Externals Mini Campaign Game

Combat Along the Border 1980-89

Part IV, V, VI, VII

by Greg Novak

PART IV: TIME

The game will be carried out in a series of days, with five complete turns equal to one day. The length of the game is set by the South African plan at the start of the game. The turns and time covered are:

    Dawn: 0400-0800
    Morning: 0800 to 1200
    Afternoon: 1200-1600
    Evening: 1600 to 2000
    Night: 2000-0400

Night: The Night Turn is subject to a special condition. If used for any purpose but resting, it counts as a single turn. If used for resting, it counts as two turns.

Visibility: The Dawn, Evening and Night Turns are subject to visibility as per rule 14.1

Restrictions on Movement: Troops must be on vehicles/aircraft to move-movement on foot is not allowed within the game. Due to the need to rest, as well as refit, refuel, and do maintenance, the following restrictions are in effect:

Maintenance: A command must spend one complete turn per day doing maintenance. The command will not move during this turn. Commands stationary without orders are considered to be doing maintenance as part of their normal routine. Commands in action against the enemy may claim maintenance only if the battle lasts less then half of the turn, i.e., less than eight turns.

Commands which do not do maintenance will roll for breakdown of vehicles at the start of the sixth consecutive turn in which no maintenance has been carried out. They will continue to roll at the start of each of the following turns until a maintenance halt is carried out.

One die is rolled per vehicle. If a number higher than that given is rolled, then the vehicle is considered disabled. Commands may stop and spend maintenance, or leave the vehicles behind and abandon them.

Command Type Number Needed
Elite9
Veteran9
Experienced8
Regular 7
Trained5
Green 3

Rest: A command must spend two complete turns per day resting.

Commands which do not rest will suffer the following effects.

    After six turns without rest-2 to all Morale rolls
    After nine turns without rest-2 to all Morale rolls, drop one experience level
    After 12 turns without rest-4 to all Morale rolls, drop two experience levels

    Note that rest and maintenance are two separate tasks, and may not occur at the same time.

PART V: MOVEMENT

As mentioned, commands move in the course of a turn from point to point. Commands move subject to the following limitations:

Multiple-Road Use: Only two commands may use the same route from any two points in any one turn.

Using an All Weather Road: The command may move a total of two points if all movement is on a All Weather road regardless of the turn.

Using a Fair Weather Road: The command may move a total of two points if all movement is on a Fair or All Weather road during a non-Night Turn. During a Night Turn, a command may only move to one point on a Fair Weather road.

Using a Track: The command only move one point while on a track, regardless of turn, except when crossing the Cunene River.

Cuene River: Commands may cross the Cunene River in the following ways.

Quedas Ruscanas: The road here crosses the top of the dam. The roadway can not be mined, cratered, or destroyed. If any battle is fought here, the terrain should reflect this point. However, there is a political effect for fighting here.

Humbe/Xangango: The All Weather road between these two points crosses a Class VI bridge. If the bridge is destroyed by air power, this section of road is converted to a track, though no die roll is needed to make the crossing, except at night. During Night Turns, a normal die roll is needed at this point.

River Fords: In those places were tracks cross the river, fords exist. However, any command attempting to cross at a ford must roll against its expertise level. If it rolls the needed number or less, it crosses this turn. If it rolls greater then its expertise number, it fails and may try again the following turn. Crossings at night subtract 2 from the die roll. A die roll of a 0 is always a failure.

Command Type Number Needed
Elite9
Veteran9
Experienced8
Regular 7
Trained5
Green 3

Arrival Times

For purposes of fighting a battle, commands are considered to enter a point at the following times:

If moving one point, they enter at the start of the fourth hour of a Day Turn, or the seventh hour of a Night Turn. A command ordered to move along the track from Point 19 to Point 15 during the morning turn would be considered to arrive on the board at the start of the 0700 turn.

If moving two points, they enter the first point at the start of the second hour of a Day Turn, or third turn of the night. They would then enter the second point at the start of the fourth hour of a Day Turn, or the seventh hour of a Night Turn. A command moving down an All Weather road during a Night Turn from Xangango to Ngiva would reach Mongua at 2200, and Ngiva at 0300.

If two commands are following the same route, the second command arrives one hour after the first.

Battles and Movement

If a command is doing a double move, and enters a square where enemy troops are present, it has one hour to drive them off if it wishes to complete its move to the next point. If it fails to drive them off in the allotted time, it ends its move in that square. A command's commander may wish to abort his orders at this time, and move no farther. That is acceptable. He may not, however, change his orders and move his second time to a different square than that ordered

Commands currently engaged in a battle do not carry out point-to- point movement orders until the battle is over. A battle is over when one side has been driven off the field. Commands which retreat off the field may move to an adjacent square to which they are connected, and in which no enemy commands are located. The retreating command loses its movement ability for the following turn and, if attacked on the following turn, is subject to an automatic -2 Morale modifier. Commands that are successful may not move again until the following turn, unless they were doing a double move and drove the enemy off within one hour of their arrival on the board.

Orders

If needed, any orders will state the time, starting point of the command, its destination, and route. Thus an example would be:

54th Battalion, Dawn Turn, From Okongo to Square 27 by Track III Battalion, 17th Infantry, Dawn Turn, From Xangango to Mongua to Evale by Road

Meeting Engagements

There will be rare cases of battle in which commands of opposite sides will end up under orders that will require them to pass one another. As the gamemaster is giving options to the Angolan players, he should be able to control the circumstances under which these occur. The gamemaster should, in these cases, inform both commanders of the enemy presence in the general area, and offer to allow one side to hold up and the other side to attack the square in which it is currently located. Both commanders may decline to attack, at which point all movement stops.

PART VI: VICTORY POINTS

The following are the suggested Victory Point totals for the campaign:

LEVELS OF VICTORY

    300+ VPs South African Strategic Victory Angola pulls support of SWAPO
    200-299 VPs South African Major Victory Angola opens talks on controlling SWAPO
    100-199 VPs South African Minor Victory SWAPO badly damaged
    0-99 VPS Draw SWAPO damaged, but still intact
    -1 to -100 VPsAngolan Minor Victory South Africa troubled over losses
    -101 to -200 VPsAngolan Major Victory South Africa sacks area commanders
    less than -200 VPsAngolan Strategic Victory South African disaster, may withdraw from border

Victory Points are accumulated in the following manner:

POSITIVE VICTORY POINTS

Positive Victory Points are accumulated for the following reasons:

DESTRUCTION/LOSS OF SWAPO STANDS

    +40 Destruction of SWAPO Front Headquarters*
    +20 Destruction of SWAPO Base Complex*
    +10 Any personnel stand from Front Headquarters
    +6 Any command or command infantry stand, any AFV
    +4 Any weapon, vehicle, gun crew, support or specialist stand
    +2 Any infantry stand

*It will take any command 2 to 6 turns to effectively destroy any area once it is captured. Depending upon the size of the complex and the troops stationed there, the gamemaster should inform the South Africans of the time needed to do so during the course of planning the operation.

DESTRUCTION/LODD OF FAPLA/CUBAN STANDS*

    +20 Any aircraft
    +10 Any helicopter
    +3 Any command or command infantry stand, any AFV
    +2 Any weapon, vehicle, gun crew, support or specialist stand
    + 1 Any infantry stand

*Stands of the 35th ODP Brigade am not included in this category--no Victory Points are given for these stands.

OTHER POSITIVE VICTORY POINTS

    x2 Any SWAPO command or support stand that surrenders
    x2 Capture of any weapons system larger than 82mm mortar

Negative Victory Points

Negative Victory Points accumulated for the following reasons:

DESTRUCTION/LOSS OF SOUTH AFRICAN STANDS

    -40 Any aircraft
    -20 Any helicopter
    -10 Any command stand, any AFV
    -8 Any weapon, vehicle, gun crew, support or specialist stand
    -4 Any infantry stand

OTHER NEGATIVE VICTORY POINTS

    -?* Per South African unit committed to action
    x2 If additional South African forces are called up after the start of operations
    -10 Per day of operation planned
    -20 Per additional day of operation over that planned
    x4 Capture of any South African stand

    *See Appendix 1 for VP costs.

The gamemaster will keep track of all Victory Point totals, but should not inform players of his records until after the game is over.

PART VII: GAMEMASTERIS INFORMATION

Some general information on the campaign and artillery and aircraft.

Artillery: With the exception of South African 155mm guns, none of the artillery weapons present is able to fire from one point to another. The 155mm guns can fire from any point to any other point to which they are connected. Thus 155mm guns at Dumequero could fire on Ngiva, Mongua, or Xangango.

Air Missions: Missions are ordered at the start of each campaign game turn. The mission lists the type of mission, the actual time that the mission will arrive on the battlefield, and geographic point that the mission is flown against. Remember that aircraft can only fly every other campaign turn. Air missions can be flown for the following purposes:

    Direct Support: A ground strike against a point, controlled by a FAC on the ground or in the air.

    General Support: A ground strike against a point, designed to attack enemy formations present.

    Transport: A movement of troops from one point to another by transports or helicopters.

    Fighter Escort/Sweep: A flight to a point to protect ones aircraft, or attack enemy aircraft.

    Observation: A flight by a FAC to a point to control other aircraft.

One special types of mission can be flown due to the nature of the map.

The bridge over the Cunene can be attacked by the South African Air Force. The referee should work out this attack on paper, remembering that missile battalion at Xangango has a limited chance to defend the bridge.

Surprise: There exists a fair chance of surprise for the opening attack by the South African forces. On the first day of actual operations, the South African chance of surprise should be 50%. Actual operations are considered to occur when South African units attack any named Angolan point. South African units crossing the border and moving though numbered points are not considered to have triggered actual operations.

The units caught by surprise do not start the game deployed, but should be placed in their base camps or at random within the town area.

Other: The gamemaster is always right.

More Externals Mini Campaign Game

More Externals 1980-1989: SW Africa and Angola

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© Copyright 1993 by Greg Novak.
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