Day of the Rangers (Mogadishu 1993)

The Raid in Mogadishu on 3 October 1993 was the seventh in a series of raids mounted by US SOF (Special Operations Forces) Task Force Ranger (TFR). It was an attempt to immediately and dramatically seize the leadership of General Mohammad Farrah Aideed’s Habr Gidr, which was in conflict with UN forces being supported by the US. What was planned as a lightning raid soon escalated into a decisive, bitter and costly two-day battle. The aftermath led to the withdrawal of US and UN forces in Somalia and the consolidation of Aideed and Habr Gidr power. It was the most intense fighting the US military had seen since Vietnam. The course of the events has become familiar through the film based on Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down. For the Somalis the battle is remembered as “Malinki Ranger” which translates into English as “Day of the Ranger”. As has usually been the case Post Cold-War the fighting in Somalia was not about ideology but about Aideed and his Habr Gidr faction. In a war about an individual, seizure raids by SOF become strategic operations. Fittingly, it was also a conflict that pitted Aideed’s strategy of attrition against SOF tactics of raiding.

This is a very simple two player simulation of the October 3, 1993 firefight between Task Force Ranger and the Habr Gidr Clan in Mogadishu, Somalia. Each player controls either Task Force Ranger or the Habr Gidr Clan. The use of the title Day of the Rangers refers to the Somali name for the fight-’Malinki Ranger.’ The object of the game is to amass as many victory points as possible, the winner gains the most points, however the victory conditions set up to provide a balanced scenario outcome.

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