The Marshland Incident

 Wilhelmsland border with Gardenstan.  

Thinking the Wilhelmsland military was focused on their border with those obnoxious, oafish Rubishlander's,  Big-Daddy Fish decided to probe the border.  If caught he could always blame some poor dumb Second Lieutenant for not knowing how to read a map. 

********

Hauptman Rosen cursed his luck.  His Infantry Kompanie drew the short straw and was stuck patrolling the River Road along the Wilhelmsland border with Gardenstan.  The weather was damp and foggy and visibility was sketchy in the pre-dawn gloom.  "What a waste of time, if there's any action it will be on the border with Rubishlandia", he grumbled to himself.

 

As his company moved down the road he mentally checked the spacing between the venralble M3 ½ Tracks of his command as he mused on the real purpose of the road.  The road was set 1.5 Kilometers to the East from the Border River, which separated Wilhelmsland from Gardenstan.  The space between the river and the road was a disgusting marshland, known to swallow heavy tanks up to the commanders Cupola, rumor had it there were still several T-34's buried out there somewhere from the failed Gardenstan invasion of 1954.  The River Road was an elevated roadway, ostensibly to prevent flooding. But it’s real purpose was to provide an excellent source of cover and concealment for the Wilhlemsland forces.  The East side of the road was gently sloped, affording excellent hull down and turret down positions for defending Wilhlemsland armored vehicles.

 

As he turned his attention to the vehicle to his front he noticed a glint of light through the fog of the marsh.  “What the hell”, he muttered… grabbing his binoculars he scanned the area as he ordered his driver to slow their pace to crawl as he scanned.  “You have got to be shitting me!  Kompanie, break left, take up hull down positions, Now!  Now!  Now!”  He barked into his radio as he changed the frequency to the Battalion command net to report Gardenstan BTR-60’s in the Marshlands at grid 054 700.

 

Once we he was sure his entire Kompanie was safely behind the elevated road he pulled out his binoculars again.  The morning sun was starting to burn off the fog.  He could see 10 BTR-60’s, three appeared to be bogged down in the marshlands as he could see infantry milling around the vehicles, apparently trying to self-recover the vehicle. The other BTR’s were slowly slogging through the marsh.  He called in an updated spot report and then added, “Do I have authorization to engage?  They’ve clearly entered our sovereign territory.”  The reply he received from Battalion HQ was less than helpful, “We’re still trying to wake up the Generals and the Chancellor for direction.  You do realize it’s early Hauptman.  Use your judgement until we can get further orders.” As he looked back through his binoculars he saw another BTR bury itself in the muck as they slowly advanced.  

 

Two minutes later as the Gardenstan forces slowly grind their way through the marsh he received a call from HQ, “Hauptman, your orders are to not allow the Gardenstan forces to reach the road.  Once they are within effective range you are you authorized to open fire.  We are trying to contact Gardenstan, but we keep getting the answering machine when we call Big-daddy Fish saying he is “currently doing important things and other stuff”.  Good luck Hauptman.”

 

Several more BTR’s buried themselves in the muck of the marshland as Hauptman Rosen watched them slowly draw nearer.  As soon as the BTR’s reached extreme range they cut loose with their turret mounted Machnine guns.  “Now things get interesting,” muttered Rosen.

 

And thus, the stage is set for the first minor action in Eurica.  

 

A heavily redacted map showing the general location of the incident

 

 

Hauptman Rosen spots the invaders.

The space between the road and river is swampland.  The road is elevated, essentially a prepared fighting position for the defenders.  I really need to upgrade my terrain, especially in this scale.

 

 

 The Wilhelsmland Infantry take cover behind the raised road while the Gardenstan BTR's continue to slog through the swampland.  At this point everyone is out of range.  (in hind site and after re-reading the rules, I should have dismounted the Gardenstan Sagger team as there are no range penalties for missiles in FFT3, as long as your within the range band, it's the same to hit number)

The black beads next to the BTR's signify a bogged down vehicle.  In FFT3 there are no self recover options in that situation, if I read the rules correctly.  As always, click to enlarge.

Hauptman Rosen's troops patiently wait behind the berm while the Gardenstan interlopers continue to plod forward.  The BTR's open fire with their  Machine guns as soon as they reach extreme range, as expected, the fire has no effect.  The Wilhelmsland troops are still unable to fire as the invaders are out of range.

The puffs of smoke for the firing vehicles are not necessary for the game mechanics, I just like the look.

The invading Gardenstan units continue to struggle forward in the muck of the swampland, with the BTR's continuing the fire to no effect.  The Wilhelmsland defenders open up with their .50 MG at extreme range and also fail to have any effect.  Finally, the BTR's get within range of the Infantry's Dragon Anti-tank missiles, and score first blood.  Destroying a BTR.

The BTR on the far left has been knocked out.  Click to enlarge to see the kill marker and bogged markers more clearly.

The Gardenstan sagger team gets into the action, with a... miss.  While the Gardenstan infantry continue to advance through the muck and mire.

More advancing and firing by the Gardenstan forces.  More firing by the Wilhlemsland defenders, who knock out another BTR with Dragon fire.

I admit I was surprised and impressed with the effectiveness of the Dragons, although they were being used on BTR's vs. tanks.  Back in the day I always considered the Dragon to be rather ineffective - but maybe that was just my Tanker bias. 

And more ineffective firing by the Gardenstan troops and just as ineffective firing by the Wilhelmsland vehicles.  However, the Dragon teams saved the day, forcing one BTR to fail it's Quality Check resulting in it being removed from play and destroyed the last remaining mobil BTR.  The Gardenstan Infantry who were cold, wet, and caked in nasty smelling mud and slime looked around and decided it was time to head back to their side of the river and let the Diplomats clean up the mess.

This was just a quick small action to run through the rules (First Full of Tows 3).  All in all it played very fast although I'm sure I got a few things wrong.  We will see what happens when we get some artillery and more long range firing into the mix. 

So much lead, so little time.