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After Action Reports => Tabletop AARs => Topic started by: nevermore on October 01, 2013, 05:34:20 AM

Title: Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"
Post by: nevermore on October 01, 2013, 05:34:20 AM
The Ambush at Shatoy
Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"

Pictures from last months magazine

more photos on the website in the gallery section.

http://grimsbywargamessociety.webs.com/

The confrontation is based on an account found on Wikipedia of the battle of Taryshmardy or the ambush at Shatoy which was an attack by forces of an Arab-born commander Ibn al-Khattab near the town of Shatoy in the southern mountains of Chechnya, during the First Chechen War.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs7.postimg.org%2Fkuc4qlbzv%2F20121118110908_1.jpg&hash=cffd45e5c0ca3ba1f800582f29a17824898867b7) (http://postimage.org/)
screen shot tool (http://postimage.org/app.php)

The video of the ambush  real footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9v4lhglFgM

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs12.postimg.org%2Fom2nfyid9%2F20121118111658_1.jpg&hash=fdce40b7e7a281207f6b281a3696bc34714fb402) (http://postimage.org/)
screenshot app (http://postimage.org/app.php)

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs18.postimg.org%2Fjit0txtqh%2F20121118111753_5.jpg&hash=35f5a68569bb2ff92bb7b70b61b3c4611b34bc64) (http://postimage.org/)
images (http://postimage.org/)

According to the second-hand account by the Polish volunteer Mirosław Kuleba (aka Władysław Wilk/Mehmed Borz), Khattab's detachment of 43 men chose a "perfect ambush spot" with a ravine and a stream on one side and a forested slope on the other side of a serpentine mountain road:

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs8.postimg.org%2Fkk0r9m76t%2F20121118111428_2.jpg&hash=7572c71f4d9fd371c6195955ec9190d7593b3172) (http://postimage.org/)
photo share (http://postimage.org/)

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs10.postimg.org%2Fw0mu09qyh%2F20121118111753_1.jpg&hash=94f3982947d64af857de9612863b1cd889b6155d) (http://postimage.org/)
photo sharing (http://postimage.org/)

the rebels first let the Russian recon squad through and then detonated an IED under the leading tank; simultaneously, a volley of RPGs hit the unit's command vehicle, killing the Russian commander instantly, and the APC at the end the column - after this, the Chechens opened fire on the rest of the Russian unit. Kuleba wrote that the three-hour attack burned 27 armoured vehicles and trucks in the convoy and just 12 out of 199 Russian soldiers survived "the slaughter", while the rebel losses were only three killed and six wounded.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs17.postimg.org%2Fc0phwcunj%2F20121118112522_3.jpg&hash=952acb6c038baf107322b3303021a27887226dad) (http://postimage.org/)
screen shot software (http://postimage.org/app.php)

http://grimsbywargamessociety.webs.com/
Title: Re: Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"
Post by: GJK on October 01, 2013, 06:16:43 AM
Amazing details with the mini's and terrain as per usual.  Everything looks like it was built from scratch (foliage, rocks, bridges, etc).  I need to start looking in to doing that.  My little plastic palm trees kind of kill the immersion.  lol.  I did see an interesting tutorial on making palm trees using pine cones, I'll have to dig that back up.  Pine cones should be on hobby store shelves soon for this time of year.  Questions:

Are those 20mm figures?

Also, what rules system is being used for this ambush?
Title: Re: Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"
Post by: nevermore on October 01, 2013, 09:33:29 AM
All 28mm rules we used was Force on Force and we did a refight of it with the rules Bolt Action with a few ammendments, both times the Russians got hammered but it was fun
Title: Re: Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"
Post by: GJK on October 01, 2013, 09:57:46 AM
Quote from: nevermore on October 01, 2013, 09:33:29 AM
All 28mm rules we used was Force on Force and we did a refight of it with the rules Bolt Action with a few ammendments, both times the Russians got hammered but it was fun

Can I ask you which of those rules systems that you thought worked best or that you preferred to use? I like Force on Force but it just seems to be lacking that little bit of "oomph!".  Maybe it was the lack of real, hard decision making or command and control or the morale system.  Can't quite put my finger on it but no doubt I will use it as a basis of something that I add house rules to.  I have not tried Bolt Action as of yet.
Title: Re: Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"
Post by: bayonetbrant on October 01, 2013, 10:15:25 AM
Quote from: GJK on October 01, 2013, 09:57:46 AMI have not tried Bolt Action as of yet.

http://grogheads.com/first-boltaction.html
Title: Re: Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"
Post by: GJK on October 01, 2013, 12:58:12 PM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on October 01, 2013, 10:15:25 AM
Quote from: GJK on October 01, 2013, 09:57:46 AMI have not tried Bolt Action as of yet.

http://grogheads.com/first-boltaction.html (http://grogheads.com/first-boltaction.html)

You mean Grogheads offers more than just the forum?  :)  I'll have a read and yeah, I need to check the homepage more often!
Title: Re: Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"
Post by: bayonetbrant on October 01, 2013, 01:32:32 PM
Gary - just a head's-up: that article is from the "old" site before we migrated to the new platform about 5 months ago.  I'm still bringing the content over from that old site.  So the front page does look quite a bit different than the old site you see with that article.

But yeah, we shoot for one article/day, with 'big' articles up for the full weekend.  Where the hell have *you* been!? ;)
Title: Re: Wargames Illustrated "Welcome to Hell"
Post by: nevermore on October 02, 2013, 05:56:03 AM
I think F.O.F was ok for small actions but found myself looking back on the rules book and for some strange reason a number of us at the club kept forgetting certain rules, anything over 20 figures i think is a struggle unless you know the rules perfectly well and play em each week, Bolt Action has gone down very well at the club easy to remember and seems to be more fun.
Bolt Action are also easy to move around periods, we use them for colonial to modern, really good rules