Organized marauders, a serious thorn in the back of regular armies

[simonmark6]

The Rhodesians did exactly this with aircraft. Each isolated farm was expected to be able to hold out for a certain amount of time during which a Rapid Reaction Force would fly in and try to catch the guerrillas so it has worked relatively well in modern times.

Depending on the terrain you are defending you can add a trip line of outposts on the border of your territory in order to give the Reaction Force a head start. Of course, such tactics can be used against you, as all can. If I was a marauder unit with enough resources I'd launch a diversionary attack on a fortified hamlet specifically to ambush the Rapid Reaction Force which would be a good source of equipment and high value hostages. If you got really lucky you might even defeat the occupying forces so thoroughly that you'd have a few weeks free rein rampaging around the land.

[headquarters]

imho - h for humble as always - a commander have a choice wether to conduct either type of op - depending on what hi sresources are.

the military commander:

The British Malaya campaign showed that coin ops or anti marauder ops if you want to translate to T2K - is best carried out with comparatively small units of well trained and equipped soldiers that actively encroach on the marauders territory.

But you cannot do these ops with personell that arnt qualified and thus your only options is a fortifing and defending. ( Lets say your troops are farm hands and family men that are needed at home for work as well as being able to guard a location)

Digging in determines a static role. This leaves the mauarder chief with all the terrain around your fortification to play in.

If there was a deadly opponent laying ambushes and tenaciously sniping away at you in the same area you were marauding , a marauder chief couldnt expect to ravage with impunity anymore.

I see noe practical difference between a band of soldiers ambushing a convoy of military supplies and destroyng it and a band of marauders trying to steal it. The end result for the commander is that he must allocate resources for force protection and securing the roads.

the marauder chief:

you have the option of moving from one location to another and pillage as you go - more or less offensive operations. This requires good recon and intel , as your merry band likely will not be happy with you if you lead them on a long march towards a promised village of plenty to plunder, but it turns out already pilfered out. If you dont have these capacities, creating a roadblock and taxing roads or setting up as a local strongman and taxing the community is another option - I liken these more to defensive ops , you have to guard the roads etc .

Again this depends on the available personel. Unfit and untrained marauders will have a hard time conducting demanding raids that involve moving distances and some fighting at the end to secure the loot

undisiplined marauders and unorganized will have a hard time running a fief - the temptations would be many and if everybody is drunk at the same time you get what happened to the Hessians when Wshington crossed the Potomac. (Most killed in their underpants while sleeping it of I hear).

As a marauder I wouldnt go around slaugthering and scorching people en masse though - a few would suffice to demonstrate the consequences of not paying up the demanded tribute. Also, crops and lifestock doesnt raise itself - it would be prudent to leave the village capable of producing a handsome surplus for the next time you swing by..

just my 2 cents

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Sanjuro

Without aviation units, or sufficient fuel to mount a pursuit, perhaps an effective defence for an area against marauders is to copy Alfred the Great's defence of Wessex against the Vikings:
Starting from a defended core, each outlying township is fortified in turn (Alfred called them burhs) to the extent that each can defend themselves in the short term; reinforcements can be called from the neighbouring burhs while the defenders keep the marauders busy. This sort of static defence would be almost useless against a modern army, but against lightly armed marauders (who would probably be unwilling to take serious losses) it might work.

That's pretty much how I understand the "cantonment" system to work.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Sanjuro

Without aviation units, or sufficient fuel to mount a pursuit, perhaps an effective defence for an area against marauders is to copy Alfred the Great's defence of Wessex against the Vikings:
Starting from a defended core, each outlying township is fortified in turn (Alfred called them burhs) to the extent that each can defend themselves in the short term; reinforcements can be called from the neighbouring burhs while the defenders keep the marauders busy. This sort of static defence would be almost useless against a modern army, but against lightly armed marauders (who would probably be unwilling to take serious losses) it might work.

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

That's pretty much how I understand the "cantonment" system to work.

True, but Sanjuro's description seemed to imply the co-opting of civilian militias into the regional defense systems as well. At least for NATO forces, this is a somewhat novel concept. I haven't really seen this in any of the campaigns that I've been a part of (or an audience to). As for the WTO, the ORMO (of T2K) is already an integral part of local defenses in Poland.

[HorseSoldier]

Originally Posted by Raellus

True, but Sanjuro's description seemed to imply the co-opting of civilian militias into the regional defense systems as well. At least for NATO forces, this is a somewhat novel concept. I haven't really seen this in any of the campaigns that I've been a part of (or an audience to). As for the WTO, the ORMO (of T2K) is already an integral part of local defenses in Poland.

Books aren't handy and I don't recall -- does the ORMO turn up in Soviet occupied zones in Poland?

I could see militia sort of units gelling very easily with the indigenous military forces, possibly a rougher fit with foreign allies, even on the NATO side (and definitely an issue with Soviet/Russian units in eastern Europe). Could be an interesting campaign somewhere between the "good luck you're on your own" and the "still in the army" paradigms running a small unit of US or other non-German NATO nations tasked to organize a militia among the German population or similar elsewhere. Good mission for SF guys, but circa 2000 I'd picture it being more like grabbing guys who spoke the language okay and weren't essential elsewhere.

[Sanjuro]

To throw some more into the mix, I've just been reading Conan Doyle's history of the Boer War. After 1900, the Boer armies were unable to mount full-scale battles- instead they were reduced to the purely guerrilla warfare at which they excelled.
The British forces, even when added to by an ever-increasing number of South African colonists, could not field sufficient large armies to trap all the Boer Commandos, while simutaneously garrisoning all the vulnerable spots.
As a solution, the blockhouse system was introduced. Initially along the railway lines, then later along other line features, blockhouses were built- eventually only 600 yards apart. Each blockhouse was proof against anything short of artillery, and had a garrison of between 6 and 30 men. Once each line was built, it became nearly impossible for the scattered Commandos to link up, or even to cross from territory to territory- which made their preferred tactic of combining, then ambushing smaller British units and destroying them in detail, ever harder to achieve.
I can see the utility of the solution- neighbouring towns first fortifying themselves, then fortifying the roads linking them, and gradually removing the marauders' ability to move over large distances- but I cannot see how to cope with the ready availability of RPGs and other bunker-busting weapons.
As Raellus said, the burh method does require local militias to be part of the overall defensive team- possibly even to the point that there is no central RRF- even if the marauders can organise enough to cope with the nearest group of neighbouring burhs, eventually the arrival of more troops will overcome any marauder group.
Let's hope so, anyway!

[Sanjuro]

I'm starting to realise, I really want to play T2k in some form again- less for traditional adventures and campaigns, than to try and rebuild a country and prevent the fall of civilisation!