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  • #60281
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    All,

    AKA, the 10th fight of Operation Payback

    It’s 0415 on 20 July 1990, and a new fight is afoot.  Operation Dragon Forge resulted in the capture of “The Persian,” who provided a treasure trove of information relating to enemy activities against Cuba.  The major facts of the case so far are: a Venezuelan paratrooper Captain named Chavez coordinated with an Iranian mid-level bureaucrat with ties to the IRGC named Ahmedinajad for the ambush in Morocco. This made sense as the Castro regime had ties to both of those countries; during the war for Liberation, Chavez led a failed Venezuelan attempt to evacuate Fidel Castro, and Cuban Liberation Army troops defeated Iranian ‘advisers’ in Havana on two separate occasions.  Lastly, The Persian informed Cuban Intelligence that Chavez and Ahmedinajad established a base of operations on the nearby (fictional) Caribbean island of Avalor, where they recruited, formed, trained, and equipped Castro-regime holdovers for strikes against the new Cuban government.

    El Presidente was astounded that an enemy base could be located so near the home island, right under Cuban noses, and Cuban Intelligence had no inkling it was happening.  El Presidente immediately ordered the CLEF to eliminate the enemy base.  CLEF leadership began planning, but intelligence sources came across information the enemy forces on Avalor were aware The Persian was captured and, fearful of compromise, they began evacuating the facilities on Avalor.  El Presidente ordered them to act audaciously; the CLEF would attack immediately, in what was now known as Operation Rush Delivery, a sub-set of Operation Payback.

    The Plan – Major Halabrio, commander of the 6th Parachute Battalion, Callsign “Pro-6,” is overall mission commander.  His 18th Grenadier Guards are the supported element, his 16th Parachute Infantry are the mission reserve, two teams from 10th Special Forces Group and various aviation assets are supporting elements, and Unit 101 is operating in the battlespace in a coordinating relationship.

    1.  Reconnaissance and Surveillance Teams from Captain Wallestre’s ODA 424, 10th Special Forces Group, will insert at 0330 on D-Day and occupy three OPs to aid in coordination of friendly force actions, acquire and monitor enemy forces, and distribute supporting fires.

    2.  The 18th Grenadier Guards, 6th Parachute Battalion, will make an airborne assault into three platoon-sized drop zones at 0530 on D-Day.  They will form up and assault the enemy training areas and barracks.

    3.  Direct Action Teams from Lieutenant Estevez’ ODA 525, 10th Special Forces Group, will stand by as QRF for the R&S and airborne insertions, and then support 18th Grenadier Guards’ assault of the enemy training areas and barracks.

    4.  Major Villanueva’s Unit 101 will insert via Special Operations Aviation to capture or kill “El Commandante,” a former Venezuelan Army officer in command of the facilities on Avalor, and “The Adjutant,” the senior Iranian official on Avalor.

    D-Day

    Back to the batrep: it’s D-Day, 20 July 1990, and Captain Wallestre’s three R&S teams of ODA 424 have inserted via Zodiacs.  They came ashore quickly, stowed and concealed the boats, and set off on three different courses to reach their assigned observation posts.  Team 1, headed by Captain Wallestre himself, had no issues, but things didn’t go so well for Teams 2 and 3.  We pick up our story at 0415 with Team 2, ODA 424, as it makes its way towards OP Juliet in the pre-dawn darkness in the Avalorian jungle.


    And here is said Avalorian jungle.  North is up, we’ve got a scrabble intersection, a small ville in the south, a few crop fields, and Hill 45 in the southeast (bottom right), the military crest of which will serve as OP Juliet.  The Cuban team is at top left, making its way to the OP at bottom right.  Bad guys are spread across the table.  The table is 3′ x 2′ and I’m playing these fights solo using Ivan’s “Five Men at Kursk,” slightly modified to get a more modern (and deadly) feel.


    The opposing forces, with good guys on the right and bad guys on the left.  The good guys are Flashpoint Minis’ Vietnam-range Australians, and the bad guys are Eureka Modern Chechens, both in 15mm.

    The good guys of Team 2, ODA 424 (Callsign Rebel 22), from top left: Woody, Thump, Ben, Grady (bottom left), and Ev.  Bonus points if you can say where those names came from (though the last one is not a perfect match)!

    The bad guys.  There are ten of them present here, comprising an RPG, a PK machine gun, a sniper, and seven riflemen.  I don’t know the composition or quantity of what I’ll face on the tabletop though.  I have a marker for each of these guys, and I have five ‘dummy’ markers.  I mix them together, count out ten of them, and place them on the board.  Then I flip them over and see what I’ve got.  At minimum there will be five bad guys, with the marker determining the mix of rifles and RPG, PK, and sniper; at max will be all ten men shown.  These guy represent the Cuban hardliners (and other mercenaries/terrorists) being trained by the Venezuelans and Iranians.


    Rebel 22 (bottom right) has its hands full: under heavy fire and taking casualties, they fight for their lives, returning fire and calling for air support on the radio.  To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
    http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/04/operation-rush-delivery-fight-1.html

    More fights to come; right now I’ve got Operation Rush Delivery scheduled for nine fights, more if things go bad and I have to keep fighting to accomplish the objectives of the operation.  So keep an eye open for more batreps!

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60283
    Avatar photoVictoria Dickson
    Participant

    I told them, helicopters not mortars, glad someone listened. 🙂

    #60285
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    I do what I can 😉

    V/R,

    Jack

    #60335
    Avatar photoRod Robertson
    Participant

    Jack:

    I will try and catch up on Dragon Forge and this Bat. Rep. soon. Just quickly skimmed it and looked at the photos. Looks good on the surface but I suspect more right-wing Cuban, militaristic propaganda lurks below the surface! Thanks for posting this nonetheless and I look forward to giving it the time and attention it deserves …. eventually. I’m still mired in 1942 readings right now so please forgive my inattention over the last six weeks or so.

    Cheers and good gaming.

    Rod Robertson.

    #60377
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    No mortars !!!   I am sad now…..

    #60413
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Thanks guys.

    V/R,

    Jack

    #60462
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    All,

    AKA, the 11th fight of Operation Payback, AKA, The Death of Rebel 33

    It’s 0430 on 20 July 1990, and the Cuban invasion of Avalor continues.  In the last fight we saw one of 10th SF Group’s Reconnaissance and Surveillance (R&S) teams, callsign Rebel 22, run into trouble on the way to OP Juliet.  They got into a fierce firefight, took a couple casualties, and were extracted.  Nothing’s been heard from Captain Wallestre and Rebel 11 outside the normal comm checks, so they’re assumed to be good to go, likely almost to OP India, and here we’ve got Rebel 33 on the way to OP Kilo, with 18th Airborne Grenadiers scheduled to jump into their DZs in exactly an hour.  But all is not well with Rebel 33…


    Overview of the table, north is up, we’re a little west on Avalor from the last fight.  We’ve got a couple scrabble roads, bunch of crop fields, and a small ville in the southwest (bottom left).  The Cuban team will enter in the southeast (bottom right) and will have to exit the table in the northwest (top left), heading for Hill 97 (off camera to top left) to take up OP Kilo.  The table is 3′ x 2′ and I’m playing these fights solo using Ivan’s “Five Men at Kursk,” slightly modified to get a more modern (and deadly) feel.

    The table is set, and the bad guys are now aware something is amiss.  The reports on the radio are a bit confusing, but it’s clear there are intruders on the island, intruders with helicopters.  The Cuban SF team is at bottom right, with bad guys strewn across the board.  Please note there are eight bad guys to five good guys.  I’m not really giving the Cubans any kind of advantages in activation or combat, so this is likely going to be a bit rough…


    Rebel 33 is in a hurry to get to its OP, get settled in and get comms established before the jump begins, so they’re cutting a few corners when it comes to crossing danger areas, and it’s probably going to cost them!  The SF troops continue forward in the dark, with Syko leading them at center left, Rose just behind him, and Wade has just popped through the treeline on the same side.  But Rod and Cole are still on the other side of the treeline.  Contact is imminent…

    To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
    http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/04/operation-rush-delivery-fight-2.html

    The next three fights will be LGOPs (Little Groups of Paratroopers) versus bad guys on the DZs as the Cubans land and look to form up before moving on the objectives.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60474
    Avatar photoVictoria Dickson
    Participant

    I guess we need this kind of outcome every so often to keep up the dramatic tension, doesn’t make it pretty to watch. Definitely looked like a case of overconfidence.

    Exciting stuff, lets hope the paras have better luck. 🙂

    #60511
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    “Definitely looked like a case of overconfidence.”

    So now you’re turning on me too, eh? 😉

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60532
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Some times the bad guys win….

    #60559
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Certainly, though I still don’t appreciate it 😉

    V/R,

    Jack

    #60615
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    All,

    AKA, the 12th fight of Operation Payback

    It’s 0532 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway.  Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out.  Now 1st Lieutenant Huerta’s 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion are jumping from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness.  They will immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

    Here we pick up the action at DZ Crow, where bad guys alerted by the earlier firefights with Cuban R&S teams are watching paratroopers of 2nd Lieutenant Jaramiho’s 1st Platoon descend and crash to the earth.


    Overview, north is up.  We’ve got a small village at center/top center left, a dirt road/intersection, several crop fields, and scattered jungle.  The table is 3′ x 2′ and I’m playing these fights solo using Ivan’s “Five Men at Kursk,” slightly modified to get a more modern (and deadly) feel.  As luck would have it, this is an even up, six-man on six-man fight, and the two sides are intermingled due to bad guys trying to concentrate forces from outlying areas and the Cubans being air dropped onto the field of battle.  Let’s get some closeups.


    The fight is hot and heavy; a rifleman moves up (far left) as his partner takes fire and is pinned (yellow bead at top) and the machine gunner is suppressed (red bead at bottom right).  To see how the fight for DZ Crow went, please check the blog at:
    http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/04/operation-rush-delivery-fight-3.html

    Next up is 2nd Platoon hitting the DZ, and it’s a real doozy!

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60639
    Avatar photoWhirlwind
    Participant

    Thanks for posting, really inspiring.  Remedial boxing training for the Cuban Paras required?!?

    Is the “scurry” result your own solitaire mechanism or part of the 5-Men…rules?

    All the best

     

    #60641
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Whirlwind,

    Thanks man, I really appreciate you taking the time to read and post!

    “Remedial boxing training for the Cuban Paras required?!?”
    Amen to that!  And, as an aside, please note these are Army doggies, you never see that happen with Marines! 😉  In any case, very fortuitous dice for the bad guys to be able to have that happen a couple times in one fight.

    Regarding Scurries, it’s part of the 5Core activation system.  There are essentially two styles with 5Core: 5 Men in Normandy-style, and 5 Men at Kursk-style.

    5MIN style is you roll one activation dice for your entire force, and it’s either Scurry, Normal, or Firefight.  The results apply to your whole force, and a Scurry lets you move all your troops without drawing reaction fire, but then enemy troops that could see activity are able to countermove.  Firefight lets all of your troops capable of engaging the enemy take a shot, and then any enemy that can return fire gets to.  A Normal activation allows you to choose several men to move and fire, fire and move, move, or fire, subject to reaction firing.

    5MAK style is you roll one activation dice per man, still either Scurry, Normal, or Firefight, but each dice only applies to one troop.  Scurry means one man gets to move without drawing reaction fire (but the enemy doesn’t get to move as with 5MIN).  Firefight means he gets to shoot (but the enemy doesn’t get to shoot back as with 5MIN).  A Normal activation means one man gets to move and fire, fire and move, move, or fire, subject to reaction firing.

    There are a few more pieces to the activation process (and how it interacts with morale), but that’s it in a nutshell.  I love the idea that I don’t have control over everything, that I don’t get to do everything I want with each guy every turn, but that I still get to prioritize my efforts to do something, which forces some very uncomfortable decisions to be made.  Which is tremendous fun, in a masochistic sort of way 😉

    I highly recommend the rules; so quick and easy that all my thinking is devoted to the tactical situation, limiting but with tons of decisions, and they work great for playing solo fights (I believe I’m closing in on 200 fights with the 5Core series).

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60642
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Good, but, it’s hard to tell who’s who any more…I must be old !!!!!

    #60647
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Erm, okay?  Not sure how to respond to that, ya old $&@!… 😉

    V/R,

    Jack

    #60648
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Bad guy, Cuban, other bad guy, 2 more Cubans….aren’t they all Cubans ??

    #60681
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Ahh, I see.  Well, if it helps, up top, in the pre-battle narrative portion, I explained that the bad guys on Avalor are a Venezuelan and Iranian cadre responsible for organizing, equipping, and training Castro-supporting Cubans and ‘others’.  But in the battle narration I never refer to the bad guys as Cubans, only the good guys.  I refer to the bad guys as bad guys, terrorists, Tangos, enemy rifleman/machine gunner/etc…, but whenever I’m writing about the actual fight and I mention Cubans, rest assured that I am describing the good guys.

    Sorry for the confusion, I probably didn’t do a very good job of explaining that.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60683
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Hard to tell the players with out a program !!!!

    #60775
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    All,

    AKA, the 13th fight of Operation Payback

    It’s 0533 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway. Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out. Now 1st Lieutenant Huerta’s 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion are jumping from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness. They will immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

    In the last fight we saw Lt Jaramiho’s 1st Platoon successfully seized DZ Crow. Here we pick up the action at DZ Bluebird, where bad guys alerted by the earlier firefights with Cuban R&S teams are watching paratroopers of 2nd Lieutenant Escobedo’s 3rd Platoon descend and crash to the earth.


    Overview, north is up. We’ve got a small village spread across the map, a dirt road running east-west, several crop fields, and scattered jungle. The table is 3′ x 2′ and I’m playing these fights solo using Ivan’s “Five Men at Kursk,” slightly modified to get a more modern (and deadly) feel. It’s gonna be a real hoot! The Cuban paratroopers and bad guys are both spread across the entire map, intermingled, and the Cubans have a 7-man vs 6-man advantage.


    The Cuban paratroopers have closed off the west end of the Drop Zone (top), but as they move up (behind trees at top right) the damn bad guys begin launching RPGs indiscriminately!!! To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
    http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/04/operation-rush-delivery-fight-4.html

    Now we move to the final DZ to see how 3rd Platoon does, probably posting on Thursday.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60790
    Avatar photoVictoria Dickson
    Participant

    Nice reports, but I find my self getting confused about who is who as well. It might just be the scenarios with everyone spread over the board.

    I had been sort of hoping for a pre game paradrop phase, with guys in the air getting shot at as they landed, I suppose that’s covered by why all 10 Cubans aren’t in play but it might have been nice to see it. Is it cause you’re a Marine? 🙂

    #60791
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    At least I knew who Tex and Big Sal were did the other Cubans break ankles in the drop ??? Is that why they didn’t show up ???

    #60825
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    I’m a bit perplexed about the confusion with who is who; I’m sure you all have noted I have a format I follow, and I do them all the same.  Maybe it’s the forces being mixed together, like Vicki mentioned.  If you think there’s something I can do to make things more clear, let me know and I’ll see if I can make it happen.

    “I had been sort of hoping for a pre game paradrop phase, with guys in the air getting shot at as they landed…”
    You’re sick, what the hell is wrong with you!!?? 😉

    There are quite a few reasons for me limiting the amount of troops on the table:

    1.  I wanted to play small, fast, skirmish games, but still accomplish the narrative objectives required to move the campaign forward.

    2.  I wanted to mix things up, to not know what I and the enemy would have available prior to the fight starting, to make things more interesting in a solo game, and to maximize the chaos of the drop.

    3.  I wanted to more accurately depict the initial moments after the drop itself.  I wasn’t a paratrooper, but my understanding of dropping into foreign lands in the dark was that it’s a bit confusing, more so if you run into enemy troops on the actual DZ itself (which apparently didn’t happen all that frequently).  In this case, the fight is breaking out right after the paratroopers have hit the ground, without time to ‘roll up the stick’ (collect the entire unit), organize, and move into the fight.  In those terms, you need to understand an entire ~40-man platoon just jumped it, but they’re spread out all over the place.  We’re only seeing the few guys in the immediate vicinity of where the bad guys are, which is where, as a wargamer, I necessarily have to focus.  It wouldn’t be much of a batrep to follow the ten guys on the west-end of the stick as they calmly strip their gear off, rally, check maps, and begin moving off towards the objective, as the ten men to their east are in the midst of a firefight.  The last part of the ‘why didn’t they show up’ answer is that the fight is between about six guys per side, and is over within a few minutes.

    So, in the case of this particular batrep, the platoon lost its commander, a squad leader, and three other men before even stepping off for the objective area, and they’re leaving two enemy troops behind them.  I’d imagine there would be quite a bit of friction; some paras probably want to move on the objective, others don’t want to move without the LT, most everyone probably heard the fight and some surely want to go see what’s going on, and some probably want to go look to assist friendly casualties.

    So, not an issue of broken ankles, just a short, sharp firefight with negative impacts on the overall mission.  As opposed to the first DZ fight, where they took a couple casualties but also took the DZ.  With that, the LT can leave a troop on the DZ to safeguard and treat the casualties, form everyone else up, and start moving on the objective with relative ease.

    I hope all that makes sense.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60826
    Avatar photoVictoria Dickson
    Participant

    You’re sick, what the hell is wrong with you!!?? 😉

    I’ve got a cold. ~sniffs loudly~

    Which might be the reason I’m having trouble following things. I guess it would help if you always referred to the good guys by name, but really, I’d rather you wrote it the way that pleases you, I work it out after a moments thought, it’s no big deal. 🙂

    #60829
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Ahh, I see what you’re saying.  Mostly I try to name everyone/every element (Sgt Snuffy, 1st Squad, Booger 3-1, etc…) so we all know who’s who, but I didn’t do that here.

    Noted!  It’s a problem for me as well, but not sure how to work it out.  It pops up when I play smaller, skirmishy games with a bunch of different elements (the last five fights have been two different recon teams and three different Airborne platoons); I simply can’t come up with names for everyone (maybe need that phone book you promised?), and am not that interested in doing so as I have no intention of following every single one of them.  There were some similar fights awhile back where I used the same names over and over, but that wasn’t particularly satisfying to me, though it might have made it easier for you guys to follow.

    The only other thing I can think of is to actually follow a single unit (probably platoon), and use it to fight battles representative of the campaign, rather than every battle in the campaign (following all the different units).  I dunno how much I like that though, even though I love following singular platoons (or even squads) and developing the characters more.

    Damn, that’s a tough one, but at least I now understand what the issue was (I think!).

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60830
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    If all else fails just use a phone book to name your troops. I’ve done that when I ran The Sword and the Flame, Call of Cthulhu and Twilight 2000.

    #60831
    Avatar photoVictoria Dickson
    Participant

    Like I said, it’s not a huge issue. Keep up the good work, it’s really appreciated. 🙂

    #60833
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    John – The problem with phonebooks is I went with Cuba, not US.

    Vicki – Thanks, and I’ve been working on the next batrep.  I named all the guys, pointed them out multiple times so that even you and John could follow 😉

    Next up is gonna be a bit different though, I hope you guys dig it.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #60834
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    You  live in Texas half the phone book should be Hispanic !!!

    #61065
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    All,

    It’s 0534 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway.  Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out.  Now 1st Lieutenant Huerta’s 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion are jumping from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness.  They will immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

    In the last two fights we saw Lt Jaramiho’s 1st Platoon successfully seize DZ Crow and Lt Escobedo killed in action while trying, unsuccessfully, to secure DZ Bluebird.  Here we pick up the action at DZ Albatross, where bad guys alerted by the earlier firefights are watching paratroopers of 2nd Lieutenant Reyna’s 3rd Platoon descend and crash to the earth.


    Overview, north is up.  We’ve got a small village spread across the map from south to north, a dirt road running east-west with a sub-net running south and back west off of it, several crop fields, and scattered jungle.  The table is 3′ x 2′ and I’m playing these fights solo using Ivan’s “Five Men at Kursk,” slightly modified to get a more modern (and deadly) feel.


    A Cuban paratrooper punches out one of the bad guys.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
    http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/04/operation-rush-delivery-fight-5.html

    I took a bit of extra time to go back and name (or at least ID) all the Cuban troops, hopefully it made for an easier read.  I’m looking at about four more fights to seal up Operation Rush Deliver: two platoon+ sized fights, one to take each objective, and two small SOF hits (Unit 101 taking down the HVTs), plus the dogfights over Havana.  Coming right up!

    V/R,
    Jack

    #61066
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    This old goat is happy !!!

    #61075
    Avatar photoVictoria Dickson
    Participant
    #61081
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    I do my best to keep you goats happy 😉

    V/R,
    Jack

    #65118
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    All,

    AKA, the 15th fight of Operation Payback

    It’s 0705 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway.  Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out.  Next, 1st Lieutenant Huerta’s 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion jumped from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness, planning to immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

    In the last three fights we saw Lt Jaramiho’s 1st Platoon successfully seize DZ Crow, Lt Escobedo killed in action while 2nd Platoon was trying, unsuccessfully, to secure DZ Bluebird, and then Lt Reyna’s 3rd Platoon successfully seize DZ Albatross.  The Company Commander, Lt Huerta, rounded up his paratroopers, formed them up, then linked up with Lt Estevez’s ODA 525 for the assault on the objective areas.  This fight sees Lt Huerta leading Lt Jaramiho’s 1st Platoon and three Special Forces teams from ODA 525 to secure the terrorist training areas on Avalor.


    Overview, north is up.  The training areas are spread across the center, with some admin buildings in the southwest and north, and Hill 48 at top left.  There is a deep, swift running river running northwest to southeast, bridged at top right and just off camera to lower right.  The Cuban forces will enter at bottom right (Paratroopers) and top right (Special Forces), while the enemy will be spread across the board.  Ultimately, the Cuban objective is to take and hold Hill 48.  The board is 4′ x 4′ and I’m playing in 15mm using Ivan’s “5Core Company Command,” using the traditional “Five Men in Normandy”-style activation.

    To read all about it, please check the blog at:
    http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/06/operation-rush-delivery-fight-6.html

    Next we have Unit 101 making a grab for an HVT, followed by 3rd Platoon’s assault on the terrorist barracks, then another Unit 101 HVT grab to finally bring Operation Payback to a close.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #65162
    Avatar photoVictoria Dickson
    Participant

    That was epic. 🙂

    It looks like mortars are last weeks news, it’s all about recoilless rifles now. 🙂

     

    #65168
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Thanks Vicki, I was wondering if anyone saw this!  We need more than ten topics on our front page!!! 😉

    It was epic, but it bogged down a bit for me, and so I’m about to do one of my least favorite things in the whole world: re-base.  Of course I’m still going to do 15mm skirmishing with individually-based troops, but I’m also about to start multi-basing 15mm troops for some of these larger games.

    The mortar did okay, but you’re absolutely right, the recoiless rifle was killing it!  And the whole time I was figuring it would be so easy to take them out (as a direct fire weapon, they have to be exposed in order to hit their target).

    I’ve been working on the second fight for Sword of Gideon; it’s huge!  I think I’m going to break it into two parts.  If I do that, I should be able to post part one tomorrow morning.  Whaddaya think?

    V/R,
    Jack

    #65175
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Long fight, the R R gunners should get metals !!  Rebase !!! What madness is this !!!

    #65181
    Avatar photoVictoria Dickson
    Participant

    Splitting up big reports would be a good idea, as long as you remember to post the rest of it and don’t get distracted by something new and shiny. 

    #65204
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    John – Yeah man, pretty big, which is why I’m looking at re-basing.  A necessary evil I s’pose…

    Vicki – “…as you remember to post the rest of it and don’t get distracted…”
    How dare you!!! 😉  Coming up.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #69973
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    All,

    AKA, the 16th fight of Operation Payback

    It’s 0950 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway.  Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out.  Next, 1st Lieutenant Huerta’s 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion jumped from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness, planning to immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

    In the last four fights we saw Lt Jaramiho’s 1st Platoon successfully seize DZ Crow, Lt Escobedo killed in action while 2nd Platoon was trying, unsuccessfully, to secure DZ Bluebird, and then Lt Reyna’s 3rd Platoon successfully seize DZ Albatross.  The Company Commander, Lt Huerta, rounded up his paratroopers, formed them up, then linked up with Lt Estevez’s ODA 525 for the assault on the objective areas.  Then we saw Lt Huerta lead Lt Jaramiho’s 1st Platoon and three Special Forces teams from ODA 525 to secure the terrorist training areas on Avalor.  This fight sees Major Villanueva leading Unit 101 to capture El Commandante, the Venezuelan Army officer running the training camp which has been preparing and funneling terrorists into Cuba.


    Overview, north is up, with bad guys atop the hill at top center left, good guys advancing from the south.  There is a small village astride the river (bottom center right), which is fordable anywhere along its length.  A gravel road leads from south to north, up the hill to El Commandante’s compound.  The table is around 3′ x 3′, using my teddy bear fur mat with towels underneath.  Major V’s team is at bottom, in skirmish line, spread across the map from left to right, wading through the knee deep river.  The bad guys are mostly at top center left, in and around El Commandante’s compound, though they do have a couple of sentries on foot patrol in the jungle at center left and far right.

    I’m using Ivan’s “Five Men at Kursk,” modified to give it a bit more of a modern and violent feel, and I’m playing solo.


    Major Villanueva takes a shot at a bad guy that’s sky-lined himself coming over the crest.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
    http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/08/operation-rush-delivery-fight-7.html

    Following the helo evac/pickup, Major Villanueva linked up with the rest of Unit 101 and they set a course and began humping to the terrorist barracks, where they expected to encounter their next High Value Target, the Iranian known as “The Adjutant.”  Along the way they received word from Rebel 31, friendly Special Forces, that the terrorist barracks was abandoned, but that The Adjutant was holed up in a compound nearby.  That was good news for 1st Lt Huerta’s beat up company of paratroopers, they wouldn’t have to fight to clear the enemy barracks; the terrorist training areas had proven to be quite expensive.  Major Villanueva coordinated with Lt Huerta to have his paratroopers isolate the objective; no one in or out of The Adjutant’s compound.  “We’re on our way.”

    V/R,
    Jack

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