36 inch Battlefields UPDATED!: Botzer 1973 -The Charge of the 25th Armored Brigade

Another massive battle in a small space Saturday as I broke out the 1973 October War micro armor and the old Avalon Hill scenarios from the Arab Israeli Wars boardgame.  Also this is the inaugural game for my hand-drawn desert hex mat!  It's ready for Kasserine Pass!

***UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST***

Anyways, having had good success with Peter's modified WW2 rules from "Grid Based Wargaming - But Not Always" for some previous 36 inch battles, I wanted to put the rules through their paces for later 20th century conflict so I brainstormed some modifications.  Once complete, I wanted to try them out with a Arab Israeli War battle.  Botzer, from the AIW rulebook, seemed like a good choice as it's not *too* heavy on units and looked like it could deliver a good and tense game in a short time.  (not to worry though, I have plenty of painted AIW micro armor)

The battlefield looking north.  Egyptians enter from the south - Israelis enter from the north.  The raised tan hexes are dunes, or small hills.

The situation is as follows:

October 16, 1973 An attempt by the Egyptian 25th Tank Brigade to cut off the Israeli bridgehead at Deversoir is itself cut off by the Israeli "Natke" Armored Brigade east of the Great Bitter Lake.

Elements of the "Natke" Armored Brigade

Egyptian 25th Armored Brigade

25th Infantry Battalion / 25th Armored Brigade - I have to proxy T55s for T62s and PT76s for BMP1s (the Group of Soviet Forces Germany gobbled up all of my T62s and BMP1s but I have about 90 painted T55s waiting to be used again!!)

the scenario - straight from the pages of the AIW rulebook!  Some heartwarming nostalgia!

The Egyptians are moving forces north.  The prime directive is to exit the board or destroy Israeli units.  The Israelis must destroy enough Egyptian units to blunt the 25th Brigade's attack.  The game will last 10 turns.  I will review my changes to the WW2 rules (yet again!) below.  Note the point values for destroyed units and units exiting the table.

Okay enough admin - let's get into the fight!

Turn 1

The Egyptians have the initiative for the first turn.  They move out with a purpose, tracks clanking, T62s (proxied w/T55s) belching diesel smoke and churning their way north.  They reach the "hardball" road easily.

Egyptians attacking with a reinforced T62 battalion on the left and a lone T62 battalion on the right.  The Israelis have 2 x  lonely companies of M48 tanks covering the approaches. 

The Israelis move further south and take up better firing positions. Scanning the horizon through their binoculars, they see the familiar "rooster tails" of dust being churned up into the air.  The fight is coming to them!

Turn 2

Egyptians win the initiative for turn 2 and continue to charge northward.  There is really nothing sophisticated about their plan.  Bash through the Israeli defenses and go for broke towards the table edge!   The longer they are under Israeli guns for, the more chances for them to be destroyed.

Turn 2 sees the first shots fire.  One of my changes to the WW2 variant is to double the shooting ranges for tanks to represent the lethality of modern tank guns but there is a catch.  In the WW2 rules I let the tanks shoot 3 hexes.  Now they shoot 6, but that is considered "long range" and it's -1D6 to firing.

Israelis score a D onto a T62 platoon as noted by the small wooden block.

Turn 3

Egyptians win initiative 

Egyptian Shooting forces an Israeli tank platoon to take a quality check or retreat 1 hex.  They easily pass with a 5 and so remain in position.  In my variant, you roll 3 dice for one of four possible outcomes:  0 successes = No Effect, 1 success = target makes a quality check or has to retreat 1 hex, 2 successes = target takes a Disruption/Demoralization marker, 3 successes = target destroyed.

On the Egyptian right, the T62 battalion is using the hills to maneuver out of sight of the Israeli tanks

Mostly.  Here, T62s break from cover and charge the Israeli tanks!

The Egyptians are eager to close the range here!

Israeli shooting forces a T62 platoon back.  The wooden block is a disorder/disorganization marker.  One more such marker (gained from scoring 2 hits in shooting on a 3D6) and will be destroyed.

The Israelis havent put a dent into this battalion yet.  I'm starting to thing putting only 12 T62s on the board instead of 19 was a good idea as this is going to be a jailbreak....

Israelis scoring some impressive long-range disorganization hits on the right.  As stated, one of my modifications was to allow long range tank fires (double printed range) although the tanks lose 1D6 for long range.

The Israelis will really need to start shooting better or they're going to lose this mission big time.  It's worth noting here that another of my late 20th century modifications is to allow stabilized vehicles to shoot, then move in the movement phase.  

I am not allowing the Egyptian T62s to do that so they must *either* move or fire.  Knowing the Egyptian quality is not as good (3D6 hitting on 4+ for tanks as opposed to the Israelis 3D6 hitting on 3+), the Egyptian plan is to speed right past the Israelis.  By turn 4, this looks like it's going to work.  Remember- the plan is to keep them moving and not shoot...

Turn 4

Turn 4 the Egyptians have initiative again.

The right T62 battalion swarms the line!  Charge!

Speaking of swarming, the T62 battalion and motor rifle infantry on the left are swarming the left flank!

Egyptians dismount their Sagger ATGM unit.  I had to come up with some rules for these guys, too.  Minimum range is 2 hexes.  Attack armor with 3D6 at 3+.  The sagger missile is the most potent weapon the Egyptians have in this battle, and it's on their BMPs as well

The Egyptians get slick and take advantage of the target priority rules.  The Israelis have to shoot at an adjacent unit.  The Israelis also put some hurt in the form of some new D markers and a destroyed T62 platoon on the Egyptian left.

On the right, a T62 platoon is taken out and the M48s trade space and fall back.  

Turn 5

The battle is really heating up now as we get into Turn 5.  The Israelis win the initiative. The distance between both sides has been closed significantly as the Israelis moved last on turn 4 and on turn 5 they now have the initiative moving first.  It's like getting 2 free turns in a row.

Let me help you out with that D marker!  At 3 hexes or less, the Israelis shoot with 3D6 hitting on 3+. The tank with the black dice next to it got extremely lucky.  The Israeli tank only scored 1 success, which means the Egyptian tank must test to retreat.  His retreat path is blocked which would have resulted in a "D" marker on him.  Since he already has a "D" marker he would have been destroyed!  This lucky fellow rolled a "6" so he did not have to retreat!

inching closer to Deversoir!

The Israelis win ties due to quality - Turn 6 starts with the Israelis maintaining the initiative.

And they use it to good effect, knocking out more T62 platoons and falling back 

On the right, things are not going well for the Egyptians.  

On the left there is still a general sense that the Egyptians are going to break through but I'm not feeling the same thing I felt 3 turns ago!

Turn 7 the Egyptians regain the initiative!  Getting closer to the table edge!

2 T62 platoons make it off the table - more T62 platoons burn!

Realizing I can use the Saggers on the BMPs, I start shooting at Israeli tanks with the BMPs.  One M48 is knocked out and another gets a D marker but will the vehicles exiting be enough?  There are many destroyed T62s now.

2 x hopefuly T-62 platoons for for broke and attempt to make a run for it!

What's left of the T62 battalion on the right flank...  Note the 2 tanks in upper center charging past the Israeli positions.  A rash plan that has NOT been paying off...

This is one of the luckiest BMP units in the battle so far.  Close range fire from a M48 platoon forces him back 1 hex (he was about to exit).  Then more fire forces him back again but he is not destroyed!

a glimmer of hope for the Eyptians - the Israeli long range fire nets no hits!  

meanwhile along the road, a BMP platoon is destroyed and its dismounts pass a QC so they are still on the table!

Turn 8 Israelis win the initiative back

The Israeli tanks try to keep the BMP from exiting although he will sneak past through the "wreck" marker of that destroyed M48 platoon.

Here in the quiet center, 2 x BMP platoons race for the exit, covering by a long flanking M48.  

absolute carnage.  The destruction of the better part of an armored battalion and mechanized battalion of the proud Egyptian army.

The bulk of the Egyptians who made it off the table are done and the rest are burning carcasses in the desert.  The Israelis have suffered a number of "D" markers on them and 1 platoon knocked out.  The Egyptians have lost 10 of 12 tank units and most of their BMPs.  I really overestimated the points for KO units (didn't check back).  The Israelis get the same amount of points for destroyed T62s as the Egyptians get for exited vehicles...

That "plucky" BMP platoon on the right would go on to exit the table. 

More carnage in the desert

Elements of the 1st and 2nd Companies link up in the center to prevent any Egyptians from escaping their "counter-ambush"

This platoon was 1 move from the end of the table!

another BMP platoon would make it off the table

I did not need to play through turn 10 as the Egyptians were either all exited off the table or destroyed.  The final tally for the battle was a whopping Israeli 52 points to the Egyptian 12 points (gained almost exclusively through exited vehicles, not destroyed enemy vehicles).  If you were looking for a case study in modern warfare, here it is.  The points are very lopsided but that was an intentional decision to move instead of fire for the Egyptians.  Playing this game again would likely have very different results and I'm keen to give it a go.  I wonder if for next time I'll give the Egyptians all of their T62s (19 stands) instead of reducing them.  It would have made this game alot closer in points.

LESSONS LEARNED

Now for the hard part!  The cringe-worthy, post battle "murder board".  How did this go and what did we learn?

Charging headlong into the enemy with modern weapons is very deadly.  While that's painfully obvious for anyone reading this, it was a good test of the rules and the late 20th century modifications.  The Egyptian gambit should not have realistically paid off.  And it didn't.  I think the rules are ready for the Fulda Gap where both sides may have the ability to move and shoot, and will have plentiful artillery and ATGMs.

Here, the Egyptians should have had units on some kind of overwatch, dedicated to firing at the Israelis to keep their heads down, while their friends moved forward in a sort of leap frogging fashion.  This is made more important when considering the turn initiative, as you dont know the result of that roll next turn.  

You may get an opportunity to fire again so you want to have dedicated units that are in a good position to fire.

If you're playing an eastern or Arab army, you should send assault troops to "hug" the enemy positions and keep them occupied while your flanking force moves around the enemy.  This would have been a solid bet for the Egyptians - swarming the Israelis with tank units while others flanked and sped off the table.

Make better use of casualty producing weapons.  It's simply unacceptable that the BMPs were not engaging the enemy earlier in the fight.  75% of the Israeli casualties (few that there were) were caused by ATGM (Anti Tank Guided Missile) firing, not tank gun fire.  

So far, I'm really loving these rules and they are delivering great battles with more a simulation effect but still are able to capture that miniature-wargaming feel to them.  In terms of the rules for these 36" battles, I need to refine the rules for Infantry Fighting Vehicles and mounted infantry and jot them down.  Peter's rules for WW2 armored infantry are excellent - but I'd like to codify rules for mounted and dismounted infantry in IFVs a bit further.  Here, when the IFV was destroyed, I used a quality roll to see if the mounted platoon inside the IFVs was still combat-ready or if it, too, was also destroyed.  Passing the QC allowed the platoon to be placed on the table.

Rules Modifications for Later 20th Century Conflicts

As stated earlier, Peter's rules handled the addition of some "high octane" Cold War modifications quite well.  Here are some of the new rules introduced for this battle:

Advanced Optics.  Tanks spot at 4 hexes.  Recce spots at 6 hexes.  I completely forgot or foolishly disregarded the spotting rules in this game...

Advanced Gunnery/Fire Control.  Tank guns have long range fire or double printed fire.  So if a tank could fire 3 hexes, it can now fire 6 although it loses 1D6 past 3 hexes.

Advanced Stabilization.  Any units with this can fire and then move in the movement phase.

ATGM Fire.  3D6 firing, hitting armor on 3+.  Minimum range of 2 hexes to fire.  No fire and movement.  Max range is 6 hexes.

Infantry Fighting Vehicles.  Function like Armored Infantry but may enter wooded hexes.  Vehicles Fire as light tanks (or with their ATGM - not both).  May dismount their infantry (still thinking about this)

Light Tanks.  subtract 1D6 when firing at main battle tanks.  Heavy tank guns gain 1D6 when shooting at them.  So in this battle, the IFVs were considered light tanks.  The Israeli tanks, who would lose 1D6 for shooting at them at long range, got their 1D6 back since they were light armor.

Helicopters.  Still thinking about this but I have some ideas.

So there you have it!  A large battle again fought in a 36" space with excellent rules gaining historical results.  Lots of practice still ahead in preparation for the "Bloody Kasserine" or "Fulda Gap" games.  I really need to move out on putting the Horse and Musket 36" battles on the table.  Don't worry though, it's not ALL hexes as we'll be doing some open battles on the table as well.  I need some practice with Black Powder and I'm keen to get Fate of a Nation back on the table with all of this microarmor.

I hope you enjoyed this battle report and  stay tuned as more great things to come!

***UPDATE***

I refought Botzer 2 x days later with a different Egyptian plan - namely to move all abreast in a solid line of 3 x battalions.  The Egyptians would shoot, then elements which did not shoot would move in a leapfrogging fashion.  The Egyptians were also much more aggressive about attacking Israeli units than in the last game.  The result, while still an Israeli victory, was a MUCH closer bout - with the Israelis winning only 41 to 32.

7 out of 8 Israeli units were destroyed this time, and 6 Egyptian units left the table - 3 x T62 platoons and 3 x BMP platoons.  The Israelis also got points for Egyptian units left "on" the table after the game ended, and the Israelis got a whopping 4 points for "other" units destroyed IE BMPs.  It remains to be seen how long an actual force of 8 platoons would hold on after 7/8's of them being knocked out.  Likely they would have thrown in the towel a bit earlier.

The Egyptians technically exited the table with Battalion strength of 6 stands including 3 platoons of dismounts in their BMPs and 3 platoons of T62s.  A pyrrhic victory?

All in all this has been an excellent study in modern warfare and the lethal open battlefield.  You cannot trade shots against a numerically superior enemy, and you had better use that "move/shoot" capability to your advantage when fighting against a horde type army.  There were at least 3 instances when the Egyptians were able to make a 3 dice armor attack (within 3 hexes) against Israeli platoons.  Probably not the best use of the Israeli's superior mobility.  Overall these games are scoring BIG with historicity and enjoyment.