Arab Israeli Wars 1967: Fate of Nations/Team Yankee

Played a fantastic Arab Israeli game Thursday with Mark Piper using the BF Fate of Nations lists but with the Team Yankee rules. Mark had created some fantastic TY style cards for the game and they made playing so much easier. Mark and I play WWII and TY using our 20mm-1/72 collection as we are old school and had the stuff plus I like the look of 20mm. Firing and movement ranges have not been changed however to allow the larger vehicles room to move we usually play on a larger table. We had started collecting the forces when the rules came out a few years ago but we both got sidetracked on other projects and I only started on these a couple of weeks ago. The Israeli vehicles need decals and more weathering and the stowage needs to be finished but they are getting there and a Mechanised platoon is on the painting table but I have finished the 5 M3 halftracks.

 I was planning to put up some photos and a basic game report but Mark did an excellent Bat Rep for the club FB page and he was nice enough to put it up here. Enjoy

Arab Israeli in 20mm Team Yankee style

Played at my place tonight with Scott Robertson.  Over the last 2 weeks I have Team Yankee'fied stats from "Fate of a Nation" and produced some fan based cards to match.

The mission we played was based "At the Forward Edge of the Battle" from the Leopard book.  Scott's Israeli 82 pt Israeli force were the attackers and my 64 pt Egyptian force the defenders.

Israelis (82 pts)

HQ  1 x Magarch 2

2 x platoons - each 3 x Magarch 2

1 platoon of 3 Magarch 3

Egyptians (64 pts)

HQ 1 x T-55

2 x companies (each 6 x T-55)

1 x company (5 x IS3)

1 x Scout company ( 4 x BTR50 + 3 x PT76)

Turn 1 Israelis held back Magarch 3s while HQ and 2 platoons moved.  Egyptian firing casued minimal casualties.

Turn 2 Israelis moved forward engaging dug in T55.  Egyptians caused some casualties.  PT76s started moving into the centre as a local counter-attack.  IS3 in ambush behind line of hills.

Turn 3 Israelis moved up to the line of hills.  Close fire ripping apart one T55 tank company.  

Turn 4 Israelis now engaging IS3s.  Egyptians attempted a counter attack with company T55 with some effect.

Turn 5 & 6 Israelis break through Egyptian defences and head for the depth objectives.  Egyptians forced to take a formation test but with the battalion commander killed automatically breaks.  Result Israeli victory (5 /2) - lost one unit.

Great game.  Scott's Israeli tanks looked the business and I was happy with the washing and weathering on the Egyptian armour.

Next game will be based on the "Delaying Attack" mission from the Leopard book with 100 pts each (Egyptians as the attackers).

Really happy using Team Yankee as the engine for AIW.

           My Israeli Tank Company: 7 Magarch 2s with 90mm gun and 3 Magarch 3s with 105mm gun

         

   Most of the Company provides long range firing to cover the advance of the 1st platoon. Stationary     ROF for the Israeli tanks was 2 which meant lots of fire to knock out those Egyptian tanks. I simply leapfrogged platoons up the table with stationary platoons to cover their advance. 

               1st turn longrange fire knocks out 2 T54 and bails 2.

          

                  View towards the Egyptian lines, lots of tanks.

    

     Egyptian right flank which I ignored. Eventually Mark tried to use this flank to stop my advance but was destroyed even though it took down a Magarch 2 platoon.

         

            Egyptian right flank advancing to try and take the Israelis in the flank

             

  

                Some Egyptian T 54s make it across the railway line.

         

         

       Israeli tank platoon needs support to stop the Egyptian advance

          

   Israeli Magarch 3s break through the Egyptian 2nd line of JSIII Stalins and head towards their goal.

           

         

         End of the battle with the Israeli tanks on the objective and all but one Egyptian platoon destroyed and with no Battalion commander alive the recon platoon in the village retreat to fight another day.

   

   

   

Zulu Wars Saga game

                                                                 Zulu Wars

Scenario 1 Page 110 from the Crescent and Cross book. 10 point game 

Turn 1 Zulu: using the enveloping attack the Zulu forces moved forward as a group. Veterans on the right used another move to come to the banks of the river and takes one fatigue.

            

Turn 1 British: British forces use the range markers square on the battle board to fire at double the range without halving the fire dice. I use the Zulu Duck reaction to add one to the defence dice of two units (saving on 3s).

            

Turn 2 Zulu: pretty poor dice roll means that the Zulus only manage to reach the river and await the punishing rifle fire. 

         

Turn 2: British very much like the first turn but British fire is desultory and only takes out a couple of bases of levy troops.

         

Turn 3 Zulu: once again the Zulus roll poorly and only manage to get a few units across the small river.

Turn 3 British: volley fire order from the leader (L) devastates the units in the front line of the Zulu waves. A British unit attacks the unit of Zulus struggling across the small river but are repulsed in a bloody battle that results in the loss of one British base. The levy unit on the hill (left) fire and kill one base of Zulu veterans. 

         

Turn 4 Zulu: I finally roll and enveloping attack and manage to move my whole force forward and actually defeat a British unit in combat with a depleted Zulu warrior unit.

         

Turn 4 British: the British are a little worried with the amount of Zulus across the river and counter quickly and push the victorious unit back into the river. The British sailors concentrate their fire on the veterans and destroy 3 stands.

         

Turn 5 Zulus: slow advance with a charge by the veterans on the right which destroys 3 levy bases. Loses are mounting and the Zulus have yet to really reach the British lines. If they survive the firepower to come the Zulus might pull off a win.

         

Turn 5 British: Levies manage to kill 1 base of veterans with their limited firepower.

             

Turn 6 Zulus: failure to move the entire army ensures only a few units charge into contact and I lose 2 out 3 combats. The Zulus are in trouble and are under the guns of the enemy.

Turn 6 British: British battle board is concentrated upon firing and the Zulus units wilt under the firepower. The British veterans charge into the Zulu veterans but are repulsed with a base lost on each side.

         

End result was a massive victory to the Bristish forces. Poor rolling meant that the Zulus just didn't close with the British quickly enough and the firepower whittled them down from long range. Mark made much better use of his Saga board and concentrated on using those parts that helped up his firepower dice. I needed another turn to do what Zulus do best and that is to fight in close combat. 

Great game and Mark's simple changes to the rules from the WSS magazine worked very well. Must paint those Mahdi up ASAP and get them on the table against my Warlord Games British.

Saga and the Zulu Wars

Played the fantastic Colonial Wars variant last weekend which was published in the Wargames Soldiers and Strategy magazine a few years ago. Figures are replaced by bases of 2-3 infantry and games can be up to 10 points. Mark Piper and I played a 8 point Zulu Wars game using scenario IV (pg. 113) from 'The Crescent and Ceoss' book. Zulus swarmed down from the hills and massacred the British force, fantastic variant which I heartily recommend for a different feel. Figures and terrain are from Mark Piper's excellent collection.

                                            British have walked into a trap

   

               

                                        Each base of 2-3 figures replaces the single figures of normal Saga

     

                                   British forces heading towards a quite Zulu village

         

            

    

 

   

Making a Zone Mortalis board cheaply

Tim from the Eye of Horus podcast threw out a challenge a few months ago about creating a Zone Mortalis table cheaply. Ok challenge was quickly accepted and I went about planning how to create a workable table and how much I wanted to spend. Budget I decided would be $200 which included materials, paint and a 6x4 Ship Interior FatMat from Frontline Gaming. I picked up my FatMat from Issac Baxter from the Warrior Lodge gaming group in North Brisbane for $100. 

      

I discussed my philosophy about designing a table on episode 62 of the EOH podcast especially emphasising how you will design your terrain to fit the look and outline of your Gaming mat. The FatMat has a large number of clearly defined rooms, corridors and a large open area that could be a landing bay or ship bridge. Now onto the materials used to create the walls and the doors.

Materials (essential)

2 x A1 sheets of 10mm thick foamcard (800mm x 600mm) $10-$15 a sheet

1 x A1 sheet of 5mm thick foamcard (800mm x 600mm) $8-12 a sheet

1 x sheet of 3mm MDF (600mm x 600mm) $8-$10 a sheet

1 x sheet of mounting board (thin cardboard for edges and detailing) $4-$6 a sheet

White glue used for woodworking $8-$10 a large bottle 

Tamiya Modelling tape (used to keep pieces in place whilst the glue sets) $8 a roll

Cheap Spray paint to basecoat walls (I use cans from Supa Cheap Auto) $3 

Materials (optional)

Airbrush to paint walls and add markings

CNC widgets to add details to walls and doors (pictured below) $16 for 39 pieces

Starting your build:

1. Decide how high you want your walls to be. I went with 8cm to match some MDF walls that I had bought from Battlefield Accessories.

2. Plan your room sizes using the Mat to guide you but ensure you identify where your doors will go. 

3. Remember when planning your rooms that you need to store and move these sections (I use under the bed plastic boxes). The larger rooms are made in several sections that use MDF pieces to connect the walls.

Test room build: 

Below you can see a small room section of our FatMat measured and cut from Foamcard. The MDF sections are doors which will be discussed later on.

           

Larger room marked out, cut and placed out ready for construction. Notice that the door frame is two pieces of MDF which has yet to be cut to allow the insertion of the door (thinner foamcard or MDF).

Larger room below which will be made in two pieces to allow storage. The MDF door frames will allow the walls to join together.

Board under construction and nearly there.

Another board in progress shot

Notice how all the walls and doors mirror the design of the Mat. Removable walls in the larger room breaks up the open areas and provides lots of cover.

Notice the door frames have been cut and await doors which are simply slotted in when gaming.

Planning out how to break up the open areas in some of the rooms.

MDF pieces (30mm wide) are added to provide strength, weight, shape and walls joints are added to the Foamcard walls.

Foamcard walls nearly done however these still lack the very important thin cardboard strips along the exposed foam edges. The foamcard needs to be covered otherwise the spray paint will melt it and plus it looks much better. 

One of the many separate door frames to slow down and provide cover for our combatants.

First outing of the basic table after adding some yellow markings to the walls. More work on weathering and the adding of MDF CNC widgets needs to be done however.