All,

AKA, Unit 101's 1st Fight of Operation Payback (part of Cuba Libre, my alt-history blog where Cuba was liberated by democratic patriots in 1990)

Following the debacle of Operation Pay-Off, Cuba's President decided revenge was on the menu, and established Unit 101 to be the instrument of that revenge, wherever it may take them.  Working closely with Cuban Intelligence, they'd begun the task of figuring out who was behind the bombings in Cuba, and who had conspired to ambush Cuba's delegation in Morocco.  HUMINT sources pointed to a sheikh in Morocco with ties to certain, nefarious individuals, who might shed some light on the situation.

Major Villanueva: "Load up, boys, we're heading back to Morocco."

It's 0300 on 5 July 1990.  Unit 101 has entered Morocco, and linked up with Cuban Intelligence on th ground.  They shared their source's information, pinpointing The Sheikh. Major Villanueva decided on a hard hit, going straight at the target.


Overview of map, north is up, The Sheikh's compound at bottom right (southeast).  Unit 101 will land at top left, assault the compound, capture The Sheikh, then exfil via the road at bottom left, where they will be picked up by helo.  The board is 2' x 2', buildings by Crescent Root, vehicles by Peter Pig.

I'm playing these fights using Ivan Sorensen's rules "Five Men at Kursk," modified a little to make them a bit more modern and deadly.


Opposing forces, with bad guys on the left and good guys on the right.  On the right is the entirety of Unit 101, though they will not all be participating in this fight.  Unit 101 is composed of:
Commander
Platoon Sergeant
Two five-man teams
1 Sniper team
1 Machine Gun team
*Most of the troops are 15mm Khurasan, but the shooters have two Battlefront figures, and the sniper and MG teams are Eureka.

The bad guys are: infantry from Flytrap Factory (Taliban) and HVT from Rebel Minis.


The Blackhawk pulls to a hover and the team jumps out.  To see how the full batrep, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/02/operation-dragon-forge-fight-1.html

Team 2 successfully completed it mission of capturing The Sheikh, ten Tangos down, no serious casualties for the Cubans (very lucky casualty rolls).  Now the team has to get him to the extraction point.  Which, of course, is the next fight, coming soon.

V/R,
Jack

Nice report Jack.
Soundtrack - Rock the Kasbah by The Clash

Good stuff, Jack.

Cheers - Phil.

Thanks guys.

V/R,
Jack

All,

AKA, Unit 101's 2nd Fight of Operation Payback

It's 0330 on 5 Jul 1990, and Unit 101's Team 2 has just captured The Sheikh and is on the way to the HLZ for extraction.  But they run into a little trouble; luckily Major Villanueva figured this might occur and had planned accordingly.  The Platoon Sergeant and Team 3 are standing by on overwatch.


Overview, north is up.  The HLZ is at right, Team 3 will be in overwatch at bottom center and bottom right, covering Team 2 coming in at top right, while bad guys enter via the road at left.  The objective is simple: Team 2 gets The Sheikh to the HLZ and is extracted.

I'm playing these fights using Ivan Sorensen's rules "Five Men at Kursk," modified a little to make them a bit more modern and deadly.



The good guys; most of the troops are 15mm Khurasan, but the shooters have two Battlefront figures, and the sniper and MG teams are Eureka.



The bad guys: ten hostiles (Flytrap Factory Taliban).



Sniper team on overwatch.



The machine gun team laying down fire, what?  Uh-oh...  To see how the fight went, and if the extraction went off, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/02/operation-dragon-forge-fight-2.html

Next stop, gotta see a guy about a bomb maker in northern Italy.  Next fight, coming right up.

V/R,
Jack

Nice one Jack.
Not sure the Italians will be too happy!

Good one !

Cheers - Phil

Thanks guys!

Lemmey - If we do it right and get a bit lucky, they'll never even know!

V/R,
Jack

Jack, let's get started,
Options 1-5 you don't want landing on your team, options 6-13 you wouldn't want to meet either!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_special_forces

If they turn up, those Cubans will have an awful lot of explaining to do, repeatedly, down a set of stairs!!!

The Cuban Special Forces are not cowed.  You are underestimating the specialness of Cuban Special Forces, which is largely made up of Cuban exiles who previously served in Tier 1 units in the US, UK, Australian, German, French, and Israeli special forces. 

One might say the Cubans are special special forces

V/R,
Jack

Just thinking it would make a nice twist to the usual one on one fight! Can the Cubans complete before the Italians jump them.

Hmmm, that is an interesting idea.

I'll certainly keep it in mind; problem with this one is, I've already played two fights in Italy and gone to another country

And all of you readers out there should please feel free to contribute scenario ideas; I've been doing this awhile and the creative juices are long gone...

V/R,
Jack

All,

AKA, Unit 101's 3rd Fight of Operation Payback

It's 2130 on 7 Jul 1990, and stuff is about to go down for Unit 101, who is now in northern Italy.  Following the raid that captured The Sheikh, Unit 101 extracted him and turned him over to Cuban Intel for interrogation.  The Sheikh gave up the next piece of the puzzle: he wasn't sure where he was exactly, but the man that made the bomb used against the Cubans in Operation Pay-Off was rumored to be in Italy, and a known associate of his was set to have a meeting with some Albanian mobsters in the northern (fictional) village of Formaggio.  Unit 101 got on the ground and linked up with Cuban Intel on the ground, who linked them up with a local national asset, Victoria Scallapeni.

Victoria got the Unit moved up north, briefed them up on the local situation and the meeting between the Bomb Maker's associate, Vito Squirreleone, and the Albanian gangsters.  "It's happening at 2130 this evening, in the village center," said Victoria.  Major Villanueva turned to Dozer, Team 1's leader: "Make it happen."  "Roger, Boss."


Overview, north is up, of the quaint, northern-Italian village of Formaggio.  The Albanians will have plenty of security for the meeting between their boss and Vito Squirreleone, which happens at dead center.  Team 1 is breaking into two elements, one entering from right (east) and one from left (west).  Their mission to capture Vito Squirreleone and exfiltrate him off the map.

I'm playing these fights using Ivan Sorensen's rules "Five Men at Kursk," modified a little to make them a bit more modern and deadly. The buildings and mat are from Crescent Root Studios.


The bad guys are Eureka 15mm Chechens, while the good guys are Rebel Minis.


Victoria strolls up (top right, with Dozer and Switch), then pulls her pistol and begins firing wildly!  She shot Vito Squirreleone!!!  He's still alive though; "Don't worry boys, I did that on purpose, so he couldn't run away."  The Albanian Boss (bottom center left, just below Vito) was also pinned.

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/02/operation-dragon-forge-fight-3.html

Another fun one, next fight coming up in a couple days.

V/R,
Jack

Told you Italian special forces were a bit good! She's done more damage in one shot than the whole squad did in years!

Gooooo Victoria! ❤

 

Cheers - Phil.

Thanks Phil, and Lemmey, we'll see.  It was the hand of fate, via the dice, of course.  I actually don't want her to be a bad guy, was hoping for a recurring role for Ms Scalleppini.

V/R,
Jack

Well, she might be an agent, a double agent, a triple agent or a dirty double crossing double-double agent, maybe!

Dammit!!!

Nuthin' worse than a dirty double crossing double-double agent!!!

We'll see how things shake out.  Next fight coming up Thursday.

V/R,
Jack

All,

AKA, Unit 101's 4th Fight of Operation Payback

It's 0430 on 8 Jul 1990, and Unit 101 is on the way to take down The Bomb Maker.  The raid to capture his associate, Vito Squirreleone, didn't quite work out as planned, but Cuban Intel was able to exploit personal electronic devices (yeah, I kinda forgot about the fact this is 1990, but whatevah) found on Squirreleone's body and determine the likely location of The Bomb Maker.  Major Villanueva: "Well, Dozer, you found him, now lets' go get him."


Overview, north is up.  The Bomb Maker owns a garage on the outskirts of Formaggio.  The compound is at top center, while Major Villanueva and Team 1 enter from bottom left.  Their mission is to kill or capture The Bomb Maker.

I'm playing these fights using Ivan Sorensen's rules "Five Men at Kursk," modified a little to make them a bit more modern and deadly.


Opposing forces, with bad guys on the left and good guys on the right.  On the right is the entirety of Unit 101, though they will not all be participating in this fight. 
*Most of the troops are 15mm Khurasan, but the shooters have two Battlefront figures, and the sniper and MG teams are Eureka.  The bad guys are Eureka Chechens.


Bad guy cowering in the chicken coop.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/02/operation-dragon-forge-fight-4.html

That drops the curtains on northern Italy, now it's off to Lebanon for the Unit, which is growing ever closer to figuring out exactly who was behind the ambush in Morocco (Operation Pay-Off).  Stay tuned for more batreps.

V/R,
Jack

All,

AKA, Unit 101's 5th Fight of Operation Payback

It's 0315 on 11 Jul 1990, and Unit 101 is in Lebanon, closing in on The Mayor in the village of Jezabyl.  The village is very small, and inhabited only by people that are well armed and loyal to The Mayor, and the tactical problem is that the platoon needs to take The Mayor alive.  They're plan is simple and straightforward: Team 1 will bust the door down (this fight), and then Team 2 will dart through and grab the target (next batrep, at least assuming this works).  Meanwhile, the sniper and MG teams will be to the southwest, in position to isolate the enemy compound (keep reinforcements from getting in) and prevent escape (keep the target from getting out).


Overview of the table, north is right.  You see a shallow stream running north-south, with an orchard at top right (northwest), several walled compounds, and a few crop fields.  I'm playing this solo, using Ben Lacy's skirmish rules "Final Combat."  These are super detailed, and you know I'm simple, so I'm using the activation system as written, and I'm using the movement, spotting, morale, casualty determination, and firing pretty much as written, though simplified just a hair.  This game was fun, and didn't take as long as I thought it would, but was still longer than I generally am looking for.  I really like the activation system, so I'll probably work to make shooting, spotting, morale, and casualty determination.  Oh, and I didn't really mess with postures too much, everyone just kept moving forward.  Part of that was I don't have figures to reflect the different postures (standing, kneeling, and prone) and I didn't really want to use more markers for it, though I'm considering getting some more Peter Pig US Marines so I can do this.  The only problem is, I can't find suitable bad guys where I can do the same thing (no one makes modern prone bad guys!).


The Cuban entry team, from left: Tank (TQ 4), Rung (TQ 3), Dozer (TQ 4), Switch (TQ 3), Rake (TQ 5), and Cypher (TQ 4).  The bad guys have two leaders that are TQ3, the rest are TQ2 rabble.


In the still of the night, the Cuban Special Forces soldiers creep forward up the creek.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2017/02/operation-dragon-forge-fight-5.html

The rules worked out great.  The game was kinda long, but that's true anytime you play a set of rules for the first time, and there are a lot of modifiers to look up (firing, spotting, morale, hit location, figuring out impact).  And I couldn't find my D20, so I was rolling two D10s, which I like better anyway (I always hate rolling only one dice, just a personal hangup).  In any case, the next fight will be using the same rules, the same way, then I'll look at changing things up if I think I need to.  Hope you liked it, I certainly did!

V/R,
Jack