OK, having purchased a copy of the Spectre modern skirmish rules, in their recent sale, I decided to try these out, with Greg’s help.
No modern skirmish game of mine can really do without some zombies!
However, they only featured indirectly here. The background to the story was
that a group of 8 local hoods / ne’er-do-wells ( classed as “Militia”, armed with
Assault Rifles) had ambushed an ambulance carrying critical virus samples. They
had then taken these back to their compound, hoping to ransom these samples
back to the authorities.
However, unknown to the hoods, the sample case had a
tracking device and a Delta hit team (a 4 man “Professional Soldier” force,
with Assault Rifles, a Combat shotgun, a LAW and a couple of grenades!) had trailed
the hoods back to their compound. Pausing briefly to launch a recon drone, the Delta
team moved in to breach the compound. However, after successfully breaching the
compound fence, the Delta team tripped the home made zombie alarm belonging to
the hoods! Game on!
Game 1
The Delta team inserted behind the abandoned workshop,
splitting left and right. The hoods divided into two teams, also headed down
each side of the workshop, from the opposite direction. However, the right hand
hood team was quickly reduced to 2 “supressed” men, by a well placed grenade
from the Delta team. These two surviving hoods quickly fell back to the shack.
The right hand hood team then switched attack avenue, managing to wing one of the left hand Delta team and then dashing into the workshop. They then charged out of the far end of the workshop, in tactical stance, losing one of their number in exchange for one of the Delta team. However, the surviving Delta team member managed to eliminate 2 more of the hoods, before being gunned down by the gang leader.
The left hand Delta team had meantime flanked the workshop, killing one of the 2 retreating hoods sheltering behind the shack. They then started to flank the shack itself, via a small shanty cabin, to the side of the main shack. This forced the last member of the shack defence hoods to try to flank round behind the Delta team, but he was rapidly gunned down, as he advanced on the 2 Delta team members. At this point the gang leader decided it was time to leave!
Game 2
Deciding the cover was better at the other side of the
compound, the Delta team entered the compound, behind the abandoned school bus,
splitting left & right, in two man teams.
The hoods also then split into two, 4 man teams, flanking
out far left & right, attempting to gain overlapping fire positions on the
Delta team. However, all they really succeeded in doing, was losing a man in
each team, while also resolving the moral dilemma of maintaining ‘cohesion’
with a fallen & ‘bleeding out’ team member! So long sucker!?
The Delta team then got rough, unleashing the LAW into the rusting convertible, where the gang leader & 2 surviving goons were sheltering. The LAW itself did little damage, the shock effects of this and accurate suppressing fire from the Delta Team lead, first suppressed the gang leader’s team, before killing the gang leader & leaving his two associates bleeding out.
This forced the right hand hood team to return back toward the shack and the valuable sample case, but a series of lost initiative rolls (to be fair Militiamen ‘Command’ ratings are only 2!), saw the Alpha Delta team dispatch the remaining hoods, with advancing fire, capturing one of the hoods alive, for interrogation about how they knew about the samples in the first place!?
Overall, a quick, brutal modern skirmish game, but with about the right feel to it. The Cohesion distances seem a tad small (3” for “Professional” soldiers?) and cover modifiers need a little thought, but worthy of further outings. As games are also short & brutal, the presence of a Game Master or Umpire, seems a good idea.
