Free stuff...

it's that time of year!

I'm in that strange space between Christmas and New Year that we might have referred to in the old days as a game turn interphase administration step. Check supply, check reinforcements, advance game turn track marker to 2017. 

CTS light mortar Mosul (a UK 51mm?)

I am doing some thinking, rather than just sitting around (even though these activities look identical!). As the above picture indicates, my Middle East theme continues but with a renewed emphasis on tactical rules (AK47 is on my mind). I hope that a cunning plan will shortly emerge for next year. In the meantime, here is some really interesting stuff (free or as good as) that I have recently come across.

1. Kursk game by Lou Coatney

Lou has designed many free games over the years, some very small scale such as his Tiger Attack! point to point game on the Ardennes and Patton's Lorraine on the 1944 Metz offensive. He has now come up with a two map game on Kursk 1943 (Juggernauts) which you can find here. Well worth pondering on and it's free as well.

2. Peter's AWI rules for OHW

One of Peter's British line infantry units (15mm Peter Laing)

I have been following, and enjoying, Peter's various campaigns over the past year. In particular, his current AWI campaign using modified OHW rules by Neil Thomas has really piqued my interest. Peter has now posted his variant rules which contain some very interesting design features. I highly recommend them.

3. Airfix Battles

Maro Arnaudo has now reviewed Airfix Battles, which you can find here. A nicely balanced review which I think gives a fair picture of the game. 

4. Little Bighorn

Pete Belli is a designer and regular contributor to BGG. One of the things he is renowned for is his series of one minute battles. Latest in the line is One-minute Little Bighorn. The map is shown above. It comes with 28 counters and can be played in 60 seconds. The full details are here. I love the turn record track!

Check out Pete's other one-minute games of Waterloo and The Bulge here.  

5. Christmas at White Mountain (1620)

Holland Spiele have come up with a free game (White Mountain) which they gave away to participants in their winter sale. The good news is that they have also put it on Wargames Vault at the excellent price of $2. The interesting thing here is that they have used similar techniques to the innovative W1815 so for two bucks it is worthwhile checking it out.

So it's an early Happy New Year from me, I hope its good for all of us!

Thinking aloud.....

where to next?

I'm not quite ready for an annual round up, not exactly ready for Christmas either! Before I lose my train of thought during the festive period, and pending more thinking about plans for next year, here are some current things on my mind.

1. Toy soldier stuff

Dale, of Dale's Wargames Blog, has been playing Tin Soldiers in Action. A very toy soldier like game using a grid. In Dale's initial test he has been using these delightful wooden soldiers. All I can say is, very nice!

I'm not so sure about the rules though, a little complicated and pricey. Bob Cordery's blog gives a useful overview.    

2. Tabletop Wargames

This is the book by John Lambshead and Rick Priestley. I mentioned these in slightly disparaging terms earlier this year. I have been spending some time rereading this book. It is quite useful but its focus is solidly on how to produce a game like Bolt Action. I came across this review recently on The Raft with which I wholeheartedly agree. It does a good job of expressing my own unease (not sure that is the right word) about the approach set out in the book. 

3. Norm's Christmas Message

I can't remember the last time I watched Q do her thing on Christmas day. I do however eagerly await Norm's Christmas morning blog and another is promised for this year. Great, really looking forward to that.

4. Point to point

I have been applying my mind to the Mosul game and hope to do some more on it over the holidays. I have been revisiting my Ramadi game and pondering whether point to point might be a better way of representing ground combat in and around cities. I have now come across Khe San '68 from Decision Games. A solitaire point to point game which is card assisted for the active US player and with cards driving the AI for the Viet Cong. It seems to have some real tactical nuance possibilities. The BGG entry is really interesting. Perhaps a little New Year treat!

5. AK47, the original and best!

After finding AK47 Reloaded a little tricky to grasp (I'm getting old!) I have been reading the original rules and the supplement with the Lebanon rules. I still think these are great. Is there a possibility of joining these up with FiveCore? More pondering ahead.

Stuff...........

An interesting list!

Well first off, another birthday. The best bit was seeing some of my oldest friends for tea. Second best bit was the pressies....

   

Plenty of thinking material here, or at least plenty of scope for diversionary activity!

FiveCore Company Command

People's Edition!

There are two reasons for this to be really good news. The first is that this is a major overhaul of the original rules taking account of developments across the FiveCore family. I haven't digested all of the changes but I'm very impressed based on my initial look through.

The second reason is that the upgrade is free if you have already got a copy through Wargames Vault. And even if you haven't, its just $7.99 and well worth it. despite the exchange rate.

Ivan also has a 20th century scenario generator for $1.99 which looks tempting, something for the weekend perhaps!

"Nineveh, we are coming!"

and I'm back in the fight!

As will be apparent from the lack of posts recently, I have been taken unawares by an illness which has made me re-prioritise my activities. I am on the mend now and should be getting back to normal over the next couple of weeks.

While I have been contemplating my navel, the real world has moved on and the offensive in Mosul has continued to play out. 

Mosul (New Statesman)

I have concentrated recently on figuring out the ISF/Coalition order of battle to get a fix on the scale of the fighting and what level of unit I need to represent. Although it will produce quite a few units, I'm likely to go for battalion. My notes are now complete (for the moment) and you can find them here.  

Advancing ISF forces (NBC News)

I am massively impressed by the quality of the planning that has gone into the offensive and the complexity of the operation itself, especially managing disparate and competing partners, and difficult external stakeholders. I don't think we have seen anything this difficult since D-Day.

Next steps are to finish the map and get on with the rules!

Its progress Jim...

but not as we know it!

Apart from work, which has me buried at the moment, I have been getting on with the Mosul game. Lots to do but here is a first shot of the map.

Hopefully this looks familiar if you are from Mosul! The bunkers are my attempt to reflect the barricade line that ISIS have built north of the airport. 

As with Ramadi, I'm using the M44 scenario editor to sketch out the map. I have also determined to use the same system as Ramadi. I think it should work well.

Now the framework for the campaign has emerged more clearly I can get designing instead of havering!

A couple of interesting things have also come my way which are worth a look:

• Crossfire Lite (ugh!): This looks good and is on the Freewargames site.
• Orders of battle...: A blogspot with Crossfire, KISS and other OOBs. Really good!  

More Mosul.....

Real news

I'm running behind the curve on the battle as it develops. However, here are some interesting things to note about how the fighting is going.

1. Bait and switch

Immediately prior to the offensive starting the northern and eastern flanks for Mosul were held predominantly by Peshmerga forces. They have been historically under trained and under armed. Much work has been done on both fronts recently but there was a general consensus that they were not going to spearhead the assault on Mosul, not least because leaving the Kurds in control of the city would be politically inconvenient.

Smart money, including mine, was that ISF would drive straight up the corridor from the south along the Tigris valley. This is partly because ISF are on the end of a long supply line from Baghdad but also because it allows them to use the full force of their regular army.

It is now clear that on 17 October ISF switched significant forces including CTS and US SF with tank support (IA) as well as US Apache attack helicopters to the eastern flank across the Tigris. 

ISW reports:

"The CTS’s positioning in Kurdish terrain is one of the results of a U.S.-brokered agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraqi Government in August and will set the CTS up to breach Mosul’s city limits from the northeast."

There appear to be around 100 US SF engaged with ISF and Peshmerga both as advisors and JTACs.

2. The Bridge

US engineers have helped the IA to build a floating bridge across the Tigris below Mosul. Here is a brilliant transcript of a press conference which is worth reading simply for fun. It also describes the building of the bridge which provides lateral mobility and allows the redeployment of troops to the eastern bank.

"The coalition provided significant training and logistics support to enable the ISF to accomplish these feats -- from the strategic left to bring in those bridges, to building a man-made lake at Camp Taji, so the ISF could rehearse the bridge installation tasks.

The bridge across the Tigris near Qayyarah was a significantly more difficult bridge to employ than the one in Ramadi, due to the size, speed and condition of the river and the enemy situation in the area.

COL. GARVER: The use of the bridge connecting the west and east sides of the Tigris, and connecting Qayyarah West air base and Makhmur will greatly improve maneuverability and shorten lines of communication for the ISF as they prepare for the eventual assault to liberate Mosul."

Extract from Press Conference

3. Peshmerga

There is more than one sort of Peshmerga. I'll write more fully about this in due course. However, the Peshmerga forces closest to Mosul are those of the KDP. What is surprising is that forces of the PUK, a rival Kurdish political party, have been allowed to move into the southern area of the eastern back to support CTS in their clearance of the eastern bank.

The two key Peshmerga forces are Yakray 80 (KDP) and Yakray 70 (PUK). I estimate these at best as brigade sized units. It is rare to see both this level of offensive activity from the Kurds but also their close collaboration, although I suspect this is carefully choreographed by others.

4. Highway 2

The assault currently making good progress is that straight down Highway 2 from the east. My annotated Google map above shows very steady progress into the outskirts of Mosul. The forces on this axis appear to consist of Yakray 70, a brigade force from IA 16th Division plus CTS and US SF.

Bartella

We can expect that concentric attacks will develop further with Yakray 80 and CTS troops advancing from the NE via Bashiqa and the ISF main force advancing from the south. Note that the main route for escaping civilians is to the South and the need to deal with displaced persons is a big issue for the advancing ISF.

As with the Ramadi and Fallujah battles, ISF appear to be leaving an exit route for ISIS, in this case to the west into an unpopulated area. Also, as in previous battles, the objective may be to reduce resistance in the defended area and then allow air assets to destroy escaping ISIS forces. 

5. Force estimates

AP estimates the forces involved to be:

ISF: 25,000, including Peshmerga, with 100 US SF.
ISIS: 1500 to 2500 in the outer defended balt around Mosul plus 3-5000 in Mosul itself. There is evidence that senior staff and specialists have already fled the area.

By the way, the BBC online news is excellent, as is AP's.

Mosul (2)

getting a shift on!

That's me, not just the offensive.

ISIS have set fire to the Sulphur plant in Mosul (CNN)

I have now made a page for the Mosul work in progress (here). I have updated my draft. Still early days but I'm learning a lot thanks to help from chums.

Another CNN shot of the Sulphur Plant conflagration

I'm aiming to crack on with this over the next few days. Real time is quite hard work.

By the way, I reconsidered my rude comments about the Daily Mail in the first draft, then decided I was quite right and they are awful. Nuff said!

Mosul....

it begins!

As with my game on the Battle for Ramadi, I have been planning to do a similar piece of work on the Mosul operation. It will follow on very similar lines. I intend to develop a real time view of the battle and then develop a simulation that will help us all understand what is going on.  

For various reasons I feel in a very serious frame of mind (the male menopause perhaps!) so don't expect as many jokes as usual. Hopefully this will wear off soon!

The first shot is here, rough and ready but lots more to come!   

Professional grid game...

best game ever?

Ha, that's a loaded question! However, let's start at the beginning......

RAND Baltic game, hex grid overlay

I read with great interest the recent RAND organisation report on their Baltic wargame. Using lots of military types and what, to me, looks like a fairly standard NATO/Next War type game with 10km hexes, they have concluded that the Russians can overrun the Baltic states in 60 hours. Recommendation? Put in 7 brigades of additional troops including 3 armoured brigades as a deterrent. You can find the report here.

I mention the RAND game first because they have used a mix of a standard boardgame with little cardboard units that we are all familiar with in a combination with current military experience. The report is good, the concepts are great and the recommendations are probably very sound. Also, if you are interested in current developments in the east, their report is a great basis for some Cold War Commander battles.

According to Paxsims (one of my favourite sites): 

“full documentation of the gaming platform will be forth-coming in a subsequent report.” 

That will be very cool, can't wait.

The reason for mentioning this first is that RAND have been doing military analytics for at least 50 years, if not more, and they know what they are doing. The Baltic stuff is top notch. However, I have now found something that looks and feels like a major step forward. This is C-WAM!

Turkish M60s on the Iraqi border

The US Army have developed their own wargame, it is a map based game using a grid and counters. I don't have any pictures but General Dynamics IT have used the Freedom of Information Act in the US to get a copy of the rules. I have read them and, in my opinion, they are brilliant.

"Oh, alright, I surrender then!"

You can find the whole story here but, essentially, C-WAM (Centre for Army Analytics- Wargame Analysis Model) is a paper and dice based game. While its outputs are fed into a major IT system (Joint Integrated Contingency Model - big campaign management system), it is a battle simulation system that can be used in a very simple way (although you don't seem to be allowed just to do stuff unsupervised in the US Army!).

TOW: Great BBQ starter!

You can find a link to the rules here. I highly recommend reading them, Any experienced board or figure wargamer will feel very comfortable with the concepts. Just to convey some of these:

• They use a square grid on a map;
• Squares are 1 by 1 inch;
• All units that take up space are represented on the map;
• A grid square represents the area a brigade would occupy when deployed defensively;
• Time scale is one or three day turns;
• Squares may represent different sized areas depending on predominant terrain in the combat area e.g. 5km in rolling terrain;
• Units are brigades;
• Weather effects are very important, this is the first phase in a turn;
• Cyber/Space/EW effects are included, you might be successful in dealing in a turn with information attacks and attacks on your space assets (satellites) but you may suffer degradation of in electronic warfare terms;
• Intel/Surveillance/Recce effects are merged into a targeting value, if you are moving in a J-STARs area you are detected! Otherwise you are detected it there is a targeting value success. Special forces are primarily an information gathering/targeting device!
• Deep strike bombardments (ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, air packages), atmosphere penetrators (oooer missus);
• Integrated air defense system "gates" and air to air combat;
• Forward Area Logistical Supportability: supply to you and me;
• A major naval warfare sub-system (not useful in the desert but...);
• Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration (RSOI) Operations: reinforcements anyone?
• Manoeuvre and stacking (that would be "battlespace limitations"!);
• Force Multiplier Combat Values: artillery support;
• Ground force combat with tables and die rolls!

Syrian forces exposing themselves to ISR detection

It says in the rules that they are not to be used without appropriate support. I agree. They are not a complete set on their own but, rather, a tool kit that needs to be carefully managed.

Are they the best game ever? No, but they are such a major insight into real-world wargaming and current US doctrine that they are extremely important. if you don't wear green pyjamas, reading these rules is the closest you will get to the smell of gunpowder. Oh, by the way, they use a square grid, how interesting is that! 

October War....

Why it is brilliant!

October War (OW) is one of those SPI games that has lurked in my memory for nearly 40 years. It appeared in a 1977 issue of Strategy and Tactics magazine. It currently resides in an SPI flat plastic box with three other significant S&T games from the same era (Cobra, Kharkov and Ney vs. Wellington). All of these games were played in my youth with friends, all of them were real classic player's games. 

40 years seems a lifetime ago. In historical terms, OW was a description of current events. The Yom Kippur War had taken place only in 1973. Data was derived largely from open source reporting. In warfare terms we see Shermans and Centurions vs T55s and Saggers. The first war featuring massive use of anti-tank missiles. In game terms this is the descendent of Panzer Blitz via Panzer 44 and Mech War 77. 

So why do I think this is game is so great?

• All units are platoons (see above) and linked very much to their real world prototypes. It feels like you are playing with real units. This is reinforced by the use of step reduction rather than an abstract disruption status caused by combat. When a unit has taken casualties you know it is down to one tank!
• It has multiple scenarios based on the Sinai and Golan Front battles. These are historical rather than abstract. There are also two multi-scenario campaign games, one for each front.  
• The sequence of play is integrated: The turn starts with a direct fire phase, each side takes it in turn to fire one unit. Who goes first is a 50:50 die roll. This is followed by a similar movement phase for units that have not already fired. This includes opportunity fire. Each player makes choices all the time.
• Any unit attempting to move or fire has to roll for "panic". An SPI fetish with very random panic results. In this game it makes every decision fraught with uncertainty, despite issues with the concept (its a bit gamey!), it works.
• Overruns can be attempted. Who goes first in an overrun depends on a die roll 1-5 Israeli and 6 Arab. A massive incentive for the Israelis to use overruns and disincentive for the Arabs. Every now and again the Arabs get to shoot first, much to the surprise of the Israelis.  
• Indirect fire is pre-plotted in advance.
• Combat effects include step losses and suppression
• There is no melee, all combat is fire combat.

The fact that this game has remained so firmly fixed in my mind after all these years is due simply to the fact that it is unpredictable and very very realistic. You can feel the heat and smell the smoke.

The Golan 73 game has set me off down this road again. I can't see why this approach was not retrofitted to Panzer Blitz/Leader. Compared to OW, Arab Israeli Wars by AH was a developmental dead end. I wonder if we can use OW in a miniatures game? Hmmmmh!

There are more details about the game, including the rules, on BGG. One very nice thing is some great scenario cards......

   
Fantastic stuff!

An interesting list......

new stuff!

Things have been really busy recently so progress on most fronts has been pretty slow. However, I've been going through one of those periods where there is a lot of interesting stuff arriving on my desk. 

Books first....

• The Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBK): The latest Dan Mersey rules from Osprey. From what I have read these are very simple and very entertaining. If I was starting Desert Eagle again, I'd start from here. Very interesting.
• Table Top Wargames: By Risk Priestley and John Lambshead (Pen and Sword). The jury is out. I don't think they are giving any secrets away in this one. Some of the key design issues (movement distance vs. firing distance for example) were covered off nicely by Phil Barker in a short article in The Nugget (if I remember correctly) some years ago. 

• Sandbox Infantry Patrols: This is brilliant (and only $2.99 from Wargames Vault). Basically a solo campaign for small scale patrols in Iraq or Afghanistan. Very, very nice. As some of you may have guessed, I don't do rules as written (RAW) but this one really tempts me to just do it as per the book.

  
Golan '73: This arrived very unexpectedly by post a couple of days ago. I had been watching the GMT P500 news on this for a while and had gone so far as to read the e-rules. My chum Pete, who well remembers our battles on the Golan using October War (SPI) in the 1970s, sent it to me as an early birthday present. A very welcome addition as well as being a great reminder of some happy times. I'll definitely win this time round!

In other news:

• CnC Medieval: Check this out. I'm not sure 6/7th century Byzantium counts as medieval but very interesting nevertheless.
• Heroes of Normandie Card Game: I love the boardgame, will this be even better?

• Firestorm Bastogne: I'm a big fan of Firestorm as a concept, this looks great too. 

I'm sure there is lots of other stuff occurring but this is enough for me to be getting on with for the moment!

OPFOR.....

here come the bad guys!

An ISIS fighter with a competency issue

Having survived the back to school period, things return somewhat to normal. My priority is to finish up the Desert Eagle draft and get in some full game tests. I've been doing a lot of thinking about ISIS and have just completed the first draft of the background to an ISIS army list. This is now on the Desert Eagle page. The detailed ratings will follow shortly.

I have also been tempted by a few different things.....

The Men Who Would Be Kings: Yes, I've now got this and its great. It will not cause me to change my direction on DE but I can see other possibilities with it. It is cleaner and more simple than Dragon Rampant so it doesn't hurt my brain. Also, I've got loads of Hat colonials, so who knows what's next!

Tabletop Wargames: A Designers' and Writers' Guide: By Rick Priestley and John Lambshead. On the one hand its seems to be designer's notes for Bolt Action (and you know what happened when I read those rules!) and, on the other, a combination of Fowler's Modern English Usage and Usage and Abusage by Eric Partridge. The only thing I have found useful about this book so far is that it recommends that original historical research should be left to others since you can waste loads of time on it. Sorry, its a first impression, I'm sure a second reading will improve it. I may have missed a semicolon here!

Sandbox: I love the idea of this, especially for $2.99. Something for the weekend I think.

New Desert Eagle stuff...

it's quite good!

NSyA top brass promo pic

Well I think so anyway! I've been doing quite a bit of work recently on the New Syrian Army (NSyA) to generate a first army list for DE. I have been surprised by how complicated the internal wiring is for Dragon Rampant and converting it into something it is not intended for is fraught with complications. Nevertheless, I have produced two things:

• An army list description which is, as far as I can see, pretty much up to date (within the last week);
• A very first draft set of unit characteristics.

You can find both of these on the DE page here. Loads more work to do on these but nearing a first playtest on a table with some counters!

My thoughts have been drawn to the impending battle for Mosul, Op. FATAH (CONQUEST). Over Christmas last I worked on the Ramadi game and found myself drawn into the conflict in quite a personal way. I was encouraged to do a similar piece of work on the recent battle for Fallujah and, in fact, have done a lot of research on the fighting as information has become available. Although I will return to Fallujah at a future point, the Mosul operation will have enormous consequences so my intention now is to work up a similar game to the Ramadi one but looking at Mosul in real time. 

Anyone with concerns about wargaming and real life should look away now because Mosul will be my immediate focus. It will also generate what young people call factions(?) for DE. I have spent some very interesting hours looking at the Peshmerga and my level of understanding has substantially increased. The ability of wargaming to gain insight into the real world is vastly overlooked so my next few months I believe will be a real journey. At the end of which I'll probably revert to playing Stratego but, hey ho, who knows!

Desert Eagle play testing.....

its all go!

Well, I have made a start. I have finished the play test counters and these have been posted on the DE page. I have even put the counters on the board, or at least the NSyA.

I'm surprised how nice the counters look and how normal it feels to have 3D scenery and 2D counters.

I have yet to cut out the OPFOR counters and will do so during the week. I'm still working on the values for the various characteristics. I'm also pondering whether the Jordanian Special Forces, who I know to have night vision equipment, should move faster at night and if so, how much?

Coming to post this I realise two things, firstly this is my 200th post. A notable event and worth a beer or two tonight! Also, I haven't posted much recently on all of my other projects and interests. I'm sure I will return to these in due course. One precursor of a change in tack is my scouring of the net for interesting stuff. Just so you know, there is a huge bundle of FiveCore rules and supplements on Wargames Vault for "pay what you want". This includes the original versions of FiveCore Skirmish and Five Men in Normandy. Well worth a look. 

Op. Desert Eagle 16-1

Mission GO!

SIGINT confirms that 4 NSyA prisoners are held in compounds at al-Susah, in Syria north of al-Bakamal but across the Euphrates and close to the Iraq border. 
  

Actual compounds in al-Susah

SIGINT suggests that they are held up because of Coalition air interdiction. They are waiting for a quiet moment to slip over the border to Qaim where they will be executed on live TV.

OPFOR

ISIS are believed to have one SF team in close protection of the prisoners with support in platoon strength with heavy weapons and sniper team. They are deployed to the west of the target area suspecting action by NSyA from the Syrian side of the border.

BLUFOR

One Jordanian SF team from 71 Counter Terrorism Bn plus 2 NSyA teams and one heavy weapons support. These are in-bound from Iraq guided by the Desert Falcons, Sunni fighters from al-Waleed, so are coming from opposite direction expected by ISIS. 

All is calm at Dark o'clock...

A little more verdant than in real life...drone footage from the west (Iraq)

Remember, this is a game, its not real so no-one needs to bomb anything anywhere near al-Susah, that goes for the Russians too! 

Action this day?

hmmm, well maybe tomorrow!

I have just prepared my non-wobbly counters for some play testing which may occur tomorrow if all other jobs are completed in good time. The counters are looking quite nice...

I have realised that I haven't put beards on the guys driving the NSyA's trucks. Nevermind, they must be Americans!

Next job is some 3D card houses and some 2D palm trees.

Desert Eagle counters...

Nearly there!

Just a couple of pictures of the counters as they develop. These are for the DE1 Scenario: Al-Bakamal Rescue Mission.

ISIS counters with SF team, sniper team and three squads in this sheet. All units are six counters, the 12 SP squads have counters with a value of 1, 2 or 3 so you can "make change" as they say in the US! Printed on flimsy paper so a bit wobbly for taking pictures. 

First go at (very wobbly) NSA counters and trial vehicles with Jordanian SF, two NSA squads, one pick-up transport and one technical, two trucks.

I'm pleased with the results. Much cannibalisation of Junior general images involved in this. Grateful thanks and credits will be posted when I have finished them. Testing not far off....

More Desert Eagle...

...counters!

The actual al-Tanf border crossing...grim even on a good day!

I can't say that I have loads of toys and the ones that I do have are not quite suitable for this sort of game. So this requires improvised counters. First ones.....ISIS special forces team.

Based on designs by Delta Operator 42 at Junior General

More to come. Also, as promised, the revised NSA army list is now on the DE page.

Desert Eagle 1........

Indefensible object scenario

This scenario is based on Scenario B of Lion Rampant, Defending the Indefensible. In this scenario, ISIS have placed four NSA prisoners from the al-Bakamal attack under guard at a location near to the Iraqi border. These prisoners will shortly be moved into Iraq. ISIS have set a defensive perimeter assuming any attack will come from Syria. 

NSA plan to attack the ISIS position to retrieve their men and demonstrate they are not a busted flush. The Jordanians have provided a team from their Special Forces (Counter Terrorism Battalion 71) to assist. Aided by satellite navigation and communications plus drone data and SIGINT, the NSA force is able to approach the target area from an unexpected direction (Iraq).

NSA

1 Special Forces Team (Jordanian), including leader, armed with LAWs @ 6 points plus Thuraya at +1 point = 7

2 NSA Squads (also with LAWs) @3 points = 6

1 Toyota (Team Transport) @ 2 points = 2

2 Trucks (Squad Transport) @ 3points = 6

1 Toyota Technical (M2 HMG) @ 3 points = 3

Total 24 points

The Thuraya is a sat phone, possibly a "summoner" type characteristic (or maybe just for phoning the chopper to airlift the rescued prisoners).

ISIS

1 Special Forces Team (Local), including Emir, armed with RPGs @ 6 points = 6

3 Army of Adversity squads @ 4 points = 12

1 Sniper Team @ 3 points = 3

1 Dushka (HMG) Team @ 3 points = 3

Total 24 points

Don't take any of the above for granted, I'm just playing with the points values for now!

Victory conditions 

I'm still thinking about these. In the Middle East great store is set by ghanima, the spoils of war. This is demonstrated by the counting, filming and Facebooking of captured weapons, vehicles and people. Ghanima must be a big factor. As this is also an information war, we need to address "glory" and "boasts". 

My other issue is improvising enough stuff to be able to give it a go. Fingers crossed!

I'm in the process of updating my NSA army list as more information comes to light. The situation is extremely dynamic and clearly shows that something is going on driven by the big players (US and Russia). I'll put the updated version out tomorrow.