Reactions in Mugabia (Cold War imagi-nations)

Initially, the Soviets considered trying a low profile response to the unfortunate event in Mugabia, but with the story plastered on the the front page of newspapers around the world the next morning, low profile was no longer an option.

Despite the statements by the surviving Presidential Guardsman, the story was severely misrepresented, and spun in several directions.  "Soviet Attack Fails" seemed to be the favorite in the American news.  The Soviets offered a more truthful explanation, exaggerating their good will towards the ULF a bit, but admitting betrayal by the group.  This was utterly rejected by the western media.

This precipitated the expected heavy handed response.  The Soviets moved quickly, mobilizing air and ground assets for the move to Mugabia, even before notifying the Mugabian president of their intent.  As the Soviets informed the president of what was going to happen, he tried to remember that how he received the "intervention" was the most important thing.

The Soviets already had a presence in Mugabia, so it was mostly a matter of just expanding the footprint.  A dozen Mig-23s to start,  began operating out of the capital airbase, and another dozen Mig-21s were supplied to the Mugabian Air Force.  A brigade of Soviet motor infantry were moved into the country with armor and various support elements, and two more would quickly follow.

Almost immediately, known ULF outposts were bombed and rocketed into rubble by both Migs and SU-7 aircraft, and helicopter gunships also hunted rebels. Most of these were long abandoned, but it sounded good to men in charge.  With the ULF decapitated after their senior leadership was captured at the airport, the ULF was now fragmented and headed by a small number of warlords.  The Soviets moved to track down these warlords and subdue any problem that they might cause.

After letting things settle out in Mugabia for a short time, the Soviets addressed the Uwandan situation, which started with a demand for immediate withdrawal of Uwanda's forces, and then the institution of a no-fly zone over western Mugabia by the Soviets. 

Both the UK and US moved to reinforce Uwanda's depleted military, but things were happening fast, and a supply of Milans and Stingers would do little to stop the Soviets in the near term.   The US also supplied more of the improved Sidewinder missiles that had been used to great effect thus far, and promised more F-5 fighters soon.

Uwanda had no intention of giving up the Mugabian territory, not unless the regime in Mugabia was removed, and replaced by a more favorable one.  Something that was far less likely to happen now, given the current Soviet presence.  The problem was that neither Uwanda, nor her "friends" had any idea as to how to succed against the Soviets.  Time would tell.

Uwanda's air force continued to fly over western Mugabia, but at a very reduced frequency, and it took nearly a week, before the first encounter by Soviet and Mugabian aircraft took place with conflicting reports being released by the respective participants.  The Soviets' were somewhat truthful in claiming that they had only lost one aircraft, while damaging or destroying the entire Uwandan force.

For the time being, the Soviets were dealing with remnants of the ULF, so Uwanda had a little time to plan.

AAR-38 The Next Dance

As the result of an utterly unforeseeable event, Uwanda found itself in a head on confrontation with the Soviet Union. They now faced a powerful new enemy in the middle of a war, in which they had already expended much of their resources.

And... it was only a matter of time before before the first confrontation occurred, maybe taking a little longer than most expected.

As Uwanda's leadership stood its ground, the first dance occurred in the air.   With the Soviets reminding them of how the US abandoned its ally, South Vietnam, not too many years earlier, the Soviets began to apply pressure.

First indication of the presence of the Soviet jets occurred when the radar warning receivers in a pair of F-5Es sounded their alarm.  The Uwandans couldn't see their enemy, didn't even know they were Russian at this point, but they did know that the enemy was out there.

Soviet Mig-23s hunting the enemy.

The Soviet Force consisted of three Mig-23s flying at roughly the same speed and altitude as their targets, Two Uwandan F-5E Tiger IIs.  The "Mugabian" ground controllers vectored the Migs toward their target and informed the Migs when to activate their radars.  The F-5s were right were they should have been; the Migs continued on their path for a moment, then locked onto targets and fired their radar guided R-23 missiles.  One of the missiles failed to lock onto a target and did not leave the rail.  

Missiles represented by counters on the table,

 my miniature missiles have gone into hiding.

The F-5s got the signal that they were being tracked, could not find the enemy, and decided to turn away from the general direction of the Migs.  

All of the aircraft accelerated as the missiles closed on their targets; the third Mig got a lock on and fired its R23.  The Migs had fired too early and the F-5s out-ranged the R23 missiles.  

SARH R-23R missiles chase the F-5s, represented by counters 

on the table top.  I seem to have misplaced my missiles.

The two F-5s now turned into the Migs, seeing the attackers.  As the aircraft closed, all fired missiles, again with one of the Migs having a problem with lock-on.  The Migs fired their IR guided R23s, and the F-5s fired AIM9-L Sidewinders.  

Missiles in the air (well, sort of).

The missiles reached their targets quickly, with the first sidewinder destroying the the lead Mig-23, and an instant later, another Mig and both F-5s were hit.  All of the pilots tried to evade the incoming missiles, but failed.

The pilot of the second Mig was wounded, and he turned away from the fight; while the lead F-5 uploaded into a ball of fire and smoke.  The Second F-5 received damage, but as also able to turn away from the fight.

Explosions and smoking jets.

The remaining Mig-23 fired one of its shorter ranged IR missiles, but the F-5 had enough speed and distance to outrun the missile.  The battle had been fast and lethal.   And the Soviets could afford to do this day in and day out.  The Uwandans could not.

The rules used were Missile Threat modified to mesh with my campaign.

Plans, Plans, Everywhere There's Plans

In 2022, my plan was no plan.  More or less a carryover from what happened in 2021.  And it worked okay, despite some interruptions, except that it almost kept me from gaming.  I got so involved in completing projects for gaming, that I could never afford time to game.  

With all that I had completed in 2021, I couldn't help but believe that 2022 would be a big gaming year.  How could it not, with the Cold War hitting the table, and France 1940 more or less ready to go. Then there is Vietnam, Arab-Isreali, the Soviet Afghan war and my other campaigns already on the table, how could it not be a big gaming year?

Well, it wasn't.  I played 4 times, even with the launch of a WWIII campaign.  In 2022, like 2021 I got a lot of stuff finished, 59 projects off of my to-do list.  That's about two years worth of work, given my productivity over the last twenty or so years.  In 2022 my project or to-do list gained 14 projects, reaching a peak of 255 projects.  With 59 completed, that starts my list at 196 for 2023.  At the start of 2021, that list was 321, so I'm pretty happy with my progress over the last couple of years, but still, only 4 games played in 2022. Sad. 

There were interruptions some interruptions of my hobby.  My WWIII campaign got derailed for awhile by real world events, and then there was the work on my house that  took every available minute for four months, and a lot of time for the two months prior to that.

Outside interruptions impacted figure painting as well, with only 600 miniatures painted this year.  It had been twice that or more for the four years prior.  Most of the painted miniatures were either 15mm infantry or micro-armor, and none of it was painted particularly well, just minimum table ready work.  Purchases and aquisitions (purchased and gifts) came in at 985, fairly consistent with recent years, much of it build-up for the Cold War, 1940 France, and East front WWII camapaigns.

This past September I abandoned the no-plan plan, and posted "Looking to the Future", which outlined an approach to limit my work to ten periods/campaigns at any one time (down from 30 or 40 or whatever, and henceforth known as "The 10 plan").  During the second week of November, I got back to the hobby, instituted "The 10 Plan", and have completed various bits for seven of those 10 since, including all but completing work on both my 6mm and 15mm WWIII 1958 settings.

I recent days, I actually played a game in imagi-Africa, worked out details for the next game, and have painted a bunch of 6mm vehicles for 6mm Barbarossa for later in 2023.  I've got the next two scenarios for WWII:1958 ready to go, and having recently finished the 6mm railroad tracks, can now get those Cod War games on the table.  Opportunity to game on the table is looking decent at the moment, and is my biggest hope for 2023 (where have I heard that before?).

In addition to actully playing games in 2023, I hope to do the following (The 10 Plan):

1/3788 StarTrek/Star Fleet Battles - Paint Federation and Klingon ships, and either jumpstart the old SFB campaign or start a new one, solo if need be.  I'll get to work on Romulan ships after Feds ad Klingons are done. Proabably won't be able to establish the fate of the old SFB campaign until late spring.

6mm 1950s Cold War - I still have some work to do on 6 jets, and over time will probably add more buildings, but the overwhelming majority of the work is done, just need to play games.

6mm WWII east Front Barbarossa - Work has started, mainly painting Soviet vehicles.  An order for additional Soviet infantry will be placed this week; then, it is just a matterr of painting the figs and aircraft.  I may need to re-flock some old terrain, but will cross that road if and when needed.

15mm WWII East Front Barbarossa - For now, this will mostly consist of ordering models, as my Soviet forces in this scale are still a little thin.  As I get closer to getting the 6mm version of this period on the table, I expect to complete 15mm counterparts for games where infantry will play a bigger part.

15mm France 1940 -  I expect to add a few buildings, and paint some unfinished models as needed.  there are a few aircraft that need some touch-up, mostly reparing some decals.  I expect the Germans to invade in the very near future.

15mm Cold War 1958 - The only thing left is to complete a few aircraft (painting a Venom at the moment), and maybe add some buildings.  Oh yeah, and play some games.

15mm 1970s Cold War - This is the most involved of the ten active projects.  I'm still collecting miniatures for this, and have a bunch of American stuff to cast.  Later in the year, I'll pick one of the NATO forces to get table ready, but for the time being, will just work on filling in the gaps in equipment. 

The Soviet-Afghan War - There are three basic steps for this; making some walls/gardens/wells/clutter for villages, adding and detailling some helicopters, and building a modular hill systems more reflective of Afghan terrain.  This last step will be  kind of large in scope, and will wait until later in the year, but the walls and gardens thing will probably happen very soon.

20mm Vietnam - I got another platoon of PAVN troops to paint (Christmas present from wife) and hope to add some buildings through the year.  Otherwise, you know,  get games on the table.

28mm Post Apocalypse - Once I get some games in on other stuff, I need to clear my table and get Mama's Farm done which will facilitate several scenarios that I've had cooking for some time.

So that's the plan for 2023.  We all know that a year from now, it will have happened very differently, but ya' can't say I don't have a plan this year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2023 and stay well out there!

The Mugabia Situation (African Imagi-nation Fuff)

I've rolled some dice, and offer the following as a follow-up to the last battle in the Uwanda-Mugabia War, AAR-37: The Mouse Roars

__________________________________

A satellite watched a seemingly unimportant event in a place called Mugabia.  For a few American intelligence analysts, it was another boring day of watching nothing happen in a place no one cared about.

Then, via real time satellite imagery, in a room in Washington DC, an intelligence team watched a battle unfold.  Quietly watching as a column of Soviet vehicles exploded one by one, and the men in and around them silently died in the surreal imagery.  

The Soviets had barely pulled out of the compound, when the fighting erupted.  The attack executed by those with whom the Soviets had just met.  The ambush was obvious, but what precipitated it was a mystery. 

After a few minutes, helicopters arrived, with one touching down, while another circled the area. Survivors were picked up and whisked away.

__________________________________

Word of the attack on the Soviet mission in Mugabia quickly reached Moscow.  The initial reaction was utter surprise.  What outcome could they possibly hope for?  How could this have seemed a good idea?  

The Soviets were compelled to respond. But how? Should they send forces to fight in a place they already control, against an enemy that has nothing, and with nothing to gain, when they win.  Could the inevitable result even be called victory.

And, what to do about Uwanda?  A nation occupying a third of Mugabia's land.  The Mugabian President no doubt will expect Russia to fight his war for him; a conflict that would simply be another drain on the Soviet economy.  And one that Moscow simply had no interest in.

If only the incident could be kept quiet, proper punishment could be applied and much suffering and expense could be avoided.

___________________________________

The Mugabian President hung up the phone, and wondered if this was a good or bad thing.  He considered that nothing was really inherently good or bad, it was just the manor in which the thing was received, so he decided to receive news of the attack on the Soviets as a good thing.  

He might lose the utility of the ULF, but he might gain an ally in his failing war against Uwanda. Surely the Soviets would now understand the need to help their friend on the ground and in the air. 

He smiled as he realized that recovering the territory lost to Uwanda was already resolved, and began to consider how to get the Soviets to leave once they rebuilt his military to the standard that they should have already met.

He knew that he was getting ahead of himself, but he just couldn't help it.  As always, he just couldn't help but be impressed with himself.  His smile grew.

___________________________________

Resulting after, A European Getaway:

When the plane carrying the ULF leadership returned from France, it was stopped on the tarmac by forces of the Mugabian army, surrounded, and all of the passengers and crew were arrested and taken away.

The ULF leaders didn't know about the incident with the Soviets, and didn't suspect that they were the reason for this odd event at the airport.  And, they were most unfortunate that they had not planned or even known about the attack on the Soviets.

Everyone was restrained, put on trucks, and taken to prison, where the truth would be extracted, and not believed.

___________________________________

The US intelligence regarding the attack in Mugabia was quickly shared with the leadership of the United Kingdom, who maintained very close ties with Uwanda.  This event could completely destabilize Uwanda's situation with Mugabia, depending on the Soviet Reaction.

The US considered publicly shaming the Soviet Union with the event, but the British "suggested" that maybe allowing the Soviets to take the initiative in responding might be better.  The British didn't see an upside to the Soviets investing heavily in a response to what was essentially a very small, if unpleasant, event, and suspected that the response may not be too heavy handed.

Afghanistan was not going particularly well for the Soviets, Breznev was obviously in declining health, the Soviets had bigger issues to deal with. Maybe they wouldn't use this as an excuse for another Cold War confrontation.  This would likely benefit both Uwanda and in the longer term, the United States.

_______________________________________

In a small town in Uwanda, a bedraggled soldier, a member of the Preisidential Guard no less, staggered into a cafe.  A reporter from The Times, stared at the battered soldier for a moment, and just knew there was a story standing in front of him.

After a drink and some urging, the soldier explained what had happened to his unit, about the meeting with the ULF, the Soviets, the ambush.  An hour later, the reporter and his photographer buddy, took pictures of the still smoldering personnel carriers, the dead paratroopers, the broken trees, and ruins of the building surrounded by bodies dressed in the uniform of the Mugabian Presidential Guard.

Tomorrow morning, dead Russians in Mugabia would greet the world on the front page.

AAR-37: The Mouse Roars

The following battle was the result of my previous post, Out of His Element.

The situation was simple, the Soviet Union was not willing to be dragged into war with the west over the interests of Mugabia, nor those of the ULF.  The Soviet Colonel didn't expect the ULF leader to like this, but had expected that he had enough sense to understand the situation.

As the Soviet Colonel ordered his forces to mount up, the Mugabian representative chased after him, attempting to salvage the situation.  This resulted in the Soviet delegation pulling away from the compound; while, the the Mugabians were still standing around watching the Soviets leave.

Hurriedly, the Mugabian tried to get his forces to mount up and catch the Soviets.  He certainly didn't want to be caught alone at the compound, given what had just happened. 

Colonel Petrov, the Soviet Commander, hurried to the SUV and considered the situation:

"I thought the their leader would be a more sophisticated man.  He is a warrior, certainly not a politician; dictating terms to him is pointless.   The sooner we get out of the here, the better."

As Petrov got into his vehicle, he immediately issued the order over the radio net to stay alert.

The Soviets leave the compound.

The Colonel's vehicle made the turn onto the main road, and the radio sparked to life.  Through the chaos coming over the receiver, he immediately realized that the rebels had attacked the convoy.  

The policy in Afghanistan had been to race through the ambush zone, but Colonel Petrov could see from the fireball ahead, that that option was no longer available.  The gunships were already been called in, and Soviet paratroops were tryng to find cover along the road ahead.

The Mugabians had not followed the plan, which was simply to follow the lead of the Soviet Colonel, and not break formation.  As the ULF began to attack, the Mugabians were still attempting to get in their vehicles and get organized.  

The Mugabian leader, Colonel Kajinga, despite being a member of the elite Presidential Guard, was not a combat leader.  He had spent his career behind a desk in the Presidential Palace, saying , "Yes" to the president.  Now he found himself the leader of an unprepared force, ambushed, and in combat.  

Moments apart, the delegation meeting the ULF, found itself separated and fighting two different battles.  One group on the road to the way home, surrounded by winderness and  farms scratched out of the countryside, the other a short distance away, at the ULF compound.  

The Battlefield

The battle took place in the middle of nowhere, on an east-west dirt road through the countryside, and at a small compound located on a side road south the main dirt road.

The view looking west with the primary road in the center of 

the view.  The compound is actualy just out of view to the 

right (south) near the two trucks roughly center right

A westerly view of the table, the compound is not obvious 

in the trees in the upper left.

Soviet Forces

3x  Squads of Paratroops in BTR60

1x  Colonel with two aids in Dodge SUV

2x  Mi-24D helicopter

Mugabian force

1x Dodge SUV

3x GAZ-66  w/Presidential Guard Infantry Squads, 24 troops

ULF force 

5x  Groups of fighters, 49 men, plus the ULF leader and five guards

1x GAZ69

1x Toyota pickup.

Initial Deployment

The ULF had two sections of men along the main road, two sections along the side road leading to the meeting, one section and five guards in the immediae area of the building.  

Firing started along the primary road with four RPGs, two at the lead BTR-60 with one hit, a single RPG hit on the second BTR-60, and a miss that crossed behind the trailing SUV, as soviet paras began to bail out of the BTRs, ULF rebels unloaded their AKMs on the Paras with Soviets returning fire as soon as they got their bearings.  Though the Soviets took the worst of it, both sides took casualties.  

The Soviet column under fire, heading east on the 

primary road.

The third BTR fired its turret machinegun into the source of an RPG ahead of it, while driving into the field north of the road.  The SUV accelerated and followed, but was hit from behind by an RPG, killing the colonel and driver instantly.

The Third BTR also took an RPG, with survivors bailing out of the vehicle.  By this point, surviving Soviets on the road were firing on the rebels in the trees from behind cover provided by the burning BTRs.  Some of these men had done this in another more barren land, and against better soldiers.  The result was that in the ensueing exchange, the Soviets started to balance out the casualties.  

Chaos and death.

The survivng CHQ radioman from the SUV called for the Mi-24s, trying to direct them to the enemy.  The  firing died down, and Soviet survivors began to make their way east in cover on the north side of the road.

Soviet survivors start to move east and re-group.

After a coupe of minutes, the first Mi-24 appeared, looking for enemy soldiers, and eventually landed in the field north of the surviving paratroops, who were lifted out.

Private Zakharov was happy to get into the Mi-24, his only thought oddly removed from the situation at hand: "A year in Afghanistan, and this is the first time that I've ridden in one of these".

The Mi-24D picks up the survivors.

Meanwhile, back at meeting site:

The Mugabian, Colonel Kajinga came out of the building still trying to talk his way into another meeting with ULF leader.  Presidential Guard troops were loading into their trucks.

Mugabian Presidential Guard still loading into their trucks.

The Soviets had already loaded and moved up the road out of view, when the explosions were heard from the RPGs.  Immediately, two of the GAZ trucks exploaded as RPGs hit them, with many Presidiential Guard troops being killed or disoriented.

Presidential Guard in a hopeless situation.

ULF rebels shot several more Presidential Guard troops before they began to return fire.  The assistant to the Mugabian representative was killed trying to get in the SUV, and it took off with only Colonel Kajinga on board, followed by the third GAZ truck with a small number of Presidential Guard troopson board.

Presidential Guard trying to escape the turkey shoot.

Presidential Guards on the GAZ returned fire on the ULF rebels, as did  the momentarily surviving guard spread about the burning trucks.  Their fire made possible the escape of the third truck.  Unfortunately, as it followed the SUV into the trees behind the meeting building, a rebel with an RPG on the other side of the building scored a lucky hit, destroying the last truck.

The last truck is hit.

A rebel pickup with a machinegunner in the bed, chased after the escaping vehicles. As it passed the third, now burning, GAZ, nobody saw the surviving Presidential Guardsman with his RPK machinegun.  He opened up on the pickup truck, killing both rebels in the bed, and securing both his and the Mugabian SUV's escape.

The SUV with the Mugabian Colonel escapes, leaving 

the lone surviving Mugabian soldier behind.

On the front side of the building, the remaining Guardsmen continued to exchange with the rebels, but out numbered, surrounded, and without any significant cover, they were doomed.  No prisoners were taken.

It appeared that that the ULF had officially rejected the Soviet ultimatum.

Loses:

The Soviets lost three BTR-60s, the Colonel, and 17 paratroops KIA.

The Mugabians lost three GAZ-66 trucks, an aid,  and 23 Presidential Guard KIA.

The ULF lost 30 fighters KIA, with 9 WIA.

Surprisingly, despite the ambush, the Soviets actually inflicted more casualties than they received, excluding the lost vehicles.

___________________________________

A long time coming, this scenario was rolled up over two years ago.  It was a little anticlimactic in that it was such a fast game, taking less than an hour to play out.

The Soviets faired better than I expected.  I mean it was an ambush, and brutal, but they had 8 troops survive a hopeless situation.  Their shooting (die rolls) was exceptional, resuting in the ULF losing a lot of men quickly.

I was really bummed that the Soviet Colonel was killed, hoping and sort of expecting that the SUV would get him out of harms way quick enough to survive and maybe be a recurring character.

I was also quite surprised that the Mugabian leader managed to get out.  I really expected all of the Presidential Guard and their colonel to be toast.

15mm British Cold War Infantry 1958

Sometime back I had gotten the brilliant idea of gaming 15mm British and Soviets forces in my 1958 World War III setting.   I already had Soviet infantry and most of the vehicles that I would need for both sides, but would have to start from the ground up for the British infantry.  

After some help from members on The Wargames Website forums, I settled on Peter pig WWII infantry to use as the basis for the British infantry and started to move forward.  Generally, weapons and uniforms are the same or pretty similar, and while some of the packs and pouches might be out of date, I just decided to go with most of the figs as they are.  The only big exception was that I decided to use US WWII bazooka teams with British head swaps to represent the M20 anti-tank weapons used by the 1958 troops.  The WWII bazooka is way too small, but it gives a clear indication of what the role of the fig is.

Originally, I was going to try to modify the webgear and some pouches, but after losing four monts of hobby time this year, decided to just do the head swaps and go with them.

Colors of both the uniforms and the gear were adjusted for the late 1950s, and probably should have had a lot more variation than what I ended up painting, but as time is my enemy, I opted for fast and more uniform.

In any event, right or wrong, good or bad, I now have a British infantry company for 1958 with a couple of Vickers machine guns and mortars for support.  Here are a few pics:

Above is the entire company, CHQ at the front, followed by 

the arty and mortar forward observers, the three rifle platoons 

with PHQ at the front of each, a pair of 3" mortars left rear, 

and a pair of Vickers machineguns right rear.

With the British infantry done, the only thing that I still need to do for this project is to build a couple of aircraft, and I'll be done with the 15mm version of my 1958 Cold War project for the time being. 

On Track with Levin Miniatures (part 2)

Back to work on the railroad track sections; next, I stippled some acrylic putty along the upper portion of the track bed, nearest the ties to give a hint of ballast.  Not sure that it did much to help the cause, but it is there.

The tracks were then primed and painted, and some flock was added along the lower edges of the track sections.  Here are some pics of the finished sections.

I started working on a crossing, but wasn't happy with size of its footprint, so will try again at a later point.  Additionally, I have some unused track sections left to add bits as needed in the future.

The end result will do the job, but I think they look a little "flat".  Some weathering will probably fix that, but they ended up taking a week's more free time than I had anticipated, and I'm not sure of the method for weatheing yet.  For now, I'll move on to some other things.

I should also mention that service from Levin Miniatures in getting the track was quite good, and as with their buildings, I am very happy with their castings.   Quality is good, price is very reasonable, and service has been excellent.