After Action Report Operation Nostromo II

Operation Nostromo II Was held on November 5Th, 2006 in Osseo, Wisconsin.
Following is the after action report:

Operation Nostromo II Report and Results:
Costaguana can be a devious place, and the tiny Isle DE Isabel just off the coast is no exception. When a CDF Search & Rescue Team waded ashore on the morning of 5 November 2006, they expected to face heavy resistance from a Cordillerista garrison holding Government Pows on the island (Oh, and they did. Both of the Nostromo amphibious landing firefights arre among the most intense I’ve ever seen in a scenario game.) What the Government forces did not expect was a sizable presence, since the Costaguanan government itself had forcibly evacuated all inhabitants from the island in the 1930s.
Who were these civilians, and what were they doing on Isabel? Two of them were unsuspecting young Isa tribeswomen out on a day trip to their ancestral home island in their family's sold ARGO; one was a Professor of Archeology from the University of Costaguana, tasked with discreetly recovering ancient Isa artifacts; one was a smuggler disguised as a CDF soldier with a fake ID, carrying $4,000 with which he was to attempt to secretly buy the artifacts for his wealthy art collecting client – or steal them if all else failed; and the others were civilian mercenaries, a few of them illegal aliens with fake IDs.
The Isle de Isabel has a forgotten past that had drawn them all, rebel, military, and civilian. The Isa once ruled a mighty empire, but were conquered and subjugated by the Aztec many hundreds of years ago. The Isa Empire had made its last stand on the sacred island of Isa-Bekl, site of their Great Temple and burial ground of the kings and queens of the Isa ruling dynasty. Their last queen, Kakapotal the Warrior Maiden, died in battle defending the remaining remnant of her once-mighty people. She was 17 years old when she fell. Much later, the Aztec empire itself fell before the invading Spanish. A Conquistador exploring party was sent to the island they thought the natives called “Isabelle,” where they discovered a curious fact: an Isa king or queen was always buried with a realistic replica of a human skull carved out of solid white stone. The Spaniards carried away one of these Stone Skulls as a curiosity in 1598, but the other six remained buried in the rubble of the destroyed Isa temple. Eventually, this same Stone Skull – the Stone Skull of Kakapotal herself - ended up in a glass case in a forgotten corner of the Costaguana National Museum, until a theft attempt alerted the museum to its potential value on the black market. Archeologists had long complained that both the Costaguanan government and the Cordillerista rebels were confiscating and selling any ancient artifacts they could seize, in order to fund their war efforts against each other. The thought of the last known Isa artifacts falling into the hands of black marketers was too much for the academic community to bear. Since the government could not be entirely trusted to be free of smugglers, they organized a clandestine expedition to the Isle de Isabel to retrieve the six remaining Isa Stone Skulls before it was too late.
This expedition set out not a moment too soon, for the Cordilleristas were already on the island looking for the Stone Skulls when the archeological team arrived – mere minutes ahead of the CDF force. The original rebel plan was to use POW labor to locate the Skulls, and then lie in wait for the archeologists. In order to be valuable to an art collector, an artifact must be properly identified and tagged by a trained archeologist who can confirm the artifact’s authenticity. The rebels knew this, and planned on shaking down the archeological team for bribes if possible or, if that failed, killing the team and stealing the tagged artifacts. The rebels stumbled upon the startled local Isa girls as they were picnicking, and paid them $50 to reveal the locations of all six Stone Skulls. Rebel soldiers later robbed these two of $15 of this money. The over-eager rebel troopers unearthed the Skulls and stashed the heavy artifacts in their packs, not knowing that the Skulls themselves were worthless without archeological tags.
The government POWs, meanwhile, had plans of their own. Unbeknownst to their rebel captors, the resourceful CDF captives had fashioned small but deadly blowguns. As a fierce firefight raged on the beach and in the valley, one POW managed to kill his guards with deadly efficiency and escape less than a half-hour after CDF forces landed, earning points with CDF Command. While CDF forces methodically pushed the rebels back into the woods, sustaining heavy casualties in the process and depleting CDF cash reserves, the second POW bided her time. She seized her moment in style when the opportunity arose to kill the Cordillerista commander himself, steal a loaded pistol, kill the Cordillerista quartermaster and loot the Cordillerista cashbox. She was, unfortunately for the CDF, spotted by an alert rebel sentry who shot and wounded her while she was in the no-man’s land between the two forces. The CDF medic was unable to reach her, and CDF Command was unwilling to pay the $2,000 ransom demanded by the rebels for her release, so she was executed with a sniper’s bullet where she laid...

(the saga continues, with lunch)
After a brief and fruitless ceasefire (no fruit, but there were Sloppy Joes, chips, homemade brownies, and cookies) the combatants again manned the battle lines. CDF Command had alerted the CDF field commander to the likely presence of an operative among the ranks, but the smuggler laid low and remained undetected. By now, the CDF commander on the ground had discovered the existence and the great value of the six Stone Skulls, but was uncertain as to their whereabouts. The CDF therefore concentrated on rounding up and energetically interrogating civilians, hoping to obtain more information. The Isa girls were arrested, their ammo clips were confiscated, and the hapless young ladies were forced to use themselves and their ARGO as human shields for CDF assault troops attempting to gain the heights on the northern edge of the island. The younger of the two Isa girls was killed by rebel fire during this operation. A television reporter from an independent station in Minnesota, USA, is said to have recorded this event and filed a formal protest with the UN. The government of Costaguana has promised a full investigation into the alleged atrocity.
Meanwhile, the wily archeological team had managed to locate the somewhat ill-informed rebel squad lugging around 60 pounds’ worth of Stone Skulls. These footsore Cordillerista troops were eager to sell the artifacts at a bargain price. The archeological team purchased every one of the six Stone Skulls for less than one-twentieth of their tagged value on the black market. Not only that, but the Professor managed to talk the rebel squad into assaulting the CDF guard outpost in the valley, so the archeological team could avoid any government entanglements on the way to their boat on the beach.
With the bulk of the CDF forces committed to a search for civilians and/or Skull artifacts on the ridge, with the CDF quartermaster again out of funds to pay reinforcements, the squad left to guard the beach fought valiantly in a vicious close-quarters engagement among the trenches but were eventually overwhelmed. The archeological team loaded their boat with the six tagged and bagged Stone Skull artifacts, and slipped quietly out to sea before either the CDF commander or the smuggler had time to react.
When word reached CDF Command that the Skulls were in the possession of armed National Museum personnel, the remaining CDF forces on the island were ordered to delay a Cordillerista breakout until CDF reinforcements could arrive. The rebels, perhaps sensing a tightening noose, rushed to their boats before the CDF unit on the ridge could regroup on the beach defenses. With the artifacts and the rebels gone, CDF Command ordered the evacuation of the battered CDF survivors.
The CDF finished the game with 0 points. They had gained 100 points by recovering one POW alive, but lost the same amount of points by requiring an additional $100 advance from CDF Command in order to continue operations. No fake IDs were found or confiscated. The CDF forces on the island fought hard and well, but the negative publicity generated by the treatment of the Isa civilians is likely to haunt the government for some time to come. The field commander and a number of his men are facing inquiries, while the ethnic Isa community is demanding reparations, and the UN is said to be considering sending a peacekeeping force into Costaguana to end the civil war.
The smuggler finished with 0 points. He remained undetected throughout the game, but he also failed to obtain even a single Stone Skull artifact for his demanding and unforgiving clients. He, and the $4,000 in his clients’ cash he was carrying, has disappeared without a trace. His whereabouts are unknown.
The Cordillerista rebels finished with 625 points for the money in their cashbox. The Glorious Leader of the Cordillerista Revolutionary Council was said to be enraged that $14,000’s worth of artifacts had been traded for a mere $600, and is rumored to have called for the Cordillerista commander’s execution, until an aide pointed out how the incident with the Isa girls could be exploited to strengthen their hand at least as much as the money would have. The Glorious Leader agreed, and instead ordered the former Cordillerista field commander to go underground and form a Cordillerista rebel cell among the ethnic Isa villages on the Costaguanan coast.
The Archeological Team were the clear winners, with 6,000 points for the six tagged Stone Skull artifacts safely recovered from the island and around $1,500 remaining in their expedition fund at the end of the game. Scholars from around the world are clamoring to be allowed to examine them. Overnight, the Professor has become an international celebrity within the archeological community, and calls have gone up for him to head additional digs among the ruins on the Isle de Isabel. The National Geographic Society is rumored to be planning a documentary film about the Isa people and their history.
Meanwhile, in a squalid hut on the poverty-stricken Costaguanan coast, Kiella, a 17-year-old Isa girl contemplates the loss of her younger sister for the gain of $35. Having been brutalized by government forces and robbed at gunpoint by rebel soldiers, she begins to think that this event was no accident in her life, that it was actually a symbol of the fate of her people. A call, even, a call from her ancestors to RISE AND FIGHT. Too long have the Isa been trampled and ignored. Her people have a legend that says that, if the peaceful rest of the Seven King and Queens of the Isa is ever disturbed, the Ancestor Ghost will rise up in wrath and wreak terrible vengeance on those who dared to desecrate the holy ground of Isa-Bekl. She hears the Ancestors whispering to her now whenever she is alone, and she has visions of the screaming white Skull of Kakapotal the Warrior Maiden in a glass box filled with blood. She no longer fears these visitations, for she begins to see what they must mean. Even though it was her sister who died, this young woman is coming to believe that she, Kiella, may BE the Ancestor Ghost sent to avenge the wrongs done to her people….

Mean while Operation Colombian Necktie will come to life on December 3rd 2006 in EauClaire, Wisconsin on the Country Jam grounds. Stay tune tommorow for the preview...>
Mr & Mrs Armsdealer