War and Racketeering; An Easy Guide
- Thread starter 7734
- Start date
- Original Historic
Actual combat artillery is going to be fucking heavy, both in weight of system, weight of ammunition and cost of procurement.
Also, sitting ducks - and, considering principal opponent possessing actual tanks and combat aviation...
Indirect fire - 82/120 mm mortars max, mounted on trucks. Direct fire - 14.5 HMG / 23 mm autocannon, on the same platform.
And lots and lots of warm bodies with rifles and 'nades, because we care more about profit than cannon fodder.
Also, sitting ducks - and, considering principal opponent possessing actual tanks and combat aviation...
Indirect fire - 82/120 mm mortars max, mounted on trucks. Direct fire - 14.5 HMG / 23 mm autocannon, on the same platform.
And lots and lots of warm bodies with rifles and 'nades, because we care more about profit than cannon fodder.
[X] Develop your HQ
[X] Hire Mercenaries
-[X] Los Abrejos (20,000 USD/month, 1 company, standard weapon: M-16)
I'm back to voting for mercs because I was reminded we have no one at all to guard the base. If a safari group wanders close enough to see our radio tower and comes to investigate, we are done. We couldn't even try to kill them or drive them off because all we've got is some pistols. Heck, there's wildlife here that outguns us, even if that's not a very realistic concern.
As it stands, I favor the logistics option after this one, with training local troops after that. This is assuming we will need a compressed schedule, since I'd rather we also have intel capabilities of course.
My reasoning is that we can't do all that much with one infantry company, so we need local troops, but they have no reason to fight for us unless we give them one, and the easiest way to start on that is wells and roads and such, since we can do that before things come to a head without much risk.
[X] Hire Mercenaries
-[X] Los Abrejos (20,000 USD/month, 1 company, standard weapon: M-16)
I'm back to voting for mercs because I was reminded we have no one at all to guard the base. If a safari group wanders close enough to see our radio tower and comes to investigate, we are done. We couldn't even try to kill them or drive them off because all we've got is some pistols. Heck, there's wildlife here that outguns us, even if that's not a very realistic concern.
As it stands, I favor the logistics option after this one, with training local troops after that. This is assuming we will need a compressed schedule, since I'd rather we also have intel capabilities of course.
My reasoning is that we can't do all that much with one infantry company, so we need local troops, but they have no reason to fight for us unless we give them one, and the easiest way to start on that is wells and roads and such, since we can do that before things come to a head without much risk.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
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Supply ones, or peacekeeping ones?
Helping random dictators put down uprisings isn't really the UN's job. That's more of an American thing, historically, and Mugabe isn't useful to America. You may also overestimate how quickly the UN tends to respond to things.
We should leave any aid workers or whatever alone, and prevent a situation from developing that would lead to us fighting peacekeepers. If that happens, somewhere along the way we've fucked up pretty badly.
- Location
- America
I'm more referring to supply, specifically medicine. Those would sell a bit if nobody decides to ask questions about where they came from.
And the local government might not want the UN doing anything that might at all help the insurgents or undermining their authority.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
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Eh, depends on where they're from, I suppose. Some of the more corrupt oens, we cut a deal. The others....
Despite the discussion being fun, there was a pretty clear consensus that tanks are somewhere between completely impossible and a really bad plan.
But what about Panhard AMLs or Eland Mk7s? They are widely available on the continent, relatively cheap, fast enough to keep up with trucks and technical, light enough for crappy rural bridges and roads and relatively modest freight/transport aircraft, and the 90mm armed versions appear to have a pretty good combat record against T-55s and the like. Seems like the kind of thing that could do a lot to toughen up the kind of force we might otherwise end up fielding. Getting them into the country could still be a bit tricky, but it's got to be easier than it would be with a tank.
But what about Panhard AMLs or Eland Mk7s? They are widely available on the continent, relatively cheap, fast enough to keep up with trucks and technical, light enough for crappy rural bridges and roads and relatively modest freight/transport aircraft, and the 90mm armed versions appear to have a pretty good combat record against T-55s and the like. Seems like the kind of thing that could do a lot to toughen up the kind of force we might otherwise end up fielding. Getting them into the country could still be a bit tricky, but it's got to be easier than it would be with a tank.
Acquiring armor is not a problem. Problem is getting it there.
Pack some tanks into standard containers, seal those containers and boldly move by train to the nearest trainyard, greasing the palms on the way?
That's a really good idea. Good luck finding a proper tank we can get and would actually want that fits in 2.352 m internal width (the typical intermodal shipping container), but a Panhard AML or Eland Mk7 fits nicely, and two of them can fit comfortably in a standard 40 foot container. If we need to, we can disguise them by loading something else right inside of the door, for example. There's probably real limits to how much the average container gets inspected at some remote border crossing in Zimbabwe.
In addition to loading it on a train, a truck would also work fine, at least so long as we try to stick to the better roads until we find somewhere to unload it, potentially a simple procedure of backing the truck up to a packed earth or concrete ramp and driving them out rather than anything involving heavy equipment. This is also probably a nice trick for moving them around the country without attracting attention later on. I'm finding myself liking this plan a lot.
Edit: Tally.
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- Location
- Cibao Wilayet, Caliphate of Quisqueya
Alright before anyone of you gets the idea to go full Hafez Al Assad and empower minority groups as your local elite middlemen, take a look at the ethnic situation on the ground.
Zimbabwe - Minority Rights Group
Zimbabwe - Minority Rights Group
Here's something I found and posted to discord that it might be good to have here too. This is a map of the railway network in Zimbabwe. This is the main lines; there are of course minor sidings in support of mining, industry and the like that are not on here. This is also not quite current for 1992: all or part of the Beitridge - Bulawayo line doesn't exist yet.
- Location
- nz
[X] Develop your HQ
[X] Investigate Local Terrain
[X] Investigate Local Terrain
- Location
- America
You know, even if we manage to get some sort of armor, technicals are probably gonna keep being our bread and butter, so that said, we should probably try to find a way to make the technicals actually worth a damn. Any idiot can bolt a machinegun to the back of a toyota hilux. Actually making it an effective weapon system would take a little bit of knowhow.
Radios, training, and not just machine guns but also some anti-armor and anti-air weapons seem like obvious steps in the right direction. As does any armor we do maybe get being fast enough to keep up with them (*cough* Panhard AML *cough*).
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Right now it is plan voting.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
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Plus they're expensive, maintaince hogs, and might draw more heat on us.