Purple Line Blues - 15mm Yom Kippur War Battle Report

IDF Centurions rolling towards the front

We ran another 15mm Yom Kippur War game last night. The scenario pitted opposing armoured columns against each other in a meeting-engagement-type battle. We used Dallas' "Red Storm" rules for the game, with the addition of a sort of "Hen & Chicks" rule for the Syrian tankers. I also continued with my house rule that AFVs could not pass any closer than 4" to another active friendly AFV on the table (I hate when the tanks horde up Flames-Of-War style).

The table at Turn 1 - IDF table edge at the bottom, Syrian at the top

The IDF had five Centurion Sho't Kals and a squad of mechanized infantry in an M113.  The Syrians had nine T-62s and a squad of infantry in a BTR-60.The setting was the Golan Heights, early on the second day of the war. The IDF column was a group of reservists sent forward desperately to reinforce the "Purple Line", which the Syrians had in fact broken through during the night.  On the way to the front the IDF encounters a Syrian column that has made it through, and the battle ensued!

Syrian T-62s

IDF Centurion rolls up the lead T-62 platoon

Conscripts Hugh and Byron played the Syrians, while Jim played the IDF with a little help from me.  Each side had to block the other from escaping, while trying to set some of its own stuff off of the table - a tricky balancing act.  The table was 6' x 4', with the sides approaching from opposing short table edges.

Turret flew off following a particularly well-placed shot...

Burning tanks filled the table right from the first turn.  Jim and I felt pretty good about things in the first couple of turns - we lit up the leading Syrian tank platoon with only one Centurion damaged in return.  As the follow-up Syrians came on, we were thinking a couple of turns of efficient gunnery would sort them out.

Syrian infantry deploy - to their doom...

IDF troopers hop off of their M113

We were kind of wrong...Byron in particular started to hot-roll for the Syrian gunners, and our tanks started to see some serious damage, especially the loss of main guns! By the fifth turn, we were down to one fully-functional Sho't - although we had managed to eliminate the Syrian infantry. 

Centurion with damaged main gun tried to make for the far table edge - it would end badly for the tank...

In the sixth turn Byron managed to blow the main gun off our final tank, and that was that! With no meaningful AT firepower left, the IDF had to pull back, leaving a one destroyed and another immobilized Sho't on the battlefield, and three more without their main armament. The Syrians had lost three T-62s, a BTR-60 and a squad of infantry.  That's what it was like in those first couple of days on the Purple Line in October 1973...

This blurry photo captures the fate of the IDF tankers in the game

Syrian T-62 firing line victorious at the end of the game

It was a lot of fun to play Yom Kippur again, and Dallas' rules work very well for the battle.  I should probably tweak the tanks' stats a touch for next time, but "Red Storm" is great for this setting. Thanks to Hugh, Jim and Bryon for coming out.

More Pico Armour Painting

1/600 scale IDF troops ready for action

Some more Pico Armour painting - this time from the Arab-Israeli wars.  Up first is a group of IDF infantry in M3 half-tracks.  Depending on what level of abstraction is going on in the game, these could represent either a couple of platoons of infantry, or if going Spearhead-style (where each base represents a platoon), an entire mechanized infantry battalion.  The two smaller square bases have support half tracks - one an AA track with .50 cal MGs, and the other mounting a 90mm AT gun.

M3 half tracks a-plenty

Magachs ready to roll

Up next is a group of M48 Pattons - known as "Magachs" in IDF service.  As they did so often, the IDF modified these tanks, giving them a bigger gun (105mm, up from 90mm) and changing the commander's cupola, removing the strange little MG turret. These models do not capture those changes - on a 3mm scale tank, I don't worry too much about it, but I have to say the muzzle brakes and camera (or whatever that box thing is) over the main gun give it away - a credit to the amazing sculpting on these little figures.

You can see a couple of the M113 TOWs mixed in with the Magachs here - sorry about the blurry pic

There are a few M113s with TOW launchers mixed in with this group.  The Yom Kippur War was a real coming out party of sorts for ATGM weapons like the Soviet Sagger and the US TOW missiles.  The IDF used these weapons as part of their crushing of the Egyptian offensive toward the passes in the Sinai.

BMP-mounted infantry and support

Company or battalion, depending on the game scale

On the Arab side I have a unit of BMP-1 infantry, with an attached BRDM scout car and a ZSU-23-4 AAA tank.  Again, depending on the game, these could represent either a company or a battalion.  The BMP-1 made its big combat debut in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, but the results were not great.  They equipped a few infantry battalions attached to independent tank brigades in the Egyptian and Syrian armies.

T-62s ready for action in the Sinai

An attached ZSU-23-4 and PT-76, used as a recon tank, provide support

And last but not least a group of Egyptian T-62 tanks, again with a couple of odds and ends for support.  The T-62 also made it's big time combat debut in the middle east during the 1973 war, but they were roughly handled by the IDF.  Still, their heavy main guns and unique ammunition (I believe this tank was a pioneer of sorts for using fin-stabilized rounds in the main guns) were noted.

I've got a lot more Pico Armour painted up, but I ran out of bases, so I am waiting for my next Litko shipment to arrive.  In the meantime, stay tuned for more random projects and painting work.

A Couple More Syrian T-62s

More Syrian T-62s ready to roll out

I continue to fall further and further behind in Curt C's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (it's all I can do to cling to 10th place) but I can at least make some more progress towards my "par" goal.  Here are another two Syrian T-62s.  These castings are from QRF, and bases are from Warbases out of Scotland.

The antennas are cut from floral wire

My Syrian forces now boast 13 T-62s - a healthy company of Soviet-supplied armour and more than enough to fill an average gaming table with flaming tank wrecks. 

There is still more armour to go on the to-do/wish list for my Golan Heights Project (IShermans, PT-76s, more T-55s, etc.) but I am pretty happy with where this collection is at, and I look forward to rolling out another game sometime in the winter.

Another Batch of Syrian T-62s - 15mm

Syrian armour, ready to roll

Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge continues to roll along, and my initial charge from the blocks, fuelled by a lovely holiday vacation, has faded.  But I can still show off some more entries/progress.

These are QRF castings - a pain in the @ss to build, but worth it in the end

After a Samurai and then an initial batch of colonial stuff from Sudan, my entries switched over to more stuff for my Golan Heights Project. Up first are some more Syrian tanks.  Because you can never have enough Syrian tanks!

Ready to tangle with the IDF...just need to watch out for the Syrian air force...

These three T-62s are from QRF miniatures.  As with my other QRF products, these had a lot of problems - lots and lots of flash, lots of tags, flimsy MGs, bent track assemblies, mould lines - on and on.  But even with these problems, the QRF models are much nicer and more realistic-looking than the Command Decision T-62s.

This platoon brings me up to 11 T-62s for the Syrians.  Just a couple more of those, and I think that will be plenty - a full company of tanks!

Syrians In September - More Infantry and T-62s

It has been a few weeks since I have posted any progress on my Golan Heights Project, but I haven't forgotten about it.  Here is some progress to hopefully prove it.  Again, apologies in advance for the pictures - whatever its merits, the iPhone sucks for miniature photography, and the lighting in my house does not help...

Up first are a group of Syrian infantrymen.  These are from Peter Pig's AK47 modern line, and the bases are from 15mm.co.uk.

Peter Pig "regulars" from their AK47 Republic range

Minimally equipped troops, but they will do the job for representing Syrians.

Colour references to Syrian uniforms for 1973 are universally absent, so I just made a best-guess

These troops will be ready to fight for the Golan heights

I added a few special weapon troops as well - two RPG troopers and two RPD MG gunners.

Two RPGs on the left, to RPD MGs on the right

And another pair of T-62s from QRF.  I now have 8 T-62s, almost enough for a company.

Two more T-62s ready to roll...

I was amused to note this thread on TMP, posted in august following my original commentary on these models, in which the proprietor of QRF miniatures manages to position each flaw (and there are many of them) with the QRF castings as somehow important to doing a proper model.

The back ends of the T-62s from QRF are a cloud of flash and mold lines....very poor quality on these castings. 

Not sure why Peter Pig, Battlefront and others can manage to a proper, in scale MG that isn't cast with the quality of a limp spaghetti noodle, but QRF can't.  But again, the QRF T-62s are really the only game in town for this particular MBT, and the flaws are annoying more than critical.

Up next are some infantry and APCs for the IDF.  Stay tuned!

Pico-Sized Deviation - 1/600 Scale Tanks

A Centurion Sho't and a T-62 from Pico Armor beside a Canadian penny.

While waiting for the latest round of stuff for my Golan Heights Project to dry etc. I had some fun today painting up some pint sized tanks - 3mm/1-600 scale tanks from Oddzial Osmy. These are available through the excellent folks at Pico Armor.  The quality of these sculpts - particularly considering the insanely small scale - is incredible.   Often derided by the pointy-headed TMP denizens with lines like "oh, I guess you would need counters for the infantry, or to even see what it is hah hah", the amount of detail that Oddzial Osmy manages to cram on these tiny models speaks to incredible sculpting talent.

QRF T-62s "drying" and waiting until the arms build up on the Golan Heights Project can resume

I have some modern Canadians and Russians in this scale, based in groups on bases.  What is so neat about this scale is that it offers the nutty gamer (like me) the chance to try and show "what it really looks like" on the table - a small table.  My T-72 battalion - it really is (well, it is very close) a battalion of tanks - 33 of them, spread across on the same number of bases I would use to represent a battalion in Spearhead with 6mm/1-285 models in Spearhead.  With the 3mm scale you can game high level divisional breakthroughs, and simulate games where the units cover a lot of territory (or at least try to).  It's fun.

Centurion Sho'ts - the round base is meant to represent a command tank

And yet.  And yet.  On Curt's Analogue Hobbies post about a 1:1 Civil War unit (check it out here), he mentions the curiosity of wanting to see an entire Civil War regiment lined up.  My hobby mind is tormented the same way about armoured units.  I sort of have that with my Canadians and Russians, but   even with the small scale, they are still crammed on the bases.  So despite the tiny size of the models, the tanks are still all packed together, creating an axle to axle look that I strive to avoid, even as I play games stacked with armour in all sorts of scales - yes, I am the problem.

Inspired by that 1:1 Civil War post from Curt, I wondered what individually based Ozzdial Osmy tanks might look like?  If they were individually based, the tanks could spread out where it made sense, but with the small vehicles, you could have a lot of them on a normal-sized game table.  But what would it look like?

T-62s from Ozzdial Osmy - I attempted to replicate Syrian camouflage on these vehicles

In my research for the Golan Heights Project, I have found the battles of the 1973 Yom Kippur War lend themselves well to this experiment.  They were primarily fought by tank units, and featured LOTS of tanks.  While I certainly will paint a pile of them for 15mm scale (after all, I'm nuts and I love painting tanks), the 3mm/1-600 scale would allow for an average table to fill with tanks and still not look too bad in terms of the axle-to-axle effect.

Pico Armor products are very reasonably priced, so the experiment is one of minimal expense.  I based some tanks on 20mm square 1.5mm-thick wood bases from Litko, using 30mm round bases to represent the tanks of company and battalion commanders.

A T-34/85 on the left, and a Tiger II on the right. 

I did a couple of experimental WW2 tanks as well - a Tiger II (yes LOL) and some T-34 variants.

T-34/85s on the left, King Tiger in the middle, and T-34/76s (1943) on the right, with a Canadian penny to provide some scale

I was happy with the results - this was a fun diversion. These tanks paint up really, really fast. I will add a few more during my next pause, and then at some point I might try and rack up a "Valley of Tears" type game for the guys. And see what I can come up with for basing infantry - not to worry, it won't be 1-to-1...

Syrian Reinforcements - QRF T-62s

15mm scale T-62s from QRF

Continuing with the Syrian build up I have a couple of posts featuring some more vehicles.  Up first, a platoon of three T-62s from QRF.  My first platoon of T-62s were Old Glory models, and I wasn't crazy about them, so I was hoping to see an improvement with QRF.  At the same time, my history with QRF products is mixed, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The QRF T-62 models were a significant improvement on the Old Glory castings.  The turret looks much more accurate.  The treads/wheels look a lot nicer.  The models come with a cupola MG (something that I find really "makes" the look on Soviet MBTs) and an unditching beam (again, another standby for Soviet tanks).  Overall the detail was much stronger on these than on the Old Glory tanks - and much better than the metal turd plops which were allegedly crew for the QRF 100mm AT gun.

These tanks received the standard Syrian treatment (it's getting to be an assembly line now) and are mounted on bases from Litko.  I continue to struggle with the Arabic numerals, but it's close enough for me.

These casting still have a lot of issues - the cupola MGs were very poor, thin castings. There were a number of flaws and flash tags on the treads and road wheels.  The mould lines on the turrets and main gun were particularly marked, and required a lot of work.  None of these issues were critical, but they bug me because you never see a lack of quality like this from the likes of Eureka, Khurasan, Old Crow etc. The contrast between this reality and the love-carpet-bombing QRF receives on TMP really bugs me.

But QRF deserves credit for the wide range of its offerings.  At least they sell at T-62! And it is still markedly nicer than the competition - so watch for more QRF T-62s appearing in this blog in the future.