TMOCB VC v USMC "Rescue the downed aircrew"

A second game of TMOCB against an actual opponent, this time introducing Dave to the rules. For a change I thought we could play the scenario where the White Star aim is to rescue a downed aircrew. 

I used the VC again while Dave had the USMC with support from a Kit Carson Vietnamese scout, a dog handler team (Pvt Buster appears again!) and an extra base of men.

The scene of the crash:

The crew are nowhere to be seen but have managed to destroy the downed chopper:

The Americans arrive quickly, quite close to the crash site:

They begin by attempting to interrogate a local peasant. Unfortunately during the course of the interrogation the peasant dies. Even worse there is a member of the press to record the incident:

Sgt Elias has better luck, searching in a bamboo thicket with the help of Pvt Buster the search dog he finds one of the aircrew dead and recovers the body:

Sgt Rambo searches an area of jungle and is ambushed by the sneaky VC! One Marine base is hit:

The VC begin to gather in the villages:

Recruitment goes well and more peasants join the fight against the Imperialists:

Sgt Rambo searches another area of jungle and finds two aircrew alive! The search is going well with three out of the four crew being found before the VC have even engaged:

The Lieutenant and his men search for the last crewman but are ambushed by a VC sniper who takes out one Marine base: 

The Marines begin to consolidate their forces, will they try to find the last crewman or accept that three out of four isn't bad?:

As the Imperialists have not split up the VC can't try to pick on an isolated group and are finding it difficult to come up with a plan, mostly they just recruit more peasants:

The VC try to concentrate their forces to attack the Imperialists:

The Marines seem to have given up on the fourth crewman and remain on the defensive:

Finally there is some action as two VC groups move into a village and prepare to attack the Marines:

An initial firefight goes in favour of the VC with a couple of Marine bases down:

The Marines bring Sgt Barnes' section on to support the rest of their force, it is unlikely they will find the fourth crewman now:

The firefight continues:

More VC attempt to join the fight:

Remarkably the VC seem to be gaining the upper hand:

The Lieutenant calls down an artillery strike on a VC held village. Unfortunately no VC are injured but another innocent peasant is killed, once again the reporter is on the scene to record this atrocity: 

The Marines are slowly falling back:

The fighting is dying down now:

One last artillery strike is called down by the Lieutenant. The fire isn't accurate though and the barrage lands on Sgt Barnes who luckily survives. Doubtless he will be having words with the Lieutenant and the artillerymen later!:

At this point the game ended with the Marines holed up in a corner awaiting extraction and the VC unable to make much further progress. 

After being very successful initially in finding the first three downed crew Dave played a careful defensive strategy, keeping all his men together so they could support each other and be controlled by the Lieutenant as well as successfully evacuating most of his casualties. 

Given this I found it hard to mass the VC to pick on any individual US unit and was lucky in the firefights (or Dave was unlucky, or both!) as my VC consistently out-shot the Americans despite being raw and, in theory, being hit much more easily.

The final VP score was 50 to the VC and 44 to the Marines so very close, most of the VC VP came from the fact that the Marines had not searched many areas and for just turning up! Dave's casualty evacuation was especially efficient as, despite taking quite a lot of hits, he only had two casualties on table at the end of the game.

So that's Dave and Gary introduced to TMOCB, both enjoyed their games and we may try to play a few more in the future.

ADLG Syracusan v Etruscan

Another practice game for Gordon's competition armies, this time with Gordon using Etruscan and me taking Syracusan for a change. Even using a strategist (Timoleon) and a brilliant sub-general the army still came out as an impressive 28 elements!

Winning the initiative the Syracusans decided to attack in the plains. The Etruscan army consisted of two heavy foot commands and an allied Samnite command:

The Syracusans advance to occupy the plantation and contest the fields on the right:

On the left the Syracusan mounted move to the left while the Tarentine light horse advance to delay the Etruscan foot:

Having drawn the Etruscans forward the Syracusan cavalry begins to redeploy to the centre:

On the right the Syracusans attempt to make use of their cavalry superiority and numbers:

The Etruscan foot continue their advance:

They attack the plantation wiping out both Syracusan light infantry. However, there is now a substantial gap between the Etruscans and their Samnite allies the Syracusans can exploit:

Syracusan javelin men evade from Etruscan heavy foot in the plantation:

On the right the cavalry clash with the Syracusans coming off second best:

Javelin men reoccupy the plantation as the lines close:

Gauls, Spaniards and Samnites face off:

Syracusan cavalry lose the fight against the Samnite cavalry:

The two centres clash!:

Initial combats do not go well for the Syracusans:

The remaining Syracusan cavalry on the right are charged by Samnite foot and take two hits, things are going from bad to worse:

The Etruscans plough through the plantation. In the centre the Syracusans begin to fight back aided by their cavalry:

On the right things are also looking up for Syracuse. Hoplites and cavalry have outflanked the Samnite line while the Samnite infantry fighting the wounded cavalry takes two hits itself:

Sensing that the situation isn't going to improve the Samnite foot charge before their flanks are overwhelmed:

Again the initial combat goes badly for the men from Syracuse:

Hits are mounting up on the Syracusan mercenaries:

In the centre the Syracusans are mopping up the last of the Etruscan foot:

One Gallic unit goes down but the Samnite's flanks are falling rapidly:

The Etruscan general fighting with his Guard are being overwhelmed by numbers:

The Etruscan general falls while Syracusan light horse and Balearic slingers try to stop the Etruscan cavalry capturing the baggage:

Both armies are close to breaking and continue to trade losses:

The allied Samnites are now struggling badly being attacked from all directions:

In an effort to save his cavalry the Samnite general joins in the fight! Unfortunately a 6-1 in favour of the Syracusan mercenary infantry kills him!:

Counting up the losses at the end of the turn the Etruscans have lost 25 points and break exactly. The Syracusans have lost 27 points and have a 28 break point! Victory to the Syracusans:

A bloodthirsty slogging match which was great fun and the Syracusans won by a whisker, it could easily have been a mutual destruction or win for the Etruscans. 

Moving my cavalry from the left once the Etruscans had advanced to the centre  was perhaps the vital choice for me, with a gap appearing between the Etruscans in the centre and their Samnite allies there was a lot for the mounted to exploit whereas at best if I'd left them on the left they would have killed a few of Gordon's mounted then been swept off table by his heavy foot.

Using Syracusans made a change as well, the Hoplites got on the table again as did some cavalry I don't use much. Next time I'll use the new Palmyran army I think.