Operation Chunky Bandit #7

All,

Current situation: It's 2040 on 2 August 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.

Six nights ago 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.

Five nights ago MSG Soriano led another combat patrol out, this time to Hill 30, where they entered the Church right before encountering an enemy patrol closing in, on their way to recover a weapons cache.  The Cubans executed another flawless ambush, halting the enemy and costing them two more men.

Four nights ago Lt Gouveia took a patrol out to grab a prisoner, while the FLA went out to grab some land mines and plant them at various locations in No Man's Land.  The enemy was finally able to get to one of their weapons caches, and they managed to plant some mines atop Hill 45 in Siagnoa, but on their way to their second location they were once again ambushed by the Cubans, who managed to accomplish their mission by pretty much wiping the FLA patrol out, killing five and capturing one.

Three nights ago MSG Soriano took out a patrol to insert a Scout-Sniper team to scout for observation posts in vicinity of Hill 114 for Forward Air Controllers to call in interdictory strikes on Route 1.  They accomplished their mission, but they moved into and triggered a booby-trap in Siagnoa, badly wounding SSG "Expo" Minoso, losing him for over two months, lightly wounding MSG Soriano, and badly shaking up SGT "Racer" Palmeiro.  The enemy was content to take up position in the Church and chill out.

Two nights ago Lt Gouveia led an ambush patrol outside the wire, but they themselves were ambushed by FLA forces atop Hill 45, resulting in SSG "Starburst" Aparicio KIA and two men (SFC "Carpet" Marichal and SSG "Tahoe" Galarraga) lightly wounded.

Last night MSG Soriano led a patrol out to the village of Marambokro to recover sensitive documents stowed in a civilian vehicle by a SLA General about to be overrun.  They ran into a Free Leon Army (FLA) unit conducting a combat patrol and shot it out, resulting four enemy casualties and two Cubans: SSG "Caesar" Alomar miss a couple weeks' action, while SFC "Cougar" Vizquel will be allowed to stay in the Cuban military, but he'll be transferred out of combat arms to a staff job.  Ultimately the FLA patrol was driven off and the Cubans succeeded in their mission.

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 positional defense mission.  The patrol consists of:

1st Lieutenant "Lobo" Gouveia, Detachment Commander (DSC, SS/V, PH, WLC, SLC) 

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

SFC "Carpet" Marichal (WLC, SLC, PH)**

SSG "Mutha" Pagan (WLC, SLC)

SSG "Gundog" Baerga (WLC, SLC)

SGT "Racer" Palmeiro (WLC, SLC)

SGT "Snoop" Concepcion (WLC, SLC)

**The Cuban SF Detachment is pretty beat up at this point, with only six men still ready to fight, albeit exhausted.  Rather than allow the team to go out a man down, Carpet, who suffered a gash to the head and a concussion two days ago, suits up and forces his way onto the patrol roster.

**Faceman: "Hey Boss, you hear the word today?"
Lobo: "Negative, what's up?"
Face: "The Iraqis.  Man, the Iraqis just invaded Kuwait."
Lobo: "What the hell is Kuwait?"
Face: "What? Really?  It's that tiny little rich-ass country carved out between them and Saudi..."
Lobo: "Yeah, I know where Kuwait is, but my point is, who cares?"
Face: "Well, I'm not sure what's going on, but USG seems PISSED."
Lobo: "Uh-oh..."
Face: "Yeah, exactly, if they're pissed, there's probably gonna be whole lotta us heading that way."
Lobo: "Ain't that just how shit works, I finally leave the Army and they finally want to get into a war."
Face: "Last I checked, Boss, we got plenty of war..."

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, normally, end the game (Turn XX), but tonight their staying out all night.  The plan is to move to west as quickly as possible, and take up positions atop Hill 30 in The Church (C4).  Intel says the enemy is out in force tonight and will be making a stop by The Church, so the Cubans intend on getting their first, digging in, and lighting them up.

The enemy tonight is on an escort mission.  Despite this area essentially being a free-fire zone, there are still some civilians holed up in the various villages nearby, so the FLA intends on escorting a political officer to each of the populated areas to raise spirits and, of course, 'solicit' donations to the cause.  It's not a mistake that his own men refer to him as "The Tax Collector."  In any case, the FLA patrol intends on moving south, stopping at Lasau first, then Danfra and Marambokro (taking them perilously close to the Cuban defensive positions on Hill 30, C4), before moving north to cross the river at Bridge #1 (C2) and up Hill 45 to Siagnoa, then up to The Garage in the far northeast, before moving straight west, back to Hill 114.

The enemy force, moving out with The Tax Collector.

As per usual, the FLA patrol is moving south down Hill 114 (top left), closing in on Bridge #3, while the Cubans are moving west, closing in on Bridge #2 (center bottom right).

The Cubans are hauling ass, their lead elements already into The Church (bottom center), as the FLA patrol moves west to visit Danfra (far left).

The bad guys arrive in Danfra at about 2100 local time and halt for about an hour to torment the locals...

The Cubans are camped out in The Church (bottom center) as the FLA patrol moves east into Marambokro (just left of The Church).  The Cubans have now spotted the enemy, and are themselves unspotted.  The enemy begins fanning out to round up the locals to "educate and motivate" them, and so should be easy pickings, except for the fact an engagement directly to the west of The Church is not optimal for the Cubans in terms of being able to bring all their weapons to bear.  The Cubans are set up as follows: Snoop is in the tower, Faceman is just below him, outside the building, and Racer is rear security, outside the building on its southeastern side.  Inside, from left to right, the Cubans have Mutha and his M-60, Carpet, probably still concussed, Lobo below him, and Gundog in the northeast corner.

From the tower, Snoop's on the intra-squad radio: "Boss, we got bad guys coming up the slope now, not sure how much longer we can hold off."  "Hold your fire, I need to move guys over!"  Faceman, on the ground outside, below Snoop, jumps in: "Yeah Boss, I hear ya, but I don't think they're gonna wait.  Matter o'fact…"

"I know they're not," and with that, Faceman (bottom right) cut loose on the encroaching enemy soldiers.

Faceman's fire (he's just off camera at bottom center left, you can see the orange tracer) suppresses the two closest enemy troops (red beads at left and center), as Snoop joins in, firing at FLA troops on the road.

Snoop (top left) knocks the enemy patrol leader down (white bead at top center left), as Mutha moves west, takes up position, and gets The Pig going.  The M-60 thunders out streams of tracers that look pretty, but only manage to pin one enemy rifleman (center top, behind the lone tree).

*Wow, I sprung an ambush on unsuspecting enemy troops, so loads of extra firing dice, and I had three 'firefights,' but all I managed was a knockdown, two suppressions, and a pin???

Racer abandons his post (rear security at bottom right) and sprints left, up next to Faceman (just visible at far left), looking to get in the fight...

But he (top right) draws the attention of the enemy machine gunner (bottom center left, with knocked down patrol leader, the Tax Collector, and a pinned rifleman on the road above him).  The RPG burps and rounds begin tearing into the old stucco...

But Racer (bottom center) stands tall like a champion and returns fire, though he doesn't hit anything either...

While Racer is hammering away on the left, Gundog moves outside and moves up on the right (just visible at top center right, outside the building, with Mutha inside, just to his left).

But the enemy RPG gunner (bottom left, next to the thatched hut) spots him (top right) and opens fire with his AK.

7.62mm rounds ricochet off the Church walls as Gundog hangs in and returns fire, but he, like Racer, misses under fire.

**I missed a photo!!!  Sorry!!!  With his firing line built up as well as can be expected, Lobo turns to Carpet and says "let's go!"  The two seasoned commandos leave the Church, dashing right, looking to get to the trees at top right and flank the enemy.

Rather than move over and help either the pinned rifleman (top) or knocked down leader (bottom left), the Tax Collector moves up to shelter behind a nearby home.

But then the RPG gunner, from the west side of the street (bottom left), launches a rocket at The Church.

**Here you can see Lobo and Carpet moving right, there the two knuckleheads in the open at top center right, between the clump of trees and The Church.

The rocket shoots past Faceman and Racer, slamming harmlessly into the earth, scaring the crap out of Racer, suppressing him.

Then the RPG gunner moves up into the street to help his boss, probably foolishly...

Faceman (far right, with Racer suppressed at bottom right) spots the RPG gunner's valorous act (top left), levels his M-4, and opens fire...

But he misses and the RPG gunner is able to drag his boss up to cover, next to the Tax Collector!  The RPG gunner checks his boss over and he's good, back in the fight.

As that little drama plays out (RPG gunner, enemy patrol leader, and the Tax Collector are at center left), the RPD gunner (bottom left) sights in on the tower and cuts loose (top right).

The rounds suppress Snoop up in the tower, and pin Faceman (visible at top right, at ground level), so the FLA machine gunner dashes across the road and takes up position to help the two suppressed dudes on the slope of Hill 30 out (two red beads at center).

As a matter of fact, with Faceman pinned, Racer suppressed next to him, Snoop suppressed in the tower, and Lobo and Carpet (top right) unable to see due to the folds of the slope, the unaffected enemy rifleman in the point element is able to move over and help rally his suppressed buddy

But before he (bottom center) tries to rally his buddy, he spots Faceman (yellow bead at top center, with Racer suppressed to his right) pinned in the corner.  He fumbles for his AK, raises it, and let's go on full auto...

Faceman (far left) is suppressed, and Racer falls back all the way to the other end of the building (far right)!  Mutha, still in the building (center left), can't see anything.

Now the guy that just suppressed Faceman and drove Racer back can focus on rallying his buddy, and he does, but the guy at bottom left tries to self rally...

And fails, falling back down the hill to cower behind a fruit stand (bottom left, from far right)!  But it doesn't matter, the bad guys have the initiative, and they intend on pressing it!

The guy that just rallied begins moving up (center, from bottom left)…

And he crashes straight into Faceman, who is suppressed!

But Face (right) is a stud, and he manages to fight the savage off, sending him packing back down the hill, suppressed (red bead at left)!!!

**Absolutely incredibly to roll a draw against a guy when he's +1 and you're -2 on a D6!!!  That may have just saved the day.

Back in the ville, the pinned bad guy in the road (yellow bead) manages to rally himself back into the fight.

In The Church, Mutha (bottom center) has seen the group of bad guys conglomeratin' behind the thatched hut at top center, and he knows that shit won't stand up to the 7.62mm his M-60 is spittin', so he tacks a fresh belt on and goes to town, rock'n roll!

What in THE HELL is going on???  The enemy laughs and shoots Mutha the finger!

Gundog (at the corner, bottom center) continues to lay down fire...

Exchanging fire with the enemy rifleman in the road (bottom center) ineffectually...

Before deciding he's gonna have to get closer if he wants to hit anything, so Gundog takes off at the sprint, heading downhill (top center, from the explosion at center).  Lobo (right, with Carpet): "what the hell is he doing?  He's supposed to cover us..."

But as Gundog (top center, with Carpet visible at top right) goes skipping down the hill, he runs into an enemy rifleman (far left) he had no idea was there!  The bad guy fires...

Already moving quickly downhill, with all his gear on, he can't stop.  He feels hot air on his face as rounds zip past him, and he even feels the strange sensation of bullets ripping holes in his uniform blouse, as he turns left and jumps on the FLA guerrilla!

Gundog quickly stomps him, then turns left again...

He (center top) is going to go stomp a nearby suppressed enemy rifleman, the one Faceman (top right) threw back, when the enemy machine gunner in the village (bottom left) spots him and opens fire...

The rounds zip and snap by, and then Gundog is too close to the suppressed enemy soldier for the machine gunner to keep firing, and Gundog again pounces!

Dropping a second enemy soldier in close combat!  Now Gundog pivots right...

And charges the enemy machine gunner, who is again blazing away!

And we all knew it was a bad idea: Gundog (left) gets knocked down by the enemy machine gunner (far left)!  Faceman (bottom right) lets out a scream: "Noooooo!" and fires full auto at the enemy machine gunner...

Who's dead before he hits the ground!

And Faceman is quickly bounding down the hill to help his buddy before the dead enemy machine gunner hits the ground (left, from bottom right)!

But the enemy patrol leader (bottom center left, with the Tax Collector and RPG gunner) spots the fracas (top right) and he opens fire with his AK...

Dropping Faceman right next to his buddy, Gundog!

On the right, Mutha (bottom center), Logo (right), and Carpet (top center) don't know what the hell is going on on the left flank, so they keep pushing, with Carpet leading the way.

But as Carpet (top right) moves up, the enemy RPG gunner (bottom left) spots him and fires his AK...

Pinning Carpet!  Lobo immediately runs down to assist...

But Carpet is shook up, and he falls back, suppressed (red bead at right, from explosion at left).  Loblo yells at him to get his ass back up into the line, then turns and fires...

Knocking down the enemy RPG gunner (white bead), and pinning the boss and a nearby rifleman (yellow beads)!!!

In the tower, Snoop finally is able to get back in the fight, but Racer (bottom right)…

Runs east down the hill!

Back in the ville, the bad guys are beat up, too.  The enemy boss moves over to check the knocked down RPG gunner (center left), he's good, back in the fight.  The suppressed rifleman at bottom left tries to rally...

But fails and falls back across the road (bottom left, from bottom center right)!  The pinned enemy rifleman on the road (center top) hangs in there, continuing to fire on the Cuban right (off camera to top right)…

He (yellow bead just visible between trees at top center) doesn't hit anything, and Mutha (bottom left) turns the M-60 on him, missing his target but suppressing the enemy boss (behind house at top left).

Alone on the far right, the Cuban boss, Lobo, slaps a new magazine in and opens fire again...

Suppressing the enemy RPG gunner (just visible behind house at left, with the suppressed boss and Tax Collector), firing as he moves up (bottom right).

From the tower, Snoop (bottom right, with Lobo at center) sights in and fires, totally missing everything...

The enemy pinned enemy rifleman at bottom center left returns fire, but he misses too...

So Snoop dashes downstairs (right) and looks to get downhill to either support Lobo (center top), or help Gundog (bottom left), still knocked down (with Faceman out of the fight, next to him).

Mutha (in building, at far left) continues hammering away at nothing with his M-60 as Carpet (red bead at top left) and Racer (red bead at bottom right) try to self rally...

Racer gets 'up' to pinned (yellow bead), but Carpet totally fails again and falls back (red bead at top center, from top left)!!!  This is incredible!  Special Forces, indeed!

The enemy situation: a pinned rifleman (yellow bead at top center), a useless Tax Collector (far right), and then a suppressed boss, RPG gunner, and rifleman (red beads at center right and far left).

The pinned rifleman braves Cuban fire (except Mutah's everyone knows he ain't hitting anything tonight) to move over and assist his boss and the RPG gunner.

The RPG gunner gets 'up' to pinned, and fires on Lobo (top center), missing at point blank range!

The bad guy boss (red bead at right) and rifleman (red bead at left) try to self rally, but both only get 'up' to pinned!

*Worst rally rolls, ever!  For those keeping track, the Cubans have had Carpet and Racer BOTH fail rallies with 6s, TWICE, the bad guys have done similar, and then the bad guys just pulled off three separate rallies, failing each with a roll of '1'.

Mutha (bottom center) might as well close his eyes, as good as his marksmanship has been tonight, and everyone knows it!  He cuts loose with his M-60 again, but this time it's really dangerous, because Lobo (center top right) is up there, and he stands at least as good a chance at taking one in the back as the bad guys do taking one in  the front!  Tracers flash by wildly...

But one of Mutha's rounds actually hits the enemy boss, knocking him down (white bead at top left), which is enough to convince Snoop he can dash downhill and help Gundog (bottom left).  He dives in the long grass and slides up next to his buddy, rolls him over, and checks him: he's alright, just a bit groggy, but now ready to get back in the fight!  Lobo is still nervous as hell, behind the tree at top center.

Lobo flashes hand and arm signals to Mutha to tell him to cease fire, and then Lobo charges in (top center, from the tree at top right!

Lobo turns the corner and runs smack into the enemy RPG gunner...

Whacks him, then jumps on the back of the pinned enemy rifleman...

Whacks him, then jumps on the knocked down enemy boss...

Whacks him, then jumps on the Tax Collector...

Gundog and Snoop yell, "Boss, Boss, chill man, it's over, don't kill him, he looks important!"  Lobo looks up, covered in gore, and relaxes, loosening his grip on the Tax Collector's scrawny throat.  "Yeah guys, we won, eh?  Dig it..."

With the Cubans busy high-fiving just off camera to bottom center, the last remaining bad guy splits, booking it for Bridge #3 (top right), looking to be the sole survivor of this tragic (from their standpoint) mission.

Once again, the Cubans police up the battlefield, securing their prisoner, the Tax Collector, and checking the enemy bodies and vicinity for weapons, ammo, and intel.  They bring Faceman over, and he's alright, just another nasty scar, but he'll be alright.  He's starting to get a reputation.

*There should be seven bad guy casualties lying there, not six, not sure how I screwed that up.  Only one bad guy got away.

Sheepishly, Carpet (center right) and Racer (bottom right) drag their tired asses up to re-join their unit.  "Where the hell have you guys been???"

The Cubans wrapped the Tax Collector and drug his ass back to base, another mission accomplished, but man are they exhausted, and obviously it's beginning to tell.  No casualties, just another scar for Faceman, for seven dead bad guys and a prisoner, and a valuable one at that.  Man was that a near-run thing, and there were heroics, man, were there heroics.  And cowards, too!

First, Lobo was awarded the Silver Star for his close assault of the final enemy position, the second of his career, and to go with the Distinguished Service Cross he just received.  Second, Gundog was awarded the Bronze Star with 'V' for his close assaults which eliminated the threat to the Cuban defensive position in The Church.  Lastly, Faceman was awarded the Silver Star with 'V' for holding the left flank alone (Racer fell back and Snoop suppressed in the tower), in close combat, then exposing himself to enemy fire to assist his wounded comrade, Gundog.  Faceman also added another sexy, dramatic scar, which looks hideous but leaves him able to be a member of the active roster.

On the flip side of the coin, when all the other men hit the rack for some shuteye, Lobo and Face had to sitdown and have a long talk about their boys, Carpet and Racer, both of whom split, leaving the team high and dry in a moment of real need.  Faceman was quite cutthroat, looking to ship them out of the Det, or at least summarily reduce them in rank, but Lobo was more empathetic, assuring Face they just needed a little time to get their feet back under them.  "I understand what you're saying, Boss, but in case you weren't paying attention, we're behind enemy lines, there ain't no time for them to get their feet back under them!"  "I hear ya, Face, but as you so clearly pointed out, we're behind enemy lines.  You wanna ship them out, where ya gonna ship them too, exactly?  And who's gonna fill their slots?"  There was a long, tired pause as the two men stared blankly at each other.

"Get some rest brother, you know we'll be right back in the thick of it, sooner rather than later."  "Yes, Sir."

V/R,
Jack