Edinburgh Wargames
Modern Brushfire Wars
Malaya & Borneo
Using Force on Force rules
It started when I read Brushfire Wars by Michael Dewar, an account of minor post-war campaigns of the British Army. Then I remembered an account of the Queen's Own Highlanders in Borneo in 1963, included in my own book There was a Soldier. Therefore I settled on two post-war British campaigns - the Malayan Emergency (1948-60) and the Borneo Confrontation (1962-66). Unlike Indochina or Vietnam, these were campaigns the "good guys" won. I'm not going to give a potted history of these two conflicts - that's what Amazon and the internet are for. Instead I'll give a brief outline of how I've set about wargaming this little period - one where custom-made figures are rarer than hen's teeth.
For a start these were both low-intensity conflicts, fought by the British and their Commonwealth allies, where the campaign to win hearts and minds was as important as the military conflict. This was carried out in different ways in Malaya and Borneo, but the aim was essentially the same - to deny succour to the guerrillas. Both campaigns were largely fought in jungles, often covering rugged terrain, and the Commonwealth troops took the war to the enemy by aggressive patrolling, wresting control of the jungle from the guerrillas. There were subtle differences between the two conflicts too. The biggest was that in Borneo the main threat came, not from guerrillas inside the borders of northern Borneo (actually Sabah and Sarawak in Eastern Malaysia), but from guerrillas trained and operated by the Indonesians on the other side of the border. When this guerrilla campaign didn't work, the Indonesians sent in regular troops. The Commonwealth countered by crossing the border into Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) and wreaking havoc on the Indonesian bases. In Malaya the campaign was more of a classic guerrilla operation, with attacks on British-owned transport networks and agricultural centres, and jungle sweeps to cordon the Malay guerrillas, and gradually whittle them down through military and political means. In both cases the Commonwealth forces won, in stark contrast to the larger-scale fighting raging simultaneously in French Indochina / Vietnam.
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The Figures
I started with Borneo, as the only company to do 28mm figures for Malaya was Britannia Miniatures/Inkerman Castings. When its owner Dave Howitt passed away the figures became unavailable. Fortunately Andy Grubb from Grubby Tanks has just taken over the range, and so these great figures are available once more (as of July 2011). The range includes Malay guerrillas (CTs. or Communist Insurgents), British Commonwealth troops (Gurkhas and British), Malaysian police, and a few vehicles and buildings.
Gurkhas of the "Confrontation" period
For the Commonwealth forces I used Australians of the Vietnam era, available from Eureka. You can buy them directly form Eureka Miniatures in Australia, from Fighting 15s in Britain (at very steep mark-up), or from Rob Walter's Eureka Miniatures USA. These are quite small figures - more like traditional 25mm - and so I painted mine up as Gurkhas. The figures are ideal, as they have all the right equipment for Borneo, such as GPMGs and SLRs. They'd also work for Malaya, although I'd want to replace the GPMGs with Bren Guns from Inkerman Castings. In fact they also used Brens in Borneo, and even old Vickers HMGs. For heavier weapons I might have to buy Assault Group 14th Army figures, and convert them. Incidentally, Assault Group also do great-looking Australians in Vietnam, which will double for the Commonwealth forces in Malaya and Borneo, and of course the Inkerman Castings Malayas range will also do for Borneo. I plan to mix and match between the two ranges, although the Britannia figures are slightly larger than the Eureka Australians.
For vehicles I opted for a 1/56 Ferret scout car from Force of Arms (although Inkerman Castings also do one), along with a Saracen APC, while the 1/56 Saladins were bought on E-Bay for less than £1 apiece - diecast Corgi models. The secret was to go for the knocked around ones, rather than the £25 collectors models. Just add a few aerials, a WW2 British tank commander from Bolt Action Miniatures (Warlord Games). a few aerials and they're ready to go. The ones in the photo below are only half-finished - I still have to add markings and weather them. Also on E-Bay I picked up a 1/48 scale Sikorsky UH-34D helicopter by Revell, which I'm painting up as a Westland Wessex. Beware though, these are rare, and therefore modellers pay good money for them - my plastic kit cost as much as almost a whole platoon of infantry. Still, for Borneo you really need a Wessex. The British also used little Westland Scouts and Auster spotter planes. For some air support with a bit more oomph I picked up a Hawker Hunter model on E-Bay for £10 - probably the most stylish jet fighter ever built.
Gurkhas and armoured car support, all from the "Confrontation" period
For the TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) and the IBTs (Indonesian Border Terrorists) I also turned to Eureka. The Indonesian regulars were something of a problem, as photos of the period show them in camouflaged uniforms and soft peaked caps. The best figures I could find were the ZAPLA figures from Eureka's new Rhodesian War range. With the right paint job they look the part. I painted the ones below in the uniform of Indonesia's Para-Raider Battalions - the elite force of the Indonesian army. That's them down below.
TNIs (Indonesian Regulars) of a Para Raider Battalion of the "Confrontation" period
IBTs was a British term - the guerrillas called themselves the TNKU (North Kalimantan National Army) as they were recruited in Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah. Photos show they had an assortment of uniform types and weapons. Most most of their equipment was supplied by the Indonesians, and included American and Dutch uniforms, and whatever weapons the Indonesians could spare. After looking around I opted for the Mysorian range from Eureka. Apparently "Mysorian" is the equivalent of "Red force" in Australian army exercises. They looked motley enough, and I gave mine uniform touches like shoulder patches and uniform webbing.
IBTs (Indonesian Border Terrorists) of the "Confrontation" period
I'll show more photos as more of these figures come on-line, but here are some of the Malayan CTs by Britannia Miniatures / Inkerman Castings, now available from Grubby Tanks;
CTs of the "Emergency" period
I also ordered sampans from Minimi Miniatures, as a lot of movement by both sides in Borneo was done on rivers, often in small motorised canoes. A river patrol getting ambushed or coming up against an enemy camp sounds like a great little game. Minimi also used larger boats, of the kind used to patrol the larger rivers. I also plan to add Dyak or Malay villagers, and native Iban trackers which were used by the Commonwealth forces to track down insurgents. I want to paint up some Special Forces - SAS - and some British in helmets (probably from 1st Corps) to serve as Queens Own Highlanders, and some civilian hostages, so I can game the Brunei Rising of December 1962 that was the catalyst for the Borneo Confrontation. to carry all this around in I use the storage packs from Figures in Comfort, which allow me to store skirmish figures in foam trays, and supply a carrying case so I can take what I want along to fight a game at the club.
Malaya
Gurkhas and CTs of the "Emergency" period
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Terrain
Another important element is the scenery. At the moment I'm just using the basics - a large box of aquatic plants mounted on pennies (thanks Nick), a handful of trees, including palm trees, and a few gullies and buildings, rivers and tracks. What I really need is some serious jungle terrain - not just the aquatic plants that make a reasonably convincing secondary jungle (baluka in Malay), but also the primary jungle of little undergrowth, and a jungle canopy some 200 feet above the ground. Jungle is ulu in Malay by the way. I want steep sides hills (gunong), villages (kampong) with longhouses on stilts, and areas of open grass and cultivation, to surround the kampongs. Then comes the earthworks of a Forward Locality Base (FLB), the British equivalent of a Vietnam Fire Base. It'll all take time to build up, but in the meantime I'm using what I already have.
Gaming Malaya & Borneo using Force on Force
I'm still experimenting with the troops quality and morale ratings, but so far I've gone for:
Commonwealth troops: D8 or D10 quality / D10 morale, High Confidence
Gurkhas would be higher quality than British troops on their first tour.
Some British troops in the "Emergency", pitched into the jungle without adequate training might have D8 morale.
Indonesian Regulars: D8 quality / D10 morale, Confident
IBTs: D6 or D8 quality / D6 or D8 morale, Confident
CTs (Emergency): D8 quality / D10 morale, Confident
SAS would obviously be D12/ D12, High Confidence
Nobody would have "abundant ammunition" unless defending a base, as the soldiers had to hump it through the jungle.
I'll post typical "orbats" as soon as I'm happy with the information I've dug up. If anyone has any hard information, please let me know!
Borneo
CTs and Malay Police of the "Emergency" period
I'll work up some scenarios, and post them on here, but this project has only just got off the ground, so it'll take a while to get to that stage.
Keep checking back though, as I'll keep you posted on progress.
Borneo
An excellent website:
Click for an off-site link
The CT Commissar says: Remember, these two little Osprey books cover the "Emergency" and the "Confrontation".
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