Welcome to Platoon Forward!

Welcome to the site where the story of the battle is as important as the battle itself. Here we will focus on men thrust into extraordinary situations of life and death. They must lead other men with duty and honor to meet their countries objectives. Some will be blessed with great skill, some will carry great shortcomings. No matter what nation, no matter what war, no matter what theater, they are all called to move their Platoon or Squadron forward!

These are their individual stories as played out using my various campaign rules . Hopefully these stories will entertain and inspire you to use your own troops, airmen and sailors to accomplish your own great heroics.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Lost Platoon-- Mogadishu

Recently purchased "Day of the Rangers" by Force on Force.  Great reference book and I like the morale and skill checks in Force on Force.  The activation/reaction gives me a headache but I love the activation rules for Combat Patrol.  Why not combine them?  Here then is my first attempt at Force on Patrol!  All activation is through my modified activation rules, all shooting done as per Combat Patrol, all morale checks done as per Force on Force.  ( Shooting at vehicles would be done as per Force on Force if there were any vehicles.)  The scenario is right out of Day of the Rangers except I substituted my rangers for theirs.  Thus Lt Concepcion becomes the convoy commander and Sgt Chin is squad leader of the Ranger squad.
Lt Concepcion  Son of a wealthy family/ proving he is tough.  Gambler/ govt.    Gr III
Sgt Chin  from a small town, joined after HS   Pragmatic/ position    Gr I
Cpl Krynawski  orphaned/trouble with the law  Jovial/wealth           Gr I
Cpl Street   factory worker from Detroit   aggressive/greedy              Gr O

Lt Concepcion is driving in Malaysian APCs with his squad and a squad on engineers.  They get lost on the way to a shot down helicopter and ambushed.  the APCs are destroyed.  They have to rescue the wounded driver and hunker down for 8 turns until relief arrives.

Initial set up.  Cpl K is behind the APC with the LT.  Sgt Chin and Cpl Street are behind.  Engineers are this side of the APC.
Sgt Chin pointing towards the source of fire.
Somali gunmen come running from all directions.
Initial fire from Somalis hit Cpl K and he goes down.  The LT comes to check.  Fortunately a bullet only grazed his helmet!  ( Rolled a 6 on the first aid chart.)

     Sgt Chin directs Street's half squad to lay down fire while Cpl K's team tries to free the wounded driver.  They couldn't get him out!  ( 2 D8 rolls where I only needed a 4+ and I couldn't get it.)  Finally LT Concepcion comes over and they get the driver out just in time!  

Meanwhile the engineers blow a door so a MMG can set up inside. 

Another engineer team assualts a building.  They actually make a capture!

Cpl K covered by a SAW peers around a corner before advancing!  His team would take out 3 more somalis. 
On turn 6 a Little Bird ( in the dark it looked like a Huey!) Clears the first floor roof! 

The somalis made a couple more fruitless attacks but the platoon was in good shape when the relief column arrived.  They sustained no KIA and captured 1 Somali gunman. 
Post game Sgt Chin is interviewed by the battalion CSM and the CSM is impressed.  Despite the win the squad holds judgement on Sgt Chin. 

I liked mixing the rules.  I like the way morale checks work differently on irregulars and regulars for FoF.  It felt like we were facing hordes of gunman.  Will still work on the morale rules but think I am on to something.

Enjoy!

Joe









2 comments:

  1. Joe,

    Excellent fight! I picked up the scenario book, too, as well as "Fallujah" and "Enduring Freedom," hopefully I'll get some use out of them soon.

    You and I are very much alike: small games in a variety of periods, strung together in campaigns with characters we follow, with a mish-mash of rules ;)

    Can't wait for the next installment.

    V/R,
    Jack

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  2. Jack,
    Have those 3 books as well as "Classified".
    Yes we share a great deal. After two in Somalia think I will head to Afghanistan.

    Joe

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