 4 noise markers are now added to the guards reaction roll, and anything 8+means the guard is no longer acting at random.

The guard on the opposite hill hears the gunshots and the shout and lets out a shout of his own in response (adding two more noise markers). He then drops down onto a Reserve action, scanning the hill suspiciously.

The suspicious guard. 

With all this shouting and shooting we now check to see if the two Militia Aces will awaken. They test their reaction, just like the guards, but only wake up on an 8+. With 6 noise markers on the table, you'd think this was a dead cert. I made a mistake here (although it didn't actually have any effect) as we should have halved the noise counters for the aces as both were indoors. As it happened one rolled a 6 and the other a 1 (which he would also roll on the next Ace activation - that guy was obviously dead drunk from draining the antifreeze from the cars outside).

One ace was now awake, but he couldn't raise the alarm until he had actually identified the threat. He proceeded towards where the noise was coming from.

With six noise markers on the table, it's inevitable that Boris's two top bully boys will awake. This is Igor the Impolite.

Overview at about turn 3.

Turns 4-6 saw the UNBELK forces spotted by the Militia. there was a long range exchange of fire from Alpha Section and Lt. Carnahan and the militiamen hiding behind the cars and the GPMG on the hill, which resulted in a casualty to Alpha section. Bravo section fired on a couple of militiamen from the woods to the north, then sprinted down the left table edge.

Igor and one of his squads of riflemen took cover in the woods to the west of the buildings, but the Support Section made short work of them. The second Militia Ace took a Militia rifle squad and placed it in the woods to the south - right in the path of the exfiltration team. 

The wheels come off for the Svzhod FC militia.

The UNBELK troops continued to move down the western edge of the board, taking long range fire from isolated militiamen. Carnahan and Bravo Section took cover by the pipes just as some reinforcements rolled onto the table - a pickup truck with mounted GPMG. Fortunately, as dedicated followers of the latest military fashions, Section Bravo knew that a Light Antitank Weapon was an essential accessory for this season. Exit one technical (another mistake here - the technical should only have arrived on its action, when it would have been able to make it's presence felt.

In the meantime Alpha Section took another casualty, but their grenadier lobbed a grenade into one of the parked cars, which forced the insurgents to retreat and allow them to exfiltrate.

The pride of the Svzhod FC militia, either dead or cowering behind the barrels and about to leg it.

 The Support section now went to the aid of Alpha section, picking up one of the injured riflemen, whilst the last active member of Alpha section picked up the other. They moved south towards the exfiltration point.

Carnahan and Bravo section now moved to the southwest hill, taking reaction fire as they moved into position. Carnahan returned fire and cut down the second Militia Ace. This forced a DED check on the remaining militia, with most of them failing and having to retreat on their next action. 

The GPMG team running away.....

 Two of the hardier militiamen rounded the gap in the woods to the West to confront the Support Section loader with a fusillade of wildly inaccurate fire. The loader returned the favour and hit them both, with both failing their save rolls and becoming casualties. 

This took the militia below half strength, so they had to take a force morale check, which they failed. They turned and ran, leaving the field as fast as they could.  

Alpha took two casualties, one is being carried by the loader here (towards the top of the picture) and the other is being carried off by his squadmate towards the bottom. The GPMG loader has just downed the two camo wearing militia at the top of the picture, forcing the team DED roll.

Checking the scenario victory conditions we found that although the UN had secured Boris, the second casualty to the UNBELK forces meant they had achieved only a minor victory. Lt. Carnahan would possibly be face some searching questions with two casualties and would be writing some letters home.

As far as the rules were concerned, we found them fast, easy to use and understand. The stealth rules and the guards random movement and reactions worked very well. MBB felt that his troops didn't feel "special" enough, but they were professional soldiers rather than elite special forces. His feeling was that they were bullet sponges (body armour and tough for the Lt.), and a bit better shots, but not significantly so.

Partly I think this is down to the use of a D6 - it just doesn't have enough granularity to show a more subtle difference in quality. I initially agreed with this assessment, but on reflection I actually think that is a good thing. Black Ops is a fast play game, and I think the differences in abilities between the quality of the troops is actually fairly well represented. My militia would normally hit on a 5 or a 6 and his professionals on a 4, 5 or 6. I think a 50% vs 33% hit rate is a pretty good reflection of the differing qualities.

We also thought the grenade rules were a bit suspect - but then neither of us has ever fired a 30mm grenade into a parked car, so more research is obviously required.

The figures were the now OOP Mongoose Publishing Battlefield Evolution pre-painted plastics (which I have a ton of). Buildings are two of the Conflix pre-paints which I picked up for a fantasy game, but look fine for rural Former Belkan Republic. The HMMWVs are Dragon armor pre-paints and the rest of the scenery is scratchbuilt by me.