Something Rotten in Cronistria

[d_Guy]

Jack,
I didn't do modern but have enjoyed your report. I love the RPG in flight markers (particularly the one in the first set that's about to take out an APC). Are these markers something you scratch built or are the commercially available?

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys, and I'm working on the next write-up.  I also played another

Oh, and I just finished up a bunch of 15mm Vietnam-era US Marines, will post them soon.

D-Guy - they are commercially available from a store called "Fight's On!" in the US, but those missile markers are just pipe cleaners with a little paint on the end.  I'm very lazy so i went the commercial route

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

I think you mean prudent with your time Jack

[bigjackmac]

Paul,

Indeed, Sir!  See, I put out money in order to have more time to bring you fine fellows more battle reports   Working on the next one now, but I need to get upstairs and play some more.

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

Just in time, it's New Year's Eve.  Happy New Year everyone! 

As a quick aside, this is the 75th battle report I've posted this year; hope I do as well next year!

It's 0930 on 15 April 1990, and Team 6-2, down to just Tico (the team leader) and Bear (and the two aren't very happy with one another) are closing in on their objective.  But they're not alone: partly owing to the fact Team 6-2 was so shot up, but partly due to the fact it's simply time to get them on the street, this mission is the first pairing of Cuban Liberation Expeditionary Force troops with soldiers of the Cronistrian Democratic Militia (CDM).  Members of TF Trojas' Det B continue to work on training new recruits; the seven CDM members accompanying Team 6-2 are men with prior military training (in the Army of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or FRY).  They've been designated as leadership cadre for future units to be stood up once Det B 'graduates' its first batch of troops, so this mission is to be their baptism of fire.

So far the CLEF has fought against the Cronistrian National Guard (CNG, members of the military wing of the Cronistrian Communists), the Cronistrian People's Army (CPA, militia of the Cronistrian Communists), and Demjanovic's Tigers (a Special Forces Battalion dispatched to Cronistria specifically to deal with TF Trojas).  But there is another adversary present in Cronistria: while it has suffered large-scale desertions, horrible morale, lapses in leadership, corruption, etc..., the FRY Army still has a number of garrisons in Cronistria.  TF Trojas would love nothing more than to ignore these garrisons, but the problem is that they wish to keep Cronistria from leaving Yugoslavia and have stricken at Cronistrian Democrats on several occasions.  Lt "Mikey" Trojas, consulting with President Andraz Gregor and his military head, General Miroslav Denis, has decided that the best course of action is to violently attack several of the FRY garrisons in the hope of shocking them bad enough that they simply decide to sit out the war.

So Mikey called Tico in to brief, and they settled on a garrison on the Austrian frontier, north of the capital of Miran.  With that, Tico briefed Bear and the CDM team, they went through gear checks and rehearsals, then set out at approximately 0100 on foot.  By 0930 they were in their jump-off positions, ready to put some shock and awe on the FRY garrison.


Tico (center-right) and one of his CDM troops (bottom right) cleared the gas station and guard tower, and now move up on the barracks.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2015/12/cuba-libre-cronistria-fight-6.html

That was a lot of fun; I've fought one more already and need to write it up, and I'm looking to play some more today.  Stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Ouch, poor Bear!

[bigjackmac]

Thanks Lemmey, and Bear will be back.  He just needs to get his stuff together!

I'm working on batrep number 7, played fights number 8 and 9, looking to play two more Saturday and two more Sunday.

I'm really aggravated about not being able to start my 15mm "Fall of South Leon" campaign. 

The issue is I'm waiting on more figures; as near as I can tell, none of them have been dispatched yet either, and then I've got to paint and base'em of course, so no telling when the bad guys will march on Pendrakenville.  But I can't wait to get to it.  My plan is to have some Vietnam War-looking fights up on the border, and some Iraq War-looking fights in the heartland, along with some Special Ops stuff.  I can't wait, getting very impatient 

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 1530 on 18 April 1990, and Team 6-3 is on patrol, seeking out the enemy.  And not just any enemy, their new nemesis: Demjanovic's Tigers, the Serbian 4th Special Forces Battalion.  Serbia is very much interested in holding together the splintering Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).  It had been content with backing, to a certain extent, the Cronistrian Communist Party, as well as keeping several FRY Army units active in Cronistria via pre-existing garrisons/barracks.  But word soon reached Serbian military HQ that a Western nation had dispatched commandos to Cronistria to back the Cronistrian Democrats; President Milosevic ordered the deployment of Major Demjanovic's 4th Special Forces Battalion to hunt them down.

Earlier in the day the Operations NCO approached Lt "Mikey" Trojas, the commander of the CLEF detachment in Cronistria, Task Force Trojas.  "Sir, 626-Forward (a CLEF element across the border in Italy, with a Radio Reconnaissance Team attached) reports new callsigns and locations up on the enemy (radio) net.  This has to be Demjanovic's Tigers.  Most of the callsigns are co-located with FRY garrisons, but we've identified a few located in rural areas.  There's one not two hours' march from here."  "Roger, get me 6-3's leader, Turk."

Turk reported to Mikey, who quickly briefed him in on the situation.  "I want your team to scout out the location ID'ed by 626-Forward, and if you can whack'em, then I damn well want you to whack'em, savvy?"  "Roger, Boss."

Turk assembled his team, briefed and prepped them, and off they went.  By 1330 the four-man patrol was nearing the geocoords provided by 626-Forward.  Unbeknownst to the team, Demjanovic's Tigers had set a trap: they set up several ambush sites in rural areas centered on fake radio transmissions, which they figured might lure the Western commandos to battle.  The only good news for Turk and Team 6-3 was that the enemy had oriented their ambush to the south and west, while Turk had had his men circle around from the north.


The team arrives at the bridge and begins crossing the linear danger area.  The point man crosses, then, the team leader, and the designated marksman had just begun crossing (the SAW gunner is still on the north side of the bridge) when all hell broke loose.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/01/cuba-libre-cronistria-fight-7.html

I've already played the next two fights and need to get them written up for you guys.  They're on the way, so stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack

[ronan]

lovely board !

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Good to see you back Jack! Great report sir!

[Techno]

Ditto !
Cheers - Phil

[d_Guy]

Jack, enjoyed the report. In looking through your blog I didn't find the rules that you use. Are the commercial or your own?

[bigjackmac]

Ronan - Hey buddy, how are you?  I've been keeping an eye on your blog, no gaming lately eh?      Hope you're able to get some more games in soon.

Lemmey and Phil - Thanks guys, it's always appreciated, hope you liked the fight.

D Guy - I use a commercial set of rules known as "5Core," which is a system put out by a guy named Ivan Sorenson (he hangs out on TMP and The Wargames Website).  There are rules for skirmish level ("Five Men In Normandy"), company level (5Core Company Command), and brigade level (5Core Brigade Commander), as well as various sci-fi adaptations.  He also has another system, '...End in Sight.'  'No End in Sight' are his WWII to present rules, 'No Stars in Sight' his sci-fi rules.

In any case, I use 5Core pretty much exclusively these days; I've played about 100 battles at skirmish, platoon, company, and battalion level with them, and they think they're fantastic.  You can get them pretty cheap as a PDF from The Wargame Vault.

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 1830 on 18 April 1990, and Task Force Trojas is a flurry of activity.  Turk and Panda of Team 6-2 were captured approximately two and a half hours ago, and Lt Mikey Trojas, the Task Force commander, has been working non-stop to retrieve his men.  First and foremost is the issue of location; where would Demjanovic's Tigers, the Serbian commandos that captured the Cuban Special Forces men, decide to take Mikey's men?

Mikey immediately met with the Cronistrian Democract President, Andraz Gregor, and the head of his military, General Miroslav Denis, both of whom pledged their support.  Mikey impressed upon them the urgency; Mikey figures the Serbs' most likely course of action is either to interrogate then execute Turk and Panda, or whisk them out of Cronistria and back to Serbia as soon as possible.  In either case, time is of the essence.  Mikey informed the President and the General that his Task Force is acting to find Turk and Panda: Team 6-1 is on the street pressing its HUMINT sources for any word of their location, and 626-Forward's SIGINT element has discovery of Turk and Panda's location as its top priority.  Gregor and Denis agree to immediately press their informants, moles in the Yugoslavian Army, Cronistrian National Card, and Cronistrian People's Army, and to use Cronistrian Democratic Militia to aggressively scout for the location of Turk and Panda.

Within 45 minutes a TF Trojas source pointed to the area southeast of the capital city of Miran.  626-Forward's SIGINT element did some pattern analysis and laid good odds that the missing CLEF members were being held at the FRY (Yugoslav Army) base near the village of Petroika, five miles southeast of Miran.  And then General Gregor's men came through: a mole in the FRY, stationed at Petroika, walked off base, found a payphone, and breathlessly reported to his handler that '...two of our friends were just brought to the base by the Serb scum, and one is hurt pretty bad.'  CDM scouts were able to confirm on VHF that there was increased activity at Petroika, and the Serbs were present there as well.  Shortly thereafter SIGINT traffic showed a Serb Lieutenant at Petroika contact Major Demjanovic in Miran, and then Demjanovic immediately radioed Belgrade.

Mikey: "Get your stuff together, I think this is it."And with that, a detachment of CDM troops and the remnants of TF Rojas loaded into trucks for movement to Petroika.  Once there, Mikey met with President Gregor's nephew, who had just debriefed the CDM mole in the FRY's Petroika garrison.  Gregor's nephew pointed out the building Turk and Panda were being held in, and informed Mikey a Serb interrogation team had just arrived and begun working them over.  Mikey then convened a meeting of the small unit leaders, in which he literally drew his plan in the dirt.  His initial inclination was to leave Rock and Bolt, the two remaining members of Team 6-3, back at base camp, but they pleaded to be a part of the mission and so he gave them the thumbs up.  So the mission would go down in three phases:

1.  The initial breach: Tico and Bear of Team 6-2 would lead one squad of CDM troops to force a hole in the FRY's base perimeter.  Team 6-4, along with attachments from 6-3 (Rock and Bolt) would infiltrate through the penetration towards the target building.  Team 6-2/CDM 1st Squad would continue to demonstrate in order to draw enemy attention.

2.  Team 6-4 (plus attachments) make the direct action assault on the target building to secure Turk and Panda.

3.  Team 6-4+ departs objective area for rally point.  All teams rendezvous at rally point, return to base, with Team 6-1 covering withdrawal.

-CDM 2nd and 3rd Squads take up blocking positions along fast routes into Petroika in order to keep enemy QRF from Miran from reinforcing.

-Team 6-1 takes up position near initial breach and is assault force reserve.

**Game note: 1, 2, and 3 above are played out as three separate games.  This batrep is for #1 above.


CLEF and CDM forces approach the line of departure, with FRY defenses in the background.  To see how it turned out, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/01/cuba-libre-cronistria-fight-8.html

Well, the first phase of the operation is finished, next is on to the target building for the actual In Extremis Hostage Rescue mission, conducted to secure Turk and Panda, currently being interrogated by a Serbian team.  I've already played this, just need to write it up; I'm hurrying!

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Alas poor Blue, we hardly knew ya!