Splod's 6mm Arab-Israeli Project

[Splod]

Introduction
Welcome to my new project log where I will track the progress on my efforts to wargame elements of the Arab-Israeli conflict. While my interest spans the entire history of the conflict: from the 1948 War of Independence through to the 1982 1982 Lebanon War, this project will focus on the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. While some units and equipment are restricted to 1967 or 1973, I find that the vast majority of equipment is usable across both these conflicts and there was little change in equipment colour or camouflage.

Ruleset
For this game I will be using Fistful of TOWs 3 using the rough scale of 1:5 as outlined in the rulebook and included organisation tables. Rather than relying on the published organisations from the rules I will be using a combination of the Micromark lists and historical records to build my units. I intend on writing a short article to describe how I convert historical organisations to a 1:5 wargames unit.

Games
My intent is to be able to replay some of the key battles of the conflict while still ensuring an enjoyable game. This will involve replaying some historical scenarios on a strictly historical basis, through to hypothetical clashes between realistic forces. There won't be any 'surprise T-72s' on my table, but I am absolutely ok with dropping two anonymous armoured brigades on the table to fight over an unnamed objective point. I also intend on modifying some historical scenarios to replay larger battles at a manageable scale (Chinese Farm, I'm looking at you).

Figures
Almost all my 6mm collection, both painted and bare, are GHQ metals. While there are other cheaper options available, I find that very few other producers can compare to GHQ's quality. As I'm gaming at a reduced unit scale (1:5), I feel I'm happy to pay the premium for the figures I like. I will be using H&R figures to represent my infantry, as I feel the modern sculpts are nicer and more in scale with the 1/285 GHQ tanks than other 6mm figure manufacturers.

Next Steps

• Draft post/article on converting historical TO&E/ORBAT to wargames units
• Complete Israeli Armoured Brigade - paint M51 and find suitable brigade support elements from the stash
• Undercoat Egyptian Armoured Battalion
• Find a better way of organising my plans

I leave you with a colour tester for my Israelis (Details and basing to come) 

[SJWi]

Thanks for sharing, a super looking project, The GHQ M51 looks just the part.  I like the new H&R models which are much better than their old stuff, but their M51 just looks wrong!

Have you used FFoT's3?  Me and a mate found them pretty hard going, not least not terribly well written IMHO. We then turned to the "unofficial" "Battlegroup Cold War" which we were more comfortable with. I will be interested to hear more about other gaming experience with FFOTs3. 

Now back to basing 15mm British 1980s BAOR infantry ready for a game using "Seven Days to the River Rhine" this afternoon. 

[Sparrow]

Really looking forward to watching this project develop.....!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Good luck with an interesting sounding project.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Sounds interesting. I did a similar thing many years ago using H&R. As usual I bought too much 

Never really found a set of rules I liked and ended up upgrading Rapid Fire.   

[Frostie]

Nice I look forward to following this log

[Cueball]

I too will watch this thread keenly.

Have played lots of 6mm Arab-Israeli, although not for some time; mainly MSH and CWC - about the only rules we found that could handle brigade+ sized battles.

My Uncle has been playing  WRG's 'Challenger' for 30 years. He's on turn 2... 

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

My Uncle has been playing  WRG's 'Challenger' for 30 years. He's on turn 2... 

 

[Sangennaru]

quite a good start! I totally love project logs, probably the best way to use forums in 2020!

[Pan Marek]

Hurray!  A thread on the Yom Kippur war.  I game it in 20mm, using "Modern" Rapid Fire.  But have my eye of 7 Days to the River Rhine.
Looking forward to seeing your TOEs.

[ulverston]

This looks very interesting. I normally don't bother with 6mm stuff but this has the potential to be amazing-I can't wait to see your terrain and boards.

[SJWi]

Pan Marek, I had my 1st game of Seven days to the River Rhine yesterday. We played in 15mm on a 6 x 4' table. We only fielded about 3-4 tanks per side with infantry and some support troops.....plus a rather deadly TOW-armed Lynx.  The rules are pretty simple and won't suit those looking for lots of "technology" differentiators. However some nice mechanisms and we were quite pleased with how they played.     

[Pan Marek]

SJWi-  Good to hear.  I bought them just before the pandemic, and read through them.  They have an active FB site, which has files with equipment for Yom Kippur.
I thought the mechanics lent themselves to "moderns".   The interactive nature of combat, rather than heaps of tech.  Of course,
"tech" is relative for 1973.

One needs to keep track of how many command points one uses, and how many (for lack of the term used in the rules) "hits" a unit has sustained.  What did you use to mark the units for these two different sets of stats?

[Splod]

Thanks for all the interest so far lads. I've got a job application and an essay to knock over this weekend, which means I'll probably procrastinate by working on something for the project

Have you used FFoT's3?  Me and a mate found them pretty hard going, not least not terribly well written IMHO. We then turned to the "unofficial" "Battlegroup Cold War" which we were more comfortable with. I will be interested to hear more about other gaming experience with FFOTs3. 

I have used FFoT's3 and find I really enjoy the game they provide. I had some concerns about the method for firing on a stand-by-stand basis when the maneuver units are companies or battalions, but this was fixed with some simple house ruling. I like the BG: Cold War rules that were done some years ago by Richard C, and have used them for some cracking games in 20mm.

I own a number of different rulesets for microarmour (or adapted), but FFoT3 still gives me the best feeling game without getting bogged down in charts and math (I'm looking at you Challenger!) 

Hurray!  A thread on the Yom Kippur war.  I game it in 20mm, using "Modern" Rapid Fire.  But have my eye of 7 Days to the River Rhine.
Looking forward to seeing your TOEs.

I've been meaning to pick up 7 Days. What I've seen so far makes me think it might give an alright game.

20mm is my other 'one-true-love', although I struggle with the shortage of figures available for AIW in 20mm. I've got some forces for the 1982 war and a fair amount of armour for 1956 'Operation Kadesh', but still hanging out for suitable figures. I'd be interested to see what you use

This looks very interesting. I normally don't bother with 6mm stuff but this has the potential to be amazing-I can't wait to see your terrain and boards.

I can't wait either 

I've generally used 'drop-on' terrain pieces on a desert wargames mat, however I've recently found some 2' x 4' insulation panels at my local hardware store that are inspiring me to do some terrain boards. Rather than going truly modular, I'm thinking I may cut my teeth on a Golan Heights board and see if it's worth later trying for modular. If I design the boards to only be fixed in a single set it'll reduce the likelihood of me getting it wrong 

[SJWi]

Pan Marek, to answer you question re chits.  You can buy command chits and morale chits from Great Escape Games.  One of my mates made up some labels with either the NATO symbol or a Red Star which he stuck on 20mm mdf squares.  You could use either micro dice or any numbered chit for the morale status. I'm not a huge fan of lots of chits on the table but surprisingly the table didn't look too cluttered.

Thanks for the tip off about Yom Kippur data. We have recently been gaming Arab-Israeli using some home-brew rules we found on the WAT part of the Two Fat Lardies Forum.  A nice "beer and pretzels" game which I run for my mates using Zoom on our "virtual" club night.  SDttRR will give a more interesting game with all those pesky infantry with Saggers and RPG7s.