Operation Chunky Bandit

Started by bigjackmac, 18 September 2018, 03:54:22 AM

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bigjackmac

All,

Now (0730 local time) we join 1st Lt "Lobo" Gouveia with C Company (reinforced), assaulting the eastern central slope of Hill 114, who needs to hurry.  They need to take the hill and establish their Observation Post so close air support can be called down on enemy elements on Route 1; if this is not accomplished, D Company will be quickly overrun, the breakout attempt by Task Forces Redleg and Razor will be imperiled, and the enemy will continue to reinforce the capital of Pendrakenville, making the offensive to re-take the capital that much more expensive.



Overview, north is up.  At left are two fingers running east off of Hill 114, with its mass off camera to left.  Off camera to bottom center would be the southeast slope of Hill 114, which featured in fights 1 through 8, off camera to top center would be the northeast slope of Hill 114, which featured in fight number 9, and off camera a ways to top left would be the northwest slope of Hill 114, which featured in fight number 12.  Cuban F-4 Phantoms have worked over Hill 114, you can see the craters and bombed out stands of trees.  The area is largely comprised of rice paddies, with a stream running north to south, fordable (at a penalty) in all locations by infantry, but vehicles can only pass at the actual fords (bottom center right, center right, and center top right).  At top right is the village of Biafra. FSNL deployment in the west (left) and the SLA deployment in the east (right).  The SLA CO, 1st Platoon, Rhino 11 (tank), and Cheetahs 21 and 22 (tracks) are at top right, while Lobo, 2nd Platoon, Rhino 12, and Cheetah 23 are at bottom right.  The enemy Dshk HMG is in a pillbox at top left, Bunker #1 is at top center left, and their CO, 1st Platoon, and 82mm mortar in the trenchline at far left top, while their recoiless rifle is in a sandbagged emplacement at bottom left, 2nd Platoon is in the trenchline at bottom left center, and Bunker #2 is at bottom center left.



SLA armor and infantry pound the enemy bunker on the northern finger, looking to break in.  To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
https://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2018/10/operation-chunky-bandit-13.html?m=1

One more fight in phase 1b, coming right up!

V/R,
Jack

Techno

Excellent, once again, Jack !!  :)

Cheers - Phil

Womble67

Another great looking table and Report

Take care

Andy
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2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Maenoferren

Sometimes I wonder - why is that frisbee geting bigger - and then it hits me!

Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

bigjackmac

Thanks everyone, I do appreciate the comments, glad folks are getting some fun out of them.  I'll try and post the next fight tomorrow night, Thursday at the latest.

V/R,
Jack

Womble67

Yeah another good report and a lovely looking table well done

Take care

Andy
The Wargames Directory

The Wargames Directory Facebook

2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

bigjackmac

Thanks, Andy, and it's time to do whatever it is you do! ;)
The post has been up almost 48 hours and has 29 hits. Whenever you share they immediately jump to 150!

V/R,
Jack

bigjackmac

All,

Current situation: It's 0830 on 4 August 1990 in South Leon.  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; one hour ago 1st Lt "Lobo" Gouveia accompanies the South Leon Army (SLA) C Company (reinforced), assaulted the eastern central slope of Hill 114.  C Company paid dearly, having to essentially annihilate the FSNL (Communist) defenders in their defensive positions, but now the stage is set to accomplish the objective of Phase 1 of Operation Chunky Bandit. 

Now (0830 local time) we join 1st Lt "Lobo" Gouveia, SSgt "Tahoe" Galarraga, and Sgt "Snoop" Concepcion, the last three members of TF Black still in action.  TF Black has borrowed a few SLA soldiers to carry gear up to Point 112, the military crest of Hill 114, where they will establish the long-awaited Observation Post and begin calling in Cuban airstrikes to cut Route 1.  The remains of TF Black is being escorted to Point 112 by the SLA C Company's 3rd Platoon.  This would soon be known as "The Bloodletting at OP ANGEL."


Overview, north is up.  Sure, the map looks flat, but that's because the play area is so small.  At this point we are actually on top of Hill 114, so that the last fight actually took place just off camera to right.  The finger at top right is the opposite side of the north finger 1st Platoon assaulted (with the blockhouse), while the south finger has a much more gradual slope into the plateau atop Hill 114 so that it's not noticeable, but the defensive position where the enemy recoiless rifle was at is just off camera to bottom right.  For that matter, the northeast slope of Hill 114, which was run into in Operation CB #1, would be off camera to top center right, and the enemy positions seen in the air assault (Operation CB #12) are off camera to top left.  So at far left bottom is Point 112, where the remains of TF Black will establish their OP, and just off camera to left Hill 114's slope tapers off to the west, where it runs into Route 1.  The ground here is cut up by previous Cuban airstrikes on Hill 114, so it's mostly craters, bombed out stands of trees, a couple of scorched spots (top left and bottom right) from Cuban napalm, and a few patches of trees that weren't touched by the bombing.

You can see the SLA/Cuban force at far bottom right.  Their goal is simple, to get the Cuban stand up to the top of Point 112 (far left) so they can get up on comms and start orchestrating the destruction from above.  The FSNL troops are spread across the map, single, confused stands running to and fro with no direction.  From the last fight, the 82mm mortar team is at top right, 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon is the two stands at bottom center, the recoiless rifle team is at bottom left, and crew from Bunker #2 is at center.  At top left are stragglers from the air assault on Route 1, at top center are stragglers from the probe to the northeast, at top center right are stragglers from the defense of Hill 45, and at center left are stragglers from the counterattack on Hill 45.  The enemy Lieutenant is also at top center right.


A SLA fireteam pins down the Communists while another flanks them.


The aftermath...  To see how it went, please check the blog at:
https://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2018/10/operation-chunky-bandit-14.html

With that, this portion Phase 1b of Operation Chunky Bandit is now concluded, OP ANGEL is in operation, directing aerial interdiction operations to sever Route 1 and isolate enemy forces in vicinity of Pendrakenville, the South Leonian capital city.  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.

V/R,
Jack

bigjackmac

All,

Current situation: It's 0230 on 3 August 1990 in South Leon and Task Forces 23 and Dusty have teamed up to handle a problem: following its invasion of South Leon, the Communist Army from Federation Socialiste Nationale de Leon (FSNL) quickly established an air defense umbrella to protect its penetration, and it's wreaking havoc on the Cuban and South Leonian Air Forces.   A Cuban intelligence officer may have a source that can help crack the code, but he's run into trouble and now the Cubans are dashing in to help save his bacon.


Overview, north is up.  There is a deep, fast moving river running east to west at bottom, bridged at bottom center.  The hill the Cubans the Direct Action element is staging on is at top right (Captain Villagrosa's Security Element is off table to top center), the gully is visible running from the hill to the road, meeting it at the center of the table.  The village is at left: Building 1 is at top left, Bldg 2 at far left, and Bldg 3 at left.  The Cubans are all on the hill in the northeast (top right), while the bad guys are spread across the map.  The enemy Lieutenant is screwing off in one of the buildings, as are several of the minions, but the Communist Sergeant is out keeping an eye on things (left, just left of the road split, actually on the left fork), there is an RPG gunner on watch in Bldg 2 (far left), an RPK gunner on watch (just above the bridge), and there are four sentries on patrol (top left, on the road, far right, just above the river, left, just above the river, and on the bridge at center bottom).


The Direct Action element, from top left: Ryder, Marshall, Turbot, Robo, and Dinger, supported by TF Dusty snipers Sgt Eusabio (spotter) and PFC Romero (shooter).  I'm playing this using Ben Lacy's excellent set of rules, "SOF Warrior," which, in my estimation, is perfect for these type of fights.  I have assigned the following Troop Ratings: Ryder and Marshall are 5s, the other three shooters are 4s, and the two TF Dusty snipers are 3s.  The enemy soldiers are all 2s, while their Lieutenant and Sergeant are both 3s.  The Cubans are SEALs from Khurasan and Modern Australians from Eureka, while the enemy soldiers are East Germans from Battlefront.


The snipers, Sgt Eusabio and PFC Romero (bottom right), scan the village (top) as the column of shooters moves downhill via the gully (left).


Outside Bldg 1 (which has its roof off because two bad guys have been spotted in there), Robo moves up (left, from bottom left) to support Turbot (top left), as Dinger opens fire with the machine gun (bottom right) on the north sentry (top center).  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2018/10/operation-chunky-bandit-15.html

Even though the immediate problem is getting to the LZ for extraction, the larger problem is the Cubans are not one step closer to dismantling the Communist air defense network, and there is no sign of the intelligence officer, Tragg, who supposedly has information that would help to that end.  So the next fight is enemy attempts to reinforce the village from the north running into Captain Villagrosa and the Security Element, but then we gotta get down to business!

V/R,
Jack


Techno

I think you've got a time machine, Jack. :-\

How you paint all of these up.......Have the games....Take all the photo's AND write such comprehensive reports is beyond me.

Cheers - Stunned of Wales.

Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

toxicpixie

Quote from: Techno on 23 October 2018, 07:51:16 AM
I think you've got a time machine, Jack. :-

How you paint all of these up.......Have the games....Take all the photo's AND write such comprehensive reports is beyond me.

Cheers - Stunned of Wales.

What he said!

Stunned of the Midlands
I provide a cheap, quick painting service to get you table top quality figures ready to roll - www.facebook.com/jtppainting

Techno

Thank you, Nathan.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. ;)  ;D ;D ;D

Cheers - Phil

toxicpixie

I'm lucky to get anywhere enough painting done, and that's paid for let alone painting then gaming for pleasure :D

So I have to live vicariously ;)
I provide a cheap, quick painting service to get you table top quality figures ready to roll - www.facebook.com/jtppainting