|
|
Post by josta59 on May 19, 2022 16:32:30 GMT -5
Welcome to the Congo in the '60s! Things have been crazy around here lately. Anyway, I'm Colonel Salsman, and I lead this band of mercs for better or worse. And for some reason I get to babysit you as we go on this new mission. Don't make me regret it.  The Congolese government contracted us to find and bring back civilians in various hotspots around the country. These are people who are in real danger and need our help. You could say I'm a good Samaritan. Oh, and they also want us to kill a whole mess of Simbas while we're at it. That's the part we're especially good at. My first job is to decide who I'm going to send out there, and what kind of firepower they'll need. This is the kind of mission that doesn't really take finesse. Just a lot of bullets...and a lot of luck. |
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on May 20, 2022 17:18:45 GMT -5
Like I said, we've gotta go for heavy firepower for this mission. I chose two teams that will start at our two bases. Mike will lead one, and I recruited a CIA spook I know to lead the other.  I've made planes available to them for air strikes, and I've given each of them a heavy weapons team, an armored car, and a supply convoy to bring back any civilians they find. I'm also giving Mike a commando team. The spook seems to have access to plenty of his own firepower. |
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on May 22, 2022 17:33:11 GMT -5
Mike took his team northward from our base in Elizabethville into inner Katanga, keeping clear of the towns where Simbas might have an advantage. After putting up camp in the boonies, they were set upon by Simbas and what Mike thought was a Cuban element providing assistance. He actually thought it was Che Guevara, but who knows? A firefight broke out.  The fight went Mike's way, but due to some bad luck, he lost most of his heavy weapons team. I hope he doesn't run into more trouble, because things are going to be tough after losing them. |
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on May 23, 2022 17:21:34 GMT -5
Meanwhile, the spook's team headed east from our base in Leopoldville and stopped to look around in Port Francqi, where we had a hot tip about some civilians in need. They were ambushed by a bunch of high-powered Simbas, in town where they're harder to deal with.  That team was annihilated the day they left the base. Only the supply convoy survived. Man, this country is rough. I've got a lot of difficult phone calls to make. [By the way, this isn't unusual in this game. It happens every time I play it. It's super hard to beat the Simbas.] [Edit: Now I'm kicking myself because this is where I should've called in an air strike. I totally forgot.] |
|
|
|
Post by Whiterook on May 23, 2022 18:19:47 GMT -5
That team was annihilated the day they left the base. Only the supply convoy survived. Man, this country is rough. I've got a lot of difficult phone calls to make. [By the way, this isn't unusual in this game. It happens every time I play it. It's super hard to beat the Simbas.] [Edit: Now I'm kicking myself because this is where I should've called in an air strike. I totally forgot.] Ouch! That’s brutal, man! |
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on May 25, 2022 17:11:43 GMT -5
Mike's team moved further northward to Albertville, where they ran into a CIA spook that Mike knew from somewhere.  Mike told him what happened to the other team. The spook pulled some strings and got another CIA officer on a plane to Leopoldville so he can meet up with the supply convoy in Port Francqi. Might be helpful. I can support him with air strikes if he runs into trouble. If I don't forget about that again! While in Albertville, Mike's team also discovered a massacre in town. Those were people we probably could've saved if we'd started our mission sooner. Sad. |
|
|
|
Post by mikeh on May 26, 2022 13:59:02 GMT -5
Nice! I try and avoid towns like the plague in Merrill's Marauders. Of course that is not always easy as in that game supply columns only have a movement factor of 1, talk about slow going in those scenario's. I see in CM you get 2 MF's for supply columns. That CIA/Nato Intervention Card would also be a nice one to have in MM.
To me it sounds like Congo Merc is not much easier the MM as I was lead to believe. Of course of they were easy they wouldn't be much fun either. Are the recon troops in this game? They can make patrols easier by scouting ahead. At first I always forgot about my airstrikes also, although now that I do remember them I still have not won a four scenario campaign. And the last time it was one of the easier scenario's that tripped me up in the fourth round of the campaign.
These games may be small and cheap but they are fun to play and they can build up a fair amount of tension as your troops work there way through to their objectives.
|
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on May 26, 2022 19:00:54 GMT -5
Are the recon troops in this game? They can make patrols easier by scouting ahead. Yes, as an optional rule that I'm not using yet while I'm still getting a handle on the main rules. |
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on May 26, 2022 19:03:49 GMT -5
Mike's team continued northward, bypassing the town of Kongolo. They dealt with a road washout in the Kaongo area but then quickly moved on to the town of Bukavu. Mike ran into some friends there. They helped the team find some civilians in need of a lift out of there.  No rebels were encountered there, thankfully. I hope things will remain calm on their way back to base. |
|
|
|
Post by mikeh on May 27, 2022 12:37:45 GMT -5
Do you have to bring the civilians back to base or can they fly out? I see an airport symbol in that spot.
|
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on May 27, 2022 14:11:38 GMT -5
Do you have to bring the civilians back to base or can they fly out? I see an airport symbol in that spot. Naw, this country's too dangerous to send them by themselves, even by air. Objective markers can only be transported by supply columns. That's the only purpose of the supply column counter. |
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on May 27, 2022 14:20:19 GMT -5
The new spook arrived in country and met our supply column in Port Francqi. He found a massacre there. Just terrible. Mike's team took the civilians they found back south. They had to make a stop in Kongolo. While they were there, they received some intel. Turns out the remaining civilians we're looking for are way up north in Bumba.  So I'll send the spook up there while Mike returns the civilians he found back to base. |
|
|
|
Post by Whiterook on May 30, 2022 16:20:20 GMT -5
Nice! I try and avoid towns like the plague in Merrill's Marauders. Of course that is not always easy as in that game supply columns only have a movement factor of 1, talk about slow going in those scenario's. I see in CM you get 2 MF's for supply columns. That CIA/Nato Intervention Card would also be a nice one to have in MM. To me it sounds like Congo Merc is not much easier the MM as I was lead to believe. Of course of they were easy they wouldn't be much fun either. Are the recon troops in this game? They can make patrols easier by scouting ahead. At first I always forgot about my airstrikes also, although now that I do remember them I still have not won a four scenario campaign. And the last time it was one of the easier scenario's that tripped me up in the fourth round of the campaign. These games may be small and cheap but they are fun to play and they can build up a fair amount of tension as your troops work there way through to their objectives. Coincidentally, I just watched “Merrill’s Marauders” a few hours ago and if your game was during the Siege of Myitkyina, or even before, leading to that battle, they were going through some of the worst jungle terrain on the planet Earth, including swamps… the only way to get supplies in were by airdrop, and even then General Merrill didn’t seize the supplies as the Japanese were on the spot immediately. So, I can see the slow supply mechanics. |
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on Jun 1, 2022 18:25:33 GMT -5
Mike's team didn't get the peaceful trip back to base we were hoping for. Not even close. They got through the next town ok, but as soon as they left town and entered the Likasi area, nearly back to base, they were ambushed by a legion of Simbas, led by Cubans! They must have known what Mike was doing and headed him off at the pass.  Mike put up a good fight, including two air strikes that took out the Cubans and some of the Simbas. But he lost his commando team and their armored car. He was able to escape with the supply convoy and the civilians. We don't have much left to work with now, dammit. I only hope Mike and the CIA guy can get back safely, along with some civilians. |
|
|
|
Post by josta59 on Jun 2, 2022 14:05:25 GMT -5
Mike got the civilians to base, though not much of his team came back with him. Since we knew where the other civilians were, the CIA officer with the other supply convoy wanted to head north to Bumba to pick them up. He felt confident, so I said ok.
They didn't get far, though. They only got to the Upper Congo when they were set upon by Simbas. There weren't many of them, but the spook didn't survive the encounter. The supply convoy managed to escape somehow, but they didn't have the morale to go on, and I wasn't about to send them further north with no support. I'm not even sure where they are now. What a total failure of a mission. What a country!
|
|
