Fourteen Men in the Solomons - Patrol

Wednesday, 23 June 1943 - 06:00 

At first light, Lieutenant Lance "Harvard" Nelson's platoon set out with orders to scout out locations in their area of operations to look for signs of enemy infiltrators. 

(The Mission rolled was - Military Mission - Meeting Engagement - Scout locations- Three locations near the objective must be scouted for possible enemy contacts. I decided to try out the hidden sniper rules... but I just told Orion we were playing with "hidden deployment" rules...) 

Orion setting up her troopers! 

The men of First Platoon, Company J, 25th Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division approach a farm they've been tasked with investigating on their patrol. 

As Sgt West and LCpl Gonzalez maneuvered out of the bosh, heading towards the farm house, a shot rang out and a bullet whizzed by a little too close to West's head! 

It took the Sergeant a moment to realize he was under fire, then he shouted out "SNIPER!!" and made a run for the building! 

Sarge and Gonzalez made it to the building an Gonzalez set up his BAR at a window ready to give some covering fire or light up a sniper, if they spotted him! The sniper shot at Gonzalez and missed, hitting the frame of the window. The near miss caused Gonzalez and the Sergeant to retreat. 

The rest of the Platoon moved up through the dense stand of trees. 

Privates Smith and Brown rushed across an open bit of ground to get to another stand of trees, but the sniper hit Brown, who started screaming! Smith completely lost his nerve and ran deeper into the jungle to hide! 

Gonzalez and the Sarge got it together and made a plan to move back to the window and lay down some supressing fire into the nearby woods where they suspected the Sniper was concealed. 

When Gonzalex got to the window the sniper put a bullet through his spine and that was the end of his soldiering days! 

Privates Johnson and Masters rushed out from the woods and took cover in the the overgrown cassava fields. 

They were joined by their squad leader, Corporal Freeman in the fields.

Masters got his head a little too high while they were moving through the fields and the sniper put a bullet through his neck. 

The Sarge decided he'd had enough of this and called for the platoon to rush the treeline. Private Davis was about to join him, but seeing how much distance he had to cover to make it to the jungle across the farm, decided maybe he should move to the field first... 

The Sergeant rushed into the jungle and the sniper panicked and took a shot at the Sergeant... and missed. 

Sarge fill the tree he was hiding in full of lead and the sniper dropped down. 

Others continued to maneuver up while the sergeant fought with the Sniper in the woods. 

The Sergeant rushed the sniper, fixing to brawl with him. Despite the Sergeant's +1 for charging and the Sniper's -2 for being Down, he still only beat the Sniper by one, which forced the sniper to retreat. The Sergeant followed up again, and with the same odds, TIED... the Sniper was obliged to retreat again and that took him off the table!! So he disappeared into the jungle... but he'd dropped his rifle and was clearly bleeding so the sergeant didn't pursue any further without his troops, lest he run into an ambush! 

Checking on the injured soldiers, Masters was killed in action and Gonzalez seems to have been paralyzed. Brown, it turns out, had been hit in the pack, but the force of the blow threw him to the ground and knocked the wind out of him. He was certain he'd been hit and was dying... but wasn't even scratched... 

Rolling for events, Orion rolled "It's All Coming Together" AGAIN, allowing her to raise one of the units ratings! She chose to raise their mobility again! 

Private Harris had an encounter with the Battalion Commander as they reentered the bivouac area and the two had a friendly little chat. (Harris can use this friendship to avoid a court marshal at some point in the future!) 

A replacement was rolled up and Orion used a Player Action to see if that could be a marksman with a sniper rifle - and was successful! A new sniper will be added to the platoon!

The Sergeant became a Veteran. 

Having a LOT of fun with this campaign. Super looking forward to the next game!