Gators!

Scenario 2: MEU (SOC)
Copyright 2002 by Mike Fischer
Last modified: 10/15/2004

I. Introduction

Player 1: Colonel, you did well in pacifying the rebellion on the island of Unnarstan. You and your personnel have earned the gratitude of our nation, and you have also earned some well-deserved shore leave. Unfortunately, you'll have to take that leave in the near future.

In the nation of Hyrax, a renegade colonel has led his military units in a rebellion; they are claiming independence for their province. The government of Hyrax has asked for US intervention, and you've got the ball. The problems are that (1) the rebels may have biological weapons, and (2) they have taken hostages among Western diplomatic personnel. Destruction of those weapons and safeguarding the hostages will be your first priority. Once you have achieved this, you must clear the cities and towns of hostile forces, and eliminate the rebels' ability to make war.

There is good news. Intel is convincing the rebels that we're sending the 82nd Airborne to subdue them, so they'll be bracing for an aerial assault and won't be massing on the coasts to meet you. Still, you've got a tough assignment and not much time to do it. Semper fi!

Player 2: Our battle for freedom has begun! Colonel, our struggle will not be easy, but we can win. We expect the Americans to send their airborne troops to fight us, so prepare to defend the province against surprise attack, which could come at any point. Be ready to use whatever means you need to ensure our liberty, including the germs we have acquired and the deaths of the hostages we have taken. We must be ruthless in order to succeed, but our cause is just. Our people will long remember how we fight this battle. Victory or death!

Introduction: this rule set is for Scenario 2 of my game, Gators! You must refer to the basic rules for that game in order to play this one. The basic rules are identical; a few counters have been added, the map is different, and some rules have been added or expanded. If a rule issue is not addressed here, it is the same as in the original scenario.

II. The Units

Player 1's small teams can identify the contents of a truck, or the rank of an officer in an APC, if they can scout it.

Player 2 gets four hostage markers and two anthrax markers. The hostages can be placed in towns or stacked with 5-ton trucks; the anthrax must be in trucks. They cannot move unless in a truck.

The Colonel and his two Majors normally ride in (stack with) Player 2's M113 APC's, one officer for each APC. They can ride trucks or move independently if you wish, but lose their ability to give orders while doing so. The Colonel is the only one who can give the order to kill the hostages. Any of them can give the order to release the anthrax spores. They ride with their heads out of the hatches to see what's going on, and as individuals, they can be sniped by the Scout/Sniper Team. If that team kills one of them, the APC is unaffected, but the Colonel or Major is dead.

Player 2 gets both Hawk SAM batteries, and doesn't get the Missile Boat or the A-4 Skyhawks.

III. Map Terrain

This game uses the following M8 maps, in the following pattern (which is identical to the map for Gators! scenario 2). All maps are rotated with points up-and-down and flat sides to the left and right. Terrain rules work as with the original Gators!

IV. Setting Up the Game

Set up the seven maps. Player 2's set-up works like the original Gators!, with the following changes. No more than 6 land units can be within 5 hexes of a sea hex, except for units in towns. Each Airstrip must get at least two air units. The anthrax spores must be stacked with 5-ton trucks, and the trucks must be in town hexes, with no more than one truck per town. Hostages can be in town hexes (one per town) or in trucks (same rules as for anthrax trucks). If you want to, you can stack an Air-Attack Marker under a truck to make Player 1 think it's carrying hostages or anthrax when it isn't. Each town must have at least one land unit in it, in addition to any trucks. The Colonel and the Majors must each stack with one M113. Again, you can stack an Air-Attack Marker as a "dummy" with the fourth APC to complicate Player 1's task. The APC with the Colonel must be in the large city in the middle.

Once Player 2 has finished placing his counters, Player 1 puts his three ships on the edge of the map as usual. Then Player 1 rolls a die, rerolling any result of 1 or 6. The number that comes up is the number of small teams he can pre-position anywhere on the map, which reflects their ability to infiltrate. These units can be any combination of his Recon Teams, SEAL Team, and Scout/Sniper Team. They must not be adjacent to any Player-2 unit, or to a Town hex, and they can't bring their FAV's with them. He does not need to pre-position if he doesn't want to.

V. Playing the Game

No changes in this section.

VI. Movement

VI-d. Stacking

Anthrax weapons must be stacked with 5-ton trucks. Hostages can be stacked with trucks, but it is not required. The Colonel and the Majors stack with M113 APC's. Player 2 can stack Air-Attack Markers under empty trucks or M113's to make Player 1 think they are carrying something. Such Air-Attack Markers cannot do any harm to anyone, and cannot be used for air attacks until the vehicle carrying them is destroyed.

VI-k. Towing Artillery

A Player-2 truck carrying hostages or anthrax cannot be used to move artillery.

VI-r. Hostages

Player 2 starts the game with 4 hostages. They can be placed in town hexes or stacked with a 5-ton truck. These trucks can move freely, but the hostages cannot unstack from them or move on their own.

The Colonel will order the hostages to be killed if he feels personally threatened. Player 2 can order the deaths of the hostages under the following conditions:

  1. The Colonel is alive and in an APC.
  2. Player 1 has brought at least 1 unit to a place where it could attack the Colonel, not counting the small teams or a Harrier jet.
If these conditions are met at the end of Player 1's movement phase, then Player 2 can decide that it's time for desperate measures, and announce that he is giving the order to kill the hostages. At the end of the Player-2 combat phase, for each hostage with a Player-2 land unit with a non-zero ground attack next to it, that hostage is dead; remove his counter. Player 2 does not have to kill all the hostages at once, but can kill one and then make demands in exchange for temporarily sparing the others.

If a Player-1 land unit is next to a hostage at the end of the Player-2 Combat Phase, and no Player-2 land unit (excepting a truck) is next to the hostage, that hostage is rescued. Remove the hostage marker; the truck (if any) is destroyed.

The only way for Player 1 to know if a truck contains hostages or anthrax is to scout it with one of his small teams. The only thing worse than Player 2 killing hostages is if Player 1 kills them by mistake.

VI-s. Biological Weapons

Player 2 starts the game with 2 containers of anthrax spores, each in one of his 5-ton trucks. These trucks can move freely, but the anthrax spores cannot unstack from them.

The Colonel or Majors will order the anthrax containers opened if they think they are losing the battle. When opened, the anthrax quickly contaminates one hex in all directions, and does not go away. Player 2 can order the use of anthrax weapons under the following conditions:

  1. The Colonel or at least one of the Majors is alive and in an APC.
  2. At least eight Player-2 land units have been destroyed.
  3. Player 1 has at least eight land units ashore, not counting the pre-positioned small teams.
  4. At least one town has no Player-2 land units in it.
If these conditions are met at the end of Player 1's movement phase, then Player 2 can decide that it's time for desperate measures. He must announce that he is using biological weapons. In the Player-2 movement phase, for each truck with anthrax spores, remove the truck counter and leave the anthrax marker on the map. All land units in that hex and each adjacent hex must roll a die, and if the roll comes up 3-6, the unit is wiped out by anthrax. Armored units are destroyed if their roll comes up 5-6. Air units run no risk unless they drop or pick up a unit in the danger zone, in which case they are destroyed if they roll a 4-6. Player 1's ships are immune; Player 2's boats are destroyed on a roll of 4-6. On following turns, any land units remaining in, or entering, the 7-hex danger zone must make the die roll and risk destruction.

Player 1's Medical Team can enter the danger zone at no risk. Units with a move of greater than 1 can enter the danger zone at no risk if the Medical Team is adjacent to the zone, and if the unit in question moves through the Medical Team just before it enters the zone.

If Player 1 attacks and destroys a truck with anthrax before the command to use it is given, the anthrax is destroyed along with the truck; it kills no one and makes no danger zone.

The only way for Player 1 to know if a truck contains hostages or anthrax is to scout it with one of his small teams.

VII. Combat

If a unit is forced to retreat into an anthrax danger zone, it must immediately make the die roll as described in the "Biological Weapons" section. If it fails the roll, it is destroyed.

VIII. Victory

Player 1 has thirty turns (fifteen days) to achieve victory. At the end of 30 turns, add up the score as follows:

ConditionScore
The Colonel dead+10
Each Major dead+5
Each hostage released+5
Each anthrax weapon destroyed+4
Each Player-1 land unit on the map+1
Each town with no Player-2 land units+3
Each hostage killed by Player 1-12
Each hostage killed by Player 2-5
Each anthrax weapon used by Player 2-2
Each Player-2 land unit in a town hex-2
Each Player-2 land unit in some other hex-1
Each hostage still being held-3
Each anthrax weapon still in existence-3

If the final score is greater than zero, Player 1 wins; if not, Player 2 wins.

IX. Game Tables

No changes in this section.

X. Designer's Notes

With all the work I put into researching the abilities of the Marines, it seemed a waste to just make one game out of it. Plus, the first scenario did very little with some of the Marines' special abilities. This scenario was the result.

There's obviously a lot more finesse involved here. Player 1 has to identify and take out certain units early in the battle or face a world of hurt, and Player 2's ability to use his special attacks is limited by how Player 1 wages his battle. But full-scale combat still plays a major role in success or failure.

Mike Fischer
mfischer@naisp.net