Special Service

I´m here again!

I have really busy with my real life work and other things, so I have been unable to work in this really interesting  period. But, at last, I have been able to do something. I painted these figures from Empress Miniatures some time ago; they are wonderful miniatures sculpted by the GREAT Paul Hicks that are now part of my platoon of Gordon´s. Because I have not found any reference about the presence of Scottish units in the ORBATs of the Third Afghan War, I have decided , finally, to use them as member of one of the Special Service Battalions raised for the war.

Despite the fact that the British Indian Army was in a not very good shape at the begining of the Third Afghan War, there was a really fortunate respect. A large number of personnel coming from Mesopotamia en route to England for demobilization were awaiting in India due to a shortage of ships, so they were called to meet the crisis.

The Infantry were formed inot Special Service Battalions and those numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 were made into a Brigade at Rawalpindi for further deployment but, in June, they were finally split up to provide reinforcements for existing British units. The Special Service Battalions Nos. 6, 12, 15, 16 and 18 were employed, on the other hand, as internal security troops in India while No. 17 was used in the Baluchistan area. Artizan and mechanics were drafted to technical corps where they rendered an ivaluable service.

So these tired and home sicked soldiers were called for a last fight.

Well, my Gordon´s are going to be part of one of these internal security detachment posted in the Northwest Frontier. They are going to provide an escort for a certain Mr. Flashman in his very important mission...

The Drum is beating II

I have read in a forum that Empress Miniatures is going to base their new "Jazz Age" range in this very nice movie, "The Drum". A great idea, because it is a classic and really good film full of interesting "frontier" characters and adventure.

I expect they have also plans for the Afghan regular army!

Well, here is my first pack of British troops:

They are the command group from Empress´ Highlanders; very nice miniatures, another great sculpting work from Paul Hicks and a true pleasure to paint.

I have painted the khaki uniform with a Coat d´arms triad (designed by Steve Dean himself), "Khaki Triad" , very easy to apply. Of course, there are a lot of other brown colours in the minis and I have need a lot of time to paint them as Gordons! 

Sadly, I have not found references to this regiment in the Third Afghan War, but my my idea is to use them as part of one of the Special Service units sent to the Frontier.

I have, at last, opponents for my Afghan tribesmen, and another ruleset to use with them, "Setting the East Ablaze" from Partizan Press.

After reading and using "TM&B" and other rulesets based in the Great War, and thinking in the limited gaming time I have, I have decided to look for an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use ruleset with enough flavour of the period in it. I think this one can be very good because this is a ruleset based in the warfare in the "back of beyond", in Central Asia, something perfect for me. This is also a "big-skirmish" game, with 10 to 20 figures to a unit and this is card-driven; another very good point.

The playshet (one of its two faces) and a sample of the good quality of the printing. 

Now, I need to test it and play a game, at last. Perhaps an small patrol of Highlanders looking for problems?

More Terrain!!!

Something very common in any Afghan landscape is the irrigation ditch. How many US soldiers have finished their jump in the middle of the muddy water? I ask myself (because there are many pictures like this one).

So I wanted to have some irrigation ditches for my Afghan based games...

And here they are; another fantastic work from the Wargames News and Terrain terraforming service.

I sent Timmy a pair of pictures and a very basic sketch about I wanted to have, and in least than a week, he sent me these pictures with his almost finishd work. A perfect irrigation system.

I wanted to have it modular, to be able of deploy different configurations of ditches over the table.

Of course, I´m going to use it in my Third Afghan War games (I´m now painting the British, at last!).

And in the new Afghan War too. They can be perfect barriers and trenches...

So another very good work from Wargames News and Terrain, with a really fair price and fast, really, really fast delivery time.

I´m now finishing the painting of some Taliban fighters to play a test game with the future "Taliban ORBAT" for "Skirmish Sangin". Some SAS are going to wet their boots...

Operation Red Wings

Background and development.

Operation Red Wings was a combined operation realized by the Second Battalion, 3^rd Marine Regiment (2/3 Marines), with the use of some Special Operations Forces (SOF) for the opening phase (the most famous, in fact), in the Pech District of Afghanistan´s Kunar Province, on the slopes of a mountain named Sawtalo Sar, from 27^th June through mid-July 2005. It was intended to disrupt local Anti-Coalition Militia activity in the region, carried out most notably by a local “warlord” from Nangarhar Province, Ahmad Shah.

By the summer of 2005, many of Afghanistan´s provinces had stable security environments, but one really restive was the Kunar Province, in eastern Afghanistan, on the border with Pakistan. Insurgent activity during this time came from around 20 groups which ranged in allegiance from those with tenuous ties to the Taliban and al-Qaeda to the majority of them that were little more than local (and very well armed) criminals. These groups were known as Anti-Coalition Militia (ACM) and military operations in Kunar focused primarily in their disruption.

In April 2005, 3/3 Marine had been deployed to Regional Command (East) RC (E) from late 2004, and had conducted a number of stability and counterinsurgency operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom that proved very successful in disrupting ACM activity. The culmination of these efforts was the April 2005 surrender of a regional “high value target” (HVT), the ACM commander Najmudeen, who had based his operations in the Korengal Valley. With his surrender, ACM activity in the region dropped significantly, but he had left a power vacuum in the area, so 3/3 Marine tracked a number of known ACM groups which could possibly wanted to fill the power void.

It was the next USMC unit posted in the area, the 2/3 Marine who found and selected the target for their first operation in the same line as those from 3/3. This time, it was the small cell led by Ahmad Shah, responsible of eleven incidents against Coalition forces, with aspiration to impede the upcoming elections and to aid a resurgent Taliban in the region. According to the intelligence gathered, he had fifty to a hundred fighters in his group.

By June 2005, 2/3 Marine had developed a comprehensive operation called Operation Red Wings (“Red Wings” being the name of an US hockey team).

Ahmad Shah

Operation Red Wings.

Ahmad Shah based his insurgent operations near some small structures outside of the village of Chichal, on the slopes of Sawtalo Sar mountain, in the upper Korengal Valley (the “Valley of Death” for the US forces) and twenty miles to the west of Kunar´s provincial capital, Asadabad. The intelligence staff of the 2/3 Marine determined Shah could be there in late June and they prepared an operation that would require a helicopter insert of forces to cordon the area and search for Shah in a direct assault after a positive identification by a Marine Corps Scout/Sniper team which would walk into the area under cover of darkness some nights before the assault.

It was an USMC operation in the AOR (area of operations) of the 2/3 Marine, who, as additional assets, sought only to use the MH-47 of the 160^th SOAR (A), the Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). However, CJSOFT-A, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan, refused this request, stating that in order for Red Wings to be supported with Special Operations aviation, the 2/3 Marine would have to task the opening phases of the operation to Special Operations Ground Forces, with the Marines of 2/3 acting in a supporting role until after the initial phases of the operation. The battalion agreed to this condition despite this agreement defied a fundamental “unity of command” rule for the success of any operation. This one was presented to a number of Special Operations units working in the area for possible “buy in” and US Navy SEALs expressed interest, so they received the task to perform the first two phases of the operation.

The operation.

In Phase One of the operation, an US Navy SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team was tasked to insert in the region, observe and identify Ahmad Shah and his men, and guide the assault forces of Phase Two, in which a SEAL direct action team was to be inserted by MH-47, followed by Marines, to capture or kill Shah and his men.

Then, the Marines and Afghan National Army forces could conduct the next three phases of the operation, those of outer cordon, security and stabilization (the most mundane of them, of course).

Late in the night of June 27, 2005, two MH-47 of the 160^th SOAR (A) approached Sawtalo Sar. While one of them performed a number of “decoy drops” to confuse the enemy, the other inserted via fastrope a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team (formed by two sniper teams) in a saddle between Sawtalo Sar and Gatigal Sar, one and half miles from the nearest Named Area of Interest (NAI) of the mission.

After a hard night march, the team reached a pre-determined, covered overwatch position (number one in the map), from which the SEALs could observe the different NAIs, but it was not a very good place, so they look for another OP near Chichal (number two). Sadly, in this one, the team was quickly discovered by local goatherds, which were released according to the rules of engagement. The team, surmising that they have been compromised, retreated to a fallback position near the summit of the mountain, but, within an hour, they were ambushed by Shah and his men. The SEALs were suddenly attacked by RPK light machine guns, AK-47s, RPG-7 rocket propelled grenades and an 82mm mortar with such intensity that this volume of fire, combined with the type of ambush, from a higher position, forced the SEAL team mountain down into the northeast gulch of Sawtalo Sar.

The SEALs made a number of attempts to contact their combat operation center, before and after the ambush, but they could not establish consistent communication, being only able to indicate that they were under attack. Three of the four team members were killed by the Afghans and the only survivor, Marcus Luttrell, was left unconscious and seriously wounded, but the Afghans lost his track. Finally, after a long and hard march on foot, he was rescued by a local Pashtun from Salar Bar village, who saved his life, hiding him from the Taliban.

The Rescue mission, Red Wings II.

After the communication that the SEAL team was under attack, the focus of the operation shifted from disrupting ACM activity to finding and extracting the SEALs. Some hours after the desperate communication of the SEAL team (because its position and situation were unknown due to the broken transmission), a quick reaction force (QRF) was finally launched, consisting of two MH-47 of the 160^th, two UH-60 and two AH-64 Apache, with the two MH-47 on the lead. Upon reaching Sawtalo Sar, the two MH-47 received small arms fire but they didn´t wait for the Apaches and, in the attempt to insert the SEALs who were riding in one of the MH-47, one of Ahmad Shah´s men fired an RPG-7 which, entering by the rear door, struck the transmission below the rear rotor assembly, causing the aircraft to immediately plummet to the ground, killing all eight 160^th aviators and crew and all eight US Navy SEALs who were passengers. Both commanders of the rescue force, LCDR Erik S. Kristensen of SEAL Team 10 and aviation element commander Major Stephen C. Reich of 160^th, were killed, so command and control of the rescue mission was lost, ending the first attempt of rescue.

The second attempt was a massive and better organized search and rescue operation, and all the bodies were recovered and Marcus Luttrell was also rescued, some days after the ambush, in the village of Salar Ban, roughly one mile down the location of the fight.

The rescue team, looking for Axelson

Code of Honour.

The SEALs´ firefight with Ahmad Shah´s forces began along a high-elevation ridgeline called Sawtalo Sar and the north-eastern gulch in which the SEALs were trapped was in the direction of the small village of Salar Ban. The wounded Luttrell descended the gulch and was encountered by a Pasthun named Mohammad Gulab Khan from Salar Ban, who took Luttrell into his home and, according with the cultural tradition of Pashtunwali, offered him protection from his enemies. Full protection.

Ahmad Shah, “king of the mountain”, was able to ascertain where the wounded SEAL was, and demanded that he be turned over, a demand that was not attended by the villagers. He could not risk a fight at that moment, with a number of his men killed during the battle with the SEALs and so many enemies coming to the valley so, in the end, he was unable to capture Luttrell.

Red arrows indicate the Insurgent´s fire lanes

Aftermath.

Ahmad Shah and his group recovered a large amount of weapons, ammunition and other material, including a laptop with an intact hard drive containing maps of embassies in Kabul and other documents. Shah had with him two videographers during the ambush, and released a video of the ambush and the items recovered from the SEALs so his victory was soon on the media.

Thanks to the ambush and the MH-47 shootdown, the size of his group increased as additional fighters joined his ranks up to 100. In this way, he gained an amount of notoriety and became a valued target for the Coalition forces, but he was finally killed in April 2008 during a shootout with Pakistani police.

Disputed Information.

There is some conflict over the exact number of Taliban forces involved in the engagement and about the mission of the SEAL team.

Operation Red Wings was an USMC operation that integrated Special Operations assets for the opening phases of the mission, but a four man SEAL team was not sent in a covert mission to kill or capture Ahmad Shah as it has been shown in “Lone Survivor”. Shah was not one of Osama bin Laden´s lieutenants, neither was he an HVT (High Value Target); he was just another chief of ACM or Anti-Coalition Militia, and not a “big player”. His force was put by initial INTEL at up to 20 ACM and it was very logical because the small villages on the Korengal Valley/Sawtalo Sar and Shuryek Valley cannot sustain a number of fighters larger than these for very long.

The problem is that, in Luttrell´s own official after-action report, he estimated the size of the Taliban force to be around 20-35 but in his book he claimed that, during the briefing, they were told around 80 to 200 fighters were expected to be in the area. Further analysis, derived from signals intelligence gleaned during the ambush and human intelligence derived in Pakistan after the ambush, stated the number of Taliban fighters to be between 8 and 10 probably reinforced during the fight.

It is, in the end, an exercise of “Afghan Math” (“just divide by about ten to get the real number”).

Of course, it is not good for the “Stars and Stripes” culture. The narrative of a four-man team of hard Navy SEALs fighting on a group of hundreds of “hostiles” under the leadership of the right-hand man of THE enemy has all the elements for a great military action thriller. But it didn´t happen in Red Wings.

The sober true is that Ahmad Shah, with around half of his retinue, surrounded the SEALs by up to 180º and fired at them from superior positions (higher terrain, the recipe for the exit) with weapons of heavier calibre than the SEALs´ 5.56mm. Shah had at least one RPG with a lot of rockets, a number of men firing AK-47s, a pair of PK machine guns and possibly an 82mm mortar, this one able to wipe out, alone, a team much larger than four men. It was something very hard to accept by the Special Operators community, but the SEALs were vastly outgunned and outpositioned by an enemy that had excellent cover from the thick forest surrounding the Northeast Gulch of Sawtalo Sar, who knew the terrain very well (so were able to surround quickly the SEALs) and who coordinated a fierce combined-arms attack utilizing a variety of powerful weapons fired at a steep, narrow, funnel-like terrain.

This was nothing more than an excellent ambush.

“Lone Survivor”.

In early June 2007, the book “Lone Survivor: The eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing (sic) and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10” was released. Marcus Luttrell was the author and Patrick Robinson, the contributor. There were a number of big contradictions with the real operation: the USMC involvement was omitted; the name of the operation was wrong, the number of enemy fighters was exaggerated, the US Intelligence believing in the close links between Ahmad Shah and Osama bin Laden was an outright fabrication...

In the end, it was clear that “Lone Survivor” has been written entirely by Patrick Robinson (a British writer specialized in military fiction titles), based on unrecorded interviews of Marcus Luttrell. Probably, as Robinson never contacted any Marines, he could not have known the full scope of the operation so it was, for him, a Navy special operation targeting one of bin Laden´s top lieutenants.

But there is a point in common related to the fiction and the real mission: "Civilians are not targets!", the most relevant line in the ROE (Rules of Engagement) cards issued to the US Military and the one which cost the lives of so many good men.

This movie put me on the search of more information about this small skirmish in the mountains. It is a very interesting and very well done movie, but too much based in Patrick Robinson´s book, IMHO, so it is not complete nor correct.

This is the book, based in Marcus Luttrell experience in Sawtalo Sar, and it is easy to find in its pages one of the reasons of this disaster: the contempt towards a (theoric) primitive opponent who, in the end, was able to prepare and launch a perfect attack against a team of super-soldiers. 

I like the SEALs´ training chapters in the book more than those of the mission...

This is another book I have read; this time, about the rescue mission. It is incredible to read how difficult it was for the great super-power U.S.A. to rescue these men in that distant mountain, with the Insurgents attacking them right to the end! A lot of gaming ideas for different games!

Of course, I have these figures ready to be painted (first, I need to finish some SASs, and I have also written an scenario for "Skirmish Sangin" based in this small battle, to test the future "Taliban ORBAT" from Radio DishDash.

Reinforcements

I have painted some of the excellent 28mm models from Empress Miniatures I expect to use in my games of "Skirmish Sangin", models that I have presented to this year´s "The Challenge".

Despite I like a lot the models from Eureka Miniatures, I´m enjoiying the painting of these ones from Empress because they have also a lot of character and an incredible level of detail.

A Taliban or Anti-Coalition Militia (ACM) mortar team. Really fine figures, and with a little story in themselves. I think one of the Talibs is not sure about the skill level of the other one hauling mortar rounds...

In "Force on Force", the mortar is a very useful weapon but in "Skirmish Sangin" the 60mm is really lethal. This one has a range of 500" and a minimun range of 20" (so it is better used from out of the table); it has a kill zone of 5" diameter and a damage zone of 25" diameter and can cause 4 D10 damage points in the kill zone and 1 D10 in the damage zone. One lucky shot can finish a game so my idea is to use this one principally as a "victory objetive" and only in really big games as a Taliban asset for on table fire.

An al Qaeda fighter and my first US Army figure with ACU uniform. I have had these figures, the US soldiers, waiting in the box for a long time, unable to decide myself how to paint them. At last, in the Steve Dean´s Forum I found a very useful recipe, and a very easy to use one!!!

In the end, the question is not to paint the pixels, only to paint the general look of the uniform.

"Skirmish Sangin" has some special rules for al Qaeda fighters making them a bit more "hard" than the standard insurgent. Aditionaly, this one (that looks really well as a CIA operative) is going to have a light armored vest.

I have some more Taliban on my painting table in this moment and also this very nice figure:

A NZ SAS which is very, very perfect for a modern conflict idea I´m boiling now, related to this other picture:

It´s time to learn how to paint MULTICAM...

The Drum is beating

They are here, at last. The new models from the hands of Paul Hicks are arrived to the Empress Miniatures catalogue (just when I have ordered some of their modern figures!!!!!):

These figures are perfect as opponents of the Afghan tribesmen, for the Third Afghan War. There is a "promise" to include more forces, British, Indian Army, Armored Cars, etc. I expect they include also Afghan regular troops.

I have found also a really nice (and old) movie, "The Drum". Very good, and perfect as inspirational source! Here is a link:

Revuelta en la India (1938)
The Drum (1938)

Now, this is time to collect and paint these figures, and play a first game, at last! But I need to think about or find a good kakhi colour to use with these uniforms; I´m thinking about something grey-light brown...

Here are some of my Afghan warriors, waiting for them:

A Passing Fancy

Too much time with this project stoped and cold. And this is not good, because there are too many other projects and ideas buzzing around and distracting me. 

In this moment, I am waiting for a WWI British Army squad from Musketeer Miniatures I ordered some days ago. My idea is to use them with pith helmeted heads from Woodbine Design to have an small British Infantry unit. In the meantime, I´m also reading "Setting the East Ablaze", and I must say that I like this ruleset! It can be the best option for my idea about gaming this period: fun, quick and not too complex.
Demasiado tiempo con este proyecto parado y frío. Algo que no es bueno, puesto que hay muchos otros proyectos e ideas dando vueltas a mi alrededor, distrayéndome.
En este momento estoy esperando unas figuras británicas de la Primera Guerra Mundial, de Musketeer Miniatures, que pedí hace unos días. Mi idea es usar esas figuras con cabezas de Woodbine Design equipadas con casco. Mientras llegan las figuras, estoy leyéndome "Setting the East Ablaze", que me parece un reglamento muy bueno. Puede ser la mejor opción para jugar escenarios ambientados en este periodo: divertido, rápido y no demasiado complejo.

Today´s entry is about my worry towards this Blog. I want to maintain it alive and focused in only one theme: Afghanistan. As I said in a previous entry, I have had the idea to include here games of "Skirmish Sangin", modern combat in Afghanistan, because this is the same place, the same opponents (the US and ANZACs are also sons of the Empire...) and the same terrain elements. So, here is my first game of this year based in the Fourth? Afghan War.
La entrada de hoy está dedicada a mi preocupación acerca de este blog. Quiero mantenerlo vivo y enfocado en un solo tema: Afganistán. Como ya he dicho en una entrada anterior, he tenido la idea de incluir aquí partidas de "Skirmish Sangin", combate moderno en Afganistán, puesto que se trata del mismo lugar, los mismos oponentes (bueno, los norteamericanos y australianos también son hijos del Imperio) y los mismos elementos del terreno. Por tanto, aquí está mi primer juego de este año dedicado a la ¿Cuarta? Guerra Afgana.

Operation Moshtarak (February-December, 2010) was a great ISAF offensive in the town of Marjah, Helmand Province. It involved around 15,000 allied troops with the aim to remove the Taliban from Marjah, eliminating the last Taliban stronghold in central Helmand.

Of course, it was not successful in the long term...
La Operación Moshtarak (Febrero a Diciembre de 2010) fue una gran ofensiva ISAF llevada a cabo en la ciudad de Marhaj, Provincia de Helmand. Participaron en ella en torno a 15.000 tropas aliadas con la intención de expulsar a los talibanes de Marhaj, eliminando así su último reducto en la región central de la provincia de Helmand.
Por supuesto, la operación no tuvo éxito a largo plazo...

I pretend to prepare some scenarios based in this long and intense campaing that has in it almost all the different forces fighting in Afghanistan, but, for the first game, this one has been my inspiration:
Quiero preparar algunos escenarios basados en esta larga e intensa campaña que cuenta con prácticamente todas las distintas fuerzas que han luchado en Afganistán, aunque para el primer escenario, ésta ha sido mi inspiración:

Since January 2010, Coalition forces had launched small operations to prepare for the main assault on February, being one of those operations a series of "Find, Fix and Strike" raids by SAS and US Army Special Forces teams, resulting in the dead of around 50 Taliban leaders.
Desde enero de 2010, las fuerzas de la Coalición habían lanzado algunas operaciones menores dedicadas a preparar el asalto principal a realizar en febrero. Una de estas operaciones fue una serie de incursiones de tipo "Encontrar, Fijar y Golpear" llevadas a cabo por equipos de fuerzas especiales norteamericanas y británicas, que resultaron en la muerte de unos 50 líderes talibanes.

I have an Special Forces Sniper Team from Empress Miniatures; in fact, they are the first models I bought for this range of figures and I have been always thinking how to use them in an "Skirmish Sangin" game. With a range of 250" (yes, 250"), the sniper rifle has not much utility on the table, and usually it is deployed in an off-table support role, in a prepared possition far away from the danger.
Tengo un equipo de francotiradores SAS de Empress Miniatures que es, de hecho, el primer blister que compré de este rango de figuras. Desde entonces he estado pensando en la manera de usar estas figuras en una partida de "Skirmish Sangin". Con un alcance de 250", el rifle de francotirador no tiene mucha utilidad dentro de la mesa de juego, por lo que estos equipos se despliegan, normalmente, fuera de la mesa, en un papel de apoyo y lejos del peligro.

But... What happens when some "hostile" suddenly show up too near the team? I think this scenario can be a good answer for this question and, also, a good introductory game in which the Coalition Forces side can be managed by a Game Master, leaving the Taliban in the hands of the Players.
Pero... ¿Que pasa cuando algunos "hostiles" aparecen súbitamente cerca de dicho equipo? Creo que este escenario puede dar la respuesta a esa pregunta y puede servir también como juego introductorio al sistema, dejando las fuerzas de la Coalición en manos de un Árbitro mientras los Jugadores se ocupan de los Insurgentes.

The game table, with many of the terrain elements I have gather for my Afghan Conflicts games. In this game, a SAS Sniper Team has been posted (hidden in a "real" game) in the left side of the table with the order to support the assault of other SAS teams. Apparently, this is an easy mission, but some Taliban warriors have decided to move in this area with the objetive to flank the British or run away from them. In any case, the Sniper Team has decided it is a very good opportunity to have a real fight!
La mesa de juego, con muchos de los elementos de escenografía que he reunido para jugar conflictos afganos. En este escenario, el Equipo SAS de Francotirador ha sido emplazado en el lado izquierdo de la mesa con la orden de apoyar el asalto de otros equipos SAS (más allá del borde de la mesa). Aparentemente, se trata de una misión fácil, pero algunos talibanes han decidido moverse por el área con la intención de flanquear a los británicos o de huir de ellos. En cualquier caso, el Equipo de Francotirador ha decidido que es una buena oportunidad de luchar de verdad.

The SAS Sniper Team. A very nice blister from Empress Miniatures. They are an sniper and his spotter, armed with a combination of assaul rifle and grenade launcher. Their mission is very easy: to stop the movement of Insurgents, killing them.
El equipo SAS. Un blister muy bonito de Empress MIniatures. Su misión es fácil: detener el movimiento de los talibanes matándolos.

The Insurgents, six Taliban fighters and two al Qaeda warriors, also from Empress Miniatures. I though it was enough with eight of them...
Their mission is to move out of the table for the other side of it, not knowing that there are some British commandos near.
Los insurgentes, seis talibanes y dos combatientes de al Qaeda, también de Empress Miniatures. Pensé que sería suficiente con ocho de ellos...
Su misión es mover al otro lado de la mesa, para salir de la misma, sin saber que hay comandos británicos por la zona.

The Taliban used the first phases of the First Turn to move into the table from the center of their side of it, taking possitions (because any gamer know that there are not empty tables). The SAS sniper began his work bumping off one of the Taliban with an accurate shot.
Los talibanes usaron las primeras fases del Turno 1 para entrar a la mesa por el centro de su lado de la misma, tomando posiciones (porque todo Jugador sabe que no hay mesas vacías). El francotirador SAS comenzó su trabajo eliminando a uno de los talibanes con un buen disparo.

There are no special rules for on table Sniper Teams in "Skirmish Sangin" so I decided that the spotter could localize (making the spotting tests) objetives for the sniper so this one need only to fire at them. If the spotter was doing any other thing, the sniper would make his own spotting tests. It worked really well and, thanks to the suppressor in the sniper´s gun, he was not discovered by the enemy (he didn´t lost the "hide target" bonus).
No hay reglas especiales para los equipos de francotiradores sobre la mesa en "Skirmish Sangin", por lo que decidí que el observador podía localizar objetivos para el tirador (haciendo los Test de Observación), para que éste sólo tuviera que preocuparse por disparar. Por otro lado, si el observador estaba haciendo cualquier otra cosa, el tirador debería hacer sus propios Test de Observación. Esta pequeña regla funcionó bastante bien y además, gracias al supresor en el cañón de su arma, el francotirador no perdió su bonificación de "objetivo oculto" al disparar.

A poor farmer looking cautiously from his qalat. This is my "red fort" from Wargames News and Terrain.

In the middle of the first turn, I made a mistake as the Coalition player, firing with the spotter against this Taliban. It was a nice shot, causing a Serious Wound that left the Insurgent out of the combat for the rest of the game (there was not First Aid for him!) but it left the sniper without the help of the spotter and destroyed the "hide target" status (the spotter´s weapon had not a supressor). Not a good idea...
En mitad del primer turno, me equivoqué como Jugador de la Coalición, disparando con el observador contra este pobre talibán. Fue un buen disparo, que le causó una Herida Seria y lo dejó fuera de combate por el resto del escenario (no hubo posibilidad de Primeros Auxilios para él), pero dejó al francotirador sin la ayuda del observador y, peor aun, eliminó la bonificación de "objetivo oculto".
No fue una buena idea...

The white dot is used to mark an spotted figure and there are also some "Morale" markers.
El marcador blanco indica que esa figura ha sido observada.

Fortunately for the Sniper Team, the "Snap Shot" rule worked very well with a Taliban sniper which was looking for a good position on the roof of the qalat. Another Serious Wounded Insurgent!
Afortunadamente para el Equipo de Francotirador, la regla "Snap Shot" funcionó muy bien con el francotirador talibán que estaba buscando una buena posición de tiro en el techo del qalat. ¡Otra Herida Seria!

Meanwhile, on the backside of the qalat, the Taliban leader and his most trusted man were running with the intention to flank the Snipers´ position. Really far away from them, there was another al Qaeda warrior. I was putting new Taliban forces on the table because they were falling really fast.
Mientras, en la parte de atrás del qalat, el líder talibán y su mejor hombre avanzaban a la carrera con intención de flanquear a los británicos. Muy lejos de ellos, allí atrás, había otro luchador de al Qaeda que había entrado a la mesa como refuerzo. Los talibanes estaban cayendo realmente rápido, así que añadí algunos refuerzos más.

Another victim of the SAS sniper. This Taliban LMG was really dangerous for the British, able to put on them a pair of "Morale" markers with its first fire but the sniper killed him quickly.
Otra víctima del francotirador SAS. Este ametrallador talibán estaba siendo realmente peligroso para los británicos, y fue capaz de poner en ellos un par de marcadores de "Moral" con su primer disparo, pero el francotirador lo eliminó realmente rápido.

And the result of another "Snap Shot" from the spotter. The Leader´s cousin was caught in the begining of a run towards another cover.
Y el resultado de otro "Snap Shot" del observador. El primo del líder talibán fue cogido al comienzo de su carrera en busca de una nueva cobertura.

In this moment, with FOUR Taliban dead and two Seriously Wounded, I decided to end the game. The combination of Elite Special Forces with Sniper Team was too much for the poor Taliban, and the game, too one sided.
En este momento, con cuatro talibanes muertos y dos seriamente heridos, decidí terminar el juego. La combinación de Fuerzas Especiales de élite con un equipo de francotirador fue demasiado para los pobres talibanes y el juego, demasiado descompensado.

I like a lot this rulebook because it represents really well the modern combat and I have now discovered how effective the Special Forces operators are!
Me gusta mucho este reglamento, pues representa realmente bien el combate moderno, y hoy he descubierto lo realmente efectivos que son los "operadores" de Fuerzas Especiales.