15 March 1979: South of Ngiva

Captain Pieter Van der Horst's radio crackled:




'Enemy now within 3 kilometres of your position, mixed tanks and APCs, infantry dismounted'

Van der Horst looked at his radio operator, his eyebrows raised...there wasn't supposed to be any enemy armour in the area...

'Alpha One, this is Sierra Six, hostiles at location 485674, prepare for contact, shoot on my command, over'

'Roger Sierra Six, over'



Elements of the South African 62 Mechanised Battalion, supported by tanks from the School of Armour, are about to engage the the Angolan 11th Mechanised Brigade some 15 km inside Angola. The SADF forces crossed the border late last night, launching Operation Crossbow, the second major 'external' of the border war to date. Their objective was to disrupt SWAPO actvity in the border region, now they have encountered Angolan regular forces.

Our alternative timeline of the war in Angola is about to re-start. The guerilla war between SWAPO and the SADF and their South West African Territorial Force allies has been gradually escalating. The South Africans launched their first major incursion into Angola last year with an airborne assault on SWAPO at Cassinga. This was a military success but the political consequences have not been as favourable to South Africa - western public opinion is even more negative towards the Apartheid regime and Cuba and the Soviet Union have increased their support to the Angolan government.

Alerted by SWAPO forces on the border, Cuban and East German pilots flew reconnaissance missions at first light and have detected the SADF columns. Angolan forces and their Cuban advisors have moved swiftly to meet the incursion.

In other words, a game of AK 47 is scheduled for tomorrow evening...

Back on the Border...

I dug out the three QRF Ratels I bought over a year ago and cleaned up and assembled them this evening before spraying them with black car paint as an undercoat.

A remark by my regular gaming partner about how he'd enjoyed our AK 47 games set in Angola prompted me to do this. I've been thinking that I might put a bit of effort into this period over the next few weeks and see if I can rekindle some interest.

My models are a long way from looking like the one pictured above but it shouldn't be too hard to knock out something that's as good. I have plenty of Unimogs, Buffels, Elands, Landrovers and Centurions to take on the BTR 60s, T34s and T55s...

I'm thinking of a Angolan-Cuban invasion of Namibia in 1979, as a reaction to the South African raid on Cassinga in 1978 and as part of a wider communist offensive in Africa.

Not sure if we'll use the AK 47 rules off the peg or whether I'll go to the trouble of drafting scenarios. I probably won't - I think it's time to just get the little men and models on the table and start rolling dice...

Battle of Menongue 25 October 1975



Outskirts of Menongue looking East. The South Africans attacked down this road.



We played the latest episode our camapign this week, the attempt by South African troops of Task Force Orange to link up with the paratroopers who had been dropped in to seize the airport at Menongue.

Both sides were given confiential breifings and objectives, together with how to achieve victory.

The scenario was an' exit' game involving a motorised SADF force entering the short table edge and having to fight its way across the table to exit on the opposite edge. The SADF had a detachment of Eland 90s and some Landrover technicals together with a company of infantry mounted in Buffel APCs and another in Unimogs.

The FAPLA defenders were three companies of militia with no heavy weapons.

FAPLA's only advantages were their ability to ambush the South Africans in the bush and built up areas and one company that had managed to dig itself in on the outskirts of town, directly in the path of the SADF advance.

FAPLA 'won' in that they prevented the South Africans exiting the table but if the game had gone on for another one or two turns the liklihood is that the result would have been different. FAPLA succesfully ambushed the SADF armoured cars and Landrovers but suffered heavy casualties and were losing ground in house to house fighting in Menongue itself when time ran out.

By evening on 25 October Task Force Orange had relieved 1 PARA and secured the airfield at Menongue.

Thanks to Chris and Evan for being such good sports an entering into the spirit of 'War for Slow Readers'