Charlie Don't Surf: Chariots of Fire...

"The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, 

and when he looked up, 

he saw that the hillside around Elisha 

was filled with horses and chariots of fire."

Kings 6:17

A couple of weeks back Phil and I got together to push some 6mm tanks around the table using Charlie Don't Surf. He expressed a desire to play with some Israeli "Super Shermans" so I painted up some Jordanians and devised a basic scenario loosely based around the Battle of Dothan Valley on the West Bank at the start of the June/Six Day War of 1967...

Historically the Israelis launched a pre-emptive strike on Egypt and then, following some artillery exchanges, Jordan. The IDF's 45th Armoured Brigade formed the vanguard of the Israeli attack pushing into northern Samaria. tasked with eliminating the Jordanian 155mm ‘Long Tom’ howitzers threatening Ramat David airbase across the border in Israel. On the night of the 5/6th June the 45th took the town of Jenin after fierce fighting against the Jordanian 47th Tank Battalion, however the next day saw the Jordanians commit their armour reserves of the 40th Armoured Brigade to the battle, with its 2nd Battalion threatening to envelope the reconnaissance company of the IDF 45th Armoured Brigade. The scenario was inspired by the Jordanian 40th's counter-attack and the IDF trying to stop them cutting off the recce unit.

The IDF AMX-13 recon platoon was positioned on the ridgeline overlooking the Dothan Valley...

Across the valley dust clouds were spotted moving forward (a mix of Jordanian and Dummy blinds).

These swiftly moved across the valley floor towards the Israeli position. Where they enemy tanks or just dust whipped up by the wind?

Sergeant Yossi Benayoun's AMX-13 attempted a spotting roll to try and identify the cloud nearest to him...

Phil rolled successfully revealing one of the clouds to be a platoon of Jordanian M-47's commanded by Sergeant Anas Bani Yaseen.

Benayoun opened fire on the advancing enemy...

Inflicting two points of Shock on one of the M-47's and damaging its engine.

One the opposite flank another AMX-13 uncovered another enemy tank platoon but its shot missed.

Fortunately for the AMX's reinforcements arrived in the form of an M-51 platoon commanded by Lieutenant Avi Cohen.

Lieutenant Cohen ordered his Shermans to engage the enemy...

The Israeli Shermans taking out one M-47...

And then a second!

On the opposite flank, the Israeli right, two blinds moved down the road towards the Israelis...

Whilst the M-47 platoon led by Lieutenant Hamza Al-Dardour  took out the AMX-13 that had spotted them.

Lieutenant Al-Dardour ordered his platoon forward cresting the hill to reveal a second IDF M-51 platoon led by Sergeant Ronny Rosenthal.

Al-Dardour order his tanks to open fire on the Israelis but their shots were generally ineffective and only inflicted some Shock on the M-51's, damaging the engine of one of the IDF tanks.

The Shermans returned fire inflicting two Shock on Al-Dardour's tank and ensuring it would not move when next activated.

The AMX-13's did some more spotting...

Revealing one of the dust clouds in the centre to be a third M-47 platoon.

With his initial command wiped out, Sergeant Bani Yaseen rashly decided to move across to the third platoon to lead them to victory...

Lieutenant Cohen could not believe his luck and ordered his platoon to engage the M-47 - flank on...

Rather predictably Sergeant Bani Yaseen's battle ended in a big explosion!

On the Israeli right flank a third platoon of M-51's was revealed and moved to support Sergeant Rosenthal's platoon.

Their fire saw another point of Shock inflicted on Lieutenant Al-Dardour's tank and the crew bailed out. This meant the Jordanians had lost both their Big Men in one turn!

More Sherman fire saw the tank crew of a second M-47 bail out...

And a third explode as several 105mm shells slammed into it!

However things were not exclusively going the way of the IDF as a fourth platoon of M-47's was revealed...

Their 90mm cannon taking out three Israeli M-51's in one withering volley of fire!

And then a fourth from Rosenthal's platoon!

The battle then swung back in favour of the Israelis as the AMX-13 recon tanks opened fire at the Jordanians...

Their 75mm cannon taking out two of the fourth platoon's M-47's...

Sergeant Rosenthal lining up a shot against the survivor...

And brewing it up with a well aimed 105mm round!

At this point, down to just four M-47's, I realised it was not going to be the Jordanians day and conceded the plains of the Dothan Valley to the Israelis.

Well that was a (very) bloody battle - and reflecting the historical result (at a couple of points the Jordanians ran low on ammo and fuel as happened in 1967). As the Jordanian commander I was probably a little too rash in closing with the Israelis and maybe a more conservative approach engaging the poorly armoured IDF tanks at long range would have served me better.

At some stage I need to get some infantry and support weapons on the table for my Arab-Israeli Charlie Don't Surf games, but as a set of rules for pure tank battles (not uncommon in 1967 and '73) it provides a fun and engaging game with lots of tanks going boom!

Charlie Don't Surf: Valley of Tears

Apologies for the lack of blog updates, the usual culprits (work, life) and my seemingly rash decision to host a game at the Bristol Lardy day Winter Wonderlard III yesterday! You may recall a while back I gave TFL's Charlie Don't Surf a spin as I checked out a number of sets for my 6mm Arab-Israeli gaming. WIth that at the back of my mind and inspired by the HBO TV series Valley of Tears, I offered to put on a 6mm October War game set on the Golan Heights. I used the Booster Ridge scenario from the Lardies 2013 Summer Special, whilst it was written for I Ain't Been Shot Mum, the two rules sets share a common heritage and a lot of the same mechanisms.

Obviously to show off 6mm at its best you need a huge table(!) and the 8' x 6' I used was the largest in use on the day (with the smallest scale figures!). To embellish the table - and intimidate the Syrian players - I converted ten 3D printed T-55's to knocked out models, victims of an earlier attack.

I also tarted up some of my Timecast Arab buildings sticking them on bases adding walls, crops etc. - SWMBO donated some beads which made great 6mm flower pots to stick on the farm's roof!

I ran two games over the day (approximately three hours for each), these happy souls playing the morning game.

The Israelis only had four tanks to face (initially) 20 Syrian tanks

But the Centurions were deadly accurate and despite a speedy Syrian advance, more knocked out T-55's soon joined those from the previous attack.

At one point it did look like the Syrians might manage to secure victory (something that had never happened in the play tests)...

But leaving a Centurion behind you is a mistake...

So close, but so far... The Syrian players did get four of their tanks off the board, the east result we'd seen (two was the previous play test best) but not enough to claim even a minor victory.

The second game in the afternoon though was a different kettle of fish...

The Syrian players ignored the left side of the valley and concentrated their forces in the centre and on the right, again the T-55's speeding across the field of battle.

Not only were the Israelis facing an enemy who substantially out numbered them, but also occasional attacks from RPG armed Syrian Commandos who had infiltrated the Israeli lines! Whilst they proved a worry for the Israeli players, the Commandos did not manage to take out an enemy tank.

The pedal to the metal on one flank approach of the Syrians saw them push though Booster Ridge...

And despite suffering several casualties, the Syrians exited six tanks to safety securing a minor victory!

The Centurions proved a very tough nut to crack, over the entire day the Israelis only lost whens the crew of this tank baled out due to accumulated Shock - after the tank had been hit 18 times by a Syrian tank company!

Everyone who played said they had fun, which was great, and other event attendees said nice things about the game, including Mr Lard himself Rich Clarke. Will have to have a think about what I'm going to put on at Winter Wonderlard IV now!

Charlie Don't Surf: We Will Sacrifice Ourselves For You, My Homeland...

 Egypt, noble are your children. 

 Loyal, and guardians of the reins. 

Be we at war or peace 

 We will sacrifice ourselves for you, my homeland.

Bilādī, laki ḥubbī wa fuʾādī (Egyptian National Anthem)

Having played a couple of October War games using Seven Day To The Rhine I came across a blog where Robert Avery had been using Too Fat Lardies Vietnam rules Charlie Don't Surf (CDS) for Arab-Israeli games. This might seem a bit of a leap but CDS has its heritage in I Ain't Been Shot Mum (IABSM), the Lardies' company level WW2 rules so I suggested to Andy we might want to see how it played as a large scale tank game, which given Andy's familiarity with IABSM and lack off with CDS (which he bought a couple of days before we played) led to us playing a fun hybrid we called Cohen Don't Surf Down The Suez, Mum... (I'm sure such a catchy title will prove popular!)

The game started with both sides forces hidden by 'blinds' and a couple of dummy ones to add to the 'fog of war' (as we didn't have any period ones we used Andy's Chain of Command deployment tokens)

Using the same card driven system as IABSM, my cunning plan crumbled almost immediately as I pulled Poor Fire Discipline for the Egyptians, a T-62 platoon opening fire on an Israeli blind on my left flank...

On the other side of the table a Sho't platoon was revealed...

Which spotted a second Egyptian T-62 platoon in the centre.

The blinds added an extra level of tension as Andy's Israelis had no idea what that dust cloud behind the hill on their flank was (two of the blinds here were dummies).

The Israelis had more 'Big Men' cards than the Egyptians (and of a higher level) reflecting their better command and control which allowed them to be more responsive in the game. Utilising this advantage Segen Mishne Benado ordered his platoon to open fire...

Destroying one of the enemy T-62's with some accurate gun fire.

However things did not all go the Israelis was as Benado's tank drew an Ammunition Shortage card.

A second IDF Sho't platoon then appeared on the Egyptian left flank.

Opening fire and taking out a T-62.

Benado's platoon advanced only for another of his Sho't's to report it was short of ammo!

However this did not stop them hitting a T-62 and damaging its optics.

Then blowing it up with their next shot!

On the Egyptian left the IDF advanced into the flank of the T-62 platoons.

Their unerring gunfire hitting another T-62 inflicting Shock on the tank crew.

Egyptian return fire did see some success with one of Benado's tanks losing its main armament causing it to withdraw.

The stalemate in the middle was not replicated on the Egyptian left though as Andy pushed his Sho't platoons through the Egyptians like a knife through butter...

Tank after tank brewing up!

Another Egyptian blind revealed a third Egyptian T-62 platoon in the village...

This did not cause the Israelis to halt their sweeping move through the Egyptian left...

And with the screening platoon now all destroyed the flanks of the second and third T-62 platoons were dangerously exposed.

It was becoming a bit of a turkey shoot on the Egyptian left flank.

Desperately the Egyptians deployed their reserves to prop up the crumbling flank but almost immediately two T-62's were blown up!

The IDF had now got around the rear of the Egyptians...

Opening fire...

And brewing up one T-62...

After another!

Swinging into the village the Israeli Sho't engaged the T-62's in their exposed rears...

With predictable results!

In a vain effort to stem the Israeli tide, the surviving T-62 platoon on the hill opened fire on the advancing Sho't's...

One shot inflicting some Shock on one tank...

Another blowing up a second...

Another Sho't then ran low on ammunition.

But despite its reduced firing capability it still took out one of the T-62's on the hill.

The central T-62 platoon, despite being being one tank down and the two survivors carrying Shock, opened fire...

And took out the Sho't.

And then inflicting shock on another advancing Israeli tank.

The respite was brief as the IDF ploughed into the disorganised Egyptians in the village...

Whilst also moving up on the flank of the supporting T-62 platoon on the hill overlooking the village...

And slamming a round into the flank of one of the T-62's there.

A surviving T-62 from the reserve platoon returned fire...

And inflicted Shock on the Israeli tank and damaged its optics.

However such successes were few and far between as the remaining T-62's in the village succumbed to IDF tank fire...

As did the remaining T-62's on the Egyptian left. At this point the Egyptian commander, Naqib Hassan, decided that it was not his day and conceded the battlefield to the Israelis...

Despite being on the receiving end of such a resounding defeat I actually enjoyed that. Cohen Don't Surf Down The Suez, Mum... gave a good recreation of the tank battles of the October War with the IDF tanks destroying a lot of Egyptian armour when not worrying about Saggers and Commando RPG teams. 

The card system with the limited number of Big Men for the Egyptians certainly worked well. My only bone of contention was the stats from the 'briefings' on the Vis Lardica blog we used. The only difference between a T-55's stats and the next generation T-62 is one point - on its Strike (firing) roll, and the Sho't armour stat is 16 compared to the T-62's 10 which seems somewhat disproportionate (you wondered why they blew up so easily?) - oddly a Magach 3 (M48A3) armour is only 12 so I wonder if the Sho't's was typo. The Centurion was a good tank but not that good in 1973!