Modern Spearhead

China vs Taiwan - 1967

After Action Report Battle Group Modern Rules

Description battle Sino-Taiwanese conflict of 1967

The battlefield in Taiwan 

The scenario was an encounter and after the initiative roll the Chinese opted to play first and the Taiwanese would have the choice of the side they entered.

Forces:

China Paras

1x BHQ

2x Para companies

Lots of transport planes for them (Il-14)

Taiwan

1x BHQ

1x Recce Company

1x Mech infantry company

1x Mobile AA platoon

1x Art Battery

After the OBJ were placed on the map the general started to issue orders to their troops.

The Chinese would para drop the 2 companies far apart (on the 2 OBJ) having the BHQ as a link (after all a Chinese para company is quite Large) and after taking the 2 OBJ the paras would take defensive positions.

The Taiwanese would take the one OBJ close to their table edge and then they would advance in force to take one of the other OBJ.

The Taiwanese Recce Company

The game started with the Taiwanese Recce company entering first (in all encounter battles the recce forces come in first) and moving at flat out speed for the OBJ.

Elements of the 1st Chinese Para Company

In the next turn the first company of Paras started dropping all the paras landed apart from some Hv Weapons (82mm RCL) that were on one II-14 that was hit by Taiwanese AA and crashed before entering the table. The paras were quick to take the OBJ

The second companies of paras landed without a problem like they were on drills (no losses at all).

The Taiwanese Recce Company at Dongshan

As both Chinese paras had landed and gotten ready the Taiwanese were at Dongshan village. Their mission was to make a reconnaissance of the village of Dong about 1-1,5 km from Dongshan. The recce company was followed by the Mech infantry about 2 km behind them. The Mech infantry was ordered to hold Dongshan as the recce company would move forward.

The positions of the 2nd Chinese Para Company near to Dong village

As the Chinese had set up defensive position along the road to Dong and in the second OBJ the Taiwanese were still trying to get information as to where the Chinese had landed.

As the Taiwanese recce company exited Dongshan the Chinese foot started to spot the vehicles of the Taiwanese (M3 halftracks and tanks). The Chinese ordered the small mortars the 2 companies had to open fire on the Taiwanese (60mm Mortars). 

The Taiwanese Recce moving towards to the 2nd Paras Company

The Taiwanese were moving of road (thus slowly), the Mech infantry was dismounting in Dongshan.

The Taiwanese under heavy fire

The Chinese having spotted the rece company plotted the mortar fire with accuracy. The Taiwanese were completely surprised, 2 Tanks burst into flames (needed a 20 on a D20 for that) the infantry in the open top M3 started jumping from the APCs and the company commander ordered a retreat to Dongshan. The commander of the Mech infantry in Dongshan seeing the rece company in full retreat orderd his mortars to fire a small smoke screen to cover the retreat.

Traffic jam into the Dongshan 

As the 2 Taiwanese companies started to amass in the village of Dongshan panic started spreading amongst the men. It had taken the Chinese only a few mortar shells and the Taiwanese were in panic. The Taiwanese BHQ finally arrived in Dongshan and after assessing the situation the BHQ ordered a full retreat from Dongshan.

A Taiwanese Company retreating

In this battle we witnessed for the first time the breakdown in communications in an army. The Taiwanese had issued their orders but in no part of the battle did they change their original plan. The recce company after losing only 2 tanks (5 tanks and few M3 with troops) was forced to retreat (commander got scared he would lose them all).

The Chinese Paras even though the recce got to about 500m of them did not open fire thus did not reveal their position until the mortars opened up.

       

    

An interview with Ian S. Clarke

An interview with the author of the Battlegroup Modern Rules

Ian S. Clarke, for BGCoA (BattleGroup Community of Athens)

Vaggelis' M. Israeli M-48s and Zeldas (photo: BGCoA)

BGCoA: Ian, please tell us a few words about the creation of the Battlegroup Modern.

Ian Clarke in Derby 2012 (Modern World Championships)

Ian Clarke:  When I first started playing modern warfare the club I played at used Challenger 2. We enjoyed it and took part in the Derby world championships each year. In those days we’d get 60+ entries and have to have play offs in May for the 48 competition places in October. Then Tabletop games stopped selling Challenger 2 and brought out Challenger 2000, they changed big chunks of the gaming system, big chunks that change the game from something that worked to something that didn’t. How badly did this affect things, entries for Derby fell from 60+ to less than 20.

For the next few years we struggled on with Challenger 2000 and numbers continued to drop.

Jim Dickenson who’d been the Derby umpire decided to stop umpiring and I took over in 1996.

It was heartbreaking really.

In 1997 Mike Jones produced a set of rules called Modern Fast play and these were tried at the RAF championships and then at Derby. While they worked better than Challenger 2000 they still didn’t quite work. Many changes were made between then and 2003 which saw the first version of Battlegroup authored by Mike with help from many people. Looking at the copy I have here anyone familiar with Battlegroup would be able to see it was the basis of the current rules, but also just how much has been added and changed.

Mike was in the RAF and work had become too busy for him to continue to run with the rules. There were many updates needed and he asked if I’d take over the rules. Which I was happy to do.

In 2005 the 2^nd Edition was introduced and then a 3^rd edition in 2009. To be honest while there have been a few minor changes there hasn’t been need for a major change since then, however I have release 2009+ with the changes and corrections since the original version was released.

Lately I have noticed more interest and the need to upgrade some bits and I have a feeling I’ll need to issue a new version in the near future with these changes.

Nikos' M. Greek Leopards 2HEL and M-113 (photo: BGCoA)

BGCoA:       Introduce the game with a couple of words.

IC:       Battlegroup is a set of modern rules intended for Battalion/Regiment/Brigade level games. The rules try to use simple solutions to cover a complex period. I’d rate the rules a fairly complex. They should allow a battalion level game to come to a conclusion in 3-4 hours with bigger games taking longer.

BGCoA:   Why a wargamer with interest of modern era should choose to play Battlegroup Modern?

IC:       If you have the time to read through the rules (which are big) they give an enjoyable game and a fairly accurate depiction of modern warfare.

Johns' F. T-80s and BMPs (photo: BGCoA)

BGCoA:       What do you think are the “High lights” of the game?

IC:       Most of the game can be played with just a hand full of quick ref sheets with the rules only being needed for the less common things that can happen and to be honest once you are used to the rules you can play most of a game with only a hand full of looks at the data sheets. This means you can spend your time thinking about the game not the rules.

Leopards 2 vs T-80s in a tank duel (photo: BGCoA)

BGCoA:       Do you think that the 1/300^th is the best scale for the game? What are the benefits of the use of the 1/300^th scale?

IC:       The best scale might well be smaller as given the group scale of the game 1/300^th vehicles are the size of small fields! The major advantage of 1/300^th is that the figures are available for almost anything you might need and most importantly I have loads of 1/300^th figures ;-)

Johns' M. Centurions (photo: BGCoA)

BGCoA:       Can you calculate about how many people play Battlegroup Modern all over the world?

IC:       Unfortunately I don’t think it’s very many. There’s about 20 people in the UK, 8-10 in Greece, 4-6 in South Africa, a couple in Australia and a few in the US that I know of. That comes to less than 40, however there are 718 people on the group (http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/BGMR/) so I’d like to think there are more out there playing but not making too much noise about it.

Israeli tanks and APCs in Golan Heights (photo: BGCoA) 

BGCoA:       Have you any “commercial” thoughts for the Battlegroup Modern? Are you going to give the rights of the game to a major wargaming company for better management and promotion? 

IC:       If a company wanted to produce a commercial copy of the rules that would be fine with me, the rules have always been my way of keeping modern wargaming alive so it going commercial would help that goal I’d be happy. So if there’s someone out there that is interested I’d be willing to talk.

BGCoA: Thank you very much Ian. Hope to see you in Athens in the near future for a Greek-British tournament...

French vs W. Germans - 1969

Battlegroup Modern - After Action Report 

At 1969 French and W. German battalions made military exercises in secret near to the Warsaw Pact's border. The Czechoslovakians were watching...

The map:

Location: Germany, somewhere near Regensburgh

         
           W. German forces:                             French forces:

        Gen. Niklas Miliorzeiss                      Gen. George Manis

1xBHQ(1xM577A1+2xSpz 12-3)	1xRHQ(1xAMX-VCI)
1xCHQ(2xSpz 12-3)	1xCHQ(2xAMX-VCI) #1
1xCHQ(2xSpz 12-3)	1xCHQ(2xAMX-VCI) #2
1xPlatoon(3xSpz 12-3) #1	1xPlatoon(3xAMX-VCI) #1
1xPlatoon(3xSpz 12-3) #2	1xPlatoon(3xAMX-VCI) #2
1xPlatoon(3xSpz 12-3) #3	1xPlatoon(3xAMX-VCI) #3
1xPlatoon(3xSpz 12-3) #4	1xPlatoon(3xAMX-VCI)  #4
1xPlatoon(3xSpz 12-3) #5	1xCHQ(1xAMX-13/90 (IRNF))
1xCHQ(1xM113A1G)	1xPlatoon(4xAMX-13/90 (IRNF)) #1
1xPlatoon(3xRakette) #1	1xPlatoon(4xAMX-13/90 (IRNF)) #2
1xPlatoon(3xRakette) #2	1xSection(3xAMX-13DCA)

A French company with the support of tanks and the staff of Colonel Manis quickly took 2 OBJ stipulated by the mission. 

German A /T Rakkette caused the loss of 4 of the first French tank battalion with successful shots of SS-11 missiles, but the French kept their morale. The damaged vehicles cut the visibility of German anti-tank and shut the door so the two German battle teams that followed were forced to perform maneuvers in woodlands north and south, in order to reach the middle OBJ, but that had as a result the teams beiing delayed significantly. 

This fact was exploited in the best way by the French Commander by strengthening the first company with the 2nd also supports by tanks, while the third was sent south to prevent a possible maneuver the Germans from the south. 

While the French foot of the first company disembarked from the APC and took battle positions in the woods. The one German team, moving north, encountered problems and had virtually no involvement in the battle. On the other hand the 2^nd team reached the outskirts of a forest in the southern sector and landed his infantry to move under cover to OBJ.

At this point, the vehicles of the 3rd French company had earlier offloaded the organic infantry elsewhere in the same forest. The 3^rd French was spotted by the German commander and he ordered the APC to address their respective French counterparts. The French reacted calmly answering the fire.

The exchange of fire between the German and French APC was hard, with losses on both sides. Meanwhile, the Germans attacked the French infantry who replayed with fire and came out winners (proving themselves better at the melee that followed). Then the French counterattacked causing additional losses to the Germans, using them away from the OBJ.

At this point the NATO Headquarters declared the end of the exercise.