Operation Fast Run pt2

Early morning Mogadishu, Grom operators mount up in their MRAPs and then speed deep into the heart of Warlord country.

As the convoy speeds to its SP the commander contacts the rest of the strike force.

A maneuver team sneaks up closer to a group of Somali technicals. The three snipers have already identified the objective location and have set up in hides to over watch till the strike begins.

The Little Bird comes in low out of the morning sun and strafes the Warlord's bodyguard guarding the ammo dump and fuel stores. With a roar of minguns and exploding rockets most of the Bodyguards are killed. Unknown to me at the time, they were also the only Somali unit with Antitank ammo for their RPGs.

A technical moves out and spots the infiltrating team, then fires them up.

The command MRAP stops and fires up the remainder of the Warlords Bodyguard.

The rear MRAP pulls up to provide security and spots a surprise.

A Somali T-55 hull down in the rubble.

Concentrated fire from several technicals kill both crewmen and the Little bird crashes.

Through the smoke of the crashed helicopter, a second Somali T-55 is spotted.

After Sniper fire routs the hostages guards, the T-55 recons by fire and starts shooting up huts hoping to hit the sniper.

The Infiltrating team recovers from the pin and destroys two technicals.

The command team disembarks and finishes off the remainder of the Warlords Bodyguard.

The T-55 moves up and fires on the MRAP and misses. This would begin a bad run of very poor shooting by the Somali gunners.

The Infiltrating team destroys a third technical.

The gun truck MRAP moves up and destroys the BTR-152 with a salvo of MK19 fire. The Maneuver team disembarks and heads into the valley of death.

The car 15 sniper is spotted on the back side of the table. There was some debate about me deploying him there with a few accusations of cheating thrown around. We agreed it was a simple misunderstanding and continued the game.

The burning white technical had earlier moved up and killed two of the command squad. Before they lost the chance, the command squad shot both of it AT4s at the T-55 and barely damaged it. Another round of fire and a lucky shot kills the Lieutenant, leaving a surviving M249 gunner. The MRAP get some revenge and destroys the technical. After trying an improvised assault on the T-55 and failing to close, the surviving gunner mounts back up into the MRAP.

The gun truck MRAP continues down the road and sets it sights on another Somali Militia squad. Unlike most of the other squads that fled the table this one was made up of MEN! The MRAP gunned all but one down but he made the test and stood his ground. He fired his RPG and it bounced off of the MRAP. This is when I found out that the only the Bodyguard had AT rockets for their RPGs. For his bravery he didn't survive the next turn.

With nothing to fear from the MRAP and surviving gunner the T-55 moves into the valley of death to cut off the maneuver squad making a run toward the objective.

Hugging cover and pinned down by two T-55 tanks the operators fire off their AT4 rockets and fail to do any significant damage to either tank.

The Command MRAP move up and the lone gunner enters the building to rescue the hostage cowering there.

The Maneuver team flees from the T-55 on the right and is snap fired at by the T-55 on the left. The flee from it and into the building the hostage is in.

The command MRAP is hit and all the crew is killed, but the vehicle is still running.

The Gun Truck MRAP moves up to protect the Command MRAP and cover the rescue. This move also received many cries of "Foul". I didn't see a problem with it.

The Gunner and Hostage exit the building and enter the crew less command MRAP. The T-55 auto acquires the gun truck MRAP, fire and still misses.

The third MRAP moves up to help cover the evacuation. This is when I discover that the lone gunner can't drive the MRAP because he isn't a crewman. This put a kink in my plan of the command MRAP riding to glory. Then I made my last mistake.

I disembarked the lone Gunner and the hostage and made a run for the board edge but for once the last technical recovered from its pin and gunned them both down. Bad day to be a Journalist.

The picture doesn't really show it but the MVP award for the GROM forces goes to the three snipers. Because of the Somali rabble rules they managed to make the Somali commander and second in command flee the table along with many of the regular militia squads.

On the other hand the T-55s were untouchable once I fired off my AT4s. At the end of the game I still had two AT4s left in the infiltrating squad but they were still out of range of the T-55.

In hindsight there were several things I might have done differently but I still had a fun time and look forward to a rematch.