Now for something completely different

 First, thank you to the folks who have purchased Boom and Zoom.  It is still hanging on to the best sellers at Wargame Vault.   I have gotten no feedback which has me wondering.  Is that good in that people understand them?  Is that bad in that people aren't trying them?

I suspect people just haven't digested them yet as it has only been 2 weeks and they are different.  It took about a month before I got feedback on Platoon Forward and Squadron Forward and all of it has been positive to this day.  Cold War Tanker is my most popular seller on Wargame Vault though it is 6 years old.  All I got were questions on stats.

Anyway...During breaks of testing Boom and Zoom, I again starting thinking about my company land combat. Me thinking is bad because that means I am going to change something.  I have been playing PBI and having fun but after a year I still didn't think troops became pinned enough [sorry Martin] and it still seemed too easy to get troops to do what I wanted even with my piquet cards.  I remembered the old GMT game Fields of Fire  which is so command and detail heavy that it is actually too much even for me.  What if I streamlined FoF and made the perfect solitaire company level game?!  Should be easy!  Well friends, after some small skirmishes to test out my streamlining I present the first test game of....

Fire Fields !

It is 75% Fields of Fire and has several interesting mechanics which make it different from every other tactical game I have played.  The Author of FoF stated he designed his game as the anti- ASL for those of you who recognize that.  He wanted a realistic infantry combat game.  [ He was a reserve marine officer but we don't hold that against him Jack!] 

• Troops will shoot back.  You don't have to order troops to shoot.  You have to order them to stop or to shift fire.
• Troops do not move fast in combat.  No one is in a hurry to be killed
• It is easy to pin troops down but unless pinning fire remains most troops will unpin by themselves
• It is actually hard to kill troops
• Squad integrity breaks down in combat.  It takes leadership to maintain.
• Fire is rarely cumulative. The heaviest weapon is what counts unless you have a crossfire.     

So this is my first company game of FF including an AI opponent that I have been working on. 

 The Panwar valley 1982

In FF the board consists of areas like PBI.  Rather than squares I am using hexon tiles.  For now you can move diagonally but that might change.  There is a irrigation ditch on the left that counts as its own terrain because it is important. 

The operation will have a Russian airborne company land and take control of the village while waiting for the Afghan army to come up the road from the left. The Russians choose two landing zones; the field next to the canal LZ 1 and the broken terrain south of the road outside of town on the right will be LZ 2. We can land 2 Mi-8s for a total 20ish troops per stick per LZ. 

      Here is our test company.  Russian paratrooper squads are small; 7 men.  To represent them I will have the first squad have 3 bases and the second 2 squads 2 bases.  We have an actual LMG attached [ each squad has a SAW] plus two automatic grenade launchers.  All leaders are average except our 2nd PLT leader is a star.  There is one squad veteran and one squad green.  I have a company XO.  I would normally have a 1st Sgt but in the Russian army the the NCOs aren't trained to a high standard so he won't be represented today.

What is your plan Captain?

Our plan is:

2nd Plt will land at LZ 1 in two sticks with an attached grenade launcher.  They will proceed north into the town.

1st Plt will land at LZ 2 in two sticks accompanied by Company CO,FAC, LMG and grenade launcher.  They will neutralize hill south of LZ while simultaneously blocking road into town north of LZ and entering into the town. 

3rd Plt will remain at base with XO as reserve. 

What could go wrong?

 View of town from the south

FF uses the blinds from PF.  Blinds in place. There will also be 3 As and 1 C as reinforcements between turn 3-5. 

Aviation assets strike areas around the LZs.  We are Russians so everything is a free fire zone! 

LZ 2 minutes after landing.  1 squad deployed north on LZ taking and returning fire from a sangar near the road.  1 squad south and all quiet there.  The hill is unoccupied.

To give you an idea how the game works, our Capt rolls up 2 orders.  With 1 order he looks for good cover and finds it.  With the second order he orders 1st squad into it.  2nd squad does nothing facing south.  The pipe cleaners show primary direction of fire.  1st squads PDF is towards the sangar and visa versa.  They are also taking fire from the town but the source is unspotted.  Hence they are caught in a crossfire. 

 

2nd Plt lands in the field.

  Even though the LT is a star he only gets 2 orders as well.  With a cold LZ he orders 1st squad to find cover and watch north.  With his second order he orders 2nd squad into the ditch and to infiltrate around the village. 

He hears several shots from the town as 2nd squad runs into a sniper by the market. One of the rules I really like is now you get to roll to see if any of the units show their own initiative.  We get 1 order.  2nd squad attempts to spot the sniper but fail.  

Aviation assets see bad guys out in the open shooting and come in to strafe.

 

Shooting is simultaneous towards the end of the turn.  The helicopter eliminates the enemy in the Sanger.  However, 1st squad continues to fire at the sangar.  Also, since no bombs fell in the village this turn the enemy there are no longer pinned.  

H hour + 5ish

The CO gets 3 orders.  Since the platoon leaders have radios he discusses the situation with his platoon leaders [ activates them] and with his last order spots enemy troops in the town. Our star LT gets 3 orders.  He uses the first to have 1st squad sneak into town to see what exactly is going on. [ You also see the third squad landed with the auto grenade launcher]

Their sneaking doesn't go so well and they are considered exposed.  The Lt could spend points to join them and order them into buildings or try to spot the sniper that he doesn't know is there but then that will leave 3rd squad behind.  The Lt decides he will play this out.  He saves his last 2 points.  Unfortunately my AI works.  For a sniper, there is a 66% chance that if a juicier target shows up the sniper will shift fire.  Now would you rather shoot at some soldiers in a ditch or walking down a street?  

Back at LZ 2 the Lt orders 2nd squad to enflade the town by sneaking into the rough ground around the road.  Their sneaking fails as well.  Something we need to practice with our junior NCOs.  This does set up a cross fire though.   Now we see how the shooting went...

The sniper takes out 2 men from their stroll in the village.  They panic the rest of the squad!  No one has seen this sniper yet.

From another section of town gunfire erupts with RPGs towards the squad in the ditch.  1 man down and the rest of the squad pinned!  2nd Platoon is not doing well.

 
 

1st Platoon throws some RPGs into the town and the enemy pulls back into the hills. 3rd squad moves into the abandoned Sangar.

 To speed up the narrative a bit the next two turns see:

1st squad drop off their casualty at the LZ, get rallied by Lt Star and be ordered to proceed left across the ditch towards the town.  

2nd Squad self rallies and is fighting still in the ditch

3rd squad is led by Lt star into the town then into cover.  They spot the sniper and lay down fire.  He retreats towards the mosque.  

 

1st Plt has continued to fight rebels in the town that infiltrated there.  They have been constantly pinned down.  The CO has been trying to spot the rebels in the hills to call the helos in.

H hour + 25 minutes 

   .

Lt Star shifts fire from the sniper who has left to the building on the left.  Next he crawls up the ditch to bring 2nd squad back with their casualty.  Meanwhile, 1st squad moves into position to enfilade the rebels

The CO has finally spotted the rebels in the hills and has vectored gunships in.  The rebels in town facing 1st platoon have been defeated.  The Lt orders cease fire and the orders 2nd squad to sneak into town which they do, drawing sniper fire. 

Just as things were improving for 1st platoon the rebel reinforcements arrive,  The 3As and 1 C yield 2 squads, 1 leader and a technical.  Random placement means they arrive from the west.  [ I added on to the board.] 

The troops automatically start to fire at the new threat from the LZ.  The russians in the sangar are now surrounded and continue to fire primarily into the hills.  All of 1st platoon becomes pinned down. 

The CO is pinned down by this sudden attack.  All he can do while hiding from the accurate fire is unpin himself. The company is rudderless for this next 5 minute stretch. 

 

Fortunately the gunships he ordered in sweep the hillside of rebel forces.  3rd squad loses 3 men at the sangar including their RPG gunner.  The 4 remaining are pinned down 80 yards from the nearest russian forces.  

 Unpinned but taking fire the CO gets 4 orders.  What to do?  [ this is where the game shines for me!] Talk to both platoons? Play hero and rally the men at the LZ?  Call in the Gunships?  What would YOU do?  First he calls the gunships to strafe the road east of town; success! 1 order.  Second he contacts first platoon [activates] on how to save the LZ. Last he switches frequency and calls back to base to order his XO and 3rd platoon to land at LZ 1 [ two orders].  Lt Star is on his own.  He is a star; he will be okay. 

As if we didn't have enough going on the Afghan army shows up at the weest end of town. 

 

 They quickly take casualties and become pinned.   They do pin the rebels however. 

2nd squad, 1st Plt takes a casualty from the sniper and they also panic!  

They decide to bring him to the casualty collection point at LZ 1. 

Lt Star, even though having no contact with the company, has 3 orders to work with. [ that is why he is a star!] He orders the squad to advance further into the town but goes with them. Orders them into buildings. Then looks to spot the sniper. [ fails] 

H + 30 

3rd Platoon (-) lands.  Casualties are evacuated.

The AI orders 3 rebels to charge the Afghans.  they are cut down.  [ Probably have to work on this.]  the rebels are surrounded by pinned afghans and russian paratroopers. 

Back at LZ 1 4 rebels in the woods have been killed which caused the rest to withdraw.  Unfortunately, 3rd squad in the sangar has also been wiped out. 

 The second stick lands at LZ 1 lands.  The XO jumps out to see the remnants of 2nd sq/1Plt bringing in their wounded.  " You men, snap out of it! You are now attached to 3rd squad/3rd Plt!"

  The helicopter does its work and breaks the rebel advance!  

3rd Platoon moving into town!  

 

With a sniper in the mosque and half a squad still in the western part of the city I called the game. It was a lot of fun!  The narrative is strong as you see each unit struggle to accomplish their tasks.  Did I win?  We did clear the road.  We killed some rebels.  We lost 5 stands of paratroopers.  The afghan army was worthless.  Sounds pretty realistic to me. 

Hope you enjoyed this preliminary look at Fire Fields!

 

Enjoy Joe