Vultures over the Desert

This weeks post is showing off some Israeli air support in 1967. The Sud Aviation,Vautour II. The Vautour (French for Vulture) was used primarily as a ground attack aircraft by Israel and was very successful in that roll. During Operation Moked they were used to attack the farthest Egyptian airbases because of their long range. It was also flights of Vautours that nearly destroyed the Jordanian 60th Armored Brigade.
The model kit is an old 1/100th scale kit by Heller. The kit is only around 20 pieces and is very basic, but it is the only 1/100th scale kit of the Vautour available. I put it together quickly and painted it in an Israeli camo, and I really like how it turned out. The local Fine Scale modellers would lament at the gaps and rough painting but I think it looks great for wargaming.

That's a bad spot for the T-55.

And for the ubiquitous Mercedes Saloon.

I like true 1/100th Scale Aircraft instead of 1/144th, especially for the big jet.

With four 30mm Cannons, the Vautour packed a punch.

But being an Israeli pilot was dangerous job with all the flak.

Rules for FOW Six Day War

Here we go everyone!
I have finally gotten the list for Flames of War Six Day War ready for human consumption. I've done all I could do to make the organizations and TO&E's as accurate as possible. However my resources are limited so if you notice anything wrong please let me know, I will update the lists every month as I receive corrections. So I'm relying on you guys to make these lists and rules better than I could do on my own. The points were modified from the new Vietnam FOW books, but some points are from scratch so let me know what you think.

I also want to think the minds over at Natholeons Empires for the inspiration. I had almost ran out of motivation several months ago while working on these lists. Then I ran across the site and the great Yom Kippur lists and battle reports, that really motivated me to finish up the Six Day War lists.

I guess part of the struggle was making the lists look good, since I am a graphic designer. I really wanted the lists to look like Battlefronts, and this gave me a great deal of appreciation for the time they spend on their books. Also just to be clear I am doing this entirely for fun, these lists are completely unofficial.

The first file is certainly a work in progress. It is the general rules for FOW in 1967. I am still working on adding elements that will make games unique to combat in the Middle East.
Click HERE to download the General Rules.

The first is the list for Israeli forces in the Six Day War.
Click HERE to download the Israeli list.

Next is Egyptian forces in 1967.
Click HERE to download the Egyptian list.

Then the last for now is the Jordanian forces.
Click HERE to download the Jordanian lists.

I also am finishing up the Syrian list and one for the PLA in the Gaza Strip but I'm finding it hard to get good information about those forces.

If you have any comments about anything related to the list send me an email at mccoyjd at auburn.edu

Play Testing Israelis vs Egyptians 1967 (FOW)

Over the last month we have been getting in as many games of FOW for the Six Day War as possible. This weekend I finally remembered to bring my camera.

I was running an Israeli Tank Company, with 8 M51 Shermans, a platoon of Pattons, AMX-13's and Air support. I had, up to this point, stayed with the M50 Sherman mounting a 75mm gun similar to the Panther tank, but after watching shot after shot bounce off the front of the Egyptian T-55's I decided to go with the M51. The M51 Sherman carried a 105mm main gun that used fin stabilized HEAT rounds, and could deal with almost anything it encountered. That means it has an AT rating of 17 compared to 14 for the M50 in the game.

My opponent, Rob, took an Egyptian Infantry Battalion with two understrength companies, backed up by six IS-IIIs and a company of ten T-55's. So really it was just infantry in name since he almost had more tanks than infantry stands.

Our mission was breakthrough, with me as the attacker and the lists were 1780 points.
Be warned there was lots of proxies on the  board as I'm still building up the armies.

My M50 Shermans proxied as M51s.

Advancing towards the objectives.

IS-III's defending the town with an Egyptian Infantry company.

 Robert had sporadic air, thus the Stuka in the above picture representing Iraqi MiG-17s, but it could never get through the IAF. Rob's Egyptian infantry were an eclectic mix of Egyptian, German and Russian miniatures.

Avoiding the IS-III's since none of my tanks could kill them from the front.

I double the Shermans and the AMX-13s to stay away from the IS-III's in village. While the 122mm gun on the Stalins could potentially kill my M48's, kept them in the open to engage the infantry, and the IS-III's were horrendous at shooting throughout the game.

Those IS-IIIs sure do look like IS-2's.

A brave platoon of Shermans begins to move around the village.

 With the AMX-13's reaching the far right of the board, I moved one sherman platoon back around the left of the village to make the Stalins choose which enemy to face, leaving one group with side shots.

Objectives under control, now to wait for turn 6.

The Egyptian T-55's come on from the flank but fail to kill any Israeli tanks, even with stabilizers.

The long range shooting from Israeli tanks is devastating.

 The M48's with rangefinders and the Israeli equivalent of Semi indirect fire, hit with all six shots, and after the M51's joined in, the surviving few T-55's ran.

And the flanking platoon manages to get to the sides of the IS-III's.

While on the other side of the board the 2iC and three M51's managed to flank the IS-III's and kill several of them for the loss of only one Sherman. The poor Egyptian Infantry chased the Shermans around  for three turns but manged to miss every RPG shot they took. Then turn six began with me holding both objectives.

This game worked out well overall and was closer than it seemed. Had the Egyptian reinforcements turned up earlier, before I was able to consolidate my armor against them, things could have been very different.

Arab and Israeli Armor (FOW)

The following are just some test shots to keep me interested as I finish up the last of my Israeli Shermans and while waiting on BF to finish releasing the Vietnam stuff I need (BTR-50s, ZSU-57s). The army lists for the Six Day War are currently  being proof read, and boy did they need a lot of corrections. I intend to put them up in April and get everyone's help fixing any inaccuracies, especially in platoon and company organization.

If anyone wants to read over the pdfs and give me feedback before I put them online just let me know (check my profile).

And if you are interested in FOW rules for the Yom Kippur War go to this BLOG by NDC Wargames. Finding their blog really motivated me to get to work on rules for the 1967 Six Day War.

PT-46's moving into a town before the heavy tanks arrive.

The armored reconnaissance company will have 4 BTR-50s with the infantry and light tanks.

The T-55's arrive on the scene.

Camouflage was not used on Egyptian tanks until after 1967 but these guys will be for 73 as well.

The infantry and RPG's likely took out the M48.

The Israeli counterattack is swift.

Jeeps mounting 106mm Recoilless Rifles scout ahead of the M48 Pattons.

And some poor guys Mercedes is caught in the middle.

Pushing ahead.

Wedge to the Last (XWG)

I recently played a game of the X-wing Miniature game at the shop, it was my first time trying out the wave 2 ships. I am a big fan of the TIE Interceptor from the Rogue Squadron book so I wanted to get them into action quickly.

But before I get into the after action report you should watch this video the get into the spirit of the game.

I was playing against Bryan and his 4 ship elite rebel force. We decided on a 150 point game. His force consisted of Dutch Vander, Horton Salm, Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles. They all had torpedoes and plenty of other tricks. I went with mostly named TIEs and Vader had homing missiles and swarm tactics, also one of the TIEs had marksmanship.

Fighting it out over the hull of a Super Star Destroyer.

From top down: Soontir Fel, Saber Squad Pilot, Vader, Mauler Mithel, Howlrunner, Backstabber, Academy Pilot.

From top down: Dutch, Horton, Luke and Wedge. All loaded for bear.

Closing the distance.

Flank attack.

I focused on Horton Salm and in one turn, shot him down.

I lost Fel but he took down Luke's shields even with R2-F2 and stealth.

The flanking force attacks while the rest push through.

Attack!

Surrounded, the last Y-wing goes up.

Vader drops right on Luke's six, and takes him out.

But the Academy pilot is no match for Wedge in a head to head.

Alone, Wedge takes hit after hit.

The last shot is a critical hit.

Israeli Tanks, both great and small (FOW)

Here are a few newly painted tanks for my Israeli forces. One thing I have to get used to is that the Israeli tank markings were painted on free hand with brushes, so me painting them on by hand looks authentic.

A M50 in the Golan Heights.

M50 Shermans with some markings I liked

Lightning Bolts on the turrets, yes please.

These upgunned Shermans are growing on me. They are Quality Casting Minatures.

A 48 moving up.

And the big nasties, the M48 Pattons.

These guys are huge.

In 1967 all but one company of Israeli M48's still had the old 90mm Gun.

An AMX-13.

An M48 with its little brother, the AMX-13 Light Tank.

It's so little, the M48 is Battlefront, the AMX is Quality Casting.

Today I should have a large order arriving from Quality Castings with enough Shermans to finish out the company, a few 106mm Jeeps and the rest of the AMX-13 tanks. I have really gotten hooked on AIW miniatures.