All,
AKA, Ambush Alley in South Leon #2
It is now 1730 on 4 July 1990; two days ago militia members of the Free Leon Army (FLA, the bad guys) ambushed a South Leon National Police (SNLP) patrol. Task Force Razor, a Cuban paratrooper company led by Captain Soares and his trusty sidekick, Lt Hinajosa, moved out smartly, rescuing the SNLP officers, but at a cost of 1 KIA and 4 WIA to themselves. Everyone on the Cuban Liberation Expeditionary Force (CLEF) and South Leon government side were shocked; the FLA insurgency had been but a rumor of war for years, with various low-level bombings, assassinations, and sniper fire, but nothing anywhere near the size and ferocity of the attacks on 2 July. And now it was happening again…
Captain Soares was relaxing in the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) when the radios jumped to life. Before he could even discern what was happening, a South Leon Army (SLA) liaison officer burst into the TOC: “Sir, we need your assistance right away!” The stuff was going down again, right here in Diwala. More than 50 FLA insurgents were assaulting the 2nd District SNLP station in eastern Diwala; a SLA quick reaction force (QRF) was dispatched, but then they were ambushed! Task Force Razor is tasked with escorting a three-man sniper team into an overwatch position to deliver precision fires in support of the QRF and the SNLP station. Task Force Razor will deliver he precision fires then fall back; Captain Soares does not want to close with the SLA QRF or the SNLP station during the fight for fear of friendly fire incidents.
As Captain Soares and Task Force Razor mounted up, the SLA liaison officer informed him FLA insurgent activity had been noted in and around the designated sniper position; “to late to change the plan now, looks like we’re fighting our way in boys.”
Overview, somewhere in Diwala, north is up. Nothing fancy, just a 2′ x 2′ surface with plenty of buildings and walls. Task Force Razor is at bottom center, the objective building at top right. The mission is to get the sniper team to the objective building, have them deliver precision fires in support of the SLA QRF and SNLP station, then withdraw back the way they came. The game starts with Insurgent groups at bottom right, top center, far left, and two guys with an RPG on the roof at bottom left. The khaki-colored poker chips are ‘hotspots,’ i.e., locations where Insurgent reinforcements can come on the table. At the end of each turn I will roll to see if the bad guys get reinforcements (the Insurgent Level is 4, not ‘automatic’ like last game), then I roll on a table to see what the bad guy reinforcement group is comprised of, and then I roll to see which hotspot they come in on. If I can get good guys onto a hotspot and sit there for a turn, they ‘kill’ the hotspot, so bad guys can’t come in there anymore, and if the roll an eliminated hotspot, they lose that reinforcement group.
I’m playing this out in 15mm using the old school “Ambush Alley” rules, as written. The is the first scenario out of the book, “Contracting Trouble,” a classic of modern wargaming. My intent is to play out all five scenarios in the book in a row, to learn the rules, put them through their paces, and see if I dig’em.
RPG!!! To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/07/south-leon-task-force-razor-fight-2.html
Coming up, it turns out the South Leon Army and South Leon National Police at the police station suffered a lot of casualties. Most of the police and soldiers were required to help evacuate the wounded and dead, leaving precious few men back at the police station. Their morale low from the ferocity of the enemy’s attack and the tremendous casualties, it didn’t take much to push them over the edge, so the minute they felt like they were isolated, abandoned, and left to die, they all decided there were better places to be than the police station.
Not wanting to sacrifice the police station (and the weapons, equipment, comm gear, and ammunition it contained), the South Leon government again reached out to Task Force Razor for help, and once again Captain Soares responded in the affirmative. Task Force Razor had returned to base, dropped off the snipers and track, had its wounded seen to, then loaded up on water and ammo before moving out on foot towards the police station. It was nearly 2230 before they arrived; they immediately set about organizing the defense, then went to 50% to get some rest. Several hours later the sentries began sending in reports of movement at all quarters; the Free Leon Army was about to make a second all-out assault on the SNLP police station.
V/R,
Jack