Something Rotten in Cronistria

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

 
Neptune, Titan, stars can frighten!

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 1730 on 29 June 1990 and Battlegroup Caballero is pushing toward Operation Chokehold's final objective, the Cronistrian town of Stanje, completing the western encirclement of the capital city of Miran.  Victory is near at hand, and as the Cubans near Stanje the Cronistrian Democrats begin their push to clear the town of Brevno of Communist forces.


Overview, north is up, with Stanje at top center and Hill 127 at bottom right.  The Cubans will enter from the top left (northwest).


As the Cobra (bottom left) rolls in to look for the T-62 and put a TOW into it, an enemy rifle squad (top right) launches a rocket.  The Cubans collectively hold their breath as the rocket rises towards the attack helicopter.  To see what happened, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/11/cuba-libre-cronstria-fight-21.html

This was a helluva fight, a real nail-biter for me, one that I enjoyed immensely.  I hope it's as fun to read as it was to play.

That is the last of the four fights from last weekend, more coming up this weekend.  I'm hoping to finish up Operation Chokehold, but I just thought of something else that might be cool, and I've been sick as a dog since Thursday and I'm not sure if I'm up to it.  I laid on the couch Thursday and Friday, managed to paint a grand total of six (6) figures today.  Hopefully I pass my rally roll and get back in the fight, stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great fight, thanks for the report Jack.

The enemy tank deserves a medal!

[Techno]

+1

Super report, Jack !

Cheers - Phil

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys, but no medals for bad guys!!! 

Sorry, I'd been pretty busy and missed these comments. 

Next batrep on the way.

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

AKA, Operation Cro-Wings #1

It's 1745 on 29 June 1990 and it's time for a diversion.  I've been playing 5Core Company Command in 6mm, but I've got a hankering for some modern skirmish, so here we go.  I've been playing out "Operation Chokehold," where Cuban mechanized forces have been on a blitzkrieg, pushing north and east to encircle the Cronistrian capital of Miran.  This effort has been going swimmingly, but the operational planning had identified Cronistrian Communist armored forces to the north of the battle area.  As a counter, known as "Operation Cro-Wings*," Lt Trojas' ODA 626 was broken up into five- and six-man teams infiltrated into various 'hides' along the northern edge of the Operation Chokehold area of operations.  The teams settled into the hides to perform surveillance on avenues of approach to the north, acting as tripwires for Task Force Galban.  The plan was for the recon teams to report if Communist forces were seen massing or moving towards Task Force Galban's left (northern) flank, providing time for the Cuban mechanized forces to prepare for any Communist counterattacks.

And that is exactly what happened.  At approximately 1710, Team 3 of ODA 626, under GySgt "Turk" Dos Santos was settled into its hide atop Hill 781 when it spotted Communist forces and called it in to TF Galban headquarters.  Not only was the info immediately relayed to TF Aguilera, who immediately set about preparing a reception for the incoming Communists (Cronistria fight #24), but Cuban F-4 Phantoms were sent in, arriving on station at 1730 and making several runs, devastating the Communist armor.

Turk's team remained in its hide, at 50% (half on watch, half sleeping), with no expectation of contact.  Unbeknownst to them, Communist forces had identified the team's location via radio-direction finding equipment and dispatched militia to take on the Cuban Special Forces troops.  At 1745 SSgt "Chick" Alfaro alerted the team via intra-squad radio: "Contact, contact, everyone up.  We've got movement down-slope to the north."

*Operation Cro-Wings: yeah, this is a direct rip-off of "Lone Survivor" and the real-life "Operation Redwings."


Overview of map, north is left.  The team is in and around the bombed out house at bottom left, which is on the crest of Hill 781 (yes, I know the house is the absolute worst spot for a hide owing to target indicator issues, but it's a game and I wanted to break up the terrain a bit).  Regarding Hill 781, think of the entire table as being pretty high up on a sizable mountain, with various peaks being labelled hills.  So bottom left is Hill 781, top left is Hill 690, bottom right is Hill 691, and top right is Hill 850.  Don't worry about all those, just know the original observation post is at bottom left and the team is running to exit the table at top right.  As you see, the area is heavily forested with pine trees and there is a stream running across the board, though it's really just there for looks, doesn't mess with movement.

The team is in and around the building at bottom left.  There are five bad guys in the northeast (top left), and five bad guys in the southwest (bottom right).  Those are two of the bad guy entry points; don't forget, the initial call of 'contact' is bad guys coming up the slope from the north, i.e., the bottom left.  Once the team gets moving and the bad guys start taking casualties they'll start using the bottom left corner as an entry point.


The opposing forces, with Cuban SOF at left and Communist militia at right.  The good guys are Battlefront SEALs (Vietnam era) and the bad guys are Eureka Chechens.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so here's the plan: the bad guys will start with these ten men on the board, at three separate entry points.  As bad guys get whacked they will come back on the board, 're-spawning' at one of the three entry points.  So theoretically there will always be ten bad guys on the board, no matter how many I kill, chasing my six guys.  And if (when?) I take casualties I will have to take them with me.

I will make things a little easier on myself: in the rules (as with most rules), when someone gets shot there is an 'out of the fight' option.  That guy is done for the fight, then after the fight I roll to see if what actually happened to him; there are options for 'dramatic scar,' knocked unconscious, light wound, serious wound, debilitating injury, and dead.  To make things potentially easier for me, when one of my guys gets an 'out of the fight' result, I will move a buddy over to check on him, and then I'll make the casualty roll to see what actually happened to him.  If he's dead or seriously wounded then one of my guys will have to carry him out, but if he's 'lightly wounded' or less he will be able to continue the fight, just moving a bit slower, some other penalties for shooting and reactions.


The Cubans are nearing their objective, but the bad guys send an RPG up-slope at them.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/12/cuba-libre-cronstria-fight-22.html

Hope you liked it, fight number two of Operation Cro-Wings coming right up.  Oh, and someone please do me a favor: I've posted about eight batreps recently, and not received a single comment, and I did in the past, so I'm starting to wonder is something is wrong with the mechanism for leaving comments on the blog.  So, if one of you doesn't mind, please leave a test comment here.  Thanks in advance.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Man of the match: The Goat!

Good one Jack, liking the terrain too.

[d_Guy]

As always enjoyed the picture stories over at your blog. I'll echo the sentiments about the terrain - very stylish. Did you makes the hills or are they commercially available?

[Techno]

Great stuff again, Jack.

Cheers - Phil

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys, I appreciate ya!

Not sure what I was doing with the goat, kinda took on a life of its own.

Guillaume, the hills are from Battlezone in the US.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Regimental mascot? 

[Ithoriel]

Coming soon - Cronistria: The Men Who Stare At Goats

Great AAR and lovely looking game, as ever.

[bigjackmac]

Lemmy - Perhaps, if anyone survives to bring the goat out! 

Ithoriel - If we leave them up in the mountains any longer, it may turn into the men that @#$% goats!!!   

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

AKA, Operation Cro-Wings #2

It's 1805 on 29 June 1990 and Team 3 of Lt Trojas' ODA 626 is sitting atop Hill 850.  They had been performing surveillance, from Hill 781 to the northeast, on a nearby road networks, serving as a tripwire to warn TF Galban mechanized forces of enemy counterattack.  They spotted enemy armor moving in, reported it to TF HQ, and coordinated air strikes (some enemy forces still got through; that's actually the next fight, TF Aguilera fighting off the enemy counterattack near Pisa).  However, enemy radio direction finding efforts triangulated the team's position and vectored Communist militia into the area.  Team 3 was able to get the drop on the bad guys, but there were simply too many, and so the Cubans abandoned their positions and moved to Hill 850 in a running firefight.  The team suffered one man seriously wounded (he has to be carried in this game) and three lightly wounded (for game purposes these men are now back to full strength for this fight).

Upon reaching the crest of Hill 850 the team made comms with TF HQ.  They were informed Battlegroup Elias was standing by as QRF to get them out, but the team needs to continue moving southeast to Hill 825, which has a Helicopter Landing Zone (HLZ) just east of it which is suitable for extraction.  The radioman informed the team leader, GySgt "Turk" Dos Santos of this development.  "Uhh, fellas, I got bad news."  Everyone turned to look as Turk showed them the problem: the team's back was to a 30 foot cliff; with enemy troops coming from the north, northeast, and southwest, the only avenue of escape was down the cliff, across a draw, and up Hill 825 to the southeast.


Overview, north is left.  Hill 850, where the team is starting, is at bottom left, while the rally point is at top right, on the crest of Hill 825.  Again a draw runs across the board, with a stream cut into it.  The team is on the board, atop Hill 850 at bottom left, trading fire with more than 60 enemy troops (off camera to bottom left) moving up, hoping to encircle and eliminate the Cuban Special Forces team.


The team, having to carry one of its seriously wounded members while under fire from three directions, has scampered down Hill 850 (off camera to bottom left) and has begun its climb up Hill 825 (off camera to top right), trying to get to the LZ before being overrun by bad guys.  To see how it turned out, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/12/cuba-libre-cronstria-fight-23.html

The third fight of Operation Cro-Wings is coming up soon, but up next is actually the fight at the town of Pisa as Battlegroup Aguilera tries to fight off the Communist armored elements that fought their way through the Cuban airstrikes called in just prior to the first fight of Op.  Stay tuned!

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Yet again, the goat did well!