African Wars - Sangin Ambush

[Erik]

I have always been fascinated by the Rhodesian Bush wars and the Fire force. So in 2021 I finally bought myself a large force representing both sides from Euraka Miniatures. I love their Bush Wars models and I actually painted most of them rather quickly, but they never made it onto the table on account of me wanting to use Force on Force but not having the stamina to actually take the time to understand the rules prober. The basic mechanism is rather simple, but somehow the rulebook is not very newbie friendly. This fall they finally made on to the table using a more simple rules system. This animated me to finally start playing Force on Force and funnily the rules are very simple once you start playing and the rulebook also makes a lot more sense.

With the miniatures finally on the table I thought it was time for a post on the forum. So here is my collection as it stands at the moment. I would like some vehicles but the 3D prints I have found so far were no good and I can’t find any companies that make the models.

RLI



African Riffles



Commander and tracker



Alouette Helicopter with 20 mm cannon



ZANLA rebels in groups of 10




¨

[Erik]

Things have a funny way of changing very fast. A month ago this post would have been named Bush War, but then Dr. Zombie showed me the miniature company Normandy Miniatures and it was love at first site. They sell STL files for all their models, so the first models were bought and printed straight away. Fantastic to be able to react to a spur right away (though Dr. Z might have some opinions about the spur bite). The company makes all the different personnel you need as well as most of Frances vehicles in use. Perfect.

With this new shift, the project has changed from Bush Wars to a more broad African Wars view. Rebellions looking personnel with AK47 can pass for quite a lot of conflicts on the continent so the former ZANLA rebels are now also fighting Frenchmen in Mali. GREAT. The Force on Force supplements Fallujah and Enduring Freedom present you with a ton of inspiration for scenarios.

At the moment I have three squads of eight men each and three VAB APCs as well as a heavy sniper team and a GPMG for support. I like the armament of the French with two AT4s pr. squad, a marksman a machine-gunner, and a small mortar. However in terms of Force on Force rules they are a bit challenged, so quite often they get an extra machine gun and the AT4s represent UGLs.

[Ash]

Nice to see some 28mm Rhodesian minis. Only thing I'd adjust would be issuing the RAR camo trousers as well.

If you are after 28mm Rhodesian vehicles, have a look on the 'Rhodesian Bush War models' Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3223649334330715
Drop a PM to the admin (David Michael Freemantle), he makes and prints models of pretty much every weird and wacky RSF vehicle made.

If you're after any in 20mm then head to S&S:
https://sandsmodels.com/product-category/172-20mm-post-war-modern-vehicles/172-20mm-post-war-modern-vehicles-172-post-war-african-vehicles/page/2/

For background and tons of info:
https://johnwynnehopkins.wordpress.com/

[CapnJim]

A.  Those figures and that vehicle all look good.  Well done.

B.  For vehicles, have you seen this?:  https://johnwynnehopkins.wordpress.com/2014/08/30/28mm-vehicles-for-rhodesian-bush-war/  These are David Freemantle's vehicles that Ash mentions.  I've not seen any of them in person, but the pics look good...  Also, Solidos makes a couple diecasts that would work - a Eland 90mm and a Saladin AC.   Keep an eye on eBay - you can find them there sometimes (that's where I got mine...).

[Erik]

Lost more miniatures on Normandy Miniatures on my wish list but I am pretty sure Dr. Z needs a printing break and I also have enough models at the moment. I will instead show the terrain I have built recently. I will defenitely have a look at the recommended websites. Thanks for that.

Bush Wars are great in terms of terrain, as you don’t need a lot of new stuff. Trees and scrubs and some scattered boulders will do. With the shift away from Bush Wars however I suddenly needed some buildings for urban fighting. Inspired by a video on Little Wars TV I decided that speed and low/no cost was the deal of the day. Using cardboard boxes I had lying around and multi filler I was able to knock out enough buildings for coverings my 6x4 gaming mat (supplemenet be walls and scatter terrain from Dr. Z’s collection) in just a few weeks. The buildings are not the prettiest of such but they work really well and when populated by scatter terrain and miniatures it all looks great.




So I feel like I have gone from nothing to multiple potential African conflicts in little over three month. We all really like playing Force on Force as it generates some a lot of realism and really reward the best tactical commander.

Last thursday the Frenchmen (newly painted mind you) had their first taste of battle and of course they where completely mauled. Entering from northeast they had to rescue two helicopter pilots situated to the southwest and exit of the southern board edge. However they never made it out of their starting alley before their were all pinned down and taking casualties. Their VAB was hit by RPG fire and catastroficly blew up wounding almost everyone inside.

view down staring alley


Covering snipperteam about to be overrun


Thursday they make another go. This time being dead quiet and giving each other plenty of covering fire.
shhh

[Marine0846]

Excellent collection of figures.
Well done, really like your whole setup.

[CapnJim]

I like the set-up too.  Personally, I think your home-made buildings certainly do the trick!

And those poor French.  The Curse of Newly-Painted Minis strikes again!  At least they won't have that hanging over their heads for their 2nd taste of battle...

[Rick F]

Lovely collection and table.

[ulverston]

Nice to see someone using Force on Force which are a great ruleset, just wish they were back in print. Also good to see you making your own buildings which look spot on! I moved to Spectre when I could not get a physical copy of Force on Force/

[Erik]

Thank you for all the nice comments about the buildings. 

Ulverston the rules are still available as pdf as are all the supplements. I bought my rule book as a Christmas present for myself this year on eBay but I won't tell you what I paid for it  .


Cheers

Erik

[flatpack]

Erik
Brilliant thread.
I too am off down the bush wars route, but in 20mm.
You’ve done a great job on those figures, and the homemade buildings are just great.
I’d like to use Force on force rules, so I’ve slowly been gathering copies from the Internet.
I agree that they are expensive, but I was very very lucky to get a hardback copy of the base rules, second hand for £10 at a show here in the uk last year.
I’ve been in contact with David Freemantle, and just received my first order of South African 20mm kit from him, and it’s outstanding.
Definitely worth contacting him, as he makes some great vehicles, and is a jolly nice chap to chat to, with lots of knowledge on the subject. Highly recommended.

[Erik]

Thursday night the French completely redeemed themselves and showed how tactical movement through an extremely hostile environment is done. Fire and movement!

Getting off to a bad start reminding of the former engagement the lead fire team was pinned down with one dead and one seriously wounded.


However a quickly deployed overwatch team helped get things moving again.


Under their watchful eyes another fire team and a snipper team moved around the mosque and took up overwatch position here.


Under all this cover the VAB could move into the main road and cover this with its heavy machinegun.


However everything did not go to plan. When the VAB tried to disembark its fire team to take up a more forward covering position the whole fire team was gunned down except one. Mainly because the insurgents where taking very careful aim.   


Luckily the team only suffered light wounds and they were still able to take up overwatch position. From here the pilots where quickly rescued by the VAB and the French could safely exit of the southern edge. Actually we didn’t play to the end as the French overwatch fire was so effective that the insurgent force was more or less combat ineffective. Their reinforcement could then easily be neutralized piecemeal.


Another good game of Force on Force. This game really showed how effective fire and movement tactics are. The overwatch rules in Force and Force work very well and truly rewards players utilizing them to the fullest. 

[Dr. Zombie]

I was a great game. I helped a lot that my sniper took of the heads of any RPG gunners poking their heads out. The VAP was completely untouchable at the end. As the enemy had nothing that could hurt it.
That first overwatch team was the games biggest disappointment they failed all but one of their overwatch quality checks. To busy eating baguettes and escargot I think.

[Tom Dulski]

Love those figures. Keep the pics coming.

[SJWi]

Great Post. I played a Force on Force game yesterday using Elhiem 20mm modern French vs "MIddle East" insurgents.  My mate laid on  superb table using his 3D printed terrain. The only downner was the Muezzin's battery had gone flat.