Is there a Problem With History?

While this blog was by design a communication tool for our gaming community I am surprised at the lack of traction from within the area of Israel, Lebanon and Syria. While I do not know how prevalent the Internet is in Lebanon and Syria, I do know that Israel is on par with the United States.

From what I have read, 16% of the population of Syria has Internet access; the issue is the lack of content. While I know the government is not blocking my blog directly (at least I hope so) blogs and social media are often targeted.

So if the region is able to get to my blog, and they understand English, why am I not seeing higher numbers for the region? Any guesses? My guess is they have the same problem we have in the west, a lack of interest in history.

Have other bloggers found similar dismal numbers?

My Work Bench 11/28/2010

OK, I was informed that the image could of been better. As I am getting ready to wash the nine tanks here I thought I would take another picture of my soon to be intrepid warriors. Any idea were they are heading?

Richard, I hope you like the tank riders.

The SUV (and the riders) will not be going on this trip.

Airpower in Lebanon - Lardies Style

I have played around with the jet supplements to TOOFATLardies Bag the Hun and so far they seem to work well for my Lebanon 1982 project.  I like the miniatures from PicoArmor, the distributor for Oddzial Osmy (O8). These 3mm gems look good and allow for some really nice fur-balls. Right now I am only missing one type of aircraft and have access to two versions of the MiG-21.

Here is my list of what is needed for an air battle over Lebanon and the Bekaa. Valley. 
   
F4-E Phantom II       
MiG-21 Version Used - MF, PFMA, MS, SMT, bis (Pico has the MF & F-13)
F15-A       
F16-A       
A-4 (Not Available by Pico)
MiG-23 Version Used - MS, MF   
Su-22 (Using the Su-17 from Pico)
RF4-E (Using the F4-E from Pico)

So am I missing anything (other than SAMs)?

My Work Bench 11/24/2010

Now that I have most of my 28mm figures off of my worktable (does not mean they are all painted) I can get back to more of my 15mm Arab Israeli War miniatures. As you can see from this picture I have twelve armored vehicles primed and ready to be painted. Any guesses on what they are for?

Centurions are from Peter Pig. The rest are from Old Glory 15.

A Problem with Syrian Airpower

Found an interesting problem with Syria using their newest toy. The HOT missile used by Syria had a range of over 4,000 meters. That means the Gazelle can be, in game scale, over to 32 meters away from their targets. This makes the picture clearer to me, as when they were used against the armored columns in Lebanon the IDF assumed the missile strikes were coming from Sagger positions as they never saw the helicopters. It also appears the neither did the IAF. Often the column would send out patrols to find troops that were not there.

While it was reported that Syria was using the HOT missile, they also had the AS-12 when they received their first batch of Gazelles. They had even a longer range of 8,000 meters.

So in our next game Mark I will set up my Gazelle across the street from your house, and at Cold Wars, it will be set up in the restaurant next to the breakfast bar.

Syrian Airpower

IDF intelligence reports the presence of Syrian airpower not in the Bekaa Valley. Exact numbers are difficult to obtain but in the European arms market, there is a strong request for Syrian decals. Stay tuned.

Media for Wargaming

While doing my under-grad work in history, I spent a get deal of time in the stacks going through old newspapers, magazines and the ever-present microfiche. These were great secondary sources for the events occurring since the mid-19^th century. I was wondering what were historians and gamers going to use to research modern day conflicts. While the Vietnam War and Falklands both have a lot of books out there remembering their platoon, squadron or ship, how will we find out about the more secretive parts of the world. There is not much that comes out of the Middle East dealing with military matters unless it pertains to the United States. So while I can find some materials about Lebanon 1982 in English, it is mostly from the Israeli point of view. I have found one book with a chapter on Syria and their air force. It added a total of three pages and no notes on sources (OK the sources are only a problem for the academic in me).

So what can a gamer do? Since I limited myself from the start of the invasion to the attempts to close the Beirut to Damascus Highway we are only looking at less than three weeks (6 June 1982 to 24 June 1982). This leaves the monthly and even the weekly publications out. As for the daily newspapers other than the New York Times and The Jerusalem Post I am not certain what to use. Any suggestions?

A view of the film crew reporting on a Syrian advance on a Lebanese position.

A view of the crew and Syrians advancing taken from the mosque. Figures from Peter Pig and buildings from Fieldworks. Jon Yuengling did the painting.

Fieldworks Part II

Below are what I currently have as a block of buildings for my Lebanon 1982 game. I was very pleased with the results of the dry brushing and the washes.

The last image has members of a militia faction holding up with a sniper on the second floor and a machine gun across the street. (Figures from Peter Pig.)

5,000 Page Views Latter

Lebanon 1982 started out as a simple project that would allow my partner in crime Mr. Kinsey and I do gaming using our pulled resources and game a similar period. This simple project grew quickly, as they always do. At this point my blog has a life of its own.

The intention was to create a campaign setting to run games in both 15mm and 3mm. What has occurred is a general history for gaming in Lebanon with promotions and reviews of products from companies that produce the miniatures, terrain and published materials.

Learning the history is great. (I never thought I would be researching the Communist Party of Lebanon and their militia Hizbu-sh-shuy‘uī-l-lubnānī). I also enjoy the interaction with the vendors, players and my friends. I have started many gaming friendships through this blog.

So what will the next 5,000 page views bring? I hope (through TooFatLardies) to post Lebanon 1982 rule additions and enhancements, set up weapon tables to work with Charlie Don’t Surf for this period, and plan and game a campaign following a unit through Lebanon to Beirut and the Beirut–Damascus Highway.

Thank you and please let me know what you think.

Jonathan Yuengling

Pictures from the Third Battle in Lebanon

Our Saturday battle was a good time as we got our friend Doc Mercury over to play. He now has a large force of PLO/Militia to paint up and got his first taste of Lebanon 1982 with Mark and myself.

This battle changed many times as we were setting it up and at times as the referee I was not sure what the players wanted to try out. (I need to remember to always make the IABSM/CDS cards and the sides set before I get to the gaming venue.) Mark wanted Syrians, Doc did not care and I was planning on using PLO (that is what I had cards for).

The action was very fast as the two platoons headed across the town looking for PLO and a way to exit to the north.

Here is the long road with the referee in the distance.

The PLO was found by the IAF (or was it a drone) running towards one of the major buildings.

After a couple of inefficient shots by the PLO the IDF found this relic on the battlefield and fired on it. The IDF player was a little miffed that it was all caught on camera and the T34/85 was not operational. Always remember to not fire on anything near a mosque.

The tank as a decoy allowed the PLO to assault the tanks. Luck was not with the PLO today as none were damaged and the infantry cleaned out the building.

As the Merkavas went past the market a group of Syrian commandos attacked the column. They had as little luck as the PLO.  They held the market only a turn before being forced out by the infantry.

Here we have the infantry holding the market.

While all of this was happening the Syrians brought on three T55s. There only success was against an empty M113.

A good game and a great learning experience for me the referee. I look forward to our next game.

Pictures from the Second Battle in Lebanon

These are the images for the battle we fought on Thursday evening. It was an action between Mark and myself.

Looking over the expanded town. We have to remember to remove the beer bottle next time.

The remains of a Syrian tank taken out by the IAF greet the IDF.

Here is the column working its way into town.

Here we see a command M113 with an officer directed the column to a new objective. Finding an IAF pilot.

Here the led Magach is taken out by fire from this building. Fire came from all four floors. There were four RPG shoots and a recoilless rifle.

Unfortunately (for my militia) the IDF cleared the building floor by floor. While the IDF lost an entire tank crew, the infantry was able to clear the entire building with only losing three soldiers. The militia was less luckily, losing sixteen men, one of which was their Big Man.

While the IDF did recover the pilot (working on a figure for that) the losses were heavy. We are still working through using Charlie Don't Surf. While I like the rules Mark and Doc Mercury point out the need for sooooooo many dice. I will work on the AAR from our Saturday game tomorrow. 

Thank you for visiting.

Second Battle in Lebanon

Thursday night Mark and I played a great game for Lebanon 1982 using Charlie Don’t Surf. Yes Charlie Don’t Surf is a Vietnam system but many of the weapons are the same (or similar) and the terrain is similar. Yes triple canopy jungle and multi-storied urban building do have a lot in common.

Hidden blinds are similar in both environments as well as the concealment of the local troops. Fire-teams and squads have tremendous firepower as shown in the CDS combat table. While the smaller teams may have fewer dice than in IABSM or TWT the firepower easily makes up for this.

Things that needed to be added were additional weapon systems and changes to existing tanks. We also worked on revised rules for reactive armor and discussed rules on smoke and smoke dischargers. I will offer these to on this blog when we are done as well as the TooFatLardies Yahoo group.

One of the strengths of CDS is the victory conditions [although I do like the press rules as well J]. In our game both sides were able to claim victory.

It was a great table. Mark outdid himself. El Ishiya grew recently. Mark added buildings to the point we need another table. It does not help that I recently bought four additional buildings from Fieldworks.

The sides were a force of PLO troops in the town against a reinforced platoon of Israeli Magach 6 with an attached squad of infantry. Orders were simple. The IDF was to advance through the town. The PLO, well the PLO acting like the PLO.

The advance went well. There was little resistance and the main crossroads were secured efficiently if not quickly. And than a command  M113 approached the armor column with a change of orders. A pilot was down on the far side of the town and the column was to check two areas. Unfortunately the two areas were on separate corners of the table and the IDF had only three tanks and a M113 to search the two wooded areas.  

Shortly the lead Magach was hit by multiple RPGs from a multi storied building. The first one destroyed the tank and the other hits only added to the explosion. The entire crew was lost.  The infantry were called in to clear out the building were the PLO was set up. After several close assaults over multiple turns the building was cleared. The IDF lost one soldier to the loss of the entire PLO unit.

The IDF went on to search the two areas were the pilot was thought to be and found the downed airman as the Syrians came on the board.

I give both sides a victory. The IDF did save the pilot, but lost a tank and crew. I look at it as a minor victory. The PLO received a significant victory for destroying the Magach.

In the future I will want to have press figures on the board to record the actions of the IDF.

Our next game is tonight so I look forward to using the revised fire rules for reactive armor. As the IDF will have a M-109 in this game they may use different tactics in clearing buildings.

I will post pictures as soon as I get them.

Fieldworks

Today I received my order from Fieldworks and all I can say is WOW! First off a large box arrived Fieldworks. It was a big box and I found out why once it was open. The must be close to a barrel of oil used to make the bubble wrap John Shuker used on packing the order. These four plastic buildings arrived in great shape. Below are image I took of my unpainted village.

The floors of the buildings are removable so work great for skirmish games with plenty of places for my militias to hide. Here is my new Charioteer trying to hide in the rubble of a building.

John and Fieldworks have excellent customer service skills in emailing me when it was shipped and asked to be told once it was received.

I look forward to painting these up and getting them into use. If you have any question ask me or John at http://www.fieldworks.org.uk/15mm.htm

A New Month

Well we are into a new month and I have made a couple of long-term goals that involve my Lebanon 1982 project. By putting them in writing I believe I will have a better chance of completing them. First up I started a Hebrew class last night. I understand this is a hard language to learn but there are to many books written in Hebrew that I wish to read. This is probably my longest of long-term projects. Second is I need to finish up a scenario I have been working on for Richard at TooFatLardies for their Christmas Special. Right now I am waiting on the miniatures for the play test.

Speaking of play tests, I need to commit to at least two games a month. That may not sound like a lot but between my job, family and other commitments it can be difficult. I am sure my gaming buddies will be glad to hear this (and remember I said at least two).

So this should be enough until the end of the year when I can make a resolution to paint all of my figures before buying more. No honestly I mean that.

Now what can I do with six of these? (Wink, wink, nod, nod)