Played a FNG:UW game lastnight. It was a bad day at the office for RT Stapler…
The team was pretty standard: 2 USASF with Rep 5 (Ecks (1-0, CAR-15 and Hushpuppy Pistol and radio) and Cope(CAR-15 and second radio)), 2 Rep5 Indig (Yblik and Sri) and 2 Rep4 (Hlan and Ybar). All Indig had CAR-15s, with Yblick carrying a sawed off M-79 too boot (he was also the Indig team leader). The mission was to be an Area Recon, so we took a couple of bombing beacons, a wire tap, and a pair of Screaming Mimis… just in case…
The AO (determined randomly) was target Hotel-8, just north of "The Bra", in Laos. "The Bra" is an infamous target, known both for it's easy visual identification, as well as being a hotbed of enemy activity. I was hoping this mission wouldn't be as interesting as some of those I had read about in the same area… Intel showed only 4 usable LZs in the area, and I picked my LZ and alternate for the first-light insertion (pre-dawn, basically).
Things started off badly… RT Stapler hit the LZ cleanly, but the pilot apparently had problems getting out, taking longer than I'd have liked. Then, right off of the LZ we ran into a platoon of bad guys, alert and ready for action. There was a brief exchange of fire, and we booked it back to the LZ, leaving 3 dead NVA in their camp. Luckily, they took too long to get their act together, and the Helo was back for us immediately.
We tried for another insertion at the Alternate LZ, but were shot out of it too, with Ybar taking a bullet in the arm. With this, we returned to base to refuel, and get Ybar to the Docs. Ngal was called up, and he brought with him his sawed-off RDP (he has the Pigman attribute, so it figured) to replace Ybar. We headed off again, this time for an evening insertion, always dangerous…
The pilot dove for LZ 3, and to our dismay there was a LZ watcher that took some shots at the helo before it even landed. The ship tore out of there, and some Air was called in. I decided that this could have a 50/50 chance or raising or lowering the EAP by 5. Bad luck, it went up! But, I didn't know that yet, as I was waiting to roll for it until after I hit the ground. So, being gutsy, I decided that rather than squandering my last LZ, I'd repel in, midway between LZ3 and LZ4. This turned out to be a not so good idea.
RT Staples hit the ground, and loosed the ropes. The helo left, and we moved out, encountering an enemy patrol coming down the trail. They didn't yet know we were here, as they were walking with their weapons slung, but being as far away as we were from an extraction LZ, we let them pass. Just as they were going out of site, another platoon came waltzing down the trail. These guys, though, seemed a bit more aware, and we got the feeling that the first group was bait. The group was almost past when we thought we were spotted for sure, but they then kept walking. The team found a place to hole up for the night, but they seemed to be all around us.
Next day, we moved as silently as possible through a lot of bamboo, discovering an abandoned way station, and a lightly occupied bunker complex. It took a little time, but we scouted the whole complex, and watched some bicycles laden with supplies move through. Then came the river crossing… Sri moved across as point, taking a rope with him. I (Ecks) went next, followed by Yblik. Next was Hlan, and somehow he managed to fall in, splashing wildly. I moved out and grabbed him before he was swept away, but he had lost his CAR-15. Damn! Everyone else made it across fine, but no sooner had Cope made it out than a squad of NVA showed up down river, on our side! Amazingly, they saw us, but didn't shoot. We boogied for cover, and hoped that they might think we were also NVA.
Later in the day, we literally stumbled into an NVA base camp in the rain. And it wasn't abandoned. And they weren't asleep. We were spotted, and then it hit the fan. Sri ripped off a magazine and made a run back down the line. I chucked a grenade at a nearby hooch and followed. Ngal burned some ammo, as did the other 3 men, and we hi-tailed it out of there, a classic IAD. We ran a ways, then moved off of our trail and button hooked around. We started to reload, and could hear pursuit… from 2 directions! Oh man! To top it off, Ngal was having trouble reloading his RDP.
Suddenly, 3 NVA came down out backtrail. Letting them get real close, we nailed them good! Hlan ran out and collected an AK-47 and some ammo, while 2 more of use sifted their packs and gathered weapons. Hearing more trouble coming, we dropped the Screaming Mimi with a delay, and ran for it. We were only 2 klicks from LZ4, so we headed that way. After moving a klick, night fell, almost as hard as the rain. Checking for an encounter, we had one, and they were very alert. I took this to mean that they were actively searching the area for us. I pulled the team into the densest terrain I could find, and holed up.
The night passed with the NVA just about stepping on us. (I did this by placing 1 counter per fire team in the NVA platoon, and moving them on line each turn, deviating the counters slightly via the Ordinance table coinciding with the general direction they were going. Each game turn there was also a chance that they would lose interest, but it didn't happen for 18 turns!) At one point, some enemy were abreast of us, and I was afraid that Cope was going to fire. Luck was with us, and they kept going, but it was so close we could almost see them in the dark and rain. More bad guys showed up, sweeping at an off angle to the other platoon, but all eventually gave up and formed a little camp not too far off.
Morning came, and there were too many enemies around. We tried to sneak out, but to no avail. Circling around the 2 platoons that searched for us the previous night, we chanced upon an AAA position. One of the lounging men spotted us and sounded the alarm. An enemy patrol was apparently nearby, and they were on top of us before we could take down all of the AAA men. Within a few minutes (6 turns), we had killed all 8 NVA gunners, and taken up defensive positions in the emplacement.
The fight was furious, and we killed a few NVA. It took me a while to get through to Covey, but I finally did. To my dismay though, there were no fighters available! This was bad. In the meantime, Hlan took a round and went down. I got to him and started to work on the wound, lucky that it was only in the arm, not too bad. Then Ngal took a hit. Cope called out that he was hit in the gut, and he couldn't get it stabilized. Propping up Hlan, I made my way over, hoping a better med skill would help. It was not to be though, and Ngal was out of the fight. Cope took up his RDP, and went back to firing up the NVA.
Another NVA platoon arrived at the scene. They felt a bit confident, and tried to over run us, but turned back in the face of firepower, leaving 6 dead and 2 OOF behind, right at the parapet of out position. Then an RPG streaked in, knocking the daylights out of me and Hlan. Both of us were alright, but the main radio was toast! That was it, time to bug out! Fighters finally showed up (on turn 16), and we fled under their protection, throwing smoke for a Red Dog as we went. Unfortunately, Cope was carrying Ngal across his back, and Ngal was killed by a long burst of AK fire.
We made the LZ, with little time to spare. The NVA showed before the helo, and only 1 fighter was there to make a pass. His bombs went long, to no effect. There was too much pressure, and with only 4 guns to our names, we had to get out. The helo dropped into the LZ, and Cope hauled Ngals body aboard, with Hlan and Yblick. Sri and I were covering from the tree line. Once they were aboard, we started to run, but neither of us could make it before the co-pilot took a bullet. The pilot panicked, and took off, leaving us there. Thinking fast, we sprinted off the LZ, and the NVA came after us. A well placed grenade took out a couple, and caused a few more to duck their heads. Still, more kept after us.
More fighters finally showed up. We couldn't get far enough ahead of the badguys to be able to slip away, so we called them in on our back trail, hoping to slow Charlie down. Only 1 platoon was dissuaded, but it was nice to bring down the pee on their heads. After a long run, another helo came overhead, dropping strings to us down through the jungle. We were hooked in in nothing flat, but Sri took hits in his left leg as we were lifted out, bad enough that he'd later lose it.
We actually managed to scout 1/3 of the AO in the short time we were out. Enough SP was earned to keep the mission moderately successful, but most of RT Stapler would need a lot of recovery time, if any of the wounded returned…
-Darby
adds APCs to his Israeli forces.
