Babylon Part I - It all Began with a Sandstorm

Pre-Game

April, 1947 the NDaK and Blutkreuz forces under the leadership of Erwin Rommel and Sigrid Von Thaler would commit their forces to the new Operation Babylon. The goal of this mission was to map the Mesopotamian area and search for ruins and hints that would point to artifacts and alien secrets that would help finish the endless war on Earth.

With the COVID situation I wanted to let the girlfriend try the game and lets just say that it took off like a warm barrel of gunpowder. Having always wanted to start a blog and give content to people this just seemed like a natural extension of the situation to me. I hope anyone who finds these posts enjoys and I would love comments of love or criticism.

These scenarios will follow the ones in the back of Operation Babylon. The first scenario would be an attack on two objectives along a fairly long map. 

Game 1 - Outpost Whisky 

Axis 150 vs Allied 115

Straight from the Octagon Allied Command, Master Sergeant Kara had this to say about the game and her set up for the coming game. 

"Hi all!  First, I am quite new at model gaming and strategy is NOT something that comes easily for me.  I love Dust because even though I lose a majority of the time, I have a ton of fun playing it. Also, I must be getting better with my strategies because most of the time after I am done with my move, Dylan has to think a lot longer before he figures out how to clobber me.  If you want to get into model gaming and have found that other games are just too busy for you to grasp anything, then I highly recommend trying Dust."

"I played around with a few armies before I settled on the Allies.  Dylan plays a lot of Axis and so far I just feel like the Allies have the best chance of holding their own against his Axis."  

"I decided to build as many platoons as possible with what I had.  I loaded everything I owned into one list and let the Dust app auto suggest platoons for me.  The instance set the point limits for both of us.  I was defending so my point limit was 115.  Here is what I brought:"

USMC Rifle Platoon: 
 Command: Machete Mack
 Combat 1: USMC Fire Squad
 Combat 2:  USMC Rifle Squad
 Combat 3:  USMC Rifle Squad
 Combat 4:  USMC Heavy Engineer Squad

USMC Taskforce Diver Platoon:
 Command: Diver (USMC)
 Combat 1:  USMC Close Assault Squad
 Combat 2:  Bushmaster

Allied Medium Combat Walker Platoon:
 Command:  Mickey (Light)
 Combat 1:  Barking Dog (Light)
 Combat 2:  Barking Dog (Light)

Separately:
 Bazooka Joe


 USMC Demolition Squad

America's victory is certain with these brave boys.

With the Allied army now lined up, it would be important to know what the Axis were going to bring to the table. Literally and Figuratively. 

As a big fan of historical conflicts and the cult of personalities that they produce, I knew I wanted to invade the desert the right way. I admit I am a big fan of Rommel and the things he was able to achieve with the little that he had available. I decided to use the NDAK with tank support primarily for this campaign.  

NDAK Kampfgruppe Christoph Platoon:

Command: Christoph

Combat 1: Grenadier Security Squad

Combat 2:  Hermann Tropical

Support: Panzermeister (Jagluther), The Desert Fox, Tina and Hyane, Grenadier Battle Squad, Grenadier Anti-Tank Squad, Grenadier Heavy Mortar Squad, NDAK Grenadier Command Squad, Grenadier Observer Squad, Grenadier Recon Squad x2, and Heavy Grenadier Assault Squad

Axis Kampfgruppe Platoon:

Command: Ludwig

Combat 1:  Jagdluther

Combat 2:  Ludwig

Support: Panzermeister (Jagluther), Tropical Loki

A legend walks with these fine men.

Axis forces came to the battlefield like a bolt of lightening and pushed all allied forces out of the area in a storm of violence that had Allied forces struggling to recover. Outpost Whisky was one such position that was threatened to be surrounded and trapped by Axis forces, but the garrisoned United States Marine Corp would have none of that surrendin' talk. The marines dug in their heels and strained their senses for the coming attack. Rommel himself would lead the charge in the area in order to make room for the scientists that were sure to follow. All he had to do was make sure the marines were gone when they got here.

Rommel waited for the coming sandstorm to screen his advance from his enemies so that the fighting would begin close and a decisive strike could be made. His goal was to get a troop into the tunnels the marines were unwittingly defending unnoticed.

The Table and Game

Allied Forces Standing Vigilant 

Turn 1

First turn would see a medium severity sandstorm come into play as the Axis got first turn priority. To say the sandstorm affected our ability to bring the long range guns to bear is an understatement. Axis units enter the map from the right edge with Allied forces moving out of the ruins in order to get a few shots on the tanks before the infantry had a chance to screen and damage the Allied assets. Allies advanced a tank a little too soon and a Panziermeister piloted Jagdluther was able to remove the Barking Dog before it could do any damage to Axis armor. Rommel's ability to do a free order after his activation is always a constant source of glee when you can get it to work. The prevalence of line of sight blocking terrain in the center of the board made the advance tricky as it would be easy to overextend a unit and have it swept up with a Diver lead close combat marine unit.

BOOM!

End of Turn 1

Turn 2

Allies would steal the initiative and roll for a continuing sandstorm. The Allied player had to make the important decision of jumping forward to inflict damage or make the Axis forces continue to advance and search for targets. The bushmaster fails its suppression roll  and has an action stolen away. This forces the decision to make the canal the defensive point and make the Axis pay for every square. The Ludwig sees the hesitation as a chance to move forward and make sure all of his shots miss around Diver's unit in the canal that would prove to be the linchpin of the marine's defense. The observers would call in some flashy bangs to attempt to keep the marine's heads down from suppression. 

The Herman moves up and sees the Micky protecting the bridge to the objective. With a loud buzzing bang, the laser would glance the Micky for a measly two damage. The rest of the turn would be the axis advancing into position for the big push while taking potshots and doing minor damage to the entrenched marines. Machete Mac would see an opportunity and mow down the majority of the NDaK Battle Grenadier unit along the irrigation canal. Diver would fail his Infantry Ace ability and decide that a heroic charge would be valiant, but more than likely fatal. 

"Actung! Mickey is blocking the bridge!"

                                                                       End of Turn 2

Turn 3

The Allies can sense the inevitable push and grab the turn while they can. The sandstorm would continue to hinder the Allies ability to shoot long range, but the marines took it stoically. The Mickey sees the plethora of targets that are bearing down on its position and misses every shot horribly with the main gun and the machine guns. The Loki moves up and attempts to remove Mac and his squad who are holding the entire left flank by itself. The remnants of the battle grenadiers move up to add their firepower onto Mac's squad before running behind the cover of the tanks. 

Panziermiester sees an opportunity to get the breakthrough on the right flank and shoots at the Barking Dog that is threatening the tank superiority. He is ashamed of himself when he sees an unfazed tank when the dust clears. The surrounding trees explode as they take the shot from the Ludwig intended to remove the same barking dog.

"Schiesse, that tank is just too fast!"

Tina sees the anticipation in her surrounding soldiers and deems the time is right for the big push. With a shout and a bark from Hyane that would scare a SSU commissar, the men charged and committed everything to the marines holding the canal. Bazooka Joe sees the charging Axis soldiers and orders the men reactive fire into the enemy before they can inflict any damage. The trees in the way absorb enough firepower to scare any hardened veteran, but leave the advancing axis troops unscratched. After a flurry of shooting, explosions, and savage hyena bites, the axis soldiers manage to severely wound Joe, kill a steel marine, and destroy the nearby barking dog with panzerfaust 100s. 

Diver shouts at his troops to shoot at the victorious axis troops, but found that the remaining trees did everything they could to get in the way. Christoph cheers his troops on now that the opportunity for victory is upon them. His trusty men surge forward and flamethrower Diver's unit. A crispy Diver found himself surrounded by his dead men. The bushmaster would shoot at Christopher in an attempt to get some revenge and would inflict some superficial damage. The weakened front line was now open to Rommel's perfect plan to order Christoph to continue the push with a reactivation. Christoph would oblige his commandant and remove both Joe, his steel marines, and diver from the canal with flame and fist.  

The right flank would see Mac continue to do everything he could to hold up the attack troops, but found the axis recon grenadiers secure the treeline in front of him. 

Turn 4

Axis would get the first turn to continue the breakthrough. Thankfully, mother nature decided to stop blowing sand everywhere. The Ludwig decided the Mickey blocking the bridge was no longer necessary and decided to place a AP shell into their ammo with a satisfying explosion. The bushmaster kept up the fire on Tina and Christopher's advance inflicting a few casualties. The Loki pilot could not get a clear shot and shot wildly in the direction of the marines to force them to keep their heads down. 

Machete Mac decides to earn his nickname and leads a charge against the remains of Christoph's unit. The Master Sergeant would be injured in the attack that lead to the deaths of his men. Thankfully, these injuries were not mortal. Tina paid no heed to the attack and charged across the canal to remove the threat of marines in the back who were going to blunt the advance. After a hail of bullets and and complaints from Hyane, the marines were dead to a man. The last thin line of marines attempt a counter attack in an attempt to get Tina away from the objective, but only 3 grenadiers went down. 

The battle grenadiers used their heavy firepower to machine gun down the bushmaster. The poor pilot never stood a chance. Rommel advanced and informed Panzermiester to become reactivated. He would oblige and killed one more marine near the objective. The recon marines on the right flank would see an opportunity to grab the objective after everyone else had activated. 

Turn 5

The turn was a short one due to the dismal situation. The Axis would grab the first turn again which would allow the recon marines to get rid of the last marine unit near the objective. Mac came to grips with swallowing defeat, and told the remaining men to grab the wounded and lingering marines to pull back. The Axis would win this day and find out what was in those holes, but the war was far from over. 

Axis 1 - Allies 0

"Ah Hans, we made it to the hole!"