All,
It's 1145 on 4 June 1990, and things aren't looking so great in the village of Brezno. Two days ago the Democrats and Communists fought a meeting engagement, fell back, and pounded the village with artillery. Yesterday both sides again sent a patrol into the village, and this time Gunny Dos Santos' 1st Platoon decisively pushed the Communists back. But as Dos Santos brought the rest of his platoon into position, the Communist artillery crashed in and pounded them for several hours, causing serious casualties. Both sides once again ceded control of the village and fell back, then sent in small patrols to see what the heck is going on.
Owing to heavy casualties in 1st Platoon, Captain Kukoc ordered his 3rd Platoon, under SSgt Bettancourt, to send a small patrol back into Brezno to identify enemy intentions. The Communists did the same.
The opposing forces, with Democrats on top and Communists on the bottom. A dead even fight, eight men per side.
The Cronistrian Democratic Militia is led by SSgt Bettancourt (bottom right), and has six riflemen and an RPG gunner (bottom left).
The Cronistrian National Guard has a leader (bottom right), six riflemen, and a PK machine gun (bottom left).
The village of Brevno, north is up. The locals spotted trouble coming from both east and west and left town. The village consists of 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 landscape. Democrat artillery has struck the Apartment Building, while Communist artillery struck the Inn, the City Office, and the Manor.
Starting positions: the two sides have changed things up a bit this time, trying to be a bit more stealthy. But it didn't work; the Democrats are coming down the road from the top left (northwest), while the Communists are coming from the bottom right (southeast).
The boy and I roll off to see who goes first, and this time it's him.
The Commies, coming up the road between the Manor (bottom left) and the City Office (center-right), spot the Democrats first and begin to fan out, getting a rifleman into the Manor and two men into position at the edge of the buildings.
The Communists quickly push their MG team into the City Office (center). The Democrat point man sees the movement and opens fire, but he's wildly spraying and doesn't hit anything.
But apparently it had some effect, as the Commie MG team quickly got the gun going on what is probably the juiciest MG target in world history...
But again, they apparently had the jitters, as only the only result was a Democrat rifleman being forced to fall back into cover behind the Inn (bottom center).
GAME NOTE: because it was such a juicy target, I gave the kid's MG team 3K 4S, and that's all he managed. But he made up for it in a minute.
When his leader (bottom center) opened up with his rifle on full auto at the same target.
A Democrat rifleman dropped, dead (center left), SSgt Bettancourt (white bead) was knocked down, and the RPG gunner (red bead) was forced to fall back and hunker. A Democrat rifleman returned fire, to no effect.
A Democrat rifleman ran up to check on SSgt Bettancourt (right), and got him back on his feet, while the RPG gunner and rifleman both rallied. Two other riflemen (top and bottom) got out of the damn street.
And then SSgt Bettancourt launched a furious fusillade at the enemy MG team (bottom right).
The machine gunner fell back (red bead at bottom), but his A-gunner was killed (center).
The enemy leader (bottom center) returned fire on SSgt Bettancourt...
But missed. A Democrat rifleman and SSgt Bettancourt rushed into the Post Office (top center-left), but when the RPG gunner moved into the street (far left) to get a line of fire, he drew fire from a Commie rifleman (bottom right), which pinned him.
The Commies got men into position in the Manor (far left), the City Office (center), and then sent a rifleman around the right flank (far right), before trying to rally the machine gunner (red bead at center)...
But he ran (bottom right).
The enemy rifleman in the City Office (center left) fired on the RPG gunner, missing, while another rifleman sprinted across the street to the Apartment Building (top right).
The RPG gunner feebly returned fire with his AK, but not even close.
The Communists moved another rifleman into the 1st floor of the City Office (far right), and SSgt Bettancourt (top left) react fired, but missed.
The enemy rifleman returned fire, pinning Bettancourt.
The RPG gunner (yellow bead at center left) and SSgt Bettancourt (in Post Office, at center) both rallied, while a rifleman moved up in the Post Office (next to Bettancourt) and in the Inn (bottom center), whilst another began moving left (top left).
And then the turning point of the battle: the RPG gunner fired a rocket into the City Office...
The rifleman nearest the blast (center) was killed instantly, their leader (white bead at center) was knocked down, and the two nearest riflemen (far left and bottom right) both fell back and hunkered.
The RPG gunner moved up behind the black auto, while his buddy dashed across the street from the Inn (top left) to the Manor (bottom left). But he drew fire from the enemy rifleman at the Apartment Building (top right).
The fire is ineffective, so the Democrat rifleman gets into the Manor, but his sprint is short and so he can't yet get at the nearby cowering enemy troops.
SSgt Bettancourt moves out of the Post Office (far left) and pokes his head around the Apartment Building, drawing react fire.
But Bettancourt is cool as a cucumber; as rounds zip by he squeezes off a burst, knocking the enemy rifleman down.
The enemy rifleman just outside the Manor (far left, with Democrat rifleman just inside) rallies, while the rifleman at far right rallies up from Scared to Nervous. But the Commie machine gunner fails and runs off the map.
On the enemy far right, a rifleman moves up (center) to help protect his knocked-down buddy (white bead at top center), but SSgt Bettancourt not only sees him...
He levels his weapon and drops the Commie with one short burst.
But it's not going swimmingly everywhere: back on the left, the recently rallied Commie rifleman outside the Manor fires on the Democrat rifleman inside...
The Democrat is knocked down, and the Commie immediately charges in and finishes him off.
The brave Communist then darts out of cover, looking to sprint across the street and check on his knocked down leader. But a Democrat rifleman in the Post Office react fires...
The fire misses; the rifleman gets the Communist leader back to his feet, and they decide to get the hell out of there. They lost three men to fire, then had one captured (next to the Apartment Building) by SSgt Bettancourt, while the Democrats lost two men, which was incredible given the fact the Commies got a machine gun set up to fire straight down their column.
The communists fell back, and SSgt Bettancourt went back to move the remainder of his platoon into position, determined not to have to fight to re-enter Brevno again. 3rd Platoon dug-in in preparation for the next Communist push to take the village of Brevno. They wouldn't have to wait long.
SSgt Bettancourt was awarded the Estrella de Bronce for valor in leading his men to seize the critical position of the Post Office and Apartment Building in fending off an enemy patrol.
Last fight coming up.
V/R,
Jack
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