Briefing
First Chechen War version 3.1 for Cow Version 3.0 for Toaw II 1. Background On 31st of December 1994 Russian forces moved into Grozny to protect the Russian population against the mass murders that were sistematically conducted by Chechen Millitary. A number of powerful Russian businessmen, called Oligarhs, led by Aeroflot owner Boris Berezovsky and owner of NTV company Vladimir Gusinsky decided that Chechen problem can be used in their personal struggle for political influence against another powerful political group, led by Minister of Defence Pavel Grachov and other Russian generals. By turning the upcoming Chechen war into a bloodbath they were hoping to decrease the influence of ex-Soviet military in Russian politics. As the opperation to pacify Chechnya was being prepaired, Beresovsky bribed some of top Russian military officers to sabotage the whole affair. On 19th of December 1994 all experienced Russian soldiers serving in units near Chechnya were replaced by "fresh out of bootcamp" recruits. The plan of Grozny opperation was desinged in a way it could never succeed. As a result, 2/3 of the Russian units (including Maikop Brigade) that entered Grozny were eliminated within houres. All Russian wounded and prisoners were executed by Chechen fighters. The only Russian brigade that survived the fight was the one under command of General Rohlin, who refused to follow the orders of his commanders and entered Grozny according to his own plan, saving the day for the Federal Forces. As the war continued the Russian military managed to score some significanf victories over Chechen Forces. But none of them made it to Gusinsky controlled television broadcasts. Just the opposite, the leading NTV correspondent Elena Masuk started convincing Russian population that their country was loosing the war. Soon the war became unpopular and Russians faced the same problem the Americans did at Vietnam: winning the war militarily, they were losing it politicaly. As a result the peace treaty was signed at Hasaviurt with the agreement to review the status of Chechen Republic in 2000. That gave Chechens time to prepair the invasions to Dagestan in 1999, gave victory to Yeltzin at the presidential ellections in 1996 and helped Oligarhs to undermine the influece of Russian military officers. 2. Russian Federal Forces Regular Army troops . Your main force. Got the best equipment amoung your units and should be used for destroying large rebel formations. VDV (Air Assault Force) Russian paratroopers. Well trained and equipped. Can be used for special missions and as rapid reinforcements in hard pressed areas. Naval Infantry Russian version of US Marines. Well trained. Good for most ground opperations. Played a significant role in the battle for Grozny in the real Chechen War. MVD Police (Ministry of Internal Affairs forces) Regular police units. Can be used for patrols and garrison duties. OMON (Police Forces of Special Designation) Russian version of SWAT, but in larger numbers. Same functions as MVD Police, but better trained and equipped. Spetsnaz GRU(Main Intelligence Agency Special Designation troops). Don't need introduction. Russia's best of the best. But don't get too excited about it. Don't expect victory by pitting a platoon of these troops against a regiment of Chechen fighters. Use them only for special missions, elimination of small enemy units and support of friendly ground units. SOBR (Special Rapid Reaction Forces). Same as Spetsnaz, but under MVD command and not as well trained (but still very good). Russian Mountain Troops. Good for fighting in Sothern Mountains. Their weak point is their small number. DShG (Airmobile Assault Groups). Similar to VDV but use heloes instead of air transport. Opposition Democracy oriented groups who tryed to oppose Dudaev's muslim regime by siding with Russians. Not well trained and equipped, but can still be useful as garrisons. Russian forces have a significant advantage over Chechens. Their disadvantage is a political one (scenario events). But here is some advice anyway: Try to occupy ALL of the villages and towns. This will prevent Chechen units from regrouping. Use MVD, OMON, SOBR and opposition troops as garrisons. Activly use your airmobile special forces units (Spetsnaz GRU and SOBR) to surround and eliminate smaller Chechen platoons. Patrol the territory of the republic, don't let guerillas to move undetected and strike where they want. Don't EVER let your units be sorrounded. It will seriosly undermine their abbilities and lead to their elimination. Use artillery and air support to keep your loses to the minimum. Try to kill Dudaev (he is based in Grozny at the beggining of the game). It wil help your forces greatly. Try to destroy most Chechens at the early stages of the game. As the war goes on, your soldiers will be suffering from moral loss.The time is on Chechen side. You have the abbility to use chemical weapons (never were used during the real Chechen War). But be careful. If press finds out (which is very likely) you can face problems on the international level. 3. Chechen Fighters Can be devided into three groups: Republican Forces (includung Army, Chechen MVD, State Security Forces, President's Personal Guards). These units are well trained and equipped. They can be used for defence, or for offence if cooperating with other units. Self Defence Forces Small irregular and infantry units. Not very powerful but good for support. Other Armed Formations These include Guerillas, Mafia, Criminal Gangs, Afgan Mujideen and Mercenaries from Asia, CIS and Western countries. It isn't easy to win this scenario for Cheches, but it is also far from impossible. Here is some advice: Standard TOAW 2 tactics DON'T WORK HERE. Use guerilla tactics. No Chechen unit can beat a Russian unit in one-on-one battle. But 6 Chechen units can easyly eliminate even a larger Russian unit that has wondered away from the main force by surrounding it. Use your mobility. Don't fight Russians head-to-head. Flee when they are comming, then hide and recapture the village when they have left. It will force them to spread their forces and will make them an easier prey for your troops. Raiding Russian supply lines can prove helpful. Use "salami tactics" to regain control over Chechnya (when playing against computer). Don't storm Grozny untill the late phase of the war. If you start too early, Russians will retake it and you will revail the positions of your forces, making them an easy target. Forget about your airforce. It is too weak. Don't try to evacuate Dudaev from Grozny by helicopter. You will get him killed. Don't try to win early. Wear the Russians down with hit and run attacks first. The time is on your side. And once again: ONLY attack your enemy, when you got him COMPLITELY surrounder. Attacking surrounded units is a key to winning this scenario. 4. Events If Dudaev is killed, Chechen forces will suffer a serious shock. Chechens have a VERY small chance of getting two nuclear devices from Russians (included it to make the game more exciting). That will initiate a number of events and give some additional theatre options to the Chechen player. There are some smaller events that will give some victory points to the players. 5. Additional rules The mapscale is unrealistic in order to make the units more mobile. It is advised to limit all the artillery fireing ranges to three-four (3-4) hexes in order to get more excitement from the game. It doesn't include Missile units. 6. Greetings I would like to thank Patrick Chartland, EB, Alex Stavropoulos and all the others for playtesting this scenario. Any additional information about Chechen war can be found in "Islam and Chechnya" section of my site (attend.to/politics4u). Alex Logon

Briefing

First Chechen War

version 3.1 for Cow
Version 3.0 for Toaw II

1. Background

On 31st of December 1994 Russian forces moved into Grozny to protect the Russian population against the mass murders that were sistematically conducted by Chechen Millitary.

A number of powerful Russian businessmen, called Oligarhs, led by Aeroflot owner Boris Berezovsky and owner of NTV company Vladimir Gusinsky decided that Chechen problem can be used in their personal struggle for political influence against another powerful political group, led by Minister of Defence Pavel Grachov and other Russian generals. By turning the upcoming Chechen war into a bloodbath they were hoping to decrease the influence of ex-Soviet military in Russian politics.

As the opperation to pacify Chechnya was being prepaired, Beresovsky bribed some of top Russian military officers to sabotage the whole affair. On 19th of December 1994 all experienced Russian soldiers serving in units near Chechnya were replaced by "fresh out of bootcamp" recruits. The plan of Grozny opperation was desinged in a way it could never succeed. As a result, 2/3 of the Russian units (including Maikop Brigade) that entered Grozny were eliminated within houres. All Russian wounded and prisoners were executed by Chechen fighters. The only Russian brigade that survived the fight was the one under command of General Rohlin, who refused to follow the orders of his commanders and entered Grozny according to his own plan, saving the day for the Federal Forces.

As the war continued the Russian military managed to score some significanf victories over Chechen Forces. But none of them made it to Gusinsky controlled television broadcasts. Just the opposite, the leading NTV correspondent Elena Masuk started convincing Russian population that their country was loosing the war. Soon the war became unpopular and Russians faced the same problem the Americans did at Vietnam: winning the war militarily, they were losing it politicaly. As a result the peace treaty was signed at Hasaviurt with the agreement to review the status of Chechen Republic in 2000. That gave Chechens time to prepair the invasions to Dagestan in 1999, gave victory to Yeltzin at the presidential ellections in 1996 and helped Oligarhs to undermine the influece of Russian military officers.

2. Russian Federal Forces

Regular Army troops .
Your main force. Got the best equipment amoung your units and should be used for destroying large rebel formations.
VDV (Air Assault Force)
Russian paratroopers. Well trained and equipped.
Can be used for special missions and as rapid reinforcements in hard pressed areas.
Naval Infantry
Russian version of US Marines. Well trained. Good for most ground opperations. Played a significant role in the battle for Grozny in the real Chechen War.
MVD Police (Ministry of Internal Affairs forces)
Regular police units. Can be used for patrols and garrison duties.
OMON (Police Forces of Special Designation)
Russian version of SWAT, but in larger numbers. Same functions as MVD Police, but better trained and equipped.
Spetsnaz GRU(Main Intelligence Agency Special Designation troops).
Don't need introduction. Russia's best of the best. But don't get too excited about it. Don't expect victory by pitting a platoon of these troops against a regiment of Chechen fighters.
Use them only for special missions, elimination of small enemy units and support of friendly ground units.
SOBR (Special Rapid Reaction Forces).
Same as Spetsnaz, but under MVD command and not as well trained (but still very good).
Russian Mountain Troops.
Good for fighting in Sothern Mountains. Their weak point is their small number.
DShG (Airmobile Assault Groups).
Similar to VDV but use heloes instead of air transport.
Opposition
Democracy oriented groups who tryed to oppose Dudaev's muslim regime by siding with Russians. Not well trained and equipped, but can still be useful as garrisons.

Russian forces have a significant advantage over Chechens. Their disadvantage is a political one (scenario events). But here is some advice anyway:

Try to occupy ALL of the villages and towns. This will prevent Chechen units from regrouping. Use MVD, OMON, SOBR and opposition troops as garrisons.
Activly use your airmobile special forces units (Spetsnaz GRU and SOBR) to surround and eliminate smaller Chechen platoons.
Patrol the territory of the republic, don't let guerillas to move undetected and strike where they want.
Don't EVER let your units be sorrounded. It will seriosly undermine their abbilities and lead to their elimination.
Use artillery and air support to keep your loses to the minimum.
Try to kill Dudaev (he is based in Grozny at the beggining of the game). It wil help your forces greatly.
Try to destroy most Chechens at the early stages of the game. As the war goes on, your soldiers will be suffering from moral loss.The time is on Chechen side.
You have the abbility to use chemical weapons (never were used during the real Chechen War). But be careful. If press finds out (which is very likely) you can face problems on the international level.

3. Chechen Fighters

Can be devided into three groups:

Republican Forces (includung Army, Chechen MVD, State Security Forces, President's Personal Guards).
These units are well trained and equipped. They can be used for defence, or for offence if cooperating with other units.
Self Defence Forces
Small irregular and infantry units. Not very powerful but good for support.
Other Armed Formations
These include Guerillas, Mafia, Criminal Gangs, Afgan Mujideen and Mercenaries from Asia, CIS and Western countries.

It isn't easy to win this scenario for Cheches, but it is also far from impossible. Here is some advice:

Standard TOAW 2 tactics DON'T WORK HERE. Use guerilla tactics. No Chechen unit can beat a Russian unit in one-on-one battle. But 6 Chechen units can easyly eliminate even a larger Russian unit that has wondered away from the main force by surrounding it.
Use your mobility. Don't fight Russians head-to-head. Flee when they are comming, then hide and recapture the village when they have left. It will force them to spread their forces and will make them an easier prey for your troops.
Raiding Russian supply lines can prove helpful.
Use "salami tactics" to regain control over Chechnya (when playing against computer).
Don't storm Grozny untill the late phase of the war. If you start too early, Russians will retake it and you will revail the positions of your forces, making them an easy target.
Forget about your airforce. It is too weak.
Don't try to evacuate Dudaev from Grozny by helicopter. You will get him killed.
Don't try to win early. Wear the Russians down with hit and run attacks first. The time is on your side.
And once again: ONLY attack your enemy, when you got him COMPLITELY surrounder. Attacking surrounded units is a key to winning this scenario.

4. Events

If Dudaev is killed, Chechen forces will suffer a serious shock.
Chechens have a VERY small chance of getting two nuclear devices from Russians (included it to make the game more exciting). That will initiate a number of events and give some additional theatre options to the Chechen player.
There are some smaller events that will give some victory points to the players.

5. Additional rules

The mapscale is unrealistic in order to make the units more mobile. It is advised to limit all the artillery fireing ranges to three-four (3-4) hexes in order to get more excitement from the game. It doesn't include Missile units.

6. Greetings

I would like to thank Patrick Chartland, EB, Alex Stavropoulos and all the others for playtesting this scenario.

Any additional information about Chechen war can be found in "Islam and Chechnya" section of my site (attend.to/politics4u).

Alex Logon