The Scenario: Capture The Scud

In an attempt to verify any chemical or nuclear warheads, a small contingent of American special forces needed to capture a Scud launcher intact.  In game terms, only the infantry could capture the Scud, and needed to "touch" the Scud for three consecutive rounds to win the scenario.  The Com Bloc-Iraqi forces had to stop the U.S. Forces to win.  Either side won if they annilihated the other side.  We used a slighty modified Iraqi force to include some more modern equipment as well as the Hinds mainly for the extra interest they brought to the game board.

The battle was as nice and bloody as any Shellshock game.

Turn One: Initial Engagement

There was an initial rush into combat by all the U.S. aircraft, a couple Bradleys and some of the T-72's. In the first round two T-72's and two Bradleys, with their full compliment of infantry were destroyed. (About this time the players realized with shock, horror, amusement and most of all, satisfaction, that they were playing Shellshock, a game not for the faint hearted.) The Hind's veered far to the East to avoid the Apache's and MD-500's which bolted down the West corridor to fly right at the Scud.

Turn Two and Three: The Sky Is Falling!

The Apache's and the MD 500's went straight for the Hokums and engaged, one Hokum was shot down by crossfire between an MD-500 and Apache. The other Hokum successfully dodged the Chopper fire but was stuck by an Abrams. The two Hind's which veered East set down behind a hill and unloaded their infantry. One of the MD-500's was hit by a Hokum and lost all weapons. It veered out of control and narrowly missed the unloading Hinds before slamming in to the ground.One of the advancing Bradleys fired a TOW and took out one of the T-72s protecting the Scud. On turn three, the Apaches took up a defnesive position for the Blackhawk and the Hinds rose up to get involved as well. When it was all over, both Apaches and the Blackhawk were shot down, and one of the Hinds was hit by a miraculous TOW from a Bradley. The last MD-500 went after some infantry and after inflicting some moderate damage was brought down by small arms fire. In the end, air superiority rested with the ComBloc forces with their remaining single Hind. Meanwhile, on the ground, the U.S. forces were closing onto the middle ground and taking hull down positions mid-field behind dunes. The ComBloc ground forces were doing the same though they concentrated on the West side of the board, near the Scud. 2 BTR's and 3 T-72's swung to the East. No mans' land was a mere 880 feet with masses of armour huddled behind burms of sand at either end.

Turn Four Through Seven: The Blood Bath

Various ground forces poked their heads above the crests of the dunes and got destroyed. Bradleys armed with TOW's routinely silenced T-72's, but not before the T-72's placed the Bradleys on their sides. Three Abrams made short work of a T-72 and T-80. One T-72 somehow survived a shot from an Abrams and slumped behind cover with just a few points of armor in the front hull. A T-72 and a T-80 double teamed an Abrams and set off a fuel explosion. The lone Hind got behind another Abrams and tore up the back armor to set off an ammo explosion. It ripped a little more back armor from another Abrams before succumbing to the Commander's 12.7mm Machine Gun. The remaining T-80's and Abrams went toe-to-toe in round six and only one Abrams was left running, a little worse for wear. The badly injured T-72 fell prey to a Bradley, which received the full brunt of the T-72's 125mm cannon. The BTR's unload their infantry.

Round Eight and Nine: Send In The Infantry

A lone Abrams, and two Bradleys cross Dead mans' land and begin to come over the top of the dune that had been held by the Com Bloc forces. All air units have been destroyed and all that is left of the Iraqi forces are infantry, 5 BTRs and 1 T-72. The Bradleys take serious fire from the infantry and the T-72. The Bradleys unload their infantry. The Abrams quickly dispatches a BTR and the T-72, while the BTRs soften up the rear armor of the Abrams and the T-72 does some moderate damage to the front. One of the Bradleys took out another BTR. The infantry fire at each other from close range and decimate each other. A round later the remaining BTRs charge and hope to flank the lone Abrams and attack the weakened rear. The Abrams "Moves for the block" to make sure the BTRs don't kill off the one remaining infantry group. The Abrams cleaves the BTRs easily. In the melee the remaining Bradleys are destroyed, along with the BTRs.

END GAME

Now only an Abrams and two infantry men remain on the U.S. side. The infantry have survived and are falling back to safe positions on the other side of the dune. There are only infantry left on the Com Bloc side. The Iraqi's shruggingly admit defeat because it is obvious that the Abrams will eventually wipe them out.

Synopsis

The game, the largest game of Shellshock ever played, is over, completed in exactly 2 hours 2 minutes. Keep in mind that all of the players were brand new. None had played, or even heard of Shellshock before. All the players were taught to play in the standard 15 minutes. I can safely say all but the youngest player would be able to run their own Shellshock game after the ten rounds of play. All enjoyed the game. So would you.

Other Demos

The player the evening before played the standard "Gulf game" of 4 Abrams and 2 Apaches, against 5 T-72's, 3 T-80's and 2 Hind's. The game lasted 1 hour 20 minutes, with the Iraqi forces winning due to some really bad dice rolling on the American side. Afterwards he wanted to play a game using future equipment, but had to leave. The other two demos went much the same way. Lots of fighting, no boredom, and 100% converts to the Shellshock system. How much more proof do you need? Pictures you say? Well as usual we got so caught up on the battle we forgot to pull out the old camera. Oh well, someday there may be a battle that is not so intense that we can tear away from the action and push the shutter button a couple of times.