Getting Serious

I apologies to the readers of my blog as I am going to get serious on you all. This blog started as a gaming venue so I could work towards getting my ideas ready for publication. This area of the world always interested me. So much so that I am a recent (although very bad) student of Hebrew.

While I did not get over the eastern Mediterranean until after the USMC debacle, I understood the passions that are involved in this area of the world.

As a student in high school I wrote a journalism piece dealing with the assassination of President Sadat. I remember it well as I had a though time reading it aloud. I would never of guessed that his successor would be in power almost 30 years latter. It should give every American pause as not only is Egypt one of America’s largest benefactor of aid under the Camp David Accords, but we support its defense through offering our M1 Abrahams tanks. Egypt is second only to the US Army in the number of M1s in inventory.

These wars of my youth, Lebanon, Yemen, the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War are all still with us. Some of the players have changed, but only the names. This year Lebanon’s government, never very stable falls and is held together by Hezbollah, Tunisia the home of the PLO after they left Beirut has overthrown their President of many years. Yemen is fractured with Saleh being President of one part of Yemen since 1978.

Remember back to the late 70s and think what you were up to. Did you think things would always stay the same? Try to watch the news coming out of the Middle East and ask can anyone make a difference?

 American made M60s and M113s in Egypt during the demonstrations.

The Village Grows...and Grows Some More

So when does a village become a town. My village grew a little bit more today with the addition of three buildings and two terrain pieces. These came from Peter Pig in England along with the rest of the Israelis with AK47s for Raviv.

These new acquisition gives the village a new residence, a work shop and a small dwelling that could be either.

An overview of the village. Militia and the Charioteer show the scale of the village.

A new block in the village. I need to ensure that the road does not repeat itself. :)

My newest painted building with a news crew doing some filming new to two civilians.

The Egyptian Army 1969

Today the Egyptian Army got a boost in the form of an order received from Peter Pig. These Range 17 Harden Militia figures will form the back bone of the Egyptian Army for Operation Raviv. The down side is I still have to paint them. Oh bother.
 

Machine Guns for Green Island. Image from Peter Pig website.

The Village Grows

It has been a bad couple of days here in Lebanon 1982 land. An order of tanks from QRF came in as well as road and a few buildings from JR Miniatures. (Why does JR Miniatures have so many buildings still with line drawings and no photographs?)

So this puts me further behind as I wait on a paint order. Image below is of my town that is starting to take shape, even though it is unpainted. Click to get a better view.

I know I need more road at a minimum but I will wait once I receive the rest of my buildings. And there is always the sale at the Miniature Building Authority.

Lebanese Soldiers Patrol Downtown in Beirut

While this is a small image, these are modern (Cold War era) weapons usable for both a conflict in Beirut in 1982 or today in 2011. The M113 and the jeep just keep going and going.

Is anyone out there doing current battles in the Middle East that does not include Afghanistan and Iraq? Yes I know Afghanistan is not technically part of the Middle East.

The Miniature Building Authority is having a Sale

From TMP.

It was a good year. We just conducted our annual inventory, and we have too many products in several areas. So, we are passing some savings on to you. Some items are up to 50% off.

Link to the Miniature Building Authority sale page.

Many of these buildings have been seen on both my blog and Mark's Daddys Little Men

Images of the New Arrivials

Below are images from my workbench of the recently arrived IDF and Egyptians.

These are the IDF troops for Raviv. Troops with AK47s are Peter Pig, those with Uzis are from QRF. There will be a total of 60 soldiers in the IDF force.

The static and radar troops will be using QRF Egyptians in the ball cap. Also very useful as Cubans. Line troops will ne from QRF and Peter Pig.

Will not very useful for Operation Raviv, the ISU-152 can be used on the Suez line for both the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War. The T-10M was often reported in Egyptian service but never left Mother Russia. I like the tank to much not to find a use for it.

Ratings for Troops for Operation Raviv

These are the factors for the Egyptian and IDF forces as per TOOFATLardies Charlie Don’t Surf.

Troops/Dice		0	1	2	3	4
IDF		1	2	3	4,5	6+
Egyptian Radar Troops		1,2,3,4	5,6	7+
Egyptian Static Infantry		1,2,3	4	5,6,7+
Egyptian Assault Infantry		1,2,3	4,5	6,7	8+

Egyptian Radar Troops and Static Infantry count as Obsolete Rifle Squads.

From page 32 of Charlie Don’t Surf revised.

The Obsolete Rifle Squad: This unit would have been completely up to date in the Korean War, but is now looking somewhat behind the times for the War of Attrition. Armed largely with semi-automatic weapons and inferior automatic weapons, these units simply cannot throw out the volume of firepower that the Assault Rifle Squad can. The Obsolete Rifle Squad loses one Action Dice when firing. So, for example, one of these squads using three Action Dice for firing will roll just 2D6 on the Fire Table.

Ratings for the Big Men

IDF

The Commander (Lieutenant Colonel Baruch "Pinko" Harel) and the second –in-command (Major Shlomo Baum) statistics will be scenario specific.

Role	Dice	Level
Platoon Commander	1	2
	2-5	3
	6	4
Platoon NCO	1	1
	2-5	2
	6	3

Egyptian Forces

To paraphrase Charlie Don’t Surf page 92.

Egyptian Big Men can be rated according to the wishes of the scenario designer, or may be diced for on the following table. Add +1 for a Egyptian Assault Infantry; subtract -1 for a Static or Radar Troops.

Role	Dice	Level
Company Commander	0-2	2
	3-4	3
	5-7	4
Platoon Commander	0-2	1
	3-5	2
	6-7	3

Latest Additions to the Eqyptian Forces

As you can see from my project list a new order came in from Scale Creep. Most the equipment is for the Egyptians radar stations for Operation Raviv.

Also included were an SA-6 and a ZPU-4. Should act as some insurance from the IDF/AF.

My favorite additions are a T-10M and an ISU-152. These are two of my favorite tanks/assault guns of all time. One is a plausible addition to the Egyptian forces and the second will be part of the defenses on the Suez.

I will be painting the T-10M in a single color of desert tan similar to the IS-2. I am not sure how I will paint the ISU-152. While I have seen images, like the one below, in three colors, I have not decided between three color pattern or a single color like the IS-2.

Currently I am getting into a hole with more figures received than painted. Hope to correct this latter this month.

January Sale Starts Now! - TOOFATLardies

January seems to be a month for sales. Here is one from TOOFATLardies.

This came straight from Richard.

Right chaps, great news. For the next ten days we are running our official "How the Hell am I going to pay for this ECW Army I won on EBay" January Sale. A MONSTER £1.50 off everything in the Lardy catalogue which on some products is a whopping 38% discount. This sale runs from now until Sunday the 23rd of January, so fill your boots.

FYI I do not post any specials for payment. These just come from companies that I purchase from and want others to know about.

QRF Sale

From the QRF Website.
I thought this would be of interest as much of my kit for Lebanon 1982 comes from QRF.

QRF JANUARY SALE

9th to 21st January 2011

Between those dates our online system will give you an automatic 10% discount on any metal orders (not flags, decals, books, etc) placed through the website. Please note that a discount does not show up as a separate deduction, but that prices have been reduced accordingly.

As usual, we will turn off the platoon pack discount structure during the period as we can't go giving you discounts on discounts, but you will get a full 10% off your whole order, not just a discount on those qualifying items.

Why do we Blog?

At a recent business meeting, the question came up, “Why is it important to blog?” What made this discussion funny, and sad was it was a major company involved in the hotel and hospitality business talking to a social media company about marketing services.

After I wiped my smirk off of my face I rattled off close to a dozen different reasons why it is important for a business to blog and their corresponding types of blogs out there.

Now if you are reading this here you must be either is interested in blogs about miniatures, history and gaming or your search engine took a really bad turn. If you are in the latter this may be of interest. If you are in the former category this will be of interest (I hope).

Topic Blogs.
Lebanon 1982 is a topic blog. I let the readers know in the introduction what it is and what it is not. Many of us have topical blogs that are showing off our gaming clubs and our over burdened work and painting benches. I also head down avenues

Sales and Sales Support Blogs.

These are the blogs that every business needs for customer support. The only thing that changes from business to business is what they are trying to do. A miniature company can show off new releases months before they are ready for release. Companies that primarily design rules and offer examples and support for their products.

Clubs

Clubs needs a blog were members are able to collaborate (called a Collaborative blog) to show off their club games, conventions and projects. If the club members support the blog, it is an excellent tool for adding to the membership.

Blogs also allow small groups to tap into the interests of our international community of gamers. If you do not have a blog remember to help support your friends with blogs.

Hope this was of interest.

Egyptians for Operation Raviv

As we are gearing up for Operation Raviv, and waiting on more IDF infantry with AK47s and Uzis, I thought I would tackle the Egyptian side of the equation.

Egypt has two fortified areas and two radar installations in the zone of operations. Both of the fortified areas will have an armored element of an unknown size. The radar sites are reported as being lightly guarded. I am currently waiting on a book that may answer some of these questions.

For the AFVs I will be using the following stats from Charlie Don’t Surf.

Vehicle		Armour Class	Weapon	Strike	Speed
T55		10	100mm	11	Fast
BTR50		3	MG	MG	Fast/Amphib
BTR40		2	MG	MG	Wheeled
BTR152		2	MG	MG	Wheeled
T34/85		8	85mm	10	Fast
PT76		3	76mm	8	Fast/Amphib
SU100		8	100mm	11	Fast

As Mark and I already have these vehicles, all we need to wait on for the Egyptians are the radar stations, some terrain and the infantry to form up.

Recycling an Item

I had to renew my subscription to Wargames Illustrated and every year I look to see what they offer as an incentive. Recently they were offering some really nice looking tanks and assault guns for World War II from Flames of War. As none of them would convert over to the Middle East (can you imagine a King Tiger in the desert) I went with the American Fire Direction Center. It looked like a nice enough tent set up but I was surprised at the quality of the castings. I see this as a base camp for either side in Lebanon 1982 or the War of Attrition. Possibly to be used as part of an Egyptian camp looking to be raided by the IDF.

What other items have you been able to recycle for the gaming table?

Image from the Flames of War Website.

Winter of Our Discontent

It is snowing outside, I am waiting on figures and buildings, it is to cold to prime figures to paint outside, and I am waiting on paint to start the only three tanks I have primed. Winter does not seem to be a happy time for this gamer.

Next summer I will have to build a painting booth so I can prime all year long.

Is this common for the rest of the gamers out there?

Politics of War and Air Operations

In Shlomo Aloni’s book Israeli A-4 Skyhawk Units in Combat I read two interesting points about the air campaign over Lebanon in 1982. The first is just the numbers of A-4s that were available for Close Air Support (CAS) missions once the SAM batteries were suppressed. The aircraft often ended up flying a racetrack route waiting to be called. Units with an FAO will be able to call in a lot of airpower, within the rules of engagement. I am sure this will make many IDF players happy playing that side. An A-4 can bring a lot of ordinance. I can see there will be an offset in victory conditions to balance that out.

The second item was the impact of the War Cabinet on Operation Peace in Galilee in general and the air campaign in particular. I knew that in 1981 (pre Peace in Galilee) two Mi-8s were shot down by an order given by the cabinet. They made the decision and than afterwards tried to reopen debated. The IDF/AF Officer had to inform the cabinet that the order was already carried out and the two helicopters were shot down. This was all done in less than a half an hour.

What this book pointed out to me was that the ground and air operations were started and stopped as the War Cabinet debated Mole Cricket 19, the SEAD mission against the 19 known Syrian SAM batteries. This was going to expand the war even though the IDF and Syrian forces were already shooting at each other.  This would be an interesting addition to any campaign or scenario design. In a campaign game, as the IDF player is marshalling his or her forces, they will need War Cabinet approval to move forward while also racing against the clock to complete the campaign before a United Nations ceasefire is imposed. All makes for an interesting game.

Operation Raviv IDF Troops

There is no official history for the IDF forces used in this operation. I came to this knowing I would have to be flexible.  Each BTR-50 would carry twenty men, so we start with a force of sixty men.

I assumed that Lieutenant Colonel Baruch "Pinko" Harel will be in one of the tanks and Major Shlomo Baum will be in one of the BTR-50s. The command staff will be broken across the three BTR-50.

Also there needs to be engineers attached as well. This will be an additional six troops.

So I end up with the following:

Company HQ
Major Shlomo Baum, radioman, four troops

Engineer Section

Captain and five engineers

Six Infantry Sections

Lieutenant and seven troops (one armed with a M20 "Super Bazooka")

If anyone has a more official source, please contact me. I think this is a great starting point for Charlie Don't Surf.

Now back to basing the IDF troops with their Uzis.

A Growing Village

I have looked at the buildings from GameCraft Miniatures and they have always peaked my interest, I just wish I could see them in person. Over the weekend I saw on their site that they have released a minaret that looks interesting (if not a little big for my village mosque). There downtown buildings also look like they would be a good addition to my village that is under construction. I hope they will work well with the JR Miniatures I have ordered. My village looks like it will be growing fast, or at least as fast as I can paint them up.

 

2011 - Looking Forward

It is hard to believe that 2010 went so fast. For me it has been great. I started a blog (been wanting to do that for awhile), got back into 15mm figures (thank you Mark), and several new periods.

Lebanon will be an on going project for 2011 as will the War of Attrition. The figures for Operation Raviv are coming along nicely as is the idea of building Green Island for doing the raid (Thank you Mark)

I have even started a check list to show my progress painting. A positive number shows I am getting down the stacks of figures, and a negative number means I bought some more. Not sure how to handle selling figures or the figure I ordered last year from QRF.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you at the conventions and online.