Ghosts of the Jungle: A Solitaire Wargame

     This last week I have played four games using Battles of Medieval Britain (1 win- 3 losses). I have played the first two scenarios twice. While my continued lack of success (I blame poor dice rolls)was frustrating, it's been good getting some kind of wargames in. I also took the time to rebase some Peter Laing figures to use on the board.  I am even thinking of rebasing more of my Peter Laing Medievals to use with later period games.

    I also bought Mike Lambos' Ghosts of the Jungle and wanted to try a game. As I don't have any 15mm Vietnam War figures, I rebased some Peter Pig modern African War figures.  I did finally get a game in. I do believe that I made several mistakes in the game. Somehow I was continually interrupted reading the rules.  I figured the rules are simple enough that I could just play through. However, I found myself trying to find how certain rules work. Still, it was an enjoyable game. This particular game doesn't have a limited number of moves; after all you are on a stealth mission where you are trying to accomplish your mission without being detected. 

The SAS team is lined up on the right. Their mission is to get to the left hand side of the board. To lose one man and the mission is a failure. There are three randomly placed enemy. In the picture there is impassable marsh in front of the closest SAS man. Then there is an impassable rock. Between them is a village, which a randomly placed enemy occupies. The team decides to slide to their right and work their way around those obstacles.

The team has managed to work their way around the occupied village. However, unfortunately they had been sighted several times and suffered injuries ( each team member can take three hits. The Team leader can tend wounds and take away injuries, but you have to get doubles and both figures have to be in a building square). The upper left figure is Trooper Baker, who in the next move made it to the objective.  However, the enemy has managed to form a blocking force across the road. Unlike BoMB, the AI forces can move randomly. By some unlucky rolls (based on what side your on!!) The random dice rolls worked out for the enemy. I didn't see that happening. 

The end of the game. My dice rolls continued to work against the team. The random dice rolls continued to work in the enemy's favor, and they continued to close in on the team. In this game every time the team shoots, it activates more enemy reinforcements. Also, you must roll a 4 to "hide" a team member. My team rolled very few 4s. At this point Trooper Baker decided to backtrack to aid his comrades.  Baker had already taken one hit on this mission. Baker killed one of the blocking force. The rest of the team was getting ready to attack. Only Sgt. Allen hadn't been wounded. However, Trooper Baker was in the open. Two enemy soldiers on the road spot him and open fire. Trooper Baker is killed; the mission is a failure. 

  At the end of the turn, each AI soldier gets to roll. They can move, fire or Hunt if they roll doubles. Both the managed to roll hits, that killed Baker.