Operation Chunky Bandit #16

All,

Current situation: It's 0100 on 4 August 1990 in South Leon and Captain "Ryder" Stelosavo's Task Force 23 has teamed up with TF Dusty to handle a problem: following its invasion of South Leon, the Communist Army from Federation Socialiste Nationale de Leon (FSNL) quickly established an air defense umbrella to protect its penetration, and it's wreaking havoc on the Cuban and South Leonian Air Forces.

A Cuban intelligence officer, known locally as Tragg, recruited an asset and had him working on the perplexing issue of the FSNL air defense network.  At 2330 on 2 August, Tragg signaled that he made contact with his asset, but then, shortly after midnight, Captain Stelosavo received a distress signal from Tragg.  He quickly grabbed four of his shooters and a sniper team from TF Dusty; the makeshift Quick Reaction Force was airborne and in route within minutes.  Captain Villagrosa and five of his men were in a second helicopter, serving as Ryder's security element.

Further efforts to raise Tragg on comms failed, so Captain "Ryder" Stelosavo made the decision to assault the local FSNL garrison.  A ferocious firefight ensued, with the Cubans dropping a boatload of Communist soldiers while suffering one operator (Turbot, a new member of the team) badly wounded.  They searched for Tragg but he was nowhere to be found, and they quickly moved to the extraction point, avoiding a Communist quick reaction force en route.  While waiting for the helos to extract them, the Cubans were approached by a local South Leonian who wished to provide information.  The old farmer stated a Communist convoy of four vehicles had recently entered the nearby village, taken custody of a foreigner in local garb, then put him in one of the vehicles before returning north.  Ryder asked the old man where he thought the Communists might be going; he replied there was an old industrial warehouse complex several kilometers north that had been the scene of much Communist activity, both prior to the invasion and in the days since.

Ryder and TF-23 returned to base, saw Turbot was looked after, then popped into the S-2's office.  They map tracked to where the old man had stated the location of the industrial complex, reviewed imagery, and cross-checked with SIGINT.  Now that they knew what to look for and where, it appeared there was traffic related to Tragg's capture and transport to the industrial complex.  Even more interesting, ELINT was showing some very strange behavior in that location: there was a tremendous amount of signals emanating from the industrial complex, but it looked to be all friendly, but a quick check of local forces and liaison with the South Leon Army showed no friendlies in the area.  It appeared TF-23 had just cracked the code: the Communist air defense net, utilizing friendly channels, protocols, and IFF, was masking itself as friendly traffic!  Brigadier Habenera, the Commander of all Cuban Forces in South Leon, ordered airstrikes to commence on the industrial complex immediately, but Ryder talked him out of it in order to arrange a mission to recover Tragg.  Ryder and three operators prepped and helo rotors were turning less than 30 minutes later.

*My apologies, my intent was for this portion to have this fight and another two or three to recover Tragg and locate the enemy air defense network, but time and real life got the best of me, so this mission is going to wrap up this phase, rescuing Tragg and eliminating the air defense network in one fell swoop.  Following this will be some aerial action, going back in time to before the FSNL invasion, then catching us up to this point, where the ground fighting can then begin anew.

*The below fight was actually a series of six micro fights to test out a new set of rules.  The rules are actually written for ancient fantasy skirmish gaming, which I was trying to jimmy around to work for modern skirmish actions where you had 1-3 super soldiers taking on hordes of lesser beings.  Turns out the rules are cool, but not really able to do what I was looking for, so rather than publish them as six batreps, I just combined them all into one in order to tell the story of what happened at the industrial complex.  And please forgive me for the battlefield; being a playtest, I didn't put too much work into it, just threw a few pieces on the table and got it on, though I wish I would have put more work into it as I really need these fights to move the story along.

The industrial complex, north is up.  It's dark and the Cubans are pulling off a 'soft' hit, meaning they choppered into a landing zone several kilometers away, then walked in, so as not to alert the enemy.  The team has crept into an observation post atop a rocky outcropping to the southwest (bottom left), where they begin surveillance of the target area.  Ryder quickly labels the buildings:
Top left: the Receiving Building and its outbuilding
Top center: the Factory
Top right: The Headquarters Building (with a defensive emplacement immediately east of it)
Bottom center: the Warehouse
Bottom left: the Barracks

Ryder called the top right building the HQ because there was a constant stream of bodies going in and out, plus a large assortment of communications antennas atop the roof, while beyond, to the northeast, was a large antenna farm, likely radar, and a few connex boxes.  He came up with a quick plan: "me and Robo will split left, Marshall and Dinger right, and we'll all meet in the middle at the Headquarters Building.  From there we clear, secure Tragg, and call for help."

The Cuban Special Forces troopers swiftly move out, leaving the OP (bottom center), with Ryder and Robo moving left (top left, at the Receiving Building) and Marshall and Dinger moving right (center right, at the Barracks).

Robo (center) maintains overwatch as Ryder moves up (left).  He peers in the window of the outbuilding (top left) and determines no one is in there, before moving to the door of the Receiving Building.  He leans on the door, listening, takes a breath, counts to three, gently turns the knob, and moves in.

As Ryder enters (bottom left), it takes his eyes a second to adjust to the light provided by a single dim bulb, but when they do, he finds three sets of eyeballs glued to him (one at top center, two at far right).

*Sorry for using the industrial ruins, but it was the quickest/easiest thing to do to show the interior of a building.

Ryder (bottom left) begins moving his weapon to engage (top right)...

But the enemy soldier dashes right, to join up with his comrades (top center right).  The Communist Sergeant (bottom right) is rearing to go...

So he dashes to Ryder (far left, from bottom right)...

Ryder (bottom left) is surprised at how quickly the Sergeant is upon him, but even more surprised when one of his subordinates joins him!

Ryder quickly drops the enemy Sergeant...

Then is rushed by his comrade.  The two tussle...

The third enemy soldier dashes forward to join the fracas...

Ryder finds himself being ganged up on, struggling to work free his sidearm from its holster.

BANG! An enemy soldier drops...

And then the other.

Ryder clears the rest of the Receiving Building, then halts to catch his breath and bandage a knife wound on his left forearm.

Meanwhile, while Ryder is scuffling inside the Receiving Building...

His partner, Robo (bottom left), pushes north (up) to the outbuilding.  He's detected movement (top left and top right), but can't get a good read on what the hell is out there.

He pushes east to get a better look.

Uh-oh, sentry dogs!

 He pushes left, past the knoll, in order to divide and conquer.

He moves to the first attack dog and dispatches it...

But, finding himself in a bit of a standoff with the other, he falls back to the knoll.

The remaining sentry dog in the northwest cautiously creeps towards the knoll, as his compatriots in the northeast (top left) look on, not yet completely alerted...

But curious enough to begin closing on the knoll.

Not sure exactly why, but Robo now chooses to move right to meet the two dogs coming from the northeast...

He drops one...

But then the other pounces...

And now the remaining northwest dog is coming around the knoll to get in on the action!

Robo quickly finds himself in a bit of predicament, getting gnawed on but two hostile mutts!

He knifes one...

Then turns his weapon on the other and finishes him!  He falls back to the knoll, takes a knee, and begins bandaging up his various bite and tear wounds, pondering how many shots he's going to have to get when he gets back to base and checks in at the clinic.

Meanwhile, while that's going on, over on the right...

Marshall and Dinger have moved up to the barracks.  Dinger (left) covers left as Marshall moves east, to the corner.

"Hey, I'm moving up, cover me."

Marshall leaves cover, moving towards the warehouse...

"Wait!" says Marshall.  "How is Dinger going to cover me if I'm moving east but he's got to mind the sector to the north?"

"Hey," says Marshall (center), as he spots movement in front of AND behind him, "I think I might be in trouble."

Knowing he (right) can't just sit tight and hope for the best, Marshall eyes the three enemy troops coming out of the Barracks (left), and decides violence of action is his only option...

He charges straight into the three shocked Commies stumbling out of the Barracks!

One goes down quick and easy...

But the three from the Warehouse are charging up (center, from far right) behind him (top left)!

The scuffle at the Barracks continues, alarmingly.  Marshall needs to be dispatching these bad guys much more quickly than he is...

Because the Commies from the Warehouse are getting closer!

One of them is actually able to sprint ahead and jump on Marshall's back!  Dinger (top left) peers around the corner, wondering what the hell is going on back there.  He tries to raise Marshall on comms, but gets only grunts and curses in reply.

He takes a step, takes a look, and spots the fracas!  "Dammit!!!!"  Dinger charges straight in (right, with Marshall at left) to close combat to save Marshall's ass.

Dinger drops a bad guy, but another appears (top right).

No matter, he drops the other one...

And charges straight over to the newcomer...

And hands him his ass in melee.

Apparently on steroids, Dinger turns back and moves up, pulling the bad guy off Marshall's back...

Before ending him (right)!  Freed up to face but a single bad guy...

Marshall finally finishes him off (left).

"Uhhhh, thanks man.  And what the hell got into you?"

"Nuthin' man, just cover north," and with that, Dinger moved up to the corner of the warehouse (bottom left).  "If we're gonna take the HQ Building (top center, with the Factory at top left), we gotta knock out that defensive emplacement (top right)."

"No sweat, I got this," muttered Dinger as he loaded a fresh belt into his machine gun.

Okay, time to go...

Dinger sprints out of the cover of the warehouse (bottom left), moving on the defensive emplacement (top left)...

He sees three startled heads (top right) turn to face him.  Still moving, he begins squeezing off short bursts every time his left foot hits the ground...

He cuts left...

BRAPP!

And down goes a Commie!

He zigs back to the right...

BRAPP!!!

The rounds don't hit anyone, but it's intense enough to force one of the bad guys to fall back, out of cover (off camera to bottom right), but the enemy Sergeant stands tall (bottom center) and returns fire with his AK...

The enemy soldier that fell back (bottom right) suddenly realizes that running out in the open with some crazed Cuban Special Forces operator bearing down on him isn't the best plan, so he plants his foot in the dirt and begins rattling away with his AK at Dinger (top center).

But Dinger coolly and calmly shifts fire, delivering an accurate burst of return fire...

Aside from running in the open, turns out that standing there, shooting in the open isn't particularly healthy, either (left), as the second Commie goes down.

The enemy Sergeant looks aghast as both his subordinates lie in bloody heaps (top center right), and that damn Cuban just keeps coming (center, from bottom center)!

BRAPP!!!

And the enemy Sergeant is no more!

Dinger moves up and plants his flag in the enemy defensive emplacement; "all stations, the defensive emplacement is in friendly hands, the objective is isolated, go, go, go!"

"Go, go, go?  Who the hell does this rookie think he is?" thinks Ryder.  "Dinger, this is Ryder.  Calm down, rook, we're on the way.  Closing on the Factory right now, hold your pos and keeps your eyes peeled."  Ryder and Robo move up to the edge of the Receiving Building and its outbuilding (left), eyeing the Factory (right).  "Hold fast and keep an eye out, I'm going in."  Robo nods...

As the boss storms ahead...

And enters the Factory, which is teeming with bad guys (Ryder is at far left, entering right on top of a bad guy)!

"Hmmm, this is rather unfortunate, lot more of you guys than I had hoped."

Ryder finds himself accosted by a Commie a the door...

He immediately goes to secondary and drops the bad guy with two pistol rounds under the chin.

But no sooner has he dropped that bad guy then another is immediately on top of him, as a third looks on (bottom left)!

Ryder drops the new guy...

Then turns and fires on number three!

Three up, three down.

Looking northeast to southwest (Ryder can't be seen, but he's at top center), a bad guy crawls out a window (right) and begins moving up the right side to flank.

He quickly reaches an enfilading position (bad guy at bottom right, Ryder at top center).

Back inside, a bad guy moves up (center) and fires on Ryder (top left).

And a comrade does the same on the right (the guy that just shot is at center left, Ryder at top left, the new guy is at bottom right).

Ryder, never one to sit idly by, charges (top right, into contact with a bad guy behind the pole right next to him, coming from bottom right, the flanking bad guy is at far left)!

Peek-a-boo...

Another bad guy out of the fight.

But Ryder isn't done; he immediately continues moving, crashing straight into the last bad guy in the building (from bottom left)...

Meat!  Ryder take a deep breath to relax for a second.  He keys the mike to report the Factory secure...

When he hears something and immediately faces about.

The flanking bad guy comes crashing through a window, behind Ryder (off screen to right)!

The bad guy (left) opens fire...

Ryder finishes his cigarette, slaps a new magazine in his rifle...

And calmly strolls up to the bad guy, Chuck Norris-style...

Game over...

"Alright, NOW the Factory is secure."
"Nice work, Boss."
"Time to go clean out the HQ Building."
"Roger."

Behind the HQ Building, Dinger is experiencing some trouble: "Boss, the bad guys are trying to reinforce the HQ Building, so if you fellars don't mind, you might want to go ahead and wrap this thing up," as he fires his machine gun into the jungle to the northeast, keeping the enemy reinforcements at bay.

"Yeah, yeah, rookie, keep your pants on."  Ryder doesn't like the angle of attack from the Factory (top right), so he and Robo fall back (bottom left), past the Receiving Building...

Once there they fan out, Robo on the left and Ryder on the right.

Robo (far left) calls out to Ryder (bottom left): "That's a lot of bad guys, Boss."  "C'mon, man, seven not's a lot, you're Special Forces!"  Dinger (top right) keeps laying down fire, preventing the enemy from reinforcing the HQ Building (top right).  You can't see him, but Marshall* is at the Barracks (bottom center), covering to the southeast (bottom right).

*Where the hell did the Marshall figure go?  What the hell am I doing? ;)

At the Factory, a bad guy creeps forward (left, from right)...

Before dropping to a knee (far right) and firing on Ryder (top left).

While in the south, a bad guy moves up between the Warehouse (bottom right) and Barracks (top left)...

Where he takes up position and fires on Robo.

As he (far left) is firing on Robo (top center), another bad guy begins skirting around the Warehouse (bottom left).

While in the north, a bad guy moves up near the Factory, taking cover behind a stack of crates (top left).

Where he (right), too, begins firing on Ryder (top left).

While a bad guy that was hiding behind a pallet of foodstuffs (bottom right) moves up to the Factory (top center)...

And a Commie at the HQ Building (right) dashes up to a comrade sheltering behind the General's sedan.

He takes up a firing position (far right), then yells "Go, comrade, I will cover you!"  The young Commie dashes ahead, sheltering behind some barrels (left).

Robo (bottom left): "Hey, Boss, I told you it was a lot of bad guys."  He peers around the barrels and engages the bad guy at the corner of the Barracks (top right).

"Well, that's one less, at least."

Then he dashes left, towards the Receiving Building...

Before facing right (bottom left) and firing on the young Commie that dashed forward from the General's sedan (top right)...

"Not bad, if I do say so myself, I'm two for two."

Robo then dashes into the outbuilding (bottom left), keenly aware of the three bad guys in close proximity at the Factory.  "How 'bout a little help, Boss."

Seeing Robo dive into the outbuilding (top center left), Ryder (bottom center) sights in on the Factory (top center) and fires...

Another one bites the dust.

He stands fast and fires again, missing.  "Dammit!"

He fires thrice...

And drops a second bad guy at the Factory.

Before dashing right...

Hmmm, why don't I fire again, to take out that bad guy I missed just a second ago?

Dammit, missed again.  He takes off at a sprint, coming around the south side of the Barracks (far right, the Factory he was engaging at top left).

But there he comes face to face with an enemy soldier coming around the Warehouse; Ryder fires, but misses AGAIN!!!

Seeing Ryder's handiwork at the Factory, Robo leaves the outbuilding (bottom left) and charges up to the Factory (center top right)...

He rounds the corner and runs smack into a bad guy...

Whom he quickly dispatches.  "Damn, Boss, I thought you'd whacked all the bad guys at the Factory..."

A Commie Lieutenant, as Lieutenants often do, finds himself alone and unsure what to do, milling about in the open (center, with Robo at top left).

He begins yelling for help, while spraying and praying with his AK...

His cries for help succeed, and a subordinate comes running to assist (center, with enemy Lieutenant at top right and Robo at top left).  Despite the two enemy soldiers being in the open, Robo finds himself in a bit of a precarious position...

While back in the south, Ryder (top left) is living out the consequences associated with his earlier poor marksmanship, as the enemy soldier at the corner of the Warehouse (bottom right) hammers away at him (top left)...

But Ryder is unflappable, so, not being flapped, he goes to his 'go-to' move: CHARGE!!!

Firing as he goes, he keeps moving...

And firing...

Until the bad guy goes down.  "Hang on, Robo, I'm on the way."

But Robo, not to be outdone, decides his best move is to charge, too.  He leaves the Factory (bottom left), sprinting down to a stack of crates (center) between his two assailants...

He first engages the enemy Lieutenant...

Dropping him...

Then turning on the young trooper that came to help...

Piece o'cake.  "All, clear, Boss."

"Moving," and with that, Ryder and Robo entered the HQ Building, while Marshall and Dinger pulled security outside.

Originally I was going to play out a few more fights for this action, but what you just read was actually a series of six separate fights (Ryder into Receiving, Robo taking on the dogs, Marshall getting caught between the Barracks and the Warehouse and Dinger saving him, Dinger taking on the Defensive Emplacement, Ryder into the Factory, and Ryder and Robo fighting up to the HQ Building), and I'm out of steam for this portion.  So here's what happened:

-As Ryder and Robo moved into the HQ Building, a group of enemy soldiers, including their Commanding General and Tragg, attempted to escape out the east end, but Dinger and Marshall took them down, capturing the General and recovering Tragg, the Cuban Intelligence Officer.

-Ryder and Robo cleared the HQ Building, encountering only light resistance in the house.  They found a treasure trove of intelligence in documents, maps, and computers, and found a large suite of communications gear in the basement of the HQ Building.

-Tragg reported that the comm gear in the basement was the command control node for the Communist air defense network in South Leon.  Ryder immediately called this in to HQ, which immediately dispatched a platoon of combat engineers who helo'ed in and blew the HQ Building and comm gear to Kingdom Come.

Thereby, TF-23 (with a little help from TF Dusty) had accomplished a tremendous feat, locating and destroying the enemy's integrated air defense network (AAA and SAMs continued to exist, but were no longer centrally commanded and coordinated, and target acquisition, tracking, and targeting were all now back to local, organic capabilities, vice the advanced, Soviet-provided capabilities that were just blown up) and recovered the captured Cuban intel guy.

For his efforts, the rookie, Dinger, was awarded the Silver Star.  He proved quite adept with the MG, good tactical awareness, great operating independently or as part of a team, and absolutely fearless.  Just wished I hadn't given him such a cheesy name...

So, in the overall scheme of things, the next phase in ground operations is the breakout by Task Forces Razor and Redleg, the troops that were already in country when FSNL invaded from the north.  The invasion saw them cut off and isolated from all support; following Cuba's responding invasion, the two Task Forces are now going to fight west through the Communists to link up with the Cuban reinforcements, coming from the Atlantic coast in the west.  Which should be much easier now as close air support will be much more effective due to knocking out the enemy's integrated air defense network!

And speaking of air support, that's where we're going next, to the air.  I'm actually going to work back in time just a bit; the idea is that Cuba had stationed a squadron of F-4 Phantoms in South Leon prior to the invasion, but they hadn't had much to do until the Communist invasion.  But when the Commies invaded South Leon, they put on an all-out aerial blitz, beginning with a classic fighter sweep, followed by a massive bombing campaign in South Leon.  So the lone F-4 squadron has to fight and try to hold on through the initial onslaught, then reinforcements arrive several days later when Cuba executes its counter-invasion.  Once again we'll see a clash of fighters, and then the Cuban Air Force will begin its bombing campaign (which initially goes poorly due to the enemy's very capable air defenses, and then get better after Ryder and his boys do their thing) to help TF Razor and Red Leg breakout, and then see the combined Cuban ground forces take back South Leon.

So, that's what's coming up, stay tuned!

V/R,
Jack