Historical Background: Six members of Britain's Royal Irish Regiment and a local guide are held hostage by the West Side Boys, former members of the Sierra Leone Army turned rebellious thugs. Hidden SAS observers have seen the drug-adled commander, Brigadier Foday Kallay, conduct a mock execution of the prisoners and have recommended immediate extraction.
Terrain Notes: The wooded areas are Light Jungle (Type II), with about a third to a half being Swamp (Type III). Here's a map of the operation. The width of this map is approximately 600 yards (I guess), or 30 inches. Fill out the rest of the table with woods, and run the roads out to the edges.
British Order of Battle
British Sequence Deck: 3x Barrage Hits!, 4x Close Assault, 3x Deploy, 3x Heroic Moment, 1x Hunker Down, 5x Infantry Move III/IV, 3x Infantry Move Open, 4x Infantry Target Acquisition, 4x Officer Check, 1x Aerial Phase, 1x Elite (SAS/SBS) Target Acquisition, 2x Tactical Initiative (33)
The West Side Boys Order of Battle
West Side Boys Set-Up: The West Side Boys may set up anywhere they want, outside of the woods; i.e., inside the three villages. At least one squad must be on both sides of the river. The hostages are placed inside a building and remain there until rescued by the British. Whomever has a stand within 2" of the hostages controls that squad, but they are always out of command. If both sides are within 2", the hostages are uncontroled and do nothing.
West Side Boys Sequence Deck: 3x Barrage Hits!, 4x Close Assault, 3x Deploy, 1x Heavy Weapon Target Acquisition, 2x Heroic Moment, 7x Hunker Down, 4x Infantry Move III/IV, 4x Infantry Move Open, 3x Infantry Target Acquisition, 2x Officer Check (33)
| Roll Correction Table | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit | Leader | Unit Quality | Opp. Fires | Terrain IV Diff | Other diff |
| Paras | +2 | +2 | 5 | d8 | d8 |
| SAS | +3 | +3 | 5 | d8 | d10 |
| SBS | +3 | +3 | 5 | d6/d10* | d10 |
| WSB | -1 | NC | 3 | d10 | d8 |
Victory Conditions:
British Major victory: Rescue
hostages with no stands lost or squads routed, kill or capture Kallay
by having two squads within 2" and no WSB squads within 5", capture
Land Rovers. WSB treats him as dead.
British minor
victory: Hostages rescued with no squads routed.
British
major failure: Any squads destroyed or two or more squads routed.
Failure to rescue the hostages.
Note: Anything but a major
victory could well lead to a pullout of British forces from Sierra
Leone, leading to much greater hardship for the long-suffering people
of this former colony. A major failure very well could lead to the
downfall of Tony Blair's administration.
WSB major victory: Destroy a squad or shoot down a
helicopter and Kallay escapes.
WSB minor victory: Destroy
a squad or shoot down a helicopter and Kallay is killed/captured.
Major WSB failure: Lose hostages, Kallay and the Land
Rovers.
Note: Giving the British a black eye would no doubt
raise the notoriety of the West Side Boys, possibly propelling the
group to a major position in the rebellion. Which means, of course,
more drugs, more diamonds, more raping and maiming civilians!
Operation Barras in the News
Sample rosters: West Side Boys, British
