A game I’d like to see...

[AEWHistory]

For years I have wanted an Arab-Israeli wargame that was a mix of grand strategic overview of the period with a fairly tactical approach for military matters. There are plenty of games that have scenarios from ‘48 to the present, but none where the game actually runs the gamut of that period literally allowing you to run the nations for the second half of the 20th century and beyond. What I imagine is a game that puts you in the position of overcoming the individual issues each of these states faced with economic burdens, balancing politics, and ultimately going to war. Depending on the size of the game you wouldn’t be limited to merely the Arab-Israeli Wars either, despite my original intention here. There are a litany of conflicts that would be included. The Iran-Iraq war, Egypt’s Yemen involvement, the 1970 Jordanian Civil War, and much more. (Why do I feel like I am writing an advert for a game that doesn’t exist?)

I know such a game would be doable, but AFAIK it doesn’t exist. The closest you can get is to play out the Arab-Israeli wars in Supreme Ruler Ultimate. I assume there is nothing else, but if I am wrong I would be thrilled to be corrected. However, my real reason for starting this thread was to see if others find this interesting. Perhaps if enough people show interest maybe Matrix will take up the banner on a game like this.

Tl;dr - who would like to see a game sort of grand strategy game for the modern Middle East? Something with elements sort of like Supreme Ruler, Hearts of Iron, and a couple other games rolled into one and allowing you to guide the fortunes of countries like Egypt, Israel, Iran, and others.

Edit: added tl;dr

[Alan Sharif]

Sounds like a great idea to me.

[AEWHistory]

That’s one.... well two including me. [:)]. Please folks, keep’em coming.

So I’ve put a little more thought into what I would imagine as a game. Here goes my somewhat more extende description:

So if this were done, I’d like to see it encompass the area from the western half of Iran in the east, down to Yemen in the south, maybe Azerbaijan or Chechnya in the north, and out to somewhere between central Egypt to Morocco. The map could be smaller and have some countries represented ‘off map’ so perhaps extending all the way to Morocco wouldn’t be necessary.

The game would probably start in 1947, although there would be other possibilities. For example, in addition to the Arab-Israeli Wars, the game could be ostensibly extended be to the Greco-Turkish war that followed the First World War. Anything before that would be a real problem, but 1919 would be an interesting alternative start date. However, 1947 seems like the most logical choice. With this time period and geographic range, he following wars could be simulated (and probably more):

1. 1948 Israeli War of Independence- not only controlling the military affairs, all the participants would have significant political decisions to make. Does Transjordan push for annihilating a embryonic Israel knowing that they may not be able to hold their gains? Do the Egyptians push as hard as they did historically knowing that failure will endanger their monarchy? And how do the Israelis deal with a mountain of problems: getting weapons, fighting in multiple fronts, and simply building a nation while fighting a war? One the war is finished all of the nations will need to build their economies, armies, align themselves in the greater Cold War conflict, etc.

2. 1956 War for the Suez and Sinai- so do the Egyptians still nationalize the canal and bring a hammer down on their heads? It might be a military fiasco, but politically it was a major win! And do the Egyptians still block the Straits of Tiran knowing that it will compound their problems? But how can they not when public sentiment is so strongly against Israel? And does Israel consider this a Casus Belli? Will other Arab nations get involved this time, or I should Egypt fighting three nations alone again?

3. 1967 Six Day War
4. 1973 Yom Kippur or October War
5. 1982 Lebanon War
6. All the smaller conflicts between Israel and groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
7. (If the map expanded west to Algeria) Algerian war for independence.
8. Egyptian involvement in Yemen
9. First Persian Gulf War
10. Second Persian Gulf War
11. Iran-Iraq War
12. Syrian Civil War
13. The various Kurdish rebellions.
14. 1970, Jordanian Civil War
15. The Azeri-Armenian conflict
16.I am sure I am missing some.... what am I forgetting?

There are also a host of hypothetical wars that could be simulated as potential events. One would be the possible collapse of Iran into its ethnic components and/or the Azeris trying to take the Azeri majority areas. And, of course, moving the edges of the map/timeline would allow for adding or subtracting possibilities.

As for the military, I’d suggest the base unit for armies be the Battalion, the squadron for air power, and single ships for navies. It would be nice to track resource and logistics such as fuel use and reserves as well as a nation’s ammo supply. Of course, to do this an economic system would need to be created. I would make nations produce mostly abstract things like technology points, consumer goods points, raw material points. Etc.

As time goes on, it becomes necessary, as with all entities, to have to choose between investing in today or tomorrow. Invest too much in today and you fall behind tomrrow—invest too much in tomrrow and you may not survive to see your investments mature.

I have more to write, but I’d prefer to just make this a fun little discussion of ‘what could be’ and see if people like it. Btw, anyone from Matrix reading this? [:D]

[Alan Sharif]

My Father was an MP in the 67 war, so these wars, and the region in general, has always interested me.

[AEWHistory]

ORIGINAL: Alan Sharif

My Father was an MP in the 67 war, so these wars, and the region in general, has always interested me.

Awesome! Do you mind if I ask in which army? I am always eager to find out what different experiences were like. Regardless, I am glad that your father made it though.

I live in the USA myself, so back then my father was in the army as well. In fact, he was in the army right about the same time your father would’ve been. However, my father didn’t do anything dangerous during the Vietnam war. He was stationed in Okinawa doing some sort of intelligence work (I think it had something to do with deciphering), so he was far from any firing.

Anyway, my main point is that here in the USA few people really appreciate what these conflicts are really like. Israel is tiny and the violence could literally be a few miles away. The same was true on the flip side. I can’t imagine how freaked out people in Egypt must have been when the Israelis crossed the Suez. Suddenly the war would have gotten extremely personal. The same applies to Syria. Most of these conflicts are in relatively small areas, whereas in the USA it is rare that our ‘enemies’ ever get anywhere near us. It is a luxury that many Americans do not appreciate.

[lion_of_judah]

I would love to see this type of game. This part of the world in gaming has been sorely neglected in my opinion

[Alan Sharif]

My Father was in the Egyptian Army. He told me many stories as a child. Sadly, had you heard him, you'd have believed that not only must the Arabs have won, but that my Father was largely responsible. We also had Jewish members of our family. It made for some 'interesting' discussions, but I was only five, so it was lost on me. I could still sense something was wrong, but could not really appreciate the reasons.

[JReb]

If you do a strategic level game of this area then you have to factor in the USSR and US roles from politics to weapons sale. That could be something new and interesting.

[Rodwonder]

Nice idea... I like it. Wish more would do games with a Strategic and tactical parts to the game. Great historical period to start with too.