Operation Squad Game Report, 7/3/11

This past Sunday, went up to Crossroad Games to give Operation Squad a try.  There were two other, the usual suspects, but the other who'd expressed interest didn't make it.

Found the rules to be relatively quick to pick up.  It included an interesting turn sequence where each player gets to pick three of their soldiers to act in a number of ways, and then each player moves onto the next 3, until both sides have made choices for each soldier on their own side.  With each set of 6, initiative and actions are determined, and the actions start getting intertwined where responses to the enemy’s actions can occur, and seems to give a good flavor of the need for changes in tactics as the fighting swirls and continues.

The table area was about 6x4 and the scenario was played end to end.  Looking from my side, and I played the Germans against the British, there were two buildings left of center, and at the location where length wise road intersected with another road that ran off to the right.  There was a another building just outside my deployment zone on the right as there was opposite near my opponents deployment zone.  There were a bunch of low walls along the streets in the center, a wooded hill at both ends of the right side of the board, some trees on the left in the British deployment zone, and several lines of trees and bushes along the horizontal road as well as back towards the left of the German deployment zone.

I divided my troops into two sections.  On the right was a corporal, 2 rifles, a light machine gun and a sniper, while on the left was the sergeant, 4 rifles, 1 semi-auto rifle, and another light machine gun.  The group on the left was designed to storm the houses in the center while the group on the right was designed to defend the building there.  The British player loaded up on my right with a sergeant, mortar team, Bar gun, 3 rifles, and a medic, while 2 rifles, a corporal, and a sniper were facing my left.

First turn saw me get the initiative and I charged my left wing grenadiers and the Sergeant out of a line of bushes and trees and towards the center buildings, leaving behind the machine gun and semi auto rifleman for cover.  Meanwhile my sniper picked off one of his riflemen on the right and I moved the rest into the right side building, except for a rifleman that I stupidly sent down along the edge of the building to see if he could get to a spot for firing.  It didn't take long for the enemy sniper to wound him.  Back on the left, the British in a small wooded area rushed to the side of the center buildings, while over on the right 2 riflemen and the medic went into the building over there, and the rest of his men advanced through the wooded on the far right.

Turn two saw the British rush around the corner to shoot at my grenadiers who were clamoring into their intended building.  They managed to pin my light machine gun, and kill a soldier.  Meanwhile, fire from the two British riflemen across the street pinned down my sergeant, and my sniper was sighted hiding behind a rock, and the mortar opened fire on him, pinning him down.  Then things started to get bloody.

I took out two of his charging Brits and this forced a morale check for each soldier.  The remaining soldiers around the center buildings failed and were removed from combat having fled.  He lost two more on the right flank and things weren't looking good for the Brits.  However, with my right flank locked up in the building being defended and my left attacking flank having been whittled down, then whittled down some more from a BAR machine gun, things became a fire fight.  I tried repositioning my defending flank a bit, and finally ended up taking out his sergeant, and the game ended with heavier casualties  on his side, but I ended up with only one guy in each of the center buildings which didn't give me enough for securing either and thus a draw was the result.

Over all, lots of fun, definitely recommend the rules, and looking forward to going up again to get in some more games.  For those who can make it in the future, Wayne has got a well done set of WWII Germans and British/Canadians and certainly enough for at least 3 tables, maybe more.  Very good scenery, too.

Thanks gentlemen!