Operation Rush Delivery, Fight #8

All,

AKA, the 17th fight of Operation Payback

It's 1330 on 20 July 1990, and the invasion of Avalor, a small Caribbean island-nation near Cuba, upon which Castro-regime holdovers have been organizing, training, and launching attacks on the homeland, is underway.  Previously three Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from 10th Special Forces Group were inserted to support the invasion; one is in position in OP India, but the second team was compromised and extracted, and the third team (Rebel 33) was ambushed and wiped out.  Next, 1st Lieutenant Huerta's 18th Grenadier Guards of the 6th Parachute Battalion jumped from C-130s onto three separate Drop Zones (DZs) in the pre-dawn darkness, planning to immediately form up and march on their objectives, the terrorist training areas and barracks on Avalor, manned by terrorist trainees and their Venezuelan and Iranian trainers.

In the last four fights we saw Lt Jaramiho's 1st Platoon successfully seize DZ Crow, Lt Escobedo killed in action while 2nd Platoon was trying, unsuccessfully, to secure DZ Bluebird, and then Lt Reyna's 3rd Platoon successfully seize DZ Albatross.  The Company Commander, Lt Huerta, rounded up his paratroopers, formed them up, then linked up with Lt Estevez's ODA 525 for the assault on the objective areas.  Then we saw Lt Huerta lead Lt Jaramiho's 1st Platoon and three Special Forces teams from ODA 525 to secure the terrorist training areas on Avalor, followed by Major Villanueva leading Unit 101 to capture El Commandante, the Venezuelan Army officer running the training camp which has been preparing and funneling terrorists into Cuba.

Reconnaissance and Surveillance teams from ODA 424 scouted the terrorist barracks and discovered it had been abandoned, so Lt Huerta had his reduced company of paratroopers and ODA 525 encircle the compound believed to be inhabited by The Adjutant, an Iranian  working with the Venezuelans to train and equip terrorists for attacks inside Cuba.  The Adjutant was believed to have a unit of bodyguards comprised of members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, providing close security for him at all times.  Unit 101's executive officer, Rake: "I don't like it Boss, heading in against these guys.  They're tough, well armed, well trained, they know we're coming, and we're coming in broad daylight, with no support (no air or mortar support as they want to capture The Adjutant alive)."  "I gotcha buddy," said Major Villanueva, "but ours is not to reason why..."

Overview of The Adjutant's compound, north is up and the table is 2' x 2'.  The target building is at top right, the Cubans will enter at bottom left.  Numerous dirt roads criss-cross the area; there's a mini-plantation of rubber trees at bottom center left, and a park with a pond at bottom center right.

As usual, I'm playing this game solo using Ivan's "Five Men at Kursk" skirmish rules.  Usually I play them slightly modified to give (to me, at least) a more modern feel, but today I've modified a whole bunch of stuff, not sure even Ivan would recognize them.  The biggest issue is that I'm working on a pared down version of a "Threat Generation System" I recently got from a buddy (don't worry, I intend on using the whole thing, just not for this game), and so enemy troops will pop up somewhat randomly.  Which, for me, means at the worst possible time in the worst possible place (foreshadowing: you better believe it!  The target building is at top right, we never even got anywhere near it!).  With that, the enemy became primarily a reactionary element, and so that necessarily drove some changes to what I was doing.  Then I started getting the ever-loving crap kicked out of me, so I had to bend a bit more.  When it wasn't getting any better for me, I had to throw the Threat Generation System out (to be fair, I was just planning on bringing in new bad guys in perpetuity, I guess, where even the real Threat Generation System, i.e., the introduction of new enemy units onto the table, is only scheduled to occur for a certain amount of time.

The opposing forces, with good guys on the left and bad guys on the right, all in 15mm.  The good guys are Khurasan Private Military Contractors, while the bad guy soldiers are Peter Pig Modern US Marines, and the two figures for The Adjutant are from Rebel Minis.

The six-man assault team from Unit 101, again led by Major Villanueva.  From top left to bottom right: Crate, Major Villanueva, and Apoc (with Mk 49 light machine gun), then Rake, Mouse, and Trinity.

The bad guys: The Adjutant is the rather cosmopolitan looking due at top center right, the one holding the pistol, and then if I catch him, I'll turn over and use the guy to the left of him.  I have no idea how many bad guys I'll end up using, but I've got ten, and plan to recycle them as necessary. 

You're probably wondering about the paintjob on the Peter Pig Marines...  I had a bunch of them lying around, left over, and I was wondering what to do with them.  I painted them up in black and gave them a somewhat desert scrub basing scheme, with green helmets and body armor.  You can't really see it here, but their boots are super gloss black.  I suppose I figured I'd use them for various bad guys, but it also occurred to me to use them in Cuba Libre for some JTF-6 action, where Cuba goes to work in Mexico/Central-/South America in the War on Drugs.  This paintjob reminds me of some pics I've seen of Federales going after Cartels.

Another look at the map, this time with some troops on it.  I say some as all we have are the Cubans (bottom left), and the Target (top right).  All the bad guy soldiers will enter as per the Threat Generation System.  I'm curious to see how this shakes out, how frequent bad guys will be showing up, and how their placement feels.

The Cuban assault team moving up the street.  The 'pointman' (farthest right) is Mouse, with 'slack' (the second guy in line, on the left -top- side of the street) is the machine gunner, Apoc, then it's Major Villanueva, Crate, Trinity, and the XO, Rake (at top left).

The Adjutant, chilling out in a recliner, watching some futbol...

Some closeups of the terrain: here's the northwest corner of the table.

Northeast.

Southeast, with the pond.  That patch of trees just left of the lake; let's call that 'The Thicket,' it's going to be important later.

And the southwest, with our team at bottom center left, just left of the plantation.

Security is 360 degrees as the Cuban commandos move up the street.

Mouse leads the way, just rounding the corner...

When a bad guy pops up over in The Thicket.

The bad guy (bottom center) is as yet unseen by the Cubans (top center/left), and so he's able to open fire first.

Mouse ducks back behind the wall as Apoc rushes across the street (just right of Mouse, at top left, with Major V at bottom right) to establish a base of fire.

And the Mk 48 begins roaring, spitting bullets at the thicket (top center)...

Knocking the Iranian down!

But two more bad guys (far left -west- and top right -north-, with Mouse and Apoc at bottom center) join the fight!

Yeah, the Threat Generation System is already off to a helluva start!

The enemy rifleman in the west (bottom center) peers around the corner and opens fire on Mouse and Apoc...

Mouse is pinned (yellow bead at top center) as an enemy light machine gun opens up from the central crossroad (bottom center).

This fire pins Apoc as well (center right), and Major V, the commanding officer, dashes up the street to help out (center left).

The CO (bottom left) opens fire on the enemy rifleman in the west (top right, with Mouse and Apoc pinned at bottom center...

Knocking him down.

Rake (bottom center) and Trinity (bottom right) look on as Crate moves up and joins the rest of the team (center left).

Once there, Crate (bottom center right) opens fire on the enemy machine gunner in the central crossroads (top center left, hereafter simply referred to as 'the crossroads').

Crate (left bottom center) doesn't manage to hit his target at the crossroads (top center), and three more bad guys show up: one on the roof at top center left, the other two at The Thicket (bottom center right).

The Iranian on the roof (bottom center, with his knocked down buddy in the west at far right) opens fire, straight down the street.

The Cubans (top center) are able to shake off that ineffective fire, but then the two new IRGC members at The Thicket (bottom center, with a buddy knocked down just to their right) open fire...

Pinning Major Villanueva and Crate.

Trinity says hell with this and hops the wall, moving east through the plantation (center).

Laying down rifle fire into The Thicket (top center) as he goes.

Pinning one of the Iranians.

The last man in the formation, Rake (bottom left) fires on the bad guy on the rooftop (top center)...

Knocking another enemy soldier down!

Hmmm, not sure what to make of this.  We haven't whacked anyone, but we keep knocking guys down.  That could be good or bad; the whole trick is to make sure one of their buddies doesn't get to them, check them, and get them back in the fight.

Having watched the enemy trooper go down, Rake moves right to the wall (center bottom, with Trinity above him).

The Iranian LMG at the crossroads (bottom right) slaps a fresh belt in and opens fire on the Mouse, Major V, Apoc, and Crate (top left)...

Suppressing Mouse (red bead), though the CO is able to rally himself back into the fight (left).

While the Iranians in The Thicket (bottom center) spot Trinity (top left) through all the foliage and return fire...

Rounds zip past Trinity as he moves up to the wall (left) and again begins pumping rounds into The Thicket (top right)...

Trinity (top left) doesn't hit anything, and the bad guys (bottom center) keep firing.

Rounds smack into the stone wall surrounding the plantation and Trinity ducks for a moment (center left, just visible between a couple trees), but Rake pops up (bottom center) and opens fire on The Thicket (top center).

And he gets in an extraordinarily lucky burst, dropping one IRGC solder and suppressing the other (red bead)!

"You okay buddy?" called out Rake.  "Yeah, come on up!" replied Trinity (right), so Rake hopped the wall and began moving east through the plantation.

Though pinned, Apoc raises up (yellow bead at bottom center, with Mouse suppressed -red bead- next to him, the Major at bottom left, and Crate just below him), levels his Mk 48, and rips off a long burst at the enemy machine gunner (top center)...

The IRGC gunner decides discretion is the better part of valor and falls back (red bead at right, from explosion at left).

But I'll be damned if two more bad guy don't show up: another in the west (top center left, next to a knocked down bad guy), and one in the east (bottom center, behind the black sedan, with the machine gunner that just fell bad at right, The Thicket at bottom left, and the bulk of the Cuban team at top left).

The IRGC terrorist at the sedan (bottom center) lays down covering fire, not hitting anything...

But his fire keeps the Cubans occupied (left) while his buddy in the west (far right) creeps up...

Grabs their knocked down comrade, drags him back, and checks him...

And one of those Iranians we'd knocked down is now back in the fight...

Meanwhile, Crate (bottom center right) returns fire on the Iranian at the sedan (top left)...

Forcing him to eat dirt behind the very trendy automobile.

And with Apoc and Crate laying down fire, Major V moves to Mouse (red bead) and rallies him.

While on the Cuban right, Rake (bottom center joins Trinity (bottom left) at the wall, all the while continuing to pour small arms fire into The Thicket (top center), albeit to no effect.

With Rake (bottom center left) firing into The Thicket (far right), Trinity (just above Rake) sights in on the suppressed Iranian at the sedan (top center) and lays down fire, keeping him pinned.  And when he's satisfied everything is alright...

Trinity hops the wall and moves into the street, looking to get into The Thicket and get it cleared.

Everything appears to be going pretty doggone well, eh?  But here's the turning point.

Three bad guys are suppressed and attempt to self rally: at bottom left, in The Thicket, at center bottom right, behind the sedan, and at far right, behind the building.  The guy in The Thicket is now perfectly placed to catch Trinity (on road at far left, just above The Thicket) in the open, the guy at far right is in a good position to get onto the roof and help his knocked down buddy there (not visible because of the second story of the building), and the guy at the sedan is in a great spot to keep fire on the Cuban team (top left)...

To support his two comrades in the west, who decide now is the time to pop out of cover (top left) and engage the Cubans, who have most of their attention drawn to the crossroads area (off camera to top right).

Quite incredibly, Major Villanueva (bottom center, with Mouse next to him) is able to get rounds off first...

Finally dropping a bad guy!  And with the remaining Iranian a bit shocked at having just been showered in blood from his buddy, Mouse (bottom right) is able to fire before the Iranians!

But the Iranian is in a rage, and no one knows if Mouse missed, or if the angry Iranian was somehow just able to ignore the hits, but the enemy soldier (bottom left) stood there in the street and returned fire...

First Major Villanueva fell (left), then Mouse went down (top center), which was enough to cause Apoc to hop the wall and curl up in the fetal position, suppressed (red bead), as Crate (bottom center) looks on in horror.

Crate (bottom center) quickly regains his senses and opens fire on the angry Iranian (top left)...

Knocking him down.

Wow, we now have two men hit, one suppressed, and one pinned on the left.  Out of a six-man team...

But then things get hot on the right: with Trinity in the road (center), Rake (bottom left) pours a steady stream of lead at the sedan (top center)...

Knocking down the bad guy there!

But the Iranian in The Thicket (bottom right) returns fire on Rake (top left), not even seeing Trinity just on the other side of the dense underbrush (hidden by the trees, but right next to the orange tracer at center).

And the Iranian's fire is devastating: Rake is knocked down...

And Trinity is pinned; Trinity dives forward and stuff his muzzle into The Thicket, blazing away on full auto at point blank range, but he still can't see the enemy soldier and doesn't hit anything!

Back on the left, things are looking like a real s--t sandwich.  Crate is able to auto self rally since he's only pinned and no longer under fire (yellow bead), but Apoc has to roll to self rally (red bead)...

And it's not good...  Apoc is still freaked out at seeing Major Villanueva and Mouse (top left) get hit, so he hops the wall and moves south back down the street, then hunkers down again.  Mouse is more than a little pissed, as the team is in bad shape and he needs help with the casualties, but he sets off on his own to get to the Major and Mouse.

Crate grabs Major Villanueva, drags him back to cover, and checks him over: whew!! Turns out the CO was just knocked out, he'll be back in the fight in a minute (next turn).

But then two more bad guys show up!  An enemy rifleman at top left, on the roof, and The Adjutant himself, at far right.

Yeah, that's how bad things have gotten, I've brought the target out of his lair, up into danger, just to try and make a game of it.  By this point in the game I have rightly presumed that my Cuban SOF team will never reach the target building (off camera to top right) against this Threat Generation System, so I've decided to bring the target to me.  Honestly, at this point I'm thinking it's probably time to grab the casualties (if we even can), fall back, and call in air to whack The Adjutant.  And I would have if it were a 'normal' attack and not a raid to capture a High Value Target.  I figured the Cuban Operators would just keep pushing until they couldn't anymore, and that was looking like a real possibility...

The Iranian on the roof in the northwest (top left) scoots up, spotting Crate (bottom center).

But Crate apparently has eyes in the back of his head; he spins (bottom center) and opens fire...

The bad guy hops down off the roof and takes cover behind the building (center, from bottom right). 

Please understand, this guy's goal wasn't really to engage the Cubans, it's to get to his knocked down comrades and get them back in the fight (and there's one lying on the other side of the wall from him).

Meanwhile, on the right, The Adjutant moves up to the knocked down bodyguard at the sedan and checks him over...

The IRGC terrorist is back in the fight.

In the center, the bad guy machine gunner has self rallied and now climbs up onto the roof in order to assist a knocked down comrade (just visible above the guy standing on the ledge).

At The Thicket, the remaining enemy rifleman there (center) fires blindly through the foliage at Trinity (left)...

And Trinity eats one...

Just to recap, the Cubans had two guys on the right, and now Trinity is out and Rake is knocked down.

Back on the left, Apoc is finally able to get his marbles back and get into the fight (bottom right), while Major Villanueva pulls himself to his feet and shakes the cobwebs out (center) as Crate moves into the street (top left) to see whatever became of that Iranian on the roof he was firing at...

But the Iranian (bottom center) is waiting, and opens fire as soon as Crate (top center) appears...

Man, I can't believe I forgot to turn those pennies away from the camera!  See, this is why I usually use white beads for 'knocked down.'

The enemy rounds zip by uncomfortably close, so Crate recoils, pinned.  But he finds himself lying next to Mouse; "how ya doin' buddy, you okay?" Crate whispers as he rolls Mouse over.  "Oh, damn!  Major V, Mouse is in a bad way, we gotta get him patched up and evac'ed ASAP!"

"Roger, got it" the Major (center) hollers back to Mouse (top center).  Apoc (bottom center) yells out: "Boss, we got a problem over on the right too!  Rake and Trinity are both down, that damn patch of jungle just across the road is teeming with a------s!"  "Roger!"

Major Villanueva (bottom left) peers over the wall, searching the plantation, finally locating his XO (right).  "Rake, hey, Rake, are you okay?  Talk to me buddy."  No response.  A round zips past from The Thicket (top center), so the Major raises his rifle and empties a magazine into it.

He has no way of knowing it, but he suppressed the enemy rifleman at The Thicket...

Apoc (bottom left) looks on as Major V hops the wall and begins moving up (center) to Rake (knocked down at right).

The Adjutant (bottom right) spots Major Villanueva (top left) hauling ass through the plantation and orders his man to open fire, which he promptly does...

But it's a poor shot and the Major safely reaches his friend and XO.

Rake is alright, back on his feet.

But as Major Villanueva and Rake are hugging it out at bottom center, another enemy soldier appears, this time on the roof at top center right, right above The Adjutant and a rifleman taking cover behind the sedan.

And not just any enemy soldier, it's another machine gunner.  He pulls the bolt to the rear and opens fire, targeting Crate (top center)...

Crate is suppressed (red bead at bottom center), and so the bad guy in the northwest pops up at the wall to see if the coast is clear to hop over and grab his buddy (top left)...

But Apoc ( bottom center) is back in the fight!  He spots the bad guy (top left, with Crate suppressed at center top) and opens fire with his light machine gun...

The Iranian drops back down behind the wall, suppressed.

But with the Iranian in the northwest (bottom left) drawing all of Apoc's attention, the bad guy on the roof is able to dart out and grab his knocked down colleague...

The Iranian drops back as fast as humanly possible, ending up with both of them actually falling off the roof.

But he gets up and checks his buddy, and they're both okay, back in the fight.

As I mentioned earlier, the key to getting a knock down is making sure they don't get back up again, and we're not doing that very well today...

The Adjutant and his man (bottom center) at the sedan keep firing on the CO and Rake in the plantation (top left)...

Rake is suppressed (red bead at bottom right, with Major V just to his left) but the Major stands pat and returns fire on the sedan (top center)...

Knocking the bodyguard down!

But the bad guy at The Thicket, suppressed (red bead at bottom, with Major V and Rake at top left) is again able to rally himself back into the fight before being close assaulted into oblivion!

Major V rallies Rake, and he's good to go.  "Boss, we gotta end this now.  We're getting chopped to pieces, and if we don't do something quick ain't none of us getting out of here alive. Cover me."

Major Villanueva (bottom center) raises his rifle and fires on the enemy machine gunner atop the building at the crossroads (top center)...

The Major (top left) doesn't hit anything, but he does draw fire from the freshly rallied bad guy in The Thicket (bottom right)...

 The rounds smack harmlessly into the wall and Rake (bottom left) returns fire...

And though he's pretty sure he didn't hit anything, the wily XO hops the wall, dashes into the street...

And pops through The Thicket, coming nose to nose with an IRGC terrorist!  Muzzles come up and flash so close they can feel the heat on their faces...

And Rake comes out victorious!

He then moves up and finishes off another Iranian (the very first bad guy that showed up in the game, he's been knocked down this entire time, no friendly troops were able to get to him).

After putting him (bottom left) out of the fight, Rake creeps up (bottom left) towards the crossroads, getting a peek at The Adjutant cowering behind the sedan, just staring at his knocked down bodyguard (center).  "I gotta get to the target, but what am I doing to do about that gun on the roof (top right)," Rake muttered to himself.

Back on the left, Apoc is moving back up the street (bottom center) firing as he goes, keeping the bad guy in the northwest (top left) suppressed behind the wall.  As he gets near Crate (red bead, still suppressed)...

He turns his machine gun (bottom center) on the enemy gunner on the rooftop at the crossroads (top center)...

Dropping him in a hail of 7.62mm rounds!!!  The Adjutant (center left) hears the shriek of his dying machine gunner on the roof, and he decides it's probably best if he exits the arena...

But just as he (center) takes a step to leave, Rake steps out (bottom left): "don't you take another m----------n' step."  The Adjutant cries out for help!!!

And from the northern side of the crossroads (this is looking northwest to southeast, the sedan is at center, the dead machine gunner on the rooftop at top left) an IRGC machine gunner and rifleman come sprinting to aid The Adjutant...

Crate has self rallied (center left), but he's still head down, working on patching up Mouse, who's hit pretty damn bad.  Apoc (just below Crate) spots the two Iranians moving towards the sedan (he has not idea who's there, or where Rake is and what he's doing) and cuts loose with the Mk 48...

The enemy rifleman goes down (bottom center) and the machine gunner returns fire (top right)...

Pinning Apoc (yellow bead).

Still in the plantation, Major Villanueva (bottom left) spots the fire and movement (top center right) and he adds the weight of his rifle fire into the mix...

Dropping the other enemy machine gunner (top left)!  The Adjutant (bottom center) suddenly finds himself alone and afraid...

And Rake is there to capitalize; he dashes out of the thicket, butt-strokes The Adjutant, zip ties and bags him, then pops a couple rounds into his knocked down bodyguard.

Rake calls the pro-word for The Adjutant being in custody and the Major orders everyone to the rallypoint (they're a lot closer than I expected they'd have been ;) ).  Major V then hops the wall and moves up to check on Trinity: "How is it Boss?"  "Don't talk brother, and lay on your side.  You're gonna be outta action for a good bit, but you'll have a cool scar and some BS stories to tell."  The Major then bandaged up Trinity and got on the radio: "alright fellas, I know we've got Mouse as Urgent Surgical MEDEVAC status, so is Trinity, we gotta get these guys outta here.  Crate, get on the battalion net and get some air in here."  "Already on the way, Boss."

The team rallied back at the entry point to The Adjutant's compound, Rake leading with the target, Major V and Crate carrying Trinity and Mouse, Apoc pulling rear security as they worked their way to the LZ.

So, another successful mission, though I had to cheat a whole bunch, but I wouldn't have had to cheat if not for that dastardly Threat Generation System!  The team is quite proud of the fact they accomplished the goals set forth for Operation Payback: to find those responsible for the ambush of The Ambassador in Morocco, chase them down, and bring them in to stand justice, which also led them to the tiny island nation of Avalor, which was discovered to be the hub for Venezuelan and Iranian efforts to arm, equip, and train hostile elements to conduct terrorist actions in Cuba.  They hoped this would be the end of it, but, of course, it wasn't, it was only the beginning, and so they're standing detached as Unit 101 to 'mitigate threats to the homeland as designated by the President and directed by the Minister of Defense' would be longstanding.

And it wasn't without cost: in this fight Mouse was struck by two rifle rounds at point blank range, one of which severed his femoral artery.  And while Crate's combat first aid saved his life, Mouse was evacuated to Havana where his leg had to be amputated, and he was subsequently medically discharged.  Trinity was shot in the face, being struck on the outside edge of his right eye.  He was lying down, so the round travelled down his face, exited under his jaw, reentered his neck, then exited again, this time from his right trapezoid.  He would make a full recovery and return to Unit 101, but he would be out of action for the next two months.  In total, Operation Payback cost Unit 101 two KIA, four WIA bad enough that they were forced to leave Unit 101, and five WIA bad enough to miss a month or more of operational duty.

For this fight, three members of the team were recognized for gallantry:

-Rake, the Executive Officer, was awarded the Estrella de Plata for placing himself in harm's way to aid his teammate Trinity, for close assaulting the enemy position known as "The Thicket," and then for single-handedly cutting off the route of escape and capturing The Adjutant.

-Major Villanueva, the Commanding Officer, was awarded the Estrella de Bronce for his combat leadership under intense fire in The Adjutant's compound, both in the alley where he and Mouse were wounded, as well as in the Plantation.

-Crate, a team operator, was awarded the Estrella de Bronce for his personal heroism in fighting off enemy attacks from the northwest while exposed in the street, particularly after Major Villanueva and Mouse were wounded, and for remaining in the street to treat both Major Villanueva and Mouse, saving Mouse's life.

So, my darlings, that finally wraps up Operation Payback, I hope you enjoyed it.  Next up, I need to finish up Phantoms Over Havana.  Then I've got more projects then I know what to do with!

V/R,
Jack