Black September: The invasion of Jordan 1970

This week at the Wollongong Wargamers, Daniel devised a very different scenario for our Clash of Steel game: Arab-Israeli Wars sans Israelis. The Jordanians were the goodies for once, invaded by Palestinians and Syrians: 

Details of the ground were sparse so we set out some generic Mid East terrain, allowing for as much cover as possible:

The randomly drawn mission was Frontal Attack, so, playing across the table rather than up and down it, our carefully placed cover was rendered largely irrelevant. It would be a fast and bloody game! 

The mission rules card required us to place 40% of our forces in Immediate Reserve and each deploy a unit in ambush. 

Easy for the Jordanians with their British style 3 tank Troops! For my Syrians with Soviet style company hordes, it meant I had to put an entire company of T34-85s into reserve. With another in Ambush, I only had one company of T54s to deploy!

Daniel rolled to be the attacker and also got the first move. We both rolled poorly for reserves in turn one.

With my lone on table company I deployed opposite Objective 1, which had a reasonable amount of cover around it:

I also soon realised that playing along the length of the table, with ambushes only deployable in one's own deployment zone, it was better to spring it soon. Daniel had seized Objective 2, which was out in the open. Easy prey for my 10 T-54s (represented by model T-62s):

Then Daniel rolled well both for reserves and their deployment, getting the drop on the flank of my T-54s near Objective 1! 

Fortunately he had used up all his good rolls and the only outcome was a bailed T-54!

I was now in a quandary around Objective 2 - go in and seize it or sit back and get better shots at the tempting Centurion side armour? I played it safe and stayed in cover and took the shots, rolling a seriously un Sparker like crap load of 6s!

At this point things were going well for my Syrians - we were racking up the VPs for Objective 1 and a good few for wiping out entire troops of Cents...only because it was now my turn to roll fortuitously for placement of reserves right on the Jordanian flank!

I was still loath to breakout from the cover of the rocks to close on Objective 2, particularly as Daniel had a troop of hungry Cents neatly positioned to take any such advance in the flank:

So I remained satisfied to let the game time out as a long range gunnery duel, where my superior numbers inevitably told!

Although that sounds boring, it was actually a very exciting game with the habitual amount of Clash of Steel thrills and spills! Thanks to Daniel for a novel scenario which I'd like to revisit before too long!

Operation UNTHINKABLE 1948

This week at the Wollongong Wargamers, Daniel, Scott and I played Clash of Steel, based on the first release: Operation Unthinkable, set in 1948.

I love these rules and period. Not only do they provide a dynamic, tactically rich yet fun game, they also allow you to field a great variety of fascinating tanks which are probably too late of WW2 and obsolescent on the Team Yankee timeline.

I got in early and set up a fairly random table aiming for a rural Polish farmland feel:

The random mission drawn was The Clash. (good name for a band). Not wanting to be too bothered with sums, and having a nice big table to play on, we narrowed the Mission Rules card selection down to the ones with no reserves. Our card simply stipulated the game would last 6 turns.

I rolled high to be the Attacker. Alternating deployment, with both sides having Spearhead units, resulted in this fairly wide and open deployment:

I was pleased with how it panned out - spearheading T-34-85s had enabled a secure gunline of SU-100s in a central, covered position, and the Brits had left Objective 2 wide open. Rude not to take advantage!

But I also sped off towards the other flank Objective 1:

Mob handed!

The centre objective was left to the T-44s to grab:

I first encountered resistance out on the flank around Objective 2. Futile!

Things were going well on the other flank too!

Success was reinforced!

However in the centre the defence has coalesced and had ripped my T-44 unit apart very quickly!

I had built up quite a lead in victory points but now the British were in the race!

I had nothing left around the centre objective

However, the British shot themselves in the foot by using card play to change one of the objective conditions - the game would now end a turn early! Just as they were starting to catch up the game ended!

Once again Clash of Steel delivered a fast paced and enjoyable game. In fact we had so much fun next week we are going to use these rules in a Fate of a Nation setting!