"Operation Pay-Off Batrep 1, Part II" Topic

All,

It's 22 June 1990, and things are not going well. While the War of Liberation brought about a free Cuba with a democratically-elected government, pro-Castro holdovers have been causing quite a bit of trouble, detonating pipe bombs in markets, sabotaging power transformers and rail lines, indiscriminately firing into crowds, and assassinating government officials. Cuban intelligence was able to trace the activity back to Castro regime holdovers backed by Venezuela, and somehow tied to an unidentified Middle Eastern state. Overtures were made to the Venezuelan government in order to halt the violence,

Upon receipt of this information, President Waraldonez called a National Security Meeting to discuss potential courses of action. It goes without saying that General Estevante recommended war with Venezuela; El Preidente told him to put a cork in it, then turned to his diplomats, who immediately went to work, using political back channels, with the Venezuelan government. El Presidente was informed that Venezuela's bottom line was 'reparations,' payment for upsetting the balance of power and peace amongst the peoples of the Caribbean, and President Waraldonez reluctantly agreed to this scheme.

Major Villanueva and fifteen of his Special Operations troops were dispatched to escort "The Ambassador" to Agadir, Morocco, in order to deliver an astoundingly large amount of money to an individual designated by Venenzuela, in what was now labelled "Operation Pay-Off." But Operation Pay-Off was doomed from the beginning, as Venezuela and its as yet unidentified Middle Eastern co-conspirator never had any intention of honoring the deal. As Major Villanueva and his men led The Ambassador to the exchange point a string of explosive devices detonated, destroying the Cuban vehicles and the building they were headed for. A fierce firefight broke out between the Cubans and unidentified masked gunmen; the Cubans were attempting to fight their way out of the ambush zone, get to a defensible building, and link up with a a local Moroccan Quick Reaction Force (QRF), which was coordinated by Major Villanueva prior to the execution of Operation Pay-Off.

Things, as usual, are not going so well. Back at the command post we see men cowering (red bead) and casualties mounting. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link

The games have been fun, just way too long, and my dice rolling has sucked in a truly extraordinary fashion. I've got one more fight to post, then I need to play another one to finish off Operation Pay-Off.

V/R,
Jack

Looks great at always. Man, that was a knock-down, drag-out fight wasn't it?

Not usually like you to let a battle roll on this long :-)

You could do a simple casualty roll, like a 5+ on a D6 letting an Out of Action guy rejoin as he was concussed or knocked senseless for a bit.

That way, you can recoup a few of your guys without it being too involved.

Whoa Jack. This is cool. I love the story-line. The international intrigue and double-cross theme is very creative. I also notice you are using some terrific terrain pieces, e.g. palm trees, buildings, etc. Where did you get the middle eastern buildings? I love them! Are they 20mm? It's always fun to read your reports. Welcome back from your hiatus! Ben

Great game Jack, enjoyed the read.

Hey, thanks guys! It's good to be back after my unplanned hiatus.

Ivan – It was indeed a knockdown-drag out fight. Wait until you see the next one. It would seem that bad dice + regenerating enemy troops is a bad mix…

You're absolutely right about bringing guys back, and I like your Wounds stuff from the new document you just put out. I'm not going to use that in this operation (I've already played three of four fights), but I'll definitely be using some form of it in the future for these SOF guys. They're tougher than the average bear, right, so I want to have a mechanism where they can be hit in fight but potentially continue. I was actually thinking about just using the casualty roll from the original 5MIN, which will let me know if he's KIA or WIA bad enough to be out of the fight, but if he's not, use the Wound stuff from the new doc.

I can't believe how long these fights have taken!!!

Ben – Hey buddy, how are ya? I see you've been kicking out new backs faster than I can keep up! Glad you like the Operation I've got going here, it's been fun. The buildings are all 15mm from Crescent Root Studios, which are fantastic (and come pre-painted!).

CavScout – Thanks man, glad you liked it. I've lately had a hankerin' to return to some Cold War mechanized action. I might use my Cronisria campaign as the basis, maybe even get some WarPac gear vs WarPac gear action going.

V/R,
Jack

Oh beep, they're pre-painted buildings? I'll definitely be looking at some of those then. I hate trying to paint buildings.

Ivan – Yeah man, pre-painted, you just pull them out of the box and play. The European buildings I was using for Cronistria (once I moved to 15mm from 20mm) are the same way from the same company.

V/R,
Jack