Fire Team - Red Eclipse AAR - The Encounter 2

[Steve Overton]

All Command Point chits have been drawn. This ends the Action Phase.

There is no Smoke or Fire to check for.

No Tactical Event Cards will be discarded. The US Player has played all his cards and doesn't have any to discard and the Soviet Player likes the one card he has left.

The Turn Marker is moved forward one space and turn 2 ends.

 

[Steve Overton]

Turn two was a bitterly fought turn for the possession of locations J5, J6 and K5.

The Soviet Patrol Leader is trying to keep the Americans from getting a shot to destroy the AFV in location L5. While the Americans are trying to take possession of the building in K5 to be able to destroy it.







The Soviet Player is in much better shape than the US Player. While the Soviet Player was aggressive early and almost took heavy losses at the start in the minefield he recovered well with the mortar barrage and while some of his men are broken and disrupted has lost no men from the fight. He also has a concentration of heavy weapons as a fire base in L4 if he has to fall back.

The US Player has taken heavy casualties since being put off balance by the mortar barrage. So far US forces can't get their balance back from that incident. There were several times when the US forces could have folded up and left this battle but they continue to fight hard and bounce back after every seemingly game ending set back. The big difference at the moment is US losses and if they can recover from having taken so many men removed from the battle.





Turn 3 is about to start so we'll see what happens next.

 

[Steve Overton]

Both sides draw their Tactical Event Card hands back up to 4 each.





These will be really helpful to the US Player. He can double one attack, make a rally attempt at any time he needs to, give any kind of an order whenever he needs to and stop the Soviet Player from giving one movement order. Not a bad mix.





The Soviet Player can reduce a US unit down one experience level, double a Leader's Values, make a very strong attack and add smoke for defense if needed.

Overall, the results of this next turn are still very much in doubt with the balance of these cards.

 

[Steve Overton]

Both sides now allocate orders and Command Point chits for the random draw.





The US Player has 2 Broken Leaders. Yes, a Hero is a leader. Broken Leaders lose their Command Ratings, so for this turn at least they get no added bonus for whatever their good side Leadership Ratings are. This is where the game is very dependent on the status of your Leadership on the map. Broken Leaders don't get their full Leadership Ratings. The more bonus they give the more impact their being Broken affects their ability to lead for that given segment of time.




The Soviet only has one of his Leaders Broken. Unfortunately for him the Unbroken Leader has zero Leadership Rating. Here you can see that being disrupted doesn't affect the Leadership Rating while being broken does.

Disrupted is a leaders inability to move and fire. He can still yell at people. Break and disrupt him and he's very close to being combat ineffective. Any other negative combat result will remove him from play.

• 2 Disrupted results = a Broken result.
  
• 2 Broken results = a Double Broken result and removes the unit from play.

So, a Leader that is both Disrupted and Broken is in extreme danger of being removed.

During Rally attempts only one Fear result (disrupted, broken) may be removed at a time. Disrupted is removed first.

 

[Steve Overton]

Turn 3, Impulse 1 is a US Command Point 2 chit.

 

[Steve Overton]

Order 1 is for the US units in location J6 to rally.

Gonzales has a morale/experience level of 9, +2 for the cover from the wooden building. His modified morale is 9 + 2 = 11. The die roll is a 6. He passes and is unbroken.










The Engr Fire Team has a morale/experience level of 9, +1 for Gonzale's Leadership Bonus, +2 for the cover from the wooden building. His modified morale is 9 + 1 + 2 = 12. The die roll is a 7. He passes and is unbroken.

 

[Steve Overton]

Impulse 1, Order 2 is for the Hero in locations I7 to attempt to rally. Pitts morale/experience level is 10, +2 for the cover the woods provides. Modified morale 10 + 2 = 12. Die roll is a 10. Pitts passes.

 

[Steve Overton]

Impulse 2 is a US Command Point 2 chit.

 

[Steve Overton]

Impulse 2, Order 1 is to FIRE!! The US Player has everybody already rallied. It's time to try to take out some of the Soviet force!!

Gonzales activates in J6 to fire. The Engr throws the Satchel Charge. To see what values the Satchel Charge has we consult the Support Weapons Card. We see that it has a range of only one hex and the 'To Hit' modifier for the range of 1 is a +3. The Infantry Firepower of this weapon is a 10 RED and the 'To Hit'modifier is added to the defenders cover die roll.

Adding the 'To Hit' modifier to the Infantry Attack as a defender modifier allows for the fact that further away a weapons system is firing the less likely it is to hit with a concentrated impact. Whether that's a tanks cannon or a satchel charge distance plays the same part. You will find that some weapons are very accurate at short range. The AT-4 and LAW for instance have a -1 modifier at range one. That would be just as applicable to Infantry Fire as to the ability to hit a vehicle/bunker.





Support Weapons are fired independently. (Anything found on the Support Weapons cards qualifies as a Support Weapon.)







In this case the Satchel Charge is thrown and attacks with a 10 RED, the die roll is 11. 10 + 11 = 21. TAV = 21.

Karpov has a morale/experience level of 7, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, +3 for the inaccuracy of the satchel charge at range 1, the die roll is an 8. 7 + 2 + 3 + 8 = 20. TDV = 20.

TAV is greater. Karpov breaks.

Makarov is in serious trouble. Any negative result will remove him from play. Makarov has a morale/experience of 8, -2 for being disrupted, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, +3 for the inaccuracy of the satchel charge at range 1, the die roll is a 12.
8 - 2 + 2 + 3 + 12 = 23. TDV = 23.

TDV is greater. Makarov does not break.

The Regular Fire Team has a morale/experience level of 7, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, +3 for the inaccuracy of the satchel charge at range 1, the die roll is a 5. 7 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 17. TDV = 17.

TAV is greater. The Fire Team breaks.





If the red die had been higher during the Satchel Charge attack the location would have caught fire.
A double 5 or double 6 with the red and black die would have rubbled the location.

 

[Steve Overton]

Now the Leader and the Engr use their Infantry Firepower values to attack. Gonzales has 2 and the Engr 7, the die roll is a 5. 2 + 7 + 5 = 14.
TAV = 14.

Karpov has a morale/experience level of 7, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, the die roll is a 6. 7 + 2 + 6 = 15. TDV = 15.

TDV is greater Karpov doesn't break.

Makarov as a morale/experience level of 8, -2 for being disrupted, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, the die roll is an 8. 8 - 2 + 2 + 8 = 15. TDV = 16.

TDV is greater Makarov doesn't break.

The Regular Fire Team has a morale of 7, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, the die roll is an 3. 8 + 2 + 3 = 13. TDV = 13.

The TAV is greater. The Fire Team double breaks and is removed from play.





The US Player couldn't use the LMG because nobody has possession of it.

The Soviet Leaders in J5 don't have possession of their LMG either. As the units with possession of SW's or MG's are removed from play the they stay on the map. In this case in the same location but not having been picked up yet by either of the leaders.

 

[Steve Overton]

Pitts activates with a Tactical Movement order. The Green Fire Team has a Movement of 5 halved while dropping fractions gives them 2. They both move from location I7 to I6. The Soviet units in J5 could trigger Opportunity Fire at location I6 but there is nobody in J5 with a range of 2.




They then fire at J5. Pitts and the Fire Team will both fire and they both lose a -2 to their Infantry Firepower for firing during a Tactical Movement order.




The Hero fires with 5, the Green Fire Team fires with 5, they both lose -2 for Tactical Movement, the die roll is a 10. 5 - 2 + 5 - 2 + 10 = 16
TAV = 16.

Karpov has a morale/experience level of 7, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, the die roll is a 6. 7 + 2 + 6 = 15.

TAV is greater. Karpov double breaks and is removed from play.

Makarov has a morale/experience level of 8, - 2 for disruption, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, the die roll is a 10.
8 - 2 + 2 + 10 = 18. TDV = 18.

TDV is greater. Marakov did not break.

 

[Steve Overton]

The end of the 2nd Impulse changed the dynamics of the fire fight.

The Soviets now have a single broken disrupted leader by himself in a location while the US have 2 functioning leaders on the map with nobody broken.

 

[Albert Campisto]

Now the russians have plenty of orders to spend and some cards to use...I expect a bloody payback .

 

[Steve Overton]

Impulse 3 is a US Command Point 2 chit.

 

[Steve Overton]

Order 1 is for Makarov to try to improve his lot by rallying. Makarov has a morale/experience level of 8, -2 for being disrupted and +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, the die roll is a 3 . 8 - 2 + 2 = 8.






The die roll is a 3 which is less than 8 and removes the Disrupted.





Makarov does not get to pick up the LMG because he didn't activate to move.

 

[Steve Overton]

The next thing the Soviet Player does is reduce the experience level of the Engr Fire Team. From an V9 down to an R8,

 

[Steve Overton]

Then the order is attack with the Regular Fire Team and the LMG from K5 to J6. Before the combat is resolved the Soviet Player wants as much firepower into J5 as possible so he plays a 'Grenades' Tactical Event Card.

 

[Steve Overton]

The fire order is for the Regular Fire Team with the LMG. Fire Team Infantry Firepower is 7 and the LMG Infantry Firepower is 5, 'Grenade' Tactical Event Card is +4, die roll is 7.
7 + 5 + 4 + 7 = 23. TAV = 23.

Gonzales has a morale/experience of 9, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, the die roll is 12. 9 + 2 + 12 = 23. TDV = 23.

TAV and TDV are equal. Gonzales is Disrupted.

Engr Fire Team has a morale/experience level of 8, Gonzales doesn't lose his Leadership Rating when disrupted like he does when he's broken so adds +1, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building, the die roll is a 6. 8 + 1 + 2 + 6 = 17. TDV = 17.

TAV is greater. The Engr Fire Team is broken.









Impulse 3 is finished.

 

[Steve Overton]

Impulse 4 is a US Command Point 1 chit.

 

[Steve Overton]

The first thing the US Player does is play the 'Rally' Tactical Event Card he has in his hand.

This is applied to J6.

Gonzales checks first. His morale/experience is a 9, -2 for being disrupted, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building. The Rally card doesn't affect the leader. Adjusted morale number is: 9 - 2 + 2 = 9. The die roll is a 7. Gonzales passes and the disruption is removed.

The Engr Fire Team has an 8 as his morale/experience, +1 for the Leadership Value, +2 for the Rally Card, +2 for the cover provided by the wooden building. Adjusted morale number is: 8 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 13. This would make the rally automatic. The only reason we will roll the die is to see if the result is a triple. The die roll is a 7. The Fire Team rallies.