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.