Up Close and Personal in Africa (Warfighter)

 It's been a while, so I dug out Warfighter instead of working on the terrain I need for the next Rangers of Shadow Deep mission. I regret nothing! I picked the French as the friendlies and the African warlord hostiles. This is still my favourite pack because it has the "save the elephants" mission. I also quite enjoy the extra challenge of the hot environment, which can slow you down.

The commander had ordered Sergeant Capron to take his fire team and clear out the poachers from the area. Grabbing Corporal Durand, and Privates Swift and Bertrand, he proceeded to brief them. The enemy was massing in the area, so they would have a tought fight of it. Worse yet, they had a ways to go, so they would have to pack light. Loading up for close combat, the fire team headed out.

The mission is close combat, which means that all the hostiles will duck up in the same location as the foremost soldier. Many hostiles have other rules for placement, such as being placed in the objective location or behind the troops or some variant thereof, but this mission means getting up close and personal with the hostiles from the second you start the mission. The objective for this scenario is to clear the objective location of all hostiles. That means it is going to get messy.

The fire team was barely out of the gates of the base before hostiles showed up. Half a dozen gunmen leapt out of concealment but the team's superior training and firepower told. Despite being outnumbered, the hostile gunmen and RPG crews were soon suppressed and then killed by a combination of rifle fire and thrown grenades.

Although they would normally have been placed in the grassy fields location that was the first area to move through, because of the mission conditions, all the hostiles were placed in the mission card with the fire team the second I placed the first location. That was scary.

As the team advanced across the grassy fields and pastures of a nearby village, they were assaulted once more by hordes of gunmen. Once more they laid down as much fire as they could before moving into the village, where yet more gunmen and machine-gun teams waited to ambush them. The team were running short on grenades now, and the heat was taking its toll and slowing them down, but their objective was in sight. They only had to cross the village's farmland, ford a river and they would be there. The water of the river looked enticing at this distance as the drained their canteens and prepared to advance.

Once more, the hostiles threw themselves out of cover and tried to slaughter the team. Capron took a bullet in the shoulder, but shook it off.

"It's just a flesh wound," he announced. The others could see that it was slowing him down though.

The team pushed on to the river. It looks quiet but appearances can be desceptive. More hostiles emerged and rained firepower down on the team. Suddenly, an unseen ambusher leapt out and fired a burst at Bertrand. The plucky private died in the middle of the river. The others cut the ambusher down in a hail of lead and emerged on the objective.

An IED went off startling them all. Fortunately no one was hurt and Capron was able to lead the team round some very hungry-looking hippos into the objective where a group of villagers were gathered, drinking sweet tea, singing and arranging flowers. Apart from the singing and the disgruntled murmuring of the locals, there was no other sound, and there were no hostiles either.

Capron reported the objective clear and led his team back to base.

Well, that was a first. It was a hard fight all the way to the objective and then the objective points requirement was met by drawing three event cards and no hostiles. The IED suppressed my troops, I spent experience points to avoid the hungry hippos, and the local meeting did not require me to do anything because I was in the final location I needed to move into and had plenty of time. That meant I just advanced the timer and the mission was over. I have no idea why the local meeting was so heavily guarded or even if the two things were connected, but it made an interesting finish to the game.

In subsequent missions, Capron and his team took out a poacher stronghold, used a dust storm to sneak up on some poachers and drive them off from the elephants they were hunting, and defended a local village against hostiles. As the team was retreating from the village they had defended, the poachers massed in strength and pursued them. It was a hard fought battle even with the armoured support that had turned up. Unfortunately, Capron died within sight of the base gates, the bodies of his team strung out along the route back from the huts.

I played half a dozen more missions with the same two player soldiers and mostly the same squad soldiers after the mission written up here. All went well until the escape mission where the team had the misfortune of suddenly discovering that the hostiles had set up two heavy machine-gun nests outside their objective. Between that and the huge number of reinforcements that appeared, they were overwhelmed and Capron was cut down one card away from his objective. It was a TPK. A sad end to a good series of games and my worst result yet in this game. On the other hand, if I won every time the game would get boring. I guess I can always run a rescue mission to free Capron, who, it unexpectedly turns out, was only wounded and was captured by the poachers.

I really do like how Warfighter generates interesting narratives through the play of the cards. Of course, I try to help it along by playing thematically appropriate locations too, rather than just looking at which locations offer the best advantage for me, but the random draws add an extra dimension to the stories that my soldiers will tell afterwards. Cracking good stuff that makes me feel like I am a movie action hero for a wee while!

Deadly Woman Yie: Pilot Episode (Warfighter: Shadow War)

 I've been playing a bit of Warfighter: Shadow War lately to try to get my head around the night rules. They are not that difficult, but they require you to track more things and it feels like my brain is ossifying lately. I mentioned the game to my poor, long-suffering friend Steve, because I thought it was quite cool tooling around in an SAS Land Rover with the Desert Storm: Operation Granby mission pack, as I have done for the last few games. His reluctance to play a Gulf War themed game is understandable, and I share it to some extent, but I got carried away with Land Rovers. So, I have decided to start a new military-themed K-drama to try to persuade him that Warfighter has merit and could be something we play at some point. I know he likes K-dramas.

Shadow War does not include a lot of player nations. Fortunately, it is 100% compatible with the main Warfighter game and the hostiles in the base game are North Korean. So, I grabbed the South Korea pack and set up a quick mission. Very quick, as it turned out. I picked the mission GO GO GO! because it is short but I did not expect it to be as short as it was. The mission card told me how many points I had. I then chose the objective which was to stop an escaping VIP by destroying his helicopter. After that, I picked the insertion and extraction method, in this case entrance and exit by Zodiac, with a view to what skills I would need for my soldier. I knew it would only be one soldier because 27 points does not buy you a lot, especially when you have to pay for night skills and gear.

Sergeant Yie is ready for action

The soldiers in the base game do not have Shadows skill or night vision goggles, which is the main difference between the two sets. Given that the game is about sneaking, I chose Shadows 8+ skill (the best you can get in the game) and a set of 3rd Gen Night Goggles for my soldier. I also picked out a suppressed K7 SMG and equipped it with 3 mags of heavy, subsonic ammo (Black Ammo: it makes less noise so you know it makes sense). Then I chose my soldier when I knew how many points I had left. Yie fit the bill nicely and there were a few points left over to buy a couple of grenades  in case things went south and some covert gear to improve her chances of things not going south.

Game setup. Dice tower to the right. My team at the bottom. Cards to draw at the top and the mission, objective, insertion and extraction cards on the game mat.

After that, it was time to see how the mission went. The chosen insertion method reduced the game length by two turns, so I would have to keep moving to succeed.

Deadly Woman Yie (Pilot episode)

Scene: A briefing room. An angry Major in army uniform is yelling at a young woman wearing the stripes of a sergeant.

"You're all we have, Sergeant Yie! If there were anyone else, I would use them! You're a maverick and a danger to all those around you! I don't even know how you have avoided being dismissed from the army so far! Well, don't mess this up! Your mission is to head to [REDACTED] Airfield and intercept General Vega M. Elk. We know he has been meeting with his North Korean counterpart to coordinate the activities of his Shadow Corps with their own actions to destabilise the Republic of Korea and our allies. GO THERE! GET HIM! AND DON'T MESS THIS UP!"

Spittle flew from Major E. Vent's mouth as he yelled this last. Yie was unmoved. She had heard it all before.

"Yes, Sir!" She affirmed and turned to go off and pack her gear, assuming that she was dismissed. Major Vent watched her back balefully.

Scene: A river bank. Text on the screen tells us this is [REDACTED], North Korea. A black rubber raiding craft approaches silently across the water. Understated music builds tension.

Sergeant Yie piloted her Zodiac into the reeds beside the river bank. She slipped stealthily over the side of the small boat into the shallow water and moved confidently but quietly forward. Ahead she could see the lights of a small airfield. She scanned the area carefully with her nightvision goggles, and spent a moment to consider the open field ahead of her. It was quiet. Too quiet. As she paused, hostiles approached.

 She had been right not to head out immediately. She sank back into the river bank and waited. The hostiles approached and she flipped on her goggles. It was a patrol of soldiers. They were sharing a cigarette and seemed oblivious to her presence. As she watched, they approached her position. She was ready to shoot if she had to, but she hoped they would pass her by ... for their sake.

Luckily for the hapless and careless soldiers, they just walked right past her. She moved out into the field, keeping low. Ahead she could see a black helicopter with the maroon Elk horns logo of General Elk on it. The pilot was doing pre-flight checks. Nearby she could make out more hostiles. She moved in and prepared to engage.

As she approached the hostiles, she got a better look at them. A trace of annoyance at herself flashed across her face.

"You're getting too jumpy, Yie," she muttered to herself, "Don't let what happened at [REDACTED] get to you. Focus! That was a bad time but you need to be here and now, not distracted by then."

What she had thought were hostiles turned out to be fuel drums stacked near the helipad. Just shadows. Not real.

She inched forward to just a few metres from the helicopter. From the cover of a tarpaulin-covered supply stack, she could see the hulking figure of General Elk in the back of the helicopter. She swung her K9 round and fired off a burst of rounds. The glass of the helicopter's windows shattered. General Elk twitched in the back. She was certain she had hit him. The pilot lifted the helicopter off and managed to get 20 metres up before she shifted aim from the General to him. A single snap shot killed him instantly and the helicopter plunged back to the helipad out of control spraying fuel all over.

A moment later the helicopter exploded.

"Mission complete," Yie told herself and moved swiftly but silently back to her Zodiac, the way lit by the glare of burning aviation fuel. She climbed into the raft and paddled quietly away.

Credits roll

Post credits scene: The camera focuses on the burning helicopter. A hulking, burning figure crawls from the wreckage, obviously hurt. A scarred face turns to camera as the figure lies on the ground and snarls at us.

Conclusion

That went a lot more smoothly than the games I played over the past few nights. The biggest hiccup was not drawing any location cards at the start, so my first turn involved using all my actions to draw cards. A single hostile who just walked right past my soldier was little threat. Having the helicopter only guarded by shadows was a serious bonus. The objective card only gave me 2 turns to destroy the helicopter, and you have to eliminate the hostiles first, because they screen it. Drawing cards that meant I automatically defeated the helicopter's defence rating was very handy. No reinforcements turned up, and being able to illuminate my exit point made it easier to get out. All in all, that went about as smoothly as a mission can, and the noise level never even got close to waking all the bad guys.

Let's hope the studios enjoyed this pilot episode and buy the series, so that Deadly Woman Yie can return in a new feature: Army of One.

If in doubt, accessorise!

 I've been very busy for the past month or so, and have had little motivation to set up and play a game or to paint figures. It happens every so often. Also, the weather is nice here, so walking in the hills and visiting fjords I have not previously visited is higher on my list of things to do. However, I managed to stimulate my interest in gaming once more by buying a packet of foamboard!

One of my gaming goals is to focus on the figures I have rather than buying into new things. I've been quite successful in this. I've bought new rules like Five Leagues from the Borderlands to use with existing figures, and I have bought new figures to expand existing collections, but I have not been distracted by entirely new projects. Obviously, stopping expanding existing collections and ceasing to buy new boardgames would also be a good thing, but I have not quite managed that yet. One way to slow these processes down is to accessorise existing projects. This is where the foamboard comes in.

Over the past week I have cobbled together a dice tower and card holder for Warfighter, and a dice tower for Five Leagues from the Borderlands. They are built from foamboard and decorated with artwork from the respective games that I printed out and glued on. I could have spent more time resizing the artwork and making the images fit better, but, honestly, I just could not be arsed. The Warfighter dice tower was the first one I made, using a pattern from Instructables and it is a bit wonkier than the Five Leagues dice tower. If I make another, I am sure it will be less wonky still. Doesn't matter though. I have new dice towers and am satisfied enough with them. Also, dice rolling through the foamboard baffles sounds really cool. I need to stop rolling the dice to hear the sound long enough to actually play a game!

The card holder is from Adventures in Creative Software:

I needed to cobble together an insert for the Warfighter action deck using boxes the cards came in, because this card holder is not large enough for the 100 or so cards in the action deck, but it is functional and keeps the cards together better than just placing them on the gameboard. Like the first dice tower, the card holder turned out a bit wonky, but it is still satisfying to have for the game, and keeps the cards together.

Operation Catch that Pigeon (Warfighter: Shadow War)

 Freundel was on his own for this one. It was a small mission where too many soldiers would be obvious. His mission was to sneak through to a small airbase on the edge of the small Eastern European town of Tristness, where he was to hijack a helicopter and get it back to base. He needed to move silently and quickly. With any luck, he would not make contact with the enemy at all, but he was geared up for bear just in case. A hunting knife at his side and his MP7 were all he really needed, but he also had his night goggles, the best boots money could buy and a selection of ammunition and grenades in case the proverbial fecal matter hit the whirling blades.

The chopper touched down. There was a road block ahead. He moved into position only to realise that there was a sentry right beside him. Fortunately, the sentry was more interested in his Gauloise than in keeping look out. A single shot from the suppressed MP7 downed the sentry, and Freundel pulled the poor sod into cover.

"Hah, I did that one left-handed," he muttered to himself.

Just as well he had concealed the body, because a Hind was hovering over the street. It circled a couple of times before flying off. Lucky break.

Moving past the road block, Freundel wormed through the drainage ditches of a busy highway. Properly busy. Did everyone in this damned country drive BMPs? It sure seemed like it. BMPs, just the job for the school run. He ducked a couple of times as the BMP drove past, followed by a GAZ jeep. The vehicles roared off into the distance as several Gauloise-smoking civilians wandered down the street. They never even say Freundel, cloaked in the shadows as he was.

A suspected enemy soldier resolved itself into a rotary clothesline. Freundel mentally kicked himself for getting jumpy as he approached a checkpoint ahead just as a T72 passed through. It drove on, but paused as Freundel shot another guard who got to close. The commander got out his binos and scanned around but did not see Freundel. Moments later the T72 moved on and was soon lost from sight.

As he approached the airfield, Freundel heard another helicopter taking off, but it headed off in the opposite direction. He took out the guard at the airfield and began breaking into the helicopter. It did not take him long and very soon he was flying along in the nap of the earth towards his base. Mission complete.

I had a yen to play Warfighter: Shadow War this evening, so I dug it out and set up a solo mission. I was allowed one soldier and as much equipment as he could carry. Well, as much as I could afford for the fairly generous points allowance anyway. What has put me off playing this more so far are the extra rules for night actions. These cover noise, unaware enemies and what happens the balloon goes up and they all suddenly realise you are there. Luckily, in this game I did not need to worry about this last. It could have gone very differently if all the heavy machinery that I encountered had hung around.

Warfighter: Shadow War is a game of sneaking. You try not to make noise and look for ways to mitigate any noise you do make. If you make too much noise or hang around in areas where there are too many enemies, you will get spotted and then you will have to shoot your way out. I suppose with a full team, that might not be so bad, but I was playing with a single soldier, and would not have the firepower to do any more than take out individuals. So, sneaky was the watchword.

One potential problem for the player in this game is that the unaware enemies move randomly. I got lucky and many moved off out of the combat area, but I could easily have wound up with tanks and combat choppers hanging around in my location making life difficult for me if the dice had been a bit different.

All this makes it quite a different game from the daytime version of the game where blowing things up is de rigueur. This is a good thing. Shadow War is the scenes from the start of the movie where the heroes are stealing into the enemy compound to rain all-out thermonuclear heck down on the bad guys. Warfighter is the climactic scene at the end where everything gets blown up. There is room for both in my world.

'Warfighter: The Tactical Special Forces Card Game' from Dan Verssen Games: Some further thoughts

 I've played a couple of dozen games of Warfighter now, both on VASSAL and physically. So, it's time to follow up my previous reports with a few more thoughts. These are based on the content of the VASSAL module which you can buy direct from DVG and on the core module with a few expansions that I bought.

The VASSAL module

The VASSAL module includes the core game and expansions 1-47. That is a lot of content, but not everything released for the game at the time of writing. I am fairly sure that the additional expansions will be released as mods for the VASSAL module, but I have no idea when that will be.

Even though it states expansions 1-47, it does not include 47 expansions, because the Warfighter expansions in that series include the Warfighter: Shadow War and Warfighter PMC core games plus expansions for them. It's still a good lot of content though and offers plenty of options for your games.

One issue I found with the VASSAL module was that one of the Eastern European missions had the wrong card image, so I could not play it on VASSAL, because you need to be able to reference those images. I wrote to DVG about whether that mod would be updated but have not heard back. There might be other issues with the cards in the mods but I have not found those yet.

The VASSAL module is good and lets you get started playing with a wide variety of forces for player squads and adversaries. It is consistent in form, so you do not need to worry about differences in cards (more on this in the physical game below) and it includes the rules as part of the VASSAL module as well as two scenario books that set out missions with specific forces and objectives. I have not tried the scenario books, so cannot commment on them.

Using the VASSAL module is simple, so the game is easy to play with no need to spend time digging out the cards and setting up a playing area. As the whole set-up is consistent, whether or not it conforms to the most recent errata or not, there are no issues with sorting out the cards as I discuss for the physical game. My only issue with it is that I could do with a larger monitor than my current 27" one, so I do not have to scroll or zoom to get to different parts of the game board

When I bought the Modern VASSAL module, I also got the WW2 module. I am glad I started with the VASSAL modules. They gave me a good feel for the game at a decent price and showed me that I preferred the Modern version.

Warfighter 4th Edition

The core Modern game comes with US soldiers and equipment, Middle Eastern insurgent and military adversaries, and Jungle Cartel adversaries, plus the appropriate locations, counters, rules, board, one scenario book. This is all entirely playable out of the box.

The 4th edition also includes all the latest card updates. These have happened along the way as the game has developed and expanded to the point where there is an upgrade pack containing 360 cards for those with earlier versions of the game. If you are only going to play the 4th edition core game, you don't need the upgrade pack.

The upgrade pack also includes cards for the first nine expansions, which were released before the changes to the game. You simply swap out cards with the same name for those cards in the upgrade pack. It is fairly simple to do this, although it gets confusing because the card numbers are often not the same and there are a lot of questions about just this on the BGG forum, so it is not just me getting confused. Some of these expansions have been upgraded to the new cards, but others have not. When I bought my copies, I found I had a mix of the two. This will depend upon stock at the place you buy the game and when they got it in.

I'm glad I got the upgrade pack because of this, but it is also useful because having duplicate or triplicate cards for the equipment makes it easier to remember who is carrying what.

The issue comes when some of the cards ostensibly depicting the same equipment have been upgraded further. My 4th edition core game came with a MOLLE card that lets my troops carry more stuff, but the cost was more than in the other set this card came in, and I was not sure which was correct. Referencing the VASSAL module, I was given one stat set, but when I checked on the BGG forum, I realised the VASSAL version was out of date. Not a problem when it is consistent within the set, but confusing when putting together various expansions.

Another issue I have found was that the core game is meant to come with two of the MOLLE card but I only received one. I need to contact DVG customer service about this. In the meantime, I have printed out the version of the MOLLE that I am using and have pasted it onto the older version of the card so that my set is consistent.

My final issue to mention here is with the Australian set I bought. You get two copies of the AUG F88 rifle, but each of my two copies had different long range stats on them. I found out which was correct on the BGG group very quickly and also learned that the suppressed version, for which you only get one card, also had the wrong stats. It's a bit frustrating that these errors are present when you pay good money for these things, but I have pasted the correct stats onto the card, so it is not a total loss. I'll be copying and pasting the most up-to-date versions of the stats onto any other cards with similar errors. It's not elegant but it does the job. One other thing I have done is to copy and paste the most commonly used weapons (in my case grenades) onto spare weapons cards, so that I have enough to go around. This is a good way to use the cards that have been removed from the set for being outdated.

The Verdict

It really is a fun game and a lot more interesting than I initially thought when I first read about it. Each game plays out like scenes from a movie and the sorts of tactics that I feel ought to work in real life do work in the game, as long as the dice do not mess things up for you. Playing a series of games with the same soldiers can result in you getting attached to them, and it gets to feel like a role-playing game at times.

Overall, the physical game wins out despite the slight irritations. I spend all day at work using a computer screen and don't particularly want to stare at one in my downtime too. Shuffling and moving the physical components is also a large part of my preferred gaming experience, and is far superior to clicking and dragging. That said, getting the computer to do the shuffling for you certainly does save on picking up the cards from the floor when I drop them. That happens all too often these days!

The actual physical components feel sturdy and good quality. The downside of the physical game is the footprint on the table. You'll likely use a large part of the typical dining table to get set up, although people do suggest ways of reducing the game's footprints, such as card holders that keep your cards upright.

There are a lot of expansions for the game. You get a large number of them in the VASSAL module and it would cost a fair bit of money to match that in the physical version. That said, you don't need all of them to play. There is a good game to be played right out of the box. I don't see me buying every expansion, simply because not all are of interest, but I could certainly be tempted by a few more, and adversaries packs that control the opposing force are more likely to tempt me than more nations ... well, unless they add the Norwegian army ...

With all this in mind, I very much hope that they get around to the Near Future/Cyberpunk version soon. I would love to use this system to build and run a cyberpunk gang, hacking my way past security and running extremely hostile corporate takeovers.

A Walk in the Light Green 10: Take 'Em Out (Warfighter campaign)

 This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the tenth and final game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game.

So, I started trying to write this in the style of Jerry Ahern's Survivalist novels because I thought it would be fun and it felt nostalgic as I had read a few of them in the eighties. I gave up. This post would have been ten times the length it currently is. Enjoy the first part, just the same, and please forgive me for not describing the weapons, bullet weights and muzzle velocities in more detail! I promise to attempt more brand-aware game reports another time.

"Gray, we got them on the ropes. Here's the target package for the last of the poachers in this area. Time to take 'em out. You've done a great job so far and I'm giving you all the resources available. Pull this off and you can get some R&R. Take Ross with you and show him the ropes. He'll be taking over from you while you're opening tinnies on the beach back home."

Gray looked through the package briefly, saluted and left. Time to gather his team and brief them. Ross was a fire-eater with a good track record in other theatres but relatively new in Bwendi. Chances were he would be a good replacement for Gray though. The rest of the team knew Gray from previous missions and they had worked together well throughout the current campaign. Gray laid out the mission for them.

It was going to be a long trek in the heat, so they would not be able to pack much in, but they could expect a parachute drop of supplies half way to the poacher's camp. That should help them restock and make the final push. It also meant they did not need to conserve ammo in the first half of the mission. With the team briefed, they moved out.

Cradling the weight of his SIG MCX lightly in his arms, Gray ordered Reid to take point. The experienced soldier had good eyes and was packing enough grenades to start a fireworks show.

"Hippos," muttered Reid, "Why did it have to be hippos?"

The river ahead was devoid of cover, and surrounded by open fields. A civilian caravan was passing nearby. Not a lot the team could do other than hope they did not alert the poachers further down the route. Worse yet, hippos were enjoying the cool water of the river. Reid directed the team around the hippos to a safer crossing point. Safer merely meant that the team had the drop on the poachers lounging near it. A group of guards were chilling with their feet in the water. A nervous kid looking uncomfortable with the 4kg weight of his AK was near them. More worrying were the gunman and his crew who looked experienced and watchful.

Reid pressed forward on his belly through what little cover there was. As soon as he was close enough, he threw an F1 grenade at the gunman. 30g of RDX detonated, sending metal shards flying at lethal speeds through the gunman and one of his crew. The other fled as fast as he could.

Evans, following Reid in, lobbed another F1 at the gunmen chilling by the water. One of them disappeared into the water in a spray of blood and flesh. He would be food for the hippos soon enough. The other froze just long enough for several 5.56x45mm NATO rounds to rip through him as the whole team opened up.

The kid rabbited, dropping his AK behind him in his haste to get away.

The team secured the area quickly and began to cross the river. As they did so, two more poachers emerged from the brush. Ross detonated the Claymore he had deployed as soon as he was over the river. Around 700 steel ball bearings shredded the brush and two of the poachers at around 1200 metres per second. The hippos were going to have to drink these guys. The other was wounded and ducked into cover. Gray gave the order to smoke him out.

A blast of 5.56mm rounds soon put paid to the guy, but a jumpy looking guy leapt out of ambush at the same time, only to fall to another hail of hot lead, just as Gray had got the team ready to move out. Ahead lay some of the traditional Bwendi domed huts. The team moved in and suddenly found that the area was hot. Gray cursed.

"Damned caravan must have warned them."

Then there was a sudden explosion. A local meeting erupted into chaos as someone had clearly goofed in priming their bombs. People ran in every direction as the team moved in. Unfortunately, the poachers stationed here looked looked like a main force with leadership and they were dug in. Gray called in the drone. The officer and his crew disappeared in a pink mist as the bombs scored a direct hit. The chopper's minigun put paid to another squad of hostiles as hundreds of rounds of 7.62mm bullets tore through them in a classic case of peace through superior firepower.

Under cover of the noise of the explosions and the dust from them, the team moved in, throwing grenades and firing long bursts until the only noise left in this village was a the ringing in their ears.

"Right, let's move on before those locals warn anyone else," Gray commanded and got his team ready to move on.

Unfortunately, the grassy fields beyond the huts were heaving with heavily armed poachers. Reid took point again, throwing a grenade at a group of riflemen idling on the edge of the corn, causing them to get their heads down. He followed up with a grenade at a group of inexperienced riflemen who were bunched closely enough together to make them too tempting a target. Evans followed closely behind him and dropped a grenade on a machinegun team that slowed them down enough for Gray to move in, fire a burst of 5.56mm that shut them down for good, and then called in the drone once more to drop a heavy load of high explosive on a more experienced looking group of riflemen. Pearce, Rogers and Ross followed closely behind as Gray took out a hostile with an RPG who had just popped up, and their combined fire cleared the way across the field.

The men were sweating and their mouths dry, but they needed to keep moving to hit their target. Time was running out but they were functioning well as a team despite the heat, and they were nearly at the supply drop. Good job too, because they had used up all their F1 grenades and were going to need a case or two of 5.56mm ammo to keep them going.

The rocky lake that was the RV for the supply drop lay ahead of them. The midday sun burned down. Unfortunately, there was little time to stare into the water and contemplate their place in the universe, because the poachers were dug in around the lake. Two machine-gun teams, a sniper and a bunch of riflemen were waiting. Fortunately, the team had remained unseen so far. Gray gave the order.

"Rapid fire! Take the bastards out!"

A hail of copper-jacketed lead streaked towards the hostiles, as the drone dropped high explosive on the machine-gun cart and those with grenades left ensured that the poachers were fed as much RDX as they could stomach. In short order, the drop zone was secured and Gray called it in. The team resupplied, filled their canteens from the lake and prepared to head out on the second leg of their mission.

The hot plains beyond the lake were a massive contrast to the cool waters of the lake. The soldiers cursed the heat and licked dry lips. Their only consolation was that the hostiles were obviously no fans of the heat either. Those few hostiles who were out in the heat were not paying attention and it was a simple matter to rain lead on them until the heat ceased to bother them.

The river ahead looked like a place of refuge, but it was not to be. The hostiles were here in force. Worse yet, it looked like a prepared position. Reid, on point, spotted and IED and led the team around it, but things could have been bad there. Once more the heavy weapons were out. Reid pointed out to the rest of the team an RPG gunner and a dozen riflemen all looking menacing. Ross let rip a burst of high velocity lead and the RPG gunner dropped where he stood. Pearce lobbed an F1 at a group of gunmen, killing one and suppressing the rest. He followed up with a burst that killed another hostile. Rogers dropped a long rifleman with a well aimed burst and several of the other riflemen fled into the bush. The sight of their fellow being felled was too much for them. The remaining poachers were quickly disposed of with a combination of grenades and rifle fire.

Gray and his team paused to regroup and prepared to move on. They crossed the river carefully, dodging around a more professional-looking than usual group of poachers. Suddenly an ambusher ducked up. Ross sent several hundred ball bearings his way as he triggered the Claymore that he had set up as they secured their perimeter. The ambusher disappeared in a spray of blood. As they moved out of their crossing point, more riflemen could be seen. Evans and Reid threw F1s at them and the fragmenting casings shredded several of the poachers. The whole team then opened up with their rifles and filled the air with lead. This proved unhealthy for the remaining poachers. However, the team could see a hostile patrol approaching. Their objective was in sight though. Not long until they got their, although the obvious heavy machinegun emplacement was ominous.

Once across the river, the team had to make their way through a large village. Reid immediately spotted three RPG teams as well as sundry other riflemen. The enemy patrol had reached here too, so it was clearly time to dig out the big guns. Ross radioed battalion and got access to a mortar stonk that vapourised several of the riflemen and made the remaining one keep his head down. Gray brought the drone in and one of the RPG teams disappeared amid the dust and fire of a missile strike. A sniper from battalion dropped another rifleman. With two careful bursts, Gray neutralised two RPG teams and ordered his men into the village. The overwhelming firepower of the Aussie team quickly neutralised the rest of the hostiles, although they were now running low on grenades. Unfortunately, they were now in range of the heavy machinegun. A burst of heavy fire tagged Reid, who was on point. He was still mobile, but was slowed down now.

It was obvious that the team was now approaching the poachers' main camp and that the poachers were desperate. There were no fewer than three machinegun nests, an RPG gunner and one group of dug-in riflemen in the grassy plains before the objective. Ross called for mortar fire again, killing one machinegunner and wounding his assistant. The sniper took out another gunner, and the drone destroyed the machinegun nest on the objective. With most of the hostiles suppressed, the troops moved in and sprayed 5.56mm rounds on the enemy. Soon, none were standing and the team were preparing to move on the objective.

By now, the heat was really telling and the team were flagging. Only Gray and Ross seemed to be fully acclimated. The poacher camp ahead was heaving with hostiles. Gray cursed as he saw the guard hippos too.

"What is it with these damned hippos everywhere?" he muttered as he directed his team around them.

Ross called up the mortar one more time. The poachers' officer and his crew disappeared in a pink mist. The sniper's rifle cracked and a gunman fell. Gray called down another mortar strike and took out half of the machinegun crew. Reid moved into the objective first. His grenade made a bunch of gunmen keep their heads down and he took out two dug-in riflemen at close range with his rifle. They never even saw him coming. Evans closed in next and neutralised two groups of hostiles with his F1 grenades. Ross followed up next and quickly took out the last of the machinegun crew with a single shot to the head. The rest of the squad followed in short order and blasted everything that was moving until it stopped. As the dust cleared, they realised they had taken the poachers' camp.

Gray radioed in and called for extraction. The poachers would not bother this area of Bwendi again, although he doubted that was the end of the problem. Many of them would move quickly enough elsewhere, but that was a problem for the the top brass. He was heading home for a few tinnies by the beach with a satisfying sense of having done his job well.

Reid got wounded again, but Gray got him out of there, so he will just have more scars to impress his beloved with. Luckily, Ross drew the Shake It Off card straight after, so he could heal the wound and return Reid to fighting fitness there and then.

• + 11 VPs = 64 VPs. That's a solid strategic victory. Gray has won the campaign and driven the poachers out of the mission area.

With the campaign won, time for some reflection. I think I am down with the rules now and made few, if any, mistakes. The most difficult part is keeping track of where I am up to in the turn and making sure I work through it methodically. With the team I had, and recruiting an extra player soldier, this final mission felt unchallenging, although I am certain it would have got challenging if I had stopped thinking hard about where to attack and ensuring that the enemy were suppressed at all times. The fact that Reid got wounded is proof of that. I forgot I had moved into range of the heavy machinegun and Reid paid the price.

I have thoroughly enjoyed these forays into Warfighter. The game requires focus, some decent decision making and a bit of luck, which is really a good combination. Your decisions are meaningful and a moment's carelessness can cost you. The only negative point is the need to sort through the supplements to make sure you have the right versions of the cards. I noticed a couple of cards in the action deck that were wrong, but the numbers suggested they were from the update kit I bought, so I need to go back through all the spare cards and see if I have included in my action deck cards that should have been removed. That's fine though. I'm still convinced that my main hobby is organising my games and their storage rather than playing them.

So, with campaign over, I'm not sure whether to start another campaign or to play something else next. We'll see.

A Walk in the Light Green 9: Eliminate the threat

This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the ninth game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game.

Well, this has taken long enough to write up. I played this game over a month ago, but have since had a lot of family stuff to sort out, so it has languished in note form until now. Hopefully, I shall get the next scenario played and written up over the next week or so, now that things are returning back to whatever passes for normal these days.

"Time to take it to the poachers, Gray. I'm chucking all the resources at you for this, so don't fuck it up."

Gray looked over the mission brief. He had drone support, an attack helicopter and the whole squad for this one. It was going to be a hefty hike into the brush, but he reckoned they would be alright as long as they could dodge the damn hippos that were everywhere out here. If the poachers had gone for hippos instead of elephants, he was sure that his team would not have been deployed here in the first place because everyone seemed heartily sick of the damn things.

Still, even with all that support, he could not afford to relax. The team moved out and quickly encountered hostiles in Tempey village near the base. A brief firefight ensued and the hostiles were neutralised. Moving on through a local goat farm to a village by the river and then on to a smaller village and some rural housing on the other side, the team worked slowly and methodically to elimate the poachers as they went. It was a job that required them to stay focused as they moved through the various built-up areas.

The open plains beyond the housing were dangerous, but the air support helped a lot and the team were able to keep moving despite Reid taking a bullet in the leg that slowed him down. Then they navigated their way through a maze of huts that was also the feeding grounds of a bunch of hippos. I mean, what kind of person would make their home where hippos roamed?

Then it was on to the parched and baked plains beyond. The heat took its toll, but Gray kept the team motivated and they were able to move out quickly as a unit to their objective: the poachers' main camp. The team moved in. A combination of drone strikes, air support and grenades soon neutralised the whole camp, and the team were able to return home quickly with the sense of satisfaction that a job well done gives.

This time it was Reid that got wounded, but not too seriously. The team retained initiative throughout the mission, which made it easier to avoid getting shot at, and I rolled well for the heat, so they were not slowed down too much by that. Reid's wound can be attributed to too many soldiers suffering from the heat on one turn, but other than that, it was all good.

There is one more mission in the campaign. I hope that Gray can keep his shit together long enough to finish that final mission and go home for some well-deserved R&R.

• + 10 VPs = 54 VPs. This is currently a strategic victory. As long as Gray does not die next scenario, I reckon I can count this as won and the poachers driven out of the area.
• + 10 Mission Points. With 2 left over from last time, Gray has 12 MPs to spend. I buy him Hydrated, which means he can spend XPs to retain Hardy tokens, representing his better management of his fluid intake. I justify it to myself by noting that he is almost at the end of a tour of duty in a hot environment and must have learnt something along the way. I also buy Zeroed, which improves his chances of hitting and killing hostiles. After all, he is now a highly experienced combat veteran.

Mission Adjustments:

1. -1 Mission Time. I get one turn fewer in which to accomplish my goals again. That means the final mission will be 2 turns shorter.
2. +2 Locations.
3. +3 Skill Cost
4. -2 Loadout

A Walk in the Light Green 8: Hold the Town

This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the eighth game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game.

"The poachers are getting desperate, Gray. They are assaulting Moatoaa Town. Take your team and sort the situation out. I'm giving you some armoured support for this one. Don't break it."

Another day, another patrol through burning wastes. The reason why the current base was here was that the area was nigh on uninhabitable for humans, so no one had set up here before. The lizards seemed to love it. And Gray was going to have to march out of there. The map showed a grim route for humans. The team set out across the hot plains around the base. There were few hostiles on the plains, but things got hot round a nearby river. Fortunately, there were no restrictions on engagement. Gray booked in for drone support. That would even the score a bit along the way.

They swept aside a few more hostiles as they crossed the desert, climbed through the hills and onto the plains beyond. From here, they could see the outskirts of the city. Scattered houses and open fields made this approach dangerous and Harper took a bullet here. He was not badly hurt but it slowed him down.

An explosion rocked the village ahead. The armoured support must have hit an ammo dump. That discouraged the hostiles from coming in there, but the goat farm beyond that was still defended.

The team just put their heads down and worked methodically towards their goal. Soon they were in the town. Picking their shots, they soon took out the hostiles occupying the town, and radioed that the place was clear for the support team to move in and consolidate this gain.

Harper copped one again, but he will recover. Another solid success although time was tight by the end of this game. The extra two locations to move through and the heat really slowed the team down. It felt like about half the team was suffering reduced numbers of actions because of the heat at any one time. I really like having the drone support. It's quite effective in this situation where there are not too many locations where collateral damage is an issue. The situation is interesting too. The hostiles are generally not that hard to deal with (with some notable exceptions) but the environment slows you down a lot. This differs from the Eastern Europeans where there are some seriously dangerous hostiles that are hard to deal with, but you don't get slowed by the environment.

• + 10 VPs = 44 VPs. Even if the campaign ends next scenario, Gray has done really well.
• + 10 Mission Points. I bought Gray the Veteran skill. I think he has earned it now.

Mission Adjustments:

1. -1 Mission Time. I get one turn fewer in which to accomplish my goals from now on. With the increased locations, this means longer missions but less time to complete them in
2. +2 Locations.
3. +3 Skill Cost
4. -2 Loadout

A Walk in the Light Green 7: Overwhelmed

This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the seventh game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game. 

The patrol had gone well but suddenly the area was swarming with poachers. Gray cursed. Then he cursed again when he saw the dust storm coming in.

"Ok, troops, we gotta get outta here. The dust storm will be unpleasant, but at least it will give us some cover. Move out!"

This is an escape mission, which means Gray needs to get from the objective card on the right to the mission card on the left. When his team reaches there, they have won. Hostiles will be generated along the way, but many will also be generated behind Gray and will be chasing him. The dust storm provides cover and means that all attacks have to be made at point-blank range. No snipers in this mission. The other disadvantage is that the mission has a loadout penalty of 6 which is added to the 2 points from the mission adjustments. That means that Gray can barely carry his rifle and ammo, and will have little else with him. Of course, wearing a MOLLE in this situation helps.

The men grabbed what gear they could and set off through a maze of huts on the outskirts of a rural town. The place was heaving with hostiles and more were chasing them from behind. Fortunately, Gray was rapidly becoming a good leader and they were a good team. Working together, they neutralised the hostiles as fast as they could, barely stopping in the process. The hostiles from the objective were always moving towards them though, so there was no time to rest.

The heat was bad. The team struggled to focus on their task. Their shots were pure instinct as the sweat poured into their eyes.

The cover of the houses on the outskirts of town was a blessed relief, as was the rocky lake beyond it. had not time to really enjoy the shade and cool water before they were moving on again. Unexpectedly, a machine-gun team opened up from close buy. Harper yelled as bullets ripped into him. He was lucky to be alive, but he was not going to be much use from now on. His mates half.dragged, half-pulled him down the sun.baked road, barely able to stand in this heat themselves. Then they repeated the process across the hot plains beyond to the camp.

With only a few rounds left each, the team piled into the shelter of their camp, and the enemy gave up the chase. They had lived to drink a few tinnies again.

Well, Harper copped one but we got him back to base. No fatalities makes this another victory.

• + 8 VPs = 34 VPs. Gray is well on his way to actually stopping this gang of poachers.
• + 8 Mission Points. I bought Gray the Shooter skill to make him more effective with his rifle.

Mission Adjustments:

1. +1 Location. All future missions will require the team to move through an additional location card to get to the objective. with the previous +1 location, that means each mission is now 2 locations longer.
2. +3 Skill Cost
3. -2 Loadout

A Walk in the Light Green 6: Hold the Huts

  This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the sixth game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game.

"Gray, your mission, is to move out to Belengo Village and stop the poachers moving in there. We expect heavy and active assaults by the enemy, so be prepared."

Gray gathered his team and briefed them. They seemed relieved for a change. Apparently, sheltering in huts while shooting hostiles appealed to them more than marching across blasted hot tracts of land while shooting hostiles.

Unbeknown to Gray and high command, the poachers were trying to make Belengo Village into their new base. The hostiles would be up close and personal as the men patrolled to the village.

In game terms, the mission would involve placing any newly generated hostiles in the same location as the soldier closest to the objective. This could get tricky, if reinforcements were generated, because it was likely that the team would not be able to neutralise them before they could fire.

As the team advanced on a nearby village by a river, the village was rocked by an explosion. Ducking down, the team made their way slowly into the village, engaged them and neutralised them. The explosion seemed to have discouraged other poachers from getting closer though, so that was a blessing.

Moving on, the team entered a village where the grateful locals mobbed them and plied them with fizzy drinks, after the hostiles had been driven off. This did delay the team but they needed the break.

The delay is represented by moving the objective one location further away, so the team will need to move through an additional location, adding at least one turn to the time it will take to complete the mission.

The tins of drink came in handy as the next stage of the patrol was across a dusty, dry plain and they needed several of the tins to keep going. Fortunately, the plains gave way to low hills and the men could take a brief respite from the heat, while contemplating the futility of their existence in a rocky lake.

Then they moved out and occupied Belengo Village. There were hostiles already there, but a few grenades saw them off, and the reinforcements were swiftly discouraged by heavy fire and more grenades. Mission accomplished.

Another mission with no casualties! I also like how the location cards seem to tell the story of the journey for me.

• +6 VPs = 26 VPs. Very nice.
• +6 Mission Points. I bought Gray the Operator skill. It increases the number of cards he can have, which will make the larger missions easier for him to command.

Mission Adjustments:

1. +1 Location. All future missions will require the team to move through an additional location card to get to the objective
2. +3 Skill Cost
3. -2 Loadout

A Walk in the Light Green 5: Topple the Citadel

 This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the fifth game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game.

"Hey, Gray, you're not up to much lately and you're good with explosives. Take a team and destroy that poachers' citadel."

Gray nodded and went to collect his team. As usual, they were unimpressed by the thought of a walk in the mid-day sun, especially when it was lasagne and fries for dinner, and they might miss it as a result of this patrol.

The team geared up, put on their sunscreen and headed out. The heat was merciless and they had to take frequent rest breaks, making the patrol even slower.

Gray led the charge into a large village and they blasted aside the defenders. Taking point again, he advanced into the outskirts of the village next to the river and blasted aside the heavy defence there. The poachers were very clearly based in the area and this village was both hot and full of non-combatants that they had to be careful about injuring.

After clearing out the hostiles, there was some respite from the heat as they crossed a nearby river, although the hostiles on the banks tried to make it hot for them. A bigger problem were the hippos in the river around the citadel. These were truly hungry, hungry hippos. Gray wondered idly if their presence was deliberate on the part of the poachers or just a coincidence. Still, he was experienced enough to spot a route past the hippos without any of his men winding up on the wrong side of a hippo. That would be the inside, in case you were wondering.

The defenders of the citadel were fairly easy to deal with and Gray deployed explosives around the place, razing it to the ground. Mission complete, and they would still get back to camp in time for dinner.

Another mission with no casualties, which is nice and even the random events seem not cause the team too many problems. Having a hippo guard at the citadel did make me chuckle though. Sounds like the kind of thing I would do if I were a warlord of some description.

• +5 VPs = 20 VPs. Gray is really making a difference here now.
• +5 Mission Points. I bought Gray the Point Blank skill to make him more effective when up close and personal with the enemy.

Mission Adjustments:

1. +1 Skill Cost cumulative with the previous increase, so skills now cost +3 points.
2. -2 Loadout

A Walk in the Light Green 4: The Warlord's Encampment

  This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the fourth game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game.

"Congratulations on destroying the fortress, Gray. I need you to take out the warlord's encampment near the elephant reserve. Poachers are gathering there, and you need to scatter them. You'll be working with a local guide here. He's going to ensure you get there without getting lost. Good luck."

Gray and the team had their orders. They picked up the guide and headed out into the heat once more.

Following the trail across the hot plains, the team drove off gunmen and emerged into the relative cool of the fields near the encampment. Turns out that those fields were hot too, and they had to be careful to avoid civilian casualties there, so they picked their targets and hunkered down in whatever cover they could find.

What is a heavy military presence doing the Agriculture Zone? I don't know but it complicated things a bit because you are not allowed to use weapons that can hit multiple targets in it so the guys had to switch to single shot.

Beyond the fields, lay a stronghold. They could see the warlord's camp beyond that. Fortunately, the stronghold was not somewhere they had to be. Grenades and auto fire burned through their ammo but took out the guards. Then it was on to the encampment. Once more, grenades and auto fire cleared a path, and Gray was able to lay the charges and blow the place to pieces. Job done. No one hurt. Time to go home.

Another mission with no casualties is always a bonus and this campaign is going nicely so far.

+5 VPs = 15 VPs. Nice.

+5 Mission Points. I bought Gray the Squad Leader skill. It seemed appropriate given that he is successfully leading teams.

Mission Adjustments: +1 Skill Cost cumulative with the previous increase, so skills now cost +2 points.

-2 Loadout

A Walk in the Light Green 3: Fortress Destruction (Warfighter in Africa)

 This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the third game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game.

"We've worked out where those poachers came from Gray. Gather your team and head out there. It's a fortress on the edge of Possessor's Crags near the suburbs of Landfall City. I know it's hot, but you need to go in and destroy the place before they move their base of operations. I suggest you take an Esky full of cans with you. You'll need the fluids."

Singh was delighted to get the news about a walk in the midday sun. So delighted that he sulked all the way to the jump-off point. The other two were less obviously unhappy about a walk in the sun. Or rather, a rough climb in the sun.

Fortunately, the team worked well together despite that. They climbed the crags towards the fortress, neutralising some untrained militia in the process. More untrained militia and poachers were occupying a small village at the top of the crags. These took a little longer but were fairly quickly neutralised. The heat slowed them down, but they systematically suppressed and then neutralised the hostiles. Then it was on to the fortress. A machine-gun team offered a real threat, but grenades and heavy fire let the team close on it and take it out. The other guards presented much less of a threat and were very quickly neutralised. Gray planted the explosives after they had neutralised all the hostiles at the fortress, and the walls came tumbling down.

The team withdrew to the pick-up point unharmed.

These games are getting quite samey to report. The basics of activating each location are to pile fire on the enemy to suppress them, and then to close and neutralise them with effective close range fire and grenades. This is easier where collateral damage is not a problem. Occasionally, the hostile deck throws up something a bit weird and wonderful that makes things hairier or the dice do not cooperate, but the basic tactics remain the same. I'm not sure how interesting that is to read, so I plan to make the subsequent reports in this campaign more summaries that note interesting happenings.

+4 VPs = 10 VPs. Going nicely so far.

+4 Mission Points. I did not have enough points to buy Gray the skill I wanted so I save these until after the next mission. Hopefully, that goes well and I can buy it then.

Mission Adjustments: -1 loadout. This combines with the previous penalty so Gray now has a -2 loadout penalty and can carry 2 points less of equipment.

Skills cost +1 point.

A Walk in the Light Green 2: Save the Elephants (Warfighter in Africa)

 This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. This is the second game in the campaign. Click here to read the previous game.

 2nd Lieutenant Gray had blown up the holdout and obtained crucial information about the poachers' activities. The problem with doing a good job, he mused, was that it only led to more and harder work. At least this time it was worthy work though. He had recovered intel that pointed to the next poaching raid.

"Take Singh and Harper with you," his CO announced at the briefing, "then give those damn poachers a kicking."

Their orders were to patrol through farmland to the site of the anticipated attack and to eliminate all hostiles encountered. Singh and Harper looked delighted to be getting a walk in the hot sun but neither said anything. They did not need to, given the looks on their faces.

As the team approached the start of the mission area, they spotted enemy gunmen ahead. Singh closed on them quickly, killing one and taking the other out. Harper and Gray followed up, and Harper finished off the gunment. Gray sprayed fire towards an enemy patrol ahead, but not enough to completely keep their heads down. Harper got tagged by a shot. Just a flesh wound but enough to slow him down.

The three soldiers pushed forward fast to the objective, giving the patrol no chance to fire again. The objective area was a flat field near a drinking hole. Poachers were loafing nearby smoking and chatting, while another group of poachers were trying to rile them up and get them to focus on the ivory they were meant to be collecting.

The team opened fire. There were no rules here and they could freely hose the enemy down. The patrol went down to rapid fire. The relaxing guards quickly followed courtesy of a well-placed grenade. The remaining hostiles were mainly encouraged to get their heads down, only managing to fire a few shots that caused Singh to duck into what little cover there was while Harper sweated in the midday sun and struggled to keep up. Gray pushed the two soldiers on just the same.

A final couple of bursts of fire from the team sorted the remaining poachers and the team were done. These elephants would live to drink from this watering hole another day.

I've played this objective a few times and always found it difficult to win when playing low points count missions. I was seriously helped by drawing the Heavy Military Presence event which means that you can score multiple hits with burst and full auto fire. Normally, you need a weapon that has spray fire or grenades and claymores to score multiple hits. The down side to this card is that you run out of ammo faster. Fortunately, I drew Reload cards and cards that gave the team extra firing actions before we went in, so it was simpler than usual. Heat did not prove to be an issue, although it did cost me an action, but the action card draws made up for that too. All in all, the lads done good and will be rewarded by being given a more difficult job next time around.

+3 VPs = 6 VPs. A good start to the campaign.

+3 Mission Points. I bought Gray Explosives skill so that his grenade and claymore usage is more effective in future.

Mission Adjustment: Skills cost +1 point. It's going to be more expensive to buy new skills for Gray, but I was going to have to save up anyway now that I have the cheapest skills I was really interested in.

The -1 loadout adjustment still applies from before too. The accumulating mission adjustments make the game a bit more difficult while the skills that the player soldier gains make it easier. Depending how you roll, it could be a lot more difficult or just a bit. I would not like to play this objective with its time limit on clearing the area if I had rolled increases in number of hostiles in the zone.

As a final bonus, I think I managed to remember all the rules properly this time around!

A Walk in the Light Green 1: The Warlord's Holdout (Warfighter in Africa)

This Warfighter campaign uses the Warfighter Modern Australian pack as the player side and African Warlords packs 1 and 2 for the adversaries and missions. I love that there is a Save the Elephants objective, and I fully plan to replay it several times with different player forces. I was tempted to make this an early 1980s campaign and give the Australian side SLRs, but in the end I was weak and let them have ALL the toys.

 2nd Lieutenant Gray had been given a mission. Poachers in the Bwendi Republic were expanding their operations and needed stopping. He was going to be leading one of the special forces teams into the bush to deal with their operations, mop up resistance and generally make their activities untenable. Of course, he reflected, the top brass could do that better by providing opportunities and development that made poaching less lucrative for the warlords as it was, but he was going to do his bit on the ground.

His first mission was to infiltrate a local warlord's holdout and he was going in alone, unless you counted the chopper crew, who were ferrying him to his jump-off point.

To do the job, he was loaded down with all the Claymores and grenades he could carry and was going to have to climb to the top of this rather large mountain and blow shit up. That was why they paid him the big bucks. He was good at blowing shit up.

Touchdown. the climb began. Just a few very relaxed guards on duty here, but, Christ on a bike, it was hot. He should have brought a Camelbak with him. Next time. His first shots suppressed the guards and then he closed and finished them off. No trouble. Pause. Catch his breath. Move on.

The holdout was not well-guarded. He reckoned they thought people would not be idiotic enough to climb up to it the hard way. More fool them. Gray was a total idiot and knew it. What is more, he did not care. The guards were more alert here. They'd heard the shots. That did not help them. He cleared the way to the main compound with a grenade and started planting the charges. As he did so, he found a note about a poaching operation that was due to start soon. Base would want to know about that.

Time to make like a banana and split. As he ducked down the slope back to the chopper, the charges blew and the holdout was destroyed. Score one for the good guys.

3 VPs in the bag.

I used the 3 Mission Points that were scored to buy Agile skill. If Gray is going to be climbing more mountains, the extra movement point will come in handy.

The Mission Adjustment dice roll for the next mission was -1 loadout for all new missions. That's one fewer grenade that Gray can carry or anything of similar size. That could hurt on later missions where the troops have to go in light anyway. We'll see.

The Environment (Hot) did not affect the game significantly, but I'm going to make sure he has a canteen or two in future games so that he does not lose actions due to being too hot. Failing the heat roll means getting Suppressed or taking a Wound, unless you have equipment to mitigate the failure. The former will slow you down, which you don't need. The latter reduces the number of cards you can draw and is really quite undesirable. Water or other means of hydration are your friend.