Cuba Libre - Cronistria Fight #10

All,

It's 1545 on 2 June 1990, and war in Cronistria is entering a new phase.  To date, Task Force Trojas has conducted Unconventional Warfare missions with its A-Teams while its B Team trained recruits of the Cronistrian Democrat Militia (CDM) to battle the communists, i.e., the uniformed Cronistrian National Guard (CNG) and the rag-tag Cronistrian People's Army (CPA).  The first battalion of Democrat Militia has been trained and TF Trojas A-team personnel are serving in leadership roles as the B-Team continues to train more men.  The Cronistrian Democrat President, Andraz Gregor, has a nephew in the CDM.  The nephew has fought several battles at TF Trojas' side, and has accounted himself very well.  And so Sasha Kukoc has been given the rank of Captain and made a company commander in the 1st CDM Battalion.

It's time to take the fight to the enemy.  Cronistria is a small, sparsely populated nation, with the major urban center being the capital city of Miran.  Cronistria's fate largely rests on who will ultimately control Miran, and so the CDM Battalion, centered in outlying rural areas, has begun patrolling into the villages lying on the outskirts of the capital.  One such village, lying just southwest of Miran, was about to become a flashpoint; a minor battle that would become a test of wills.

And so Captain Kukoc wasn't expecting much when he and SSgt Escalante ("Blade") led Alpha Company's 2nd Platoon into the village of Brevno, but the show had just begun.

The village of Brevno, north is up.  The locals spotted trouble coming from both east and west and left town.  The village had been untouched by the war; the Inn at top left, the Post Office at top center, Apartments at top right, the City Office at bottom right, and the Manor at bottom left.  A few trees, hedges, haystacks, market stands, and a single (inoperable) automobile dot the otherwise pristine landscape.

This is the magnificent new City Set from Crescent Root, in 15mm.

The opposing forces, with the Conistrian National Guard at top, and the Cronistrian Democrat Militia at bottom.

The CDM has eleven troopers and two leaders.  The troopers are 15mm Eureka Chechens, the leaders are Eureka Modern Australians (far left).  Amongst the troopers are a sniper, a PK machine gun, and an RPG.

The bad guys have 13 riflemen, two grenade launchers, two PK machine guns, an RPG, and a leader.  These are Eureka Modern Russians.

Initial positions: the Democrats are on the left, the Communists are on the right, with both sides having a presence on Main Street running east-west through the town.  We pick up at the point the opposing forces on Main Street spot each other.

This is an 'opposed' game, not a solo game.  Once again I'm facing off against my 6-year old General-In-Training, but this time we're using Ivan Sorensen's new rules "Five Men at Kursk."  The Boy General and I roll off to see who acts first, and I win.

The first thing I do is push men off of Main Street and into cover, with two into the Inn (bottom left) and behind a fruit stand between the Manor (bottom right) and the City Office (top right).  At left is the Post Office, and the Apartment Building is at top left.

The CDM point-man engages the CNG pointman with his AK-47, but misses.

But one of the CDM riflemen in the Inn (bottom left, with pointman at center) opens fire, knocking the commie down.

The commies return fire on the Inn (top center; the white bead in the street is for the bad guy that just got knocked down), but don't hit anyone.

The other guy in the Inn (bottom left) lays down cover fire while his buddy moves forward (in the Inn), hitting nothing.

While the Commies fire on the pointman hiding behind the fruit stand (top center) with Inn at top right)...

Forcing him to fall back down the street (red bead), next to SSgt Escalante.

Looking at several more CDM troops in the street (bottom center right), the CDM sniper darts into the Inn (just visible in top left corner of the building at top right).

With the fight raging on Main Street (top right), Captain Kukoc pushes forward on the left.  He sprints forward, past the Inn (bottom right) and up to the Post Office (top center), drawing react fire (orange marker at center)...

But the bad guys miss and Capt Kukoc returns fire...

Forcing an enemy rifleman to fall back and hide (red bead at bottom center, from explosion at center).

The commies push a rifleman forward to shelter behind a dumpster (center), opposite Capt Kukoc (top right).

Back in the center on Main Street, a commie rifleman rushes forward to check on his buddy that was knocked down: he's okay.

The commies push forward on the far left, below the City Office (top right).  Back on the bad guys' right, their scared rifleman successfully rallies.

Back in the center, the Commies push a machine gun into the Apartment Building (bottom center), and two riflemen into the 2nd floor of the Post Office (center right).  The A-gunner for the MG is straggling a bit...

And draws react fire from one of the Democrat riflemen in the street...

Forcing him to fall back (red bead at far right, from explosion at far left; their machine gunner is in the red building at top left).

Back on the left, a commie rifleman darts forward (bottom center), drawing react fire from a Democrat rifleman.

It misses, and the CNG rifleman returns fire...

The enemy fire is wicked, putting two men out of the fight!  The PK gunner is hit, but his A-gunner picks it up, though he's a bit nervous.

A commie rifleman moves up from his base edge to rally his buddy (far right), and it's successful.

On the left, two Democrat riflemen move into the Inn (far left), while the sniper (just below them in the Inn)...

Moves upstairs.  Kinda clunky looking, but I've got to do it this way to show who's on which floor.

The point man (red bead at top center-left) successfully rallies, but the nervous machine gunner (yellow bead at center right) fails and runs off the damn map!!!

On the street, SSgt Escalante (just below the red bead) orders the RPG forward to take out the enemy MG in the Apartment Building.

The RPG gunner (far left) creeps up the street to get a bead on the enemy MG in the Apartment Building (far right).  As he peeks around the Manor, the enemy MG opens up, pinning him.

Then the rifleman that had pushed forward in the Inn (bottom left) cuts loose a torrent of fire on the commie troops still on Main Street...

Two bad guys go down, and a third is pinned.

Back on the left, Captain Kukoc apparently loses his damn mind.  The Cronistrian Captain bursts onto the 2nd floor of the Post Office; one of the enemy rifleman snap fires, but the rounds miss...

Capt Kukoc (right) returns fire, killing one and pinning the other.

In the center, SSgt Escalante needs to shore up the center (top left) and cut off the enemy pincer in the south (bottom and top right), so he sprints forward into the Manor (city office at top center).

Back on Main Street, the bad guys push two guys into the Apartment Building (bottom center, with an MG in the section just above them), while another charges from the dumpster (far right) into the 1st floor of the Post Office (center), trying to go and help his pinned buddy sharing the second floor with Captain Kukoc.

The CNG are also able to rally their shaken men.

The commies finally get the assistant gunner over to the machine gunner in the Apartment Building (bottom center), and they begin spewing rounds back down Main Street.  Meanwhile, they push a rifleman into the City Office (center left), just opposite SSgt Escalante in the Manor (center left, with RPG in street just to the right).

Regarding the enemy MG fire coming down Main Street, two Democrat riflemen are pinned yellow beads at left), while the RPG gunner is forced to fall back and hunker (red bead at bottom left, from explosion at center).  You can see SSgt Escalante in building (the Manor) at bottom center) with an enemy rifleman just across from him (in the City Office), and more off camera to bottom.

Back on the 2nd floor of the Post Office, Captain Kukoc and the pinned enemy rifleman there exchange fire at close range, but neither is hit!

The commie rifleman charges Captain Kukoc!

But Kukoc (still on 2nd floor) forces him to fall back and hunker (red bead at bottom center, on 1st floor, but there's another bad guy on the 1st floor, at top right).

Being stymied on the right and stalemated in the center, the commie leader pushes his advantage on the left, where two Democrat men are already down, and their machine gunner fled the battle.  A commie rifleman sprints forward, but a Democrat react fires and knocks him down!

One Democrat moves up in the Inn (bottom left), while another rushes out into a side street towards the Post Office (center-left, next to car), and Capt Kukoc comes downstairs in the Post Office.

The Democrats try to rally, but morale is failing: a rifleman falls back (red bead at top left), the RPG gunner falls back (red bead at bottom right), and another rifle stays nervous (yellow bead at center left).

But Capt Kukoc saves the day.

Kukoc (far left) fires at point blank range into the nearest CNG troop, knocking him down.

Capt Kukoc pumps another round into him, then rushes over to the cowering commie and finishes him too.

With Capt Kukoc going buck wild in the Post Office (left), SSgt Escalante charges from the Manor (bottom center) into the City Office (bottom right)...

There he quickly dispatches the enemy soldier.

On the right (the Manor is at top center), the only remaining effective Democrat rifleman falls back and rallies the RPG gunner (bottom center).

A Democrat rifleman on the 1st floor of the Inn (bottom left) fires down Main Street...

An enemy rifleman is knocked out of the fight (far right), but the enemy MG (center-right) returns fire and pins the Democrat soldier (bottom left).

But suddenly SSgt Escalante (center bottom, in the City Office) sees three enemy troops converging on him from the south (right).  The commie MG team in the Apartment Building (yellow bead at far left) rallied.

And on the enemy right (the Apartment Building is at bottom left), an enemy MG team opens fire, forcing a Democrat rifleman to run off the map.

And back in the south, on the enemy left, a rifleman spots SSgt Escalante through a window in the City Office and opens fire at close range, putting him out of the fight.

The commie rifleman then darts into the Manor (center, from the low, white wall at right).

And then the enemy RPG gunner steps out into Main Street and launches a rocket at the Inn...

No one is hit, but two rifleman and the sniper are pinned.

At this point, the Cronistrian Democrats have lost three men, had two more flee the battlefield, and have five suffering negative morale, while the Cronistrian Communists have suffered seven casualties.  Both sides are exhausted, and feeling a bit queasy about the prospect of holding the line on their own.  Both sides have requested reinforcements, though neither has received them, and the fight is really going to come down to whomever's reinforcements arrive first, with the loser more than likely being eliminated.  No one likes to be eliminated, so the commanders of both sides both decide to pull back, reorganize, pound the village of Brevno with artillery, then see how things look in the morning.

What a fight, and what a perfect start to this portion of the campaign!  The boy and I had a great time, lots of back and forth, and really it all came down to my being lucky with Captain Kukoc taking the Post Office despite being outnumbered and getting fired at several times at point blank range.

Captain Kukoc, commander of A Company, Cronistrian Democratic Militia, was awarded the Medall de Honor (Cronistria's highest award) for valor above and beyond the call of duty.  Capt Kukoc drove back enemy forces encroaching on 2nd Platoon's left flank, then charged into close combat with three enemy soldiers to seize key terrain in the center of the battlefield (the Post Office).  Realizing his men were exhausted, Capt Kukoc then covered 2nd Platoon's withdrawal and evacuated its wounded platoon commander, SSgt Escalante.

SSgt Escalante, commander of 2nd Platoon, A Co, CDM (ODA 626/10th SFG) was awarded the Estrella de Bronce for bravery in close assaulting an enemy position (the City Office).  He was also awarded the Corazon Purpura for being wounded in action.  SSgt Escalante was locally evacuated and will return to duty on or about 13 June 1990.

I didn't get any gaming in this weekend, just trying to get caught up on the batreps.  So stay tuned, there are three more to go.

V/R,
Jack