Last night saw Paul (AKA 'Colonel Callen') and Rob ('Commandante Roberto') play their first game of Classic AK47 Republic using my Angolan Civil War & Border War Supplement.
Commandante Roberton had a mixed force of the military wing of the Angolan Marxist MPLA (FAPLA) and Cubans under his command. Mixed is putting it mildly. He had a unit of crack Cuban Special Forces mounted in GAZ jeeps, some armour and Angolan infantry of questionable quality with attached Cuban advisors to provide stiffening. Fortunately he had successfully secured air support from the Cuban base near Luanda under the command of his good friend Teniente Coronel Wootton...
The CIA backed FNLA commanded by Colonel Callan were also a very mixed bunch, ranging from a mob of hired thugs and students in a school bus and a commandeered truck, to Callan and his mercenaries, only some of whom had previous miltary experience, mounted in jeep and pick-up trucks as 'mobile hunter-killer groups'. The FNLA leader, Holdon Roberto, had had words with his brother in law the President of Zaire, and the latter had promised a big artillery bombardment if the communists came too close to the Zairian border.
The FNLA were defending and only three of their five units turned up. To make matters worse, word came through that Callan's second in command, 'Shotgun Charlie' was some way away and unlikely to be avaibale until turn 6 at the earliest. Callan deployed for an all round defence and waited for the Cuban column to arrive.
Commandante Roberto also had three units on table to begin with. These were all of his heavy armour and a unit of infantry. He elected to secure one objective with the infantry and drive on the town in the centre of the table with his armour. The lack of infantry support was a worry but when plans go awry one has to improvise.
Two passes by Cuban piloted MiGs dealt to the FNLA militia unit in their Toyota technicals.
In further bad news, the surviving technicals seemed to have run out of fuel and were immobile, rendering them easy targets for the FAPLA T-34 tanks and BRDM armoured cars...
The T-34s drove into the village and were promptly ambushed by Callan's infantry wielding RPGs and LAWs. This ambush was very successful, so much so that Callan, who had been praying for dusk to allow him to withdraw, could see there was hope after all. Shotgun Charlie still hadn't turned up, probably contemplating a return to his old career of holding up sub post offices in the Midlands, but Callan launched a fercious attack on the FAPLA armour using recoiless rifles and heavy machine guns mounted on landrovers and jeeps.
This proved spectacularly successful and a whole unit of BRDMs were destroyed or abandoned by their crews. One had merely been peppered with machine gun fire but having seen two of their comrades' vehicles blow up the Angolan crew lost all socialist zeal...
FAPLA reinforcements soon arrived to take Callan's position in the rear however. The promised artillery bombardment from Zaire had proved ineffectual and there was still no sign of Shotgun Charlie so Callan redeployed and took on a combined force of Cuban Special Forces and MPLA infantry. As the shadows lengthened both sides were showing signs of weakening...
In the above photo Cuban GAZ jeeps are tradig shots with one of Callan's and supporting a close assault on the few mercenaries still holding the objective. In the foreground FAPLA infantry with RPGs are getting ready to let loose at one of Callan's jeeps.
Then, in an episode of gratuitous irony, supprt arrived for Callan, not in the form of Shotgun Charlie and his recoiless rifles and ex-paratroopers and postmen, but the FNLA political cadre, AKA thugs, in their 'caravan of courage'. Having got lost behind the Marxist lines they were thirsty so made straight for Timothy's bar in town who, having found fuel for his generator from somewhere, had got the fridge going and could supply ice cold Simba beer...
The game clock wound down shortly thereafter and when the wash up was done a mere five points seperated the protagonists. In the words on the rules: 'a disputed military outcome with no clear victor'.
The political outcome was up for grabs however and both sides propagandists are claiming a resounding win. The fighting isn't over however...
Thanks to Paul, Rob and Nigel for coming and playing and being such good sports.