Firefight in Vindaloo AAR

I had deployed the Coalition forces in several groups: one SAMAS element was deployed on each flank, whereas in the middle I had a group of SAW-armed Dead Boys and Rifle Dead Boys led by Lt. Maximo, and two fireteams of Rifle Dead Boys on the right flank. Initial moves saw the boys in black moving forward into the fields of cabbage and corn squash on the right flank, and into the shanties of Vindaloo on the left flank.


Maximo's charges were caught by surprise when the Comedian appeared out of nowhere immediately in front of him, but he was quickly cut down by reactive fire.

One of the PEFs moved south towards the right flank SAMAS element, but it proved to be nothing but shadows.

And past that point I forgot to hit save... at least there are still pictures.

Maximo and his two groups of Dead Boys advance directly through the center of the shanties, looking for the stolen Coalition tech along the way. The left flank's SAMAS element moves towards the PEF by the ship wreckage.

Maximo's group comes under fire from the OCLF in the wreckage and one fireteam is put out of the fight completely.

Dead Boys on the right flank advance through the farm to draw a bead on the OCLF that have revealed themselves in front of the gas station.

SAMAS RPA Elites return the fire of the OCLF by the gas station. A team of Laborers is put down with HMG fire.

The left flank SAMAS element trades ineffectual fire with a small OCLF contingent behind the spaceship wreckage (I really need to paint DOOP markings on that ship at some point).

The larger of the two OCLF groups is forced to Hunker Down in and behind the small residential building, effectively taking them out of the game. At this point Maximo's team already has the tech (an incomplete SAMAS suit) and is headed off the board.

Notes and Observations:

• I really wish I hadn't lost most of my notes, but since some of the reaction tests create ineffectual firing loops, some of it is alright. I really should've been producing more Duck Back results than I did (guess I forgot).
• I'm not entirely pleased with the results I got. Trying to use a skirmish game as a platoon-to-company level game is kind of iffy, but it worked ok. I think the main problems I encountered had a lot to do with the specific THW sets I used. This is not Ed's fault; CR 3.0 is free, and ATZ is very individual oriented.
  
• The CR 3.0 NPC movement table just wasn't very interesting, and if I'd bothered to make up a tactical doctrine for the OCLF I could've had more fun.
• The size of the generated enemy groups made them unwieldy, and when combined with the limited NPC movement table the end result was that I had large blocks clumping together on a single terrain feature most of the time, often blocking the fields of fire of the better weapons that were available.
• I may go back to using the same Target rating as the weapons originally had; it'd make the big guns a lot more killy than they currently are. I still like using stand-widths instead of templates to allocate area fire (like Crossfire)
• I need to use actual armor rules or something to make characters scarier; the Comedian got shot up too quickly; I probably should've let him shoot before the Dead Boys to give him somewhat of a chance. Next time we'll use 5150, possibly Star Army, but I didn't want to crack out that book with its dozens of QRS at this point.
• I may cut movement distances down a bit. A fast move of 16" for a 30mm square stand representing a fireteam seems a touch too fast.

All in all, it was a good trial run, but before I get back to Janitoria I will probably focus on some games that require less table space for a while.