Sunday 14 April 2013

"My Hits don't lie!"

Firstly I want to say a big thank you to all my followers, lurkers and casual clickers who stumble upon my blog. As I type this I have had 24 970 page views. Just 30 short of 25000 which is a milestone to me. I am not going to do some give away promotion to attract more members I would rather pass on my thanks to you all who make Blogging so much fun enjoyment and yes at times frustration. Cheers Guys I really appreciate it.

I have learnt a lot from the honourable Fran and have included the picture above to introduce my recent wargames thoughts. Followers of the blog this time last year will have seen my build of an Afghanistan village. It has not been used since and that's a shame so I have been thinking of alternative uses for it. Given the architecture and the layout it could easily be used for a lot of different periods, anything from late medieval to near future. A magazine editor did suggest I use it for the 1st Anglo- Afghan war as he wanted to do a series of articles about wargaming in Afghanistan through the ages. Being honest the idea never really floated my boat so it went no further. Which knowing me will mean I will no doubt start it in 2 years time!

 Finally coming to the point the boards would work well, for some other middle eastern wargames. So recycling the Afghan boards and with reference to the picture above I intend to use Salute this year to check out the possibility of the Arab Israeli wars.
1948 has some interesting features but is perhaps a little too similar to WW2.
1956 again possible and with British and French Support gives it more variety and versatility, but the overall feel is still to similar to WW2 despite the fact that it had the first airborne helicopter assault. But one battle does not make a war.
1967 "The Six Day war" does appeal there is a variety of forces Israeli, Egyptian and Syria many of the vehicles are still WW2 vintage Syria was using Panzer Mk IV's, Egypt T34/85s and Su 100s along with more modern tanks like T55s and "Super Shermans" (used by the Israelis).
1973 "Yom Kippur War" again appeals as the Israelis start on the back foot. Weapon systems have improved. The Egyptians backed by the USSR have Sagger Anti Tank Wire Guided missiles T62s BMPs and BTR 60s as well as many of the older vehicles such as T34s. And as a war fought on two fronts has many interesting prospects from a wargaming point of view.
1980+  More up-to-date vehicles still including the Merkava the most well known Israeli tank. Is a period that is also possible as a wargames period perhaps with things like Operation Opera (The Isreali strike to destroy Iran's Nuclear facilities.)

Obviously the above has glossed over all the conflicts in a mere line or two, when any number of books have been written. So it is definitely over simplified  in the extreme. It does seem to be at present an era of wargaming that is pretty much under played at the moment and yet perfect for my Afghanistan wargames terrain. It should also be a lot less controversial.

A very quick look has highlighted the lack of figure manufacturers for these conflicts but a wealth of vehicle makers. But this as mentioned above will be something I want to look at while present at SALUTE this year.

Thanks for Reading, more on Tuesday have a great couple of days and I hope something above has caught your interest.

All the best Clint

22 comments:

  1. Nice one Clint, well done on the 25k, which as i type is only 11 away!!

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    1. Thanks mate. only 3 away as I reply to this. )

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  2. Well done on the 25k mark buddy. Afghan is not something i've ever want to game though I can see its appeal.

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    1. Cheers Brummie. For many 25000 is not so large. But for me it's a mountain.

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  3. 25000 thats great and many many more hits follow. Congratulations there

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    1. Cheers Pete. I hope and plan to keep going so roll on the 50k mark.

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  4. 25,015 as I type, congrats and well done Clint, looking forward to where this leads.

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    1. Cheers Fran. I hope you did not mind me using one of your style of Images but taking a leaf out of your book.

      BTW Ray says you don't want any Salute fudge as you are watching your weight. I don't think I believe him.

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  5. 25020 when I opened the post!

    Well done Clint and do keep going. The new project sounds good to me :)

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    1. Thanks Tamsin, I've a long way to go before I reach your level but good quality members are what inspires me to keep going.

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  6. 25k+ is a good mark.
    Keep it up, and no doubt this project will attract more viewing. Israelian conflicts are actually underplayed

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    1. Thank you Sebastosfig. I can't think of a dedicated set of rules for these conflicts apart from Bruce Quarries "Tank Battles in Miniature Arab Israeli wars" back in the 1980s. SO I will no doubt have to adapt another set of rules.

      Yom Kippur (or October War) 1973 would be my first choice, but not 100% settled on it. A lot will depend on what figures I can find.

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  7. Hi kudos on hits !

    Combat Command an old 70's set of rules from Navwar has a section devoted to AIW specifically 1973 conflict. It has a nice tank firing system based around a standard playing card deck.
    Well worth trying to track down a copy.

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    1. Cheers Sgt. Steiner. You are right about Combat command..... I have a copy from when it was released. I have not looked at it for years and only played it with 1/300th scale so it was not fresh in my mind. Thanks for reminding me.

      Also Cold War Commander has all the army lists as well. Or I could use "Challenger" by Bruce Rea Taylor, or maybe the skirmish set. (Firefight If I remember the title correctly). SO I realise there are some rule sets other than "Ambush Alley".

      But for now I am only looking at it as a possibility. A lot depends on the club reaction (I did mention it last Sunday and they were very Meh!)

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  8. Wooo ho! Safely through 25K now, very well done Sir!

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  9. Thank you Sir Awdry. Could not have done it without you.

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  10. Congratulations on the milestone Clint!

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    1. Thanks Anne a blog is only as good as it's followers.

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  11. Congrats on the benchmark! ;)
    while I have no interest in modern warfare gaming, I do like the AIW. The mishmash of equipment and the elan of the Israelies help a whole lot. I just have to figure scale and scope.

    I do have the Avalon Hill AIW card tile game, which still gets regular use!

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  12. Thanks David, Scale should it go ahead will be 1/72 for me as that is what I built the Afghanistan boards for. And the aim is to get more use from the boards. For you it might well be a different choice. I am struggling to find nice 20mm figures though (apart from Elniem).... but Salute on Saturday so I have high hopes.

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  13. Congratulations on the 25k+ landmark.

    There have to be a multitude of modern armoured rules out there somewhere surely ?

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    1. Thanks Jo.

      There are several sets of rules for modern warfare the majority of which seem to be designed for 1/300th scale. There are others designed for larger scales but for me I have yet to find the right one.

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