Operation Babylon Game VII - Objectively-Great Town

Pre-Game

The battle for the tombs is over, and Rommel's NDaK was pushed back by the Devil Dogs of the United States Marine Corps. Battered, but most assuredly not defeated, Rommel rallies his forces and attempts to steal a win out of the strained situation. The tombs and their relics are in the hands of the Allies, but they still have to get them back to their CLIO scientists and labs. The nearby town of Albu Bali is the closest piece of civilization that has the facilities necessary to land a plane big enough to evacuate the relics. Rommel sees an opportunity and orders his forces to grab their gear and set out. 

The town had been mostly spared by this point of the war with only minimal interest from both sides. Rommel's enemies must have already been thinking the same thing as marine scouts were spotted by recon grenadiers on the other side of the town. With the rest of the invasion needing his attention, he left the task to Christoph. Master Sergeant Christoph quickly made a kampfgruppe and charged into the city with the hope of digging in before the enemy was on top of him. Little did he know that Mack was already walking into the city himself. 

Pvt Greyson just enjoyed the shade for a little while. The constant thud of bullets on the other side of the sun-bake walls doing everything they could to remind him of his current situation. The more he looked at the homes and buildings in this part of the world, the more he thought of the color of sun-bleached bones of things that died in the desert. It made him him sick to his stomach to think that some of those bones would be some of his old friends by this point. "Everyone get ready to charge those buildings! Machetes out!" Screamed his commanding officer.

Pvt Greyson took a moment to orientate himself to get ready. The bodies of the Fox company that went in before Item laid uncerimoniously around him. Their spent lives earning them the right to garrision this part of the city while his company charged through the next part of town while being shot at like animals. He enjoyed the shade for just a few more seconds before the inevitable whistle blow.

He heard the shrill blow of the whistle and muscle memory took over. He instinctively jumped out of the window he was sitting under and saw what was in front on him. All he saw was blaring sun for a few moments before his eyes and brain registered his new obstacle. The open plaza of some forgotten age with buildings on the other side pouring German-made lead his way. Since the rest of his squad was either gone or got lost in the confusion, he decided he was going to find his own building. For some reason he didn't understand his brain clicked on a building on the right that wasn't covered in Krauts with machineguns on the roof. He decided to go with his gut feeling. 

He looked to his left and saw one of Hitler's buzzsaws point his way across the plaza. He pointed his BAR and shot a burst of 5 shots at the edge of the building. A smile crossed his face when he saw the kraut duck behind his makeshift cover, but Pvt Greyson cursed his typical lack of luck when he relised the grenadier was just going to shoot at him without looking. "AH, SHIT!"  He pointed his gun back at the same position and unloaded the rest of his magazine while he sprinted like a mad dog straight for his target building. In the frantic charge across the open he didn't even remember when he heard the click of the empty magazine. He just knew that he needed to pull his machete out before he got into that building.

Pvt Greyson saw something move in the shadow of the window he was about to jump through and knew that he was going to have to earn his rations today. He tossed his BAR near the window and he leaped through the window hoping to catch the unlucky kraut on the other side by suprise. He felt vindication for his decision when he felt the resistence of a human body as he landed on the other side. His new found cushion started shouting something he didn't understand as he heard something metallic slide across the floor. He attempted to slam his helmeted head into the man's stomach to keep the advantage, but the German managed to get his arms up in time to stop the blow. Greyson took a knee to the groin that made him bite his tongue in pain.

Greyson shouted, "damn Germans just don't know when to give up" as he grabbed his enemy in a bear hug to keep him pinned. 

He managed to squirm up enough to see the situation, and realized the full picture didn't look any better. The bodies of dead grenadiers and 2nd platoons marines all around him, and he managed to find the one kraut who was doing what he was trying to do on the other side. The German nearly managed to squirm from his grip as he reached for a nearby body's sidearm. Greyson brought his head down and slammed the poor man's head between his helmet and the hard pack dirt floor. The German's body went slack just long enough for Greyson to get his machete in a killing position. The German's yelp was quickly turned into a sloppy gurgling sound as the machete tore itself into his throat. Pvt Greyson closed his eyes as he heard the poor man die under him. Eventually the struggling and spasming stopped, and he found himself alone yet again. The buzzsaws outside slowly twinkling out. 

Pvt Greyson fell back onto his butt as he sucked in oxygen. He found himself under a window listening to the bullets outside ping against the wall. American-born obcenities slowly overpowering the German gibberish. Pvt Greyson closed his eyes and enjoyed the shade for just a few more moments, he knew that whistle would come again before too long.....

Game 7 - Objectively-Great Town

Axis 100 vs Allied 100

Frantic messages were found in the airwaves as the final cinematic battle was looming. Master Sergeant Kara had this to say about the coming climax of aggression.

"For this fight, I was confident that it would be a slam dunk.  Both players had the same amount of points and that has always worked well for me in the past. Here is what I brought."

Allied Forces:

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

Separately:
Bazooka Joe
Blackhawk
Bushmaster
Ranger Assault Squad
Thunder
Barking Dog (Light)
 The Chef
 USMC Assault Squad

Christoph was how this all started, so I figured it was only right that he got me out of it. I love his platoon and I love using him with his fast and hard-hitting playstyle. With the buildings giving cover and blocking line of sight I knew it was going to be important to be able to get the jump on the Allies before they had a chance to do the same with their shotguns. I think narratively it makes the most sense as well for a recon force to be sent to take this town. I always love it when the narrative and the rules just seem to work together. 

Axis Forces:

NDaK Kampfgruppe Christoph Platoon:

Command: Christoph Combat 1: Grenadier Security Squad

Combat 2:  Hermann Tropical

Support: 
Tina and Hyane
NDaK Heavy Mortar
Grenadier Recon Squad x 2
Loki Tropical
NDaK Grenadier Observer Squad
Grenadier Battle Squad
Grenadier Command Squad
Anti-Tank Grenadiers.
NDaK E-10 Flammhetzer
Panziermeister
Heavy Grenadier Assault Squad

The scenario is to hold onto the buildings of the town and have more of them garrisoned by the end of turn six. I wanted the fighting to be close and intense so I put the buildings close together to encourage the use of cover and assaulting. It isn't Stalingrad or Zvervograd by any means, but it sure beats fighting in the middle of the open desert. Our troops may have even got to enjoy a few seconds of shade. We really do spoil them! I decided to leave weather out of this game since it was the first time Master Sergeant Kara was using a plane. I figured I wouldn't ruin that for her. I really do spoil her!

The Table and Game

Painting terrain is oddly therapeutic

Turn 1

Allies get the first turn, but decide to pass it to the Axis. Kara's hope is to force out a juicy target so she could SMASH it! The grenadier observer squad marches into the northern building to get into cover and get ready to observe for the mortar next turn. The heavy marines march into the southern building to get ready to assault and cook anything that cozies up in the buildings across the street. The grenadier mortar sees an opportunity and does his scout move (gets a third action as long as his first two are a march) to get behind the building with the observers and lob some shells across the town into the marines. Their artillery rule means that their shot turns into a 2x2 square BOOM! This allows you to slightly bank your shot around corners. One marine has a rafter fall on his head from the shelling.

First blood goes to Axis!

The Allied barking dog advances into the southern portion of the board and shoots its boom boom cannons back at the mortar. Two of the grenadiers drop, but thankfully they are out of range of the vicious machine guns. My fear of barking dogs is becoming more well documented by the minute, so I sent the anti-tank grenadiers with Tina out into the open just to get rid of the thing. They scout moved onto the road and launched all their panzerfausts at the walker. Thankfully two hits and not a tree in sight to stop the explosion. Hyane gives a satisfied bork!

Goodness, I hate those things

A wild-eyed marine fire teams suddenly appears next to the tank corpse and unloads a whole lot of Detroit-produced lead into the offending grenadiers. A whoping seven wounds sees Tina take five and two grenadiers are screaming for a "sanitatar" (German for Doctor). The battle grenadiers break down the door of the building just north of their anti-grenadier comrades and run in. They fire everything they have out of the windows at the fire squad hoping to alleviate the pressure on Tina, but to their surprise they manage to take down 4 of the marines. 

Now he is all alone

The infamous Machete Mack and his equally infamous rifle squad march into the building across the street from the battle grenadiers. Their amazing move and fire ability allows them to shoot after marching, and they have a plethora of targets. They choose to finish off Tina's squad, and they manage to do it with a flourish. Tina goes down without any argument with how many times they get hit. 

Crooked roof means that someone is in the building

                          Just nowhere to hide                            

The heavy grenadiers advance into the ruins across the street from Mack. They do not get access to the scout move since they are not NDaK, but manage to get 11 hits on Mack's boys. 6 wounds go through even with the cover save. That is just a devastating amout of damage this early into the game. The close assault marines run into the ruins next to Mack. Their flamethrowers just waiting for next turn to unleash a torrent of flame. Their ability to ignore cover creating a very real threat. 

The grenadier command squad runs behind the southern building and attempts to give the battle grenadiers a reactive order. They can't hear them over the mean, cruel shouts of the marines across the street. Uncouth!

Can't be heard over the mean marines shouting at them!!

The northern side of the town begins to heat up as the marine demolition team marches into the plaza of the ancient space warrior statue. Their short range weapons put them at a disadvantage in the area, but the hope is the cover will keep them alive long enough to get a solid gut punch in next turn. Their situation turns desperate as the rumble of the tracked flammhetzer comes through the opposing alley way. The scout move giving it the dirty tactic of marching and shooting its heavy-duty range two flamethrower. Unfortunately for the Allies, no survivors were found in the smoke and ash. Bazooka Joe and his assault rangers move into the west building to get ready to push the next turn. 

Nothing but dust in the wind

One of the NDaK recon teams run into the plaza after the smoke clears to grab the plaza. Their victorious cheers being the bane of Kara's patience. The Bushmaster quickly runs in after them and shoots everything into jubilant Axis troops. Unfortunately for the good 'ol US of A, the grenadiers didn't even notice. Panzermeister sees the Bushmaster from his deployment point and runs onto the board to get rid of the imment threat of the Allied armor. He scout moves past the buildings and gets a shot onto the bushmaster with a satisfying boom as the light walker goes up in flames.

Area starts to heat up real fast. 

The despicable, sneaky Chef finally springs his trap behind the recon grenadiers. He takes his hand-held cooking devices and burns the grenadiers alive. It doesn't end either as he slice and dices one more with his kitchen knives. Chef is lucky to not get punched back in the process. Christoph marches and uses his scout move to use his flamethrowers on the close assault marines that just happened to be a little too close.

A wild, crazed Italian in its natural habitat

Yet more ash where marines were supposed to be.

The blackhawk sees Christoph out in the open and decides to oblige them with a large amount of gunpowder. Christoph walks away with two new shrapnel wounds.

The new terrain really makes for cinematic shots.

The other NDaK recon team is put in a precarious situation with where it can go and still shoot. Chef needs to be removed for his betrayal, but it would leave thee grenadiers exposed to pain. I decide to move them close to the plaza and shoot at Chef hoping to get lucky on the cover saves. I don't get so luck and Chef only gets one wound from the volley of gun fire.

The newly bought thunder fighter-bomber arrives on the scene to much fanfare from the Allied High Command. The pilot advances on the board and launches a payload of rockets into the Hermann with the hope that it will soon be a smoking crater. The new rules for the Allied planes were being scrutinized by yours truely and I was hoping the small changes would make the difference. Three wounds on the Hermann and two more recon grenadiers die in the explosion. Not too bad, but would it be enough to justify its heavy point cost?

Just got this bad boy, and we are hoping it does well.

Knowing the plane was coming, I was holding onto my Loki for just such an occasion. Hopeing for a humble few wounds, the Loki came out and just absolutly obliterated the plane from the sky. The smoking stream of oil leaking behind the plane as it flew off into the distance with a distant boom. The loki's machine guns go into Mack's squad and manages to also inflict two wounds.

That loki has one sick gangsta lean.

Turn 2

Allies get first turn yet again thanks to Bazooka Joe's covert Ops (roll four dice for initiative.) Chef sees his tenous position and knows that he is going to have to fight his way out if he has any chance of seeing a free Rome again. He sustains, passes his sandman check, into Christoph/s squad and manages to inflict four wounds. Christoph and Chef manage to punch each other in the resulting melee for one wound each. 

Christoph knows that the game is on the verge of truly swinging, and his position puts him in a prime position to make a difference. After a long debate, Christoph is ordered to grab his gear and charge Bazooka Joe's position inside the building. Thankfully, Christoph gets out of his suppression even with the heat, and gets a very impressive six wounds onto Joe's unit. Three rangers get cooked in the process. In retalliation, Joe ignores the sandman check and uses his sustained attack action to wipe out what is left of Christoph and his unit. 

Christoph manages to deliver a clutch hit.

The flammenhetzer rolls down the road and firestorms the entire ruin to get rid of Mack. A bit of overkill, but it proves to be very effective. 

The surviving machine gunner from the fire team advances to Mack's previous position in the ruins and shoots ineffectively at the recon grenadiers. The recently rocketed recon grenadiers run into the plaza and make short work of Chef with a burst of fire.  

The heavy marine team advances into the plaza and removes the larger recon team to maintain the Allied grip on the Plaza. The implied bodies making the monument a grisly scene. The Hermann advances closer to the Plaza to support any push in the next turn and reloads its laser beams. The blackhawk in the nearby alleyway making for a very juicy target. The blackhawk senses the danger and flees down the opposite alley to hide behind the faraway building. 

This plaza is becoming a real meatgrinder

The heavy grenadiers run into the road and slaughter the remaining fire team member. The Allies see their difficult position and decide to run to fight another day. THE AXIS HAVE WON THE CAMPAIGN!!

Conclusion and Thoughts

We went into this game with some high energy and I was excited to finish the campaign. I think that it could have swung either way during the meat of the game, but I have one consistent complaint. I admit I am a bit sad that the games only really go for usually a turn or two with any sense of "anyone can win." I think that the small nature of the maps makes the game a bit too fast for my liking. It seems to lack any tactical thinking beyond blitzing on the first turn. At a certain point in the second turn I knew that it was going to a win for me. I was lucky enough to have answers for all the situations that Kara presented to me and I had the activations to use them when they were needed. After we discussed the game it was clear that her weapons just needed an extra turn to do damage. Unfortunatly, I had enough units that could do enough damage to prevent her from having the chance. I believe that is one of the best strengths NDaK. The extreme speed and the plethora of activations just gives you the options to do well. I think that NDaK should pay more for their units on average, but I only have limited exposure to more competitive list building. 

Over the sounds of victory fanfare on the Axis side of the city, a cry could be heard from Master Sergeant Kara. 

"Sadly, this fight went sideways very quickly.  I wanted to try out my new plane so I put a lot of points into that, which ended up getting shot down from the word go. The walkers are great at getting rid of troops, but I did not have enough firepower to get rid of the Axis hetzer.  In the end ,I think I would have been better off bringing more troops and maybe something with a longer range.  Flamethrowers and shotguns did not do much good in this fight." 

         Axis 4 - Allies 3