FUBAR!

Task Force Bravo assembles for action...

One fun (and, at times, frustrating) part of this hobby is random inspiration. You never know when you might see something and decide, "hey - I'm going to try that!". Well, this happened to be when randomly surfing around TMP and stumbling across this post. Here was someone using a rules system called "FUBAR", and playing it with individually based 6mm troops! That's BONKERS, right? Right?....

But that base looked really cool. The rules are literally one page, and very nice. And the blog, which goes on to describe the creator's FUBAR project, is really cool too.
I already have a lot of 6mm vehicles and terrain for my Epic 40k collection, and painting a few extra infantry and mounting them on pennies is quick work...and so I present my attempt at a FUBAR project!

***********************************************************************************

The setting is based on a distant colony world in a somewhat generic (i.e. not 40k) sci-fi future. The colony world is home primarily to resource extraction efforts of Binary Petroleum. BP has reported attacks against its facilities on the colony. The colonial administrator has petitioned for military help. The local military disctrict, pre-occupied with other conflicts, but wary of the influence of BP, has assembled a some reserve troops to restore order on the colony. The FUBAR story arc will focus "Task Force Bravo", an element of this force.

Captain Hawkins sets about on his first command

The main protagonist will be Captain Hawkins (named in honour of Charlie Sheen's character from the cheesie movie "Navy Seals"). He is in charge of Task Force Bravo. This is his first command following promotion to Captain, and he did not expect to be put in charge of reservists. He has been told this is all part of a very routine mission, that the trouble on the colony is very mild, much of it in the minds of easily-panicked colonists, and when it is wrapped up he will have a role to play once again in the regular forces. He is very suspicious that he is not being told the whole story...

Reserve First Lieutenant Schlepper - glad to be out of the office for some adventure

Reserve First Lieutenant Schlepper (named to coincide with his job) is excited to be deployed! This is his first action, and a welcome break from his regular duties as a tax auditor back in the sub sector capital.



Mechanized reservists - reluctantly ready for duty


Here is the core of the force - a platoon of mechanized reservists. They are second-line troops, called up from their duties elsewhere in the sector. Their equipment is old, but solid. Each eight-man squad has one heavy weapon - two squads have HMG-type weapons, and the third has a missile launcher. The Valiant-class APCs have been in the arsenal for a long, long time, but the amour is pretty solid and the twin MGs on the turret should help if they encounter any trouble.



Cruiser tanks - old, reliable design


They will have some armoured support too - a platoon a Cruiser-class light tanks. The Cruisers are another ageing vehicle, found primarily in the reserve arsenals, but like the APCs, the Cruisers is a proven design - and besides, this mission is supposed to be a boring milk run, right?

Mammoth tanks - lumbering old beasts, with heavy firepower

In the remote, almost impossible chance that something serious were to come up, a section of Mammoth-class heavy tanks has been attached to the Task Force. These are very old tanks, having seen service in countless conflicts. The weapons are proven, and if the mechs can keep them going, the Task Force will have some solid fire support - if something like that were to come up.



Local militia cavalry - ready to help the column with scouting duties


The colony itself is pitching in too - contributing a section of mounted militia troops. These soldiers know the terrain, can mix with the locals, and seem like they can handle themselves in a fight if they have to.



The Hammerjack APC - a rare piece of up-to-date kit for the Task Force




Hawkins and Schlepper pose with the other members of the command team


Hawkins and Schlepper have some command folks with them - a standard bearer, a medic, a comms guy, and a mechanic. The command element will ride in one of the few pieces of newer kit to be found in the reserves - the Hammerjack APC. The Hammerjack has an MG, a light howitzer, and good communications abilities.


Administrative liaison from the colony government...what is the deal with him?


There are some other folks too - like this colonial administrator. He has been sent to serve as a "liaison" with the Task Force. Hawkins doesn't trust him...

Friendly, service oriented team members from Binary Petroluem...what is the robot equipped with anyway?

And others may pop up - like this technical work crew from Binary Petroleum...

*************************************************************************************

These figures are nearly all from Dark Realm Miniatures. DRM makes some of the nicest 6mm sci-fi stuff I have seen, easily rivalling (and in many cases exceeding) GW's Epic-scale figures. The human stuff is from the "Pax Arcadia" faction. I had painted these vehicles some time ago, and this little project gave me a great excuse to do up the infantry. I threw in a few spare GW Epic figures to round out the lineup.

I stumbled across FUBAR while looking around on TMP for more information on how to understand the daftly-written-but-probably-still-excellent "Tomorrow's War" rules. "Tomorrow's War" is so caught up in how cool they think they are that they wrote the rules as if you were part of their gaming group. As a result, I find the rules very, very hard to read and follow.

FUBAR, on the other hand, is literally a one-page rule set. It looks to be one of those neat sort of "open source" type projects that are out there on the net. Learn more about it on this forum. Reading three pages of Tomorrow's War gives you a headache and makes you take a break. Reading the one-page FUBAR rules inspires you to dig out your figures and try your own project. I'm sure Tomorrow's War is a fine set of rules (and I look forward to trying them out), but there is more to editing than checking for spelling errors.

My FUBAR "OpFor" is already prepared, and I hope the group will be up for trying a first game soon! Watch for more developments on the fate of Task Force Bravo - after all, what could go wrong?