"Radio Dishdash Publishing: Skirmish Sangin review" Topic

Today we will take a closer look at the new skirmish ruleset Skirmish Sangin from Dishdash Radio Publishing from a purely theoretical point of view as I haven't found the time to test these rules out. With this review I hope to give a nice break down of the rulebook and an inside in the game sequence and stats.

This new wargame company has been developing these rules for years inhouse and has now finally released it for the broad public. So what's the idea behind Skirmish Sangin, one of the most popular skirmish rules for the modern Afghanistan conflict that still rages on as we speak.

link

Cheers

Umm… So they are both "now finally released […] for the broad public" and "one of the most popular skirmish rules for the modern Afghanistan conflict" ? Isn't that a slightly contradictory (or at least premature) statement ? ;-)

Interesting
Rules look great but echoing Mr Singh how does a brand new ruleset instantly become "one of the most popular"

It's also worth buying direct from Dishdash Radio Publishing at 15 NZ$ rather than Wargames Vault at 15 US$ for the PDF.

I bought the rules and they seem pretty good and very readable, I'm yet to play a game but there are a couple of issues I noticed.

1) British Infantry section has quite a different weapon issue to that used in Afghanistan.

2) IED defence values for vehicles seem strange, with a Warrior having more protection against IEDs than a Mastiff?

Hi, Thanks for comments, don't know how I managed to be contradictory (I should have re read the post again) I meant that it would surely become one of the more popular ruleset for the conflict. Blog post now edited with a clearer mind :)

@Dee Jay: Thanks for pointing those out, hadn't noticed those issues.

Cheers

Hi Guys,

Just a quick thank you for the kind words and to say Dee Jay – the British infantry section data was given to us by serving soldiers in the British Army, who where until recently in Afghanistan, however we are always looking to update our data so any info you would like to share would be great and as for the warrior and mastiff armour rating I would need to go and check the rules but again but if your right thanks for the help. We will be bringing an errata out shortly, 2 years of work and 3 professional editors but there are still mistakes… :-( but that what happens when you write 70K+ words. Once again thanks for talking the time to look at these rules its really appreciated.

The source I found for the British infantry section was contained in The Candian Army Journal Volume 13.3 2010. An article by Major V. Sattler, CD, and Captain M. O'Leary, CD entitled "ORGANIZING MODERN INFANTRY: AN ANALYSIS OF SECTION FIGHTING POWER".

This document is a review of 21st century section firepower and organisation.

In the document it has a paragraph detailing the differences between normal British Army organisation and that used in Afghanistan.

"Of particular note is that, as a result of combat operations in Afghanistan (Op HERRICK), the British Army's actual arming of the section is markedly different. The section commander and 2IC are armed with SA 80A2 5.56 mm rifle. There are two light machine-guns (similar to Canada's C9), two under slung grenade launchers (M203 equivalents), one general purpose machine-gun (same weapon as Canada's C6), and one sharp shooter with a L129A1 7.62 mm assault rifle (procured as an immediate operational requirement for the operation). The SA80 A2 light support weapon, which has a heavier and longer barrel allowing greater muzzle velocity and accuracy than the standard SA80, is still in inventory but is not used in theatre or domestically."

PDF link

With regard to the issue of the combat shotgun I looked at the MOD site which says "The combat shotgun is for use by the Point Man of a section at close quarters within close country and complex terrain. It allows the soldier to apply a quick rapid rate of fire over a large area using a variety of ammunition natures." this would indicate one issued per section rather than one per fire team.

link

Resulting in the following organisation:

Charlie Fire-team:
• Corporal 
armed with an L85A2 5.56mm rifle.
• Rifleman 
armed with an L85A2 5.56mm rifle with 40mm underslung grenade launcher and combat shotgun.
• Rifleman 
armed with an L110A1 5.56mm light machine gun.
• Designated Marksman 
armed with an L129A1 weapon.

Delta Fire-team:
• Lance Corporal
 armed with an L85A2 5.56mm rifle.
• Rifleman 
armed with an L85A2 5.56mm rifle with 40mm underslung grenade launcher.
• Rifleman 
armed with an L110A1 5.56mm light machine gun.
• Rifleman 
armed with an GPMG.

With regard to the IED values from the copy of the rules in front of me a Mastiff had an IED value of 5 and a Warrior one of 9 which given reports in the media seems contrary to how the vehicles actually perform.

Hope that helps, best wishes

DJ

DJ thanks heaps for the info, much appreciated. If you email me at colin@basetwo.co.nz I make sure you get the next release for free.

Thank you for the very kind offer.