Scouts Out!

Scouts Out!
C Troop musters for action

Friday, November 23, 2012

The Battle of Centerville Pt. 2: The Cavalry's Stand

US Background  



While the battle was developing north of town, elements of C Troop, 1/26 CAV were moving east of town to establish a mechanized screen in the open plain to cover this wide open avenue of approach.  The 26th was a newly formed unit having only been organized back in March of 2181 from elements of the 57th Infantry, Liberty National Guard, and from the regular Army's 1/89 CAV.  The 1/26 CAV has always been a fascinating unit to many historians because of it's odd heritage.  The original 26th Cavalry regiment was formed in the aftermath of WWI and it served through out the whole interwar period as a vital part of the US garrison in the Philippines.  In the opening months of the Pacific War the 26th gained the unique distinction as being the last US cavalry formation to launch an actual mounted cavalry charge with its Filippino troopers led by regular army officers.  The new 1/26 CAV wound up being a similar formation:  a mixed unit of American and Filippino-American colonists lead by regular army officers.

Back in March LIBCON decided to deactivate the ANG's 57th Infantry Regiment in order to reinforce the battered 45th Infantry which had suffered heavily in the northern county's counter-insurgency campaign.  However there were still several hundred ANG guardsmen left after the reorganization so, with approval from Congress, LIBCON reflagged these troopers, along with an attached cadre from the 1/89 CAV, as the 1st Squadron, 26th Cavalry Regiment.  The newly formed squadron was brigaded with 1/45 INF and 2/45 INF to form the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the ANG's 12th Infantry Division (Liberty).  Unlike the other battalions of the brigade, the 26th had a very large contingent of Filippino-Americans because most of its guardsmen came from Cavite County, a principally Filippino county in southern Liberty.  The unit had just finished its organization in August when it was assigned to Task Force Bataan to help defeat the insurgency on Crossland.  By late November the campaign was winding down and the squadron received orders to redeploy to Liberty to rest and reorganize.  When the LRL hit the beaches of northern Crossland only B, C, and elements of HQ Troop were still on Crossland and only C Troop had any personnel in Centerville.  

At the time of the invasion C Troop was actually finishing up the process of loading their vehicles and mecha into their dropships to redeploy back to Liberty!  The troopers quickly unloaded their gear and troopers from throughout the squadron were dragooned into service to bring C Troop back to wartime manning.  The troop had barely two days to reorganize and train before they met the LRL in battle, east of Centerville.

C Troop OOB:  Seasoned (Expertise 4+ though!)  (mecha pilots are veteran)

Two Recce Sections with:  1 Sergeant, 1 HUMVEE IV Apache w/Lt. Plasma gun, 1 M3 Valkyrie mecha, 1 rifle squad with 1 SAW and 3 M41a AR/UGL (one trooper per platoon with a sniper rifle), 1 gun drone (counts as a sensor drone but has a HMG), 1 sensor drone (Armor 4+, Move 6", may move as an independent unit but doesn't count as a unit for victory conditions, has regular sensors and may spot for artillery and non-los units).

Attached 1 M1 Ares MBS.



That totals:  2 sergeants (veterans) with M41A AR/UGL, 2 HUMVEEs, 2 Valkyrie mecha, 1 Ares mecha, 8 riflemen with 2 SAWs, and two gun drones armed with MGs.  That's a lot of firepower in such a small unit but its anti-tank firepower is a bit lean.  I wonder if the plasma cannons will be effective against LRL armor?

I'm only allocating one artillery mission to this game because I'm going to really need it in the upcoming infantry clash!  Hopefully this mix of mechanized elements will be enough to hold back the LRL tide!

LRL Background



While many people view the American-Liberty War as being clash between Americans and the "French" this wasn't wasn't always the case.  In fact the Republic of Liberty's population was made up of several different nationalities and ethnic groups.  One group which gets missed a lot in post war treatments are the Liberty-Americans.  The colonization of Liberty was a joint effort between the US, the Philippines, and France and many Americans settled in the temperate northern continent.  These Americans were just as independence minded as their French neighbors and they joined the rebellion against the French Union in the '60s.  By the 80's these "yankees" were vital parts of the LRL and the republic's government despite the general feeling of anti-Americanism that existed in the former colony at the time.

In fact, many LRL units that were formed from the southern provinces of the Republic were primarily made up of American colonists.  The LRL's 23eme Regiment was one such unit with 60% of its ranks being of American decent.  Whenever these units came into contact with American units the fight became particularly grim as the troops on both sides viewed the others as traitors.  For American troops, these "damnedyankees" or "tories" were the most vile of foes because they spoke english, were American in custom and culture, but they took up arms against their "own" people to defend a fascist/racist/communist regime   To the Liberty-Americans the "loyalists"  represented the worst elements of the country they left behind:  arrogant centralists who sought to take the lands, resources, and freedoms of everyone they could for the "common good".

The 23eme RI was a highly regarded regiment in the LRL because of its excellent esprit de corps, it's high level of professionalism, and its unwavering devotion to the Republic.  These troops were the elite shock troops of the 2d Brigade and their weapons and attachments showed that trust.



OOB 23eme RI (seasoned)

1 rifle platoon with four six man squads.  Two squads have SAWs and two squads have RPGs.  

4 attached Rockjumper technicals with HMGs.

2 AMX-60 hover APCs

2 M2A6 Bradley IFV.

2 M1A6 Block III Abrams MBTs.

2 Cells of insurgents (six total insurgents- Veteran) .  One cell may have a RPG.

2 Artillery bombardments.

Deployment:

US:  can deploy up to midboard in cover terrain.  The gunbots, recce drones, and infantry  can start the game deployed in Hidden positions.  

LRL:  On turn 1 the technicals and any two other vehicles can enter the board.  The remaining vehicles can enter on any other turn at the LRL player's discretion.  The infantry begin the game riding in either any of the troop carrying vehicles except the technicals.  The other vehicles deployed on turn 1 can be troop carrying APCs.  LRL insurgents may be deployed according to the guerrilla special rule.  

Terrain:



4' by 4' board with a east/west road moving through the center of the board.  There are no major water obstacles but a small pond placed anywhere on the board is fine (no larger than 2" circle).  2-4 woods are okay but they should be spaced at least 6" apart.  2-3 buildings should be placed to represent small farm steads.  No more than two small hills should be deployed.  Think open country side suitable for farming.  

Objectives:

LRL:  Sieze all buildings, exit 50% of all vehicles (5 vehicles total) with at least one mounted squad, inflict at least 50% casualties on the Americans.  

US:  Keep full force on the board for at least 6 turns then exit as many units possible (at least 50% or 3 vehicles/squads), disable/destroy at least 50% of all enemy vehicles (5 total),  keep the enemy from exiting 5 or more units/vehicles.  

Game Length:

8 turns.

(Murphy's) Special Event Cards:
One card is drawn if either side rolls a 1 during initiative with the player who rolled the 1 getting to keep the card.  Players may play the card when allowed to by the card.  If both sides roll a 1 (snake eyes!) then each player draws a card.  Cards which are played can go back into the deck to be used again.  

2 Cards:  "You're coming in broken and stupid!"  During an enemy activation, after they roll the activation die, play this card and this unit cannot take any actions at all and the initiative goes to you!

2 Cards:  "Are these critters poisonous? "  Play during any enemy infantry activation.  Each player then rolls a die with the high player getting to pick one trooper in the unit to be attacked with 1 FP with no armor save!

2 Cards:  "Negative on fire support, trooper!"  Play after the enemy rolls to activate a fire support mission.  The mission is canceled and the enemy loses that fire mission completely!

2 Cards:  "What a piece of crap!!!"  Play after the enemy successfully activates a vehicle of any type.  It suffers the following malfunction:
1-2  Engine overheats, vehicle can't move this turn!
3      Fire control goes down, no shooting this turn.
4      JAM!!  One projectile weapon on the vehicle goes down until the unit activates again                    
         and passes an expertise test (treat as a fire action with no actual shot- roll one die).
5      Coms are down!  This unit cannot spot for non-LOS weapons including artillery for the 
        rest of the game.
6     "It's dead, Jim..."  The vehicle suffers a serious breakdown.  Treat as a vehicle destroyed       
       but with no hits to the crew. 




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