Wargaming the old and bold

[Sunray]

Planning a full blown bush war campaign (loosely based on Nigerian Civil War) once the Pendraken Saladin/Saracen and proxy Korean are released.  We will give the "rebels" a fighting chance with items of WW2 surplus kit. (yes, Leon that explains the weird Italian & Jerry AFV's in the May order- looking forward to a 75/18 meeting a Saladin  )

We met yesterday to discuss the rules (BKC2 with modifications, as we prefer them to CWC). When it came to troop values we decided to give the WW2 veterans, who had fought in Burma, at least a 3/30.  This sparked a way too much alcohol debate about the old and bold. 

History is littered with them.  Dad's Army/Home Guard is a prime example.   We forget that  for the most part they were WW1 vets.

The Israeli 247th Reserve Brigade - some in their 40s. The elite of Yom Kippur war.

At one level they have battle hardened experience. Against that you have age, less fit, and more prone to exposure to bad weather.  The Nigerian 1st Division suffered from the adverse conditions in the jungle.  Do we downgrade the ranking after a number of turns ?


We also factored in what kit they had. Adjusting to new tactics/weapons. And...vets tend to be more cautious ...less risk takers. A good example is the 7th Armoured when deployed to WW2 Europe.     

So Forum -how do we rank the old and the bold ?

[paulr]

There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots.

an observation made in 1949 by early airmail pilot, E. Hamilton Lee

[Ben Waterhouse]

I remember reading that the 7th Armoured Division when they got to Normandy in '44 were considered to be a bit 'sticky' because of the large number of experienced veterans, who thought they had done their bit and knew enough about warfare not to take risks.

[Sunray]

Paul's reference  infers that the old take less or calculated risks only.  In combat this may make them more cautious, which is the point Ben makes.  Probably better in defence that attack ?  Yet if the cause/motivation is strong enough- as in the case of 247th - they will take their objective.  They lost a lot of vets in the process.

The SS fought to the bitter end in the battles for the Fatherland - again high motivation.  

Our debate is - do we need to factor these elements into the rules ?

[Ben Waterhouse]

Fair point Sunray.

[Steve J]

The Igbo fought tenaciously in the Biafran War. They believed in their cause, were fighting on home turf etc. So definitely highly motivated troops. To this day the Igbo still play football every Sunday to keep fit in case of another war, or so the local story goes.

The regular Nigerian Army, I'm not sure how much actual action they saw in the Far East. From memory not much, but could be wrong. Also the troops were from the North and would not have been at home in the 'jungle' and probably not that motivated. The Yoruba would have been better with the climate, but how commited, I'm not sure. So probably both not keen to get stuck in.

BKCI had lots of options to be able to tweak troop stats, so worth checking out IMHO.

[Ithoriel]

If you look at the BKC2 lists for the Germans in NW Europe you'll see they have stats and special rules for Heer, Heer Conscripts, SS, Hitlerjugend, Luftwaffe, Fortress Troops and Volksturm. Would that sort of thing fit the bill?

[Ben Waterhouse]

I used to know a former Captain in the Biafran Army, a man amongst men.

[Sunray]

If you look at the BKC2 lists for the Germans in NW Europe you'll see they have stats and special rules for Heer, Heer Conscripts, SS, Hitlerjugend, Luftwaffe, Fortress Troops and Volksturm. Would that sort of thing fit the bill?

Exactly, the BKC2 stats for troop types initiated the debate. And in past games, some of the best actions have involved the skilful deployment of troop types.

Steve is right about the Biafra troop morale. Up there along with Confederate Johnny Reb.  I would stress that our intended game(s) whilst inspired by the 67-70 war will have enough fictional licence to make a viable game that can go either way..  If you stuck to the Biafran script it would hinge on ammo as scarce as 3 rounds per man, no real AFVs and in the latter war, no air support.  I would love to get Minicons in 1/144!

The uniforms are plagiarised from  Jowett & Ruggeri, Modern African Wars (5)  (Osprey Publishing, 2016)   I even got Techno to sculpt a French officer with a left pull beret to act as mercenary leader.

Interestingly the mercenary unit in Biafra were contemptuous of their Nigerian opposition and when in with Congo style gung-ho tactics - they got  malleted  at Calabar against the 3rd Marines.   Against well disciplined well armed indigenous troops, mercs are not invincible.  

[Steve J]

Having read a book on the Katanga conflict earlier in the year, I'm surprised at how poor the Mercs were in Biafra.

[Sunray]

Having read a book on the Katanga conflict earlier in the year, I'm surprised at how poor the Mercs were in Biafra.

Two very different wars.  Many Nigerian/Biafra Senior officers were ex-Sandhurst, the 1st Division had that WW2/ UN Congo deployment. However, the Federal Army expanded rapidly and the new recruits were green, barely trained and poorly led. They depended on superior firepower.

The Mercs that did shine were Taffy Williams, Marc Goosens, Tiny Bill Boucher, and Armand Iaranelli - their leadership to the 4th Division gave it an edge. The only weakness lay in poor logistics.

[Steve J]

From what I've read, many of the foreigners fighting for Biafra did so out of a sense of justice etc. As for air support, except for some of the larger fields, there is bugger all to see from the air, certainly during the main growing season. You could easily hide troops an vehicles with no problem at all; after all look at Boko Haram that is 'hiding' in the Sambisa forest which is really general bush rather than forest in our sense of the term.

I knew a former officer on the government side who was a true gentlemen and gave me a Biafran coin, which was sadly stolen. I also worked which chaps who had been child/teenage soldiers and still burned with a sense of injustice that the Yoruba sided with the North rather than the East.

[Sunray]

From what I've read, many of the foreigners fighting for Biafra did so out of a sense of justice etc. As for air support, except for some of the larger fields, there is bugger all to see from the air, certainly during the main growing season. You could easily hide troops an vehicles with no problem at all; after all look at Boko Haram that is 'hiding' in the Sambisa forest which is really general bush rather than forest in our sense of the term.

Correct in that when forces are lying up - dense jungle canopy does provide good cover.  America found that in Vietnam.  However once you fire up the column and start to move to "take objectives" such as towns, river crossings and road junctions, you present a target.  Effective movement and assembly at FUPs is ...by road or trail.  You don't have the VCs army of porters.  Similarly dug in positions - once identified by FOOs are a hard target.

The Biafra Air Force did well at the start of the war with the A26 Invader.  Don't forget that air attack had an effect out of all proportion on African troops.   Count von Rosen's squadron of Minicon's punched well above their COIN capacity.  The Biafran's purchased a Meteor but it never made it to the warzone.

When Nigeria acquired MiG15s & 17s with foreign pilots, they strafed ground defences and more crucially destroyed the Biafran capacity to airlift in supplies.   The Biafrans  were adroit at using long stretches of road as improvised runways.   

There is also an interesting naval and marine dimension .  As said, good inspiration for a more fictional game.
Anyway, the topic- old veterans start with high value and suffer reduction as age related issues kick in the longer the game goes on?