Cuba Libre - Cronistria Fight #13

All,

It's 1430 on 5 June 1990, and SSgt Bettancourt's 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, is dug-in in the village of Brevno, the scene of three previous battles between the Cronistrian Democrats (led by TF Rojas) and Communists.  Once again the Communists fell back after the battle, and for the past several hours they've been pounding Brevno with artillery.  They suffer from poor coordination and control, so they don't manage to get an overwhelming force into the village as the barrage lifts, but SSgt Bettancourt's platoon has been significantly impacted by the bombardment.

The opposing forces, with Democrats at top and Communists at bottom.  A relatively even fight, but the Communists are on the attack and, coming on the heels of their bombardment, they have the initiative.  All figures are 15mm Eureka Miniatures, from their Modern Russian, Modern Australian, and Chechen lines.

The remnants of SSgt Bettancourt's 3rd Platoon: seven riflemen, an RPG gunner, and himself.

While the Cronistrian National Guard manages to get only a leader, an RPG gunner, and nine riflemen to the point of attack.

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, the Manor, the Post Office, and the Apartment Building.

Starting positions: the Democrats are at left, with their men clustered around the Manor (bottom center-left) and the Inn (left-center), while also covering their left flank with men in the Post Office.  The Communists are on the attack and are moving into the village from the east (right).

The fight starts with Communists pushing forward up to, and into, the Apartment Building.

And to its right.

And then, back on Main Street, the enemy RPG gunner fires a rocket at the Inn

One man is put out of the fight (center left), while the rifleman in the Manor (yellow bead at center right) and the RPG gunner (bottom center) are pinned.

SSgt Bettancourt (bottom left, in the Inn) returns fire but misses.

Which allows the Commie RPG gunner to move forward into the Apartment Building (far left, from explosion at bottom right).

On the left, an enemy rifleman peers out from behind the City Office (bottom center) to fire at a Democrat rifleman.

The rounds miss, and return fire pins the Communist rifleman.

SSgt Bettancourt leaves the Inn to move up to the Post Office (next to black automobile at bottom center-left), while the rifleman in the Manor (bottom right) moves right inside the building to support the right flank.

The rifle in the Manor (top left) successfully rallies, but the RPG gunner fails and falls back (red bead at bottom center, from yellow bead at center left).

The rifle at center in the Post Office exchanges fire with the RPG gunner in the Apartment Building, to no effect.

And then he decides to charge into the Apartment Building!

But he is rebuffed, falling back into the Post Office, nervous (bottom left).  So SSgt Bettancourt charges the RPG gunner (center).

And the Staff Sergeant it also forced to fall back into the Post Office (bottom center-right), scared.  A rifleman on the far left opens fire on the Commies...

Forcing an enemy rifleman to fall back and hunker (red bead at bottom right, from explosion at top left).

A Communist rifleman pushes forward on the left (bottom left), while the enemy leader and a rifleman push forward in the center, looking to get into the other leg of the Apartment Building (top center).  The rifleman at top right tries to rally but fails and runs off the map, while the rifleman at bottom center successfully rallies.

Back in the Apartment Building, the enemy RPG gunner fires his rifle at the only remaining effective in the Post Office (top left)...

Forcing him to fall back and hunker, leaving a pinned rifleman in the Post Office with the hunkering SSgt Bettancourt.

A situation ripe for close combat exploitation...

On the far left flank, the enemy rifleman there (bottom right) fires on the Democrat rifleman in the Manor (center left), pinning him.

The enemy rifleman then moves up, drawing react fire from a nearby Democrat rifleman.

But he is unscathed and arrives behind the concealment of a nearby haystack.

A little overextended, if you ask me.

Back in the center, the Commie Boss (bottom right, with RPG gunner next to him) sends a rifleman into close combat with the pinned Democrat rifleman in the Post Office (left)...

The Democrat rifleman is put out of the fight, and the Commie (center right) moves to dispatch SSgt Bettancourt, but succeeds only in forcing him to fall back and hunker again (far left, next to a hunkering rifleman).

From behind the Democrat line, you can see how bad the situation is: a rifleman and SSgt Bettancourt at top left, both hunkering.  A rifleman pinned in the Manor (center right), and the RPG gunner hunkering at bottom right.  They begin rallying the troops...

The RPG gunner (bottom right) and SSgt Bettancourt (center left) rally successfully, but the guy next to him fails and falls back (bottom left).

The RPG gunner moves up to the corner of the Manor (bottom left), drawing react fire...

Which misses, so he fires a rocket at the Apartment Building...

The enemy RPG gunner (center left) is knocked down, and the Bad Guy leader is forced to fall back (far right).

Doing his best to salvage the defense, SSgt Bettancourt (far left) fires on the enemy trooper in the Post Office (center)...

The fire has no effect, but Bettancourt is already committed and charges into the Post Office...

Where he falls next to one of his rifleman!!!

The enemy boss rallies (bottom right), while his men push forward in the Apartment Buildeing (far right) and the City Office (bottom left).

An enemy rifleman sprints in to check on the knocked down RPG gunner (top right), and gets him back on his feet.  Then the rifleman fires on the Democrat RPG gunner (bottom left)...

He misses, and the Democrat RPG returns fire with his AK, getting a pin.

A Commie rifleman in the Apartment Building (bottom right) fires on a Democrat, but misses.

While the enemy rifleman in the City Office (bottom center) moves forward towards the pinned Democrat in the Manor (bottom left).

The Democrat rifleman on the far left flank (top left) and in the Manor (center left) both successfully rally.

While the RPG gunner slams another rocket into the Apartment Building...

Knocking out two men in the Apartment Building (center), forcing the enemy rifleman in the Post Office to fall back (red bead at center left), and pinning the enemy boss (yellow bead at right)!!!

The RPG gunner then fell back (bottom left, from explosion at left center), while the Democrat rifleman in the Manor (center) fires on the enemy troop creeping forward in the City Office...

The enemy trooper in the City Office (center right) drops, and the Democrat rifleman falls back.

The Democrats have suddenly put a tremendous hurt on the Communists, but, with their leader down, and several casualties previously, were already committed to pulling back.  Unfortunately, in pulling back they abandoned SSgt Bettancourt in the Post Office; he managed hide amongst the dead and then, under the cover of darkness, he drug himself back to friendly lines, where he was evacuated to Cuba due to the seriousness of his wounds.  Sgt "Goss" Gallegos moved over from the Company 1st Sgt position to take over 3rd Platoon of A Company.

So both sides ended up with three serious casualties, but the Communist casualties all came right at the end as the Democrats were laying down fire to cover their withdrawal.  Funny how things work out.  But now the Commies own Brevno, and the Democrats are pouring artillery fire into the town in order to take it back tomorrow.

That's all the fights I've played so far, but more games to come soon.

V/R,
Jack

Cuba Libre - Cronistria Fight #12

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