All,
It's 1815 on 29 June 1990 and Battlegroup Aguilera is taking up defensive positions near the Cronistrian town of Pisa. Earlier in the day Battlegroup Aguilera seized Pisa and held open the corridor as the rest of Task Force Galban (Battlegroups Caballero and Elias, as well as the HQ and Service Support elements) passed through. Battlegroup Caballero completed TF Galban's mission to encircle the Cronistrian capital of Miran by seizing the city of Stanje, and Battlegroup Elias moved up to them as Battlegroup Aguilera began moving east to catch up.
However, at 1710 local time, Team 3 of ODA 626, under GySgt "Turk" Dos Santos was settled into its hide atop Hill 781 (screening the left/northern flank of the Cuban advance) 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, but Cuban F-4 Phantoms were sent in, arriving on station at 1730 and making several runs, devastating the Communist armor.
**Team 3 was compromised atop Hill 781 by enemy radio direction finding; its fights for survival are numbers 22, 23, and 25. That may not seem to make sense, but I'm posting these in chronological order.
A HMMWV with .50 cal (bottom left, firing past the CO's vehicle) opens up on a Type 63 APC and enemy infantry in the open (top right). To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
linkIn the overall scheme of things, Operation Chokehold is finished and has been a roaring success. Task Force Galban started in the southwest, then dashed north and cut east to encircle the Cronistrian capital city of Miran, taking five enemy-defended towns along the way, then throwing back a (weak) counterattack. There is still one more fight to go in Operation Cro-Wings, which is Recon Team 3's fight for survival in the hills north of Pisa. Also, the Cronistrian Democrat forces are having a bit of trouble clearing Brezno (the town that started all this conventional fighting and convinced the Cuban President to allocate more forces to Cronistria), and Dubrovna, the town just north of Brezno, is still in enemy hands as well, which puts it in the bag, but a thorn in our side and a danger to try to break out of the encirclement. If I have time I may have Battlegroup Elias take the town.
Total casualties for Operation Chokehold, which consisted of nine tabletop battles:
Cubans
180 KIA, WIA, and MIA personnel
2 x AMX-10RC destroyed
2 x HMMWV destroyed
1 x Scimitar destroyed
1 x Stryker destroyed
Communists
270 KIA, WIA, and MIA personnel
55 captured personnel
5 x MTLB destroyed
2 x T-62 destroyed
1 x ZSU-23-4 destroyed
1 x BMP destroyed
1 x Type 63 APC destroyed
1 x BRDM destroyed
Additionally, members of Task Force Galban were awarded the following decorations during Operation Chokehold:
1 Cruz Servicio Distinguido
1 Estrella de Plata
4 Estrella de Bronce
Like I said, I may play another couple fights to take the city of Dubrovna just to eliminate a pocket of enemy resistance and help out the Cronistrian Democrats, but Operation Chokehold is officially concluded. For me it was a pretty cool concept, a lot of fun in the vein of my War of Liberation campaign (which, so far, is kind of the pinnacle of fun for me in wargaming). The games were small and quick; while the tables were nothing to look at, they took only minutes to set up and take down, and were serviceable, as were the 6mm troops, vehicles, and aircraft. I can definitely see myself doing more of this.
I've played the last fight of Operation Cro-Wings, still need to write that up and post it. After that, not sure what's up next. A few ideas:
1. With the capital encircled from the west, I'm considering some larger-scale armor fights using Cold War Commander on the east side of Miran.
2. I'm thinking about doing some platoon-level stuff back with in South Leon, my Imagi-nation stuff that's really USMC vs North Vietnamese Army.
3. I'm thinking about starting my WWII USMC series of campaigns at the platoon level, beginning in the Philippines.
4. I played out Operation Pay-Off, where Cuban SOF escorted The Ambassador to Morocco to make a ransom payment, then got ambushed. I need to get around to Operation Pay-Back, which is exactly what it sounds like, retribution.
5. I need to get back to KG Klink to finish up Fall of France, then figure out what to do with them. That thing is really a bit too ambitious (following a company of armor, a company of infantry, a company of recon, and assorted heavy weapons through the entire war (already did Poland, played four games of France).
6. I need to get back to Hakuna-Matata, my African Imagi-nations. The hang up here is that I based them individually, which looks great, but I wish I'd have based them three vehicles to a stand. For me, so much of wargaming campaigns is 'feel,' and playing this with individually-based vehicles just doesn't feel right.
Well, that's it for now. Last fight of Operation Cro-Wings coming up, then more games next weekend, just not sure what yet.
V/R,
Jack
locates some hard-to-find military toys at the dollar store.
