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TURN 4

I have the worst luck with artillery. Unexpectedly, that Israeli infantry did not enter either of the two block hexes west of Tel Shams, it seems. The Syrian artillery barrage falls on empty hexes, accomplishing nothing. But then ...

The T-12 AT Guns at hex 24,19 (green circle, following) may be reduced down to 2 SPs, they may be disrupted, but they still have some fight left in them. They direct fire at the disrupted Israeli tank in hex 23,19, with a Disrupted result. They fire again, and ...



... WHAM! Strike one tank!

That AT-3 Sagger Team up at Saasa Ridge (green circle, following), the "use it or lose it" unit -- they fire a third time at the rear of the tanks (magenta circle) facing that bunker hex (the one with the AT gun), and ...



... BAM! Strike another!

By now, the Syrians have shot up a dozen Israeli tanks. Not bad, not bad. And we're not finished with them.

TURN 4

I direct one of the mortar units around Saasa to drop smoke on that AT-3 Sagger Team. Surely Crossroads will fire back at it now?

Syrian infantry and LMGs are ordered to occupy that bunker hex at the center right of the Syrian line.

With the loss or relocation of my forward observers, I have no idea where the Israeli soft targets are. Syrian mortars in the vicinity aim for Tel Shams and the hex just to the west of it in case Crossroads makes his move to take that objective.

Anticipating flank attack, Syrian T-55As move into ambush positions.

Most but not all of the Syrian APCs exit off map.

The situation at the end of Turn 4:



Israeli Side A Total Points now stand at 52. Keeping it close, or trying to.

TURN 5

Tons of action this next phase, the Side A Israeli phase, Turn 5. Let's go straight to the video tape.

Israeli artillery fire rained down on the two bunker hexes, scoring a few SP hits on the forward bunker (upper magenta circle, following), and destroying outright the Syrian T-12 AT Guns at the rear bunker (red circle). Ouch! That last one hurt. The AT guns at the forward bunker have managed to kill several Israeli Sho't Kals. The just destroyed AT guns at the rearward bunker never got to fire even a single shot.

Following the artillery barrage, the Israeli ground forces went into action.

Having cleared a minefield hex in the previous turn, Israeli armoured engineers (lower magenta circle) pushed uphill. Syrian armoured infantry (green circle) opfired, scoring SP hit(s?) and a disruption.



The southern defensive line is breached!

TURN 5

Israeli forces pour into the breach. How to stop them?

Here's one way:



And here's another:

TURN 5

"Enough of that!" Crossroads says.

[:-]

Israeli tanks step up (turquoise circle), fire at the Syrian RCLRs, score a 1 SP hit, and force them to retreat (to the magenta circle):

TURN 5

But I have the last laugh. (Well, the next laugh anyway.)

The retreated RCLRs (green circle, following) are now in perfect position to ambush, and by means of opfire eliminate, some M3 Mk. A Halftracks attempting to flank the Syrian position on the left (red circle):



With luck, maybe the halftracks were loaded.

TURN 5

More Israeli tanks come up (lower turquoise circle, following). They direct fire at Syrian armoured infantry uphill, score 2 SP hits, and force a retreat (to the magenta circle).

Action then shifts to the other end of the line.

One after another, Sho't Kal squads step forward to blast the near bunker (left red circle; the right red circle marks the rearward bunker where artillery fire had destroyed the other AT guns earlier). Salvo follows salvo, SPs and more SPs are destroyed. Finally, the Sho't Kals eliminate the remaining Syrian AT guns, removing that particular threat entirely from the picture.

TURN 5

Curiously, rather than unleash the rest of his tanks to strike boldly around my right flank or perhaps advance towards Saasa Ridge, Crossroads chooses to play it safe. Other Sho't Kals (turquoise circle, following) stay put, blast a Syrian armoured infantry platoon (then at the magenta circle) from a distance, and force it to retreat. More blasts, then a unit elimination (red circle):



Are those Sho't Kals now gun shy?

TURN 5

After Crossroads' Side A (Israeli) move, the situation at the middle of Turn 5, with the Disrupted highlight (yellow counter outlines) toggled ON:



The Syrian defensive line, such as it is, is much thinned. But a few tank-killer RCLRs still survive intact, and the T-55As lie in wait.

We fight on.

TURN 5

The latest Victory Dialog:



Oof! So many Syrian losses this last phase. Israeli losses too, none of them tanks, and not so heavy as the Syrians'. The Total Points drift upward in Israel's favor. I don't think I can much knock that downward in my half of the turn.

TURN 5

No action, no fighting this phase. Just shuffling of the line. And APCs and one MANPAD exiting off map.

The situation, the dire situation, at Turn 5's end:

TURN 6

Israeli artillery began targeting Saasa Ridge. Little to no damage, fortunately.

To the south, Israeli tanks (turquoise circle, following) blasted the near bunker hex (red circle), killing all occupants.



The way is now clear around the Syrian right.

TURN 6

Israeli tanks (turquoise circle, following) direct fired on Syrian armoured infantry at hex 26,25 (yellow circle), forcing them to retreat southeastward.

In subsequent action, the Israelis destroyed the Syrian RCLRs lurking in hex 27,26 (red circle).



Note the Israeli armoured engineer platoon at hex 24,24 (green circle).

TURN 6

On the Syrian right, emboldened Israeli tanks lunged forward.

Israeli gunnery forced the Sagger Team to retreat (to magenta circle, following). From that position, the saggers have a good opportunity next phase to move one hex northward, then take a close range shot at the nearest Israeli tanks.

After the Israeli moves, at the beginning of the Syrian Side B phase, Syrian heavy artillery, firing from Saasa Ridge, laid down a barrage in front of the Syrian positions southeast of Tel Shams. A lucky strike (red circle) killed that entire Israeli armoured engineer platoon!

TURN 6

Crossroads finally turned his attention to Saasa Ridge. Israeli tanks (turquoise circle, following) fired at the nearest targets along the ridge, among them light and heavy machine gunners, also the "use it or lose it" AT-3 Sagger Team (magenta circles). Taking no more chances, Crossroads made sure to fire smoke at the saggers, thereby obscuring the aim of any return fire.

The Israeli tanks also targeted the T-12 AT Guns at hex 27,11 (yellow circle). No SP hits, but they did disrupt the unit, rendering them near impotent (like smoke, disruption cuts firing strength in half) in the coming Syrian phase.

After Crossroads' Side A (Israeli) phase, the situation at the middle of Turn 6, with the Disrupted highlight (yellow counter outlines) toggled ON:

TURN 6

That one lucky kill, the loss of that Israeli armoured engineer unit, offset any Syrian losses this last phase. The Israeli Total Points are virtually unchanged from the turn previous:



This is encouraging. The Total Point edge could have been far worse.

With business still unfinished around Tel Shams, Crossroads faces increasing time pressure (15 turns in this scenario). Will the Israelis be able to storm up the ridge and take the town of Saasa? Stay tuned to find out.

A very enjoyable AAR. I am curious what options are you using?

Hi, Jagger2002. Glad you are enjoying it.

Crossroads and I are playing with all options turned ON:

TURN 6

A gamble.

Let's focus on the one remaining AT-3 Sagger Team I have in the vicinity of Tel Shams:



The saggers are at hex 27,24 (green circle, preceding). With the Visibility display (orange hex outlines) toggled ON, you can see where the saggers currently have no hard targets in view. If they remain where they are, the Israeli recon unit (turquoise circle) will be sure to target them next phase, and likely kill them, since the saggers are in open terrain. The saggers cannot stay put.

If I move them to some ambush position, say one hex to the northeast, there to join the lurking T-55A's, with luck, yes, some Sho't Kals might stumble into the ambush. But look at the Range graph. At one or two hexes range, the saggers (op)fire at much below peak strength.

On the other hand, what if I move the saggers one hex to the north? They would enter a Scrub hex, expending 38 APs, and with a Firing Cost of 60, still have sufficient APs remaining to fire off a shot. At that hex, they can fire at the two Sho't Kals three hexes distant (the near yellow circle) at peak firepower. (At that hex, they could also fire at the Sho't Kal stack, the far yellow circle, but at four hexes away, at somewhat less than peak.)

Question: Do the Sho't Kals have sufficient APs to opfire?

Let's find out ...



... Yes. The farther Sho't Kals (turquoise circle, preceding) opfire at the approaching saggers, but without effect.

I close the Damage Report dialog, then ...



... more Sho't Kals (turquoise circle, preceding) opfire at the saggers, forcing them to retreat.

At which point my brilliant tactics have failed:



The act of retreating has cost enough APs such that the saggers now lack sufficient APs remaining to fire. Their phase is over. And they might be soon finished, kaput. Unless I can somehow shield them from the advancing Israeli tanks, maybe by pushing those Syrian machine gunners out in front?

A gamble. A lost gamble. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

TURN 6

An opportunity.

Since those two Israeli tank units just opfired; and since no further opfire followed (even with such a tempting target as that now fully exposed Sagger Team); I am guessing that the nearby Israeli tanks have no more opfire left in them. What if I send forth my T-55As for a little hit and run?

But first, let's see what the Syrian tanks are up against:



Those Israeli tanks are either Sho't Kals or Magach 5s, I am not certain which. At three hexes distance, the T-55As hard target fire with a strength of 46. (You can see where, at every range, the Israeli tanks overpower the Syrian.)

Let's give this a try ...



... Yes! Two Magach 5s eliminated!

I know they are Magach 5s, not Sho't Kals, by a quick glance at the Strength Dialog:



(12 Sho't Kals destroyed previously, so by inference the two new kills are Magach 5s.)

Almost 6 turns done, and already we have destroyed 15 Israeli tanks.

The T-55As still have more than enough APs to withdraw, right back to the hiding place where they started from.

An opportunity. You lose some, you win some. [:)]