1973 / Scenario #14 part 2

It was a good fight in the first scenario, but there are still some questions here. It was a pretty easy win in the first post for the Isrealis - granted, I put a lot of thought into it, and this was the first time I had worked the gap between the woods and town. As a tactic, I think it worked well as it:

1. keeps the Infantry within the town due to the threat of massed firepower,
2. is flexible - Blue can move into Close Range and attack the town, or, suddenly advance and move against the hill.
3. keeps the attacking force out of LoS of direct fire from the hill.

This also exposed one downside to putting direct fire assets upon the hill - they are right in the way of a direct attack, so the attacker has no reason to be distracted from a hill assault.

With all this in mind, I put the same force up against each other, but gave the Egyptians an extra Infantry and gave the Recon ability to one of the Isreali Infantry Units. So the force looked like this:

Red Defender - Egyptians
Rated Unreliable: 
1 Mortar [off-table]
1 Medium Artillery
1 Main Battle Tank [Heavy Gun, Russian Doctrine]
1 Infantry w'ATGM Upgrade
4 Infantry

Blue Attacker - Isrealis
Rated Reliable:
1 Mortar [off-table]
2 Main Battle Tank [Heavy Gun, 2nd Gen]
3 Infantry with APC upgrade [vintage halftracks], 1 also had Recon upgrade.

Turn 1 & 2. The Isrealis headed straight for the hill. The Recon Infantry made it to the woods edge, and use it to hide from Direct Fire while spotting the Infantry on the hill. The Egyptian ATGM  deployed on the board edge covering much of the open terrain on either side of the woods. The Egyptian Infantry in the Town is determined to be more useful this time so heads into the woods so as to be disruptive to the Isreali attack. The T55s [or "whatever" Russkie tank] shift left to counter Isrealis, and take out an MBT with help from the ATGM Unit. They rolled well and have punched the Isreali task force in the nose!


Turn 3. Isrealis keep the heat on the hill with indirect fire. They dismount infantry into the woods and send the APCs to the rear as the Recon advance as well. The other Isreali Infantry advances with the Armor. The Egyptians shift their MBTs left again and wipe out the other Infantry platoon still mounted in the APC, with the help of artillery...doesn't look good!


Turn 4. A Fierce attack by Isreali MBT and Infantry destroys Egyptian MBT, relieving some of the direct-fire pressure on them. Egyptian pressure on the Infantry's flank in the woods ramps up. The Egyptian ATGM Unit is dug-in and out of the fight at the moment.


Turn 5. The battle in the woods heats up, and one egyptian Infantry Unit dies to a combination of Mortars and Infantry Fire. The other decides to dash back and hold the objective. The MBTs take some AT and Artillery fire, and need to fall back and rally.


Turn 6. The Isrealis shift positions, looking to rally off Hits while keeping the Egyptians under Fire. This tactic succeeds in driving one Egyptian Infantry off the table and another back into the town [and out of LoS]. The situation is still an Egyptian win, with them having lost two Units but still holding both objectives with one Infantry Unit, supported by the ATGM Unit that poses a serious threat to the main Isreali punch - the MBT Unit. Still, only Turn 6...


Turn 7. The Isrealis continue with this plan, but the Egyptians decide not to let the Isrealis have it all their way and advance one Unit off the hill to threaten the MBT. Artillery is slacking Fire as there are few targets in LoS - guess they can let the barrels cool down some!


Turns 8-10. The Isrealis shift to their left, and rally off a Hit from the MBT but it is still fragile with 5 Hits [dying at 7+]. The Egyptians dig in onenInfantry in a blocking position in the valley between the woods and the Hill Objective while the other advances into the woods...again! I just didn't see any point in in having the Isrealis regroup at will. The ATGMs take some Hits from Artillery despite being Dug-in and Ready [they're within 12" LoS].


Turn 11. The valley advance wasn't such a great idea - with the Infantry getting heavy accurate Fire, the ATGM unit moves to the hill. I probably should have moved them sooner to be more threatening, really. Egyptians advance for a position advantage in the woods.


Turn 13. A shattering Mortar barrage kills the ATGMs so the Isrealis advance upon BOTH objectives! The Town is attacked by the partially rallied MBT while the Infantry move out of the woods. The attrition of the Egyptian force and the mobility of the MBTs has resulted in what will clearly be a disastrous defeat for Egyptian arms!


Turn 14. The MBT secure the town, the Egyptians are in the wrong place, wrong time.


Whew - what a crazy game! I think the Egyptians would have won if I just kept them tight on the objectives. It is hard to decide when to sit tight and hunker down on the win vs. letting your opponent regroup and renew an attack along a different opportunity.

A few conclusions are easy to draw:

1. Taking the ball up the middle into the teeth of a solid defense isn't going to work.
2. Taking time to attack methodically, chipping away at some of the enemy Units before closing in is a good idea, even if you are superior quality.
3. Artillery was hit or miss throughout the game - it could occasionally make a huge impact, and other times it totally whiffed. The sniper ability it has is useful.
4. Armor of any kind needs to stay away from ATGMs until they've taken a PH or two.
5. Generally, it is better to sit tight on the objective - even if I had fully rallied the two damaged Isreali units, they would have struggled to take the town or the hill without destroying the overwatching ATGMs.
6. You have to keep thinking until the bitter end!

Both these games were played satisfactorily with modified versions of the WWII rules. 

The main developments in the brief Yom Kippur war are in the area of Tanks; better AT weapons like the Recoiless Rifle and ATGM, and better Tanks with bigger guns and more armor [altho they have the same speed as the WWII tanks]. To a certain degree these cancel out since they are focused on each other. It really isn't that different from the Germans or Italians using heavy ATGs like the '88' in WWII against British armor - the ATG has a small edge, which widens if it is on the defense, Dug-in. 

So far, I haven't used a lot of heavy AT with the WWII rules, but there has been enough AT to impact the freedom of Armor. The main difference between the ATGM and '88' is that the former has a longer range and is much more durable, effectively disappearing into an Infantry Unit while the '88' has a footprint larger than most tanks with all its equipment.

Overall, the WWII rules are coming along pretty well. I still have a few things I want to fine-tune like moving Fires, Artillery availability, and Close Range / Assaults, and the combat tables need some more thought. Also, the scope of combat from 1940-2020 needs to be envisioned so there is room in the mechanics for advances in gear and doctrine.

Still, happy with the progress!