This was a fun play with Hugmenot. Lots of drama, clinging on a die roll and the, by now, personal victory condition to avoid having a single Peruvian platoon eliinated during the entire war. On my personal victory condition I did great as the Peruvians took absolutely no losses in this one. On the scenario conditions... a draw.

War of the Equator seems focused on providing the greatest possible variety of scenarios and situations possible in a small package. For entertainment value it is one of the best supplements I have played. The Ecuadorian player has a tougher time in that much of their defense is static (except for the first scenario) and the troops will run at the drop of a hat, but the victory conditions are skewed well to make it quite possible for them to win each scenario. Our record through four is two Ecuadorian wins, one Peruvian win and one draw.

As Daniel points out in his AAR, the hidden unit rules make this one a must for a shared play. The inability of the Ecuadorians to actually start hidden or to stay hidden once they become hidden is maddening for the Ecuadorian. The ability of the Peruvian to direct artillery and small arms fire at any hex on the board regardless of whether the units can be spotted or not leads to a kind of "whack-a-mole" approach to artillery fire by the Peruvian and occasional muttering by the Ecuadorian player.

Since the Educadorians did not contest any of the first board towns (through placement of troops in the small woods near those towns) I was able to quickly control all the towns. I believe that this was the result of Daniel not realizing the victory conditions for the Peruvian force.

Unfortunately I then returned the favor by not screening his forces in the two large wooded areas around the large town on the second board and pushing on to flush the road but entered into a search and destroy mission focusing on the area around the large town. This took a ton of time. While it ensured that I would have no security issues when it came to meeting the Peruvian victory conditions it did little to give me a chance to win outright as it became nearly impossible to control the road as it twists and turns through board 6. Playing the Peruvian in this one requires boldness and I found my mojo about two turns too late.

If I had to do it all over again, I would merely have kept the screen in place on the west woods and pushed on with all force to the road on board 6 upon completing my sweep of the east woods. The forces I used to screen the west woods were more than enough to accomplish the destruction of the Ecuadorian force that was hidden there should it have decided to show itself and the availability of ample transport (one of the few times I have ever used transport again after its original movement) meant that all of the towns could be controlled centrally.

The major thread through all of the War on the Equator scenarios so far is that both players are fighting the Ecuadorian troops. The Peruvian has to destroy and/or push them out of the way, often with technologically advanced forces, but they have to be bold as their victory conditions are ambitious. Paradoxically the Ecuadorian player is also fighting his own troops as they steadfastly fail to respond to direction (e.g. stay hidden, don't go to ground just because you were shot at, stay in place, etc.).

The balance of the scenarios and the massive difference in capabilities and available strategies would argue for a 12 scenario match play where each player plays all 6 scenarios as each nationality. I can't wait for the gunboats but Daniel and I will be playing the scenario of the month next (a chance for Daniel to do something other than hope to roll 6's or less on morale checks...).

Yes, Peru, a nation which strikes fear in the hearts of the Ecuadorians under my command... We will send one of their platoons to the dead pile before this war is over, guarantee! But not today, not today.

The scenario special rules include hide and ambush mechanics which make the scenario play like a boar hunt.

I split my Ecuadorians in three groups and set up one in each of the three largest wooden areas. This was a mistake in retrospect as this setup did not put pressure on the Peruvians to defend the towns.

The Peruvians go straight for the town near of the boards and set up base there. The Peruvians split into three forces. One tiny group, including the dangerous 75/32, stays put to defend the attack against the improbable. One small group to the western wood to make sure my units do not think of doing the improbable. The larger group to the east to flush and destroy my units hiding in that wooden area.

After a few turns, ambush! The Ecuadorians ambush the Peruvian platoon which walked into the trap. The only problems were the ineffectiveness of the trap and my platoon facing imminent destruction. It also put an end to my thinking I had a shot of winning the scenario by causing more steps losses than I would receive.

This became a tense game of chasers and beaters. The Peruvians infantry marches in line deeper and deeper into the forest driving my Ecuadorians out in the open, to be then chase by the Lt-38. What about the beaters? Well, my platoons all took a beating, that's all I am saying.

I tried running a few platoons towards the far town to force the Peruvians into detaching a larger contingent to chase these platoons but it did not work; the 75/32 would demoralize any runner before they become a serious threat.

All was not lost as all the Ecuadorians had to do to achieve a minor is to contest a road hex. I moved my hidden platoons towards the road and sent one or two in the open to force the Peruvians to react to them.

At the end of the 28th and last turn, I had one platoon on the road and three more that could reach it. The Peruvians also met their minor victory conditions by controlling all towns.

A draw.

What is unclear to me is how many more turns would it have taken for the Peruvians to earn a major victory. My guess is 4 as I was running out of platoons and space.

This scenario rates a strong "4" against an opponent as it includes unique mechanics which I found to be very enjoyable. I don't see how this one can be enjoyed solo.

Wow... let me say that again; wow!!!

This scenario play literally came down to the last of everything. The last die roll, on the last activation, by the last regular Ecuadorian platoon, following the last assault, to take the last town hex. Everything about this scenario came down to the very last.

In this scenario, a Peruvian motorized force must clear a series of villages and ensure the road stays open to facilitate a future advance, and to maintain supply lines. The Ecuadorians deployed forward, with the intention of falling back to successive defensive positions. Expecting reinforcements in the way of several platoons of local police, the Ecuadorians gambled on the forward defense against numerically and qualitatively superior Peruvian forces.

The Peruvians led with their 2x tank platoons, with 2x companies of infantry directly behind in support. They setup a defensive perimeter to allow the Peruvian artillery to come up, unlimber and prepare to fire directly at the first town they encountered (3 hex town on map 18). The combination of direct artillery fire and massed fire support from the tanks and HMG's caused enough disruption/demoralization among the Ecuadorians to allow the Peruvians to advance and prepare for close assault. In all, it took 4 turns to clear this village of resistance.

The second town, under the command of the Ecuadorian Major, proved to be a tougher nut to crack. Repeatedly ineffective Peruvian fire (dice got cold) caused the Peruvian Colonel to gamble on a frontal assault against the Ecuadorian defenders. These Ecuadorians proved to be particularly resilient (repeatedly made their morale rolls). It was a constant cycle of Peruvian assault, disrupted Ecuadorians, who immediately rallied and thwarted Peruvian plans.

The Peruvians then came to the realization that night would soon fall (not really, but it was getting late in the scenario) and they had to do something to ensure the road to the north was open and clear of those Ecuadorian reinforcements (who arrived on the first possible turn). The Colonel took one company on a clear and secure mission and worked his way through the forests in search of Ecuadorians. The flaw in the Ecuadorian plan was to spread themselves too thin. Peruvian platoons walked into many ambushes (hidden Ecuadorians) but with a firepower of 2 (Ecuadorian Cara units) each of the ambushes proved ineffective, (even with the +1 for triggering a hidden ambush). Ultimately, all but 2x of the Ecuadorian Caras were eliminated by the Colonel's 'Jungle Commando' company.

Back to the town... a careless deployment found both of the Peruvian tank platoons in a town hex with no infantry support; an opportunity soon exploited by the Ecuadorians under command of the Major. He quickly gathered up some troops and assaulted the tanks, resulting in the heart-warming (for the Ecuadorians) loss of a couple Peruvian tanks (one step loss). This event galvanized the now thunder-struck Peruvians. The embarrassment of losing even just one tank to a third rate army caused them to redouble their efforts and they quickly cleared half the town of Ecuadorian resistance (dice got hot again).

With the northern road clear and secure, and the southern approaches cleared as well, the Peruvians now focused all of their energy on clearing the last pocket of Ecuadorian resistance in the large town on map 17. Time was against them though, as they had but 90 minutes to clear the remaining enemy forces (6 turns). Again, luck had abandoned the Peruvians, as not only did they repeatedly fail to dislodge the dogged defenders, but they suffered from faltering morale. For the final assault, the Peruvians prepped the last pocket of defense with direct artillery fire, point blank from adjacent spaces, and an all out assault with tanks, HMG's and infantrymen. The assault left the Ecuadorian defenders shell-shocked and demoralized. On the final activation of the battle, a Demoralized Ecuadorian Major and his lone surviving platoon rolled their morale in an attempt to secure victory by holding the town, and the vital road that ran through it. The Major had seen enough bloodshed, and with thoughts of his wife and children, he abandoned his men to their fates (rolled a 12 on his rally roll). His crestfallen men watched as he disappeared into the forest, and followed suit, failing to rally (rolled an 11) and thought that there was safety to be found in the trees.

With that last rally attempt, the scenario ended. A scattered and disorganized Peruvian army was master of the battle field. Scores of Ecuadorian dead lay in heaps in the blasted doorways and alleys of the towns they defended. A heroic Mayor who had repeatedly stymied the Peruvian advance, now fled through the forest with thoughts of hearth and home. This was the closest run battle of the series and it was thoroughly enjoyable. The Ecuadorians have no hope of defeating the Peruvians due to their inferiority in both quality and material, but they can make this an exceedingly difficult task for a careless or cautious Peruvian commander. The gamble in splitting their forces proved to be the winning strategy for the Peruvians. Had they marshaled their forces, they may have cleared the towns earlier, but would have had a tough time containing the Caras hiding in the woods, and securing the vital road in the process.

All in all, this was a very exciting scenario. It was touch and go right to the very last activation. Even though the entire Ecuadorian force was routed or destroyed, the last man standing very nearly denied the Peruvians a victory.

The Peruvians have a tough job in this scenario. They have to take 2 towns along a north-south road and clear all the Ecuadorans away from the road in 6 1/2 hours. There's a lot of road to cover here, and not a huge amount of Peruvian troops. They do have artillery and tanks and trucks for the infantry, and the Ecuadorans have the advantage of reinforcing CARA units (2-1s) who can disappear into the woods.

The Ecuadorans set up with a couple of INF units and a leader in the forward woods, hoping to slow down any trucks running by, with the remainder of the troops either in the forward, small town or dug-in in the field and swamps near the forward town. On turn 1, at the 1st sign of Peruvian tanks, the forward troops scurried deeper into the woods to threaten the artillery and to threaten the road. It took 2 precious hours to dig them out. Meanwhile, the other troops advancing on the town were being harassed by Ecuadorans who would fire and then run into the woods to escape being spotted. They were able to disrupt a couple of Peruvians who took forever to recover. This worked until the tanks rolled up.

By about turn 12, the Peruvians were preparing to assault the forward town. The Ecuadorans were leaving only light troops behind with as many as possible retreating towards the bigger town. One particular Ecuadoran INF was hidden in the fields, but also demoralized. Still, if he ever recovered, he could be a threat to the road. The CARA were all hidden in the woods lining the road, and spread out by this point.

It took another hour plus to clear the forward town as the Ecuadorans refused to go down easily. The Peruvians were also working on clearing out the field. Still, the clock was ticking and things didn't look good for the invaders.

The assault on the 2nd town started on turn 20 and started badly. In order to rush things, unescorted tanks attacked an Ecuadoran HMG in the town. While they disrupted it, one of the tanks (with the tank commander) was demoralized and scooted back to the forward town. By turn 21 the larger town was under heavy assault, but the Ecuadorans refused to collapse. Eventually, the tank melee (reinforced with an HMG)forced the Ecuadorans to abandon part of the town, but 2 of the hexes refused to go down.

After turn 22 (of 26), it was quite clear that the Peruvians would be unable to win this scenario. They had not even reached the hidden Ecuadoran units, and to root them out in 4 turns would be impossible. This one ended in an Ecuadoran minor victory....but wait, looking at the victory conditions again, the Peruvians were likely to clear out the towns (I should have played the 4 turns) and get a minor victory of their own, to salvage a draw.

An interesting scenario, and one that I think is very tough for the Peruvians. As mentioned at the start, they have a lot of ground to cover, and 26 turns is not a lot of time, especially given that each nest of Ecuadorans really has to be eliminated so it doesn't threaten the road. It was enjoyable, though, as the Ecuadorans actually stood up to the enemy for a while.

This was an interesting scenario on paper, even if I am not into Hidden units while playing solo but it worked out. The two sides are pretty close in size as far as Infantry units but the Peruvians get LT38 tanks. After playing this however, the Peruvians controlled the city hexes are too thin to cover the north-south road, which with hidden units the Ecuadorians can. Both sides achieve a minor victory, meaning the scenario is a DRAW! I also don’t see anyway to void a draw in this scenario so I didn’t rank it as high but it’s still fun to give it a try.

This was a 3-session, face-to face battle, with an experienced PG player that came down to the wire as a miserable draw. This, inspite of the extremely fiddly and annoying special scenario rules. As others have reported, this scenario's tedious hide and ambush mechanics makes in play a lot like a bad hunting trip! Oh, and playing with the ever-flawed FOW rule made this one an unpleasant and overly complicated ordeal with very frequent rule checks, and counter-checks.

My opponent's Ecuadorian force was widely and thinly deployed, mostly in the 3 largest forested areas. The Peruvians advanced on the towns as a priority in 3 separate, unbalanced task forces, with the center column containing the bulk of the Peruvian infantry.

In practically no time, I think it was by game turn 4, my troops begin being ambushed by hidden Ecuadorians, in what turned out to be a never-ending series of ambushes and chases. Peruvian casualties multiplied quickly, and the thought of inflicting more steps losses on the Ecuadorian side rapidly disappeared. While I could usually force my opponent's guys to retreat further into the forest, or sometimes into the open after about 1 to 3 turns, it was a costly exercise and both my lieutenants were killed in the process. Without decent OBA, my two 75/32 artillery pieces became very important supporting close assaults to take towns, and supporting the tanks in their chases of Ecuadorian units. There was good news for Peru, in that my opponent's reinforcements did no come in until game Turn 8. Bad die rolls plagued both sides, especially as regards direct fire and morale checks.

In the end, the Ecuadorians achieved a costly, minor victory by contesting a single road hex until the end. The Peruvians also met their minor victory conditions by controlling all the town hexes, resulting in a drawn contest. It likely would have taken at least 5 more turns for Peruvians to earn a very costly, major victory. IMHO, this scenario rates a 2, as it is virtually impossible for either side to gain a clear cut victory. The FOW-shortened game turns substantially helped the defending Ecuadorians, as did the fiddly scenario hide-and-seek special rules.