Books, History, Scottish, WW2

Black Watch by Tom Renouf – Book Review

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This is a campaign history written by a veteran of 5th Bn Black Watch who later became the secretary of the Highland Division Association. Direct personal accounts, both from the author and other veterans, are used to tell the story of the 51st Highland Division in a very personal way. This book offers some new perspectives on the battles of the 51st, especially those in the final months of the war in which the author was personally involved.

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Books, History

Midnight in Some Burning Town –a Review

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I actually enjoyed reading this book, even though it wasn’t the book that I thought I was buying. I had ordered it expecting that it would tell me about the various special forces missions that UK forces had been up to between the first Gulf War in 1990-91 and when it was published (in 2004).

It sort of covered that, but there was no real detail to much of the early stuff, for example the Sierra Leone mission is dealt with in a couple of pages. I’ve seen some other (much more detailed) accounts of the events (from the point of view of the Paras and the kidnapped Major).

However, where it does come into its own is when it explains the issues around Kosovo and Macedonia. The author obviously had a strong interest in this period (possibly based on working there as a journalist) and had clearly spoken to several involved parties (or done some very good research). The writing style is very easy to read, clearly articulates the issues and the motivations of the various parties and also explains the background to the situations very well. You get a lot of the flavour of the conflict and the terror of villagers in the Balkans from the book. It also explains some of the behind the scenes bits that the NATO forces were involved in (not just SF types, others as well). In fact if the book had been billed as an in-depth look at Kosovo and Macedonian conflict in 1999-2004 then it would perhaps have been more honest (although perhaps with fewer sales).

There is a reasonable treatment of the early Afghanistan operations, although there wasn’t apparently much going on there from a British point of view up to 2004 (we got heavily involved in 2006, two years after the book was first published). It also covers the effect on the SAS of the expansion in operations since 9/11 and also the Iraq war (which is part of the proof that the author has spoken to some of the SF community or those closely connected to it as he knew in 2004 of the impending manpower crisis that the explosion in PMC work in Iraq caused).

One of the more interesting bits is a speculative section near the end on what an operation to capture Radovan Karadzic might look like and who it might involve. This was the sort of thing that you might expect from a book about special forces missions (albeit non-speculative narratives of actual missions based on interviews with those involved).

Overall, if you are interested in the Balkans conflicts this is well worth reading, although perhaps shorter on that than a dedicated book might be.

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games, megagames

Urban Nightmare – the megagame pt.2

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Shortly after lunchtime (when I ate my lunch, megagames don’t have breaks, they run continuously until the end) I changed role. The trigger for this was that the Emergency Services didn’t really need two players (and Geoff had clearly got the hang of megagames even though it was his first time). Also Federal assistance was invoked, and there wasn’t a player team at Federal level (because it was always uncertain if it would be required and carried too much risk of boredom to be staffed before it was required).

Combat Service Identification Badge of the 101...
Combat Service Identification Badge of the 101st Airborne Division (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So I ended up as a Major General in charge of the 101st Airborne Division and in command of the Federalised State National Guard forces. I also had a special forces team attached. The direct Federal team was lead by a (female) Presidential Envoy who had a direct line to the White House and was told to get the situation under control. Me and the Special Forces Colonel were the other two players in this team, although effectively I had all the National Guard players in my team too.

First steps were to work out a containment plan to stop this spreading, and then to deal with rules of engagement for the soldiers under my command. I observed that what we were dealing with were (virus infected) US Citizens on US soil and that just shooting them all wasn’t an acceptable position. I also observed that preventing innocent citizens from leaving an area could be seen as an unlawful arrest without charge, and was effectively suspending habeas corpus. What we really needed was an appropriate Executive Order to ensure that none of my soldiers could be held liable for civil action. It turned out White House counsel agreed, and I got the following as my rules of engagement (endorsed by the Deputy Attorney General)

[– start ROE –]

Rules of Engagement – Romero Virus Outbreak

Within the specified area all US Military forces are authorised to use reasonable force to detain people within the specified area and to direct them to appropriate medical and/or containment facilities.

Lethal force is authorised to prevent people leaving the specified area, or where they refuse to obey clear instructions to go to a medical or containment facility. Before opening fire at least THREE WARNINGS of “ARMY! HALT OR I FIRE!” (or similar words to the same effect) must be given. Only individual small arms, firing single, aimed shots may be used. Artillery, rockets, bombs or other explosive weapons are not authorised for use unless on the direct express order of a Colonel or more senior officer.

[– end ROE –]

This, however, was only the first of the philosophical discussions that I was involved in. Like all good generals, mine was a political game, not one of issuing orders (although I did some of that too, largely by giving mission objectives to the National Guard General and the SF Colonel). So I made sure that not only the military, but also the political and police players knew what our ROE were and our intent to cordon a wide area before moving in to eradicate the problem. However I was careful to deploy some regular troops to Romero City so that we could truthfully state that we were directly assisting the city authorities and that we were providing humanitarian aid to those made refugees by the outbreak.

 

Other Player Viewpoints

If you want to read what other players in this game thought about it then here are some more links:

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http://toweroftheoctopus.com/2012/11/urban-nightmare-a-live-action-thirty-player-asymmetric-team-zombie-outbreak-simulation-game/

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games, Government, megagames

Urban Nightmare megagame

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The Urban Nightmare megagame, is a political crisis management game of a zombie outbreak in Romero City. I played the Deputy Chief of the Emergency Services. (A combined paramedic and firefighter service). We had 20 fire appliances and 8 emergency ambulances to service the city. During the megagame I posted tweets of what we were doing, remembering not to start talking about zombies at any point. This was my attempt to keep it realistic. It meant that some of our decisions weren’t optimal for the zombie apocalypse. They did make sense for major emergencies though.

The Start of Urban Nightmare

Overnight we’ve had four emergency calls for paramedics at Sin Street, Cass Tech High School, Elmwood Park & the Water-works Park. All four incidents have had their casualties taken to City General Hospital (which is the closest).

Live Tweets from Urban Nightmare

I live tweeted during the megagame (until it overwhelmed us, see pt.2 for my follow on role)

 

PS no idea why it locates me in Luton, we were playing the game in Anerley Town Hall in South London!

 

Urban Nightmare megagame pt.2

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Books, design, History, WW2

Defeat Into Victory

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IWM caption : THE BRITISH ARMY IN BURMA 1945. ...
Image via Wikipedia

A friend sent me a copy of Field Marshal Bill Slim‘s Defeat Into Victory. It has always been on my list of books I’d like to read, but somehow I’d never quite got round to acquiring a copy. The version I have is a reading copy of the original edition, with fold out maps all through it.

The reading style is very engaging and easy to read, especially if you have the space to fold out the map at the end of the chapter so that you can follow all the places when they appear in the narrative. It was the first time I’d read about the ebb and flow of the war in Burma (even though my grandfather drove a DUKW out there). So I found it very interesting, the nature of warfare was hugely different that both Europe and North Africa (and I suspect even the Pacific Islands). In some respects the war fought in Burma was more like recent modern wars with low troop densities, long logistics tails and a massive reliance on air power.

The other engaging bit about the book was that Slim shows you the development of the army from a road bound Western linear fighting force into an all arms, all round defence, jungle fighting machine. In the beginning the British Army is out of its depth and way beyond the ken of its commanders or troops. The Japanese have infiltration tactics that the British just can’t cope with, and are so stubborn in defence that they cannot be shifted when they gain a hold. The British just dissolve and retreat rapidly out of the way (mostly).

It isn’t just a story of the British Army, as well as colonial forces (Indians and Africans mostly) there is also the alliance warfare aspect of the war. He liaises with Vinegar Joe Stillwell and the Chinese Army too.

Later, the British manage to shorten their lines of communication, build defences and work out how to deal with the Japanese. Once they do, then the tables turn, although it takes much stubborn fighting to shift the enemy. There is a good narrative that explains the constraints the 14th Army was operating under, the logistics challenges and how these were overcome and also the details of the operations. Occasionally there are little personal vignettes of visits to the front, or reports of battles.

One of the things I noted was the commentary on how few prisoners were taken, mostly it was a grim fight to the death by both sides. A typical note on a Japanese attack was that there was one prisoner taken and 600 Japanese bodies recovered from the 14th Army positions.

However, great as all this is, the last section of the book is the best. In the last chapter Slim gives his opinions on why things turned out the way that they did and also on what he draws as lessons for the future. Given that this was written in 1957 he has a lot to say that I think was quite prescient about current operations (and it might also have been right for the post-nuclear exchange as well, but thankfully we’ve avoided that).

The thing I do wonder, is why are all our operational games about the European war? The furthest East we manage is the Russian front, when there is whole load of interesting stuff going on out in the Far East. I suspect I may well return to this when I have some time to sort out another game design.

 

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games, megagames, universe

Megagame: Invasion from Mars – the end

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Dateline 3127.160

General Buck’s HQ, BRADLEY

It’s all over bar the talking.

Army Group West is now all back on the East Continent. With due pomp and ceremony (we got a band in) the Mech Brigade left by sea and then my HQ flew out. I was the last member of the DRC forces to leave the East Continent having handed over FAREAST to the MAFC Marines I got on the last flyer out and flew back to BRADLEY.

Troops evacuated from the West Continent have been deployed into our cities in the western part of the East Continent. If the negotiations break down then all forces have been withdrawn to defend the homeland, and most of the losses have been made good using the Repair and Maintenance Points (RMP).

—

As a conclusion, the DRC are all very surprised at where we got to with this game. We always thought that we would be well and truly stomped into the ground by the Martians using their standard ‘Plan A’, i.e. ‘drop a GF division on it’. ‘Plan B’ of course being ‘repeat Plan A until it works’!

We have been amazed at the relative non-aggression of the MAFC forces (despite the bluster and politicking, it remains that the MAFC didn’t really try hard to defeat us militarily). I expected the MAFC force to try and decapitate us, landing on our home continent and forcing a withdrawal by directly attacking our cities. I also expected them to be a bit more mobile, using shuttles to flit about from place to place rather than landing somewhere and then moving on the ground like the rest of us.

From a political perspective we’ve gone from being cast as the bad guys to being seen as having a legitimate grievance that is generally acknowledged, and which the INN reported much more favourably than we had expected. That said, we went to some effort to ensure that the two press players got plenty of material from us, and most turns I personally briefed them about what my troops were doing before I carried out the orders. I also made sure when I spoke to them that I knew exactly what the message I wanted them to get was. Classic press briefing techniques, which I’ve been taught for my day job.

As Jim Wallman said at the start “no game survives contact with players”, and at the end “you’ve all done terribly well” (insert punctuation as appropriate).

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Megagame: Invasion from Mars 11

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Dateline 3127.150-154

General Buck’s advanced HQ, FAREAST

The political negotiations continue, there is much discussion of setting up a supra-national bode to co-ordinate trade, although I do not believe that our government is terribly keen on this idea unless there are appropriate safeguards in place.

Close-Air Support
Image by The National Guard via Flickr

I have done another deal and persuaded the New Cydonia Station head of security to help me evacuate a tank brigade (3rd, at full strength) by providing an additional shuttle unit to supplement my transport flyers. The Brigade is flown to BRADLEY which now means that we have a Division plus there (three brigades, and AIR support).

Another Mech Brigade and a Tank Brigade get shipped out of FAREAST back to the East Continent, leaving only my HQ and the last Mech Brigade (which I could have shipped out as well, but thought I’d string it out a little longer). Also I needed some time to arrange the departure ceremony and invite the INN news crews to film it.

 

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Megagame: Invasion from Mars 10

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Dateline 317.145-149

General Buck’s advanced HQ, FAREAST, West Continent, Cydonia

Having brokered a deal via the Earther Military Attaché the Infantry Brigade near ENSEMBLE is flown to BRADLEY (the DRC capital city) by the shuttles of the North Continental Company. This happily bolsters the defences in the capital just in case there is any unpleasantness if negotiations break down. No danger of an internal coup or revolution though, the people seem delighted by our performance and (rightly) credit the President’s leadership for this.

A Mech Brigade and Logistics Base A are evacuated by sea, the remaining forces are converging on FAREAST. My HQ is set up in FAREAST. All available air assets are covering the port to ensure evacuation continues to go smoothly.

 

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Megagame: Invasion from Mars 09

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Dateline 3127.140-144

General Buck’s Advanced HQ on West Continent, Cydonia

The cease-fire holds and the politicals keep on talking, apparently the discussions have been focussed on the acts of terrorism against the DRC and that this was a legitimate casus belli. The NCC and DMC have been taken to task over their refusal (so far) to outright condemn these actions.

The sea logistics base has completed its move back to SOLENT so we can start the sea evacuation across the narrow FREEDOM STRAITS. Logistics base B flies back to the West Continent too. We abandon the front line and move almost 2,000km to the East, also handing back the cities of BLACKBERRY and FOSTER. The Infantry Brigade in FAREAST is evacuated. At this stage all the remaining forces on the West Continent (other than the Infantry Brigade near ENSEMBLE and logs base A near FAREAST) are mechanised. Air cover is supplied over FAREAST and the two furthest West columns.

At this stage the MAFC pull a stupid stunt that nearly de-rails the whole ceasefire. They land a Starship Marine Regiment in each of BLACKBERRY, FOSTER and FAREAST. Our rules of engagement specify only harsh language is to be used, and fortunately the MAFC Marine colonel at FAREAST sees sense and orders his men back into the shuttles. The threat that two DRC Armoured Divisions were coming to kill him if he continued to block their passage home probably assisted his speedy decision making…

 

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games, megagames, universe

Megagame: Invasion from Mars 08

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Dateline 3127.135-140

General Buck’s advanced HQ on West Continent, Cydonia

The politicians have agreed the cease-fire. The terms are that we need to evacuate the West Continent and the Martians will occupy behind us. A political conference has started on MITLAND island to come to a negotiated end to the war (although this is expected to take some time).

I hold the front line for a little longer, with air cover over it just in case. The transport flyers move logs base B back to the west continent, logs base A moves towards FAREAST. The sea flotillas land 2 Tank Bde on the West continent and it moves into SOLENT where there are 2 RMP to make good some of its losses.

Negotiations continue on the air evacuation of the infantry brigade near ENSEMBLE. However I realise at this point that we are no longer capable of doing this ourselves as our shuttles have been shot down and the air logs base has moved back to the East Continent. I don’t tell the MAFC/NCC this, but I do suggest that either then provide the transport, or that we get someone neutral to do so. Eventually the MAFC get told by the politicians to allow this.

Elsewhere the NCC and MAFC move up into contact with our rearguard, but take care not to engage us.

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