Bush war! What rules to use???

[Lindegaard2007]

Hi there!!
I am planning to do some Bush War wargaming in a fictional african country! It Will be in 28mm in the late 50's or early 60's!!
It will be one or two squads and a couple of vehicles per side!!
Can you guys recomend any rulesets??

Thanks

Lars

[Dave Knight]

Force on Force - but I would also be interested in any other suggestions

[itchy]

there is a specific bush war expansion for Force on Force due out soon ,next month I believe

[has.been]

AK47 provide an enjoyable fun game (including dice for and draw your forces flag) I also find it wonderful that not all of your troops may arrive on time, if at all. My regular excuse for losing is, 'I would have won if only the (insert name of missing unit) had turned up earlier. It is also possible to lose the battle (the game) yet still win the war (post game dicing). The game lasts an irregular number of moves thereby removing the  unrealistic 'it is the last move so I will commit everything' . It is however more important WHO you play against than what rules you play as these are rules that work best with the right minded people (but that is true of just about all rules). 
I have also had enjoyable games with Ambush Ally from the Force on Force stable of games.
Best of luck with your project.

[Lindegaard2007]

Thanks for the fast replys:-)
What scale is Ak47?? and is it played in 1:1??

Lars

[has.been]

If by scale you mean figure size then they are written for 15mm but can be tweeked very easily for other sizes. If you mean number of figures then it is up to you. The better your troops the more they cost and so the fewer figures you need, e.g. a unit of highly trained veteran mercenaries (to include Richard Burton, Roger Moore etc.) would be a few figures but a mass or mob of poorly armed rebels will involve more castings. I recomend you buy a copy (should be able to get one cheaply on the old e-bay. There are two editions, either will do) I like the little 'chrome' things like: Dicing up your county's name & flag; Political flow charts for the different army types (popular front, superpower backed, colonyist, religeous leader etc.); partially hidden objectives (you know what 3 things the enemy wants but not which one is the big points/ middle points/ low points); The variable number of moves (at the end of each move defender throws a D6 & takes that of the 'clock' i.e.32 points. So for example if there are 6 points remaining the game might end this move, if the defender throws 6 at the end of the move or it could go on for 6 more moves if he throws ones each time.  Hope this is of some use.

[NickNascati]

Force on Force with the new expansion is good.  I'd also suggest looking at Disposable Heroes - Point Blank, they've recently come out with a supplement on the Rhodesian Bush War that is very good.

[Huascar]

If you are only talking about one or two squads I would suggest looking at Flying Lead from Ganesha games - good solid modern skirmish rules which would work fine for Bush Wars. For something larger TFL has a bush war supplement for IABSM called B'Maso. I don't play IABSM, but I bought the book for the scenarios which are very good and worth the purchase price.

Good luck with the project.

Peter W

[Arlequín]

Lardies' "Troops, Weapons and Tactics" is a platoon level skirmish game, compatible with the B'maso supplement. I'll also tick the box for "Flying Lead" too. Another option is to use the "Chain Reaction" rules from Two Hour Wargames, they work well for small games and they're free. You'll have to do your own stats, but the game works well.

IABSM, Force on Force and AK47, while all being good rule systems, are meant for games above the level you want to play, i.e. a platoon a side and upwards. While they will work for a couple of squads, I think you might find they lack a certain something at that level. Nevertheless there's not a bad rule set been mentioned so far imo.

 

[Lindegaard2007]

Again thanks fo the comments!!
My freind and i have decided to write up our own set of rules:-)