Operation Chunky Bandit #25 (Ground)

All,

"Platoon" Fight #1

I've wanted to do this for a very long time; the problem is, it's Vietnam gaming, but I don't want to stop all my other projects and start a new one, so the simple answer was to combine them.  I'm going to play out this project, but put it into the timeline of another, so that I can play what I want AND keep the campaign moving along.  So, what am I doing?  You've seen the movie "Platoon," right?  You know, 'the only man that can kill Bahnes, is Bahnes!" that one.  Yeah, I love it, and so this is my wargaming tribute to that amazing movie.  I have created a roster of the entire platoon, from Lt Wolfe and SSgt Barnes and Sgt Elias, all the way down to the FNGs, Bob Gardner and Chris Taylor, and I'm going to play out a series of fights in 15mm using them.  The problem with the movie is that it only has three real fights in it: the initial night ambush (where Gardner is killed and Tex and Chris wounded), the bunker complex (where the platoon gets its ass ripped), and the final battle where the firebase is overrun.  That worked great for the movie, but that's not enough for a wargaming campaign!  So I'm going to play the 'real' fights from the movie, and I'm going to add in some 'fictitious' fights that are (hopefully) plausible for the Vietnam-era.  So I'm going to start at the start, right there with the night ambush, where SSgt Barnes grabs Doc Sanchez and pieces of Sgt Elias' and Sgt O'Neill's squads, and leads them out.  In order to make it more 'wargame interesting,' I'm going to plus up the number of NVA, and having them arriving from more than one direction.  I hope you enjoy it!  And, if you're interested how this fits in with my campaign, see below.

In the context of South Leon (a democratic, but fictional, country in Africa that is dealing with an insurgency egged on by a malevolent neighbor to the north, called FSNL), the 'Platoon' came ashore during the morning of 27 July 1990, Cuba's response to FSNL's invasion on 24 July 1990.  The Platoon entered South Leon via amphibious landing, but there hasn't been much fighting, all the heavy lifting was done by the Airborne troops that parachuted in the previous evening.  Once they seized the initiative and began taking ground, the Communist forces in the area immediately began retreating eastwards, towards the capital city of Pendrakenville.  The major reason Cuba launched the counter invasion is because they already had a small Task Group in South Leon assisting the government with counterinsurgency operations (TF Razor, an Airborne company, TF Redleg, a Marine company, TF Black, an ODA, a squadron of fighter aircraft, and various support personnel); when the FSNL invaded, they swooped down Route 1 from the north and, with strong support from their own air, invested Pendrakenville.  This left the Cuban Task Group cut off, north of the capital city.  The Cuban invasion forces are now pushing east from the coast, with the going pretty easy, until they reached Route 1, where the enemy dug in.  The Cuban invasion force is now in a holding pattern; they wish to use close air support to pound the FSNL defenders, but the air defense system has proven very effective, and very hard to dislodge.  A Cuban Special Operations Task Group (TF 23 and TF Dusty) are currently working on the problem.  **NOTE: these games have actually already been played, the last being Operation Chunky Bandit #16, in which the Cubans found and knocked out the enemy air defenses; additionally, TF Black assaulted Hill 114 and took the crest, using it as an OP to call in air support on the enemy defenses, serving as the linchpin to spring the trapped Cuban Task Group in the north free, and to begin the Cuban offensive to re-take Pendrakenville.**  The Platoon will be part of this latter group, but right now they are holding in place near the Communist front line along Route 1, waiting for the enemy air defenses to be knocked out so that close air support can be wielded and the offensive can kick off.  So, in Cuba Libre time, it is currently 0130 on 1 August 1990, and while holding position during the day, they push out ambush patrols at night.

Overview of area, left is north.  In the overall scheme of things, i.e., in terms of the front lines, the good guys (Cubans) are in the west and the bad guys (FSNL Communists) are in the east, but in this fight the Cubans will be in the south and the bad guys will enter from the north.  Hill 47 is at bottom right, there's a road running north to south with a branch to the west (bottom), and if you look closely, there's a hard-packed trail leading east through the jungle (top center).  There's also a small village at bottom left; the village is actually what brings us here, tonight.  A Cuban patrol this morning swept through the village and found plenty of signs of FSNL activity, including a weapons cache, so command thought this would be  good spot for an ambush.

The opposing force, Cubans on left, Communists on right.  I'm playing in 15mm with individually-based troops using Ivan's "No End in Sight" Rules.  The Cubans are Battlefront US Infantry from their Vietnam range, while the bad guys are NVA from Peter Pig's Vietnam range.

You saw my new fur mat from The Wargaming Company; it's awesome!  And this fight is seeing the debut of my new roads.  They're from "Fat Frank," and they're awesome, too!

The Americans, err, I mean, Cubans.  Lt Wolfe looked on as SSgt Barnes told Sgt Elias his squad had ambush patrol this evening; "nah, don't give me that bullshit, I got too many short-timers in my squad!"  So SSG Barnes split the difference, taking part of Elias' and part of O'Neill's squads.  Here's the roster:
SSgt Barnes - Platoon Sergeant
Doc Sanchez - Platoon Medic
Sgt Elias - 1st Squad Leader
Sgt O'Neill - 3rd Squad Leader
Tex - M-60 Gunner
Junior - M-60 Assistant Gunner
Sandy - M-79 Grenadier
Gardner - Rifleman
Taylor - Rifleman
Rodriguez - Rifleman
Manny - Rifleman
Fu Sheng - Rifleman
Parker - Rifleman
Westfall - Rifleman

The NVA, I mean FSNL Communists: three units, consisting of a full squad and two half squads.  The full squad has an RPG and an RPD, the half squads have one or the other.

Overview, now with troops, left is north.  The Cuban ambush is at the base of the crossroads (center right), with a team watching their backtrail at top right.  They departed friendly lines just after dark (about 2030, local time) and got into position on Hill 47 (bottom right), but it didn't take Barnes and Elias long to figure out they couldn't see anything from there on this dark and moonless night, so they repositioned down to the crossroads.  They got set in, ran comm checks, made sure their gear was arranged just the way they wanted it, then went to 50% (every other man sleeping).  It's about 0130 and the first inkling of trouble has dawned on the men (the bad guys are at far left, on the road); no one has actually seen anything yet, but the veterans amongst them can sense it coming.

The Cuban ambush position, from top left: Rodriguez, Westfall, and Sgt O'Neill hold down the left flank.  It should have been Sgt Elias, as those are men from his squad, but Barnes wanted him watching their backs (bottom right).  Next are Doc and Barnes, then the MG position covering down the road, with Gardner, Junior, Tex, Taylor, and Sanderson.  At bottom right, watching the back trail, are Manny, Elias, Parker, and Fu Sheng.

A closer look at the ambush position:  Rodriguez, O'Neill, and Westfall, then Barnes and Doc, then Gardner, Junior, Tex, Taylor, and Sandy.

Manny, Elias, Fu Sheng, and Parker.

The village, with an arms cache lying in the center (booby-trapped by the earlier Cuban patrol).

Slowly and cautiously the enemy moves south (right) down the road.  This is the full squad, coming on the table.

Taylor (bottom center, with Sandy to his right and Tex to his left) is on watch and peering north, up the trail.  He can't see anything, and didn't hear anything, but it just feels like something is out there (just visible at top center).

Taylor (center left) all of sudden got this strange sensation that it would be better back up on Hill 47 (far right).

Looking north to south (ambush site at top center right, trail at top left), the Communist soldiers continue moving up the road.

Something moved (top right)!  Taylor wakes up Sandy, looks over to see if the MG team of Tex and Junior are awake: they're not.  It was Junior's watch!  Barnes (bottom left) feels it too, and quickly moves in and gets them up.  Gardner, wake up, ya fat @#$%!!!

The enemy slowly continues south (moving right).

Tex slides the safety off his Pig as the first outlines of enemy soldiers (top center right) come into view.

The entire full squad is on the road now (left), moving south (top).

Barnes leans in and whispers "let'em get closer."

The Communists continues south...

As the full enemy squad's point element reaches the crossroads (top right), a half-squad coms on the table (top left).

Here they are: leader, RPG, and three riflemen.

The enemy pointman passes the trail, almost to the crossroads...

Taylor is about to piss his pants, the Commies are almost on top of them!  "Steady," warns Barnes...

"Fire!"  The Platoon Sergeant orders the men to engage (yeah, I didn't use Claymores, I wanted a fight), and Taylor (bottom left, with Sanderson next to him, Tex just visible on his left) opens up with his M-16.

The enemy pointman goes down, and a second rifleman is pinned (yellow bead).

And then Tex gets the M-60 into action, with Gardner throwing his rifle into it as well.

Two more Communists drop on the trail, and another is pinned.

And then Sandy raises his M-79 (bottom right, next to Taylor)...

And 'bloops' a 40mm grenade further up the trail, but it sails a little too far and simply pins two men rather than  hitting anyone.

Tex clears a stoppage and continues firing, pinning another enemy soldier.

Sandy breaks down his M-79 and reloads, while Taylor (top left) and Barnes (bottom center) fire, pinning the enemy squad leader.

And Barnes is finished.

The black beads show he has two 'stress,' i.e., he got two rounds of orders off, but then he failed the roll, so he's done.  The Cubans still have O'Neill (top left) and Elias (off camera to bottom).  O'Neill gets a bit froggy.

Barnes (right) looks on: "What the hell is he doing?"  O'Neill, normally pretty passive under fire, leads Westfall and Rodriguez out on a flanking maneuver (bottom left, from bottom center, enemy squad on road at top center/left).

O'Neill keeps pushing them, up to the edge of the grove (bottom center, from bottom right, enemy across top), but then decides to take a breather.  Watching tracers zip back and forth, he decides, at least for the moment, that perhaps he's been a bit hasty...

Barnes (bottom left) is directing the fight, Elias and his boys (top right) are watching the back trail, don't have any targets.

The enemy on the road begins to get itself composed: their squad leader (bottom left) starts kicking ass and rallying his men back into the fight, and a nearby rifleman engages Barnes' position (top right).

The enemy squad leader (center, with black beads) is able to rally more of his men and get them into the fight...

Sanderson dives for cover (yellow bead) as AK rounds zip and snap past.

Further north (top center), the enemy half-squad is unengaged...

Looking north to south (ambush position at top center), the half-squad darts right, near the village (center, from bottom left), looking to flank the Cuban position, not knowing O'Neill and his group are out there (top center right).

The enemy troops keep pushing, covering a lot of ground (center, from far left, ambush position at top center and O'Neill visible at top right)...

The enemy troops get into the treeline and observe.

But so far the enemy half-squad (bottom left) and O'Neill's group (far right) are unaware of each other.

Since the initial ambush position was atop Hill 47 (off camera to bottom right) and they moved into position at the crossroads in the dark, they are unaware of the trail peeling off to the east (top center).  This is about to become key as the sounds of gunfire...

Have brought more enemy soldiers (the other half-squad) moving to the sound of the guns.

They (bottom center, this is looking east to west) can't see the Cuban positions (top left) yet, but they know where their comrades are (top right) and where the Cubans are by the sounds of their gunfire.  They begin creeping forward, west, up the trail, to flank Barnes' position.

*This was kind of a big tactical decision for the enemy: do the move up the trail, staying in cover and getting close, but ending up still rather in front of Barnes' position, or do they move left, getting into a real flanking position on Barnes, but getting into the open field and possibly exposing themselves to Elias' group (off camera to top left)?  I rolled, and up the trail they went.

They keep pushing west (center, from bottom center, Barnes a top left)...

But as they (top right) come around the corner, Tex (bottom left) spots them and sweeps them with his M-60!

And one of the newcomers goes down!  The enemy LMG gunner (top left) drops to a knee...

And sprays, but he (bottom right) isn't able to hit anything (Barnes at top left).

That was the end of Turn 1.

Barnes gets Tex, Junior, and Gardner firing down the trail again, pinning three.

And then he (bottom center) spots movement at the trail (center top) and fires, pinning a Commie that was slithering around up there.

Then he sights in a bit further right and fires again, pinning another enemy rifleman...

Before rallying Sandy: "Sanderson, boy, get your damn nose out of the dirt and get that blooper back in action!"

Barnes fires again, dropping the enemy leader, leaving his three remaining men pinned!  "Elias, get your ass in gear!" Barnes screams, wanting his 1st Squad Leader to end his backtrail-watching mission and move up to take care of these guys.

*Of course, Elias might not have needed to have moved up IF I'd have remembered about taking the squad break tests.  With two down and the other three pinned, I'm pretty sure these guys would have fallen back...

With Barnes (bottom center) continuing to lay down fire with his CAR-15, Elias leads Manny, Parker, and Fu Sheng out of their position (top center, from top right, with the enemy trail position just off camera at top left).

Elias pushes his group forward again (right, from bottom center) as Barnes' position keeps laying down fire (far left).

While on the far left, O'Neill has decided the time is right to begin moving up again.  His plan is to move up to the hedge (center, from bottom right), come on line, and begin firing into the flank of the enemy squad on the road (top center)...

O'Neill, Westfall, and Rodriguez get up to the hedge.

But the enemy team in the village (bottom center) spots them (top right) and opens fire!

Nobody is hit, so O'Neill and Westfall return fire, as Rodgriguez...

Dashes right, out into the field (center top, with Westfall and O'Neill below him, bad guys at top left), looking to get close enough to drop a frag into the enemy position.

But then Rodriguez (top center left) is spotted by enemy troops on the road (bottom right), who open fire, pinning him down in the field!

The enemy leader on the road (far right) continues rallying his men, which is pretty much a full-time job, owing to Tex's machine gun firing down the road.  His troops fire on O'Neill and Westfall (far left), to no effect.  But back on the road, an RPG gunner prepares his weapon, stands...

And launches a rocket at Barnes' position!

WHAM!!!  The rocket hits a little short, but is enough to pin pretty much everyone!

On the trail, one of the riflemen assumes the mantle of leadership (the white bead is a 'permanent stress' for being a replacement leader) and rallies the boys, but that's all he can get done.

Back in the village, the enemy team leader there pushes his RPG gunner into the ville (bottom center, from top left) to get a line of sight on O'Neill (off camera to top right)...

O'Neill and Westfall (bottom right) spot the movement (top left) and fire...

But the enemy gunner (bottom left) hangs tough and fires anyway...

The rocket is a little long, but pins O'Neill and Westfall.

The enemy team leader maneuvers his men up to the hedge (center), laying down fire, looking to get into position to close assault O'Neill and his boys (top right) into oblivion...

The RPG gunner fires a second rocket!

And this explosion (far left) is enough to convince ol' Red to fall back (bottom right), leaving Westfall and Rodriguez pinned back there...

And here they come!  The hedge erupts as two enemy riflemen move up (right, near Westfall, and center top, with Rodriguez)...

Westfall (bottom right) cowers under a steady rain of bullets, as a Communist moves up to Rodriquez, prone in the field...

But Rodriguez pops him!!!

Rodgriquez (top right) fires and misses, but it's enough to convince the other enemy rifleman to fall back (bottom center left, from right)!  Rodriguez held the flank after O'Neill fled like a bitch!

Back at the ambush site, Barnes, Tex, and Junior rally, then get back to whoopin' ass on the enemy team on the trail.  Well, not so much "whoopin' ass" as "firing without effect."

Meanwhile, Sanderson (bottom right, with Taylor still pinned next to him) pops another grenade up the road (top left)...

WHAM!!!  The RPG gunner goes down and a rifleman is pinned!

**Now for my first ever break check: one down, numerous pinned, multiple exposed, an automatic fail, I suppose, but I roll anyway, figuring a '6' would still pass them, plus I need the pips for fall back distance anyway...

The NVA, I mean FSNL leader blows out three shrill blasts on a whistle, the signal to break contact and fall back!  His men immediately move east (top) to get off the road, and begin falling back to the north (left).

*I didn't mess with react fire on their fall back move, figured they'd had enough.  Pretty magnanimous of me, if I do say so myself ;)

With the enemy on the road (top) fleeing, Tex (far left) turns the gun on the enemy team on the trail (top right) and cuts loose...

Another Commie goes down, and the remaining two...

Decide it's time to di-di, taking to the fields (center, from far right), in trace of their comrades on the road.

As Elias and his boys signal Tex to shift fire, then move into the position (top left, from right).

Though one of the enemy troops in the field spots them and fires...

The fire is ineffective, and Elias returns fire, pinning the Communist, who then flees with his mates.

While on the left, O'Neill (bottom right) hears the lull in firing and figures he'd better get back into it, as Westfall and Rodriguez (top left) cautiously scan the hedge and village for the enemy.

Rodriguez spots movement and fires, pinning a rifleman.

O'Neill moves up, "let's go, boys!"  Wesftall drops his head and mutters, "you gotta be shitting me..."

The Cubans keep firing into the ville…

Under fire and hearing the sounds of battle from the road die off as their comrades fall back, the enemy team leader decides it's time to go, so they fall back (top center, from center).

The enemy forces retreat to the north in the early morning darkness.

The Cubans come out on line to police up the battlefield (Elias at top, Barnes at right, and O'Neill at bottom left), moving north (left).  They find a total of five dead enemy soldiers, and they've taken ZERO casualties themselves, so a resounding success!

Barnes comes up to visit with O'Neill and Rodriguez.  "So, you took this big bastard down all by your lonesome, eh, Rodriguez?"  "Yes, Sergeant."  "Well, where the hell were you at, Red?"  "I was in the fight, Bob, right over there.  But lemme tell ya Bob, Rodriguez, just reached out and got this bastid, really saved his ass, I thought he was a goner, but he just, he just got him, like better than the O'Neill death grip!"  "Right.  Okay, well, good work Rodriguez, now let's get back."

The ambush patrol policed up their gear, formed up, and returned to their lines, in high spirits, having met a numerically superior enemy and bested him.  As it turned out, they'd be sitting tight for a few more days, waiting on the enemy air defenses to be defeated so the big push could be made.  So that's the next fight, the entire platoon making an advance to contact.

V/R,
Jack