All,
AKA, the 10th fight of Operation Payback
It's 0415 on 20 July 1990, and a new fight is afoot. Operation Dragon Forge resulted in the capture of "The Persian," who provided a treasure trove of information relating to enemy activities against Cuba. The major facts of the case so far are: a Venezuelan paratrooper Captain named Chavez coordinated with an Iranian mid-level bureaucrat with ties to the IRGC named Ahmedinajad for the ambush in Morocco. This made sense as the Castro regime had ties to both of those countries; during the war for Liberation, Chavez led a failed Venezuelan attempt to evacuate Fidel Castro, and Cuban Liberation Army troops defeated Iranian 'advisers' in Havana on two separate occasions. Lastly, The Persian informed Cuban Intelligence that Chavez and Ahmedinajad established a base of operations on the nearby (fictional) Caribbean island of Avalor, where they recruited, formed, trained, and equipped Castro-regime holdovers for strikes against the new Cuban government.
El Presidente was astounded that an enemy base could be located so near the home island, right under Cuban noses, and Cuban Intelligence had no inkling it was happening. El Presidente immediately ordered the CLEF to eliminate the enemy base. CLEF leadership began planning, but intelligence sources came across information the enemy forces on Avalor were aware The Persian was captured and, fearful of compromise, they began evacuating the facilities on Avalor. El Presidente ordered them to act audaciously; the CLEF would attack immediately, in what was now known as Operation Rush Delivery, a sub-set of Operation Payback.
The Plan – Major Halabrio, commander of the 6th Parachute Battalion, Callsign "Pro-6," is overall mission commander. His 18th Grenadier Guards are the supported element, his 16th Parachute Infantry are the mission reserve, two teams from 10th Special Forces Group and various aviation assets are supporting elements, and Unit 101 is operating in the battlespace in a coordinating relationship.
1. Reconnaissance and Surveillance Teams from Captain Wallestre's ODA 424, 10th Special Forces Group, will insert at 0330 on D-Day and occupy three OPs to aid in coordination of friendly force actions, acquire and monitor enemy forces, and distribute supporting fires.
2. The 18th Grenadier Guards, 6th Parachute Battalion, will make an airborne assault into three platoon-sized drop zones at 0530 on D-Day. They will form up and assault the enemy training areas and barracks.
3. Direct Action Teams from Lieutenant Estevez' ODA 525, 10th Special Forces Group, will stand by as QRF for the R&S and airborne insertions, and then support 18th Grenadier Guards' assault of the enemy training areas and barracks.
4. Major Villanueva's Unit 101 will insert via Special Operations Aviation to capture or kill "El Commandante," a former Venezuelan Army officer in command of the facilities on Avalor, and "The Adjutant," the senior Iranian official on Avalor.
D-Day
Back to the batrep: it's D-Day, 20 July 1990, and Captain Wallestre's three R&S teams of ODA 424 have inserted via Zodiacs. They came ashore quickly, stowed and concealed the boats, and set off on three different courses to reach their assigned observation posts. Team 1, headed by Captain Wallestre himself, had no issues, but things didn't go so well for Teams 2 and 3. We pick up our story at 0415 with Team 2, ODA 424, as it makes its way towards OP Juliet in the pre-dawn darkness in the Avalorian jungle.
And here is said Avalorian jungle. North is up, we've got a scrabble intersection, a small ville in the south, a few crop fields, and Hill 45 in the southeast (bottom right), the military crest of which will serve as OP Juliet. The Cuban team is at top left, making its way to the OP at bottom right. Bad guys are spread across the table. The table is 3' x 2' and I'm playing these fights solo using Ivan's "Five Men at Kursk," slightly modified to get a more modern (and deadly) feel.
The opposing forces, with good guys on the right and bad guys on the left. The good guys are Flashpoint Minis' Vietnam-range Australians, and the bad guys are Eureka Modern Chechens, both in 15mm.
The good guys of Team 2, ODA 424 (Callsign Rebel 22), from top left: Woody, Thump, Ben, Grady (bottom left), and Ev. Bonus points if you can say where those names came from (though the last one is not a perfect match)!
The bad guys. There are ten of them present here, comprising an RPG, a PK machine gun, a sniper, and seven riflemen. I don't know the composition or quantity of what I'll face on the tabletop though. I have a marker for each of these guys, and I have five 'dummy' markers. I mix them together, count out ten of them, and place them on the board. Then I flip them over and see what I've got. At minimum there will be five bad guys, with the marker determining the mix of rifles and RPG, PK, and sniper; at max will be all ten men shown. These guy represent the Cuban hardliners (and other mercenaries/terrorists) being trained by the Venezuelans and Iranians.
Rebel 22 (bottom right) has its hands full: under heavy fire and taking casualties, they fight for their lives, returning fire and calling for air support on the radio. To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
linkMore fights to come; right now I've got Operation Rush Delivery scheduled for nine fights, more if things go bad and I have to keep fighting to accomplish the objectives of the operation. So keep an eye open for more batreps!
V/R,
Jack
looks at a multi-period building.
