Leave no man behind "Black Hawk Down"

nevermore · April 14, 2015, 04:03:19 AM

Leave no man behind "Black Hawk Down"

Cracking game we played a while back.

More photos on the website at http://www.victorian-steel.com/

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There was never even supposed to be a Battle of Mogadishu. In one of his final acts after losing the 1992 election to Bill Clinton, President George H.W. Bush sent American forces into Somalia on a humanitarian mission to bring food to the victims of a raging civil war and man-made famine.

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But by the fall of 1993, the mission had expanded to one of restoring a government in Somalia. On Oct. 3, a special ops team was sent into Mogadishu to arrest two top lieutenants of the warlord Mohammed Aidid, who controlled the city.

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"They estimated it would take 30 minutes to 45 minutes to conduct the raid, but things did not go well," says journalist Mark Bowden, who reported on the events of that day.

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His account, first in The Philadelphia Inquirer, then in a book and finally in a blockbuster film, gave the Battle of Mogadishu the name by which it's better known today: Black Hawk Down.

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Bowden interviewed the men who survived the mission, including Shawn Nelson, an M60 gunner who roped down to the scene from a helicopter.

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"We immediately started taking fire from the ground. I could see people below us with weapons maneuvering about," he told Bowden.

Nelson said that rangers did arrest their two targets, along with about 20 other Somalis who were in a house with them. But taking on so much fire in the busy streets, there was no way to get out fast.

"The longer they stayed, the intensity of the fire that the troops encountered increased, including the fire directed at the helicopters overhead," Bowden says.

About 40 minutes into the mission, one of the Black Hawk helicopters circling overheard was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, spun out of control and crashed. Not long after, a second Black Hawk was shot down. More men were sent in to secure the crash sites and get the soldiers out. But the rescue team itself got pinned down.

"I said a little prayer," says Spc. Phil Lepre, who was on that rescue convoy, "took off my helmet, looked at my daughter's picture, I said, 'Babe, I hope you have a wonderful life.' "

The 15-hour battle that ensued left 18 Americans dead and 73 injured. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Somalis were killed. U.S. Army pilot Mike Durant was captured and held by Somali militants for 11 days.

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bayonetbrant · April 14, 2015, 05:19:42 AM

One of those 18 was SFC Earl Fillmore, whose wife was an ROTC classmate of mine at NC State at the time.

nevermore · April 14, 2015, 07:27:16 AM

Really - WOW ! small world we live in

GJK · April 15, 2015, 03:53:28 PM

Force on Force or another ruleset?

nevermore · April 16, 2015, 04:55:27 AM

We used F.O.F. for this battle but i think we are going to write our own for this period and the Chechen war, F.O.F. are ok for skirmish with so many figures but the amount we use i think we have to adjust and create to our way of gaming, we have so many miniatures it can number Hundreds on the table at any one time.

F.O.F. i don't think handles the size of skimish games we set up and with chits ect.. it tends to really slow the game play down to much, i think its one of them what size is a skirmish ?

bayonetbrant · April 16, 2015, 05:21:38 AM

IIRC, Force on Force effectively tops out around a dozen or so per side.

GJK · April 16, 2015, 05:26:30 AM

Quote from: bayonetbrant on April 16, 2015, 05:21:38 AM
IIRC, Force on Force effectively tops out around a dozen or so per side.

That sounds about right.

Man, I am drooling over this setup Nevermore....that is just too awesome.

You know what I'd really love to see you guys do (since I'm on a kick for it right now)? The Alamo. I've been wanting to build my own set for it and then play using the rules from "Deguillo at Dawn" or perhaps "Johnny Reb".

But again, great job. You guys amaze me!

nevermore · April 17, 2015, 03:31:42 AM

At the moment i am in the midlle of building the Delhi gate, which is going to be 6 ft long and also the Stalingrad sewers, the sewers is going to be a Space Hulk type of setup with missions.

Just got to complete a few rooms and one large waterfall room and then it should be a completely differant type of game for WWII.

Taster

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The lenght are mostly a foot long, some have at the half way a hole in the wall that can be connected to another corridoor, i have made around 12 of these so far, the waterfall room has to be 2 foot square so i can get a big battle going on with a large fallen pipe and higher levels to climb.Pretty pleased with my Delhi wall as well for 1857 as i have done my research for the gate on how it really looked, then all i have to create then is the ridge,that should be a great campaign battle and it should be interesting to see if the Brits can hold out on the hill before the attemp to blow up the gate.