Scenario DetailsGame: winSPMBT
Year: 1970
Turn Length: 27 turns
Visibility: 37 (I think, going off memory here) - if you've not played the SP games, the way this works is your units total vision equals their stated vision in their stats + the set vision for the scenario.
Engagement Type: Meeting (not really, you'll see)
Requisition Points: 3000 each
Forces: Rhodesia vs Insurgents
Players: Greengiant (west start) and Pete (east start - also not sure if he has an account here; my first time playing him)
House Rules: Unfortunately none
Notes: I've never played Pete before; he said this is one of his first games on MBT. That being said he seems to be very interested in war history and created this scenario to mimic some of the skirmishes that took place during the Bush War. So I'll definitely have tech superiority here with the only 'armour' I'm likely to encounter being technicals for getting the insurgents around. What works against me here is that while Pete chose a meeting engagement, the majority of the objective are all within his side, meaning he will most likely make a bee-line for the towns on his side containing clumps of objective points and force me to attack, except I have the same points as him (usually an attacking scenario requires more points to the attacker). I don't mind too much though as he is apparently a newbie and as such I didn't stipulate any club rules used regularly at theblitz.club.
I've picked my forces and deployed, but I forgot to take a snap after deployment; the following pic shows pre-deployment (that's why all my units are clumped on the left). I'll certainly be taking more detailed snaps for the next post as well as some zoomed in shots to provide more clarity.
(https://i.ibb.co/C8KvY2K/w0t.jpg)
So you can see the white squares within my deployment zone only contain one objective each; the triangle would be neutral ground and the circles are the clumps of multiple objectives on his side.
Forces:
- x3 regular infantry companies, and one SAS company. SAS are the Rhodesian Special Air Service infantry, commandos, and all badass to the bone.
- x3 armoured car platoons using the Eland 90 (the only armour available to Rhodesian forces
- about 20 or so Bedford trucks
- x2 air sorties, a line and coin bomber
- a few 25 pounders (x2 batteries I think
- x2 FOO
And that's it. I haven't purchased any supply dumps and I'm hoping that doesn't bite me in the rear come late game. For interest sake, this is what Rhodesia generally used for anti armour at the time, the Energa Grenade.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Energa.jpg)
For what I'll be facing it is most likely over kill as rifles will be turning their technicals into swiss cheese.
The PlanThe majority of the ordinary rifle platoons will assault along the southern edge of the map using the two roads. The center of the map is dominated by massive hills that scream 'shoot me, shoot me now!' so I'll mostly be avoiding it. The southern forces will strike first in the hopes of giving the impression that the majority of my forces are there. Once engaged and once I've drawn in enough of the enemy my northern forces consisting of the SAS company, 2 of the Eland platoons and a single rifle squad borrowed from the south will hit the clumps of objectives in the north.
Mortars, bombing runs and the 25 pounders will ensure my men take minimal losses when assaulting towns.
I thought about playing around with specialised ad-hoc companies but honestly, Rhodesia's pickings are so slim that I don't really see the point.
Aaaand that's it for now, more to come on my first AAR. Cheers!
Awesome! Please encourage "Pete" to join our forum and post here as well.
Not in the same thread, of course. ^-^
Looking forward to the AAR! (DAR?)
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 11, 2022, 01:17:48 PM
Awesome! Please encourage "Pete" to join our forum and post here as well.
Will do.
Quote from: JasonPratt on July 11, 2022, 02:11:47 PM
Not in the same thread, of course. ^-^
Looking forward to the AAR! (DAR?)
Thinking about it yes, you are right this isn't an AAR in the strictest sense; do you think it should be moved to a different section on the forums? And yes hehe, definitely not in the same thread.
O0
This is definitely the right category. :bd:
Tre sweet!
Alright, here we go. Today I'll be sharing more information on the deployment, the plan, and a bit of history. Because history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_Bush_War
Will tell you quite a bit about this war.
So, back to the skirmish!
Here's an updated map with lots of squigglies post deployment phase (and, an edited in clean grid map for clarities sake)
(https://i.ibb.co/T2GWqf7/Grid.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/74FNGVp/Plan.jpg)
So, let's get them squigglies out of the way first.
The giant central circle are the hills I mentioned; these are real monsters almost a hundred meters high at it's summit which is why I will be avoiding them like the plague. Because they all have rather large plateaus, there is no way for someone to employ pop-up tactics here so either you just don't care and go for it, or you use scouts. I will, however, be using one of the lower plateaus to advance my northern forces instead of skirting right along the northern edge of the map. Remember, the south needs to make contact first and (hopefully) draw some forces from either Pete's central reserves (assuming he has any) or even better, getting him to commit some of his northern forces to the south. Since it's been a while (Hey, I needed an excuse) since I played this game I forgot to purchase a few key elements for my force. In my first post I said I purchased x2 FOO units. I didn't. I also didn't nab a scout plane which would have been gold considering my enemy is most likely carting his troops around on crummy technicals. Sigh. Siiiigh.
The green circles are my forces; from north to south it would be my SAS company with the x2 Eland armoured car groups and one rifle squad reserve along with some Bedford trucks. Next is my arty on one of the lower plateaus and finally my southern forces consisting of my HQ, Lt. Kol. Kotze, x3 rifle companies (minus a single platoon assisting the north).
Speaking of which, our rifle platoon borrowed from the south will need to be reassigned now. It's something I could have done before hand during the requisition phase, but.. yeah. Anyways, this should help a bit with their moral, otherwise they're going to pining for their captain the entire skirmish.
All the pink circles are me highlighting enemy and currently neutral objectives which is why you see mostly white squares in the central circles and red squares in the far eastern circles since those are points he started with as his and vice versa, the green squares (all 2 or 3 of them) are already mine; I'll provide better close-ups once the battle takes us there (if it takes us there).
I've also gridded the map so call-outs to certain areas will make more sense to readers. And finally those pink arrows give you a rough idea of what I talked about in my OP and further elaborated on above. In a perfect world the battle would end in sectors B6, C6 and D6 with my southern and northern forces locking down the remnants of the insurgents before I mortar and arty them into oblivion and all taken objectives lie safely behind my two main forces.
A close-up of my northern forces before they move out; all huddled under some trees to avoid being spotted (just a habit really, I doubt the insurgents even have an air force). All the SAS soldiers are already in the trucks, and that platoon you see there is the aforementioned rifle platoon from the southern company.
(https://i.ibb.co/NnkNhvQ/northern-force.jpg)
A close-up of my southern forces, also ready to go. Some are in trucks, the rest on foot. You'll notice this area has a dirt road and a tarred road slanting slightly to the north. These will be my two main means of getting across the map while those on foot will proceed as best they can between the buildings and trees. One thing to note about this map; besides the giant hill in the middle, the entire map slopes downward to the west. This means there is a real possibility of my forces being spotted from really far away as they are all literally looking down when looking to the west. Also, the top rifle squad slightly separated from everyone else? That's Lt. Kol. Kotze; HQ. He'll keep a few hundred meters back while moving forward to assist with FOO actions since... well I didn't get any FOO units (raaargh!).
(https://i.ibb.co/S3txf4v/southern-force.jpg)
This one I'm including because it gives a quick view of all our commanders (far right left list). It's in hierarchical order so we see Kotze at the top. The HQ screen will also allow us to shift our separated rifle platoon into his new company.
(https://i.ibb.co/16WG6J1/HQ2.jpg)
Finally, the make-up of some of our forces to give you a better idea of the equipment being fielded here.
Bedford trucks.
(https://i.ibb.co/7pTxkYn/truck.jpg)
Our normal rifle company; squads.
(https://i.ibb.co/1RrCjBx/rifle.jpg)
25 pounders. For this one I've also included the second information panel you can call up which provides further detail.
(https://i.ibb.co/wwXYZ54/arty1.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/dJH8H7f/arty2.jpg)
The Eland 90 'Noddy' armoured cars
(https://i.ibb.co/rxSdYpQ/noddy1.jpg)
So that's it for today. I hope that you now have a better understanding of what's going on. More to come!
I thought that gun looked punchy on the Eland: 90mm!? What is that, a revamped Soviet armored car?!
Quote from: JasonPratt on July 13, 2022, 07:49:30 AM
I thought that gun looked punchy on the Eland: 90mm!? What is that, a revamped Soviet armored car?!
No. It is indigenous to South Africa. It was one of results of the first post-war South African defense programs and was designed to fulfill an armed recon role for the SADF.
And they were quite effective if I remember correctly.
Before the collapse of Denel Systems due to governmental corruption, they were at the forefront in terms of developing highly effective systems. They also created the first mine-proof APC which in turn got adopted by many other countries (Buffel and Ratel); the Rooivalk, the NTW20 and many more. Very sad what has happened to them.
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 13, 2022, 09:04:08 AM
And they were quite effective if I remember correctly.
They were highly mobile over the rough terrain of the region in which they were employed. This was a good match for the style of maneuver warfare preferred by the SADF. However, they did have some trouble when facing MBTs supplied by the Soviet Union or Cuba due to the lighter armor and relative ineffectiveness of the 90mm gun on the Eland. Although they suffered losses in those battles, they were still able to have some success by being able to move around the MBTs and attack on the flank or in the rear where the 90mm gun could be more effective.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 13, 2022, 09:28:51 AM
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 13, 2022, 09:04:08 AM
And they were quite effective if I remember correctly.
They were highly mobile over the rough terrain of the region in which they were employed. This was a good match for the style of maneuver warfare preferred by the SADF. However, they did have some trouble when facing MBTs supplied by the Soviet Union or Cuba due to the lighter armor and relative ineffectiveness of the 90mm gun on the Eland. Although they suffered losses in those battles, they were still able to have some success by being able to move around the MBTs and attack on the flank or in the rear where the 90mm gun could be more effective.
Indeed, the SADF developed their doctrines to the point that they made Hitler's Blitzkrieg seem positively slow; it was the only way to beat the MBT's and get them in their flanks. And it didn't get any easier later in the Angolan War. The benefit there at least was the introduction of the exceptional Ratels and their AT variants. Pretty much the same tactics employed in the Rhodesian Bush War, but now with a weapon that could typically guarantee a kill against a MBT if two or three fired in conjunction.
Any good books you can recommend for these topics?
Quote from: Gusington on July 13, 2022, 09:55:27 AM
Any good books you can recommend for these topics?
I can do some research and get back to you on this one (or perhaps another user knows). Most of my knowledge comes from family friends (and family) who are/were vets of both wars.
Quote from: Gusington on July 13, 2022, 09:55:27 AM
Any good books you can recommend for these topics?
There isn't a lot out there and what is there is generally not very affordable. However, with respect to the SADF involvement in the Border Wars check out two books by Leopold Scholtz - The SADF in the Border War and the SADF and Cuito Cuanavale. Both available on Amazon. If you're specifically interested in armor used by the SADF during the Border War, look at South African Armour of the Border War 1975-89. It was a very tricky situation for South Africa. Due to the increasing unpopularity of the apartheid government and sanctions imposed by the western allies as a result, the SADF had to improvise and adapt in order to overcome. They had to work with what they could get locally, or from those foreign nations willing to go through or around the sanctions (i won't mention any names). The success of the SADF under these conditions is a real credit to their morale and training.
...and seriously, anyone who can kick-ass in the bush wearing nut-cruncher shorts gets my respect.
Nut cruncher shorts. :2funny:
And yeah, back then (especially the recces) were rated as some of the top quality soldiers in the world.
^Yes. some of the SADF and Rhodesian light infantry units, like the Selous Scouts, are legendary.
You had me at nut-crunchers. Thanks for the above!
In my search I found this, which looks as if it would definitely interest you if you haven't already read it, JH:
https://amzn.to/3IHGt2j
Quote from: Gusington on July 13, 2022, 11:11:05 AM
In my search I found this, which looks as if it would definitely interest you if you haven't already read it, JH:
https://amzn.to/3IHGt2j
Poking fun at someone's name is a pretty cheap shot... but... but...
I don't know if that name is the best or the worst.
better then Dick Short :bd:
;D
I forgot about these guys...https://www.warbooks.co.za/ (https://www.warbooks.co.za/)
They are out of SA and have a good selection. They have some cool stuff for free in their digital library too.
Link to free books and manuals - https://www.warbooks.co.za/collections/e-books (https://www.warbooks.co.za/collections/e-books)
Cool, thanks
So sad news, but it appears my opponent has gone AWOL. Almost two weeks since a response on Discord where we're sharing our turns. We made two turns each since, but nothing exciting enough to warrant a post over here. Should my opponent come back I'll happily continue this thread, but it isn't looking good. As someone who enjoys writing, I was really looking forward to continuing this AAR, or should I say DAR. I'd like to get another one going, I just need to decide which game it will be and whether it will be against a computer opponent or human. Also, to back track a bit, I find writing them in this form (during-action-report) as opposed to AAR a lot easier for me. My life is pretty chaotic on a good day, so keeping track of screenshots and details until the very end of a scenario or campaign is a bit tricky for me; I find it far easier to report an ongoing affair. I hope everyone is okay with that.
Anyways, back to the drawing board in thinking about which game gets my new action report.
Alas! -- I was looking forward to the continuation. Hope your opponent is okay...
Quote from: JasonPratt on August 08, 2022, 07:50:46 AM
Alas! -- I was looking forward to the continuation. Hope your opponent is okay...
I've left Pete a message hoping he is well; between the two of us he is the more punctual in getting turns out so I am a little worried.
Sorry to hear this isn't continuing. Would have been great to see a battle based on that war.
A few years ago I read this great book: https://www.amazon.com/Handful-Hard-Men-Battle-Rhodesia-ebook/dp/B017H2JW7U/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1VJSMFB819BUN&keywords=rhodesian+sas+book&qid=1660024264&s=books&sprefix=rhodesian+sas+book%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C248&sr=1-4
So, if you had a company of Rhodesian SAS in 1970, you had about the whole force. Other than Operation Dingo and maybe other exceptions, these guys were very much about small unit penetrations into Mozambique and other nasty places.
Cheers,
CB
I see what you mean, what with my forces only containing a single SAS company! Here's to hoping Pete returns. In the off-chance he doesn't, I wouldn't mind either running a similar scenario with someone else here or alternatively a run against the computer.