Modern Middle East Batrep: Operation Payoff

[bigjackmac]

All,

Operation Pay-Off is a series of three fights based on Ambush Alley Games' scenario book, "Lawyers, Guns, and Money."  Of course, in this fight the Ambassador and his escort is about to be ambushed, their vehicles disabled.  The mission of A Squadron is then to move the Ambassador to the hotel at bottom right, set up a secure perimeter, and attempt to establish comms with the outside world (a Quick Reaction Force).  The first fight went so long I'm actually breaking it into two separate battle reports.


The table, 2' x 2', north is up, with the three-vehicle convoy already parked in front of the cafe at top left.  The hotel/rally point is at bottom right.  The good guys (A Squadron) have sixteen men in four teams to protect the Ambassador.  The bad guys start with four five-man teams on the table, and every time five of them are eliminated they are reconstituted as a team and re-enter the table at a random location (a 'hotspot' in Ambush Alley/Force on Force terminology).


Things are heading south quick.  The ambush is sprung, and insurgent team pops up on a roof and launches an RPG.  To see how Part 1 turned out, please check the blog at:
link

Stay tuned.  This weekend we should be able to finish this game, and I'll get it posted as soon as I can.

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

 

I nearly missed the link 'cos it's just the one word, though. 


Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Thanks for the game report, well worth the time.
And the wargame is pretty cool too!

[JeffNNN]

Never mind all those dollar bills. The highest value for space you can get is €500 notes. You can get an awful lot in a briefcase (so I'm told). They can be an absolute buggier to get changed or to spend though. That is based on bitter experience.

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys! And what could you be bitter about with a briefcase full of 500€ notes!?  I need to come work for you

Phil - yeah, I'm not sure why it put the link like that.

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 22 June 1990, and things are not going well.  While the War of Liberation brought about a free Cuba with a democratically-elected government, pro-Castro holdovers have been causing quite a bit of trouble, detonating pipe bombs in markets, sabotaging power transformers and rail lines, indiscriminately firing into crowds, and assassinating government officials.   Cuban intelligence was able to trace the activity back to Castro regime holdovers backed by Venezuela, and somehow tied to an unidentified Middle Eastern state.  Overtures were made to the Venezuelan government in order to halt the violence,


Upon receipt of this information, President Waraldonez called a National Security Meeting to discuss potential courses of action.  It goes without saying that General Estevante recommended war with Venezuela; El Preidente told him to put a cork in it, then turned to his diplomats, who immediately went to work, using political back channels, with the Venezuelan government.  El Presidente was informed that Venezuela's bottom line was 'reparations,' payment for upsetting the balance of power and peace amongst the peoples of the Caribbean, and President Waraldonez reluctantly agreed to this scheme.

Major Villanueva and fifteen of his Special Operations troops were dispatched to escort "The Ambassador" to Agadir, Morocco, in order to deliver an astoundingly large amount of money to an individual designated by Venenzuela, in what was now labelled "Operation Pay-Off."  But Operation Pay-Off was doomed from the beginning, as Venezuela and its as yet unidentified Middle Eastern co-conspirator never had any intention of honoring the deal.  As Major Villanueva and his men led The Ambassador to the exchange point a string of explosive devices detonated, destroying the Cuban vehicles and the building they were headed for.  A fierce firefight broke out between the Cubans and unidentified masked gunmen; the Cubans were attempting to fight their way out of the ambush zone, get to a defensible building, and link up with a a local Moroccan Quick Reaction Force (QRF), which was coordinated by Major Villanueva prior to the execution of Operation Pay-Off.


Things, as usual, are not going so well.  Back at the command post we see men cowering (red bead) and casualties mounting.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/10/operation-pay-off-batrep-1-part-ii.html

The games have been fun, just way too long, and my dice rolling has sucked in a truly extraordinary fashion.  I've got one more fight to post, then I need to play another one to finish off Operation Pay-Off.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Hell of a fight, glad to see you back mate!

[paulr]

Welcome back Jack, it's been a while

[Womble67]

Thanks for sharing i really enjoyed  it

Take care

Andy

[Techno]

Good scrap !
Welcome back, Jack.

Cheers - Phil

[bigjackmac]

Hey, thanks guys, I really appreciate it.  And don't worry, I missed you too 

But it is good to be back playing and gaming, and hopefully it's a good read for you.  I've got one more of these fights to play (two to post), then looking to get into some other stuff.  Trying to figure out if it will be 6mm Air Cav in Vietnam (under the guise of South Leon), 6mm modern mech (under the guise of Cronistria), back to 3mm Hakuna-Matata, 10mm KG Klink in France, or something I haven't even thought of yet

Stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack

[nikharwood]

3mm H-M gets my vote

[d_Guy]

Jack,
As always wonderful story telling and a very immersive read. I was interesting in the ways you adapted the game part way through to handle the "too many figures" problem. Solo gaming is often like movie making and you are producing a box office smash hit.

[bigjackmac]

All - Well, Nik's the only one that voted, so looks like I'm going to 3mm Hakuna-Matata, at least for a bit

D-Guy Goodness, you're far too kind!  You're gonna give me a big head    Thanks a bunch!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 22 June 1990, and things are not going well for Major Villanueva and his men.  They are in Agdir, Morocco, where they were charged with escorting The Ambassador to a meeting, but there was no meeting, it was all a ruse that led to a complex ambush.  That was at noon; it's now about 1220.  Villanueva and his men have been in a firefight for about twenty minutes now; they have suffered six of their 16 shooters becoming casualties (though The Ambassador is safe), and they have killed almost forty enemy soldiers.  They got off the 'X,' out of the kill zone, by fighting their way approximately 100 meters to a building where they are hoping to hole up and wait for a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) made up of Moroccan Army troops and vehicles (this was coordinated prior to the operation beginning) to come in and save their bacon.

But Major Villanueva is on the radio with the QRF commander, Captain Mohammed Massaquoi, at the head of a convoy of a company of infantry supported by a platoon of tanks, and things are not looking good.  First, comms suck in the built up area.  Second, the maps suck, and the meeting site is in a very inhospitable (to the Moroccan government), congested area, so both the Cubans and the QRF are having a hard time figuring out exactly where they are and communicating it to the other.  Lastly, the Cubans are not the only ones under attack; the bad guys are also attacking the QRF.  So effecting a linkup between two forces not used to operating with each other, in areas neither is particularly familiar with, with spotty communications, under fire, is proving to be quite a task.

Major Villanueva: "Alright, everyone listen up!  The QRF is pretty sure they know where we are and they know where they are.  The problem is they can't get their armor in here due to being engaged, not knowing the terrain well enough, and it being too constricted anyway.  They don't want to leave their vehicles as they'd be losing a lot of combat power, and then wouldn't be in a good spot to get us, our casualties, and their casualties out.  They're sitting on a major fast route another hundred meters east of here; they need us to move to them.  So, same drill as last time.  Lead element fights us through, trail element pulls rear security and drags the casualties.  Mouse, you take lead element this time."

The teams, or what was left of them, quickly reorganized, took a sip of water, redistributed ammo, took a quick look at the map, oriented themselves to the terrain, and moved out.


The boys can't even got off their starting positions.  The enemy makes good use of their RPGs; here a rocket slams into the building, knocking one operator down and pinning two more.  To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/10/operation-pay-off-batrep-2.html

Well, I'll say this: if you like that batrep you're a communist!   I'm working on the finale, let's see if anyone makes it out alive...

V/R,
Jack