All,
AKA, Operation Cro-Wings #1
It's 1745 on 29 June 1990 and it's time for a diversion. I've been playing 5Core Company Command in 6mm, but I've got a hankering for some modern skirmish, so here we go. I've been playing out "Operation Chokehold," where Cuban mechanized forces have been on a blitzkrieg, pushing north and east to encircle the Cronistrian capital of Miran. This effort has been going swimmingly, but the operational planning had identified Cronistrian Communist armored forces to the north of the battle area. As a counter, known as "Operation Cro-Wings*," Lt Trojas' ODA 626 was broken up into five- and six-man teams infiltrated into various 'hides' along the northern edge of the Operation Chokehold area of operations. The teams settled into the hides to perform surveillance on avenues of approach to the north, acting as tripwires for Task Force Galban. The plan was for the recon teams to report if Communist forces were seen massing or moving towards Task Force Galban's left (northern) flank, providing time for the Cuban mechanized forces to prepare for any Communist counterattacks.
And that is exactly what happened. At approximately 1710, Team 3 of ODA 626, under GySgt "Turk" Dos Santos was settled into its hide atop Hill 781 when it spotted Communist forces and called it in to TF Galban headquarters. Not only was the info immediately relayed to TF Aguilera, who immediately set about preparing a reception for the incoming Communists (Cronistria fight #24), but Cuban F-4 Phantoms were sent in, arriving on station at 1730 and making several runs, devastating the Communist armor.
Turk's team remained in its hide, at 50% (half on watch, half sleeping), with no expectation of contact. Unbeknownst to them, Communist forces had identified the team's location via radio-direction finding equipment and dispatched militia to take on the Cuban Special Forces troops. At 1745 SSgt "Chick" Alfaro alerted the team via intra-squad radio: "Contact, contact, everyone up. We've got movement down-slope to the north."
*Operation Cro-Wings: yeah, this is a direct rip-off of "Lone Survivor" and the real-life "Operation Redwings."
Overview of map, north is left. The team is in and around the bombed out house at bottom left, which is on the crest of Hill 781 (yes, I know the house is the absolute worst spot for a hide owing to target indicator issues, but it's a game and I wanted to break up the terrain a bit). Regarding Hill 781, think of the entire table as being pretty high up on a sizable mountain, with various peaks being labelled hills. So bottom left is Hill 781, top left is Hill 690, bottom right is Hill 691, and top right is Hill 850. Don't worry about all those, just know the original observation post is at bottom left and the team is running to exit the table at top right. As you see, the area is heavily forested with pine trees and there is a stream running across the board, though it's really just there for looks, doesn't mess with movement.
The team is in and around the building at bottom left. There are five bad guys in the northeast (top left), and five bad guys in the southwest (bottom right). Those are two of the bad guy entry points; don't forget, the initial call of 'contact' is bad guys coming up the slope from the north, i.e., the bottom left. Once the team gets moving and the bad guys start taking casualties they'll start using the bottom left corner as an entry point.
The opposing forces, with Cuban SOF at left and Communist militia at right. The good guys are Battlefront SEALs (Vietnam era) and the bad guys are Eureka Chechens.
I'm a glutton for punishment, so here's the plan: the bad guys will start with these ten men on the board, at three separate entry points. As bad guys get whacked they will come back on the board, 're-spawning' at one of the three entry points. So theoretically there will always be ten bad guys on the board, no matter how many I kill, chasing my six guys. And if (when?) I take casualties I will have to take them with me.
I will make things a little easier on myself: in the rules (as with most rules), when someone gets shot there is an 'out of the fight' option. That guy is done for the fight, then after the fight I roll to see if what actually happened to him; there are options for 'dramatic scar,' knocked unconscious, light wound, serious wound, debilitating injury, and dead. To make things potentially easier for me, when one of my guys gets an 'out of the fight' result, I will move a buddy over to check on him, and then I'll make the casualty roll to see what actually happened to him. If he's dead or seriously wounded then one of my guys will have to carry him out, but if he's 'lightly wounded' or less he will be able to continue the fight, just moving a bit slower, some other penalties for shooting and reactions.
The Cubans are nearing their objective, but the bad guys send an RPG up-slope at them. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
linkHope you liked it, fight number two of Operation Cro-Wings coming right up. Oh, and someone please do me a favor: I've posted about eight batreps recently, and not received a single comment, and I did in the past, so I'm starting to wonder is something is wrong with the mechanism for leaving comments on the blog. So, if one of you doesn't mind, please leave a test comment here. Thanks in advance.
V/R,
Jack
