Mixing it up with Modern FUBAR

Today I played 2 games of modern FUBAR skirmish  taking place "somewhere in the Middle East" with my friend Mike!  Stay frosty, and read this harrowing tale of modern combat at its most gritty!

Americans advance on Al Bathra

 The scenario was appropriately called "SEALS in Hot Water" and the American platoon leader had to rescue a SEAL team who has bitten off more than they can chew and find themselves deep inside a "red" town and have to be extricated by an American infantry platoon.  3 squads worth.  The US players were all "Veteran" the SEALs were all "elite" and the insurgents were "Green."

We allowed the insurgent troops to break down into whatever sized teams he wanted.  If you wanted a mob of 12 fighters or just 2 so be it.

Figures are a mix of Rebel miniatures and Khurasan

 To spice things up a bit, I added some special capabilities to the game.  The SEALs had a Predator UAV on station with 2 x Hellfire missiles at their command (piloted all the way back in Langley, of course).  The Americans had an AH-64 Apache gunship on station with no rockets or missiles, however 4 gun-runs of 30mm!


The insurgents also had some tricks up their sleeve with an IED strike anywhere on the board (FP 4) as well as a suicide bomber with a satchel full of grenades.  This was cool because it really forced you to make sure your American teams were placed on "On Guard" orders or suffer the consequences (as I was to find out as the US player in the second go).

insurgent mob!

Mike's GIs "slice the pie" scanning their sectors.  THey are 2 buildings from the SEALs!

 Mike executed a flawless mission, getting to the target with no casualties.  To be honest, my rolling was TERRIBLE and I only passed about a third of my insurgent activations.  we also played with a rule that the US forces always had the initiative, representing the many fighting advantages they have over an insurgency.  (actually this created a unique situation where, for the most part, the insurgent player enjoyed almost complete freedom of movement AFTER the US forces moved everyone.  Remember, the US forces were focused on getting to the SEALs, not necessarily destroying the insurgents.)

US fireteam passes a downed insurgent group in the alley.

SEALs on the move!  Mike's movement was great and he used cover and concealment perfectly, not allowing me as the insurgent player any opportunities to score an easy casualty.

 One other thing I should mention is that any US casualty had to be "cas-evaced" out of the AO.  So taking a hit really screws you over as you need extra bodies to move the casualties to the casualty collection point!  This was a tough game!!

This team of "hardcore" IS fighters had the best chance of doing any real damage as they had one of Mike's fireteams with their heads down almost the whole game.  Mike's javelin, after 1 "misfire", eventually shut them down.

 First game Mike executes without any US casualties except the "walking wounded" that were part of the SEAL team.  The second time around Mike showed he was just as ruthless an insurgent commander as he was a methodical American one!!

IED Strike!  This one was ugly, KOing (yes, completely taking out) the command group, my only Javelin, and some support weapons.  The Javelin missing was really going to hurt here because Mike had a "technical" that could carry 6 fighters around.  We allowed the Javelin unrestricted range on the table.

As if the IED strike wasn't enough, Mike activates his "suicide bomber"  special rule.  Since my fireteam was in a movement, the terrorist sprints into the middle of them and detonates, KOing 3 GIs.

I finally reach the SEALs but it's not a clean victory this time around.  I had to dedicate an entire team to CASEVAC...

Mike fiendishly converts some of his teams into RPG "hunter-killer" teams and starts to cause trouble during my exfil.  He still hasn't moved his technical yet which has me nervous.

Mike's technical makes it to the exfil (his activation rolling was great here - rolling "5s" right when he needed to).  He ends up hosing my overwatch section, who become suppressed.  One of my teams on overwatch turns the technical into swiss cheese and Mike thankfully fails the vehicle save!  we called the game and called in the dustoff to take out the wounded!

Lessons Learned:

Mike made great use of cover during his advance and was methodical about using fires to suppress my groups.  He also was not shy about the extra support assets he had available.  Make sure you're using everything you can, and if you're not running, try to at least be shooting each turn.

Use "On Guard" orders as you can disrupt enemy movement.

Security is important.  No one gets in the cordon, no one gets out.  This comes in handy when those maniac suicide bombers come into play.

Don't bunch up.  This is a universal military principle that was casually disregarded by me today and a painful lesson I won't forget next time.  That Platoon Leader, and Javelin gunner so close the the 3rd squad's A team must have been a tempting target for Mike.

On the whole, I've always liked FUBAR as a rules set and will continue to play it.  Mike had some great ideas about stuff to add into future games and I think I need some more buildings and vehicles!  Fallujah anyone?  The remaining US guys I could easily paint up as USMC I think...

PS I also want to try this game with "Disposable Heroes" and see how it goes that way.

Coming up soon - Battlegroup: 'NAM, Battlegroup: Sinai, and a practice run for my big Authie/Cussy/Buron game in June!