by Mike Demana (article courtesy of HMGS Great Lakes' "The Herald")
It was a Sunday evening, and our regular gaming group was ready for our first playtest of AK-47/Heroscape. Tom and I had collaborated on the rules, and we'd reached a point where we were satisfied and ready to try them out. Four of us had bought figures for the period, organized them into factions, and painted them up to take the field.
Tom brought his khaki-clad "Counter-Insurgency Force" of white mercenaries, which was built using Liberation Miniatures' South African and Rhodesian lines. Allen fielded his "Youth Liberation Front," which was composed of their packs of kids using AK-47s, RPGs, LMGs, etc. Since Joel didn't buy any Liberation Miniatures, his "Islamic Peoples Front" was assembled using Esci's 1/72nd scale plastic Muslim Warriors. Me -- ever being the clever one -- nicknamed his faction the "Skinnies," (the slang term U.S. forces in Mogadishu had for Somalis). I thought it was funny, as 1/72 plastics ARE skinnier than 20mm lead miniatures...Joel's force was Muslim, the Somalis were Muslim...oh, well. Joel didn't think it was funny, either! Anyway, though I had two factions painted and ready, but brought only the "ANC (Armee National Congolaise) Colonel's Force" -- representing a local strongman's mix of Congolese army troops and militia. This was constructed using various packs of Liberation Miniatures African Government troops and African Rebels lines.
The
scenario I dreamed up for the clash represented a temporary alliance between
the Youth Liberation Front and the Islamic Peoples Front, to ambush a pro-government
convoy moving along a road through the jungle. I decided the scenario would
begin with the blowing of a stone bridge the convoy needed to cross a fast-moving
stream. Half the convoy (Counter-Insurgency Force) would have already crossed,
while the other (ANC) wouldn't have reached the bridge. The Islamic Peoples
Front (IPF) would be waiting for the Counter-Insurgency Force (referred
to as the Mercs, from here on out). Meanwhile, the Youth Liberation Front
(or Youths) would be on the other side, ready to pounce on the ANC.
The rules for this project are a melding of Heroscape's combat system with AK-47 organizational and campaign system. Thus, we utilized some of AK-47's setup rules. Each of the players had chosen a "faction type," and had reserved a certain number of points to use for Political Maneuvering. This can provide additional weapons, troops, vehicles or squads, or even cause opponent's squads to not show up for the battle. Or it can do nothing! Anyway, we walked each faction through the process one by one, with some gaining more than others.
The next step was to roll for each Faction's squads to see if they started the battle ontable or came in as reinforcements. The two ambushing factions rolled well, each having three of their four squads begin ontable. Half of Tom's Merc squads were ontable, the remaining two assumed to have already exited the table area via the road. He would dice each turn for their return. I rolled the worst of all, with only one of my four units ontable, the other three apparently lagging behind in the dust. And since each player rolls for only one arriving squad per turn, I figured by the time my last one got there, the battle would be pretty much decided.
The board was 3'x5', with
the road curving gently from the middle of one 3' end to the other, across
the broad length of the table. The bridge was about midpoint, and we had
the Mercs and ANC deploy their squads along the road. Then, ka-BOOM! The
bridge blew up, the scenario began, and we rolled for Initiative. This establishes
an order of play for that turn, but is re-rolled each turn. After knowing
the order, players secretly number their units 1-4. Once everyone is ready,
the #1 unit of the player with the highest Initiative score takes its turn,
followed by the #1 of the next highest, and so on, until all number ones
have gone. Then, the #2's take their turn in Initiative order. A unit's
turn consists of movement, then firing. Morale tests are taken immediately
when required -- so do not necessarily occur during their own turn. The
initiative system seemed to work well, as players would sweat it out whether
their unit would get to dash for cover before the opponent riddled them
with machine gun fire, or if they would get the first shot at an enemy squad
or suffer it themselves.
The Youths won Initiative on the first round, and one of their squads sprinted into a clearing between two jungle patches, spraying their AK-47s towards the ANC squad. One of the Colonel's men fell to the ground, writhing. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the table, the IPF's first squad -- loaded into the back of a pickup truck -- bounced forward, but had no shot through the bush at the Mercs, whose first squad was busy diving for cover. The ANC squad double-timed up the road to reach the cover of the bridge, where they returned fire on the Youths, one of whom fell, also.
Next, the #2 units moved. One of the Youths took aim with his RPG and got a lucky shot, killing the Merc's light machine gunner. A Merc squad returned fire with no hits. The ground around the Merc squad then began to kick up dust as another IPF group moved ontable, this one having clear line of sight and blazing away, to no effect, though. Last to roll onto the table was the IPF's pride and joy -- their armored car, followed by a squad of fighters. On the other end of the table, a third squad of Youths raced towards the roadway to set up ambush positions on the ANC troops yet to arrive.
Turn one over, we rerolled Initiative, with Allen's Youths winning again. The squad closest to the bridge charged it, their bullets chipping rock from the bridge's walls, but causing no hits. The ANC showed the young guerrillas the value of the Belgian and dropped two youths who'd been trying to outflank their cover. From a copse of trees at the foot of the bridge, the Mercs blazed away on full auto at the armored car lumbering towards them, and the Islamists in its wake. The armored car's heavy machine gunner and four fighters behind it all fell, wounded or killed. To their left, the driver of IPF's pickup gunned the engine past safe off-road speeds and ended up bogging down in a ditch, tires spinning.
As the #2 and #3
Initiative units began to move, gunfire crackled up and down the length
of the board. The only hit was a spectacular one, when an RPG man from the
Selous Scouts (on loan from Rhodesia) incinerated the jeep that had bogged
down in the ditch -- roasting all aboard. With the deadly explosion, the
remaining Skinny units took cover in the thick bush.
As we rerolled Initiative for the third turn, my ANC got to move and fire first. Even if I'd HAD another squad ontable, I would have selected my bridge defenders to go first. Brass sailed into the air as they hammered the youths charging them in the open. Four attackers fell to the ground, the rest failed morale, throwing themselves prone. When it was the Youths' turn to move (naturally, Allen had selected them to go first, too), they fled back into cover. While they were falling back, a Merc LMG ripped off a burst at them, killing two more. The Youths weren't done receiving punishment, though, as the first ANC jeep roared ontable, its heavy machine gunner spraying fire into the trees lining the side of the road, where another squad of Allen's youths had been lurking. Two more fell, making it a bad turn for the Young Peoples Liberation Front.
The crash of mortar fire shook the ground as the IPF tried to find the range of the Merc squad infiltrating towards them in the jungle. However, their fighters, in cover, squeezed off shots at the hated Mercs as best the could. Meanwhile, the Merc rifle fire took out the IPF RPG man who'd been taking unsuccessful potshots at them since the ambush was sprung. The Mercs cheered when their own jeep-mounted mortar team drove back onto the table, returning to the sounds of the gunfight. The cheers were premature, though, as two of the infantry trailing the jeep were gunned down by accurate IPF fire, exacting revenge for the immolation of their comrades.
Meanwhile, the firefight between the Youths and the ANC was heating up. The bridge defenders blew away the RPG gunner who'd gotten the lucky shot earlier. In return, the Youths killed the jeep's machine gunner, causing the driver to throw it in reverse and seek a less exposed position. Its withdrawal was covered by the arrival of the second ANC jeep, whose machine gunner raked the Youths' position in the trees, taking out their LMG and another fighter. Both sides continued to blast away at each other, but for every man the ANC lost, two and three youths were being killed. Each ANC jeep also carried an extra rifleman, who could replace the gunner if he was killed. This allowed the ANC to keep pouring automatic fire into the woods. Things looked even more grim for the Youths as first one, then another of the ANC's infantry squads marched ontable and added their AK-47 fire to that bearing down on the Kids.
The Selous Scouts continued to pile up the body count, as they slipped into the jungle and shot down four Muslim fighters. The IPF tried to strike back, riddling the mortar jeep with with bullets and killing all but the driver. The IPF's own mortar was unable to hit the positions of the fast-moving Mercs, though, and contributed little except noise and smoke. Soon, the Merc riflemen were closing in on the enemy mortar team. One of the ammo carriers was shot, causing the team to run for their transport truck. Both sides lost a couple more men, but it was obvious the ambush had been beaten back, and the guerrillas were disengaging.
I polled
the players afterwards on what changes they'd like to see in the rules.
However, other than the few clarifications we'd come up with during the
course of the game, everyone felt the rules worked well. The events showed
that Militia troops would have difficulties attacking superior quality troops
who have taken cover, but that seemed accurate. I felt that a couple key
situations crippled the ambushers' chances -- the Youths rolling horribly
for fire on the turn they rushed the bridge, and the IPF losing a jeep loaded
with troops. Had those not happened or been reversed, the game could have
gone quite differently.
The game lasted about three hours, once we began rolling for Initiative. The setup took about an hour, which I imagine will go down once we're more familiar with the rules. Also, I don't think every scenario will necessarily require the Political Maneuvering rolls and dicing to see which squads begin ontable. However, it worked well on this one. I was especially happy that the basic fire and movement "engine" seemed to run well. Sometimes, when you modify a game, you begin to throw off its delicate balances. However, Tom's and my tinkering with the Heroscape rules must have worked, because the game was still fun, and didn't seem unbalanced.
The Liberation Miniatures looked great racing about on the tabletop. I've continued painting more troops, getting ready for the next scenario: "Lumumba's Bumble." This will be the invasion by forces loyal to Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (including UN Troops) into the mercenary-supported, breakaway province of Kasai. Historically, Lumumba did browbeat UN Troops into helping put down this rebellion, which was financed by a Belgian mining company. Kasai was rich in diamonds, and the company felt their own, client government would keep the flow of wealth open better than left-leaning Lumumba.
I may write up a battle report on Lumumba's Bumble in a future issue -- or even (after successful playtests) run it at an upcoming convention. However, as for this series of articles, this installment concludes the "From Idea to Tabletop" project. I hope you enjoyed being along for the ride, from initial inspiration, to that giddy rush of idea piling upon idea, to the realities of buying and painting troops, to putting on a battle for my friends on a Sunday evening.