Cuba Libre!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Another good report. I really like the table. I am, however, now rooting for the forces of freedom, democracy, liberation and good music! Hopefully they will counter the assaults and throw the forces of corporate America back into the sea!


""Inconceivable." You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

[Techno]

Fine report, again, Jack !
Cheers - Phil

[ronan]

Another good report. I really like the table. I am, however, now rooting for the forces of freedom, democracy, liberation and good music! Hopefully they will counter the assaults and throw the forces of corporate America back into the sea!

oh yes ! May be it's time for us to call for reinforcements ? 


Good report Jack ! Thanks !

[bigjackmac]

"I am, however, now rooting for the forces of freedom, democracy, liberation and good music!"
Cool, okay, huh? wait, what???

It goes without saying that America is evil, but I must say that the United States has nothing to do with this, these are Cuban exiles fighting to take back their country from what they see as en evil, despotic regime that's committed countless atrocities.

'Tis true that much of the Cuban Liberation Army's gear is of US origin, but that's more an issue of proximity.  There is gear from Europe (UK and France primarily, including SLRs, FN-MAGs, and Charles Gustav rocket launchers, and MILAN ATGMs), but quite a bit is former US stuff that came from Central/South American countries that are looking forward to seeing the Castro brothers removed from power.

Once the Cuban government in exile assumes power (following the fall of the Castro's), Cuba is set to become extraordinarily war-mongering, sending troops to and fro, all to satisfy my wargaming needs 

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 0615 on 1 Feb 1990, and CLA Special Operations Forces' A Squadron is on the outskirts of Havana (6).  Their mission is to infiltrate and destroy a Castro-regime Surface to Air Missile (SAM) battery atop Hill 55, just west of Havana.  This mission is in support of B Squadron's upcoming mission, which will see them insert via helo (CLA UH-60s) into southern Havana to seize a radio station later this morning.  But this will be no walkover; the SAM site on Hill 55 is guarded by elite troopers Castro's Bodyguard: 1st Airborne Rifle Company, 1st Airborne Battalion, some of the few Cuban troops trusted enough to be be stationed in the capital of Havana.


So far we've had:
1) B Squadron SOF destroyed a radar site in support of amphibious landings at Playa Colorada (5).  B Sqdn then egressed and linked up with CLA rotary wing assets for their follow-on mission in Havana (6).
2) C Squadron SOF destroyed a the Cuban military's communications center.
3) 1st Para Battalion dropped in and seized a bridge to screen the landings at Playa Colorada (5).
4) 2nd Para battalion dropped in and eliminated a Castro-regime garrison to screen the landings at the Bay of Pigs (just west of (4).
5) 1st Marine Company, 3rd Infantry Battalion, made an amphibious assault at Playa Colorada.
6) B Squadron SOF attacked a Castro-regime SAM site near Havana.


The opposing forces, with regime forces on the left and CLA on the right.  A pretty even up fight, which is not good for the attacker, particularly as the CLA SOF had only a slight quality edge over the Cuban paratroopers, members of "Castro's Bodyguard," the Cuban 1st Airborne Battalion.

The CLA forces have a Command Stand, five rifle stands, a jeep-mounted HMG, and a SMAW.  The regime's paratroopers have a Command Stand, five rifle stands, an MG, and a mortar.  The mortar would play hell with the CLA commandos...


Overview, north is up.  Hill 55, the location of the SAM battery, is at top right, with a small village at top left.  The CLA SOF enter at bottom left near Hill 20.  Regime forces are spread across the board, as are civilians.


Despite very heavy casualties, Captain Stelosavo and SOF Team 1 made it up Hill 55, within feet of the target, the enemy SAM battery, and then...

Check it out here:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2015/06/cuba-libre-liberation-batrep-6.html

What a fight, I can't wait to hear what you think of this one.  Three more fights to post.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Viva La Revolution! 
Vivé Castro! 
Vivé le MiG-21 being vectored into the next airdrop! 

Ouch! That's going to upset the applecart! How does an event like this affect the campaign? How linear are your plans? Now I'm really fascinated. 

[bigjackmac]

Lemmey,

It's all your fault!

Luckily, all the paras are already on the ground.  But CLA shipping is in jeopardy; most of the troops are ashore by this point, but vehicles, equipment, and supplies are still being unloaded.  I actually intend on doing some dogfighting games in support of this campaign, and I wanted to do some naval games (using Shipwreck), but I don't feel ready.

The campaign is somewhat linear, due to the fact the CLA is going to win, but there is room for hiccups like this, and it will play out in future fights; as a matter of fact, it already has in one fight, you just haven't seen it yet because I haven't had time to post it.  Not a huge deal, but certainly an impact on what occurs on the tabletop.

I should be able to get another fight posted this evening (though I don't believe it's the fight where you see the negative impact from the failure here).

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 0630 on 1 Feb 1990, and 2nd Marine Company, 6th Infantry Battalion, has just come ashore at the Bay of Pigs landing site (7).  The Marines debarked their Amphibious Assault Vehicles, which turned around to go pick up the second wave, then began moving east along the beach.  The Marines had met no resistance during the landing (as expected), but when they began fanning out to the east they ran into elements of the 81st Infantry Company, 4th Infantry Battalion, who, as pure dumb luck would have it, were on maneuvers in the area, away from their base at Cienfuegos.


So far we've had:
1) B Squadron SOF destroyed a radar site in support of amphibious landings at Playa Colorada (5).  B Sqdn then egressed and linked up with CLA rotary wing assets for their follow-on mission in Havana (6).
2) C Squadron SOF destroyed a the Cuban military's communications center.
3) 1st Para Battalion dropped in and seized a bridge to screen the landings at Playa Colorada (5).
4) 2nd Para battalion dropped in and eliminated a Castro-regime garrison to screen the landings at the Bay of Pigs (just west of (4).
5) 1st Marine Company, 3rd Infantry Battalion, made an amphibious assault at Playa Colorada.
6) A Squadron SOF attacked a Castro-regime SAM site near Havana, which failed to clear the way for B Squadron's helo assault into Havana.
7) 2nd Marine Company, 6th Infantry Battalion, landed at the Bay of Pigs then turned east and ran into a strong enemy force.


The opposing forces, with Castro-regime troops on the left and CLA on the right.  The Marines have a rather small, but highly proficient force, but are significantly outnumbered in men and heavy weapons.  The CLA force has a Command Stand, five Marine rifle teams, a light machine gun, and a single-figure stand representing Colonel Ricardo Colvasquez, Commanding Officer, 6th Infantry Battalion.  The enemy force has a Command Stand, seven rifle stands, a medium machine gun, and an 82mm mortar.


Overview of the map, north is up, Marines are on the left (west), coming from their landing site, while the enemy is on the right (east), moving to check out the commotion, unaware (due to C Squadron SOF knocking out the comm center) of the invasion.  In the north is Hill 47.


Fighting is intense on the highway and beach, but the real bloodletting occurs on Hill 47.  I am happy to report the CLA is back to its winning ways due to the strength of CLA Marine combat leadership. 

To see what happened, please check the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2015/06/cuba-libre-liberation-batrep-7.html

Another great fight, two more to post, so stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Another good one Jack

[Techno]

What Will said !
Talk about comprehensive.
Cheers - Phil

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 0630 on 1 Feb 1990, and B Company, CLA Unconventional Warfare Group (UWG), is in pursuit of an enemy garrison of the 84th Provincial Militia Company, 16th Territorial Infantry Battalion.  General Waroldonez is not pleased as this whole gambit almost cost the CLA its strategic surprise for the invasion.

Everyone in the CLA knows of Colonel Huistrella's (commander of the CLA UWG) impatience to get at the Castro regime.  The invasion plan called for Col Huistrella's B Company to eliminate an enemy garrison, east of Cienfuegos, in the Escambray Mountains, as part of the UWGs mission to delay enemy forces in the east from attacking the beacheads or linking up with regime-forces in the west.  But the UWG was not supposed to begin carrying out its portion of the plan until AFTER the landings occurred, and, indeed, that is what A and C Companies did.

But Colonel Huistrella couldn't restrain himself and could have jeopardized the whole plan.  Instead of getting into position surrounding the enemy garrison on 31 Jan 1990, and attacking after the landings occurred on 1 Feb, Huistrella ordered B Company's commander, Captain Galban (son of the 3rd Infantry Battalion's commander) to attack the enemy garrison immediately, and this occurred at 2330 on 31 January 1990, approximately seven hours early.

The attack was near flawless, but only near.  The attack by B Company went off, with the CLA force defeating a much larger enemy force on the strength of surprise and violence of action, and all communication equipment was destroyed without the garrison notifying anyone (this was done by Popular Force infiltrators).  But an enemy column did escape their base, and so to prevent them notifying anyone of the attack, B Company divided into three groups and pursued the enemy.  After seven hours of dogged pursuit in the jungle-covered mountains, the enemy column found itself blocked by a CLA force to the south (off map), with a force in the northwest led by Colonel Huistrella and a force in the northeast led by Captain Galban.  The enemy's only option was to stand and fight, though it wasn't much use in the end...


So far we've had:
1) B Squadron SOF destroyed a radar site in support of amphibious landings at Playa Colorada (5).  B Sqdn then egressed and linked up with CLA rotary wing assets for their follow-on mission in Havana (6).
2) C Squadron SOF destroyed a the Cuban military's communications center.
3) 1st Para Battalion dropped in and seized a bridge to screen the landings at Playa Colorada (5).
4) 2nd Para battalion dropped in and eliminated a Castro-regime garrison to screen the landings at the Bay of Pigs (just west of (4).
5) 1st Marine Company, 3rd Infantry Battalion, made an amphibious assault at Playa Colorada.
6) A Squadron SOF attacked a Castro-regime SAM site near Havana, which failed to clear the way for B Squadron's helo assault into Havana.
7) 2nd Marine Company, 6th Infantry Battalion, landed at the Bay of Pigs then turned east and ran into a strong enemy force, which it handily defeated.
B Company of the UWG pursued and destroyed an enemy garrison in the Escambray Mountains.


The opposing forces, with regime forces on the left and CLA forces on the right.  What a mess, using Pendraken Aussies (Vietnam range), VC (Vietnam range), and Vietminh (Indochina range) for the bad guys, and Minifigs Aussies (Vietnam range **What are you going to do now, Shaun, there are Aussies on both sides), Pendraken Brits and Argentinian Special Forces (from the Falklands range), and Minifigs modern US, with a mix of desert, semi-arid, and temperate/jungle basing.  Perfect

The CLA have a Command Stand, six SF rifle teams, a Popular Force rifle team, a SMAW, an LMG, a 60mm mortar, and a single figure representing the Group commander, while the regime fugitives have a Command Stand, five rifle teams, and two LMG teams.


Overview, north is up, high in the Escambray Mountains, with no roads, only jungle trails.  There is a strong CLA force in the south (down) off map, which has caused the enemy to halt in the south and turn to face their attackers, who are in the northwest (top left, Colonel Huistrella) and northeast (Captain Galban).


No, drama here, this is how it ended.  The CLA UCW troops were simply too aggressive, and quickly overpowered the Cuban territorial troops.  To see the whole thing, please check the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2015/06/cuba-libre-liberation-batrep-8.html

To be honest, it was too easy.  I suppose the CLA troops deserved a break for once, we've certainly had some rough ones, but it's not that fun when it's this easy.  To be honest, it's my fault; the scenario just didn't work out as planned.  In my mind I saw a desperate flight through the jungle, with CLA forces in hot pursuit, but then the board didn't seem to suit what I was doing and I just rolled with it.

Sorry, not my most stimulating fight, but in a campaign there will be fights like this every now and again.  Stick around, I promise you'll like the next one (I still have one more to post from last weekend's games, and I'm looking at getting more in this weekend).

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

Still a good report, Jack !
Something like that's bound to happen from time to time, surely ? 
Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Sometime the best laid plans...
Looking forwards to the next one! still a good report, keep playing and keep enjoying!

[ronan]

Another good one Jack, Thanks !

It's sometimes disapointing when your game doesn't match what you expected. But war is not fair ! 

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys, and you're absolutely correct Ronan.  But I'll take it, a win is a win.

I should have the next batrep up this evening. I've played three games so far this weekend (up through fight 12), I'm trying to get one more fight in this afternoon, we'll see.

V/R,
Jack