This weekend should have been spent schlepping up to Newark for my annual pilgrimage to the Partizan 2020 show, but as with so many events at the moment, Partizan has been forced to cancel. However, they are running the show online as ‘Partizan in the Cloud’, so here’s my contribution – a refight of the Cassinga Raid, Angola 1978.
Following an anti-personnel bombing strike on central Cassinga by SAAF Canberra bombers, a SAAF Buccaneer strikes a SWAPO-PLAN air defence site on the edge of the town.
The game is played in 15mm, using modified Battlefront: WWII rules. The table is a 6-foot square, representing a 3km square in scale. All models built and painted by me. The infantry models, along with a lot of the vehicles and buildings are by Peter Pig, with some by QRF and Skytrex. The aircraft are various plastic kits and one 3D-printed model (the links below have all the details). Trees and scenic materials are by Woodland Scenics.
I know a lot of fellow-contributors will be setting up their games at home, but I don’t have the room for that, so here are some previously unposted photos of the game at Crusade 2020 in Penarth and links to my previous blog-posts on the terrain-building, modelling, scenario, play-testing and the game as played at Warfare 2019 in Reading.
Oh did I mention that we won Best Demo Game at Warfare 2019…? 🙂
Here are the links to my previous posts on my Cassinga Raid game:
The Game (as played at Warfare 2019)
Following very closely behind the air-strikes continue on the town, SAAF C-160 Transall and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft drop SADF paratroops all around the town.
So what’s next? Well it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to make it to The Other Partizan in October, so if I’m spared I’ll be at Partizan 2021 with The Cassinga Raid… It’s a shame to waste it… 🙂
Here are some more photos of the game. Have a great weekend and stay safe. See you at Partizan 2021! 🙂
SWAPO-PLAN’s morning parade at Cassinga is rudely interrupted by a formation of Canberra bombers and hundreds of anti-personnel bombs.
An overview of the battlefield from the eastern side of Cassinga.
An SAAF Cessna 185A Air Observation Post directs air strikes and keeps an eye out for Cuban reinforcements.
Captain Tommy Smitt’s sorely-understrength ‘D’ Company, along with Lieutenant Pierre Peters’ Anti-Tank Platoon, assault the SWAPO-PLAN Engineer Company HQ at the southern end of Cassinga. Their mission is then to establish a road-block to prevent any Cuban armour from interfering in the operation.
Lieutenant Johann Witt’s 9 (Independent) Platoon assaults some fortified villas at the northern end of Cassinga.
Commandant Jan Breytenbach lands by parachute right in front of the SWAPO-PLAN trenches and launches an immediate (and successful) close-assault on the position!
Elements of ‘C’ Company assault outlying trenches on the eastern side of Cassinga, but come under fire from a bunker on the edge of town.
Survivors of the devastating opening air-strikes claw their way off the parade square and into cover.