Violent End to Ceasefire in Timbogo

(Reuters – Timpala) After nearly a year of shaky ceasefires and peace talks in the small central African country of Timbogo, full-scale fighting has broken out in again in the oil and diamond rich western province of Wuhu. Forces of the Federal Army of the Republic of Timbogo (F.A.R.T.) launched a major ground offensive against several strongholds of the Peoples Revolutionary Army of Timbogo (P.R.A.T.). The operations have had limited success so far. A spokesman for F.A.R.T. admitted that they may have underestimated the current strength of P.R.A.T. Local sources have also indicated the P.R.A.T. fighters have been fighting back tenaciously. It seems both sides only used this recent lull in the fighting caused by the ceasefires to re-arm, recruit and dig in for the next round. The future looks bleak for the impoverished African nation.

I took a bit of a break from gaming for the last couple of weeks after Fallcon… Wanted to do a bit of painting and organizing… realized the organizing I wanted to do would probably take all winter rather than one month… and then got anxious about playing again and moving on with things. So during the summer I got excited about Blitzkrieg Commander and Cold War Commander. Then I had to just put them aside for a month or so and concentrate on forgetting about them and relearning rules I had already mentally cast aside so I could run it at Fallcon. Anyway I’m anxious to get moving on with some BKC/CWC action.

Last night I decided to run a little AK-47 Republic scenario using the CWC rules. The scenario was set up just like a regular AK-47 game with both sides having five units – I ignored the political track, in fact I completely ignored points altogether – both the CWC and the AK-47 Republic point systems. I determined the attacker randomly and each side rolled randomly to see which units were available at the beginning of the game – objectives were determined and victory points would also be worked out according to the AK-47 Republic rules.

There was one little hitch – one objective had to be the crossroads at the center of the table. At that crossroads was a unit of French Foreign Legionnaires. They had been deployed there to look after some French interests in Timbogo. At the village at the crossroads were some cute French humanitarian workers with some NGO or another (not to mention the French oil and diamond mines down the road, just off the table…). If fired upon or if any of the African forces came within 10cm of them they would just start shooting and thereafter shoot at the closest Africans on the initiative phase of one players turn or another – to be determined at the time they were activated. What I should have done is have them activate if any firing took place within their initiative range – whether it was targeted at them or not!

Gary played the forces of P.R.A.T. who were defending. I played the F.A.R.T. troops, which were attacking into the P.R.A.T. held regions of southwest Timbogo. Gary got three of his five units and deployed one on each of the objectives and kept the third in some trees in a sort of reserve. I got four of the five units to start and deployed them at my table edge.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

The “Lions of Timshasa” F.A.R.T.’s elite special forces commando unit was engaged right off the bat! They tore into the P.R.A.T. unit defending the objective area closest to my table edge. These guys would be “professionals” in AK-47 republic, in CWC I gave them 4/30 attacks and no CV modifier to enter Close Assault and +1 attack in Close Assault.


The rest of the F.A.R.T. regulars start making their way to the other objective at the far edge of the table. Both sides (wisely) gave the French a wide berth.


Gary’s “reserve” actually I had to get past them to get to the second objective – they kept me pinned down in the tall grass for most of the game… well them and the RPG that they had…. Well them and the RPG that they had and the fact that my regulars couldn’t make command rolls to save their lives…


There’s the French.


These are some of the P.R.A.T. troops holding the far objective – they never fired a shot in anger the whole game – at least not at the enemy.


My guys again on the “advance”. The technicals and Greyounds proved to be quite useless – in the face of RPG-wielding African warriors… The Mercedes is my CO, gotta ride in style!


Away they go… or... don’t…


The Lions of Timshasa about to finish off the last of the P.R.A.T. forces holding Objective #1 unfortunately it was only a 20 point objective.


This was about as far as the F.A.R.T forces got. In the distance was the big objective (30 points)

After we finished nattering and getting caught up I imagine the game actually took about two and a half hours. At the end we totaled up the points.

Here’s what I got points for

3d6 = +11
Objectives +20
Enemy units (formations) destroyed (one) +10
Player was fair and honest throughout the game +3 (pulled the wool over Gary’s eyes to get him to agree to this one, eh?)
For a grand total of: 44 victory points! Huzzah!

Here’s what Gary got points for:

5d6= +20
Objectives +5
Enemy units (formations) destroyed (one – my technicals!) +20!?
Player was fair and honest throughout the game +3
Player was lucky several times throughout the game +3
(Gary did not get the +1 point for his name being Rob, because it isn’t.)
For a grand total of: 51 victory points!

According to the rules a difference of 7 indicates “a clear victory, well at least in the view of the victor”. That seems reasonable. If it had lasted another round I’m sure Gary would have swarmed the remaining Greyhound with infantry in a close assault and destroyed it that would have given him another 20 victory points! Luckily the game ended and the forces of F.A.R.T. called it a day and headed back to Timpala having to be satisfied with having destroyed/captured one of P.R.A.T.’s caches, as well as destroying a unit….

Good fun! There was a lot of tension in the game and it really looked like it could have gone either way a number of times early on – especially in the first fight between the Lions and the P.R.A.T. troops holding the first objective – the first turn it looked like I was just going to roll over them. The second or third turn, however, one of the P.R.A.T. units won a close assault destroying one of the Lions and forcing two others to retreat! GAH! The other main fight went back and forth a bit – two forces blazing away at each other from cover – taking turns suppressing each other but not causing any real harm… Then I started failing command rolls and Gary had a couple of strings of successful rolls, which kind of turned the tide. For the last couple turns the writing was really on the wall and I was just dragging out the inevitable trying to at least hang on to the units I had and not lose anymore. I had one run of successful command rolls, unfortunately it was in maybe the second last turn and it was with the single Greyhound (2/50 attacks) even with bonus dice for being under half and being an AFV vs. unarmoured within 20cm I just couldn’t cause any real damage!? After about six or seven shots in a row I think I only managed to take out one MG stand and maybe cause a hit or two but no suppression on another…? Maybe Gary will remember. It was sad. Sad, but fun just the same. Thanks Gary!

Next week Britton has expressed an interest in some WW2 tank action in the desert! Perhaps we will see the 150th Brigade try and defend the Cauldron at Gazala!

….or maybe I’ll just say “Tough crap! My House - My Toys – The Russians are invading England tonight!! Huzzah!!”

We shall see….

If you got this far why not post a comment below and let me know what you think?!