Astro Nit wrote:This is my first contribution, so feel free to tell me what I've done wrong ... All in all really enjoyed myself, and am pleased that in this, my 3rd FOLK session, I am actually hitting things now. Thanks to all
Really glad you enjoyed yourself - and nothing at all wrong with your AAR post, comrade Astro Nit!
Internecine DC
Echo FTL: Null
|- Rifleman: Fer
Under pressure from the Party to deliver a rapid victory , comrade commander mingmong opted for a direct assault across the fields to the east of the objective. Hamlets ENE and ESE of the fields were used as jumping off points for A/B/C and D/E/F squads respectively (the FTL of Delta leading D/E/F).
From our jumping off point we moved quickly towards the objective, making use of the surprising amount of cover on offer for the first 100m. However, as we neared the final approach the ground became barren, and I heard my FTL calmly instruct us to re-zero to 200 and remark that this would be where the enemy would hit us. The bullets duly arrived, as if waiting for this cue.
I ran, throwing both my grenades towards the undergrowth ahead at the outskirts of the village. With perhaps 30m to go, I spotted a wounded enemy fighter attempting to crawl back to the safety of nearby structures. I paused long enough to stand, aim and riddle his body with bullets. And for one of his comrades to kill me.
Note: If transport vehicles are available and the CO chooses to use them - and squads/attachments have not been pre-embarked by the mission maker - then it is the CO's job to unambiguously assign squads to vehicles. S/he can delegate this task to the DC, but please do not leave it to the various elements to sort it out between themselves. An extra 30 seconds invested at the start will deliver faster assaults and greater participation in back-of-the-truck singsongs.
Broney
Squad 10 Puppeteer: Fer
As part of the half of the company assigned to the defence of Nagara, I knew we would be facing the bronegruppa. I did not know that the enemy had nicknamed its IFVs 'Broneys' but would have giggled approvingly had I been informed. Giggled, and then shot them in the face with an RPG-7. Sadly, I never got the chance.
Note: Random trivia, when the Folk sessions were being devised I was reading the wonderful book, The bear went over the mountain, where I first learned of the bronegruppa concept. The AARs in that book heavily influenced the Folk style of mission (see early Folk classics like Highway), but it's taken just under 2 years to get a bronegruppa included in a mission.
Comrade commander Bodge tasked my squad with laying an ambush for the broneys, occupying the rocky high ground south of Nagara and waiting for the enemy to come trundling down the road before hitting them in the side/rear with RPGs. Accordingly, I attempted to disperse my men amongst the rocks and waited, presuming my force to be in concealment if not cover.
The broneys appeared quickly, but had been reading from a different script, peeping over a ridge far to the SE, with spacings of many hundreds of metres between them. Whoever was commanding the bronegruppa was making very sensible uses of their cannons and optics, firing at Nagara from stand-off positions far out of the range of our RPGs. My squad members, despite orders to go prone and find cover, seemed intent on wriggling towards the enemy, and very soon a punishing hail of AP and PKT rounds was shredding the men around me. Remembering my Party training, I immediately recognised the importance of keeping myself alive and hid in some rocks.
Over comms I suspected that horrible combat things were happening in the other half of the green zone, and soon Bodge had given me command over the southern detachment. I ordered squads 6, 7, 8 and 9 to go to ground in various parts of the town, since the obvious response to the broneys' stand-off tactic was to deprive them of targets and lure them in to closer positions (or the town itself).
The enemy did eventually come in closer, but possibly because they were successfully killing targets, rather than being deprived of them. At one stage I believe an IFV was just on the other side of the rocks I was hiding behind, because I could hear very excited chatter coming from the crew (who were busy murderising our troops in the town below). Without even a hand grenade to throw, all I could do was crouch there with my AK on full auto, in case the vehicle's commander should dismount and creep forward for a better view.
After what seemed like a long time, and very substantial casualties on our part, a handful of rockets began to arc away from the town and towards the broneys. As the enemy pulled back I was able to crawl out to the body of one of my men and recover an RPG launcher with two rounds. Moving carefully through the rocks, I made it to a bunker and discovered that at least one of the enemy IFVs had been knocked out. Another was further up the hillside, seemingly immobile. Convinced that the third had retreated back up to the ridge I slung my RPG launcher on my shoulder and headed up the slope to hunt down this final threat - becoming aware that comrade Wolfenswan was now nearby and pursuing a similar tactic.
Near the top of the ridge I encountered at least two enemy dismounts - possibly crew from the final vehicle. They murderised me.
Note: The aiXX missions are something new to the Folk sessions, and balancing them is a skill we have yet to master. Your thoughts and suggestions are really valuable. Similarly, I'd like to hear guests' thoughts on the use of the bronegruppa concept.
Proposition
A3 FTL: Fer
|- AR: SuperU
|- AAR: StrangLove
|- RPG: Billy Bunter
Alpha, under comrade mingmong, was to be in the centre of the advance, which itself would follow the road right into the first town. Comrade Ansob's A1 would be the tip of the spear - our job, in A3, was to advance on the right hand side of the road.
We made contact with the enemy early on, encountering a foot patrol on the road east of the first settlement. Soon my fireteam was up on the slope amongst some rocks, pouring SAW fire down onto the little village as the rest of Alpha advanced into the closest structures. With Bravo clearing the higher ground to our right, we gingerly moved amongst a series of small walls and sheds that filled up the ground to the north of the village. Eventually, comrade mingmong was satisfied that A1 and A2 had cleared all enemies, and ordered the whole squad to re-position so that all fireteams were south of the road and better able to see and support each other. I took A3 across the road, hugging the roadside walls of the last few compounds before forming up next to a low wall in the meadow ahead.
The advance through the meadow was a more difficult proposition. Amidst the trees and long grass, low walls and scattered sheds, the enemy was often hard to spot until almost upon us. To the south-west, I could see troops moving to face A1 and called out accordingly on comms. The next few minutes became a frantic close-range firefight during which A1 (and possibly A2) took losses.
My fireteam kept moving, slowly, trying to use low walls as cover. At one stage almost all of Alpha collapsed on in our position, as we grimly held on against fire from both the front and our flank (which we suspected to be friendly fire from Bravo). A single grenade might have wiped out our squad, but with my SAW gunner and then AAR in need of medical attention we had little choice. An enemy infantryman advanced to within grenade 'posting' distance of us before I realised and shot him!
When we were ready to move again, we did so, but slowly. Our next objective was the town, but the cover between us and the nearest structures could just as easily have concealed enemies as us. So I had my fireteam move slowly, often crawling, and made generous use of hand grenades myself. We reached the town intact, then crossed the road minmong's orders, A3 having been tasked with clearing the multi-storey structures there.
Splitting into combat buddy teams, we set about the nervy task of sweeping the floors of each building. I had a nasty shock as I encountered and narrowly won a quick-draw contest with an enemy AR in a building, but comrade Billy Bunter was backing me up, and comrades SuperU and StrangLove appeared to be doing a methodical job in their structures. Then we got a frantic call from comrade mingmong.
Our SL was stuck on the ground floor of a 2-storey structure to our south. Something deeper in the building, or perhaps outside on the heavily fortified Mosque across the road, was putting fire down on him. We attempted to go to his aid, but we're caught by the same enemy fire. I lost comrade Billy Bunter there, and was myself shot - only quick-thinking from comrade StrangLove saved me. By the time I was patched up again, comrade Ansob was in command of Alpha.
We were to assault the mosque, crossing the street and attempting to force our way past the defenders at the eastern gate. I shot at least one myself before being wounded again, and as I was being patched-up I remarked that the man I had just killed had been holding an AK with a night scope. Even in our smaller form, Alpha was still able to breach the entrance, my AR and AAR ascending the stairs on either side to begin clearing the top of the outer walls. I went north with one of them, but the enemy's rooftop positions had obviously been decimated by fire from other squads, as all we found were bodies and unmanned DShKMs.
After a hurried check of the main building and its rooftops, we all rendezvoused at the western gate, then struck out north. I believed we would be joining Bravo, at this point some hundreds of metres up the road. However, we were told that the high value target in this town had not been located, so we were to sweep the buildings again. Finally, the eagle-eyed medic spotted the HVT on the upper story of the building where comrade mingmong had died earlier.
We assaulted the building but were too casual this time. Comrade StrangLove had been the first to mount the stairs located at the back of a garage area, and opened fire on the HVT. It so happened that the HVT was standing almost directly above the entrance into the garage area, so as I came through the door I saw a figure on the stairs (comrade StrangLove) firing in what I mistakenly thought to be my direction. I raised my rifle and fired. I didn't kill StrangLove, as I understand others in the room made a similar mistake; but I probably contributed to his death! The mission ended soon afterwards, with no further action for our squad.
Huge shout out to comrades SuperU, StrangLove and Billy Bunter, who were really superb!
