Somewhere in Afghanistan in the long hot summer of 2006 an ISAF Patrol heads into an area held by strong insurgent forces. As their vehicles rumble east along a wadi past a remote and apparently deserted settlement to the south, one of the IFVs hits an old anti vehicle mine left over from the Russian occupation.
The vehicle is disabled, it's front wheels, engine, and top gun knocked out. Two of the occupants are also badly injured in the blast.
The platoon commander orders the remaining vehicles to corral up alongside their stricken buddies and the bricks pile out to check on the injured and form a cordon in case of attack.
The top gunners are twitchy, sensing trouble, and the sniper team sets up to cover the nearby buildings.
While they scan the horizon, the team from vehicle two goes in to check the damage. One of the casualties is walking wounded but the other has sustained serious leg wounds and needs urgent evacuation for medical attention. A helicopter is called for and the commander looks to secure a landing zone. There's a area just to the south east and also the south west. They opt for the south east.
The orders are given to get the injured to the landing zone ready for the helicopter, and also to wreck the damaged vehicle to prevent its use by any insurgents in the area.
But...hostile eyes are watching the ISAF troops, as attracted by the blast a considerable number of insurgents sneak into the area.
To the south east a scout watches thoughtfully before calling up a large force of fighters.
And from the north, other fighters settle into position ready to spring a nasty trap.
From the south east, fighters armed with AK's and RPGs swarm forwards to cut off the hated ISAF soldiers.
As the ISAF troops escort their injured friends from the wreckage to the safety of another vehicle, the insurgents open fire. Caught in a crossfire the ISAF are cut to ribbons.
The insurgent RPGs scream into the vehicles but burst against the armour with little effect.
Dragging their increasing number of injured aboard, the surviving soldiers take the lead vehicle back west away from the first choice of landing zone. The western zone would have to do.
The insurgents swarm forwards to lay down RPG fire into the retreating ISAF vehicles...
And their fire is joined by a second insurgent force emerging to the west to cut off the ISAF escape.
They rake the ISAF vehicles with small arms fire and wild RPG shots. ISAF top gunners take swarms of fire and soldier after soldier is injured manning the heavy weapons. Many insurgents are killed but more keep coming, apparently unconcerned with their losses.
With both casevac landing zones cut off, the helicopter and its supporting Apache gunship are kept out of the area by a buzzing swarm of speculative RPG shots. Finally one such bomb hits home on a packed ISAF vehicle which 'brews up', killing one of the occupants and seriously wounding the rest.
As more gunships flock to the area, the insurgents slink away having scored a solid victory over the ISAF forces. The valley would remain in insurgent hands for the time being.
So we played another game of the Force on Force rules from Ambush Alley, using the assymetric warfare rules. As ever its a tough fight for the regulars and very difficult for them to achieve their objectives, despite their powerful weaponry and general tactical superiority.
This battle started out fairly slow for the insurgents and it was looking like an easy win for the ISAF, but as the turns ground on, more insurgents turned up, crucially carrying a lot of RPGs. In the end the ISAF just couldn't get away quick enough and were overwhelmed by firepower. To win the scenario, the ISAF had to evacuate the casualties and wreck the damaged vehicle. The insurgents however managed to keep the helicopters off and do a lot of damage, gaining the deserved win.
All told a cracking bash with what is an excellent ruleset.
