Battle Report - FUBAR - Bloody Nose For Task Force Bravo

Yesterday I visited with fellow Conscript Dave V and he was kind enough to run through another FUBAR game, further advancing the story of "Task Force Bravo".  Unfortunately for the intrepid reservists, it was a rough outing!

Orks hold out while the Mek works on the stalled battlewagon

Captain Hawkins was in pursuit of Ork mercenaries who had stolen components from a Binary Petroleum "Technical Site" on Colony 24601.  The Orks had been on the move for several days, stopping often. The Task Force finally found a pattern to the movement, and when they stopped again at an abandonded fringer settlement, the Task Force moved in to try and recapture the stolen goods.

Task Force Bravo rumbles toward the objective, confident the big Mammoth tanks will provide good cover

Dave V took the Ork side, and I played the Task Force side.  The Orks had stopped in the abandoned settlement, and were experiencing technical difficulties.  There was only a small guard force with the stranded battlewagon.  The Ork Mercenary Captain somehow got wind that the Task Force was coming, and had bottled off to get some reinforcements...would the Task Force overwhelm the Orks, or would they manage to get the clunky battlewagon moving, and escape with their stolen loot once again?

Orks under fire from heavy tanks. Reservists: "Hey, this is great!"

Unlike the last battle, which had more infantry, this was mostly a tank battle.  Dave would roll each turn to see if he could get the battlewagon started, and to see if his reinforcements showed.  The Pax Arcadian side had both of its big, bad "Mammoth"-class tanks out for the party, together with the four "Cruiser" tanks, and two APCs with two squads of troops.

Oh no! Ork reinforcements!

The Ork holding force consisted of an AT gun, a solitary Gunwagon, two squads of infantry and some battlewagons.  The help coming, however, was very impressive - four more Gunwagons, and a Gunfortress!

Ork Gunfortress approaches. Reservists: "WTF?"

The Task Force made good initial progress, rolling up to the village and pounding the Ork defenders.  I got over-confident, and I stopped moving forward, opting instead for "aimed fire" attempts.  This really smashed up the Orks, but it meant that Dave's reinforcements could easily block for the "hot potatoe(s)" in the battlewagon.

No wonder the Orks were so confident...

When the Ork reinforcements arrived, the battle turned, and the Cruiser tanks started to get immobilized and have their weapons knocked out.  I had some very poor saving throws, while Dave concentrated his fire very well, and he managed to knock out one of the big Mammoths!

Task Force under fire as reinforcments appear for the Orks.  Operation is officially "much less fun": reservists.

The other Mammoth started to rip into the Ork vehicles - its huge main gun ripped through the Ork armour - but in the end, the battlewagon made another escape!

The Mammoth tanks hammered away, but couldn't make the breakthrough.

The infantry tried their luck from the flanks - these fellows took out an AT gun, but took heavy fire from the village, while the APCs weapons were knocked out by Ork shooting.

The Task Force gave a good account of themsevles - there were a lot of burning Ork vehicles by the end of the game.  But it was a rough outing, with three Cruiser tanks and one Mammoth tank badly shot up.  Where did these extra Ork tanks come from? Who is footing the bill for these mercenaries? And what has got the Ork Mercs so invested in this that they would use a Gunfortress? Most of all - who told the Orks the Task Force was coming?

A burning Mammoth tank! Not a good omen for the Task Force...

These infantry approached from the flank, but burning and immobilized tanks can't provide much cover fire, so they held back....

With heavy damage to vehicles, the Task Force will have to lie low and make repairs.  Hawkins makes a report of the incident to his superiors - will they ignore him? Send reinforcements? What will BP make of all of this?  Stay tuned...


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Another very entertaining FUBAR game.  I took my eye off the ball, and in the end paid the price - the Pax Arcadia tanks shot up a lot of Ork stuff, but the prize got away. 

Building on the lessons of the first game, I improved the activation scores for both sides, and the game had a much, much better flow to it.   The challenge in this game was book-keeping - which tank had a knocked out MG, vs. knocked main gun, vs. immobilized but still firing etc. was a bit of a challenge.

Thanks to Dave V for hosting and for playing - and stay tuned for further adventures of Task Force Bravo!