OPERATION STARLIGHT 40MM GAME

Operation Starlight - 22 March 2013

The Team: Ian, Peter, Steve, Jim and Geoff played a game at my place last night. Each player controlled two figures of a Special Forces team. We used 40mm figures and modified Force on Force rules. The team had to find a satellite which had come down in an unfriendly country. They had to extract valuable data from the satellite then destroy it. They then had to get to the LZ for extraction. They had 15 turns to do this. As it was the game took a little longer 17 turns, and involved a few 'moments' that provided the guys with challenges, but they coped well and all got through unscratched. Perhaps the highlight of the game was when Peter took an impulsive pot shot at a low flying helicopter with a 203 - hit it and then downed it! All of this was due to a string of highly improbable dice rolls one after the other but who can argue with the dice Gods. A scatter dice then determined where the chopper crashed and the dice continued to provided entertainment by crashing the chopper directly on to the bridge, blocking the most viable crossing point to the LZ. A truly memorable moment! After much noisy recrimination and banter directed at Peter the boys eventually worked out an alternative solution to crossing the river which involved using a fisherman's boat. Around about this time an enemy armored car entered the table. Geoff and Jim gave it a fright with a well placed 203 round and a near miss from a LAW but not before it had opened fire at Jonas (Jim) with its 12.7mm. Lady Luck favored Jonas and not one round hit anywhere near him - an amazingly fortunate thing for Jonas. Obviously rattled the armored car failed its morale and retreated from the table not to be seen again. Having constructed an improvised crossing point with the boat the team scrambled across the river and deployed into the LZ. There was still one problem in that a dug in enemy 12.7mm HMG covered the LZ. The pickup chopper would not come in while that threat existed. Carlito using his moving concealed skills (other wise known as his sneak skills) crept right up to the HMG pit and lobbed in a couple of grenades silencing the gun. An enemy APC had by this time entered the table but obviously wary of what had happened to the armored car deployed its infantry and advanced very cautiously down the road. All too late though as the team had departed - mission accomplished. 

One disappointment in the game, at least for me as the evil umpire, was that I had arranged that two d10 should be rolled every turn. If a score of 00 was achieved one of the team has been bitten by a snake and had to roll on the casualty chart to see what effect it had on them - no one got bitten! 

 Here is the table showing the entry point for the Team and the LZ

 Two more views of the table

 'Bob' and 'Jem' begin working on the satellite to extract the hard drives

Jim and Steve discuss the finer points of moving through snake infested tropical jungle swamp

 

Peter persuading Ian and Steve that crossing the bridge is their only option

Having passionately argued the case for crossing the bridge Peter (as Boris) shoots down a helicopter which crashes directly onto the bridge blocking it - well done Boris! 

Geoff, Jim and Ian consider what on earth they can do now that the bridge has been 'Borised' 

An enemy armored car arrives and tentatively enters the AO - Jim and Geoff dealt with it by firing a LAW and 203 at it. They did not managed to destroy it but did force it to retreat off the table - giving the team a breathing space to plan their escape.

Ian (Carlito) comes up with the idea of grabbing hold of a local fisherman's boat to get across the river - after of course asking the fisherman in a respectful and sensitive manner if he could borrow his property.

 

Steve had a revelation (he claims that did not hurt but no one believed him) and the boat is used to bridge a narrow part of the river - the Team uses it as an improvised crossing.

 The pesky 12.7 mm HMG covering the LZ which Carilto silenced with grenades

 The enemy regular troops finally arrive and advance very cautiously 

 

Finally at the LZ the team board the chopper - Bob checks his pouches and confirms he still has the satellite hard drives - mission accomplished!