Elements of Destruction -- The Scenario

I had a request to post the scenario I ran at Cangames this year so here goes!

Before getting to the scenario proper, some notes about how it came about. Each year for at least the past 5 I have run a Force on Force game at Cangames which I have always enjoyed running and the players seem to enjoy as well (since it has largely had the same group of players each year!). The first few years I spent a lot of time planning and getting figs and arranging terrain but for the last couple of years I have spent more of my preparation time on my Roman game than on Force on Force.

Last year Ed and I had a really good idea for a game based on Libyan rebels trying to capture Muammar Gaddafi but we just didn't have time to pull it all together and I ended up running "The Bridge at al Muff" again -- which went well (Stan has a blog post about it here ) but I was reluctant to run a game this year (again because a lot of my effort was going into the Roman game).  I eventually decided I would run a game but would try and minimize the amount of effort that would go into it.

The scenario idea started with the Honest John launcher mini that I have that has never (up until now) actually seen action on the table so I thought how can I use this (and why not the Nike HAWK launcher that I got at the same time). So, terrorists get a nuclear weapon, US forces fight to get it away from them and the HAWK gives a (barely) plausible reason why the US doesn't have massive air cover for something like this. Then I had a strange thought -- what if we have new players in the game, would this be good for them (strange because as I said it is generally the same group of players every year but also because in my experience with a game master to manage the fiddly situations most people pick up FOF fairly quickly).

So, I decided that the basic flow of the game would be (1) Delta force would land and their would be a brief fight to gain control of the Honest John and other weapons caches -- The US player would be given a sense that time is really of the essence here but it would be a one sided,, brief fight to allow the game mechanics to be demonstrated. (2) There would be an interlude where the US helicopters arrive to extract Delta, the HAWK battery is revealed, helicopters are shot down and lots of insurgents are revealed -- This is just done as narrative, with no game mechanics (3) The Delta troops with the help of arriving Rangers try to hold off the insurgents while trying to destroy the HAWK battery and rescue the helicopter crew.

That seems to be more than enough introspective rambling so here is the scenario!

SCENARIO: ELEMENTS OF DESTRUCTION

A faction of  al Shabab in Somalia has a acquired a Cold War era Honest John launcher and possible chemical and nuclear warheads and are planning to fire it at a city in Kenya. Delta force troops will insert using a HALO jump and will be supported by Rangers entering Somalia by land from Kenya.

Table setup

The table as shown is a city with a ruin of a colonial building on a hill. The Honest John and 2 weapons caches are in the centre of the city and 5 hot points are placed around them (but are inactive at the beginning of the game).

Delta Foce are place on the road near the objectives and 4 insurgent groups are place to guard them.

(Note: In hindsight, I would have pushed the buildings closer together to create denser terrain -- I say this to myself after every game and every time I set up a new game I leave everything spread out!)

US Forces
Delta:
Troop Quality/ Morale: D12/D10 (Drops to D10/D10 in the second phase of the game)
Confidence Level: Confident
Supply Level:Abundant
Body Armour: Standard (+1D)

Delta is a arranged in 4 troops of 4 each armed with an M4

Rangers:
Troop Quality/Morale: D8/D8
Confidence Level: Confident
Supply Level: Abundant
Body Armour: Standard (+1D)

The Ramgers have 6 HMMWVs, 3 armed with M2 HMGs and 3 with Mk19 AGLs.
Each HMMV has 4 soldiers with 3 M4s and 1 SAW.

al Shabab
Troop Quality/Morale: D6/D8
Confidence Level: Confident
Supply Level: Normal
Body Armour: None

The initial insurgent groups consist of 1 leader, 2 with AK47 and 1 with RPG

Special Rules

Initially the the hotspots are inactive and the Rangers are off the table. Once the Launcher and 2 weapons caches are secure the extraction helicopters will arrive. At this point any remaining insurgents from the initial groups are removed from the table and the Delta troops can rearrange themseleves around the 3 objectives as they choose.

After this is done the HAWK battery is revealed (this consists of 3 peices of equipment, each with a crew of 4) in the the ruins on the hill. The crashed helicopter is placed on the slope of the hill as are 2 bunkers with HMGs. The hotspots are now active and a force consisting of 1 leader, 4 AK47 amd 1 RPG is placed on each of them with an additional force of the same size being placed in the ruins. The troop quality of Delta force is reduced for D12 to D10.

At the end of each turn the Ranger player makes a TQ check and if successful 3 HMMMVs will enter at the beginning of the following turn

The insurgency level is 4 and the following table can be used

Die Roll Insurgent Unit
2 1d6 small arms, 1x light support weapon
3 1x medium support weapon
4 1d6 small arms, roll again
5 1x medium support weapon
6 1d6+2 small arms
7 1x leader, 1d6 small arms, 1x light support weapon
8 1d6+2 small arms
9 1d6 small arms, roll again
10 1x light support weapon
11 1x leader, 1d6 small arms, 1x medium support weapon
12 2d6 small arms

Roll 1D6 for units without a leader and on a 1 replace 1 figure with a leader

Victory

The US player wins if they eliminate the HAWK battery and keep the initial objectives secure. They can be more victorious if they rescue the helicopter crew and less if the suffer too many casualties. They really lose quite badly if al Shabab keeps control of the nuclear weapon.

Hopefully that is clear enough, I usually just jot down some rough notes as reminders for myself. Let me know if there are any questions or places where it can be clearer.