While John, Tim, Mike et al were putting on the official Wings of Glory extravaganza (wot, no AAR yet?) I was busy on our club table with a modern Afghan game. In 2009 in Helmand Province the Taliban took control of bridges and crossing points throughout the province. Operation Panthers Claw was launched by the British army to rectify the situation. Here's a drone's eye view of the day's action.
It's market day in a small village in the area. In the distance the Taliban have set up a checkpoint on the bridge over the irrigation canal, by the side of their fortified compound.
Unbeknownst to them, 3 Para have decided to pay them a visit. Fire Teams Golf and Hotel and the command Fire Team move up along the right side of the canal. FT Golf cut to the left of the canal over a footbridge and were spotted and fired on by the bridge guards. They all missed; FT Golf didn't - 2 Taliban went down and the other 2 ran for the shelter of the opposite bridge embankment.
Here's where the Tali plan went belly up. They had snipers in a 2 storey building where FT Golf had crossed the canal and expected to shoot at them as they advanced towards the bridge. FT Golf had other ideas and planned to assault the building as it provided commanding views of the countryside (as an estate agent might describe it if he was trying to flog it).
The snipers got one shot off each - and missed - before a hail of lead came their way. One sniper was killed and the other lost a morale roll and cowered in the corner as 4 pairs of size 9's came thundering up the steps and danced all over him.
Meanwhile FT Hotel and the Command Team advanced steadily toward the bridge on the right, taking fire from the compound by only suffering pinned results with no casualties.
Having got the high ground FT Golf opened fire on the compound and in 2 turns had neutralised the enemy in the compound, mostly due to a direct hit with an underslung grenade launcher. This could have been nasty if the grenade had overshot as there were civilians inside the compound that the Brits didn't know about.
FT Hotel and Command Team now race to secure the bridge. Hotel goes galloping over the bridge and triggers an IED, losing one man and having 2 more seriously wounded. At the same time the Afghan National police are driving up the road to take over from the Brits.
Sadly the ANP Hummer is immediately taken out by a Taliban team with an RPG. The police bus then drove into the village and was ambushed by another Tali team. At the end of the day most of the ANP were casualties.
In response to the IED explosion a Warthog carrying another Fire Team and a medical team, escorted by a Jackal, head towards the bridge. They get fired at by the Talis in the village on top of a building, and the bunch that took out the ANP Hummer. The RPG man hits the Warthog but the the bar armour stops the round doing any damage.
Hammer time! - The Jackal's GPMG suppresses the group on the building while the Warthog's .50 cal takes care of the group in the field. On the next turn it was deemed that the Jackal was sufficiently far enough away to use the 47mm automatic grenade launcher. The 2 storey building suddenly became a 1 storey building.
Reaching the bridge, the vehicles came under fire from another two Taliban groups but both were suppressed by the Warthog HMG and FT Golf on top their building, where they had been all day. The casualties were stabilised and evacuated in the Warthog.
The end result was a really bad day for the Taliban, due mostly to appalling dice rolls for shooting and morale. They were expected to do more damage but in the end I didn't have to bring on any of the remaining 4 fire teams, or the Foxhound and Warrior. A couple of chaps 'who were there' wandered up to have a chat and put us straight about a few points, but on the whole I think we got the story right.
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