Since I painted Nigel's SAS force a month ago we've been dying to get them into a game. Last night saw their first outing.
I managed to build a dispersal airfield using Timecast buildings from their SE Asia range and 1/100th Stuka's from the Air Combat Collection. I then had to work out rules for night time actions and explosive charge placement and detonation (see below).
The airfield consisted of two huts, four barracks, two FLaK 20mm guns, an OP with two MG34's, a fuel dump and truck park plus dispersal pens for four Stukas though only two were in situ last night.
The Garrison consisted of seven sections each of eight-man riflemen, plus two five-man gun crews and eight sentries. I had marked down routes for the sentries to patrol, and they would proceed with their movement at D6" when their chip was drawn. I decided that sentries would be included on table and not on blinds, and that once the action started they would be removed. Alternatively we could have used a fake blind for each sentry if desired.
Barrack blocks 1 and 2 held sleeping Platoons each of three eight-man rifle squads, plus a Big Man, whereas Hut 2 and Barrack block 4 contained sleeping gun crews for the 20mm FLaK's.
Hut 1 was the HQ hut and held an eight-man squad and the CO. Finally two three-man crewed MG34's plus Big Man were located in the OP.
Special Scenario Rules
1) Blinds need to be spotted twice to identify. i.e. Spot the barrack block. Score achieved, place blind, spot blind to see what it is...
2) Spotting can only be at short range.
3) Firing can only be at short range unless fired at by target whereas muzzle flashes can be fired at at up to 18".
4) Blinds can only have three ID.
5) I've used sentry's placed at the airfield which move according to a route worked out already in advance. They can only spot according to above, and cannot cause casualties from firing as they will raise the alarm by firing weapon wildly and shouting instead.
6) To kill a sentry, silently, combat needs to be undertaken as normal but no bonuses for automatic weapons etc is carried out. If the sentry wins and legs it then the alarm is raised. If the sentry kills one SAS man but is killed himself then he makes enough noise to rouse the garrison.
7) Nige has six five man squads with three charges each. To place a charge a full move must be spent stationary doing nothing else. Once placed the charges are numbered in order of placement and put into the pack. Once their chip/card has appeared THREE TIMES the charge explodes.
8)The German's can remove the charge if they spend a whole move stationary and score a 5 or 6.
9) The German's start in barracks asleep, It takes one full move's ID to get up and ready before leaving the barrack block. They can only appear if roused for some reason i.e. screams of sentry's/explosions
10) Gun crews are also in barracks and must run to their weapon after the above getting ready. The weapon takes one full moves ID to make ready/load etc before firing. They can fire as a reduced infantry squad i.e. 4 or 5 men less one dice - no LMG.
11) Stukas were counted as armour 2 and were counted as if fired at from the flank. In retropect this should have been armour 1 or armour 2, rear armour as they proved buggers to destroy.
Nige's force consisted of two SAS groups each of three five-man sections mounted on Jeeps with twin Vickers K MMG or .50 cal. HMG. I decided that the twin Vickers K would fire at 2D6+3 for the extra barrel (same as a Panzer I par example) awesome firepower, however as they are softskin vehicles they are very vulnerable. each squad had a Big Man attached making the entire force 30 men and six Big Men.
The Game
The game started with a multitude of British blinds circling the airfield. Nige had D6+1 for the game. My sentries chips came up and they began to walk their routes. One dice for movement and two for spotting things at short range.
An SAS patrol activated itself adjacent to the Petrol Dump when the sentry turned the corner around the truck depot. One squad placed a charge on the dump another dealt with the 20mm AA gun whilst the third placed one on the crew barrack block. Chips for the charges went into the hat and then we kept a log of how many times the charge appearred. On its third appearance - BOOM!!!!!!!
As my sentries continued blissfully unaware of what was occurring elsewhere the SAS continued to lay charges on the Stuka in dispersal 2 and a Lancia truck adjacent to it.
It was at this point that a loud explosion went off - The fuel dump erupted into a wall of fire consuming two trucks nearby and immobilising another brace.
At this point we placed all the remaining chips in the hat and removed sentries and their chips from the game.
After a delay for getting hurridly dressed and armed my garrison began to mobilise. A patrol of four Jeeps and a chevy truck hastily drove onto the airstrip from the north guns blazing away at the ramshackle buildings.
As my troops finally poured from their barracks they were met with a hail of fire from the Jeeps. One squad and its Big Man was wiped out immediately the others cut down to half strength as the SAS MGs spat forth their hate!
Suddenly another explosion went off as the gun crew barracks 4 exploded. We diced once for each of the five crew inside two died instantly and three wounds were picked up.
As a third explosion destroyed the AA gun the defenders fire finally started to take a toll of the attackers.
The chevy was destroyed and two crew killed as the others fell onto the airstrip. Two jeeps were immobilised and had to be abandoned, their occupants also legging it off-table. Remaining SAS vehicles fired at the Stuka in dispersal 1, rendering it unserviceable as the Stuka in pen 2 exploded in a ball of fire.
Most of the SAS squads had by now left the table, their work done, run away to fight another day.
At the loss of three SAS men, 26 German's lay dead, with the airfield in flames, one Stuka damaged, another totalled, five trucks destroyed along with a 20mm FLaK and a fuel dump destroyed.
As a first outing the SAS proved a real headache. With our house rules, which were thrown together quickly, over the net in the morning proved to really workj, much to our surprise. Particularly the method of placing charges as chips in the hat and drawing them out.
SAS vehicles, as historically, proved to have a formidable firepower but were very vulnerable to enemy shooting.
The game proved to be really good fun and very different form what we're used to. Doubtless many more raids will follow.
Kev