All,
Current situation: It's 0530 on 4 August 1990 in South Leon, and 1st Lt "Lobo" Gouveia has solicited the support of local South Leon Army (SLA) units to divert precious resources to carry out an operation to take Hill 114, following which Lt Gouveia's ODA-313, AKA "Task Force Black," will establish an Observation Post (OP) overlooking Route 1 (the major north-south artery which enemy troops are using to reinforce Pendrakenville and Diwala) and call in air strikes to halt the flow of enemy forces, which was the original plan. Lt Gouveia's team spent the past week engaging enemy forces in vicinity of Hill 114, both inflicting and taking heavy casualties, and on the night the Cuban commandos were set to infiltrate Hill 114 and establish their OP they were ambushed on Bridge #1. Not only did the Cubans not accomplish their mission, thereby forcing the delay of the coming offensive to re-take Pendrakenville and Diwala, but they also allowed an enemy logistical column to sneak "special munitions" out of the area.
Lt Gouveia has been promised a SLA mechanized battalion, and he has secured (limited amounts of) Cuban air support. The desired end-state is joint Cuban/SLA possession of Hill 114; to that end, the SLA battalion scheme of maneuver is to probe to the northeast of Hill 114 (this fight, which is taking place directly north of the map used for Operation Chunky Bandit fights 1-8), seeking to find an opening in the enemy defenses and exploit it with a hasty attack on the objective, or go firm and secure the right flank of the attack. While this is occurring, Cuban air support will pound Hill 30 (at center right of the Op CB fights 1-8), and then SLA forces will assault and hold Hill 30 (will be Op CB #10) to secure a position to support the Hill 114 assault by fire and secure the left flank of the attack. The SLA command, of course, expects the enemy to vigorously counterattack Hill 30 (will be Op CB #11). Then SLA forces will conduct an air assault to the northwest of Hill 114 (off the map for Op CB fights 1-8 to top left) to isolate the objective, preventing withdrawal and reinforcement (this will be Op CB #12), and then the assault on Hill 114 will commence (will be Op CB #13). Again, SLA leadership presumes the enemy will vigorously counterattack if Hill 114 falls (will hopefully be Op CB #14, assuming the attack on Hill 114 succeeds, but that applies pretty much to all of these).
The games were played out solo, using the new "Squad Hammer" rules, in 10mm, mostly with Pendraken minis. There are plenty of crew serves, close assaults, RPGs taking out AFVs…
Even an air assault! Here's what we've got:
1. A probing attack by A Company northeast of Hill 114:
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2. B Company's mechanized assault on Hill 45:
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3. B Company dealing with the Communist counterattack on Hill 45:
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4. D Company's air assault northwest of Hill 114 to cut Route 1 and isolate the objective:
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5. C Company's assault on the objective, Hill 114:
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6. And finally, C Company's push to install 1st Lt Gouveia and the remaining Cubans of TF Black in an Observation Post atop Hill 114:
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Now we move to the 'other' portion of Phase 1, where TF 23 and TF Dusty are working west of Route 1 to locate and destroy FSNL command and control nodes. We will also have some aerial dogfights, where first Cuban fighters attempt to protect Cuban/SLA ground forces from FSNL air attack, and then, once OP ANGEL is in operation and Task Forces 23 and Dusty have done their jobs, the Cuban Air Force takes the fight to the enemy. Then we'll move into Phase 2, the breakout by Task Forces Redleg and Razor, cut off north of Pendrakenville. I'll also be stepping out for a bit to visit the South Pacific, aerial dogfighting style.
If you have any comments or feedback, please leave them on the blog as Jack cannot respond here.
expands his 15mm modern building collection.
