The Big Op…

Man, am I tired…

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USFOR and UNFOR chased Housbin Farteen into West Gowerania.
The UNFOR commander was aware that the frontier from Gowerania to West Gowerania had been crossed, and that local troops could be presumed hostile.
The USFOR commander had bad intel, and believe the USFOR was operating legally within Gowerania, and that Goweranian Troops would likely be friendly.

An International Incident resulted when advanced scouts of the 101st Airborne (Mistakenly?) opened fire on Border Guards of the West Goweranian Regular Army, who were attempting to identify the hostile forces operating on their home territory… Shots were exchanged, and one Fire Team took significant casualties, and was medevaced by additional elements of their company to the USFOR base for treatment, leaving a Fireteam to cover their retreat.

Meanwhile, Housbin Farteen and his Merry Band of Rebels were pleased to discover that the cover of darkness had carried them undetected behind the safety and surety of the West Goweranian Border Guard. They commenced a harrassment operation against the combined US/UNFOR, but were met by WGA elements friendly to their cause before they could put their plan into action. The WGA and Housbin Farteen’s men fought as a combined force for the remainder of the engagement.

Unfortunately, details of the remainder of the firefight remained sketchy, as reinforcements of both US/UN and WGA forces began arriving on the scene, creating additional layers of the Fog of War.
Late in the day, the combined US/UN forces found themselves at a significant disadvantage due to lack of familiarity with the terrain, loss of situational awareness, and the superior familiarity with the terrain that the WGA elements had.
The combined US/UNFOR were wiped out almost to a man, with the Commanding Officers of the US and UN Forces being taken captive by the Rebel Cleric at the end of the protracted gun battle.

The Rebel Cleric broke ranks with the WGA to pursue his own Agenda. Media Sources friendly to Farteen’s Cause aired a televised demand on the Al JeerAtcha network. The captives were to be beheaded.

Intelligence sources located the general area of Farteen’s camp, and elements of the USFOR, UNFOR, and WGA moved to forcibly extract the captives from Farteen’s Custody. Due to errors on Farteen’s underling’s parts, one of the captives escaped. Video was later shown on the Al JeerAtcha network of the USFOR Commander, Col. Benjamin Dover, being beheaded (very very slowly and tediously) with a can opener. Valiant unto the end, the 4 hour and 22 minute tape shows Col. Dover not pleading for his life, as would expected, but instead, pleading for his captors to just “farking well get on with it already!”.
Free Radical Extremist groups around the world applauded the efforts of the killers, but suggested that perhaps Free Radicals Everywhere might supply Housbin’s men with more suitable Weapons of Mass Destruction, such as a paring knife or [perhaps a] lovely Tupperware Orange Peeler for more efficient despatch of the Enemies of the Free Radical movement.

RESULTS:
Game 1:
USFOR: 100% casualties (simultaneously) MAJOR DEFEAT
UNFOR: 100% casualties (simultaneously) MAJOR DEFEAT
RCFOR: 100% escape, link with friendly elements of WGA. MAJOR VICTORY
WGA: Defeat the Invading Forces. MAJOR VICTORY

Game 2:
BLUFOR: Rescued 1 hostage to the Dust Off by 1600 Local. MARGINAL VICTORY.
RCFOR: Executed 1 hostage at 1600 Local. MARGINAL VICTORY.

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Thanks to all for a super awesome day… If you missed it, you REALLY missed out…

I’d like to say that I had as much fun hosting the event as it sounds like you guys had playing the scenario… =)
(or perhaps I had more fun – you guys should have heard all the chatter on the CommNet during the morning… *grin*)

I expect some good AARs here – talking about what went right (and should be done again) and what didn’t go as well as you’d hoped (game-mechanics and scenario-wise), so we can improve it next time.

Couple things I saw/heard about.

The Friendly Fire Incident – Funny stuff. Can’t wait to hear about it directly from the participants.

Wounded People (future reference): CAN talk/yell/etc.. CANNOT move. CAN *BE* moved by a teammate. CANNOT shoot. CAN be shot again for a killing blow.

Team Balancing: Judging by the way it went for the day, it seems that the game was won or lost on tactics and teamwork, not on numbers. I did my best to balance the forces so the outcome was *entirely* up to you guys. It seems as though that worked out well.

Thanks everyone…friends Old and New alike… Can’t wait for the next one!

JB