Dragon Rouge

[Kingfish]

In early August 1964, several thousand Simba rebels under the command of Nicholas Olenga stormed the defenses of Stanleyville, a city of 300,000 deep in the heart of the newly independent Republic of the Congo. The victorious rebels promptly took more than 1,600 European residents hostage and announced that any attempt by the Congolese government to recapture the city would precipitate the killing of the Europeans. So began the drama that culminated in the first-and in many ways, the most complex-multinational hostage rescue operation of the cold war.

One hundred and eleven days after Olenga's capture of Stanleyville, in the dawn hours of 24 November 1964 following a strike by CIA-piloted B-26s against Stanleyville Airport, 5 U.S. Air Force C­130s bearing 340 troops of the 1st Battalion, Belgian Paracommando Regiment, staged a combat assault to seize the airport. The airborne assault was planned to coincide with the arrival in Stanleyville of a ground force composed of Belgian and U.S. Army officers, a small CIA element, and a contingent of the Congolese Army.

Excerpt copied from: Dragon Operations: Hostage Rescues in the Congo, 1964-1965

Dragon Rouge is a CMAK scenario depicting the hostage rescue at Stanleyville by the 1st Bn, Belgian Paracommando regiment. The scenario is designed to be played against the AI, but unlike other scenarios this one does not require you to capture flags or eliminate enemy units. Instead, following the airborne assault and consolidation, you must penetrate into the city and rescue as many hostages as possible in the time allotted (120 turns).

The map is 3600 meters by 1760 meters, and is as close to historically accurate as the game engine allows.

Your initial force consists of 2 companies of Belgian paracommandos (American Glider units) plus support elements. These units have just dropped on the tarmac of Stanleyville airport. Your first assignment is to secure the airfield and adjacent territory, so that the second wave can arrive via USAF C-130s. This force is orbiting overhead, so you must move quickly. Furthermore, no doubt your arrival has been noticed by the Simbas, and if you do not get into the city as soon as possible they may begin executing the hostages.

In addition to the Paracommados another force is approaching the city from the south. This force, dubbed "L'Ommengang", consists of Belgian and US Army officers, a small CIA element (British recon assault platoon), and a contingent of the Congolese army (2 companies of French motorized infantry). However, they have encountered several ambushes on their approach, so they will be delayed. For now, you are on your own.

As you progress into the scenario you will begin sending in reports, via e-mail to me, of your progress and tactical situation. These reports will trigger updates from me, which will contain all sorts of information. Everything from possible hostage locations, to the progress of L'Ommengang, to sightings of Simba troop movements or defensive deployments. These reports may be timely, or completely out of touch with the tactical situation on the ground. You must separate the wheat from the chaff.

What kind of opposition might you encounter? Unknown. The latest intelligence report indicates that there may be as many as 10,000 rebels (Italian blackshirt) in the city, with over 2,000 being well armed. Although the majority are equipped with small arms, there have been sightings of heavier weapons in the area. All the more reason to secure the airfield quickly before the second wave arrives.

And what of the hostages? These are represented by conscript Polish infantry units, stripped of ammo, and with their morale and physical state lowered to the worst setting. These are then scattered all over the city, outside of command range, and surrounded by Simba units. The purpose being to get them to surrender right away. Otherwise, if they resists the Simbas will execute them. One way or another you will find out.

So, can I get some help testing this beast?

I need 5 testers who are willing to take this one for a spin. Keep in mind that it is 120 turns long, but is also against the AI, so it should play quickly. Note: the scenario will begin after turn 1, and will be sent to you as a saved game file. The reason for this is to allow enough time for the Polish units to surrender to the AI, and thus remain hidden from the players, thereby forcing them to search the city for the hostages.

The first 5 to post here will get to test version 1. You’ll need to also e-mail me. My address is in my profile.

[Akula2]

This is very intriguing to me.

Unfortunately, I'm involved in 8 pbems atm, two of wich are the TPG tourney and one playtest.

For this reason and to ensure your battle gets the attention it deserves, I'll only volunteer as an alternate, substitute or if for some unknown reason if you cannot get your five players.

Sounds very very cool. This would be a bright trend for scenario design though it must certainly require far more commitment from the designer than normal. I hope you've thought about how many emails you could potentially get if you ever publish it, lol.

Robert.

[McAuliffe]

Okay Kingfish, your "solution" for the hostages has drawn my attention, send it over to xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[ April 26, 2007, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: McAuliffe ]

[junk2drive]

I am not worthy of being one of your testers, but I applaud your idea and effort.

There is so much more to CM then what comes on the CD.

Hopefully you have started a trend.

[Kingfish]

Update:

True to their nature, the Poles refuse to surrender, even when defenseless and surrounded by hostile forces. This has forced me to edit the scenario, and I am still tweaking it.

To further encourage them, I have removed the Paracommandos from the initial setup, and instead brought them in as reinforcements. This results in the allied global morale dropping in the first few turns. Still, the Poles are stubborn. Further tweaking is underway, so I ask that you bear with me until I get this right. I cannot release it to the testers until all the poles have surrendered, otherwise the whole effort is wasted.

[Zveroboy]

Sounds like a blast. I'd really love to play this hostage rescue scenario if you still need testers.

I was not familiar with this operation (reading the Leavenworth Papers that you linked) but it really sounds like the jump of the legion on Kolwezi in 1978.

Just sent you an e-mail.

[junk2drive]

Here's my idea. Fredrocker has a scenario where a no ammo sharpshooter shows up as a reinforcement. Your mission is to rescue him off the map.

What if the player of your battle sends you a save game file and based on his progress you:

place the poles as units on the map.

or

send the player a new battle with the poles on the map and his units where the progress was.

I don't know if you can modify a save game file.

Just a thought.

[Michael Dorosh]

Unfortunately, Kingfish is not the first person to think of something like this.

I had a similar idea for a hostage rescue situation, but like Kingfish, found that it was impossible to get troops to surrender from the start - even if Conscript and out of ammo; the AI merrily shoots them down.

I do like the concept however; hopefully Kingfish has more luck than those that have gone before.

You may have to simulate the hostages by using a flag - if the friendly force can change the flag to friendly control for one entire turn, say, then consider that the hostages at that location have been "rescued". Would not allow the simulation of getting them off the map, however.

[Akula2]

If they keep cutting the hostages down ... add more hostages!!! Treble them. I'm sure at least some will surrender after turn 2 or 3.

I'd even place the AI's troops meters away on all four points of the compass.

... just some thoughts.

[Kingfish]

Although I have not given up, I am slowly running out of ideas on how to get this to work. So far I've run close to 2 dozen test, and none have come close to what I need to happen.

In addition to the tweaks I mentioned earlier I have tried the following:

placing the hostages in open terrain and surrounded by hostiles. No luck.

placing them on the upper floors, again with hostiles all around, and one directly below to cut off all escape routes. No go again.

I even placed a hostile unit directly atop the hostage. Still no go. Some surrender, some get cut down, but most just sit in place without reverting to the AI's control.

[Akula2]

Have you tried putting covered arcs on the hostiles that are short of the hostages and putting some kind of less lethal unit closest?

What's wrong with just adding more hostages and playing the numbers?

Perhaps you'll need to comprimise your vision also. It happens to every artist.

EDIT-

maybe they just sit there because they're exhausted? Could it be a temporary state?

BigAlMoHo described importing troops to a QB from the AAR screen of a previous game. Its in the BB forum in the Basic Troop Import thread.

Perhaps you could use this technique to surrender them first then import them to a copy of the map.

[ November 28, 2004, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

[junk2drive]

How about

Force A has to break through force B to get to the city that is empty. Far enough away to take a few turns and effort to get there by turn 10. On turn 10 a sharpshooter arrives in a building in the city, no ammo. On turn 11 Force B reinforcements arrive near the same building.

If Force A holds the town, sharpy is safe. If not, a chance that the Force B will kill him before rescue. Either way a city battle will ensue.

[Kingfish]

Have you tried putting covered arcs on the hostiles that are short of the hostages and putting some kind of less lethal unit closest?

AFAIK, you can't set arcs in the editor.

What's wrong with just adding more hostages and playing the numbers?

The problem I am having is the ratio of surrendered units to those that refuse. Currently it is 2-3 out of 10, leaving the other 7 visible to the player once the game starts. To get a decent number of hostages hidden I would have to flood the map with units.

BigAlMoHo described importing troops to a QB from the AAR screen of a previous game. Its in the BB forum in the Basic Troop Import thread.

Perhaps you could use this technique to surrender them first then import them to a copy of the map.

I'll give it a try later on tonight, but it looks that this work only for QBs, not scenarios.

[Akula2]

Ya don't have to set covered arcs in the editor if your running a first turn.

Play turn 1 as a hotseat.

Isn't it also possible to play the numbers with the hostages and flood the map with them then carefully edit them out of the saved game? Or won't the editor load a saved game?

EDIT-

I see that the editor won't open a saved game.

I still don't see what's wrong with as many hotseat game turns you need to do exactly what you want to do. Flood the map with hostages, play hotseat till you get the number of hostages you want. Execute the rest (under your own control) ... and save.

You could run them in the open and fire on them or not at your discretion.

[ November 29, 2004, 07:05 AM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

[Kingfish]

I still don't see what's wrong with as many hotseat game turns you need to do exactly what you want to do. Flood the map with hostages, play hotseat till you get the number of hostages you want. Execute the rest (under your own control) ... and save.

You could run them in the open and fire on them or not at your discretion.

Once you set the game to hotseat you can't go back to playing against the AI.

[Akula2]

I see that now. I just assumed because I could go from pbem to tcip and back that the AI wouldnt be any different.

Looks like your stuck playing a bunch of turns to try and get it somewhere close to where you want it. Even then your set up will be totally FUBAR.

EDIT-

Not to mention morale.

[Kingfish]

Originally posted by junk2drive:

How about

Force A has to break through force B to get to the city that is empty. Far enough away to take a few turns and effort to get there by turn 10. On turn 10 a sharpshooter arrives in a building in the city, no ammo. On turn 11 Force B reinforcements arrive near the same building.

If Force A holds the town, sharpy is safe. If not, a chance that the Force B will kill him before rescue. Either way a city battle will ensue.

This is an interesting idea, and worth trying out. It does require me to rethink the overall concept, but at this point a little compromise on my part wouldn't hurt.

Much abliged for all the suggestions. I appreciate the help.

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by junk2drive:

How about

Force A has to break through force B to get to the city that is empty. Far enough away to take a few turns and effort to get there by turn 10. On turn 10 a sharpshooter arrives in a building in the city, no ammo. On turn 11 Force B reinforcements arrive near the same building.

If Force A holds the town, sharpy is safe. If not, a chance that the Force B will kill him before rescue. Either way a city battle will ensue.

Hopefully CMX2 has conditional reinforcements - ie reinforcements don't arrive until your forces take and hold "X". Then again, maybe CMX2 will let the scenario designer put prisoners on the map at start (ditto wrecked vehicles, etc....)

[ November 29, 2004, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

[junk2drive]

Kingfish, once you have this worked out, what uniforms were the Belgians wearing? Andrew's Brit camo airborne looks good and I can renumber them for whatever country you decide on.

I also have a black uniform mod at cmmods for commando units.

Let me know if interested.

[Kingfish]

Originally posted by junk2drive:

Kingfish, once you have this worked out, what uniforms were the Belgians wearing? Andrew's Brit camo airborne looks good and I can renumber them for whatever country you decide on.

I also have a black uniform mod at cmmods for commando units.

Let me know if interested.

J2D,

McCauliffe found this site on Belgian army uniforms. Scroll down to the one titled "L'après 1960". You can also check out the photos in the Dragon Operations link.

Uniform mods would be a cool addition.

[junk2drive]

I should be able to come up with something. I just need to know for sure the country and date of the scenario in CMAK terms.

ie USA infantry, Feb 43, NA. I can do the squads in camo and leave the COs in US greens to represent the advisors.

[Kingfish]

I'll send you a copy of the scenario when I get home tonight. Thanks for the help

[Kingfish]

Thanks to J2D's idea, I believe I now have a workable scenario, albeit a tad different than what I first thought up. These changes are outlined in the briefings.

If anyone else if interested in testing it let me know via e-mail. The new version does not require a constant exchange of e-mails between the player and myself. Basically it is a stand alone scenario to be played against the AI.