Operation Chunky Bandit #33 (Ground)

All,

1300 on 4 Aug 1990

Mini-Campaign Fight #7

South Leon Army D Company vs FSNL 1st Company

The SLA's D Company was dug-in deep into defensive positions oriented north, prepared to fight off the Commie hordes coming down Route 1, but were suddenly attacked from the west by FSNL3, which was retreating from a beatdown they received at the hands of TF Hammer.  It turned out to not be a big deal; the company quickly re-oriented itself to the west and very easily gave the retreating Communists a bloody nose, sending them packing in a northerly direction.  Security patrols were quickly sent out in all directions, seeking to find out if any other enemy forces were lurking in directions unexpected, and even hoping to tie in with the incoming Cuban forces, but bad news came back: fresh enemy troops were spotted coming in from the north!  It seems a new enemy formation passed through the retreating Communist troops they'd just defeated, and now D Company had to re-orient itself to defend to the north again.

I could have played this straight up, had the Communists attacking north to south against prepared defensive positions, but I figured I owed it to you guys to make it a bit more difficult, to try and make up for screwing it up last time!  So in instead of fighting from prepared positions, the Cubans will start with a small patrol out front, with reinforcements coming in from the rear, looking to stave off the steely-eyed Commies of FSNL's 1st Company.

The objectives here are simple: the Communists are seeking to destroy D Company and any other Allied units blocking the Route 1 in order to allow resupply and reinforcement of Pendrakenville.  D Company's goal is to hold firm.

Overview, north is right.  There is a hardball road running straight north/south, with a mid-sized village in the center, 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.

D Company's force consists of: Command stand, four rifle teams, an M-113 armored personnel carrier (actually, an up-gunned "ACAV"), a machine gun team, and a mortar team.  They are also accompanied by a team of commandos from TF23.  These troops are Pendraken US forces from their Vietnam range, except for the MG team, which is WWII US Marines, and the TF23 stand (far right), which is are Minifigs' Australians from their Vietnam range.

Another thing: the SLA defenders also have some heroes amongst their ranks:

The commander of D Company was awarded the Silver Star following fight #12

The team leader for Delta 04 was awarded the Bronze Star w/V following fight #12

The Communist force consists of: a command stand, five rifle stands, and a BTR-70 armored personnel carrier.  These troops are Minifigs' Modern Soviets.

Overview, this time with troops.  You can see the Cuban patrol in the center, in/around the village, while the rest of their force is rushing to assist (top left and bottom left), while the Communists are advancing from the right, their lead team all the way up to the north edge of the village (center right).

Delta 04, their star team leader, is on patrol in the village (top center left), while the CO is at bottom left with Delta 01, 02, and the M-113, while TF23, the MG team, Delta 03, and the mortar team are at bottom right.

The Communists have rifle teams at left, bottom center, top center, and two in the center, on either side of the road, which are trailed by their CO and the BTR.

The mortar team (bottom left) looks on as the TF23 team leads the MG team and Delta 03 forward

While on the SLA left, the CO leads Delta 01, 02, and the track up to the edge of the village (left, from bottom left).

The SLA mortar team (bottom left) begins tossing 81mm HE rounds at the enemy rifle team on the edge of the village (far right).

The rounds are a little long but manage to pin the Communist regulars.

The enemy commander moves up with the BTR and three rifle teams, and tries to rally the team pinned by the SLA mortar fire (yellow bead at center).

But they panic and fall back (bottom right, from top left)!

The Communist BTR (bottom left) spots the SLA infantry on the other side of the village (top right) and opens fire with its 14.5mm HMG.

Delta 02 is pinned (yellow bead), so the SLA Commander (right) attempts to rally them.

But they panic and fall back!

The SLA mortar team (bottom left) continues dropping 81 mike-mikes on the FSNL infantry (top right).

But the rounds fall waaaaay long and don't accomplish anything.

Meanwhile, the SLA MG team (bottom left) has gotten itself into a great firing position in cover on the knoll, and they begin laying down fire on the far side of the village (top right), putting one enemy rifle team 'men down' and pinning another.

As the SLA CO pushes Delta 01 and the Track up on the left (top center, pulling up next to Delta 04, from left, with Delta 02 still suppressed at far left).

An enemy rifle team (bottom left) spots the advancing SLA troops (top right) and cuts loose, but the fire is ineffective.

With the CO, Track, and Delta 01 on the move (top right) and the MG team laying down fire (bottom right), the TF23 dashes left (center, from bottom right) to try and help get Delta 02 (far left) back in the game.

Back on the far side of the village, the enemy CO dashes right and rallies his two beat-up rifle teams.

The enemy CO (just visible behind the trees at far right) then pushes the two recently rallied teams forward (right and bottom center), closing in on Delta 04 (top left), who opens fire.

But they miss, and now the BTR moves into the village and engages Delta 04, too, suppressing them!

The SLA CO dashes through heavy fire to rally Delta 04.

And they immediately fire an M-72 LAW at the BTR!

But the gunner panicked and missed, hitting a nearby house!

The SLA MG team (bottom center) is still working out, putting fire into the village (top center) to try and stave off the attacks on Delta 04 (top left).

One rifle team goes 'men down' (white bead at bottom center) and the enemy CO (top center) and BTR are suppressed!!!

*That excellent bit of shooting may have just saved the day.

The Track and Delta 01 (far left) open fire on an rifle team on the hill (top right), suppressing them!

While on the SLA right, Delta 03 (bottom left) fires (through quite a bit of jungle) at their shadow (far right), to no effect.

The SLA mortar team (bottom left) gets back on track, dropping more 81mm HE rounds on the far side of the village (top right).

And they put another Communist rifle team 'men down'!

The SLA force had rolled up a 'Firefight!' and done tremendous damage to the FSNL troops, with only one enemy team in position to respond (not suppressed or 'men down').  The Communist rifle team at bottom right returns fire on Delta 03 (bottom left, pinning them.

The bad guys roll up a Firefight of their own, which is disastrous, they really need the ability to rally their troops, and this doesn't do it.  They also roll up a random event: "Hit and Run," where a team can fire at any point in its movement, not just before or after.  Well, they've only got one team still in the fight, so that rifle team moves up (right bottom, from bottom right) and fires again on Delta 03 (far left)...

Delta 03 is knocked out!

And then the enemy rifle team finishes its movement by heading for the village (center).

While the enemy CO (red bead at center, on road), suppressed by the SLA MG team, attempts to self rally, but only gets 'up' to pinned!  The Communists are in big trouble!

The SLA CO and Delta 04 charge the enemy CO and rifle team!

They easily knock both out (top left), then continue their rampage, moving up on another rifle team and the BTR!

The rifle team is mowed down, the BTR is knocked out, and the last Communist rifle team in the village surrenders!

With that, the last two surviving FSNL teams retreat, leaving the SLA's D Company in possession of the village!

Once again the SLA D Company mounts a magnificent defense resulting in a resounding success.  D Company will hold their ground (C4), while FSNL1 is forced to fall back to the west (C3).  Next turn they will most likely continue to fall back, will likely hold, and will less likely counterattack.

So that was much more interesting (to me, at least), compared to their last fight, which was defending from prepared positions.  The fight may have seemed like another blowout, but I would submit that if you believe that you're missing how close that really was, and that's what I love about 5Core Company Command, how dynamic it is, and how unpredictable it is.  The fight was pretty evenly matched, but then the Communists gained the upper hand by out-pacing the SLA by getting almost all their troops into the village (at one point Delta 04 was alone and suppressed vs the BTR and three rifle teams), but then the SLA got a firefight and the MG team really saved the day by putting a team 'men down' and suppressing the enemy CO and the BTR.  This set the stage for the SLA CO to rally Delta 04 then go on their close assaulting rampage that secured the victory.  From my standpoint it's a lot like Crossfire, where there's some back and forth and then something breaks and it's all downhill from there.  The only other piece to this is that this was such a crushing victory by SLA D Company that it wouldn't have been off limits to have simply eliminated FSNL1, rather than allow them to fall back, particularly given the fact I had to allow them to 'fall back' laterally as opposed to straight away as, once again, a Communist battle group falling back was 'squeezed' by an Allied unit behind it.

Casualties:

Cuban: ~10 men

Communist: ~20 men, with 5 more captured

Decorations:

D Company Commander was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for rallying his troops under heavy enemy fire and then leading the close assaults that knocked out two enemy rifle teams, the enemy commander, a BTR-70, and captured another rifle team, breaking the enemy attack and forcing the survivors to flee for their lives.

Delta 04 Team Leader was awarded the Silver Star for patrolling into the village, identifying the Communist infiltration, notifying higher headquarters, and holding alone until reinforcements arrived.  Once reinforced, Delta 04's Team Leader participated in the close assaults that knocked out two enemy rifle teams, the enemy commander, a BTR-70, and captured another rifle team, breaking the enemy attack and forcing the survivors to flee for their lives.

Next up we have Major Chavez' Task Force Hammer taking on the FSNL's 3rd Company, for the second time.  Poor FSNL3; they got the piss beat out of them by TF Hammer and were forced to retreat into SLA D Company, where they got the piss beat out of them again, and now TF Hammer is jumping on them again.

V/R,

Jack