For you boardgame fans out there...

[Big Ivan]

That is incredible Mike, never had that happen only saw the aftermath of the cat's presence.

[Crossroads]

Posted this at Grogheads' Wargaming forum, should have posted it here of course instead [:)]

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Retro Warning! [X(]

Having said that, boy oh boy, finally found a seller willing to whisk a copy over the pond to euroland!

The Israeli crossing of Suez Canal during the 1973 war is one of the great battles out there still not really well known with the uneducated wargaming masses (not referring to you dear Grogs, of course I am not). I've had my eyes on this game for such a long time I bought it the second my Noble Knight Games alert told me about it.

And of course, suddenly they had two of them, one for a twenty note, and one for 18 bucks with a warning "counters clipped". Now, if it would have said "counters clipped with a Oregon Lam clipper", I would have gotten that one even at double pace, but alas, stay safe out there peeps and all that.

This is such a remarkable game, it ships for instance with Order of Battle sheets for both sides (remember this is an Arab-Israeli conflict where OOBs are notoriously difficult to obtain even now), formation sheets where you can build them, rulebook and historical notes, a beautiful map, and all this from 1981 [&o]



But yeah, talking about under appreciated military operations. Even the box talks about the Battle of Chinese Farm, which was just a one flank of the operation. Well, a crucial flank at that as the route for the pontoon bridges went next to the area, so hardly insignificant either.

But yet, the crossing of Suez Canal, just weeks after beginning of hostilities, which you might recall went nothing but per scripts for the IDF, with Egyptian forces well trained, well armed, and tanks no longer the kings of the battle field they used to be. That's the main event here.

I just finished reading Crossing Suez a couple of months ago, and if there is a case study you want to read about Friction (with capital F), you could do worse than grap that book from Amazon. Amazing stuff, how the Israelis ever managed to pull the crossing among confusion, internal fighting among big egos, and yes, friction, ...

Next, time to set it up...

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[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

Posted this at Grogheads' Wargaming forum, should have posted it here of course instead [:)]

And why is that, you may ask! Well, because Alan Arvold has converted this boardgame to CS Middle East 2.0, so yes: you can play the Suez Crossing now at Platoon scale! [X(]

[Crossroads]

Those familiar with the game will know it comes loaded with eight scenarios (actually four scenarios and a campaign, but with these storyboards that Alan converted), depicting the slow grind of Israeli forces towards the crossing, and then the fast exploit once that's happened.

Here's Alan's scenarios and how you can find them:

[Crossroads]

Other scenarios detailing the Suez Crossing of 1973 include, in chronological order:

[*] Into the Hornet's Nest (Chinese Farm)
[*] Shuneri at the Crossroads (relief effort at Chinese Farm)
[*] Into Africa! (A wonderful combined arms scenario, recommended as something to try as IDF (balanced for Arab human player) once out of Bootcamps).
[*] The Shores of the Great Bitter Lake (ambush of the Egyptian 25th Arm'd Bde)
[*] Sharon's Quagmire (143rd Ugdah paying the price of Israeli High Command's refusal for an earlier exploitation)
[*] Formalities in Suez (last shots before ceasefire)

[:)]

[nukkxx5058]

I cried ...
[:D]

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: nukkxx

I cried ...
[:D]

That is OK. I would have too [:D]

Of course, there's the initial Egyptian crossing of Suez as well. It was a magnificent success for Egyptians, and covered in many scenarios here, too.

[dox44]

i just started most terrible night. my favorite scenarios are from Oct 73 around Chinese farm...great job. also will get to the initial crossing of
Suez.

[Crossroads]

Time to bump this thread again, right?

While working with CS Vietnam, I have some stuff going with the coming CS East Front project as well. I posted about Tolvajärvi map making in the SneakPeek thread the other day.

Someone's been reading my mind at our local wargaming club for he put his MMP Tactical Combat Series game "A Frozen Hell" for sale for a mere tenner! (It covers the battle for Tolvajärvi)

Tactical Combat Series has a eputation for being quite complex, for instance you need to plot all your tactical orders before commencing, so you also need two players who are willing to stick to the spirit of the rules instead of going and changing their minds depending how things move along in game play. Also they take qute a long time to play.

I've stayed out from the series for the reason. But at this price, why not!

These games are really well researched, too. You'd never guess from this particular game box cover though:



So, dear WW2 aficionados, spot the four errors there? Any takers? [:)]

[Sieben]

OK, I'll take a chance.
1. You wouldn't use a water-cooled machine gun in that weather.
2. You wouldn't park a tank next to a MG position, the gunner would move away.
3. and...
4. What kind of tank is that anyhow?

[Warhorse]

Looks like a T-28?

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Sieben

OK, I'll take a chance.
1. You wouldn't use a water-cooled machine gun in that weather.
2. You wouldn't park a tank next to a MG position, the gunner would move away.
3. and...
4. What kind of tank is that anyhow?

You're are looking at the MG team but at the wrong item, or gear... Finnish Maxim 09/21 and 32/33 models were extensively used around year. You are right that the coolant was an issue, so many Finnish Maxim cooler jackets had a large round cap at the top so snow could be used as a coolant. This drawing does not have one, but here's a picture of of a coolant jacket with that large cap:

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Warhorse

Looks like a T-28?

Yes, that's a T-28 28.5 ton tank.

Edit: here's a picture from Tank Encyclopedia:



That was one of the errors in the picture, as to my knowledge none of them operated outside the Karelian Isthmus, at least during the early days of Winter War. So there could not have been one at Tolvajärvi which is located well north of Lake Ladoga. But information like that is not readily available so I will give that one out to get us going.

Three little mistakes yet to found, they should be easier, as they can be spotted or guessed right out of the box cover [:)]

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

These games are really well researched, too. You'd never guess from this particular game box cover though:



So, dear WW2 aficionados, spot the four errors there? Any takers? [:)]

I am likely off the grid for a couple of days, so here's some hints as what I was looking for:

[*] One typo, and a pretty key one at that...
[*] Two things that should not be there, T-28 was the other...
[*] One small case of a wrong gear, or equipment. It was not the Maxim MG.

Round of virtual beer for anyone with correct answers!

PS This is not exact science, by the way, my opinions mostly. But I believe for once I might have them right!

[RichG]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads



I am likely off the grid for a couple of days, so here's some hints as what I was looking for:

[*] One typo, and a pretty key one at that...
[*] Two things that should not be there, T-28 was the other...
[*] One small case of a wrong gear, or equipment. It was not the Maxim MG.

Round of virtual beer for anyone with correct answers!

PS This is not exact science, by the way, my opinions mostly. But I believe for once I might have them right!

The typo is "Battle of Tolvajärvi"

And I'll take a wild guess that two other mistakes are the reindeer and binoculars?

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: RichG

The typo is "Battle of Tolvajärvi"

And I'll take a wild guess that two other mistakes are the reindeer and binoculars?

Good one, RichG, that's two rounds of beer! Unfortunately of the virtual sort though

Three down:

[*] T-28 were not at Ladoga Karelia sector, not at least in December 1939
[*] Tolvajärvi misspelled as "Tolvajäri".
[*] Rudolf very far from his home in Lapland (no reindeer this south).

One to go. Binoculars were not it. Something else wrong with the Maxim HMG team?

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

One to go. Binoculars were not it. Something else wrong with the Maxim HMG team?

Summer caps, in December. Not something that any crew would do in the cold of the winter. Apparently, the picture was based on this, likely staged photo:



Whereas in reality they'd be dressed up for the cold, including proper headwear, something like here for instance:




The four errors, then:

[*] Typo
[*] T-28
[*] Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer
[*] Summer gear on HMG team