THEME E be establishedontopofthemoun- An observation post(OP)would troops by helicoptersince . conda, thelargestairborneinsertionof US decidedtolaunch Operation Ana- invasion era. To counterthismove, the had seenseveral battlesintheSoviet retreated fromforeignpowers, andit a placewhere guerrillafightershad TAKUR GHAR US SPECIALFORCESHELORAIDONAMOUNTAIN TOP 1 spent force; theyhadsimplyretreated intothemountains. as Tora Bora.However, theTaliban were far from being a major citiesanddestroying majorenemystrongholds, such with successaftersuccess,drivingtheenemyoutof who opposedtheTaliban. OperationEnduringFreedom met an invasionintoAfghanistan,backingtheNorthernAlliance In October2001,theUnitedStatesanditsallieshadlaunched By Brig.Gen.(ret)OttovanWiggen&GuyBowers This areahadtraditionally been Kot Valley (the ‘Place of Kings’). forces inandaroundtheShah-i- tected abuild-upofal-Qaeda arly inMarch 2002,theUSde- W argames , S oldiers &S trategy 109 port onenemy troopmovements. plan was touseitasabasere- the restofmountainrange. The ley overlooked boththevalley and eastern side of the Shah-i-Kot Val- tain of Takur Ghar. This peakonthe the Shah-i-Kot Valley (northwest). and reportallenemy movements in infiltrate intoenemy-held territory strong SpecialForces team. They will mountain Takur Gharwithasix-men- Occupy anobservation postontopof THE MISSION BRIEFING

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return them to Kandahar. to them return

toward a Chinook that will will that Chinook a toward

Mountain Division march march Division Mountain

soldiers from the US 10th 10th US the from soldiers

in the Daychopan district, district, Daychopan the in

completing an operation operation an completing

September of 2003 - After After - 2003 of September

Public domain Public

Own forces plus on-callcloseairsupport. tor UAV droneduring infiltration, Spectre gunship,andaMQ1Preda- to move in60minutes,an AC-130 tion Force of24xrangers withnotice to besupportedby aQuick Reac- ed by MH-47atnight-time. They are ammo for three days. To be infiltrat- including comms,weapons,and A SpecialForces teamof6xpax COA 1–Infiltration has two coursesofaction: The Special Forces commander Enemy forces • extremely high. A militiaofapproximately300 er lastkilometres onfoot. avoid detection,andcov- tres fromthemountain to Infiltrate by MH-47, fighters is operating in Shah-i- Bosnia. The enemy’s morale is usual modusoperandi they Kot Valley. According to their man OPsinthemountains. Chechnya, ,and foreign fighterscomingfrom The militia issupportedby drop off some kilome-

The al-Queda fighters hunker in sangars. Their snow cover had prevented detection.

Move, move, move! The Rangers emerge from the downed Chinook. No-one gets left behind when retreating. The wounded are carried to the MH-47.

Advantage: Maintain stealth. (hard cover) at the US starting posi- on on sentry duty. The rest are in the Disadvantage: Limited equip- tions (in blue) and several outcrops two bunkers until the alarm is raised. ment can be carried. in the enemy’s deployment area (marked in red). They also have two The US starting positions are as per COA 2 – Insertion by helicopter sangar bunkers (bunker cover) plus a the map; ignore the Chinook as it • Scan and reconnoitre mountain communication trench running be- does not appear in this scenario. top by UAV. If no enemy detect- tween them. ed on top, infiltrate by MH-47 Scenario 2 – Insertion by helicopter and drop off on the mountain. Scenario 1 – Infiltration As the Chinook approaches, it takes Advantage: More combat In this scenario, the Special Forces fire from concealed enemy on the load can be carried. No loss have hiked up from their landing hill. The scenario starts at the mo- of time and less vulnerable for zone and have so far been undetected ment the helicopter is fired at and detection during infiltration. by the enemy at the summit. The mis- makes an emergency landing. The Disadvantage: Loss of surprise. sion starts as a stealth mission with alarm is raised, so this is a straight Potential hot LZ if enemy on top one fire team and one support weap- fight with no stealth rules.

of the mountain is not detected. © Rocio Espin

PLAYING TAKUR GHAR The actual events of Takur Ghar are relayed in Osprey’s Raid 39, Takur Ghar: The SEALs and Rangers on Roberts Ridge. What we present here are the two possible scenarios and a summary of what actually happened. The following has been written with Osprey’s Black Ops in mind, although as scenario 2 is a straightforward firefight, any ul- tramodern set can be used.

Terrain The table should be open ter- rain bar a few rocky outcrops

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy 109 2 Obviously, the UAV hasn’t noticed off-table fire should count as veteran Al-Qaeda reinforcements – a con- enemy fighters on top of the mountain and at extreme range. US reinforce- script fire team (3 men) or heavy – the reliance on infrared failed as the ments can enter from their edge. weapon team (2 men with RPG or PK). enemy were in snow-covered bunkers. Al-Qaeda reinforcements can enter Strafing run (from an F-16 or AC- During the crash landing, the helicop- from either their edge or the US table 130) – counts as fire from two auto- ter crew are either incapacitated or edge (representing fighters making cannons. dead and the electric power fails so their way to the mountain top). none of the miniguns onboard can be Air strike – 105 mm cannon or 500-pound bomb. Counts as a mor- used. There are two specialist medics US AL-QAEDA POINTS onboard (professionals, activated with tar with +1 save and 2D6 hits. a Queen card) who are taking care of Strafing Al-Qaeda 6 Mortar fire – a turn (2 activations) of the pilots and can tend to the Special run reinforce- off-table mortar fire. Forces operators if they're wounded. ments Special Forces reinforcements – an Air strike Mortar fire 12 additional six-man team, equipped Reinforcements as the original team. Both sides can call on reinforcements Special 18 Forces rein- (see page 32 of Black Ops), rolling a forcements Victory D6 at the end of each full turn. All Either side wins if they wipe out the other from the tabletop. The US Special ORDER OF BATTLE Forces can choose to withdraw once if they take 50% casualties and have United States the option of playing the game again All are elite Special Forces (ACC 3, DED 3). They wear body armour, have (Scenario 2) with a second team. The NODs and are ‘tough’. Each member has suppressors to their weapons, al-Qaeda get to reinforce their position which can fire single shots without raising any noise (noise tokens). They with new troops up to full strength. are in desert uniforms so do not have the right camouflage for the terrain (which will affect observation tests by the enemy). Each member also has WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED a SIG Sauer P226 pistol and a mix of fragmentation and smoke grenades. Chinook helicopter RAZOR 03 flew UNIT ACTIVATION CARD EQUIPMENT towards Takur Ghar with a SEAL team on board. The initial landing Leader Ace M4 carbine point 1 km away was ignored, as Fire team (three-man) Jack 2x M4 carbine, M4 carbine infrared surveillance had shown no with 40 mm UGL heat sources on the mountain top. The decision was made to land on Support King 2x M249 SAW the mountain top to keep the speed in the offensive, even though this Al-Qaeda was against the Advanced Force Op- All are fanatics (DED 3). They are conscripts (ACC 5) with the exception of eratives (AFO) procedure. the named veterans (ACC 4). UNIT ACTIVATION CARD EQUIPMENT Unfortunately, the top of Takur Ghar was occupied by enemy in snow Veteran leader Ace AK-74 covered mountain caves. As RAZOR 03 approached at 02.50 hours, they Veteran fire team (two-man) Jack 2x AK-74 opened up, scoring several hits on Fire team (three-man) Jack 3x AK-74 the aircraft from RPGs, small arms and with a 12.7mm DShK machi- Fire team (three-man) Jack 3x AK-74 negun. To avoid further damage, the Veteran support King 1x PK pilot jinked the aircraft just as the team (two-man) SEALs were readying to disembark. One SEAL, Petty Officer Neil Rob- Support King 1x DShK heavy machine erts, fell from the aircraft despite the gun (two-man) best efforts of his comrades. The hits Support King 1x RPG team (2 man on RAZOR 03 had disabled naviga- tion and the onboard miniguns. 1. The DShK heavy machine gun is mounted on the top of the ridge, so RAZOR 03 limped to safety, it will need to be repositioned to fire down on the Americans, taking putting down seven kilo- two turns (four activations). metres away but with one SEAL left on the moun-

3 Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy 109 The US SF advance on the enemy. Thanks to Empress Miniatures for providing the correct heads for this scenario. tain. In the meantime, Roberts fought summit. The eight-man Ranger team coordination led to the helicopters for his life. He killed two enemy had been reduced to six by enemy attempting repeated landings on the fighters before becoming wounded fire as they clambered out of the Chi- summit, against the AFO guidelines. and captured. The enemy executed nook to engage the enemy. They too The M4 carbines and M249 SAWs him at approximately 04.30 hours. were beaten back and had to deal were outranged by the enemy's with enemy reinforcements coming machinguns. Henceforth, teams The SEAL team requested a second up behind them. Eventually the sec- would have at least one long-range helicopter to return them to the sum- ond team of Rangers in RAZOR 02 weapon. The Chinook helicopters mit to rescue Roberts. RAZOR 04 ar- landed nearby and joined its fellow were also fitted with batteries to al- rived, but it took until 04.55 to reach Rangers. Their combined might was low their miniguns to still fire in the the mountain. They were not aware enough to eventually overrun the en- event of a power failure. WS&S that their teammate was already emy on top of Takur Ghar. dead. RAZOR 04 put down safely on This article is dedicated to the brave the summit and dropped the SEAL Many lessons were learned from this servicemen who were killed or team. They were not immediately battle. Poor intelligence and a lack of wounded at Takur Ghar. spotted by the fighters, but were then beaten back by heavy enemy fire and, with mounting casualties, be- came combat ineffective.

The US Rangers stand-by team was activated and two Chinooks, RAZOR 01 and RAZOR 02, headed for Takur Ghar. US Command ordered RA- ZOR 02 to be on standby, so only RAZOR 01 approached the summit. Due to a miscommunication, they were not informed of the enemy on the mountain-top and RAZOR 01 took heavy fire as the helicopter approached. The al-Queda fighters could not believe their luck having a third enemy aircraft to attack in one night. RAZOR 01 was badly hit Insurgents have set up a well-armed OP with a DShK machinegun to protect their position from airborne attacks. and forced to crash land close to the

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy 109 4