Operation Chunky Bandit #2

All,

Current situation: It's 2230 on 28 July 1990 in South Leon.  Lt Gouveia's TF Black has moved into an area northwest of Pendrakenville, just east of Route 1.  To their immediate northwest is Hill 114, the dominating terrain feature they're looking for to establish an OP on and call in Cuban tactical air.  The past two days have seen South Leon Army forces attacking  FSNL troops occupying Hill 114, to no avail, and so the Cubans have stepped in to take over the area of operations.  Knowing they have time as freshly landed Cuban task forces (Hammer, Bowie, Dusty, Hawk, and 23) form up and prepare for the attack on Pendrakenville, and being severely outnumbered, Lt Gouveia has made the choice to carry out operations to reduce the enemy forces in and around Hill 114 only at night, where he figures his highly trained Special Forces troops will have a significant advantage.

Last night Lt Gouveia led a 7-man patrol out to Hill 45/Siagnoa, where they ambushed a Free Leon Army (FLA) patrol slinking about, trying to recover a weapons cache.  The enemy guerrillas were sent packing, having not reached the cache and leaving three of their comrades dead on the battlefield.

And here it is, our little patch of No Man's Land in South Leon, north is up.  The enemy entry point is in the northwest (top left), on Hill 114, and the Cuban entry point is in the southeast (bottom right).  A deep, swift river crossable only at the four bridges (left, top center, center, and bottom center right) dominates the landscape, running north to south, with a branch heading west (left) to the sea.  There is an old colonial, bombed out church atop a small hill (Hill 30, bottom center), and there is an old garage/junkyard suspected of harboring insurgents in the northeast (top right), aside from four villages spread across the landscape (far bottom left, bottom left center, center left, and center right, atop Hill 45).  There are also two weapons caches on the table, one in the northeast, in the junkyard, and one just east of the bottom right bridge.  A dirt road traverses the terrain from west to east, with a feeder coming in from the southwest (bottom left).  Villages:
Far bottom left: Village 1 (Danfra)

Bottom left center: Village 2 (Marambokro)

Center left: Village 3 (Lasau)
Center right (atop Hill 45): Village 4 (Siagnoa)

The Cuban forces, stepping off in the southeast (bottom right), a seven-man force carrying out a combat patrol.  The patrol consists of:

MSG "Faceman" Soriano, Detachment Chief  (WLC, SLC)

SFC "Carpet" Marichal (WLC, SLC)

SSG "Caesar" Alomar (WLC, SLC)

SSG "Tahoe" Galarraga (WLC, SLC)

SSG "Gundog" Baerga (WLC, SLC)

SGT "Snoop" Concepcion (WLC, SLC)

SGT "Racer" Palmeiro (WLC, SLC)

Here is the Cuban patrol route.  The numbers represent where the patrol will be during each turn; for example, their starting and end point is F4, where they begin the game (Turn 1) and end the game (Turn 18).  Turn 2 they move to E4, then they move into the Church (C4) on Turn 3/4, loitering in the area until moving north, and then east, back to Siagnoa (the site of the fight last night), before going home.

The enemy mission is service a weapons cache, i.e., dig up weapons they'd previously staged in the area, bring them back to their base, prep them, then employ them on a future mission.  The FLA patrol has seven soldiers.  This is the FLA patrol's scheme of maneuver: they will enter No Man's Land at Hill 114 (A1), then proceed south, cross the river in Lasau, move past Marambokro, move into the Church (C4) so scope things out for a bit, then cross the river and move to the cache (E3), before returning the same way.  Looks like "The Church" is popular tonight, something might come up.

Faceman leads the Cubans west to cross the river at Bridge #2 (center right), moving towards The Church (far left), as the FLA guerrillas move south down the slope of Hill 114, approaching Bridge #3 (top left) and the village of Lasau (left).

The Cubans reach The Church (far left) as the enemy moves south through Lasau (left).

The Cubans, still moving into the area and securing The Church.  Snoop is rapidly proving his worth as a pointman, having become aware the enemy is nearby and alerting the team.  The Cubans are still in patrol column, from left to right: Snoop, Carpet, Gundog, Faceman, Caesar, Racer, and Tahoe.

In The Church, Snoop (farthest left of the Cubans, followed by Carpet, Gundog, and Faceman) opens fire.  He did a great job spotting the bad guys (top center right) and alerting the team, but his initial burst didn't hit s@#%...

The enemy pointman (bottom center right) is quick to respond, snapping off a burst of return fire from his AK...

The old stucco of the Church takes a pounding and Snoop (yellow bead) is pinned, but Gundog (third from left) gets the M-60 into action.  The Pig belches rounds downslope...

Suppressing the enemy pointman (red bead) and pinning the slack man (yellow bead).

The Cubans are a blur of motion: Gundog assault fires the M-60 up to the wall, seeking better cover (right), while Carpet dashes upstairs, into the tower, and Faceman sprints left through the ruins (bottom left), looking to flank the bad guys (top center).

Faceman raises his M-4 and opens fire on some enemy troops caught crossing the road (top center)…

Dropping one in his tracks and pinning another!

With Faceman laying down fire (red beret), Caesar and Racer sprint further west past him, looking to get into Marambokro (top left) to flank the enemy (off camera to top right).

While back on the right, Tahoe moves up on (center) the other side of the wall from Gundog (left).

But the enemy (bottom center left) has spotted him (top center); the enemy gunner levels his RPD (a drum-fed light machine gun) and begins hosing down the area...

But Tahoe (bottom left) stands tall and returns fire with his rifle...

Dropping the enemy leader (center) and suppressing two of his men!!!  The enemy is now already in dire straits, with two men down, three suppressed, one pinned, and only one in good fighting shape.

The last enemy soldier in line (yellow bead at bottom center left), despite being pinned, is able to pop his head up.  He spots the Cubans attempting to flank them (top center right), so he does the only thing he can: he raises his AK and fires, pinning Racer...

While his three suppressed comrades at the front of the column fall back behind a nearby hootch (left, from top center right).

Faceman (bottom right) sights in on the pinned bad guy at the end of the column (top center) and fires, to no effect.

With the suppressed guys cowering at top center and his pinned buddy taking his lumps at bottom left, the enemy RPG man dashes across the street, taking up position behind a nearby shrine (right)…

But Carpet, in the tower (bottom center), has spotted the movement (center top, just left of the trees on the bottom side of the road).  He slaps a fresh magazine in and opens fire...

Suppressing the RPG gunner!

Carpet then turns his fire on the enemy Tail-End Charlie, but the Cubans just can't seem to knock the dude out.

Back on the ground floor, Snoop (left) pops his head up but doesn't like what he sees, so he stays pinned, while Gundog (right) use the M-60 to pump rounds in the hootch hiding the three cowering bad guys (top center)…

Watching 7.62mm tracers zip through the thatched hut is enough to convince one of the men cowering there (right) that that's not the place to be, so he bolts (top center)!

And with Gundog (bottom left) laying it down, Tahoe pushes down the hill (far right, from bottom center), firing as he goes, not hitting anyone, but keeping their heads down.

While on the left, Faceman (right) yells at Racer (left, with yellow bead signifying his pinned status) to get his ass in gear, then turns back to popping rounds at the enemy's Tail End Charlie (top center), keeping him pinned.

Spurred on by the boss, Racer joins Caesar and the book it down the hill, into Marambokro (top left), getting around the enemy flank.

But the FLA guerillas know what's up, and they're not going to just sit there and eat it.  They quickly begin tossing smoke canisters...

To cover their withdrawal.  They grab their stuff and haul ass back over Bridge #3 (top left, from bottom right)!

Caesar and Racer give chase (bottom center), but the bad guys have disappeared into the night (top left).

Faceman comes down the hill to check on things...

As the bad guys leg it back up Hill 114, returning to base without having grabbed any weapons from the cache.

But leaving two of their comrades behind, including their leader.  Once again the Cubans have executed an ambush, this time on the fly, halting the enemy and driving them back without suffering any casualties.  They grab weapons, ammo, and intel, then head for home.

V/R,
Jack