LZBravo

LZBravo

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Looking Back - Consim Dallas 2020

For us 2020 held two distinct parts and yeah you guessed it. The separation falls pre March 15 and Post March 15. 2020 started off like most years. After the holidays we gathered every few weeks to play a few games and share some laughs. A few standout were the usual Zombicide, Warfighter, and a new fun game called Horrified. 

Consim Dallas March 5-8 

We attended the first ever Consim Dallas and even though it was local to us we stayed at the con hotel which allowed us to enjoy tons of gaming, laughs, and tasty food. Only rarely did chatter move to the virus that was taking hold of the world. 


Played a Flying Circus tournament where we flew one battle for each year of the war using only planes from that year. 



We really enjoyed Battle Ravens. The national cards added cool flavor. 


Old school Zombies!!! 


Borg’s Tricorne Battle of Bunker Hill. This has become our favorite Command and Colors game. 


WWE Dice Masters. We played this for several hours and let’s just say Rick Flair is a beast!


Rise of the Zombies. The birth of the Warfighter engine. 


Savage Wilderness was great. We played several battles. Each battle had its own map and the game is fast and easy but has enough flavor to satisfy. 


Platoon Commander. We played a USA and Germans versus the Soviets expansion which came in the Deluxe Kursk. 


We played a single elimination tournament of Maneuver. 


Amazingly tasty Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeños! 


Watched a few monster games being played. 

We also played Panzer General Korea, Golf Dice, and joined a friend in a great three player game of Quartermaster General Cold War in which all three faction finished within 3 points. 

Conclusion 
The gaming we did at Consim Dallas was truly epic. We would definitely go again if it happens in the future. The flea market and small dealers room was gravy. 

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Return of an old Nemesis

Never mind what you saw in North Korea. They’ve dropped a complete cone of silence over that country.

We have a bigger concern. A congressional delegation, along with some corporate types were Meeting in Southwestern Poland. As they loaded into their limos, a hit squad took out security and then drove off into the Eastern Europe countryside.

Satellite intel traced the convoy to an enclave, which for some unknown reason the soviets never brought under their control. The surrounding area has always shown above average military activity.

Make a low level drop, reacquire that delegation, then find a way to get everyone home. Take off in thirty.
The squad






They reviewed the mission brief while inbound. The jump into an area without first hand knowledge made for a dicey jump. Result - what can at best be called a Poor Landing (to hit the zone each PS had to dump 2RP of gear (knives, pistols, grenades, who needs ‘em?))


The brief had one thing right, the enclave had a cordon of baddies guarding it.


Once again, the surprise of an airborne assault paid off. Heavy fire from our assault weapons cleared the Checkpoint. (Wow - entry cost of 3 plus 2 for each hostile). This allowed Sgt Burton and Cpl Tate to push up and secure the area.


The firefight alerted other forces in the area, who then blocked our road in. Cpl Sharp pitched a M67 into the middle of the enemy as Tate pinned down the rest.


The entire countryside was lousy with Baddies. As soon as the roadblock was overcome, the squad was hit by another patrol. The squad was burning thru ammo and luck. Sgt Burton signaled Pvt Reeves to trigger the call sign for a supply drop. The team was too stretched and needed to all press forward at the same time. (Entry costs were running high and required lots of cards and draw actions, concurrent with clearing out hostiles).


Luck ran out for Pvt Reeves, his attention to the signal burst distracted him from staying low, and bursts from many hostiles ended his career as an airborne ranger.
Adding to the bad news, the damn drop landed behind the squad (blue markers of a 6RP drop).


The team reorganized and Sgt Larson agreed to scramble back and recover the supply drop.


WTF! As the squad prepared to breach the isolated factory where the captives were being held, a mass of antique warriors assaulted the squad! Time warp!


It was like a 75 year stockpile of WW2 dropped on the team. Though these hostiles were even more strange. Fearless. Many looking like death warmed over. Romero would say zombies!

And in the back, an old geezer looked up from vivisecting one of the now “former” CEO types from the delegation. The team had seen this guy before. Division history contained rumors of combating a Dr Frankenstein back in ‘44. Could this be him?


Cpl Tate caught a burst from Hitler’s buzz saw and went down in a heap. Sarge spotted a Commie Hind outback. He’d flown one before, and an extraction plan formed.


The team nailed every enemy with the range to bring the Hind under fire. Two members took potshots at the Doktor but failed (high cover and -2 to hit, one tough cookie).

Sgt Beck, on loan from the FDR, yelled to the delegation “every one, get to der Chopper!”.
Followed by Larson’s cry of “if you want to live, come with me!”


Aftermath 
The team made it to the objective with one turn to spare. Plenty of time to load a bunch of suits into the helicopter.

We tried a homebrew this week. It was time to see Dr Frankenstein again. And I sort of enjoy the original zombie pack and wanted to see those guys again. Dr Frankenstein and zombie encounters in WW2 are part of the lore and history that caused the creation on SOG X.
It worked out well, as many/most are range 0, allowing our troopers to juke them in many cases. 

Also, I preplanned the locations, still had to play a location card in order to flip it. And the other two players did not know what the locations were until they were flipped. Thematically I figured in several checkpoints and roadblocks, to hem in the Doktor’s forces. After the abandoned factory I had the MI-24 as the objective card, setting up the escape route.

Fudged, and gave Beck a pistol. Hope to figure out a way to (like in PMC) take a trooper from lower entry cost level to PS status. Ultimately we want a multinational Phoenix Force type squad. 

Airborne is still a fun setting. Wishing there was another batch of landing zone and behind enemy lines cards. Mainly to keep the missions fresh.


Friday, November 27, 2020

Compound Raid Afghanistan

Intel indicates a large weapons cache in a countryside compound. The National Army decides it will conduct the raid without USA support. The Army is trying to show it can control areas outside of the cities. 

I’m testing one of my missions for the supplement I’m creating for Two Hour Wargames Chain Reactions, NUTS!, and/or FNG. Heck maybe even a standalone set depending how it takes shape. Chain Reaction is a really good complete game and it’s FREE!
THW Chain Reaction Rules Site

Forces
The National Army has two fire teams. One tasked with breaching and the second following to support. 
The Insurgents are represented by 6 Possible Enemy Forces (PEF). Two are in the compound open area and each building block has one. 


Breaching team moves in after taking out the patrol outside the compound. 


Team 2 moves in from the side watching for more guards and ready to support. It looks like surprise is holding. 





Two PEFs represented by the commander on the radio and the light MG team on the roof. 


The team breaches as the first PEF is 4 insurgents. Luckily for the team the second PEF was insight as well but is just the wind or an animal. 


The Army is quick and wins the insight test. They kill two insurgents and the other two duck back but only after one of them is able to knockout one soldier.  The support team quickly reinforces with one member joining the breaching team to keep them at full strength. 


S Vest! The leader exclaims but too late. The S Vest blows and takes out the bomber as well as all four National Army members. The remaining soldiers withdraw. The building PEF ended up as a suicide bomber who won the insight test even though I have a modifier to their insight test. 

Wrap up
A really quick but intense mission as was intended. My next test will be starting a SEAL three mission campaign.  

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Warfighter Drop Zone North Korea

We’ve intercepted heavy radio traffic coming over the NK’s military net. Much of it seeming to be frantic calls for support, oddly enough being sent in the clear. Satellite intel shows scenes of rioting and mass murdering occurring in every major city we monitor. The NK military is moving mechanized units into the cities and engaging the mobs.

Their Chinese buddies seem to fear the mobs of NKs gathering towards their shared border. Something about those herds has caused the Chinese to drop every bridge joining the two countries. They have also tripled the number of river boats patrolling those areas. They know something we don’t!

Given our suspicions concerning the Covid-19 outbreak, our white coat people fear some biological experiment might have blown up in their face.

The president has authorized your team to drop into NK and demolish the People’s Highway Bridge before the rabble crosses. The fly in your whiskey is that our SK “partners” want to goodwill any and all support requested by their estranged brothers. So, you must make a covert insertion and drop the bridge from the NK side, preferably without tipping off the SKs.

Here’s your brief:


Sack up, you liftoff in 30.






The team drops into the middle of some NKs. Fortunately we hit them before their shock wore off.


The Bridge approach was well defended. We ran into some tough terrain (time marker advanced 2 spaces).


The enemy had the benefit of knowing the countryside, and made taking them out more difficult than African warlord mission troops had been. The team slowed their advance in order to reduce the engaged forces.


The squad expended the few grenades they had, eliminating many of the enemy. The team then spread out to cover the Supply Drop zone. 


Dammit. The drop overshot even our forward position. It had the equipment needed for dropping the bridge. Time to hump it and reconsolidate the squad. Team Lead sprinted forward, having seen the chute hung on the bridge itself.


The bridge was well defended. The squad laid down suppressing fire, allowing a snapshot at the officer as he sprinted towards his commo Jeep.

With the M3 Gustav retrieved, Lead dropped back and let loose at the main trestle. The NKs stared in shock as the bridge fell into the river. Time for the squad to skin out, and skin out they did!


Aftermath 

So begins our Special Operations Group X (SOG X) campaign. Future posts will show more about this hard hitting group of operators and their wins and losses fighting the hidden war. 

We enjoy the Airborne missions. Behind enemy lines cards are greatness and can really add excitement to a mission. As do the landing zone cards.

This was our first encounter with North Korean forces. They were tougher than the Middle East and African forces. We are going to need to up gun our weapons. We could really use a ranged weapon with spray!

Great game. Good fun.

We wonder what outbreak was behind this mission? Stay tuned.....




Friday, November 20, 2020

The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Grimsaw and Maibala were not happy to be ordered back into the jungle. They had been the only ones to return alive from the last foray. Nerves were frayed.
Their confidence was bolstered somewhat by having veteran jungle fighter Sala assigned to the mission.
Shadows and fog engulfed the team from the outset. Sala slid his blade from its sheath as the fog closed in. It comforted him. Grimsaw received a hailstorm of rifle fire as he emerged from the fog.


The team closed ranks and forced the enemy to hunker down.


Grimsaw’s frayed nerves were making him careless. As he advanced, he triggered a boobytrap. As enemy forces gathered ahead, Maibala played rearguard.


Grimsaw, a tad crazed, rushed recklessly ahead of the team. He wanted this objective Bad.


Sala remained behind to deal with threats lurking in the fog. A fog which seemed to trail the squad while growing denser. The others rushed to aid Grimsaw.


Grimsaw’s crazed rush, left the team stretched out along the path. Kute paid the price.


Sala fell out of contact. However, his efforts in the fog kept forces from building up on the objective. Grimsaw reached their goal, but the fog had allowed a major build up to occur (RP hostiles + a 5 points).
His grenades would even the score.


Time was running out. Maibala heard Sala cry out and headed back to help. He had little to aid Grimsaw.
Grimsaw was making a last stand. He had to clear the area or all would be lost.


The fat lady sang. Time had run out as the fog engulfed the four soldiers. 


Aftermath 
Thus ends our three R’Lyeh missions. Zero wins. The module has great new twists, which required us to rethink our tactics and loadouts. Obviously we needed more plays to get it right.

This final mission was extra bloody, and fun. We prefer challenging missions and have often found the more enjoyable sessions to be those that result in casualties and even failure. Here the result is if the time expires, the squad is never heard from again.

The soldiers in this module are all fun to mix into the missions.

The Mission Team