One day after eye surgery and my vision was good enough to paint. Three days after eye surgery we put the final touches on the boards and carted them over to Unique Gifts and Games for a playtest of the Bala Baluk scenario from the soon-to-be-released Operation Enduring Freedom book. Here are a few shots of the boards in action:
The full Bala Baluk board with terrain in place.
USMC in the irrigation canal fight their way to the disabled recon Hummers.
Taliban waiting to spring their ambush on the reinforcing USMC elements.
The buildings are not the final ones for the game; those are arriving courtesy of Shawn Carpenter. But otherwise, we’re good to go. In the two run-throughs we conducted, we learned a few things. First of all, Tier One Taliban are not your typical insurgents. They are a formidable opponent. Second, the USMC DMRs (Designated Marksmen) are worth their weight in gold against RPG-armed troops as they get to pick their targets. Finally, as we always remember in every game of Ambush Alley, the Fog of War deck is not your friend. In one game, after a particularly successful 155mm artillery strike by the USMC, the next turn a ’1′ was rolled on a reaction test and the ‘Gas, Gas, Gas’ card was pulled. Everyone dropped a die in troop quality, which hurt the USMC far more than the Taliban.
I think we’re going to have fun with this one at Historicon. We’re looking forward to meeting lots of you and rolling the dice!
Glad to hear the op went well. Good to have you back.
Great stuff guys – good luck at the weekend.