Basic Training 102 with Tiger Troop (Forgotten Ruin)

 "Good show on the last exercise, Tiger Troop. Now we are going to dial things up a notch. You've seen what to expect from the basic opfor. We're adding some new stuff to this one."

The Colonel's cheery compliment was not actually that cheering. Tiger Troop was still perplexed by this focus on suicidal enemies. And why the rubber suits and funny weapons?

Sgt Panorama MacCaffery (left) and the A Team: Cpl. Justice Adeyemi, Pvt. Mary Smith, Pvt. Wigbert Osmaer, and Pvt. Tarquin Bjornson.

Panorama led her team out into the training field. Some new obstacles had been added to it. These included areas of brush.

"Great, we'll use that. When we get given the go order, move out and occupy the edge of the brush. It will give us cover. We've seen how the opfor operates. We can defend the line and cut them down as they come."

The soldiers all rushed forward as ordered and took up position.

Opfor to the top of the picture. Tiger Troop in the brush at the bottom of the picture.

As Pan and her people rushed into position, a group of yellow lizardmen streamed through a gap between a rocky formation and a stand of brush. They also became aware of a group of the green guys occupying a position behind a barricade on the right flank.

"No worries, team," Pan announced, "They'll charge us soon enough."

Her confidence was unfounded. Even as Tarquin opened up with the grenade launcher, cutting down two lizardpeople, and a burst of fire from Mary's SAW took out another two, suddenly the orcs behind the barricade let loose a volley of arrows.

Justice sniggered when she saw them drawing the antiquated bows to shoot, but her laughter was cut short as both she and Wigbert were KOd without even firing a shot. As she lay there, she cringed at the thought of the ribbing and banter in the mess that night. However, the fire at the lizardpeople was enough to cause one of them to run. A single lizardperson charged towards Mary.

Seconds later, Mary was out of the fight too. Pan cursed. Meanwhile Tarquin dropped a grenade at the end of the barricade and took out three of the orc archers. The remaining archers fired at Pan but missed. The lizard person charged in and did not miss. Pan fought with the fury of a thousand devils, but the lizardperson still clubbed her to the ground.

Standing amid the still bodies of his comrades, Tarquin calmly reloaded his grenade launcher and dropped a grenade at the other end of the barricade. The orc archers all dropped to the ground, out of the fight. With only Tarquin still standing, the lizardperson howled a victory cry and charged at Tarquin, who coolly turned and clubbed it on the head. It fell and lay still. He smirked a bit, knowing that he would not be buying the drinks tonight, but he knew better than to let Pan see his smile.

Well, that went completely differently to the last game. Every opfor shot that hit took a soldier out, and the opfor was rolling well for hits. I really thought it was all over for the A Team, but Tarquin held the line and did what needed to be done. It highlighted that quantity has a quality all of its own, as someone once said. If you are rolling six times to hit and need a six to hit, chances are that you will get at least one six (unless it is me rolling for my side!). Also, hand-to-hand combat is balanced in favour of the bad guys until the soldiers can get some proper melee weapons. It's useful to see all this before starting a campaign.