Afghan Cave Clearing is a job for specialized and Elite Military Forces. See this website for some details: To wargame this scenario try the following forces in 20mm at 1:2 or 1:1: A. Al Queda Defenders: 30 Armed Defenders, 12 leaders, and four "political/religious targets" all armed with AK-47 rifles. Four 7.62 MMG's and one 12.7mm HMG at the entrance. 10 RPG's with 6 rounds each. 20 booby traps, and mines. One Stinger AA Missile (15 years old, 50% chance it will mis-fire). Four C2 rooms with Al Queda commo, documents, video and computers (which cannot be destroyed ahead of time because of the smoke, ventilation, and detection.) Al Queda have one grenade each for suicide if captured. If the defender is conscious when taken, he has a 30% chance of being successful. One "Self-Destruct Charge" (which wherever placed, will seal off that portion of the cave, and with a 50% chance of killing everyone inside the cave in the process.) B. US Forces: Army Ranger Company (3 platoons of 4 chalks, of 11 Rangers each) with attached ALO (Air Liaison Officer), FSO (Fire Support Officer) Engineer Demo Squad (12) and 4 Local Mujadeen Guides (1 per Platoon and HQ section.) US will not use Grenades in close quarters as they tend to injure or kill the users. C. AVIATION: Also supported by 1 C-2 bird, 2 AH-64 Apache and 2 AH-6 and for observation and fire Support, and 9 Black Hawks for Insertion, resupply and MEDEVAC. Little Birds - The fast, tiny and highly-maneuverable bubble-front AH-6 (Attack Helicopter-6) and MH-6 (Military Helicopter-6) helicopters. The AHs are attack helicopters, armed with rockets and miniguns (extremely rapid-fire machine guns that fire up to 4,000 rounds per minute.) Blackhawk - UH-60 helicopter used primarily as a troop transport. It has a pilot and co-pilot and two crew chiefs. Chalk - A squad of soldiers, usually about a dozen, assigned to a helicopter. Command Copter - Also called the "C2 Bird" (Command and Control), this is a Blackhawk circling high above with air commander and ground force commander helping to direct the action. Once the outside of the cave is clear, the C2 team will land and set up a CP on the ground. Aviation Commander will stay aloft and search with thermal sights for any sign of defenders exiting from hidden tunnels. D. Wargaming the Scenario: EXTERIOR TERRAIN The Attackers would plan their assault based on ID of the entrance and a couple of ventilation ports, found by Thermal imagery. The rest of the details would be a complete mystery. First design your mountain and canyon with Styrofoam or even stacked books, and stretch felt, tarp or wool army blanket over it. (the blanket has the advantage in that is stretches overnight to conform to the contours better.) Scatter the area with large rocks (go ahead use real ones), sawdust, kitty litter (use the fresh stuff please!) and some vegetation. (Deco-Moss from Wal-Mart Craft Dept. is cheapest, and looks best.) Mark the entrance sites on the side of your hills with a model entryway, or some more large rocks. The rest should be secretly marked by the defenders (or the umpire if he is playing the defenders) on a separate map. When exterior defenses are cleared, the undetected exits are still able to be spotted, or defenders may try to engage aviation assets from them, or even attempt suicide attacks on the CP, or troops waiting at the main entrance. The rest of the action takes place INSIDE the cave and tunnels. E. INTERIOR TERRAIN A side table, or a part of the exterior table we need to be set up for this portion. Master Terrain-maker Howard Whitehouse builds excellent hills with caves under them. there are other options if you aren't into elaborate construction for one scenario (Actually it could be re-used for Viet-Nam, WWII Pacific, and any other subterranean activity.) First: umpire or Defender designs the cave. All defender positions, booby traps, and equipment on a paper map, then use one of these simple methods to wargame it out: (1) Make a to figure-scale map of the interior floor plan Poster-board -- if it is multiple levels, then use several smaller sheets. Cover the sheet with paper, revealing what is there only when it is discovered. OR ... (2) Do this in 3-D. Using foam-core board, build a dozen or so "rooms" and "corridors" that can be placed together in a myriad of ways. Then place each "cavity" on table as it is entered by the attackers. This way the attackers don't know where they are until they come into the place. For cavities at different elevations, simply place them on a book, or two books to give perspective to their relative locations. (Few cavities would be directly on top of the others.) F. Victory Conditions Depending on the time and movement scale you use, you need to set a clear end-ex to the scenario. If you try RANGER RULES (variant of Santa Anna Rules, posted to GI Newlsletter Files section) give 3 turns outside, and 7 turns inside before the "Self-Destruct Charge" can be blown. Objectives: US - Capture or kill all Defenders with a minimum loss of US lives. Al Queda - Take as many Us forces with them, hopefully cause them to overlook a cavity and miss the Political leaders. These objective could be reflected by the following points system: US Points for: Al Queda fighters WIA/captured: 2 points, Killed 1 point; Leaders WIA/Captured: 5 points, killed 3 points, "political/religious targets" WIA/Captured: 20 Points, Killed 10 points. Document/commo captured 10 points. Al Queda points for: US soldier WIA: 2 points; Killed 5 points; Aircraft Shot Down: 30 points. Any Room missed, or Leader uncaptured. This scenario is designed to help "wargame" the possible options of what it takes for a mission like this. If some option comes to mind different from what I've got here, then try it and see what happens. Back to Dispatch March 2002 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com