Yesterday I posted up my plans for my Australian force for the first Skirmish Sangin Tournament at Call to Arms in just two weeks time.
For the tournament, you have to provide both an ISAF and a Taliban force, to game over the weekend. With my ISAF sorted, I need to sort out my Taliban list.
I find making a Taliban list a lot harder than making an ISAF force- basically because an ISAF force writes itself! With strict fire team organisations, high points costs and limited options, the 1000 point lists all have a similar base.
Not so for Taliban. The only impositions Colin put on me were:
- 1000 points
- No off table assets
All in all, pretty darn flexible!
Colin also sent out the forthcoming Taliban ORBAT to the competitors (released very soon in Despatches II), but I have decided to keep my force simple and from the main rule book. Don't worry, I am sure during the reports of the tournament some snippets of what is in the forthcoming ORBAT will be revealed!
I decided to give myself one more rule- that I am not going to include any IEDs or Booby Traps. Mainly because last time I had a game with Colin, he told me a Taliban force needed them to win. Wanting to prove Colin wrong and because I am an argumentative sod, they are out.
After all of my self imposed restrictions, what does that leave me with? Well, lots actually. When making a Taliban force, I like a mix of qualities, and a mix of cool upgraded guys, as well as having some novices with AKs (who can be scarily effective, as Craig H found out!).
But the first step I need an inspirational leader for the force.
I have opted for a Veteran, with an AK and the Warrior Imam upgrade package.
The other Taliban upgrade package I will use in the force is the Sword of Allah, giving a massive bonus to rifle skill to one of my fighters. I will put this on a veteran armed with a Sniper Rifle. Hopefully I will roll a high BODY rating, giving him a very high Rifle skill, combined with a 4d10 damage weapon will help me punch through the ISAF Body Armour!
Next, I will add some heavy weapons in the form of two Average Taliban with RPG's. No Taliban force would ever leave home without an RPG or two, they are just so darn effective! With 6d10 damage if it hits, 1 d10 damage if it hits near you, the RPG is one of the great levellers that the Taliban have against the ISAF. After adding another Average Taliban, this time with a PKM, it will give me another guy firing with a 4d10 damage weapon.
Not wanting to have lots and lots of heavy weapons, it was time to bulk out the force with some normal Taliban with the good ol' AK. 1 Veteran, 2 Average and 5 Novices will fit the bill nicely!. While you might look at the humble AK you may think that it will only have a limited effect (2d10 damage against 1d10+4 body armour) especially in the hands of a novice with a rifle skill ranging between 32% and 50%. But, this is a dice game, and having a lot of AKs will have a much greater effect. They might not all the time, but sometimes, they will! (That's right. 50% of the time, they work everytime....)
The last thing I am going to add to the list is a technical. The technical should give my Taliban a mobile firebase, capable of zooming around and causing mayhem with the heavy machine gun mounted on the back. Either that, or it will get slotted by a Javelin or AT-4 before it gets an opportunity to do anything. Either way, it is going to be entertaining! The technical is also a good opportunity for me to finish a piece of modelling I started a while ago, converting up one of the Airfix Landrovers into a Taliban technical. I am going to put a .50 cal HMG on the back, mainly because that is the weapon I have spare!
Now, I eluded to yesterday how much painting I had left to do on my Australians. Now, if I was intelligent, I would use my already painted Empress Miniatures Taliban. But given I am clearly not intelligent person, I have decided that this is a good opportunity to get my Eureka Miniatures Taliban painted.
So, this is where they are at:
Plus I haven't built the technical fully yet.
Hopefully tomorrow I will have an update with some painting. Right, enough blogging, now I really have to paint!
Pooch
think i may copy this list for use in pick up games. nice work.
ReplyDeleteBy all means, borrow away! I think for normal games, I would drop the technical in favour of a Veteran with a PKM. I will let you know how I get on in the games!
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