Venezuela and Colombia Go to War, Part 2

        Separated at birth?

Venezuela's Army

Venezuela has an army of some 35,000 troops, divided into 4 infantry and 1 cavalry divisions. This is further broken down into:

1 Armored Brigade

1 Cavalry Brigade
1 Light Armored Brigade
7 Infantry Brigades
1 Airborne Brigade
2 Ranger Brigades
1 Air Mobile Brigade
1 Counterinsurgency Brigade
1 Presidential Guard regiment
1 Anti-aircraft artillery group
2 engineer regiments
1 aviation regiment

"Divisions" seem to include from 4-6 battalions of troops, with most of the armor being concentrated in the First Cavalry Division. These troops are backed up by some 25,000 members of the national guard armed with light infantry weapons and a few light wheeled APCs.

Currently, Venezuela owns 81 AMX-30s MBTs, 65 WWII-vintage M-18 tank destroyers, 36 AMX-13 light tanks, 70 Scorpion light tanks, 25 AMX CVI APCs, 100 V-100 APCs, 90 V-150 APCs and 35 Brazilian-made EE11 APCS. It's artillery is made up of 76 105mm pieces, 9 155mm pieces and 10 155mm self-propelled pieces. Battalion-level support includes 81mm mortars and 106mm recoilless rifles, while brigade-regiment support includes 120mm mortars.

Venezuela has recently gone on a shopping spree in Russia, however, purchasing or attempting to purchase 92 T-72 MBTs, 135 BMP-3 IFVs, 30 Mi17/Mi26 helicopters, 10 Mi35 attack helicopters and 20 BM30 "Smerch" Multiple Rocket Launchers. This material has been partially delivered, but U.S.-organized arms embargoes seem to have blocked at least some of it. With the arrival of the T-72s, Hugo plans to donate the old AMX-30s to his allies in Ecuador. One would assume that he'll not launch a war until he gets his new toys, but with Hugo, you never know...

Airforce
Venezuela's airforce is much larger and more capable than Colombia's - at least on paper. Arms embargoes and poor maintenance seems to have grounded about half of it, however, and a recent sale of Brazilian Tucanos didn`t go through due to Chávez's incessant saber-rattling. Air superiority aircraft include 16 F-5 Tigers, 16 Mirage Vs, 16 F-16 Falcons and 24 SU-30s. (That's right: if you play the Venezuelans, you get to field F-16s AND SU-30s. Now how cool is that?) Ground attack planes include some 20 Tucanos. Again, it would be a miracle, given Venezuela's lack of spare parts, if even half of this force could get off the ground. Still, even half the Venezuelan airforce is more than a match for all of Colombia's. Apparently, Hugo is also upgrading the country's air defences (before negligible), building a Soviet-style, multi-layered anti-air system.

Navy
The Venezuelan Navy is also slated for a major upgrade. Chávez seeks to purchase 9 Russian subs, 4 Italian frigates and 8 Spanish corvettes or patrol boats by 2015. The country already has a significant amphibious capacity and a brigade-sized marine contingent fitted out with 25 EE-11s, 10 German Fuchs, 11 LVTP-7s and 18 towed 105mm artillery pieces.

Cold War Commander List for the Venezuelan Army
Troops            Arm            Move     Attack     Hits     Save      Cost      Notes
CO CV8           Command   60          3/30          6          6             60          - 
HQ CV7          Command    60         2/30          6          6             30          -
FAO CV6        Command    30         -                4          6             15          -
FAC CV6        Command    30         -                4          6             15          -
Scouts            Recce            10        2/30*        6           -             35          -
4x4s                 Recce            30        2/50*        3          -              30          -
Scorpion         Recce           30        4/60           3          6             90         #1
Conscripts      Infantry       10        2/30*        6           -             25         #2
Regulars         Infantry       10         3/30*        6          -             35
RPG Upgrade Infantry       -           6/40(H)     -          -              40
106mm RCL    Support       -           5/60(H)     4          -              60
HMG               Support       10         4/60*        5          -             50
81mm Mortar Support       10         3/120*      5          -             40
120mm Mortar Support      -          4/200*       4          -             70
Combat Eng.  Engineer      10        4/30*        6           -             60
AMX13          Armour        30        3/50          3           6             50
AMX30          Armour        25        5/100        5           5             115
Scorpion        Armour        30       4/60            3           6             70           #1
T-72                Armour        30        6/60           5           4             130        R, S2, IR
M-18 SPAT   SPAT           40        4/70           4           6             105        O
Air Def. MG  Artillery        -          4/30*         4           -             30
Air Def. 20mm Artillery     -           1/40           5           -             15
Air Def. 40mm Artillery     -           1/50           4           -             10
Art. 105mm      Artillery     -           3                3           -             45
Art. 155mm      Artillery     -           4                2           -             60
SPA 155mm     Artillery     30        4                3           6             80           #3
BM-30              Artillery     20        6                3           -             80           #3
Naval               Artillery      -          4                6           6             70
Tucano            Aircraft      -          5                 3           5            125
Mi35                 Aircraft     -          6/50            4           5            170         #3, #4
Truck               Transport  20        -                 3           -             10
AMX CVI        Transport  30      1/50*          3           6            30
EE-11 APC      Transport   30     2/50*          3            6            40
V100/150          Transport   30     1/50*         3            6            30
BMP3               IFV              30     4/80           3            6             85         S2, IR, A
LVTP-7            Transport   20      2/80           4            6            50
Transport Heli Transport   -       2/50*         4            6            60

#1 Terrain restrictions as infantry.
#2 Conscripts: may not use initiative to assault enemy. This should be the majority of Venezuelan infantry and all of the National Guard.
#3 Maximum of two.
#4 for an additional 40 points, unit may conduct 6/150 attacks against armour, guns, soft vehicles, helicopters and constructions using ATGW.

Special rules:
• Rigid tactical doctrine.
• Poor maintenance and low supplies: -1 to random points modifier.
• No counter-battery capacity.
• May schedule one ambush at the start of the game.
• Assets include Artillery HE (max 3 per unit, 10 points each), aircraft ground attack (max 2 per unit, 10 points each), Aircraft Air Assault (max 1 per unit, 50 points each).
• Air superiority +1 modifier as long as the U.S. is not an active enemy.