The Commander Series Forum

Its still in the planning stages, but I am going to revive my flagging solo campaign (how many campaigns stall, I wonder?). The Khemed 2.0
http://neilsgaming.pbworks.com/w/page/3152...

Good luck, Neil! Looks like fun.

Looking forward to Khemed 2.0. The background notes are great. Great work Neil.

Cheers

Richard P

The insurgency has begun! At midnight on Monday 1st August the Paladin executives have given the Go orders to their field commanders, who have issued them to the Khemedi officers under their command. All Paladin battlegroups will be ready to move on D+0 as they were primed to go, however, some of the Khemedi battlegroups are slow to get off the mark and wont be ready to move until D+3. This represents their having to gather forces into a semblance of order, round up officers and men from the casbahs, find the guy with the keys to the ammunition lockers and 'sort out' any soldiers who aren't convinced of their cause. This is done by rolling on the Strategic Campaign Response System (thanks to William Silvesters 'Solo Wargaming Guide' for that one) which determines the response times of each battlegroup and their intentions.

I also wrote up an SCSR chart to determine how forces would react to the first flashpoint- seizing the Khemedi Navy flotilla in Khemikhal in the first few hours of the coup. For the Khemedi forces this has meant that the local forces rather than the Paladin Commandos (one of the options) will move into the city at midnight and seize the boats.

In response, the Marine roll on their SCSR table has resulted in the Marine commander deciding to send in the entire FAST Company on a long-range raid. They will be parachuted in a Low Altitude, Low Opening drop by Ospreys on the northern outskirts of the city and will move on foot to secure the flotilla before the MEB lands to restore order (but without knowing that the fresh insurgency is planned for exactly the same time). They will have the support of the AC-130 Spooky from the base in Djibouti for this mission. This battle will therefore be fought using the Parachute Drop rules, the Night Fighting Rules and I have decided that the Marines would all be equipped with TI. The Khemedi infantry will be literally in the dark, their armour may have IR as per their usual stats.

The UN forces have noticed that the local goat market outside the FOB gates has hurriedly packed up and moved on, as if the locals know that something is afoot. Sensing trouble, the UNKLE commander has decided to show the flag (as per his SCSR roll) and make a show of strength in the area whilst awaiting further instructions from New York. To that end at daybreak, two platoons of the Irish company and one of the SADF motorised platoons will patrol north up to Tel el Esdi in an attempt to see if there is any trouble in the area and to hopefully dissuade any potential rebels in a 3-day patrol (one days travel north to the patrol area, one day of mooching round, one day to travel back). They will have the support of the single Rooivalk attack helicopter that can be on call from the FOB. Unbeknownst to them, a Khemedi mechanised battalion is heading to the FOB to neutralise the UN position.
My plan is to fight the FAST Company game this weekend..

Brilliant can't wait to follow this. Great work Neil

Cheers

Richard P

[URL=http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/noelos99/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-08/20160807_205458_zpsuueoxghe.jpg.html]

Khemikhal looking north. The marines FAST company entered from the Northern edge, the khemed regulars from the west. The FAST infantry were actually rather slow thanks to some poor command rolls. Presumably they got lost in the dark. The Weapons Platoon were the stars of the show. They made great speed up to the light grey tall building on the left with the mortar outside. From there the HMG and sniper poured a great deal of suppression fire on the advancing enemy. They couldn't stop them all however and a Platoon of khemed infantry advanced up the coast road and made it into the compound. One stand even boarded the corvette.

[URL=http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/noelos99/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-08/20160807_223638_zpsurb66uma.jpg.html]

The 3rd FAST Platoon, top right, eventually stormed the compound in turn 11, ousting the last two khemed infantry leaving them with only two mortars and two infantry in the town. They couldn't contest the Marines hold and do beat a hasty retreat back into the darkness. A good game, some command blunders that really didn't help either side and it ended in a brutal short range firefight to decide the game. A win for the US to start the campaign. Now they need to start landing the MEB...

Like the shipping.

IanS

Thanks Ian- foam card, masking tape and a spare lunch hour at work and then a bit of scrap from the bits box and a paint job in an evening!

And we're off

Great stuff Neil, looking forward to more updates from Khemed. Nice naval forces.

Cheers

Richard P

Cracking scratch builds there, boats and cranes! Well done the Marine heavy weapons

Hi Neil, quick question in your Khemed 2.0 Map Movement file it states

Map moves
Each force can move two hexes per day. If all their planned movement is via road, they can move up to 3 hexes. If movement occurs through or into hills/mountains/wadis, movement is reduced to two hexes. This is the same even if moving on roads, due to the precipitous nature and condition of the roads limiting movement.

Can I just check this is correct as it says each force can move 2 hexes but this is reduced to 2 hexes if moving into hills etc.

Cheers

Richard P

Sorry, nor very clear was it? The perils of juat writing it for oneself! If a force is moving on a road, they can move 3 hexes. But if that road goes through a hilly area, its reduced back down to two, even if they're travelling on a road.
Which means that forces don't need to move via the roads when travelling through hills, which doesn't sound very realistic, does it? I think I'll change it and keep it to 3 hexes if via Road, 2 hexes otherwise and maybe reduce off-load travel in hilly areas to one hex. Better, do you think? The UN game will follow next...

Maybe keep the 2 Hexes on the hilly roads as I think the terrain of Khemed and the quality of the roads probably merits it. 3 Hexes on main roads, 2 Hexes on normal ground and 1 Hex off road in rough/hilly terrain.

Looking forward to the UN game.

Cheers

Richard P

Just bought a copy of the 'Solo Wargaming Guide' by William Silvester. Great little book and with some useful ideas for campaigns that should come in handy next year.

Cheers

Richard P

With the wife away for the night and the kids in bed at a reasonable hour, I got the next khemed game fought last night. The UN sent a strong patrol North towards the rebel stronghold of Tel el Esdi and encountered a force moving south...
The UN forces began with two SADF platoons dismounted and checking out a village in the middle of the table. The Irish were in overwatch or on a fag break on the hill to the south. Khemed forces were to enter the table at random points, as determined by a D8 and a direction finder.

The SADF scouting out the recently deserted village...

[URL=http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/noelos99/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-10/20161029_220747_zpsbwbpcu6q.jpg.html]

The first unit to enter was a mech platoon of BMP-2'S and a mortar. They immediately caused havoc, knocking out an Irish moral, still with its infantry mounted. With enemy forces advancing from the east and west, the SADF immediately began to withdraw. The Irish platoons on the hill and covering the road put down some suppressive fire[URL=http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/noelos99/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-10/20161029_220822_zps2opuswxs.jpg.html]

The UN called in their helicopter support, a Rooivalk gunship (I use the ah1 Cobra stats) twice in succession but the deviation was too much to make any headway. By turn four, the khemed forces had a motor platoon arriving in the right rear flank, however a khemed blunder caused problems. The UN then rolled an air support bonus and the gunship caused havoc, knocking out two BMP-2's and suppressing infantry. The SADF HQ then countered with a blunder of their own, knocking out infantry and trucks![URL=http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/noelos99/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-10/20161029_231510_zpszkx5xzak.jpg.html]

At this point, it was getting way past my bed time so I called it a tactical victory for the UN. They had already withdrawn an Irish platoon and the rooivalk had taken out the nearest enemy. So the khemed commander was happy to let them go. Post -battle repair rolls have seen the UN suffer relatively badly with a number of infantry and a mowag lost for good. The Ratel 90 was worth its weight though, accounting for a bmp2 and some infantry plus suppressing others. The main USMC landing will be next! In the meantime I need to complete some 'Notables', borrowing an element from Maurice as well as borrow some actual trucks from my Soviet collection for the khemed forces.

Excellent! Looking forward to more.
Cheers,
MarkJ

Brilliant as always Neil. Hopefully might get something similar up and running before the end of the year

Cheers

Richard P

PS like the idea of the 'Notables'. Be interesting to see how that works