AAR - Clash of Patrols

X7-P23 a newly discovered habitable planet, that currently is contested between the Neu Swabian League (NSL) and Saeed Khalifate. The planet has one large continent that is largely covered in jungles and wastes around the equator. The north and south are covered with mountain and woodland regions. Both the NSL and Khalifates have landed forces in the northern parts of the continent. They are aware of each others forces and the situation is tense. Unknown to both sides, hostillities are about to break out when two small recon patrols clash close to some uncharted colonist hut.

So, it is time for the first after action report (AAR). Me and a friend have tried the Flying Lead rules. We also decided to just keep to the basic rules. Flying Lead has a turn system that makes the game flow between the opposing players miniatures randomly, depending on the number of action and Quality roll of the miniature. One turn ends when all minis on both sides have moved.The AAR was created using a really nice program called, Battle Chronicler.

Since it was our first game we kept it simple with 5 minis each, 4 regular troopers and 1 support assualt weapon gunner aside. All minis were equipt similarly with assualt rifles and body armor. The Jaegers were deployed in the upper right corner behind the wood and the Khalifates in the lower left corner behind the wood.

The game started out with the Jaegers approaching from the north-east and the Khalifates from the south-west. During the first turn the Jaegers made some pretty bad dice rolls, forcing them to advance slowly, while splitting there forces in two. The Khalifates on the other hand made some good rolls and advanced on both sides of the wood in the lower left corner. The Khalifate SAW gunner and a regular trooper took up a firing position behind a hedge close to the woods. From there position they could overlook both the open ground in the middle of the board, the far left side of the board and also the back of the colonist hut and woods to the north-east. Meanwhile the remaining 3 Khalifates moved towards the hedge and woods in the lower left corner of the board, with the object of taking up position along the hedge in the middle in front of the colonist hut.

The Jaegers moved 2 regular troopers on each side of the upper right hand woods and the SAW gunner through the woods. As the first Jaeger on the far right moved along the hedge he came into the line of fire from the Khalifates on the middle of the board. The shots hit home and the first Jaeger fell to the ground. First blood to the Khalifates. In the meantime the Khalifates on the left fired on the Jaegers emerging from the woods in the upper part of the board. Their shots also hit and the Jaeger was Shaken.

Now it was time for the Jaegers to strike back, as their SAW gunner moved out of the woods in the middle of the board and into a position to fire on the 2 Khalifates behind the hedge in the middle of the board. A good shot hit the first Khalifate trooper and scored a Groy death, taking him out of action and also forcing the trooper next to him to take a morale test. Seeing his squad mate go down was to much for the trooper as the failed morale test sent him running one short move towards the table edge.

As it again became the Khalifates turn to act, the trooper who was running away turned around and made a move back towards and fired against the Jaeger who previously hade fired on him. The shots hit but only forced the Jaeger SAW gunner to retreat into the woods, thereby hiding him from any more fire. So instead of being able to fire at the Jaeger SAW gunner, the Khalifates SAW gunner on the left fired against the second Jaeger trooper emerging from behind the woods close to the northern table edge. The fire hit and that Jaeger was also Shaken. On the far right the last Khalifate trooper fired on the advancing Jaeger and took him out of action. The Jaegers were now down to 3 troopers. One more casualty and the Jaegers would have to start taking morale tests.

In the next turn the Jaeger SAW gunner again moved out of the woods in the middle of the board and returned fire on the Khalifate trooper in front of him. The fire took him out of action and the Khalifates were also down to 3 troopers. For a short while the game seemed even, but now it was time for the Khalifates to act. The Khalifate trooper on the right moved in towards the centre and took a shot at the Jaeger SAW gunner but missed.

On the left the Khalifate SAW gunner turned towards the Jaeger SAW gunner and let loose with his weapon. The resulting fire was devestating and the Jaeger SAW gunner was out of the fight. The following morale test forced one of the Shaken Jaegers to stand and run off the northern table edge. The other Shaken Jaeger stood and made a single move towards the table edge. With only one trooper left, the Jaegers concided and the victory went to the Saeed Khalifates.

As the game came to a close we had a chat about the rules. It took about 40 minutes to explain the rules before the game, and about 30 minutes into the game to understand them. In my opinion they are a good set of rules. For my opponent this was his second time ever to play a miniature game, and he very quickly got a hang of the rules. Even though the rules are pretty simple, there is an elegant degree of complexity that probalby will make the game hard to master. Thereby I hope the games will keep on being challanging and fun as we introduce more rules and special abillites. It was fun to play a game of Flying Lead modified for the Tuffleyverse. I also have to recommend Battle Chronicler, as it is a very good tool to make AAR's with.