Sunday 11 August 2013

The Battle at Chinese Farm

Israeli attack on Egyptian positions in order to secure a crossing.

 
This was fought down at the Writtle "Essex Warriors" Club today.  The game was put on by Ralph (who supplied all the troops and vehicles) and Ian's Israelis were the aggressors whilst my peaceloving Egyptians were quietly trying to mind their own business ... ahem !
 
Egyptian forces in "laager" beyond the crossroads - its night and visibility limited

 
Egyptian Order of Battle Sheet for Cold War Commander 
 
The Chinese Farm
 
The book which has inspired Ralph to pen this scenario
 
Israeli forces on the move

 
Including engineers with bridging equipment
 
Stirrings at the farm at the sound of engines
 
Egyptian HQ also awakes
 
Israeli General Ian doesn't know that Ralph the umpire is about to pounce on him !
 
The Israeli attack begins down the road with jeeps ahead
 
A formidable phalanx of Israeli armour
 
Isareli HQ vehicle orders more troops forward on their right
 
With infantry in APCs close behind the tanks
 
Still no reaction from the farm
 
But a forward observor seems active on the high ground
 
An Israeli artillery "stonk" hits the Egyptian HQ first time supressing the command vehicle and destroying the Egyptians best anti-tank asset too !



 
Another Egyptian armoured division decides to move into position behind the farm
 
The Israelis keep on coming on their left

 
One jeep gets caught in an unseen irrigation ditch
 
The yellow markers indicate where some Egyptian infantry might be hiding
 
The Israeli infantry debus from their APCs now they are in the irrigated zone
 
Over at the back road, the Israeli bridging column makes very slow progress

 
With a CO in helicopter urging them on
 
An Egyptian heavy AT gun reveals itself and opens fire
 
As the first Egyptian infantry casualties are taken in the irrigation trenches
 
An Israeli tank is brewed up
 
Egyptian infantry bail out of a damaged recce APC
 
Birds eye view of the struggle in the irrigation ditches and trenches
 
Off table Egyptian artillery hits the bullseye with a devastating barrage

 
But it is not at all one-sided - another Egyptian tank blows up over on their right
 
Egyptian armour reached the high ground
 
And to the right of the farm
 
With infantry shielding amongst the trees
 
Even though the Egyptians lose more tanks, on both the right
 
and the left, their stubborn resistance coupled with the lack of progress of the Israeli bridging column,
 
 means that the Israelis have failed in their objective - to rapidly bridge the water and get troops across.
 
As it was my first game of Cold War Commander, I think we can put it down to beginner's luck coupled with one or two heavy hints from the umpire at critical moments !

7 comments:

  1. Some very nice models on display here. I sadly know nothing about this battle but it looks a feast for armour lovers.

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  2. These are beautiful models. Can I ask what the scale is please as they look like 28mm. This looks like a fantastic and fun game!

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  3. I'd bet these are 15mm? Beautiful painted figures and terrain. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. An interesting battle and nice miniatures on the table.

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  5. 15mm indeed ! A mixture of manufacturers, including Peter Pig and GHQ.
    It was good fun and the fire and defence dice reminded me very much of the Too Fat Lardies IABSM mechanism.

    It helped that Ralph was very familiar with the rules so could umpire easily.

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  6. Great looking game, some beautiful pictures here!

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  7. Great looking game! Love that command M113!

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