Skirmish Sangin Afrika Campaign Patrol 1

 Played on July 1st 2018

The game session began with a explaination of the background behind the "Afrika" source book with some changes (I liked to use the real country's names) and then answering any questions the other person had about the setting. Once the explaination was through I then described the area that we would be playing in. I described how we were just beyond the South Afrikan border into Southern Mozambique which had 4 warring factions in it (North Korea, Guerillas, Maoists, and Islamic Terrorists). The USA and South Afrika are currently just providing border protection with little encroachment's (like the player's FOB) into Mozambique. We rolled on various charts to see what the base started out with and here is what it came with:

2 Armed Humvees (all 50 Cal)

2 Armored Humvees armed with 50 Cals

3 M1117s

1 M113 with 50 Cal

Quite alot for a small platoon. I believe we "fleshed out" 18 characters which the USMC player created:

x2 3-Man Vehicle Teams/Rifle Crew

x1 4-Man Fire Team w/ Combat Engineer

x1 4-Man Headquarters unit (Officer, Medic,NCO, attendent)

x1 3-Man Sniper Team (Grenadier, Sniper, SAW Gunner)

Some of their names: Buffalo Bill, Cobra, Custer, Scarlet, Jack, Misfit, Smitty, Will, Martino

We then rolled for a random mission on another chart. The mission rolled was "Diffuse IED". I had it so that he stationed his men around the FOB. Some were on guard, some in the HQ, and most doing nothing. One on guard saw a group of 4 Villagers approaching the base. Calling over some other soldiers they sent two out to meet the potential villagers, search them and ask them what they needed. They told the Officer that they had found a bomb set in their village. After much uneasyness and talk the Officer agreed to go search and diffuse this bomb. The USMC sent out 1 M1117 with crew and then the M113 with crew and Fire team. Nothing happened on the ride there, especially with help from the villagers. They then "deployed" in the village and began to sweep the area where the bomb was found. Unknown to the USMC were 2 Guerillas in the village that had a Body of 10. Because of their low body the USMC were able to find and diffuse the bomb without any worry which made the Guerillas try to leave but were soon spotted by the rifle men and M1117. They were all killed and one villager was hit by shrapnel. (+20 VPs for each Guerilla -10 injuring Civ) One man took an AK and they took what they could to try and identify the bodies. They failed to see any sort of markings (on the now charred remains thanks to the 40mm HE) and thought these may be rookies or this could have been an attack of opportunity. Either way the mission was a success. They treated the wounded Civ and took him back to base for more treatment as the injuries were severe. Once we got back to base that is where the it ended.

It was fun but my player gave me many "fast balls" that I had to think of. First off this person actually had served in places like Somalia, the Gulf, and more. He began to ask for Claymores, LAWs, CS Grenades and the like. I allowed him to have LAWs (which I treated as a slightly shorter ranged RPG) and some Claymores (a medium IED with a cone KZ/DZ) but I didn't allow CS Grenades as in my mind they don't give those to rifle platoons as standard issue. (I could be wrong) Telling him about the modern weapons, vehicles, and structure (like what a JTAC was) was interesting and even though I haven't served in the military he said all the information was neat to hear. He also rolled well on many of his characters which makes his force very deadly.

Role play sequence

The part I found kinda difficult at the beginning was doing the Role Play (RP) leading to the encounter. With other RP games you are able to use a wide variety of skills but in SS you have combat skills. Instead of me making more skills up I actually came up with a rule I like to call the "50-50 rule". It all began with the talking to the village elder that walked to the FOB.

We had the Guard Smitty on watch. Since the area around the base was cleared, and it was day, he spotted the four automatically. He decides to call up his Officer in the HQ over the radio (1 AP) and waits (we actually said he is on guard "Snap Fire" as we thought it was 2 AP but its actually 3AP). The Officer and his NCO run from the HQ (x2 Run actions 2 AP) and begin to climb the tower (1 AP). By this time the Villagers have stopped and began waving. If you notice I didn't go by the combat phase table but did enforce the AP rule just to see how it went. The three Marines talked (1 AP) and they decided to send the NCO out to check them. He climbed down the tower and approached them (2 AP). Smitty and the Officer set up Snap Fire just in case. NCO told them to get down... here is the 50-50 rule...

In my mind I started at 50% as its a good place to start then thought he might've had classes or picked up a few phrases so I added 10% and he's also intimidating with the gun and gear so add another 10%. 70 or less and they'll obey. I followed this simple rule of, "start at 50 and modify" for anything the SS game didn't account for and it was wonderful!

Victory Points in Skirmish Sangin+

You might have noticed that once the "patrol" was over the team reported to command with their intel and AAR. This lead the FOB getting 10 VP. Victory points will be used to buy assets and equipment for future missions. Simple. No one gained experience and I'm still debating on when I should award experience. I was thinking it could be after every in-game month since the soldiers will be in the game until their "tour" is over. Or it could only be after big scenarios like the ones posted in the book. I don't quite know yet. They got VPs for disarming and detecting the IED: 50 VPs (Detect) + 100 VPs (Disarm) + 20 VPs (x2 Killed) - 10 VPs (Civilian hurt) = 160 VPs total!

-Jonah