AAR: Operation Black Bag

UNSIA Special Operations Group Saphhire
After-Action Report
Operation Black Bag
<deleted>, 2182
<deleted>

As reported by Sgt. <Deleted>, Engineer for SOG Saphhire:

<narrative picks up after the team has breached the
enemy frontier, moved to the objective, captured the target,
and is in the process of extracting from enemy territory>

Our team, lead by Lt. Malakai and Sgt. Peshwari, had so far
met little resistance. We'd captured the belligerent officers
who were the target of the operation, and fully expected to
return them successfully to friendly territory in custody
for transfer to the custody of the United Nations Plenipotentiary
Court for trial. It appeared to us quite likely they would be
delivered without incident, and that they would be tried for
violations of the UN Accords on Human Rights, the UN Articles of
Warfare and the New Geneva Conventions on Warfare.

We were exfiltrating from the belligerent colony exactly as
we had entered - reversing our steps. To enter, we had disabled
part of the electronic frontier and accompanying minefields.
On our return, we were heading back to the disabled part of
the minefield frontier. Our goal was to cross through the
forested region near the border, pass through the enemy minefield,
cross the demarkation river, pass through the friendly minefield,
and deliver our guests into the hands of the authorities.

We had split into two diamonds of four men each - one under
Sgt. Peshwari, one under Lt. Malakai. Each took a prisoner.
Sgt. Peshwari had Miroslav Krycic, a local police commandant
reknowned for torturing and killing prisoners and for shooting
surrendering enemies. Lt. Malakai had Adrianna Kinova, a local
paramilitary commander guilty of "ethnic cleansings". Each
team took a different route to the extraction point. The
idea was to minimize the chances of being caught, and to
allow at least one team to get away if the situation went bad.

Things went from seemingly smooth to quite problematic very soon
after we departed the target's home area with the prisoners.
Pursuit was joined by a sizeable body of armed men - estimated
to be 30-35 men in size - a platoon of enemy regulars.

Both of our squads made good progress through the woods towards
our extraction points, while we were feeling fresh. However,
the enemy began pursuit very quickly after our departure from
the target point and were very close on our heels.

About 250 meters short of the river, Lt. Malakai's squad was
surprised by an enemy formation. They were taken under fire
before they could react from very close range. In the first
exchange of fire, the team marksman was killed, the prisoner
was killed, and the team SAW gunner (the other engineer) was
wounded. Only the Lt. Malakai and the team medic remained
standing. They attempted to return fire, but their fire was
ineffectual.

We continued moving towards the objective, but as soon as
we had opportunity due to a clearing in the tree cover,
Sgt. Peshwari ordered our marksman to begin engaging the
enemy unit pinning our other squad. Despite the enemy squad being
within 40 meters of our command squad, and our squad being
over 400 meters away, our marksman began to engage the enemy
squad. Sgt. Peshwari obviously intended to break the enemy
squad with sniper fire and thus allow the command squad to
escape.

During this period, several other enemy squads began to be
heard crashing through the bush in hot pursuit of our squad.

Our marksman found at least one target in the enemy squad,
but we seemed unable to sufficiently suppress them such that
the command squad could extricate themselves. We kept moving,
but we ran into some very thick thickets and moved slowly. The
squads pursuing us seemed to be gaining but we could not see
them nor they see us yet.

Sgt. Peshwari unfortunately lost sight of the mission objectives
in attempting to free Lt. Malakai's squad. Perhaps if luck had
been better, his strategy would have played out differently.
As it was, our squad moved too slowly, and the enemy was upon
us. They appeared from the woods 60 meters away, and began cutting
down our squad members with very effective rifle fire from two
squads. At least 15 rifles engaged our position with bursts and
grenades. Sgt. Peshwari and our medic were killed instantly,
and I saw our marksman fall and later be captured. Being the only
member of the squad left standing, I immediately thought to
try to get to the wounded man and extract himself and myself.

The enemy were too wise to give us an opportunity to regroup.
Both squads assaulted our position. I'll admit that twenty to
one odds seemed like sure suicide to me, so I withdrew from
the position and I was unable to rescue my comrade.

Lt. Malakai's squad had remained pinned and continued to take
casualties (the medic was slain as was the wounded engineer).
Realizing what a hash had been made of the mission, his last
transmission to me was "Get the Hell home! Someone's got to
tell them how badly I f*(&^d up. Screw the prisoner, just get
out if you can. I'm done. I just took a hit in the leg. Godspeed."

With Lt. Malakai's words ringing in my ears, I
executed an emergency breakaway and dropped my pack, my extra
ammo, and I ran for the river. Fortunately, my physical conditioning
was good and I made it through the compromised part of the
frontier, and down the bank into the river.

The two enemy squads pursued me through the forest. I could
hear them crashing behind me, and imagined them like wolves
at my heels.

I must have walked on water to cross the river, so much haste was
I in. Unfortunately, in my haste to flee from the impending enemy
forces (due to my fear they'd fire into my back as I crossed
the river or climbed the far bank), I became disoriented.

In my confused (and unknowing) state, I proceeded to what I thought
was the disabled part of the friendly minefield. Much to my
chagrin, this part of the minefield was live and I set off an
AP mine. The mine injured me and the blast knocked me unconscious.

When I came to, a patrol of friendly troops was standing around
me and their medic was treating me. They told me I'd missed my
target point on their side of the river by about 75 meters. They
bandaged me and treated my wounds and then I was medevac'd to
a nearby hospital.

< end of recorded testimony>
< Note that this mission brief is classified. The United Nations
denies any allegations relating to the presence of any UN forces
on the world in question, and brands the prisoners touted in the
belligerent's media as ersatz and bogus, actors playing the role
of UN prisoners.>
< Note further that an operation to rescue the prisoners was
subsequently mounted, but this operation is detail for another day.>

[GAME MODE]
Scenario involved two 4 man elite SF teams, one under Lt.
Malakai (Ldr 2) and another under Sgt. Peshwari (Ldr 1) extracting
with two prisoners through a wooded board to a river. The board
was rectangular N/S being the long axis, the river being N on the
board. On both sides of the river, a mixed line of counters was
deployed (sensor mines and dummies) by the two forces. Neither force
knew which of the enemy counters was a live mine. The SF player (me
in this case) then replaced a counter on his side and another on
the other side (without looking at it) with a lettered counter.
These represented the compromised stations through which extraction
would occur.

The UN SF Squads were:
4 Men, Elite, Basic Armour (D6), Superior Sensors (D10), Light
Infantry
movement rates (D8 - cut to d6" with prisoner in tow). Arms for each
team were: Leader/Comms: Adv AR w GL. Medic: Adv AR w GL. Engineer:
Conv SAW
Weaps: Gauss Sniper Rifle (sniper benefits). They had a high mission
motivation (they are recruited for "pep") and a confident morale. Lt.
was Ldr 2 and Sgt leading the other squad was Ldr 2.  They had to
escort
2 unarmed and unarmoured prisoners. They also had 6 dummy counters.

UN Orders:
1. Escape with prisoners across river.
2. Allow no prisoners (Omega Sanction) to be taken from the squad.

UN entry: roll for each unit and 6 dummies (since using hidden
movement)
and move each one full turns movement onto the board. This is pre-game
movement.

The pursuit
1 Platoon of Belligerent infantry
1 cmd squad - 4 men - 1 SMG/Carbine, 3 old style AR w GL, basic armour
(D6),
standard mobility (D6), Enhanced Sensors (D8). Motivation was medium
and
morale was confident. Regular quality, Ldr 2.
3 rifle squads - 10 men each - 10 AR w GL, basic armour (D6), standard
mob (D6),
Basic Sensors (D6). Med Motivation, confident morale. One was Reg-2,
one
was Reg-3, and another was Green-2.

Belligerent Orders:
1. Stop the escape of the enemy squads.
2. Recapture the prisoners.

Belligerent entry: For each squad, roll d4. On that turn, unit may
move.

Comments to add to above narrative:
- UN placed "escape point" slightly west of center. 1 squad enterred
slightly east of centre, the other slightly left of centre. The idea
was they'd stay within about 18" of each other (2nd range band for
elite)
and converge on the entry point.
- Early game went 50/50. UN SF ran fast through the woods. But enemies
entered 2 rifle squads in turn 1, 1 in turn 2, and the command squad
in
turn 4. So the pressure was on the UN from the start.
- Light woods LoS limit at 6". Heavy woods 2", clearing unlimited.
- Belligerents converted 2-3 chits in the first couple of rounds
(dummies) plus
they located the command squad.
- Poor choice on the SF behalf resulted in me moving a chit instead of
the
command squad when the green belligerent squad was near. Then a good
command
activation rolled them up to point blank (around a bank of heavy
woods) and
they started killing the command squad. (I should have declared
reaction fire
and probably cut them down, but I forgot!). The command squad remained
pinned
here the entire game - it basically died here.
- Poor shooting from my second SF sniper resulted in not enough kills
to break
the green rifle squad attacking the command section (I sucked...).
Plus I should
have written off the command squad - at that time I had enough of a
lead I probably
could have gotten out the whole other squad and their prisoner. But I
didn't want
to give them up when only 1 green squad was attacking them.
- The overrun of the second squad was nasty. It failed a key move to
cover, then
a full fire from two reactivated rifle squads chewed it up. Next turn,
both squads
(20 men) close assaulted the one remaining guy, who understandably
beat feet.
- I screwed up again going across the river - walked into the friendly
mines. Then
bad rolling wounded my last remaining guy.

In conclusion:

Fast game - about 2 hours to play.

End result: Decisive belligerent victory. They lost one of their
prisoners, but they
got one back and 2 UN prisoners. And they obliterated the UN force.

Tactics: If I'd been more on the ball, it might have been a very
different outcome.
If I'd have moved my command squad at a smart time, I'd have avoided
them being
pinned. If I'd snap fired, I might have broken the green rifle squad.
If I could
roll dice, I'd have sniped people. If I could roll dice, I would have
escaped
with the second squad (if I'd written off the command squad sooner, I
would have
despite bad rolling). If both squads had been closer together, more
support might
have been brought to bear. If I'd avoided the mines on the other
side.... If If If.
I mucked up a bunch of times and paid for it. Elite are good as long
as they don't
get triple suppressed. Then they have a hard time doing anything. The
pursuers
had good luck with their entry rolls, and used their command units
offensively.
They played an almost perfect game.

Highlights: Me walking into mines. Derek's 20:1 close assault (I lost
2 confidence
levels unsurprisingly). My poor sniping. The Green troops absolutely
obliterating
(over time) the elite SF unit. My confusion about where to leave the
river and
my exposure to a mine.... (final insult).

Closing Thought: If I'd know how this was going to turn out, I'd have
named it
operation Body Bag. <g>. As it was, I think it could be won by a more
focused
SF player - if I hadn't lost sight of the mission or key moments to
act (like
when I should have splattered the green troops before they splattered
my command
unit), the SF could probably win. The other thing that would help them
is
giving them 1 EW chit for each comms officer (1 per squad unless their
comms
guy is down) to help them mitigate the effects of the enemy command
unit. Or let
them attempt one *freebie* command transfer (they are highly
independent SF
guys who don't need too many instructions) to allow the command squad
to keep
moving. I'll try this one again sometime - it is a quick throw
together and a lot
of fun.

My thanks to Derek McQuay and Gary Kett, my Worthy Adversaries. They
ran a good
game, and had the added satisfaction of royally booting my butt.

Thomas Barclay
Software UberMensch
xwave solutions
(613) 831-2018 x 3008