Spectre Operations: African Warlord Capture and Extraction

 My friend Steve was passing through town, so we met up to try another game of Spectre Operations. In this scenario, French special forces were tasked with capturing the notorious warlord, General Assimi. Informants had alerted the French that the general would be making a propaganda appearance at the local market, and that he would only have a few bodyguards with him at the time. The French hid a small capture team in one of the shops and waited for their informant's call.

At the start of the game, the location of my French and their informant were hidden from Steve, and Steve could then place the general at any starting location in the market that he wanted. We then rolled a scatter die to determine the entry points for the reserve militia and the exit point for the French.

With a propaganda cameraman in tow, the general came out to meet his people and accept their generous "donations" for his army.

The townsfolk rushed to see the general in person. However, one of his bodyguards noticed a man in blue making a suspicious phone call and demanded to know what he was doing.

With a positive ID of the general, and knowing the life of their informant was now in danger, the French team burst from their hiding spot and swarmed through the market.

As the civilians began fleeing, the bodyguard in pursuit of the informant saw the French and realized he now had much bigger problems.

Leaving one bodyguard in the market to cover his retreat, the general made a run for a money transfer store and barricaded himself inside as he called for reinforcements.  Another bodyguard too far way to reach him took up a position in a neighboring butcher shop. 

The French were able to save their informant with a well placed shot, but could not risk further fire with all the civilians still in the area.

However, the general's bodyguards did not have similar concerns and opened fire in the market, severely wounding one of the French riflemen.  With the medic attending to his wounded comrade, the rest of the French pushed through the market and screamed at the civilians to flee. 

The bodyguard in the market joined his general in the money transfer shop, but was quickly eliminated by the French machine gunner. 

The French sergeant also eliminated the bodyguard in the butcher shop.

The medic managed to get his wounded comrade to his feet (though with reduced stats for the rest of the game) while another rifleman eliminated the wounded bodyguard. 

General Assimi proved to be a good shot and critically wounded the French machine gunner.

The sound of an approaching vehicle could be heard, so the French deployed smoke grenades to cover their movement out of the market towards the general's hiding place. 

When the heavily armed technical arrived, it's view of the combat zone was fully obscured.

From a command perspective, the French had held the initiative so far in the game, but the tide finally turned in the general's favor. 

Two groups of militia on foot arrived from opposite sides of town.

Hiding in the smoke, the French decided to assault the money transfer shop through the roof rather than attempt to break through the gated door.

At the other end of the table, the smoke dissipated faster than expected, and the technical laid down suppressing fire on the French. The French grenadier countered with an under-barrel grenade, but did not hit the technical.

However, the wounded French rifleman was still hiding in the market stalls, and successfully lobbed a frag grenade into the truck bed. He managed to kill not only the gunner, but incapacitated the truck's driver.

With the remaining smoke dissipating, the French sergeant ran for the roof hatch, with his close assault specialist just behind.

Unfortunately, he was not able to get the drop on General Assimi, who fled the building and ran towards his militiamen.

The French deployed more smoke as the medic reached the injured machine gunner.

Two of the rescuing militiamen, including one armed with an RPG, were picked off by by the French before they could reach the general.

The sergeant managed to taser the general, while one of the French riflemen provided cover from the roof.  The medic succeeded in getting the critically injured machine gunner stable (again with reduced stats), but had to watch as the grenadier was severely injured in a new round of attacks.

Militiamen continued their advance across the market square and succeed in wounding another French soldier.

The medic and wounded machine gunner moved to their newly shot comrades and dragged them towards the exit point. Meanwhile, the rooftop riflemen dropped down to assist the sergeant in extracting the general.

They managed to eliminate two of the pursuing militiamen.

After patching up the other wounded, the French medic covered their withdrawal. Unfortunately, a militia machine gunner spotted and wounded him.

Collecting their wounded, the French successfully got General Assisi to their exit point. Though they were successful in their mission, four of the six French soldiers would wounded on the mission, two of them severely. Thanks to the heroism of their medic, all managed to survive their encounter.

It had been a year since Steve and I last played Spectre, but for this second game, I felt more comfortable with the play style of the rules and found them to be quite fun for small scale actions. So I think I'll add them to my Christmas wish list and see what other scenarios they can support.