So our local gaming group has been making rumblings about playing Fistful of TOWs 3 of late. As I'm a big micro-armour fan, I've been pulling out my toys and taking stock of what I can field. Amongst the usual Cold War NATO and Warpact forces I have a pretty sizable collection of South Africans. (I've always used my older Soviet vehicles as Angolans to provide their OPFOR)
Happily FFTs provides vehicle and gun stats for most of the South African Defence Forces kit. But there are no army lists and guidance on troop ratings. The actual unit organizations are no problem. I did all the research I need several years ago for a previous writing project. But I'm quite stumped as to how to rate the quality and traing of SADF troops.
The problem is that it's hard to objectively rate them by their battlefield performance. They are quite similar to the Israelis in that their opponents have been on the whole poor and at best second rate. This had led both both to become more or less "regional super powers" and makes it very easy to overrate their military prowess. How they might fare against a better equipped, trained, and motivated enemy is anyone's guess…
So how would you rate SADF Permanent Force units such as their mechanized infantry and tank unit at the height of the war in Angola? FFT ranks troops as Poor, Marginal, Fair, Average, Good, Excellent, and Superb.
My first impression is to class the combat arms units of the PF as Average ("adequately trained, reasonably well-led, and effective, sometimes with some combat experience") or Good ("..well trained, with solid leadership and usually some combat experience").
What are your thoughts?
examines another pre-painted building for WWII.