Tactical Command Games

Aug. 15, 1999 Played out in 25mm at the Mayhem game shop in Des Moines.

Aug. 15th Mayhem Des Moines Iowa

The Stellar Confederation of Planets initiates an air assault on the little town of Darby's Junction. The attacking force consisted of 6 light Infantry squads of 5 troopers each, and 1 Heavy Power Armor squad. Their mission was to capture the city of Darby's Junction and proceed to harass The Terran Empire using this city as a base of operations.

The defending Terran Empire troops knew that an attack was pending but failed to create very many defenses and ended up making hasty defenses. They were successful in deploying three wire obstacles across the main road leading into Darby's Junction In hopes of slowing down any Vehicles that would be rolling through. To the dismay of the Terran troops, they watched in horror as six Vtol troop transports flew in very slowly and dropped its cargo troopers from the sky.

The defending troops consisted of 6 light infantry squads, 1 heavy MG. 1 Mortar tube and a 1 shot multi-pack rocket launcher.

Game preliminaries:
All Stellar confederation light Infantry squads were randomly dropped from three feet above the table. All troops landed in the open field with no miss haps.

Turn 1:

The Terran player won the initiative and decided to open up on a squad of enemy trooper that had landed 5" away from their position. All spotting was automatic for both squads and we decided that sense the Stellar troops landed so close that both of those squads turn would be simultaneous combat.
The Terran troops fired there Assault rifles and BAR at the troops in the open killing 2 and dropped prone. As we ruled, the prone did not count as it was considered simultaneous and the stellar troops returned fire killing 3 troopers.
Sense all Stellar troops were air inserted, they could not move this turn but could spot, fire and communicate for their choices. This left them at a huge disadvantage as they were in the open, and could not move to cover. The second Terran squad to go was a squad positioned in a 3-story building and chose to fire at the already spotted troops. Killing one more, suppressing and finally breaking that squad.
The second Stellar squad spotted the fire coming from a window and fired an RPG round at the middle of the building blasting 2 of the defenders.
The rest of the turn ended up in spotting one other stellar squad.

Turn 2:

The Stellar Player won the initiative and started to move his troops forward. Only to realize that there was wire obstacles in the path of its advance. Another RPG was fired into the same building killing one more trooper and suppressing the rest.
The terran player not knowing what to do spotted 2 squads and plotted a mortar round. The rest of the turn ended in jockeying for position, spotting.

Turn 3:

The Terran mortar landed and was off target but still managed to kill one trooper and suppressing the rest of the squad. A third RPG was fired at the same building but failed to cause any casualties.
The Stellar troops on the right flank rushed forward and dispatched the remaining t troops in the building. Seeing the opportunity, The Stellar player seized the advantage and tried to move all of his troops to the right flank. There was a chance to gain a foothold in a section of the city. With all other troops well out of range they would have to travel through the wire or skirt around it. The player chose to shirt one squad and try to breach the wire with another, leaving 2 squads to support the breaching squad but failed to set any covering fire.
The TCG team was thinking target rich environment but the Terran player held all fire except the mortar which landed of target doing no damage.

Turn 4:

The Stellar player moved 2 squads into the city section to find any hiding troops but fell short of seeing 2 troopers laying behind a wall.
The terran player then raised the 2 troopers and fired at a light Infantry squad killing 2 troopers and tried to run away but could only move 4". One figure was placed further down the wall and the other made it to a crater in the middle of the road.
The Stellar player moved up that second squad to take out those wide-eyed troops as he revealed a squad of elite Heavy Power Armor. This squad opened fire and cut down the crawling men into ribbons.
The terran player seeing this danger immediately set op fire with as many squads he could bring to bear this turn. This ended up with one squad op firing and the other providing covering fire.

Turn 5:

The Stellar Light infantry squad rushed forward drawing the op fire and killing the rest of that squad. The Heavy Power Armor sees the carnage and charges the squad that Op fired cutting down three troopers in Hand-to-hand combat. The Terran Player moves another squad into position to fire upon the heavy armor but check fires as he realizes there is still 2 of his troops in hand-to-hand with the PA.
Melee dispatches the 2 remaining troops and sets up a deadly barrage of fire from the Terran forces. Everything the terran player has available is focused on the Heavy Power Armor.
A squad with a heavy MG opens up killing one PA troop. A second squad fires its Multi-pack rocket launcher and fells 1 more.
Mean while, the stellar player breaches the wire and 2 squads are rushed through the breach to reach the side that the Stellar troops is using to advance further into the city.
The terran player sees 2 squad in the open, one still behind the wire and opens up with 4 Assault Rifles and a Lt. MG. This kills 2 troopers from one squad and 1 trooper from the other.
(As both stellar squads were so close together, The TCG team decided to randomize the casualties between both the Stellar squads). This suppressed the remaining troopers in both squads.

Turn 6:

The Terran Player won the initiative and fired at the remaining 2 PA troops killing one. The Stellar player charge the reaming PA into hand-to-hand combat with the heavy MG gunner only to be entangled on some junk, loosing his balance and allowed the Machine Gunner to push him back off the floor of the blown up building. (The Pa trooper failed to hit and save. Needing a 4 or better to save, the Stellar PA troop roles a 3)
All other squads on both sides engaged in melee with now winners. (They kept saving all armor saves.) With the dispatch of the last PA trooper, the Terran player was set up to provide covering fire to the Melee troops, and the Stellar troops would be no match for the well defended Terran forces.
This ended the game as the stellar troops were captured, processed and shipped to a POW camp.

(TCG Crew):

The game was a pretty good battle right from the git go. However landing a full force of air insertion troops at the beginning of the game really could have been detrimental to the Stellar Confederation. Being in the open and not able to move except to go prone would not be my kind of fun, but luck would have it that the Terran defender decided to hold most of his fire, or failed to spot those troops in the open. The TCG team really thought the game would go to the Stellar Confederation, but a few bad dice rolls and everything can get delivered in a hand basket pretty quickly.

There are no pictures of this game as The TCG team forgot all about the camera again. The game was played out in 28mm and played on a 4'x6' board with rolling countryside for most of the table and a 2 block section of the city.

Game Day August 15