Battle for Sinjar

Iraq (Iraq Civil War)

2015

Kursi

Sinjar
(town 10[-10])

Wardiya

Ain Fathi

Battle for Sinjar - 2015 (Iraq Civil War).

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The Kurds are attacking Sinjar which ISIS is holding. ISIS took the town in August 2014.

They have several thousand troops (7500) and have Sinjar surrounded from 3 fronts so I have given them 4 Brigaddes with a reserve Battallion to defend the artillery.

There are estimated to be about 600 ISIS in the town so I have given them 3 Battallions.

They have also been subject to air strikes, so I have plonked in a USAF air unit with 3 additional sortes available.

An intersting feature of this game is the artillery. Its sat in range of Sinjar but its not very effective as the odds are quite low. In fact they couldnt get any lower at 1-4. However, even at 1-4 its possible to cause an exchange which doesnt effetc the artillery and so it is possible to cause attrition over the long term which is pretty much exactly what they did. As such, by using the air strikes and surrounding Sinjar with the ground troops to get a flank bonus, it is possible to erode the ISIS position over time quite effectivly.

I havent included any special forces which I recollect reading were actually in parts of Sinjar some time before the main advance, but I dont think they are too significant and the scale is not large enough to have Sinjar represented by two hexes into which the special forces could go into one.