Brunei Revolt

Brunei

1962

Serasa

Limbang

Jerudong

Brunei Town

Kampung Bengkurong

Tutong

Kampong Bukit Beruang

Sungai Liang

Kampung Pengkalan Dong

Liang

Seria

Bukit

Kuala Belait

Bukit Puan

Labi

Rampayoh

Teraja

Brunei Revolt - 1962 ().

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This game is partially complete. There are still a few unknowns and the game balance hasnt been worked through.

There is an island in this game, Limbang, and the island rules are in place but not polished.

I am basing this mainly on the book by the Imperial Museum, the Book Of Modern Warefare which by all accounts is a bizarre book. For starters, its put together by the Imperial War Museum. Even then the title would maybe make you think that it was about modern warfare, but instead its really about British Military Operation post 1945. All the same, it looks pretty interesting, published in 2002, around the dawn of the internet so im interested to see if it is a greater resource than the internet itself and Wikipedia. The Chapter is written by General Sir Walter Walker and is entitled: Brunei and Borneo, 1962-1966 - An Efficient Use Of Military Force. This game represents just 8-17 December 1962. As with many other games on this site, dont expect a fair and balanced game. The rebels should loose. It appears that the revolt was failing even within the first few hours after a number of failures.

The Gurkhas are the first to arrive. The book states that two companies were sent and the Wikipedia states that they were later made up to battlion strength. As I cant adjust unit strength on the fly I am committing two Gurkha Companies from the start with almost battalion strength although with a lesser defence. I think this will balance out, especially when considering that its a game and if they were 1 or 2 strength factors they probably wouldnt do anything at all against units in urban or jungle terrain with their defence multipliers. This way they have a bit of an edge and that should reflect their relative success on the first day.

The two main ares of conflict are Limbang and Saria. Limbang, the island, has already been mentioned. Saria was the Shell oil installation to the West on the coast. The rebel took that and held hostages. It should be easy to take back, however, one issue is that 42 commando was that whilst landing at Brunei Town they were airlifted to Saria where they then captured it. However, you will have to move overland as there are no airlift rules. When the Gurkhas first tried moving West I think they turned back because of ambushes along that coast road.

The last unit to arrive in this set up was the 1st Green Jackets. By that time they were mopping up but the conflict still lasted some months more. However, more troops arrived but only replaced existing troops. It also looks like a bomber also arrived and plenty of ships so the situation would have been well in hand by then. However, if you hve not won by turn 36 then it looks pretty grim. As of yet I havnt played it and cant even remember the jungle defence factor and so it might not easy that easy a win and I might have to cut the large rebel units back a bit.

Another note, the UK brought two Air Naval Squadrons. I imagine that they just ferried troops about which I cant do in this game yet and so they are for ground strikes with a 1-0 factor. Also, im not sure if they are the correct units as I just used existing units.

Finally, the Wikipedia article mentions the SAS and so I have added them just for fun.

Also, I am not sure that the numbers really reflect the skill of the units. The marines took out Limbang against the odds to some extent but the counters dont really reflect that kind of action. They assaulted the island in two landing craft, one of which was scuppered, they lost the element of surprise but still came out on top. However, reflecting that at best would be 3-1 odds, and in the jungle that would be 3-2 and thats assuming the rebels dont stack a significant force which in this game I would expect, say 4 units, doubled to 8 (or worse, I cant remember the jungle factor) which would make it impossible with just 3 strength to attack heroically. I dont expect these games to reflect reality but they are not very good when the numbers are odd, such as this game where many units have just 1 factor. I dont want to introduce extra complex rules so that will just have to do, but its worth noting. I doubt the UK could take Limbang in this scenario as it did in history.

And another thing. The border here is interesting. You might need to look at an atlas but Brunei is split in two. The border shows this, but the outer parts are Malaysia and whether you enter Malaysia is up to you. A role the Dayaks played was cutting off the escape routes through Malaysia to Indonesia. Whilst the border is just a representation, its up to you or both players as to agree on whether or not you cross it.

see Wikipedia

see Wikipedia Limbang Raid

see HistorySG - A Singapore Governt site with quite a few newspaper links etc.