Originally posted by BruceDuncan
Parwiz and MacDonald seem to be matching up well with each other. I think this is going to be a very good read.
Thanks.
My theory is... Parwiz has a lot of first-hand experience from the Persian Civil War, though he's normally commanded armies from a much higher strategic level. On the flip side, MacDonald has much less first-hand experience (most of his personal battle experience is drawn from his British service during WWI, and then the Irish Civil War), but he has a very substantial informational edge from studying Parwiz's campaigns during the Persian Civil War. In the long run, MacDonald knows his enemy just a bit better than vice-versa.
I hope it's apparent that MacDonald and Parwiz are almost sparring with each other right now. The fighting is serious, but neither of them are fully-exerting themselves. Parwiz has more men in the field (he outnumbers MacDonald three to one) but his men are irreplaceable, and he doesn't want to throw them away. He knows that, if he corners MacDonald too closely, the Irish, with twice as much artillery and automatic weapons, can seriously maul his forces before being defeated. Parwiz is sparring to bully MacDonald into making a mistake which negates most of the Irish advantages - and then he's going to pounce. MacDonald, by contrast, doesn't want to fight Parwiz's whole army; outnumbered three to one, he's too cautious to get into a fistfight with the battle-hardened Persian Nationalists. MacDonald is sparring to pull Parwiz's forces apart so they're no longer mutually supporting - and then he's going to pounce.
Rough breakdown of forces:
- The Irish have about 4,400 infantry, plus eighteen tanks, twenty-odd armoured cars, twenty-four artillery pieces, and forty-odd mortars; they have enough trucks and ACW-IPs to move 2-3 of their 5 battalions.
- The Persians/Afghan warlords have about 13,000 men (~6-7,000 being tribal fighters), plus thirty tanks, twelve armoured cars, and six artillery pieces; they have no motorized troops, and their trucks do not even fully cover their supply train, which is mostly draft animals.