Rhodesian Bush Wars - need help

[Dr. Moebius]

Hello dear gentlemen,

a few weeks ago I saw some really great painted Eureka miniatures from their Rhodesian and Portuguese range on a blog.
Since then I can't resist this setting any more.

The problem is that I have no idea where to start. Normally I buy a good book or two to get the background of the conflict. Then followed by military books about uniforms and equipment of the combatants and then buy the miniatures.

Miniatures will be Eureka in 28mm because that's what my collection shouls look like.

Can anyone of you give me advice where to start please?
Background books
Osprey books or similar
Rules set
Other companies than Eureka

Many thanks

Dr. Moebius

[Arrigo]

as a book I suggest "The Rhodesin War: A Military History" by Peter Moorcraft. It is good. Paul Moorcraft knows the subject (no the fact that he shared an office with my supervisor at the staff college is not weighing in!). There is also a new series of books called (surprise!) Africa@war covering both the border war and Rhodesia that looks good.

As rules are concerned...

There is plenty of good material in TFL B'maso scenario supplement for African wars (much better than the Osprey AAG scenario book). it is desgined to use Troop Weapons and Tactics and IASBM (I ain't been shot mum) from TFL, but you can replace TWAT with the new Chain of Command from the same publisher. Opsrey books on the subject well, I have them, but you can find the pictures around anyway, Paul's book is well illustrated and Richard B'maso will cover the the ground very well. I am not happy with what I have seen of Ambush alley "Bush War" (Osprey/AAG supplement for Force on Force) but Force on force can be effectively used with B'maso.

Well miniatures... some commando miniatures british can work for Rhodesians and also look at some of the TAG africans.

Arrigo

[Happy Wanderer]

Dr Mobius,

There are a number of excellent books on this subject. I second Arrigo’s suggestions and I plan on using Chain of Command with many of the ideas converted from the TFL B’Maso supplement into CoC ‘speak’ to pull it all together.

CoC has many unique concepts in the way the patrol phase of the game develops and the use of jump off points for deployment and command dice. All in all it has quite a flexible palate to help reflect the capabilities of both sides in a dynamic system.

Martin Wolverton did a supplement for Iron Ivan games - it is excellent and absolutely worth getting. Martin clearly loves his subject and has done all the heavy lifting for you to get it all together…thanks Martin. I highly recommend you get that volume. It has ideas for scenario as well as some recommend reading in it along with much else. I shall be largely converting his lists for use with Chain of Command.

A couple of books he (and most) recommend is Chris Cock’s Fireforce and JRT Wood’s Counterstrike from the Air for a detail look at Fireforce operations. There are a number of others books he recommends and an internet search brings up plenty as well. The Rhodesian War Osprey (African Wars vol 1) is not a bad starting place for a introduction. The new Africa Wars series has come just at the right time and is well worth supporting. This period has a lot of detailed coverage….and it’s getting better.

If you are going to go down the Eureka path then pushing up some of the Eureka 100 club requests will also be worth doing as I believe its not too far for units such as the Rhodesian African Rifles and BSAP. Give Nic at Eureka a call or email an express interest to ‘push it along’ as those will only get more things down and the sculptor is keen on the subject matter himself. There can’t be too many more orders needed to get these figures into production….Grey’s Scouts are done and the RAR andBSAP would really flesh out the Secuity Forces range.

http://eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_88_89&sort=3a


Cheers

Happy Wanderer

[juergen c. olk]

Do I have help foryoy.My specialty is Rhodesia,and I run the modern African bushwars yahoo group,lotsof links ,info photosetc....here is the site.  http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ModernAfricanBushwars

[Arlequín]

I'll pretty much second what all these guys have said, although I disagree with Arrigo (as is usually the case to a point  ), as I thought the 'Bush Wars' supplement was pretty good, albeit with some reservations admittedly. He is right however that the TFL B'Maso supplement is a great primer and I fully agree that the Moorcroft book is excellent... if nothing else buy that.

There are also more Eureka Guerillas to come, but they haven't made it to the site yet... there are guys with older type weapons principally and they are excellent - their sculptor, Kostas, pops in here from time to time too, so any thoughts and suggestions people have will come to his attention.

Brent at Company B has hinted he might be prepared to do some Unimogs in 28mm in the near future too.

Definitely a good time to be getting into this in all. 

[Dr. Moebius]

Many thanks for that to all of you.

That will help me to make a start.

Cheers

Dr. Moebius

[commissarmoody]

Also check out Skirmish Sangin. The rules are very low level skirmish so, you can start playing with only a four man section for the RLI and maybe 5-12 terrors/freedom fighters.

[Happy Wanderer]

Hi Arrigo,

"Well miniatures... some commando miniatures british can work for Rhodesians and also look at some of the TAG africans."

Can I ask. Which figures do you think work best for the Rhodesian forces in the Commando Miniatures range - what would you use them for?

Cheers

Happy Wanderer

[carlos marighela]

Rather than the Commando Miniatures British to supplement the Rhodesians, why not use the Eureka ones? They ate by the same sculptor so they match the rest of the range perfectly. Not sure if they are up on the site yet but they have been released. There are photos on this forum if you dona search. As Jim says there are more guerrillas available than visible on the website. IIRC the guerrillas run to about 30 or more individual figures.

If you are looking for suggestions on the Portuguese Colonial Wars let me know if you want references. There's also a big thread here on available toys for the conflict.

[Happy Wanderer]

Rather than the Commando Miniatures British to supplement the Rhodesians, why not use the Eureka ones?

Hi Arrigo,

Trust me...I have spoken to Nic and I shall be getting Kosta's handiwork....I'm up to date on what is currently available. I'm just curious how you think the minis in the Commando range would be put to use where the current Eureka mini range doesn't cover those types for the Rhodesian War.

Cheers


Happy Wanderer

[Arrigo]

Well,

I know about the eureka 1960 british but... I do not see them on the website yet so I decided it is a much better approach to withhold recommendations until they are officially released, I think that it is better to avoid the question "where you have seen them? I cannot find them on the website." I would recommend the dog trackers and the Commonwealth infantry packs to represent the regular troops of the Rhodesia Regiment in more formal kit. Of course people with access to eureka 'phantom' releases can get Kosta's work.

Jim,

I do not say that "bush war" is awful, I just say that B'maso is much better. I think the supporting text in B'maso is more useful and that the scenarios are nicer. when I was still able to just have a little walk and pop to Waterstones' I anguished on buying the supplement or not, but in the end, despite some good Border war scenarios and Operation Barras I decided that the book lacks a bit of focus and covers too much and too thin. Of course if budget was not a limiting factor I would have taken also that one...

[Arlequín]

Jim,

I do not say that "bush war" is awful, I just say that B'maso is much better. I think the supporting text in B'maso is more useful and that the scenarios are nicer. when I was still able to just have a little walk and pop to Waterstones' I anguished on buying the supplement or not, but in the end, despite some good Border war scenarios and Operation Barras I decided that the book lacks a bit of focus and covers too much and too thin. Of course if budget was not a limiting factor I would have taken also that one...

I did not say that you said it was awful. 

I can't argue with what you said either... to be honest I thought that 'Op Barras' did not have a place in that book at all. There was little on Angola, other than the South African involvement, which is overstated... there was fighting that did not involve them after all, but it is always sadly under-represented. They could have gone for the Biafran War, or the Ogaden War as well as several others in the same era.

I think what it came down to is that it was a case of 'what do Osprey have books on?' that decided the content.

You are correct though... if it came to a choice between that and B'Maso, B'Maso would win hands down. 

[carlos marighela]

Ok then, let me say it, I think Bush Wars is pretty awful but at least it isn't as anodyne as the Special Ops supplement.

Off topic, I was gobsmacked today to see a selection of Osprey's including the FoF supplements in a book shop in Rio. They were in English and I checked the price and was even more amazed to see they weren't marked up in the usual fashion of imported items here.

[H.M.Stanley]

Hmmm ....