Modern Wargamer: May 2014

Sergeant Kanter paused as he stirred his coffee. He had been in mid-conversation with Officer Dien who was taking a leisurely stroll along the local area, when his subordinate gave what seemed to be a strangled cough. In the background, Kanter thought he heard a burst of automatic gunfire.

'Dien? Did you hear that?' DIEN!

The only thing audible was the hissing of the comm set, and the gentle sighing of his officer's last breath, though he didn't quite believe it at that moment. In the street, a couple of citizens peered around corners to see what was happening.

'Narlo, get up on the roof and see if you can spot Dien down by the square- he's dropped off the grid.'

Officer Narlo dragged himself off the chair, pulled an assault rifle from the rack and headed for the short ladder that led to the ceiling trapdoor. He disengaged the security clamps and pushed the trap upwards. The cool air struck him as he levered himself on to the rough surface of the flat roof, then he drifted across to the low walls of the observation platform and squinted down the street towards the statue of Colonel Cordoba, astronaut explorer and Governor of the City three decades ago, that graced the column in the centre of Distral Square. His eyes flickered in disbelief as he saw the prostrate body of Dien at the foot of the statue. Before he could register his horror, a movement beyond the square caught his eye. Several shadowy figures were emerging from the distant buildings, dressed in an assortment of untidy rags and hoods, but with glimpses of body armour peeking out from between the folds. Without bothering with his comm mike he shouted loudly through the trapdoor-

'Rebels, Sarge, they're coming down the street! Pablo's dead!'

Kanter nearly froze, then instinct kicked in and he reached for the direct comm link to the Army barracks on the edge of the precinct.

'Priority One for Captain Lerner- insurgent incident this precinct- follow this link for location, enemy strength unknown.' He signed off without waiting for a reply. He turned to look at the prisoner in the corner of the station house who was bound and blindfolded. He knew immediately why the rebels were daring to venture to this part of the city, so close to the Barracks. If this man was taken to the Government offices for interrogation, his information could harm the Rebel cause considerably.
With an economy that defined the attitude of the Army, he heard a voice issue from the comm set that merely stated-

' Response Squad en route your position.'

Meanwhile, on the roof, Narlo watched the Rebels move swiftly towards the station house.

He spotted another rebel squad to the right of the first, sidling up the right hand side of the street, as quickly as they dare- time was short to liberate their comrade and they knew it. Narlo slipped the safety catch on his weapon and sent two bursts down the length of the street, but with no success.

As the echoes of his first volleys started to die away, he could see from his vantage point the stealthy appearance of a small squad of troopers from the recon company garrison as they cautiously moved through the alleyways to his left. Dressed in urban design camouflaged uniforms, they looked hard and competent. Seemingly, without a spoken order, they fired their weapons at the first rebel squad by the walls of the square, but the concrete around the monument protected them from the flying rounds.
Undeterred, they fired again and watched with satisfaction as two of the enemy crashed to the ground with fatal injuries, and another wheeled away with blood seeping from a wound.

Narlo dragged his eyes away from the sudden action in time to see a third group of rebels running towards the vacant lot further to the east, heading for the rear of the building.

Down by the square, the Army and the first rebel squad were engaged in a fierce firefight, but neither side were able to inflict any casualties. Narlo barely had time to register this fact when several bursts of fire made him duck down behind the parapet of his rooftop position. Bobbing back up, he retaliated with a couple of bursts of his own but to no avail, as the rebels were now close to the wall of the station house. Sgt Kanter pointed his pistol through the window and loosed off a couple of rounds and the assailants swerved away unhurt. At the rear of the building, the third rebel squad had arrived inside the compound walls. The station house shook as it received concentrated fire at the doors both front and rear, but they held fast.

In desperation, aware that time was ebbing away, the rebels continued to pour fire onto the doors of the building to try and gain entrance. Down the street, the army troopers suffered an injury as a soldier had his armour opened up, but he only sustained a light wound and fired back with extra venom.
The Recon squad leader was growing tired of the fruitless exchanges of fire with an enemy safely hunkered down behind solid walls, so he issued the order to withdraw, and his men followed him down an alley away from the immediate threat, and towards the station house.

Sergeant Kanter pointed his sidearm through the window again and shot a rebel trooper dead, right in front of the station house. Looking around himself, the rebel leader spotted the army troopers emerging from the shadows of the buildings behind him, looked at his comrade face down in the road in a spreading pool of crimson, then grunted into his comm mike the order to withdraw. In seconds, the rebels melted away out of the city as the members of the Recon squad arrived at the door of the Police building.

Later that day, a TV camera crew visited the area to report on the day's action.

'Record it in the junk yard Semmi- more atmosphere.'

This was an AAR of a solo game I played today whilst listening to the torrential rain down here in Wales. I tried the USEME rules, and I'm not entirely convinced I followed them perfectly, but they worked just fine for me. This is the first time I have actually set up my 'Cityscape' terrain boards, and I was quite happy with the way they turned out. The rebel figures were, appropriately, Sahadeen from Rebel Minis, the Recon squad were from the GOTA Clan range from Khurasan, and the TV crew were from Oddzial Osmy. Buildings were mostly from Mad Mecha Guy, with two from Warbases (the ruins), and one from Critical Mass Games. Roads were also from Mad Mecha.

Today I ordered a set of the Gruntz rules and downloaded the Barracks app, and I'd like to see if the card based system I've heard about can be adapted for solo play .

Lastly, I should like to thank my blog buddy Jay for nominating me for a Liebster award. I shall find time tomorrow to nominate some blogs that I enjoy but it's getting late, and I'm whacked, and I want to post this tonight.

If you have managed to struggle through this post, thanks for persevering. It's my first attempt to report a game as a narrative, and I quite like this as a way of summing up a game. Any helpful tips more than welcome!

Thanks for looking.

After a recent exchange of comments with Pawn Cocktail over on his blog about Rebel minis Sahadeen, it appeared that my castings were not quite up to scratch. However, in a message to Mike at Rebel, purely in the interest of letting him know he had a few 'rogues' in the locker, he very generously insisted on sending me some replacements, which I'm looking forward to. He outsources the casting of figures, and with the volume he deals with, it's impossible for him to check everything, but I would just like to say 'Thanks very much, Mike'.

So, here are a few of Rebel's minis that I have recently daubed with a bit of Vallejo-

In the last post, all my Sahadeen were in the same colour scheme, so as a rebel force/insurgents, I have decided to mix it up a bit.

Now a few of Rebel's Titan Scouts.....

These next pictures include some Rebel Minis, The Scene, Oddzial Osmy, and Khurasan examples- they are Special Forces squads, normal and urban camo.

Sadly, these next pictures aren't focussed well enough, but they are the downed flyer/mecha crew from Khurasan, followed by my first attempt at a 'Space Demon' from the same stable.