Operation Rush Delivery

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

What hope have the Cubans when you drop your topic in the wrong thread!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

And the goat! 😱

[bigjackmac]

Hey, I fixed that!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

AKA, the 15th fight of Operation Payback

It's 0705 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway.  Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out.  Next, 1st Lieutenant Huerta's 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion jumped from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness, planning to immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

In the last three fights we saw Lt Jaramiho's 1st Platoon successfully seize DZ Crow, Lt Escobedo killed in action while 2nd Platoon was trying, unsuccessfully, to secure DZ Bluebird, and then Lt Reyna's 3rd Platoon successfully seize DZ Albatross.  The Company Commander, Lt Huerta, rounded up his paratroopers, formed them up, then linked up with Lt Estevez's ODA 525 for the assault on the objective areas.  This fight sees Lt Huerta leading Lt Jaramiho's 1st Platoon and three Special Forces teams from ODA 525 to secure the terrorist training areas on Avalor.


Overview, north is up.  The training areas are spread across the center, with some admin buildings in the southwest and north, and Hill 48 at top left.  There is a deep, swift running river running northwest to southeast, bridged at top right and just off camera to lower right.  The Cuban forces will enter at bottom right (Paratroopers) and top right (Special Forces), while the enemy will be spread across the board.  Ultimately, the Cuban objective is to take and hold Hill 48.  The board is 4' x 4' and I'm playing in 15mm using Ivan's "5Core Company Command," using the traditional "Five Men in Normandy"-style activation. 

To read all about it, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/06/operation-rush-delivery-fight-6.html

Next we have Unit 101 making a grab for an HVT, followed by 3rd Platoon's assault on the terrorist barracks, then another Unit 101 HVT grab to finally bring Operation Payback to a close.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great report Jack, that's a big fight!

[bigjackmac]

Lemmey,

Thanks man, and you're absolutely right.  I've been getting the hankering for some bigger, company-sized fights, but it kinda bogged down with all the individually-based troops, so I'm looking at doing some re-basing   

I probably had too many bad guys on the table as well, lucky to get out of there alive!

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Magnetise your bases, get Leon to cut you some sabots, magnetise them, flock, viola... removable figures on bigger bases.

[bigjackmac]

Hmmm, that's an interesting concept, hadn't really thought of that.  And I just ordered some bases from Litko last night...

Thanks anyway, Lemmey!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

AKA, the 16th fight of Operation Payback

It's 0950 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway.  Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out.  Next, 1st Lieutenant Huerta's 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion jumped from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness, planning to immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

In the last four fights we saw Lt Jaramiho's 1st Platoon successfully seize DZ Crow, Lt Escobedo killed in action while 2nd Platoon was trying, unsuccessfully, to secure DZ Bluebird, and then Lt Reyna's 3rd Platoon successfully seize DZ Albatross.  The Company Commander, Lt Huerta, rounded up his paratroopers, formed them up, then linked up with Lt Estevez's ODA 525 for the assault on the objective areas.  Then we saw Lt Huerta lead Lt Jaramiho's 1st Platoon and three Special Forces teams from ODA 525 to secure the terrorist training areas on Avalor.  This fight sees Major Villanueva leading Unit 101 to capture El Commandante, the Venezuelan Army officer running the training camp which has been preparing and funneling terrorists into Cuba.


Overview, north is up, with bad guys atop the hill at top center left, good guys advancing from the south.  There is a small village astride the river (bottom center right), which is fordable anywhere along its length.  A gravel road leads from south to north, up the hill to El Commandante's compound.  The table is around 3' x 3', using my teddy bear fur mat with towels underneath.  Major V's team is at bottom, in skirmish line, spread across the map from left to right, wading through the knee deep river.  The bad guys are mostly at top center left, in and around El Commandante's compound, though they do have a couple of sentries on foot patrol in the jungle at center left and far right.

I'm using Ivan's "Five Men at Kursk," modified to give it a bit more of a modern and violent feel, and I'm playing solo.


Major Villanueva takes a shot at a bad guy that's sky-lined himself coming over the crest.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/08/operation-rush-delivery-fight-7.html

Following the helo evac/pickup, Major Villanueva linked up with the rest of Unit 101 and they set a course and began humping to the terrorist barracks, where they expected to encounter their next High Value Target, the Iranian known as "The Adjutant."  Along the way they received word from Rebel 31, friendly Special Forces, that the terrorist barracks was abandoned, but that The Adjutant was holed up in a compound nearby.  That was good news for 1st Lt Huerta's beat up company of paratroopers, they wouldn't have to fight to clear the enemy barracks; the terrorist training areas had proven to be quite expensive.  Major Villanueva coordinated with Lt Huerta to have his paratroopers isolate the objective; no one in or out of The Adjutant's compound.  "We're on our way."

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

That was a good un! Tight!

[bigjackmac]

You bet it was, and so is the next one, coming up Monday.

Thanks Lemmey!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

AKA, the 17th fight of Operation Payback

It's 1330 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway.  Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out.  Next, 1st Lieutenant Huerta's 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion jumped from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness, planning to immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

In the last four fights we saw Lt Jaramiho's 1st Platoon successfully seize DZ Crow, Lt Escobedo killed in action while 2nd Platoon was trying, unsuccessfully, to secure DZ Bluebird, and then Lt Reyna's 3rd Platoon successfully seize DZ Albatross.  The Company Commander, Lt Huerta, rounded up his paratroopers, formed them up, then linked up with Lt Estevez's ODA 525 for the assault on the objective areas.  Then we saw Lt Huerta lead Lt Jaramiho's 1st Platoon and three Special Forces teams from ODA 525 to secure the terrorist training areas on Avalor, followed by Major Villanueva leading Unit 101 to capture El Commandante, the Venezuelan Army officer running the training camp which has been preparing and funneling terrorists into Cuba.

Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from ODA 424 scouted the terrorist barracks and discovered it had been abandoned, so Lt Huerta had his reduced company of paratroopers and ODA 525 encircle the compound believed to be inhabited by The Adjutant, an Iranian  working with the Venezuelans to train and equip terrorists for attacks inside Cuba.  The Adjutant was believed to have a unit of bodyguards comprised of members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, providing close security for him at all times.  Unit 101's executive officer, Rake: "I don't like it Boss, heading in against these guys.  They're tough, well armed, well trained, they know we're coming, and we're coming in broad daylight, with no support (no air or mortar support as they want to capture The Adjutant alive)."  "I gotcha buddy," said Major Villanueva, "but ours is not to reason why..."


Overview of The Adjutant's compound, north is up and the table is 2' x 2'.  The target building is at top right, the Cubans will enter at bottom left.  Numerous dirt roads criss-cross the area; there's a mini-plantation of rubber trees at bottom center left, and a park with a pond at bottom center right.

As usual, I'm playing this game solo using Ivan's "Five Men at Kursk" skirmish rules.  Usually I play them slightly modified to give (to me, at least) a more modern feel, but today I've modified a whole bunch of stuff, not sure even Ivan would recognize them.  The biggest issue is that I'm working on a pared down version of a "Threat Generation System" I recently got from a buddy (don't worry, I intend on using the whole thing, just not for this game), and so enemy troops will pop up somewhat randomly.  Which, for me, means at the worst possible time in the worst possible place (foreshadowing: you better believe it!  The target building is at top right, we never even got anywhere near it!).  With that, the enemy became primarily a reactionary element, and so that necessarily drove some changes to what I was doing.  Then I started getting the ever-loving crap kicked out of me, so I had to bend a bit more.  When it wasn't getting any better for me, I had to throw the Threat Generation System out (to be fair, I was just planning on bringing in new bad guys in perpetuity, I guess, where even the real Threat Generation System, i.e., the introduction of new enemy units onto the table, is only scheduled to occur for a certain amount of time.


With the team pinned down under heavy fire (top left), Trinity says hell with it.  He hops the stone wall and charges through the rubber tree plantation, intent on coming to grips with the terrorists in The Thicket.  To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/08/operation-rush-delivery-fight-8.html

So, my darlings, that finally wraps up Operation Payback, I hope you enjoyed it.  Next up, I need to finish up Phantoms Over Havana.  Then I've got more projects then I know what to do with!

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Good report Jack, thought they were a gonna for sure!

[Techno]

I dunno....cheating again. 

Great report, Jack.

Cheers - Phil.

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys, and if ya ain't cheatin' ya ain't tryin'

V/R,
Jack