Ah, the Falklands. Land of rocks and radar, bird offal and bullets, and near-Antarctic wind conditions. The perfect place for a war to be fought. (Those who fought at Stalingrad may beg to differ, but be that as it may.)

Originally, I asked to write up the review for the game (click here to check it out!) as I used to play Tiller games like crazy many moons ago. That piece served to help me segue back into the scheme of review writing, and what naturally followed was this After Action Report (AAR) piece. I haven't played Falklands much in the days since the review posted, but I tried to keep my familiarity with the interface fresh because I knew that AAR was on the horizon (too far out on the horizon for my very patient editors sake, actually). However, it was a little tough figuring out which scenario to play... so I chose one that I had not yet had a chance to look at: number 12, Combat Group Eagle. The text explaining this scenario reads as follows:

Company Level

Normal Day Conditions

Can be played by either side, although better as British or PBEM

As the British troops poured ashore on San Carlos Water, Lieutenant Esteban led his troops out of Port San Carlos and headed for the high ground to the east. He had already contacted his headquarters and advised them of the landings and he had lost contact with the other portion of his command on Fanning Head. As is men dug in near "The Knob", Esteban observed British helicopters to his rear. Thinking that his command had been spotted and he was in danger of being encircled, Esteban ordered his men to open fire. The Sea King that was the target of his fire was actually carrying mortar bombs and not troops. It immediately dropped its load and tried to flee the scene as a Gazelle gunship came to its support. Meanwhile the troops of 3^rd Para tried to close the range.

I am choosing to play the British in this scenario, although it would be pretty awesome to see if I could lead the Argentines in a successful defense. Sitting there and getting pounded by airstrikes and artillery didn't seem like "much fun" to me, so I decided to go for the Brits, mainly because I'd really like to see how badly I can screw this one up.

So I get support in this scenario, as the friendly window says. (The bit about the Gazelle gunship in the scenario explanation kind of gave it away.) But I wonder if I'll have artillery as well. There is a Smoke Limit of 6 and an Illumination Limit of 6.

No Gazelle? Huh. Oh well, there's some 105mm howitzer goodness as well as a couple of 81mm mortars to add to the parade of shells I hope to rain down on the Argentines.

This is a good thing, because Im seeing a LOT of open ground and a couple of rivers to cross.

Oops, there's the Gazelle, in the upper left corner of this screenshot. The crashed Sea King is at far right.

And there's the one objective in this scenario, a ten-point crest of a hill. There's another objective somewhere around here, worth zero points. Guess where my effort's going towards? Gee, I wonder if the Argentineans are going to know where I'm going? How good is this AI, anyway? Let's find out. How bad is the AAR player, too? Well, let's try to not make a big deal of that.

What I got here is 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th Platoons (presumably of 3^rd Para), no doubt as eager as you are to charge into some South American squatters. So let's get to it.

Here's a better view of the situation, using the 2D Zoom In View from the View menu. You can tell that the crew of the crashed Sea King (two survivors but armed with a 7.62mm MG) are pretty hosed if the Argentineans want to beat them down. That would weaken their overall defenses, but seeing as how the British hardly have overwhelming power, and how I'm in command of these poor saps, I see a possibility, if I can move the 8^th Platoon on a northern arc-type move with the Gazelle supporting them, as 7^th Platoon moves directly on the Argentine positions. I think I'll use 9^th Platoon as a reserve, but I doubt they'll see no action. Oh my, no.

Seems that 7^th Platoon moved fine, but this whole Fog-Of-War thing (selectable at the start of the scenario) can be kind of a downer. One of 7^th Platoons sections takes fire, but fortunately there are no casualties (see the 0 in the middle of the red cross? They got lucky.) Unfortunately I didn't quite catch where the line of fire came from, but I was pretty sure it was right where the two rivers join -- one of those hexes. Time for some fire support!

When in doubt, call 'em all out. At least, since I don't know where those jokers fired exactly from, but I DO see lots of inviting target on the hill unfortunately known as "The Knob", I will have a good softening-up to serve them. So, I order the units closest to the enemy fire to "Go To Ground" (moving them prone) and intend to keep them in place until those mortars come up -- hopefully in Turn 2. But Ive played Tiller games long enough that no, that's not going to happen.

I tried firing at these two early with the Gazelle, and it used rockets, carving a swath of destruction three hexes deep from the target hex back. No casualties observed. I then ordered them to fire on the upper right unit in this picture, which they did, and received return fire back. No casualties all around. I moved the Gazelle to the position you see here, and the uppity dudes in the upper right there fired on them. Again. That's not very nice. But no casualties. Yawn.

 

TURN TWO

One of the 81mm mortars is available. I decide to hit that area where the rivers join.

Unfortunately, the mortars seemed to like to fire closer to my men rather than at the hex I told them to fire on.

Figures. Although the bonus here is, there's lots of holes for 7^th Platoon to hide in now for cover!

And, oh yes...the crashed Sea King crew managed to PIN one of the Argentine squads on the hill.

 

TURN TWO

Since 8^th Platoon was taken under fire during the Argentine turn, a large portion of them went to ground. They're still a long way away from the Argentinean positions, so maybe some artillery would help. Oh, gee, that's right...no artillery available this turn! All are still "on call." So much for that.

I know, I know... "hey, why arent you using your smoke grenades?" Because I have a finite supply of them, for one. For another, I loathe to use smoke when so far away from enemy positions. And I say all that and think I'm in the right, and then one man from 8^th Platoon goes and gets himself killed by intersecting the path of an Argentinean bullet or twelve.

I used the Gazelle to continue hammering the northern Argentine units (as well as using the Sea King helicopter crew and their MG), but not much seems to have been inflicted. The return fire is, thankfully, ineffective.

Looks like 8^th Platoon in the north is making slow progress, while 9^th Platoon is moving fairly quickly; they have not yet gone to ground as the terrain is covering their advance. I just hope I can spot those sneaky little ambushers hiding in the rocky river weeds before they carve up 7^th Platoon like a bad Jason Voorhees cliché. That's about all I can do for now -- I really don't want to fire on entrenched soldiers who have gone to ground from long distances, but I tried it anyway with 8^th Platoon taking some long-range pot shots, resulting in nothing obvious.

 

TURN THREE

So much for thinking long-range fire is ineffective against gone-to-ground units. Well, the Argentineans at least proved it works for THEM. One of the men in 7^th Platoon (a different stack than the last one) becomes a casualty despite being nearly impossible to hit (so I thought, anyway). After a large-scale, long-range exchange between multiple units and both of my helicopters, this is the only significant result.

I'm also beginning to think that its really, really hard to see bullet tracers flying across this stark terrain, and maybe those casualties inflicted on 7^th Platoon came from the hill. However, with FOW on, I hate making assumptions about enemy positions. I guess we'll see. Meanwhile, artillery! Yay! Well, 81mm mortar support. The 105mm howitzers are still beautying themselves up, I suppose.

During the Argentine turn, they decided to make a move towards the Sea King helicopter. They left the Objective hex wide open, but this isn't really a worry for them as my men are nowhere near it at this time. With eighteen total turns, this scenario might be cut a little close, especially if my men are belly-crawling their way across the map. You gotta make decisions about risking your men's necks by moving them quickly but leaving them very open to opportunity and regular fire from the enemy, or increase their protection by putting them prone and having them move like turtles.

I think I'll drop this fire mission on top of this relatively close grouping of Argentineans. If anything, the mortar fire should make them think twice about moving. If I'm lucky, one or two of them will get popped.

Of course, I can't tell if they suffered any casualties due to FOW, but the fire was pretty accurate, what a surprise. The circled Argentinean units each took a barrage directly on their hex, and you can see the shell impacts in adjacent hexes; artillery fire tends to affect units in adjacent hexes so hopefully some of this freaked them out enough to panic. Again, though, FOW means "fuhgeddaboutit, you aint finding out until the end."

I decided to Hades with crawling and let's just cover some ground. I'll probably end up paying for this later, but I really don't want to write (nor do you want to read) six pages of "Welp, this turn they crawled another one hex closer to the objective twenty hexes away! And the enemy fired and killed another guy." Woo. So you can see that 7^th Platoon in the south is making a run for the river; I'd like to cross it and then try to use the terrain to cover them getting even closer to the southwestern Argentine positions. If that damn 105mm can become available, I can plaster them good. Hopefully the Argentines and not my soldiers, but it's been known to happen before.

You can see the weapons on the ground -- left behind by the two casualties I've suffered so far. The remainder of the men are running for the river. 9^th Platoon again has the relative advantage of cover, although 8^th certainly does not. The Argentines opened fire on them when they stood up, but fortunately didn't hit any of my men.

Thats about all I can do this turn, so I'm going to move on and pray that the men don't get cut down.

Oops, almost forgot -- reinforcements. Specifically, a Fire Support team of nine men and a few light machine guns. I need to move them forward fast so they can provide some suppression fire.

 

TURN FOUR

I guess that was something of a victory...kind of. 8^th Platoon took a casualty, but otherwise as in previous turns the Argentineans seemed more interested in firing on the crashed and flying helicopters rather than on the men advancing (although some of them did try, obviously).

Here's another valuable John Tiller Game lesson, kids: dont move all your men and THEN expect to conduct fire support! Because your leaders wont have any "Move" factors left and they won't be able to do anything but pant and heave instead of getting on their radios and doing something useful. So no artillery this turn, because their commander forgot.

I managed to get 8^th Platoon to the river's edge, although they took lots of opportunity fire but didnt suffer any casualties -- although one stack did get pinned. Of course. 9^th Platoon is advancing quickly to catch up with 7^th Platoon, which is crossing the river and should be able to make an approach over the next few turns. I hope to not screw up the artillery thing next turn.

Let us cross our fingers...

Wait! More reinforcements. One of them is a Captain, apparently a forward observer. And there are two 81mm mortar missions available! Muwahahaha...

I targeted the circled hex for BOTH fire missions and as you can see, the results were all over the place, but more often than not at least landed adjacent to an Argentine stack. The Argentine stack just northeast of the circled hex took a direct hit, so that's something at least.

I also have a "HQ Squad" comprised of a major, a sergeant, and an eight-man squad that's just arrived as well.

 

TURN FIVE

After four turns of BUDDA-BUDDA-BUDDA between the Sea King and the Argentineans, and "0" casualties as a result of all the fire exchanges, some Argentine got lucky and inflicted "5" casualties... on the two-man crew.

Ouch.

On the other hand, the Argentines are on the move. They might be retreating for all I know, or doing some mystical AI dance that I haven't heard about. Look at this:

During the Argentine turn, someone said "MAS RAPIDO" as these men started running to the northeast. The Gazelle opened fire on them and they went to ground, but the lone Argentine weapon lying there indicates they've taken at least one casualty. And since there's an 81mm mortar mission available this turn (HELLO, 105mm? Where are you?), let's hope we can give them more to think about.

The fire made a direct hit on one stack and hit adjacent with every other one, so not a bad performance by the mortars so far. Now if the 105mm would finally get off their butts, maybe we can start a rout here. I've managed to get more stacks across the rivers and use the Gazelle to take potshots at some of the enemy stacks, but nothing otherwise significant happens that turn. Lets hope the Argentines have the same luck during their turn.

And by the way...tank. A Scimitar, to be specific. Plus another Gazelle. Hope I can use these effectively. Right now I just need to get them to within range. The Gazelle will support my men by moving into a southern position to fire on the retreating (at least I think theyre retreating) Argentine units.

 

TURN SIX

Yep, looks like some of them are running for the hills. And...105mm artillery available! I put it to good use along with the 81mm fire mission that is also available. I concentrate both of their fire on the mountaintop concentration of Argentine troops...I want to get the most bang for my buck here.

See the stack to the southwest of the "P" unit? Yep, they're my target for both fire missions. And the fire is quite glorious, in that there's one direct hit on that stack by both missions. You can't really hope for more as its rare when artillery actually lands where you want it to. I can't imagine what the Morale rating is for these Argentinean troops now.

The pressure is beginning to mount on the Argentineans. Some of them seem resolute and are firing on my advancing soldiers. The artillery HAS to be taking a toll, at least psychologically. And the Gazelles -- one north and one south --  are firing away on them to give them more to think about. I hope they'll all break and run so my men dont go running into machinegun fire --  the worst that can happen is dead men, but sometimes even more frustrating than that is a Disrupt or Pin result, which makes them just as useless game-wise.

 

TURN SEVEN

So much for the "scared" Argentineans -- the Gazelle in the south was just shot down. The one in the north continues to take fire, but they are missing it. My using it as bait will hopefully bear fruit this turn when 8^th Platoon comes charging around the mountain...

The 105mm is available again; there are two fire missions left for this battery (the 81mm mortars are done for this game). I use one of the 105mm missions to fire on the Argentines to the north; the circled hex is the target hex. The "P" stack takes a direct hit and you can see from the shell holes that they took a hell of a pounding. Hope that did the trick. I managed to move one element of 8^th Platoon up over the ridgeline between them and the northernmost Argentine units, and they received a bullet-laced welcome as a reward to their efforts. Fortunately nobody was hit, so I ordered them to ground and should be able to fire on them the next turn.

Meanwhile, 7^th Platoon in the south is making progress towards the Argentines that are still holding the mountaintop. I have one more fire mission of 105mm, which is just as well since my troops are about to be really close to the enemy, and that's just asking for a friendly fire result.

 

TURN EIGHT

Again, even though most of the Argentinean units are in retreat, that doesn't mean they're helpless. Thinking that means charging in without a plan will earn you lots of casualties. I knew this from previous experience, so I've been taking it easy and exposing as few troops as I can, although in the terrain of the Falklands, this is unavoidable at times.

I have one 105mm fire mission left, so I need to put it to good use and pray it doesnt stray too far from my targeted hex.

I managed two direct hits on this cluster as well as several adjacent hits. That's it for the artillery support; time to move in.

Elevation changes can be a pain as far as maneuver is concerned -- moving up one elevation level will take the lion's share of your units movement allowance. In the southern (7^th) platoons sector, I've been laying covering fire while advancing my other units. The stack that's closest has been providing that fire while the rest of 7^th Platoon (and parts of 9^th) advance steadily behind it. The Scimitar tank is also very close at hand, but it moves VERY slowly when moving up elevations, just like their brethren in the infantry.

For reinforcements I get a Scorpion tank. It'll take several turns to move him forward, so like with anything else in this scenario I can't really wait on the heavy guns too long. Hopefully he'll make it in quickly.

Not bad for one turn's movement! Unfortunately the river and the changing elevations on the other side will pretty much bring him to a standstill like the Scimitar.

 

TURN NINE

Our exchange of fire during the Argentine turn didn't do anything appreciably to either side. The enemy is doggedly holding on to the mountaintop, although some of the northern Argentine units seemed to have broken and are running for the east edge (another "MAS RAPIDO" order). I bring some of them under fire from my northern 8^th Platoon, while 7^th/9^th Platoons continue to scratch their way up the hill. The Scimitar is moving slowly along, and the Scorpion is catching up quickly. I'd like to bring them into the fray before making a serious push for that objective hex.

 

TURN TEN

It seems 8^th Platoon took the brunt of the enemy's fire this turn, although no casualties resulted. 7^th/9^th took a few shots, but it looks like more Argentineans broke and are moving eastwards. This is a prime opportunity.

And oh, by the way...don't forget to toggle between Move mode and Fire mode, because if you do, you'll end up putting some holes into Falkland terrain instead of moving your men. Just a thought.

We're starting to close in. The Scimitar tank to the south should be up on that next ridgeline by Turn 12. The Scorpion will probably take another turn or two to be effective fire-wise. The remainder of 7^th and 9^th Platoons are moving forward well and are taking less fire, although those Argentineans near the objective hex haven't stopped firing. It doesn't look like they're breaking anymore, either, but we'll see when I click "Next Turn."

 

TURN ELEVEN

Nope, they're retreating. But they're not routing, as they're still firing. So well in fact that they caused a casualty in one of my stacks (the "P" in the upper left) when I moved them forward. Not much otherwise happened this turn...my Support stack (off the image, further west) is laying down some cover fire but I'm going to have to move him as most Argentinean units in this image are blocked by a ridge line right next to the MG team.

 

TURN TWELVE

Again, nothing earth-shattering this turn, although 7^th/9^th Platoons are making decent headway, as is the Scimitar tank. Moving to its' currently-pictured elevation took up too many Move points, so it could not fire. It should have two targets for Turn 13, though. Meanwhile time is starting to get close and I need to start moving these men faster. Again, the change in elevation upwards takes a huge toll on Move points. I might be able to capture the objective with the Scimitar in two turns, so I need to decide if firing on the enemy on the same elevation is a better choice; otherwise the infantry will have a hell of a fight -- but you'll probably get to witness an assault in action!

 

TURN THIRTEEN

I moved the Gazelle back a bit so those northernmost retreating Argentines don't get lucky and shoot it down. To the south, I went ahead and moved the Scimitar up to the topmost elevation since more Argentines retreated, showing no stomach for confronting the onrushing tide of red berets. The only Argentine unit is the pinned unit, comprised of three men. I moved one stack adjacent to them, so maybe we WILL get to see an assault in action. I should be able to get that objective hex on the next turn.

 

TURN FOURTEEN

Unfortunately 8^th Platoon took another casualty from a lucky Argentine hit (I say "lucky" because these don't happen all that often, at least not in this game). However, the Scimitar managed to take the objective hex (finally) and I successfully assaulted the pinned Argentine unit. One stack assaulted and killed two of the three enemy soldiers (with me taking one loss); I assaulted with a second stack and that sealed their fate; they lost their last man while I didn't take any casualties from that. The Argentine unit was disrupted from the first assault, so that certainly helped a lot.

The Scimitar tank fired on the Argentine unit at the same elevation, causing a casualty. That unit was already taking fire from 8^th Platoon, so it's probably not going anywhere.

Now that the objective hex is taken, I will try to concentrate on causing Argentine casualties to increase my score. I hate to say it that way, but that's just the way the game rolls.

 

TURN FIFTEEN

This turn, Im going to try to take out the pinned Argentine unit on the mountaintop, but will use the Scimitar to suppress them to give my infantry time to get up there. The remaining Argentines are bugging out, and they're too far away to effect any kind of assault on them, not with three turns remaining. I'm not risking my remaining Gazelle, either, but I will use him at longer range to snipe at the running enemy.

Both my Scorpion and Scimitar tanks take the pinned unit under direct fire, but they dont budge. Examining that stack shows me they're a three-man MG team. With the right amount of support I can assault them into oblivion as well, so I'm looking to do that on the next turn at the earliest. Meanwhile the Gazelle and 8^th Platoon take the distant Argentines under fire, but to no apparent effect.

 

TURN SIXTEEN

I've managed to get a couple of stacks adjacent to the pinned Argentine unit. It's hard to imagine that three broadsides from a Scimitar and Scorpion tank have no apparent casualty effect on a three-man MG team, but that appears to be the case. No matter, that enemy unit's days are numbered on this next turn. Meanwhile the Argentines continue to run to the northeast as 8^th Platoon and the Gazelle fire on them.

 

TURN SEVENTEEN

After an exchange of fire, the Argentine unit is disrupted, so they're going to be ripe for the assault. I try with one stack, but they fail and suffer a casualty; I try with another stack, and all three Argentineans are done for with no casualties for that stack. Now, we can try to pursue, although I doubt anything significant is going to happen now.

 

TURN EIGHTEEN

I moved the Scimitar up from the objective hex to take a shot at the nice fat stack of Argentines building up on the east edge of the map, and they manage to cause a casualty. More of revenge of sorts, as they shot up one of my stacks and caused a casualty there. I've purposely kept out of the Victory Conditions page to this point because I want to take a look at it at the same time that you read it here. I am not going to move my units now, as that might cause opportunity fire and a lucky hit.

 

END OF GAME

Seems that the loss of that Gazelle was a bigger bite than I had hoped it would be. Twenty points go to the Argentines for that VERY lucky hit -- considering how many times the northern Gazelle took fire, the southern one was hit in a fraction of the time.

I don't know what the second vehicle loss is, unless they're counting the dead crew in the crashed Sea King, which makes sense. I honestly had pretty much written them off at the start of the scenario, since if the Argentines DID make a break for the rear, those poor saps would be right in their path.

Eleven casualties for the British and 12 for the Argentines made this something of an even exchange, although the vehicle losses STING for me.

A negative 13 and a "British Minor Defeat", even though I secured the objective. But at what cost? Probably my job as a British leader of men.

I told you I'd find a way to screw it up.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Eckenfels is an instructional designer and freelance writer living in southeast Texas. He's a huge fan of the Houston Texans football team, through thick and thin, is writing the first novel in a trilogy of books due to be finished sometime this Spring of 2012 (check out "The Trinity Trilogy" on Facebook and 'like it'; he'd appreciate the support), and has acted in a dozen stage productions and a few films, one of which was accepted at Sundance in 2010. He's now getting back into the game review business and is enjoying every minute of it.