Operation Dragon Forge, Fight #9

All,

AKA, Unit 101's 9th Fight of Operation Payback

It's 1205 on 14 Jul 1990, and Unit 101 is on the verge of capturing The Persian, the goal of Operation Dragon Forge.  The Persian's capture will yield information on which country(ies) and individual(s) was responsible for the ambush of a Cuban diplomat in Morocco.

After fighting to collect information through Morocco, Italy, and Lebanon, the Unit has arrived in Malaysia.  Working with Captain Choy of Malaysian Special Forces, the Unit has punched into and secured The Persian's compound in a series of intense firefights.  With the compound secured, Major Villanueva is leading a team of five shooters to The Persian's house to capture him.  Separated from him during the battle, a team of The Persian's most loyal soldiers, his personal bodyguards, have simultaneously arrived at the house.  The opposing forces are making a mad dash to grab The Persian and whisk him away, one for questioning, one to safety.

The M-113 screeched to a halt outside The Persian's house, and Major Villanueva and his team sprung into action.

Overview of map, north is down.  Major Villanueva and his team are at left, The Persian's bodyguard at right, and The Persian is in the building at center right.  Note the two casualty figures at bottom center; those are the mortar crew that was knocked out by the OH-6 gunship at the end of the last fight.

The 'table' is maybe 15" x 15", and this is going to be a quick and bloody affair.  Both sides are killing each other while moving forward to get The Persian.  I planned on being a bit more nuanced, a bit more in depth, but I'd been playing all day and I was tired, my back hurt, and my wife was complaining (I played dragon Forge games 7, 8, and 9 all in a row).  So this is going to be real quick, not even sure if I can really say there are rules ;)

I've got a deck of cards, two colors, one card per man.  Each time a card is pulled, one man on that team gets to move up and fire, or rally.  Everyone will keep moving until the other side is dead and/or The Persian is grabbed.  The Cubans will get slightly better firing dice as they are top tier commandos.

The good guys, from bottom left: Cypher, Dozer, Rung, Major Villanueva, Neo, and Tank.

The bad guys.  I'm a knucklehead and screwed up!  There is a sixth bad guy just off camera behind the dumpster at bottom right.

Let's do it!

The fight begins with one of The Persian's bodyguards moving up (bottom right) and firing his AK at Tank (top center).

The rounds go high and Tank (center left) returns fire, missing too.

On the Cuban right, Cypher moves up (bottom left) and fires (top center)...

Knocking one terrorist down (white bead) and pinning another (yellow bead), as a third (bottom right) looks on.

Remember that guys that are knocked down can only get back in the fight by a buddy moving to them and physically checking them, i.e., rolling a dice to see if he's 1) out of the fight, 2) stays knocked down, or 3) back in the fight.

Neo (bottom left) moves up next to Tank, popping rounds at the bad guys on the left (top right).

One enemy trooper goes down and another is wounded.

On the enemy left, a bad guy moves to the knocked down bad guy and checks him out.  The enemy soldier grabs his friend and rolls him over; "Abdul, are you okay?"

Abdul's not okay.

The Tango is enraged; he lets out a scream (bottom center left) and opens fire on Cypher (top center left), pinning him.

Dozer moves up to Cypher (bottom right) and rallies him...

Then he (bottom left) returns fire (top right) and the blubbering terrorist.

And he has joined his brother.

On the enemy right (top), a terrorist moves over and rallies his pinned buddy.

Then he (bottom right) takes a shot at Neo (top center), but misses.

Then the bad guy that just got rallied moves up (far right top), then fires on Dozer and Cypher (bottom left).

Dozer is hit and goes down, while Cypher is suppressed!

Major Villanueva moves up (bottom left) and fires on the guy that just shot Dozer (top right), pinning him again.

Seems the boys need some more time on the range.  All this combat has thrown off their marksmanship! ;)

See his buddy get pinned (bad guy with yellow bead at center right), another pinned Tango (yellow bead at bottom center) sights in on Major Villanueva (top center) and fires, knocking the Major down!

Rung moves up behind the Major (white bead at bottom left) and returns fire...

Scratch another bad guy (bottom center).

Tank (left) continues pushing forward, firing as he goes...

And there are no enemy troops in the fight on the left.

But the last remaining bad guy in the fight (bottom right) spots him and fires, suppressing Tank (top left).

Neo moves up between Tank (red bead at bottom left) and Major Villanueva (white bead at bottom right) and fires, suppressing the Tango (top left).

Rung dashes up to Major Villanueva (bottom left) and checks him; he's back on his feet and in the feet!

Rung (bottom center left) fires on the last terrorist (top center) but misses!

Cypher (red bead at bottom left, next to Dozer, who's been hit) takes a look around...

He scoops up his wounded buddy and dashes back to the M-113.

**Cypher was suppressed and tried to self rally; he failed and was forced to fall back, so I had him grab Dozer and move towards the track.

Neo continues pressing ahead (bottom left).  He squeezes off several rounds at the last bad guy (top right).  The rounds zip past the bad guy, too close for comfort.  Neo's rifle runs dry, and he takes a knee to reload...

The bad guy takes the opportunity of the short lull to make his break.  "To hell with The Persian, I never liked him that much anyway," he was heard to mutter as he ran from the battlefield.

*Neo moved up and fired on the suppressed bad guy, scoring another suppression, which forced the bad guy to fall back, carrying him off the map and out of the battle.

Major Villanueva and Rung hop the wall and move to The Persian's house (bottom center)...

*I roll a dice to see which Cuban will be first through the door.

Major Villanueva busts through the door, where The Persian is waiting.  Several shots ring out from the pistol in his hand...

But he's nervous and scared and the bullets impact harmlessly in the wall!  Major Villanueva closes the distance and butt-strokes The Persian!

Before dragging him outside where the rest of the team is waiting, mission accomplished!  The Persian, the one man that can finally provide the details of the ambush in Morocco, is now in Cuban hands.  They find themselves forever indebted to the Malaysians for their assistance; the Unit has built lasting bonds with Captain Choy and his Special Forces troops, whom they fought and bled with.

Major Villanueva: "Hey, dammit, what's going on with Dozer!!??"

"Don't worry Boss, he's alright.  He got popped pretty bad in the thigh, the round's still in it, but they've got him loaded up in the track and one of the Malaysian medics has got him stabilized.  Rake's already working on getting a bird in here for evac."  Dozer will be out of action for 36 days.

The Cubans mount out with their prize, destination: Havana, where the first order of business is to turn The Persian and the treasure trove of paraphernalia they gathered at his home (computers, phone, financial, and medical records, assorted correspondence and other documents, etc...) over to Cuban intelligence for exploitation, in order to determine the individuals behind the attack on The Ambassador.  And then move out in search of retribution.

Which is the next set of fights.

V/R,
Jack