Game on 5/30

The Latest game played. This is a semi historic account of a 1979 sweep by F company of the 4th battalion of the Rhodesia Regiment in the Chungwe valley. It is only semi historical due to the addition of the armoured car. Typically AC's were cross posted to companies of the RR to act in a combined arms function. We used the rules set Fireforce.

Forces involved were 1 Lynx aircraft, 1 Ferret armoured car and 3 sticks of 5 men each for the Rhodesians. Each stick had 4 riflemen and 1 MAG gunner. The 5 man sweep is atypical as far as I know, however during this battle per my source the 4th RR Bn used at least 1 stick of 5 men. I have chosen to use this as a battalion level phenomenon.

Zanla forces consisted of 2 sections of 8 men each, armed with 6 AK 47 's 1 RPK machine gun and 1 RPG per group. I commanded the Zanla forces and Chris H. victor of the last game had The Rhodesians.

The Advance

The Sweep line advances forward. Expecting to encounter the enemy the Armoured car takes up a flanking position prior to the sticks plunging into the elephant grass.

The firefight

A failed tactic, The Zanla commander(me) placed the section in heavy cover hoping to ambush the Rhodesians at close range. Losing initiative the Rhodesians spot them first delivering heavy fire and 2 grenades at point blank range . Due to the brittle morale of the guerrilla's the group is routed after a couple of rounds of ineffective return fire.

the retreat of group 1

The Rhodesian Section Commander calls in a Lynx. The plane arrives in time to strafe the fleeing section as they break into the open. The survivor flee off the board.

The destruction of group 2

The Rhodesians advance upon the remaining group. The 2nd ZANLA section opens fire as the Rhodesians emerge from the brush. The firing line is involved in a heavy fire fight with the Rhodesians resulting in the only enemy Casualty. Shooting is not as effective as hoped as several RPG rounds go wildly astray. The lynx now makes a strafing run on the ZANLA position, heavily hitting the guerillas. The final sections morale is shaken forcing them to the ground and resulting in ineffective return fire on the Rhodesian Sticks.

The Wrap up

The final moments of the game. The last of the Zanla section is surrounded and fail their morale test and surrender. Oh well! A fine game with a final score of 13 Kia, 2 surrendered and only 1 escaping vs 1 Rhodesian casualty. Historically accurate but still a fairly heavy shellacking. it could have been a closer game if I hadn't made some major mistakes in setup none the less, an excellent game by my fine opponent.
A final note on the terrain. I was somewhat disappointed with the pictures of the elephant grass. They appear much more glossy than in real life. I also haven't quite got the color right on them so I will be experimenting a little more.

Vampire

Originally manufactured in the closing days of world war 2, the Vampire was the original Rhodesian jet fighter. Superseded by the Hunter, the Vampire soldiered on in No. 2 squadron until the end of the war. 2 separate versions, the single seat FB.9 and the 2 seat trainer T.11 were used. The FB.9 was in effect a FB.5 version with air conditioning, not the most popular aircraft due to it's age and lack of ejector seats. the FB.9 was mostly retired by 1978. The T.11 and FB. 9 were both used in larger scale external raids.
This model is the Frog 1/72 scale kit. It went together fairly well although I'm no model builder . The one major fault is the pilot, it's so ugly even a mother (or modeler) couldn't love. Save your self the trouble and buy an after market one.