AK 47 Republic - A Battle Report

19 April 2015
Dessus de la Table, Litumsia

Saturday evening, communist terrorists from the Militia Campaign for the New Congress ambushed government troops on a farm equipment resupply mission, near the eastern town of Merde. Twenty-five WPA soldiers were killed in the attack, and upwards of seventy MCC terrorists were killed. President for Life Johnson has vowed to put an end to these attacks and and has asked Major General Précis to organize a new operation to hunt down and destroy the last of the MCC.

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My wife and I put AK47 Republic on the table Saturday night. This game was a long-overdue chance for me to right the wrongs of our last battle. Wifey had an OK trip through the pre-game chart and picked up a free Armored Car with a Tank Gun. Nice! I had a roller-coaster ride. Apparently I had organized a round-up of the wrong people weeks prior so my reinforcements would arrive from locations chosen by the enemy. Feh. At least they'd recently been given an extra ration of ammo so one time during the game one unit would be entitled to a +2 on their shooting attacks.

The battlefield.

Shockingly, I got all of my units from the get-go. Wifey only got two of hers - but at least they were decent units. I set my objectives on the rail crossing, the crossroad and the bridge.

My troops moved out slowly. And boy do I mean slow. My first unit, all the way on the right got to move 7 inches - not bad at all, but the I proceeded to roll nothing but ones for the balance of my guys.

The tanks draw a bead on commies in the town.

Government artillery pounds the rebel tanks but the tanks simply shrug off the blasts.

Turn 2 - Again, only my one unit far to the right gets it in gear - the others all mill about slowly. The cannons of course sit still ready to blast the tanks again. The unit on the right lost a recoilless rifle to a shot from the armored car on turn 1 and promptly lost a morale point.

The MCC fire is relentless and second platoon suffers accordingly.

Second platoon routs. Not good for the President's forces.

Turn 3. My artillery continues their flight but lose two of their number to the pursuing tanks. My squad in the center, we'll call them Hero Squad ramps things up and gets a tremendous movement roll. My tanks still flounder.

The MCC armored car, which looks like it was recently stolen from a government motor pool, takes out the armored car supporting my troops which have just become my right flank. When it rains it pours...

On turn four, the MCC rebels received their first reinforcements - a group of infantry with three mortars. My numbers advantage was starting to dwindle with nothing to show for it! I didn't get a picture of it, but my artillery guns had been wiped out by this time.

A PT-76 and the armored car that had given me such fits take each other out in an exchange of shots. My infantry in the center continue to roll well for their moves and really start closing in on the bridge objective. The rebel tanks close in on the government forces on the right.

I finally catch a break - the "elite" MCC Guards occupying the town and woods lose their last morale point and go away. That took a lot longer than it should have!

My joy was short-lived. The rebels received another reinforcement group - a large platoon of militia all mounted in vehicles of course! They would enter next to the river - you can see them staged at the top of the picture. My still-functioning tank hid from the M-46es (one was pinned) and both groups of infantry moved forward to their objectives.

A rather controversial photograph that certain persons did not want made public.

Nooses tighten here and there. The bridge is within my grasp and I may be able to run these bums with the mortars off the crossroads objective.

The firefight at the bridge is quick and brutal. I lost two squads, as did my wife's troops. The rebels also lost their HMG jeep.

I lost another tank to the rebel scum.

And then things went south really quickly. The remaining tank failed its morale roll and fled, then the platoon that had marched all the way across the board to the bridge failed two morale test and also fled, leaving me with one beat-up unit of militia That unit surrendered - there was little point in continuing.

Wow, what a beating! I got rolled badly. I don't know if I passed more than one or two morale rolls all game, whereas my wife couldn't fail one. Tactically, I think we both made good decisions and her guys held up really well while waiting for the cavalry to arrive. I wish I hadn't wasted my artillery screwing around with the tanks. I should have put them way to the right and driven them to a point where they could blast away at an objective. Oh well, lesson learned. The final score, as much as I'd like to not say, was 125 to 19.

Another bad day for President for Life Johnson. Next time that new helicopter that was just acquired may have to make an appearance.