Where Have I Gotten To?

I would first like to thank Bob over at Evil Bob’s Miniature Painting service for the excellent work he has done for my Lebanese militia and Syria Commandos. I look forward to using the militia against Mark’s IDF.

These pictures are from Bob’s blog.

Now some of you may wonder why I appeared to of fallen off the planet. I have enjoyed gaming this period with friends and have introduced the TOOFATLardies’ rules to many gamers new to the TFL way of gaming. At Historicon I had a great time watching my PLO get hammered by a well played SLA sweep. But current events in Syria and Libya have been hitting me very close to home. I wish the people over there well and I find it hard to game a conflict so recent that the players could have been there.

I thank you all for your understanding as a take a hiatus from the world of Lebanon 1982.

MicroMark Releases

I just saw this from Mark and think these will be of interest for those following my blog.

Mark Bevis, 

173 Accrington Road, Burnley, Lancs, BB11 5AL
tel 01282 702644
email: sultanbev@gmail.com

Download pdf format lists at:
http://zkluroztcttctzorulkz.wargamevault.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=3426

or order online at:
http://www.helion.co.uk/prodtype.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=61&numRecordPosition=1

MODERN ARMIES OF THE COLD WAR 1947-1989
AIR59A: Arab Air Forces, October 1973, Yom Kippur War (replaces List AIR59)
AIR64: Algerian Air Force, 1962-1988, Algeria
AF76M: Ethiopian Infantry Division, 1975-1979, Ethiopia
AF77M: Ethiopian 10th Mechanised Brigade, 1975-1977, Ethiopia
AF78M: Ethiopian 92nd Mechanised Brigade, 1977, Ethiopia
AF79M: Ethiopian Militia Division, 1977-1980, Ethiopia
AF80M: Ethiopian Independent Mechanised Brigade, Army Support, 1978, Ogaden
AF81M: Somali Motorised Brigade, 1974-1978, Somalia, Ogaden
AF82M: Somali Infantry Brigade & Corps Support, 1975-1979, Somalia, Ogaden
AF83M: West Somali Liberation Front, 1976-1978, Ogaden
AF84M: Somali 2nd Tank Brigade, 1974-1978, Somalia, Ogaden
AR17M: Algerian Armoured Brigade, October-November 1973, Egypt
B52MA: British Infantry Brigade, 1964-1972, all theatres (replaces List B52M)
B77MB: British 24th Infantry Brigade, July-September 1961, Kuwait, Operation Vantage(replaces Lists B77M and B77MA)
E13MA: Egyptian Corps and Army Support, 1973-1974, Egypt (replaces List E13M)
GK16M: Greek Cypriot National Guard, 1966-1974, Cyprus
GK17M: Greek Cypriot National Guard Corps Support, 1966-1974, Cyprus
K4M: Kuwaiti 35th Armoured Brigade, 1987-1990, Kuwait
K5M: Kuwaiti 6th Mechanised Brigade, 1987-1990, Kuwait
K6M: Kuwaiti 15th reserve Mechanised Brigade, 1987-1990, Kuwait
K7M: Kuwaiti 80th Infantry Brigade and Corps support, 1987-1990,Kuwait
K8M: Kuwaiti Army, 1954-1962, Kuwait
K9M: Kuwaiti 6th Mechanised Brigade, 1962-1969, Kuwait
K10M: Kuwaiti 35th Armoured Brigade, 1963-1970, Kuwait
K11M: Kuwaiti 15th Mechanised Brigade, 1962-1970, Kuwait
K12M: Al-Jahra Kuwaiti Brigade Group, October 1973-September 1974, Syria supersedes information on List SY9M)
LA65M: Cuban Mechanised Force, 1978, Ogaden
SU6MA: Saudi Arabian 20th Mechanised Group, October 1973, syria/Jordan
(replaces List SU6M)
SY9MA: Syrian Infantry Brigade & Corps Support, 1971-1975, Syria (replaces SY9M)
T24M: Turkish Order of Battle, July-August 1974, Invasion of Cyprus
T25M: Turkish Airborne Brigade, 1970-1980, all theatres
T26M: Turkish Commando Brigade, 1970-1980, all theatres
T27M: Turkish Special Strike Force Landing Brigade, July 1974, Cyprus
T28M: Turkish 39th Infantry Division, July-August 1974, Cyprus
T29M: Turkish 28th Infantry Division, July-August 1974, Cyprus
T30M: Turkish 5th Armoured Brigade, July-August 1974, Cyprus
T31M: Turkish Cypriot forces, 1966-1974, Cyprus

MODERN ARMIES 1991+
AR18M: Yemeni Armoured Brigade, 1996-2005, Yemen
AR19M: Yemeni Mechanised Brigade, 1996-2005, Yemen
AR20M: Yemeni Infantry Brigade & Army Support, 1996-2005, Yemen

NAVAL LISTS
NAV14: Algerian Navy, 1980-1989

SLA vrs PLO

The South Lebanese Army while investigating the report of an arms cache in one of the neighboring villages came under fire prior to withdrawing, Associated Press has reported today from Beirut.

While it has not been confirmed, unidentified members on staff say it was a poor showing for the SLA. No additional comments have been received from official sources.

Now for the PLO view…

It was a great day for the PLO. Two columns of the SLA attempted to enter the village looking for arms and supplies. One column was to approach the village, clear a roadblock and support the second column approaching the village’s stores and warehouses.

Trouble started early as the right column moved faster than expected and their M-113 was quickly engaged in a firefight from one of the warehouse buildings. After taking three hits by RPGs the M113 retired to check on the damage to the APC.

This left the four squads to secure the warehouse complex. One squad unfortunately had trouble crossing the road and was brought under fire by a PLO LMG team firing from the roof. A squad was able to take one building but was forced to pull back after the M113 and a third squad pulled back. A fourth squad did reach their objective, but was unable to contact the left column. They also pulled back with the other three squads.

The left column was unable to remove the roadblock as they were under fire. Once they secured the PLO position they received orders to pull back to the start line.

(The PLO leader at this position has a different stand on this as he was holding off a superior force and he only left once his position was untenable. He escaped with his own life and his RPG team and the truck. It was our only truck.)

While causalities were similar, 7 PLO for 8 SLA, the fact that the PLO held the field allowed them to recover arms from the causalities and check on their wounded.

 Right column bring the warehouse under fire with the M-113.

Left column under fire while approaching the roadblock.

 SLA pulling from one of the warehouse buildings.

 LMG team bring the SLA squad under fire.

 The PLO commander at the roadblock returning the truck.

M-125 Mortar Carrier

With the completion of the M-125 mortar carrier, I have now completed more figures in the different categories than I have bought this year. Mean the lead pile is getting a little smaller.

Waiting on the blank cards to finish out the deck for my SLA game. Right now the led M113 bumped into the Lebanese militia holding up in one of the buildings along the road. So much for the battle plan.

Platoon Forward - Lebanon Style

In getting ready for my first Platoons Forward campaign I used the rules and modified them slightly to fit a Lebanese militia faction. From my rolls I think we come from a religious organization.

The road looking towards the village.

My concern is that in the past my PLO can win a game but normally there are few troops left standing.

As we are guarding the southern approaches to the town we have acquired an old truck that will enable us to move half of the unit at a time.

Platoon Commander (Avg Die)

• Pragmatic
• Religion
• Even

Second in Command (D4)

• Egotistical
• Religion
• Even
• Military Family

o   +1 Officers

o   +2 Major and above

Headquaters

An RPG Team of two men and a radioman

Support

LMG Team of three

Squad #1

4 AKs

1 RPG-7

The Bigman's Headquarters (Looks a lot like a warehouse out of Clear and Present Danger.

Squad #2

4 AKs

1 RPG-7

Squad #3

4 AKs

1 RPG-7

 

 Showing both sides of the road.

 

Squad #4

4 AKs

1 RPG-7

Roadblock on one of the two roads.

Number of squads was determined by an averaging die as the PLO and militias really did not follow any formal TOE/OB.

Next up the aggressor.

It is Finally Done

With the last of the olive (or were they lemon) trees my quiet village is now complete. We do have some concern about certain (bombed out) areas. We even have a flock of sheep coming into the older part of the village. As it has expanded, we look forward to the radio tower for our new station.

 The village on a 4 by 6 table. White boards was to experiment with a Photoshop effect.

 A view of the town and the market.

 An over view of the orchard.
The warehouse is in the center of the picture.

 My favorite part, the older section of the village.

We found our Driver

I am very happy, Cold Wars is past and I had two really good games. One of which I will be running again at Historicon in July.

But the main reason why I am very pleased with myself is that I have caught up on my painting. Everything I ordered or bought at Cold Wars is finished and table ready.  I even was able to catch up on some of the excess figures I had such as drivers (as reported in the header).

Not to worry, I still have plenty of miniatures to paint. I have the last of my Raviv Egyptians and sixteen Peter Pig Harden Militia Female Fighters. I plan on basing them on Gaddafi’s female guard, doing them in a dark blue. Great for Junta.

Studying (and gaming) History through the News

The events going on in the Middle East today are on par with the opening up on Eastern Europe in 1989.

As a gamer, I have always been interested in the conflicts in the desert going back to the first time I saw Lawrence of Arabia. Today my bookshelves are full of books on this part of the world. These include the Egyptians crossing the canal in 1973 to the Ottomans trying to cross into Egypt in 1915.

While I have no interest in gaming the event happening right now, this does not mean I will not look at events that happened in the past in these countries.

In 15mm (my prefered scale) we can easily do the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. Any of the WWI rules will work nicely including TOOFATLardies “Through the Mud and the Blood” and “I Ain't Been Shot Mum”. Figures can be obtained through QRF, Miniature Figurines and Eureka.

Also in 15mm there is the possibility of gaming the (North) Yemen Civil War. This conflict can be gamed using most Cold War rules set. As the conflict occurred between 1962 and 70 figures and tanks are easy to come by.

I left out the more well know conflicts, World War I and II, 1948 Israeli War of Independence, 1956 Sinai, 1967 Six Day War, 1970 Black September, 1973 Yom Kippur War, and 1982 Peace in Galilee. It is a rough neighborhood.

I hope we are all following the news and reading about the history of this fascinating region.  I look forward to any thoughts you wish to share.

 I do love Zeppelins.

Egyptian Vehicles 1968 to 2011

The War of Attrition ended over forty years ago. The Crossing of the Canal occurred four years latter. It is surprising that much of the equipment still exists in the Egyptian inventory. While most is in reserve or storage I would think they have more value as scrap.

Some of the logistic goes back to the very early days of the Cold War. I am sure there are even a few UAZ-469s lying around there somewhere.

Here is a partial list of what I found.

T-62

T-54/55

BMP-1

OT-62 TOPAS

BRDM-2

TPP Tracked Pontoon Bridge

PMP Heavy Folding Pontoon Bridging Systems

TMM-3 Motorized Bridge Layer

KMM Motorized Bridge Layer

ZIL-157 6X6

ZIL-131 6X6

GAZ-66

Any additions or comments are welcome.

"Now if we could only find the driver."
One of my UAZ-469 from Peter Pig. Figures from QRF.

Painting Service

I have found that I had to many Syrians and PLO figures to paint, so after researching all of the painting services out there I decided to try Blue Moose Arts and Evil Bobs Miniature Painting. (I think I picked the two extremes based on their corporate naming conventions.)

Both would not be able to get to my figures for awhile but I was impressed by their professionalism in explaining their services. So much so that I was willing to put their links on my blog.

I will post their results once they are received.

The Charioteer Rule

This is a special IABSM rule for the use of armor by the PLO and the Lebanese militias. It is named for the Charioteer tank/tank destroyer used by the PLO, Lebanese Arab Army and the Tigers Militia. It is equally applicable to T34/85s and T54/55s used by these forces. This is to take into effect the lack of training and maintenance.

If the player wishes to use the tank, it requires a ”big man” activation. A single die is thrown.

• On a 1-4 there is no effect. The tank can neither move nor fire. It is just a target.
• On a 5 the tank can only fire its weapons.
• On a 6 the tank can activate as below.

If a tank rolls a 6, than it can move or fire using a single die. That is a single die for movement or the correct number of dice for firing, but not both in a single turn. To keep moving, or firing the big man will need to stay with the tank. This rule does not affect Technicals.

Cold Wars AAR

For me this was one of my better Cold Wars HMGS Conventions.  I ran two games; played in a third and watch a few interesting games as well.  Attendance seemed to be down but that did not deter anyone from having fun. 

Mark Kinsey and myself ran two games dealing with Lebanon 1982 and Dr Mercury had two 28mm games covering the conflict as well. All in all the Vista Room in Lancaster was a little bit of Lebanon (in the Middle East that is).

On the Purchase front I picked up a pack of Modern Havoc 15mm Insurgents to add to my PLO.  These twenty additional figures are armed with AK47s and RPGs and will add a lot of additional figure poses for the table. Unfortunately I had to increase my figure count by the same twenty. Oh bother. Also picked up trees for the village. This was not a big purchase show for me.

Now on to the battles and After Action Report

The first fight was “Lebanon 1982 - Fight at Ishiya” This is a village in the Bekaa were the IDF is looking to move north as fast as possible while destroying as my of the PLO infrastructure as possible.

The Battlefield - Image from Doctor Merkury

Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. The IDF had a platoon of infantry with Magach support.  While they had two perfectly good roads to use, they set up on the table edge and started to move through the rough terrain. Now as a game master I should have place the figures on the road and said you start here. My fault.

The IDF started by approaching a cluster of houses and found a PLO arms cache, but also civilians, militia and a news crew. Now after failing to spot the news crew (even though I had figures on the table) they proceeded to use the machine guns and Magach tanks on the people and buildings getting a clean kill on the entire news crew.

Things could not get worse for the IDF, well they could and did. For over three turns they continued to pummel the buildings. It took an order from over the radio to get them moving, ever so slowly. In desperation (on the game master’s part) I said something like, “I paid a lot for that latex road and you guys need to use it.

Once they got on the road they moved towards a market building and encountered a second PLO team with a machine gun. This slowed up the column again and the reinforcements. The IDF received a jeep platoon.

At this time the Syrians appeared on blinds (we were using a Lardies rules). It was funny that the IDF was not concerned about the new column approaching the village center. The Syrians had two platoons of T55s and a platoon of BTR60s.

It was only when the command tank was hit by an RPG and received engine damage that the IDF realize they were in trouble. The command tank earlier lost their commander. The Syrian Infantry and lead platoon of T55s fired on the tank and the crew bailed to a building. More on that latter.

The rest of the IDF column made a run for the edge and it looked like they were going to make it, until the PLO moved their one heavy asset, a Charioteer, to stop them. There is something humorous in having a 1950s tank (or tank destroyer) frightening off the IDF. Only by luck was the PLO tank unable to get the last M113 in the column. (In the future I need to write up some PLO specific tank rules. Should make for interesting and comical battles.)

Back to the tank crew. They were holding up in a building being shot at by a platoon on Syrian and a defiant group of PLO. There situation did not look good, so the jeep platoon went in to recover them. Luck was still with the Syrians as they were able to get into a firing position and disabled the jeeps and captured their crews and the crew of the tank.

This game was a PLO and Syrian victory. I think the IDF commander was lucky to have been an early causality, if not Ariel Sharon would not have been happy with the results.

The second battle was “Clearing the Orange Grove”, an infantry fight based on a scene in Waltz with Bashir. This was to have the IDF moving through an agricultural area on the coast road.

This operation was smaller with only a platoon of infantry. Each player had control of a M-113 with three fire teams. 

This operation followed doctrine with the infantry working with the APC. This time the PLO came off for the worse. Their teams put up a good fight, but the combined firepower of the IDF contained any PLO threat.

This is a game I will want to bring back to a convention.

I want to thank all of the players and Mark for taking part in the two games. I hope to use Mark’s Orange Grove (that he forgot) in the future game.

Please look at Daddy’s Little Men and Doctor Merkury’s Lab for more (and better pictures) running a game does not allow time for taking pictures.

It keeps growing...

Right now I have two big terrain projects going. One is known, a "Lebanese Village", that will allow Mark and myself to run games at either house. His set up is more urban while mine is more like the Bekaa Valley (oh the spellings - have to do a blog post on that one). In theory it allows our friends to chose their battlefield. That is the theory at least.

The other project is Green Island (Operation Bulmus 6 - That is another needed blog post on the numbering of the IDF operations. Could be interesting.) This island in the Gulf of Suez was the scene of a drag out fight during the War of Attrition that was only halted by the indiscriminate use of Egyptian artillery on their own position. (I guess the Egyptian never thought their troops could hold out.)

Today I received a couple of the machine guns I will need for the position. It should be fun and I hope to get it ready for Historicon, just don't ask me which year.

 The only aerial photograph I could find of the island.

The Growing Village

It has been to long since my last post with most of my time being spent on getting ready for Cold Wars and getting my Lebanese village in order.

As you can see from my 2011 Projects list I have been busy with doing up buildings and figures. Currently on my bench is a “Straight Flush” Radar system to be used in Lebanon and the War of Attrition. After that I have five buildings to finish up and than I can get back to writing and gaming.

I hope to see you at Cold Wars in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Mark and I are running two games on Saturday.

Below are the recent images of the village. The five buildings primed black are waiting to be finished.

The Village Market Place. This was the most fun to work on. To the left will be the Lemon/Olive Orchard.

Latest Additions to the Eqyptian and IDF Forces

This past week has been very productive on the painting font. Unfortunately less so on the blogging side of life.

I was able to finish up my Israelis for Operation Raviv. These troops are a mixture of Peter Pig Range 17 armed with AK47s and QRF’s Israeli Command armed with Uzis.

They are done by the flowing steps.

• Prime Black
• Base dry brush of Yellow Olive (892) or Olive Grey (888)
• Dry Brush Medium Grey (987)
• I than did the kit and weapons in various shades.

Egyptian Infantry also made an appearance. These troops will be used for the War of Attrition. I will show the base troops in caps and the mechanized infantry in Soviet style helmets.

They are done by the flowing steps.

• Prime Black
• Base Dry Brush of Pale Sand (837)
• Wash of Citadel Devlan Mud
• Skin Medium Flesh tone (860)
• Kit is done in Formula P3 Gun Corps Brown.

 

I look forward to getting them on the table and into battle.

Egyptian Troops and ISU-152s

I have been asked when will my Egyptians be ready. They are on the bench right behind the Raviv IDF troops. Hope to get these IDF troops done by early next week.

The Egyptian will be a mix of Quality Castings and Peter Pig (Harden Militia).

To show that the Egyptian forces are moving forward (not a great term to use today) I have included images of my ISU-152 ready for the War of Attrition and the October War.

Egypt

For the last week the name of Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Soliman has been coming up as a possible candidate for the Egyptian Presidence. As it is almost 8 o'clock in the evening in Cairo and President Mubarik has not addressed his people one wonders who will be the head of the government in the morning. Field Marshall Tantawi, veterian of the 1973 Yom Kippur War as well as the1991 Gulf War or the current Vice President Omar Suleman Chief of Egyptian General Intelligence Service and also a veteran of the 1973 conflict.

Field Marshall Tantawi is well known by the US military and may be the Egyptian Army's candidate. This is a man that the world may be hearing more about.

South of Sidon by Macaulay Connor

7 June 1982

South of Sidon

by Macaulay Connor

Today this reporter came upon the results of a recent and bloody Israeli sweep south on Sidon. At least three IDF soldiers were killed in an ambush.

On this the second day of the Israeli Operation Peace for Galilee Israeli infantry were sweeping north through an orange grove near this unnamed market town. While there were reports of Fatah militia in the area, numbers were unknown.

Two roads bordered the grove and heads north towards the market. The IDF appears to have been following these parallel roads when an ambush occurred causing the loss of three soldiers who were on an M113.

While we cannot approach the village at this time I can say we can hear heavy weapons coming from the village itself.

While the IDF is limiting their comments on this engagement, this reported was able to find out from resident that Fatah did take some losses.

After Action Report

It has been to long since Mark and I play IABSM and it showed. We missed adding in a few of the IDF cards and took a couple of actions before we got back our sea legs.

Unfortunately this effected Mark’s IDF more than me. He ended up get a M113 to far in front of the column and was hit by RPG7s. Between this and AK47 fire the M113 came out the worse for ware.

Once Mark was able to get his two infantry sections on the table he was able to clean out the militias with limited loses. His superior Big Men allowed the IDF to move faster than my running Fatah troops.

The game came to an end when the IDF was able to get to the village and than faced a HMG. Over all I (as the PLO player) feel that the PLO won as we destroyed (ok immobilized) an M113 and killed 4 IDF soldiers, three of which were in the M113. The PLO lost only 12 men (out of 18 active men).

This was fun and I look forward to have a go with my new village. Mark and I both have the ability to have villages set up at our respective houses, which will make gaming easier. 

TOOFATLardies - Scenario Competition

Every dedicated gamer also appears to be a rules designer want-to-be. I add myself to this as I have designed many scenarios, house rules, and stand alone rules with varying degrees of success. This has not kept me from continuing as I have many projects underway. Most of these will deal with the conflict in the Middle East.

I was very please to see this posting from Richard Clarke over at TOOFATLardies about a scenario competition that I hope many of you will take part. This is a nice little nudge to get gamers to put their ideas into print and share them with players across the world.

Good Luck

Jon

The TooFatLardies scenario competition is to run from now until the end of March at which point it will be judged by a panel of wargaming glitterati (i.e. not me!). My plan is to produce a free download from this that can provide some fun games for new and old Lardies alike. Any rule set can be covered (indeed in an ideal world I'd like to see ALL of our rule sets covered). I am very happy to announce that the prize for the best scenario will be a years subscription to Battlegames and anyone who gets their scenario published will get a mystery prize as well (it's a mystery because I haven't yet thought about what it will be, but suffice to say that I am not known for parsimony when it comes to prizes).

All submissions should be in the usual Lard format, as follows:

1. A paragraph or two of scene-setting background detail.
2. Briefings and forces for both sides
3. A map of the table (any format you like, I will redraw this for publication).
4. A set of umpires notes with info about the terrain, starting positions, victory conditions and anything else we need to know.

Ideally this will be in a Word document as I need to circulate the entries to the panel of judges.

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Toofatlardies/
 

100th Post

With this being my 100^th posting I would like thank you all for visiting my blog. I have had over 13,000 page views from 72 different countries. This is better than I could have ever hoped for.

I would like to thank my friends like Mark Kinsey for his support. He has helped me to acquire new buildings, terrain and miniatures in a new scale. Something I said I was not going to do. Thank you Mark.

I want to also thank Richard Clarke and Chris Stoesen over at the TOOFALardies for their input on the rules and the period.

So as the year continues I look forward to doing more with Lebanon 1982, and The War of Attrition. Operation Raviv and Green Island are both coming along nicely and I look forward to playing them and reporting back to you about the results.

Once again thank you all.

Jon

ZPU-4s

Well we are now into February and that means to me Cold Wars is around the corner. This week Mark and I will put the finishing touches on our two games. By the end of the weekend I hope to be able to add to my Syrians with two new platoons, one of T55s and a second with T62s.

My Arab forces have also added to their air defenses with two ZPU-4s. Why do I need two? I don’t know, I think I forgot and than ordered the second.  There is a big difference between the QRF and Peter Pig anti-aircraft guns. While I consider the Peter Pig weapon a miniature, the gun from QRF was a real model with more pieces that I knew what to do with. I even end up with a spare piece that I think was the towing bar. I am not sure with is the correct scale as the Peter Pig Figure is smaller if I do need a third I will problem go with the Peter Pig miniature, it was easy to put together.

Now were are Marks A-4s :)

ZPU-4 from Peter Pig near the mosque.

ZPU-4 from QRF.