First Contact, The defense of Foix. The First Glory War solo campaign.

After a failed legal bid before the Organization of Progressive States to claim discovery of the garden planet Glory, the People’s Republic of China launches a “Liberation Fleet” and starts the first extra-solar system military action in human history. Titan Interplanetary corporate employees and the newly settled colonists leasing land in what will eventually become The Republic of Arden brace themselves for combat. The spark of war ignites as a platoon of PLA troops pushes through Bois de l’écart Foix, a logging encampment set in the Foix Gap. The settlers construct a hasty defense and prepare to repel the PLA troops.

The field is set!

This encounter will be played using a home brew mix of Tomorrows War and the reaction mechanics from Two Hour Wargames 5150 Star Army series. The settlers will start the scenario with two squads of inexperienced irregular troops rated at D6 with small arms only, no heavy weapons or squad support weapons. The PLA troops will be rated as regulars at D8 and will include a standard mix of one squad support weapon per squad and an anti-tank weapon with the platoon leader element if they deploy to the table.

The PLA forces are conducting a Patrol scenario through the woods and into the logging camp that the colonist will be defending. Their goal is to exit the opposite side of the board, the colonist’s goal is to delay them and survive.

The PLA will win this scenario with a minor victory if they exit the opposite board edge or eliminate all settlers on or before Turn 6, and a major victory if they achieve both. The settlers will achieve a minor victory if they keep the PLA from exiting on or before turn 6, and a major victory if they stop the PLA and exit the board with at least 50% of their forces, for the purposes of numbers any wounded figures dragged off the board count towards this 50% and any left on the board count against it. Dead figures can not be counted as escaped in this fashion.

The board was generated randomly using the Two Hour Wargames rule set 5150 Star Army and wound up being perfect for a logging camp at the defenders edge, with a motor pool and an area of woods and rocky out cropping providing cover on one flank. The road is blocked by two destroyed vehicles as the PRC troops mortar the area before they patrol through. The defenders took up position behind cover on both sides of the road as the enemy PEFs (potential enemy forces markers) slowly worked their way across the board, having some bad activation rolls slow them down. The first PEF to resolve turned out to be a machinegun armed scout car that had worked its way into the woods on the left flank.

That’s not good..

The colonists win the reaction test and unload their small arms fire into the hover car, damaging the skirts and slowing it’s movement which will effectively strand it in the rough ground it’s on at the moment.

Meanwhile the other two PEFs resolve as they come into view of the right flank defenders and win up being two squads of troops with an accompanying ant-tank team.

That’s not good either…

The right flank is quickly locked down as the PRC troops pin the defenders with superior firepower and maneuver in.

With the hover car unable to maneuver the second militia squad attempts to come to the rescue of their pinned down comrades. unfortunately their fire is ineffective. The PRC troops are predictably able to regularly win the opposed rolls using D8s against the colonists D6s.

Sneaking up on some PRC troops!

The trained PRC troops are easily able to split off, one squad charging and capturing the wounded and pinned squad that used to hold down the right flank and the other charging towards the newly emerged squad on the left flank.

The colonists now holding the middle of the board manage to survive a round of fire taking only four light wounds, no deaths. Seeing their comrades captured and with PRC troops right on their heels they manage to win initiative and slink off the board to fight another day.

The outcome was a minor victory for both sides. The game ended on turn 6 with the militia exiting the board with exactly 50% of their starting forces and the PRC troops able to move off the board with their prisoners. The 5150 campaign rules resulted in no force morale loss for either side and a Patrol scenario for the militia using one squad of troops. Looks like another part of this platoon will be pushing through another logging camp to see why they aren’t responding to radio calls!

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