OK, it actually took less than an hour, but it's two months since I posted on my 20mm Old School, One Hour, Bay of Pigs scenario.
As you may remember, I was using Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames' rules to play part of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. Specifically, it was a version of the fighting that took place from the 'Red Beach' (Playa Larga) road to the old sugar mill of 'Central Australia'. The invading Brigadistas, from the Cuban exile's Brigade 2506, were deployed to the north of the small town of Palpite, while the Fidelistas were attempting to push down the road from Central Australia, to collapse the left-wing of the Brigadistas landings. The road itself ran through impassable swamp lands. So how did the One Hour version go?
The Brigadistas had 6 units: three infantry, two mortar, and an M41 tank. The Fidelistas fielded 7 units: one police battalion unit, two militia units, two regular army, a T34 tank, and a JS3 tank. There is no option in the One Hour rules for air strikes, which, of course, proved to be one of the deciding factors in the Bay of Pigs. I thought about adding in a randomly, card-generated air strike from the Brigade's air force, and two from the Fidelistas' air force, but didn't. That was probably the wrong decision. Similarly, I should, perhaps, have added in some limit on the ammunition available to the Brigade (another deciding factor).
The Fidelistas began their drive down the road from Central Australia to Palpite, led by the police battalion, followed by two units of militia:
And, ran straight into the fire of two forward deployed Brigade infantry units, plus that of the two mortars. The mortars have a range of 48", and can fire on any target under observation by friendly units. This was going to prove decisive, as the attacking police and militia soon found out:
As first the police, then the militia units began to crumble, and then the Brigade's M41 came out of cover to add to the mayhem:
The Fidelistas rushed forward the first regular unit, with T34 support:
And the M41 manoeuvred to take the armour threat under fire:
The Fidelistas found it hard to hit back at the entrenched, hidden Brigadistas, and soon both militia units were gone. Realising the severity of the situation, the last regular unit and its JS3 support set out down the road. (I read, somewhere, that the Fidelistas did, in fact, have JS3s and that they were kept in reserve, and never needed).
But the mortars kept hammering the lead Fidelistas, and they, too, were soon off the board:
With just one unit, and the two tanks left (the T34 with 13 hits against it), it was time for a tactical retreat, and the Brigadistas were left in control of the field, having lost only one unit of infantry.
It's pretty clear that air strikes, and an ammunition limit, would have made an impact. I'm not sure how that reflects on the One Hour rules, but it needs thinking about if I'm going to use them for modern games again.
I know it's two months since I've posted, but I haven't been entirely idle (idle, yes; entirely, no) during that time. Instead, I've been using leisure time to write this:
which will be available early next year.
