Favoring the
Criminal
Ceausescu's reign
ended at 1:00 PM on December
22, 1989, with his flight from the Communist Party Central Committee
Building after a final attempt to address a hostile crowd of
demonstrators. Angered, the crowd broke into the building, forcing
the Ceausescus to be airlifted out by helicopter from the roof, even as
the demonstrators emerged onto the roof in pursuit. The helicopter
landed at the Boteni airbase, and the Ceausescus commandeered a car from
the base. When the first car broke down, a second was obtained, and
they proceeded to an agricultural station. There, they were arrested
and moved to military barracks at Tirgoviste to await trial.
On December 25,
Christmas day, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were brought before a military
tribunal facing charges of genocide, corruption, and the destruction of
the national economy. They remained defiant throughout the trial,
refusing to recognize the jurisdiction of the court, even as the verdict
and sentence of death were read. They, they were taken out and shot. National
Salvation Front-held Romanian television repeatedly broadcast images of
the trial and the corpses. Nicolae Ceausescu, the Criminal, was dead.
The evening before
the trial, the Securitate attacked the barracks where the Ceausescus were
held, possibly as part of a failed rescue attempt. Their actions
encouraged the NSF to hasten the trial and execution of the Ceausescus,
because they knew that Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, if freed, would
stiffen the resolve of the Securitate and spill more blood throughout
Romania. The trial and execution marked the turning point of the
revolution by breaking the resistance of the Securitate. With the Criminal
dead, many Securitate saw no more reason to continue fighting, and so
began surrendering. Later, these Securitate would face criminal
charges, the most common of which was Favoring the Criminal--supporting
Ceausescu.
Scenario
Outline
This scenario
allows players to take part in the Securitate rescue mission on Christmas
Eve of 1989. The Securitate player has skilled troops and better
equipment, while the Romanian Army player has numbers and reinforcements
which might be brought into play. Because of the unusual nature of
the scenario, play with a referee is recommended but not required.
The scenario takes
place at night in the Tirgoviste military barracks, with the only
illumination provided by electric streetlights, giving dusk-level
illumination (-2 ALM) to the camp and the surrounding 10 hexes of the
perimeter. Outside of that range, there is no moon level illumination
(-12 ALM). There is a medium wind (5 HPP) blowing from the West. Lights
in all buildings are on, giving full illumination inside. Interior
lighting can be shut off by any combatant standing in a doorway or
adjacent hex and using 1 AC.
Setup
The Army player
sets up his initial forces first and designates any patrol routes that are
to be followed. These patrol routes may be abandoned once the
shooting starts, but otherwise must be followed by the patrolling guards
at a Walking pace of 1 Hex per Phase. The Army player also secretly
designates the room where the Ceausescus are held on a copy of the map and
hands this to the referee. The Ceausescus must be guarded by at least
two combatants at all times.
The Securitate
player does not set up his combatants on the map, but instead plots out
his movement each phase on a copy of the main map and hands this to the
Referee, who checks to see if any of the Securitate combatants have been
spotted, or if they have discovered the room where the Ceausescus are
held. Once spotted, Securitate combatants are placed onto the main
map and remain on it for the rest of the game. Securitate combatants
may enter the map from any one side they wish.
Army
The Romanian Army
has recently switched sides to support the National Salvation Front
against the hated Ceausescu regime. Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu are held
on the Army base, and the Army's mission is to guard them and prevent
their escape or rescue by the Securitate. This task is taken very
seriously—if the Ceausescus were to escape, the Securitate would
continue their terror campaign indefinitely while the Ceausescus would
become rich exiles like Amin, Marcos, and Duvalier. Romania would
bleed to death.
After gunfire,
explosions, or shouts of alarm are heard throughout the camp, the Romanian
Army player is able to receive reinforcements. These reinforcements
consist of up to four rifle squads which arrive from the barracks
baseline. A 0-9 roll is made once every twenty phases. On a roll
of 0, two squads arrive, and on a roll of 1, only one squad arrives.
Otherwise, no squads arrive. This continues until the game ends or a
total of four squads have arrived.
Romanian Army Initial
Units
2 Rifle Squads --
Organization is below
Romanian Rifle
Squad Organization -- Each Squad
Number
Quality
Weapons
2
Line
AK-47
1
Line
AK-47/RPG-7V
1
Green
RPK
4
Green
AK-47
Securitate
The Securitate
have learned from their informers that Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu are
being held in the barracks at Tirgoviste. The local Securitate group
of the Special Assignments Brigade has dispatched an elite hostage rescue
team to recover the Ceausescus. The Ceausescu's rescue is
paramount--they must be recovered alive and unharmed for the government of
Romania to put down the rebellion. The Ceausescus rescue will
symbolize to the National Salvation Front that the Securitate and
Ceausescu can never be defeated.
Securitate units
must search through the barracks area to locate the Ceausescus, free them,
and then exfiltrate them from the area. Wounded must also be
recovered if possible, but dead may be left behind.
Securitate Units
Number
Quality
Weapon
3
Elite
AK-47
6
Crack
AMD-65
5
Line
AMD-65
Securitate also
have 6 RPG-18s which may be distributed among the troops as the player
desires. Securitate also wear Titanium/Nylon Composite Body Armor (PF
6, BPF 3) vests.
Special
Rules
Securitate
Weapons: The
Securitate were always equipped with the best of equipment. Therefore,
Securitate combatants and are allowed to carry up to four special-purpose
hand grenades in addition to their normal grenade load. These
special-purpose grenades can be flash and stun grenades, tear gas
grenades, or smoke grenades. Two special purpose grenades can be
exchanged for one MON-50 directional mine, the Soviet copy of the US
M-18A1 Claymore mine. Use the M-18A1 as a proxy for the MON-50.
Rules
for Claymores, Flash and Stun grenades, and tear gas grenades are in the
”Special Weapons WDS” as are rules for smoke grenades. Smoke
grenade rules are also found in the ”Advanced Phoenix Command” Rules
Supplement.
Night
Vision Devices and Illumination: There are ten lampposts providing dusk-level
illumination to the base. Securitate can attempt to shoot out the
lights on the lampposts; each light has a TS ALM of -4 and is destroyed on
being hit. Each light that is destroyed reduces the visibility ALM by
1. When all are eliminated, the visibility on the base will be
reduced to no moon level darkness. Interior building lights will
still provide illumination inside of buildings and within 1 hex of
unshuttered windows.
The
darkness may be offset in a number of ways. The Securitate possess
passive night-vision goggles, which allow unlimited dusk-level visibility
across the board (-2 Visibility ALM). These goggles must be removed
from the user's eyes (3 AC to remove, 12 AC to replace) before entering a
lighted room or the goggles will "bloom out" from too much
light, effectively blinding the wearer for as long as he wears the goggles
(-14 Visibility ALM).
A
second way to offset the darkness involves using two spotlights mounted on
the guard towers. Each will illuminate a moveable 10 hex-radius
circle to dusk-level darkness and will cause "blooming" in any
night vision devices looking into the spotlights. These spotlights
can be switched on in 2 AC and moving them requires a user's full
attention, so no aiming or movement can be done while operating them. They
have a TS ALM of -4 and are destroyed by a single hit.
The
final way to offset the darkness involves the use of parachute flares. Each
flare is handheld and propelled by a small rocket motor to a height of 210
metres where a small parachute flare is ejected to burn for 15 Phases. Each
flare launched will increase the visibility ALM of the entire map by 4 up
to but not exceeding dusk-level darkness. So if the visibility ALM
for the base had been reduced to -5 by having 3 lampposts destroyed by the
Securitate, a parachute flare would normally increase the base visibility
ALM by 4 to a -1, but since the maximum visibility ALM for the base is
-2, the flare only increases visibility to -2. Each squad commander
possesses two of these flares and arming and firing one flare requires 8
AC.
The
Ceausescus: Nicolae
and Elena Ceausescu are treated as Militia level civilians. Once they
are found by the Securitate, they may be controlled by the Securitate
player. They are unarmed, unarmored, and handcuffed when found. Removing
the handcuffs requires 8 AC with a standard handcuff key, carried by all
Securitate combatants in their pockets.
Squad
Morale: The Army reinforcement squads which may arrive following
the start of combat are relatively inexperienced groups who have no desire
to face down elite Securitate units. When three of the squad members
have been incapacitated or killed, the squad will refuse to advance any
further and will take up stationary fighting positions nearby. At
least one squad member will be designated to recover the wounded and get
them under cover while the remainder of the squad continues to fight. As
the bodies are brought under cover, one active member must stay with each
incapacitated member to provide basic medical care.
Guard
Towers: The one guard tower is three stories (30 feet) tall and
has a simple ladder to reach the guard platform. If the army player
chooses to man the guard tower, then there must be two combatants in
there. One combatant will aim and fire a pintle-mounted PKM (+5 ALM). The
PKM gunner must always have another combatant with him to serve as a
loader. Whenever the PKM fires, the loader's CA are occupied with
feeding the ammunition belt into the gun and so cannot be used for
anything else, except for spotting targets. If the loader is killed,
then he can be replaced by any other combatant.
Victory
The Securitate win
the scenario if they are able to get the Ceausescus off the map alive and
unharmed. The Army wins if they prevent a Securitate victory.
Nicolae and Elena
Ceausescu are not loved at all by the Army, and the Army player may be
sorely tempted to kill the two of them when the shooting starts as a means
of denying victory to the Securitate. There is nothing in the rules
to prevent this, but the Army player should realize that doing so would
lead to a substantial political loss to the National Salvation Front. As a
guideline, if the Ceausescus are handcuffed and can be considered still in
custody of the Army, the Army is not allowed to shoot them until after the
trial. However, if the Ceausescus are considered escaping or have
been freed by the Securitate, then they are valid targets and may be shot
without hesitation. Of course, the Army victory would be so much
sweeter if the Ceausescus were to be recaptured alive to stand trial, as
they did in real life. Therefore, in the event that the Ceausescus do
not survive the game and are shot by the Army while escaping, the game is
a draw whereas if they are shot by the Army while still in custody, the
Army loses.