So my first NEIS patrol action in rural NI.

 

 

The Brits were a section moving up a rural lane to investigate a sighting of a possible IVCP (illegal vehicle check point) reported near the crossroads.

 

There were two bricks:

 

Cpl Holland

Pt Kirkham GPMG

Pt Oldham

Pt Noel

 

L/Cpl Roberts

Pt Lamb

Pt Simms

Pt Watts

 

The Brits

 

Lying in wait were a PIRA team from the South Armagh Brigade:

 

Vol Murphy    Leader

Vol Hughes

Vol Martin

Vol Carragher

Vol Cumiskey

Vol McDonald            M60

Vol Mines

Vol Dogherty

Vol Meehan

Neither side had spotted the other at this point, but that was all about to change.

I diced for set up and perhaps should have tweaked it. The two sides were very close from the start. I reckoned that although the rules allow line of site firing through up to 4” of consecutive woodlands it was unlikely they would actually be able to know of each others presence at this stage. There was 4” of consecutive woodland but knowing what the roads and the hedges are like in Ireland I decided they would have to dice to determine if they could see each other through the hedgerows. They both failed their dice throws!

 

So the Cpl Holland activated on Phase 1 Turn 1 with a 4 and moved the three men on the road with him and one of the guys off road into the small copse and himself for free. There was no enemy in sight and they all moved a standard 3” move on patrol. Holland’s stress went up to 1.

 

Murphy diced for his activation points and scored a 4 as well. The Brit patrol had just reached the corner – I wondered if this should have triggered a reaction in the Brit turn but I decided that as it was a standard patrol the point man would not idly wander into the crossroads and his three inch move took him up to but not beyond the corner so I left him lurking. PIRA made their dice throw to spot through the hedge this time however, so Murphy activated McDonald with the M60 and his sidekick Mines to fire at the patrol at the corner.

 

That made a firepower point each plus2 for the M60 so 1+1+2=4

4 Dice for Shock came up with 3 pins! Not surprising I suppose being opened up on at that range with a previously unseen M60! But the Kill dice failed miserably. (actually I realise now that there was a 1 on the Kill dice and there should have been an ammo problem – (next time!).

 

Murphy used his remaining two activation points to get two of his men in the trees to his left to fire at the Brits emerging from the copse opposite.

Just 2 firepower points here so 2 shock dice = 1 pin but no hit again.

 

The Brits had just taken beating – 3 pins on the road unit so a morale test needed 4,5 or 6 – a 6! The Brits were pinned but not pushed back. The other brick in the woods easily passed the 1 pin morale check.

 

Disaster now struck and on his next activation Holland threw a 1 – exhausted and no more activations this Phase.

 

Murphy made the most of this and threw a 5 – 1 = another 4. Same again. This time only 2 pins on the road guys and one on the tree huggers. This did mean there were two pins on Pt Oldham on point and he retreated 3” immediately. The Brits tested morale again and passed.

 

The position at the end of Phase 1 turn 2

 

As Holland was exhausted Murphy went again, the time ending with 3 activation points. If he wasn’t getting exhausted however it looked as if his men were as they achieved no pins and no kills. Things still looked pretty bad for the Brits however.

The Brits all hug the ground.

 

 

Murphy decided that he wanted to be able to clear his 3 points of exhaustion in one go so he voluntarily ended his phase.

Nobody had got their victory yet – PIRA no kills and the Brits hadn’t cleared the crossroads, and nobody was ready to run off yet. So on to phase 2.

 

Phase 2 Turn 1

Things looking bleak from the Brits. (In a bigger/more historical game there would be other sections on the way at this point-maybe a helicopter maybe not – in the early 70s they were available but not on the cab rank gunship in the air at all times approach of later years.)

 

Holland came good this time though and cleared his exhaustion and threw a 5 for activation points. He had to unpin himself before he did anything of course. He cleared the road pins, leaving the guys in the copse to their own devices. This left no points for shooting and I wondered whether he should have unpinned some and used some to fire. Time would tell whether this was a canny or reckless decision.

 

Over to PIRA.

Murphy got rid of his exhaustion and threw a 1. He got the M60 firing again which delivered 1 pin and no kill and his turn was over.

This left the Brits at the end of Phase 2 Turn 1 in much better shape than they had been. PIRA were untouched.

 

In turn 2 Holland threw a 3 and cleared the pin on the road guys and activated Kirkham with the GPMG and Noel with his SLR. They returned fire at the M60 group and got 1 pin and 1 kill.

Things suddenly look pretty bad for PIRA but they passed their morale check.

 

Murphy throws a 2 -1 = 1 and orders one of the team in the tree line to shoot (hoping to get a kill so he can get the hell out having achieved something of his aim.) No pins no kills.

 

In turn 3 Phase 2 Holland throws a 6 -2 and cklears the pins in the wood and gets the GPMG and the road guys to open up on the M60 position. No pins but another kill.

PIRA remain remarkably of good morale and nobody slopes off either.

 

Murphy gets two guys in the tree line firing and scores no result.

 

In turn 4 Holland passes and Murphy gets a 6-3 and gets 2 pin on the Brits in the wood but no kill again!

 

The Brits faile their morale test on the unit in the copse and they retreat 3”.

 

Phase 3 – but no- Murphy decides enough is enough and pulls back. The Brits dice to see if they try and follow up. They don’t.

Final positions: PIRA are withdrawing leaving two wounded/dead and the Brits are regrouping and calling in support. All in all a bad day for the Fighting Men of Crossmaglen and environs. The Brits were lucky.

 

 

Thoughts:

On the scenario – not many. I just wanted to get some figures and play through a game to get a feel if I had been doing the bits right in isolation and see how the rules worked. It was obviously a bit limited but that was because I wanted to keep it simple. I will build in extra sections and support for the Brits at some stage and IED come on devices, command wires, extra PIRA units for the Republicans later.

Also I’d have started them a bit further apart to get more of a feel of pre-contact movement.

 

On the rules – I really like them. I know I made a couple of mistakes –I’ve mentioned forgetting the throwing 1 on the Kill dice should have triggered a low ammo result –which I forgot.

I think they are probably geared to a slightly higher tempo, higher level game than I put on here  - which isn’t a problem for what I have in mind. That is why I am deliberately confining myself to the 70s when there more firefights and attempts at station and OP takeovers by PIRA. Should work well for what I have in mind. I think I needed the tweaks on line of sight and ambush for what I want but that is because I am probably abusing the rules rather than using them exactly as intended. But that is NOT a criticism. Rather the reverse. It is a compliment that they can handle situations outside their intended range.

 

Good stuff!

Thanks Ivan.