Hello!

Welcome back to another deep dive in our upcoming Wargame: Red Dragon - Nation Pack: South Africa. In our last post, we put the spotlight on the South African Infantry forces as they would appear in-game, including armament and transport options.

This week, Armor receives our special gameplay treatment. Let’s look at what you can expect from the South African armored fighting vehicles, from tanks to SPGs, from imported to domestic designs and rare prototypes!



Please keep in mind that everything is still very much work in progress and is subject to change. In case you were wondering: the integration and balancing of these units is done in close consultation with a leading South African military expert!

Kings of the battlefield

First up: the almighty TANK, which in Wargame: Red Dragon - Nation Pack: South Africa is brought to you in three distinct South African “families”:

• Olifant main battle tank. The tracked heavy-weight brawler of South Africa’s arsenal comes in a myriad of versions such as the Mk1 (including command variant), Mk1A (1985), Mk1B (1991), and Mk1B Optimum (1994 prototype). The Mk1 can be considered a rough equivalent to the Israeli Sh’ot Kal with a +1 FAV, but slower. With the Mk1A, the Olifant reaches the 2275m range, with a slightly better motorization and accuracy/stab over its predecessor. The Mk1B gets +2 FAV and a major motorization, accuracy and stab upgrade. The Optimum is an up-armored Mk1B with improved optics.
• Loggim prototype. This tank is a 1994 prototype MBT, a planned but canceled South African “heavy.” It is close to a USMC M1A1(HC) Abrams, featuring the same FAV but lesser side and rear armor, but more accurate and with 23 AP.
• Rooikat wheeled tanks. These rapid and cool-looking vehicles can be deployed in two variants: the Rooikat 76 Mk1C (1989, including a recon variant) and the Rooikat 105 (1994 prototype). With 3 FAV, they are incredibly fast (120km/h) “glass-cannons.” The 76mm variant has 2100m, while the 105mm gets 2275m range. Their key feature is their high accuracy (65%) and almost full gun stabilization, making these wheeled tanks ideal for hit-and-run strikes.

Using HESH rounds, all 105mm and 120mm South African tanks receive a “British” +1 HE damage bonus.

Reconnaisance

Next up are the reconnaissance units. Aside from the ubiquitous recon Rover jeep, RECON only fields two families of armored recon units:

• Eland 90, both 1978 vehicles. The original Eland 90 is identical to the French AML-90. The Eland 90 ENTAC (prototype) is armed with two extra ENTAC anti-tank missiles, in the same way as the existing Ferret ENTAC (see below).
• Rooikat 76. This vehicle is the same as the wheeled tank variant (see above) but in a dedicated recon configuration.

Tank destroyers

The South Africans have two tank destroyer families:

• RCL Vehicles, which include the ubiquitous Rover 106 (pre-1980), armed with a M40 recoilless rifle, and the Ferret Mk2 106 (1976). This latter unit is “jalopied”, meaning its turret is removed, and the operator stands in the now-empty turret ring. The Ferret is equipped with an improved M40A1C.
• ATGM Vehicles, which begins with the already mentioned Ferret ENTAC (1975), can also to be found with the ANZAC forces in-game. This unit is followed by the Ferret Mk2 MILAN (1980), another “jalopied” Ferret, but featuring a MILAN launcher this time around. The vastly more effective Ratel ZT3-A1 (1987) is also available. A non-transport Ratel armed with a ZT3A1 Swift ATGM. These guided missile launchers are 70% accurate, 20 AP and have a 2625m range. The Ratel carries 12 of them, with 3 ready to fire.

Indirect fire

There are quite a few artillery options, including:

• MRLS vehicles. There is a Rover 107 (1981). This one is only encountered in Airborne and Support decks, being a light MRLS based on a Chinese-made 16-tube Type 63 107mm rocket launcher bolted on a Rover jeep. In-game, it will come with an incendiary loadout. The Valkiri (1981) is manufactured on a light Unimog chassis. This unit is the most widespread and standardized South African MRLS, with a classic HE and smoke loadout for its 24-tube 127mm rockets. Finally, we have the Bateleur (1989) built on top of an armored Samil, carrying two 20-tube which can rain down devastating salvos of its 127mm cluster ammunition.
• Mortar vehicles include the Eland 60 (1978) 60mm mortar carrier, identical to the French AML-60. This vehicle evolved into the Ratel 81 (1985) and Ratel 120 (1994 prototype), which are respectively a 81mm and 120mm mortar carriers. All of these vehicles come equipped with HE and smoke rounds.

• SPG vehicles include the venerable WW2 relic Sexton (1944!) with its still decent 25-pdr gun. Nonetheless, this grandfather of self-propelled artillery is rather slow (as you would expect) and only belatedly replaced by the excellent 155mm G6-45 Rhino (1987). This latter unit is a lightly armored but fast-wheeled SPG, being among the world’s most accurate artillery pieces by the end of the Cold War. In-game, it is a 40km ranged 155mm howitzer, with a round dispersion closer to a regular mortar.

A little bit of anti-air

And last up, the South African anti-aircraft vehicles, pooled in two distinct families:

• AA cannon vehicles with the Ystervark (1980) leading the way. This is a Buffel light armored truck fielding an Oerlikon 20mm gun. This vehicle was succeeded by the Bosvark, an armored Samil truck with captured ZU-23-2 twin 23mm guns. Finally, the Rooikat ZA-35 (1992 prototype) is a variant of the wheeled tank with its turret removed and replaced by a radar-guided twin 35mm system. This means that SEAD can target this unit. In-game, the Rooikat is roughly equivalent to a German FlakPz. Gepard A1 with the same ranges, faster and slightly more accurate for the ZA-35, but with a lower RoF.
• SAM vehicles. The South Africans can field the Cactus (1971), identical to the Crotale, which the SADF received before the French, as well as the Cactus SAHV (1992 prototype). The latter unit is a Cactus used as a testbed for a new SAHV missile under development - in-game featured as an IR version. Replacing the R440 missiles, the SAHV-IR missile provides slightly improved anti-helicopter range and accuracy, with its Fire&Forget trait. Lastly, the Rooikat ZA-HVM (1992 prototype) is a Rooikat with its turret replaced by a system firing SAHV-3 missiles. It retains the anti-helicopter and accuracy of the IR version and improves its anti-airplane range to 4200m range. Being radar-guided, it can be targeted by SEAD.

Nation Pack: South Africa in detail

In case you’ve missed it, we’ve already covered the combat arms historical context of this upcoming Nation Pack:

• We have put a spotlight on the all-important grunt: SADF Infantry. Read all about it here.
• We also took a look at the SADF Armor force, which you can read more about here.
• The flyboys claim all the glory in our SAAF Air Force article, which you can read here.
• Hugging the earth, SADF’s rotorcraft fleet get a special treatment in our Helicopter showcase, which you can read here.

What will the South Africa Nation Pack bring?

Wargame: Red Dragon - Nation Pack: South Africa will feature:

• Close to 90 new SADF units, including 20 brand-new vehicle models, as well as many new variants. All feature new Afrikaans and South African-accented English voice-overs, aie boet!
• These include the ubiquitous Casspir and Ratel APCs (in numerous variants, from IFV, recon, command, mortar, and even SAM), the Rooikat wheeled tank (including variants and prototypes), Eland (license-produced French AML), Cactus (French Crotale), the only tracked Olifant MBT, many armed variants of locally made SAMIL trucks (Ystervark and Bosvark SPAAG, Valkiri and Bateleur MLRS), to the iconic G6 Renoster self-propelled howitzer.
• The Air Force includes old Buccaneer[/], [b]Vampire and Impala as close-air support, and several French Mirage variants and the locally modified Cheetah as fighter and multirole aircraft. Furthermore, you will find the Atlas Carver prototype, the first full South African prototype plane design (which never left the drawing board).
• Helicopters include the French Alouette III, Puma, Super Frelon and their locally produced versions and prototypes such as the K-Car, Oryx and XTP-1 Beta. You’ll also be able to deploy South Africa’s very own attack helicopter design, the badass-looking Rooivalk.
• Infantry will include Bokkop regular riflemen, Parabat paratroopers, SASF special forces, and many more units such as militia, recon, MANPADS, engineers. You will find Portuguese-speaking Angolan UNITA squads, as well as SADF’s own 32 Battalion (the Buffalos) as a veteran light infantry formation.
• SADF weaponry features imported or locally built R1 and R4 rifles, SS-77 and Mini-SS MG, LRAC and APILAS LAW, but also the more original HK-21, FT5, Inflict and, of course, the iconic Y2 grenade-launcher and NTW-20.

What happens next?

That’s it! We’ll be back in two weeks.

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