Operation Chunky Bandit #27 (Ground)

All,

1000 on 4 Aug 1990
Mini-Campaign Fight #1
TF Hammer vs FSNL 3rd Company





Major Chavez
Silver Star, Purple Heart, War of Liberation and South Leon campaigns
Commander, TF Hammer

Major Halabrio
Silver Star, War of Liberation, Operation Payback, and South Leon campaigns, one Combat Jump
Commander, Task Group Halabrio






Major Chavez leads his TF Hammer straight east, assaulting the FSNL 3rd Company's positions.  The overall Task Group commander, Major Halabrio, has decided to attach himself to the assault element, leaving Major Chavez in overall commander but willing and able to assist as necessary, functioning as a second command stand for the Cubans.

This is a simple attack/defend scenario; the Cuban goal is to crush their enemies on the way to the capital, the Communist goal is to hold the ground.

Overview, north is up.  There is a hardball road running northwest to southeast, with two small hamlets present (center and bottom right), as well as several knolls/hillocks.  Other than that we've got several cultivated fields and scattered jungle.

The opposing forces, allies on left and Communists on right.

The figures are all 10mm from Pendraken, Minifigs UK, and Butler's Printed Models.  I'm using Ivan's "5Core Company Command," playing on a 3' x 2' surface with simple terrain to speed up the process.  The hootches are from Jimmi at Flashpoint Minis, the roads are from Fat Frank, the hills are from Warzone, the fences are from Sarissa, the fields are from Hotzmats, the trees are cake toppers, and when you see the rivers, they're from Wargamers Terrain.  I'm playing solo and will randomize enemy deployment using a system of blinds borrowed from Joe Legan's "Platoon Forward."

In terms of caliber of forces, the SLA, FSNL, and FLA troops will all be treated equally, except for the fact the FLA troops will be treated as fanatics, in terms of their willingness to advance into close combat.  The Cubans are more tactically and technically proficient, and so they will receive extra firing dice, better rallying capability, bonus in close combat, and sometimes will have a second command stand on the table.

Major Chavez' force consists of: Command stand, four rifle stands, and one Scimitar light armored vehicle with 30mm cannon.  These troops are Minifigs' Israelis with a BPM Scimitar.

Oh, and there's Major Halabrio, the Task Group commander.  That is probably the clearest, brightest photo of a 10mm figure I have ever taken!  This is a Minifigs' Australian from their Vietnam range. I love the boonie covers and big packs!

The Communist force consists of: Command stand, five rifle stands, and one 82mm mortar team.  These troops are Minifigs' Soviets.

Overview, this time with troops.  You can see the Cubans at far left, the Communists from center line to right.

In the northwest we've got Hammer 01 (top left), the Scimitar, Major Chavez' command stand, and Hammer 02 (bottom right).

While in the southwest we've got Hammer 03 (top left), Major Halabrio, and Hammer 04 (bottom right).

The Communist set up: rifle teams are at bottom left, top left, center, center top, and on the hill at center top right, with their command stand immediately below them, and their mortar team at top right.

The games is afoot!  The Cubans push everyone ahead, aggressively crossing the line of departure.

*They rolled a 'Scurry,' so everyone got to push ahead without drawing react fire, but while they all got to move, there are a lot of exposed troops. I figured this made sense in terms of an advance against an unseen enemy.

The enemy responds by pushing two rifle teams forward (top center and bottom left).

The clear morning air is pierced by the cough of mortar fire (top right), which is targeting the Cuban center (explosion at far left).

The mortars impact directly amongst the Cuban troops, knocking out Hammer 03 while Hammer 02 suffers 'men down'!

An enemy rifle team pushes through in the center (center, from right), looking to put an RPG into the Scimitar (far left).

Major Chavez (bottom center) looks on as Hammer 01 (far left) opens fire on the interlocuters (top right)...

But they miss, and the Communists launch a rocket!

But the rocket  misses, too, and the Scimitar returns fire with its 30mm cannon, suppressing the enemy rifle team.

Major Halabrio moves to rally Hammer 02 (bottom center) as the Scimitar (bottom left) shifts fire further south (top right), suppressing another enemy rifle team.  Major Chavez (bottom left) hollers "time to go!"

And leads Hammer 01 forward, into close combat with the nearby enemy rifle team!

Major Chavez and Hammer 01 easily dispatch the enemy rifle team (far left), then push forward (center), nearing another enemy rifle team (top right).

An enemy rifle team further north (bottom right) spots the Major and Hammer 01 (top left) and opens fire, before charging out into the open with their CO and another rifle team...

But their (center right) fire was ineffective and Hammer 01 (bottom left) returns the fire, putting them 'men down'!

The Scimitar dashes north, around the outcropping (top center, from center), looking to flank the exposed enemy (just visible at far right, with Major Chavez and Hammer 01 at bottom right).

An enemy rifle team spots the flanking maneuver and fires an RPG...

But again the enemy rocket is wide of the mark!  The Scimitar opens up with its 30mm rapid fire cannon

The bad guys that launched the RPG (top center) are 'men down,' and the enemy CO is suppressed (red bead at top right; the white bead next to them is the rifle team that Hammer 01 put 'men down')!  Major Chavez and Hammer 01 again charge into close combat (bottom center)!

*The Communist team they are charging is not suppressed, but I figure the Cubans were able to dodge react fire by using the buildings to conceal their approach.

Major Chavez and Hammer 01 dispatch another enemy team in close combat (bottom center), then move on the enemy units caught in the open (center bottom).

The suppressed enemy CO and the two 'men down' rifle team promptly throw down their weapons and surrender, ending the fight as the remaining rifle team and mortar crew run for their lives!

TF Hammer wins and holds its ground, forcing FSNL3 to fall back, directly into the SLA's A Company.  Neither of those units will be allowed to move and will fight as soon as possible in the next turn, with FSNL3 'attacking' and A Company defending, although it should be interesting as A Company's defensive line was oriented to the north and these Communists are coming from the west.

A short, sharp fight that saw a Cuban victory based on some Hollywood-style heroics, and a great start to the campaign!  I hadn't played 5Core Company Command in quite some time (maybe a year?), but I quickly fell right back into the swing of things and was flowing like gravy in no time ;)  The rules were very quick, the fight lasted maybe 40 minutes, though I suspect that was a bit of an anomaly as the Communist defense collapsed quite quickly.  I recently played a ten-game campaign using Chain of Command (modified), so I must admit 5Core Company Command felt a bit 'simple' comparatively, we'll see how the rest of the campaign feels.

Casualties:
Cuban: ~10 men
Communist: ~25 men, with ~15 captured

Decorations:
Major Chavez, TF Hammer Commander, awarded the Silver Star for leading close assaults that knocked out two enemy rifle teams and captured two more, as well as the enemy commander, breaking the back of the enemy defenses

Tm 1 Leader was awarded the Bronze Star w/V for participating in close assaults that knocked out two enemy rifle teams and captured two more, as well as the enemy commander, breaking the back of the enemy defenses

Next up we have 1st Lt Madre-Animral's TF Bowie attacking the FSNL's 4th Company.

V/R,
Jack