Apologies for the lack of blog updates, the usual culprits (work, life) and my seemingly rash decision to host a game at the Bristol Lardy day Winter Wonderlard III yesterday! You may recall a while back I gave TFL's Charlie Don't Surf a spin as I checked out a number of sets for my 6mm Arab-Israeli gaming. WIth that at the back of my mind and inspired by the HBO TV series Valley of Tears, I offered to put on a 6mm October War game set on the Golan Heights. I used the Booster Ridge scenario from the Lardies 2013 Summer Special, whilst it was written for I Ain't Been Shot Mum, the two rules sets share a common heritage and a lot of the same mechanisms.
Obviously to show off 6mm at its best you need a huge table(!) and the 8' x 6' I used was the largest in use on the day (with the smallest scale figures!). To embellish the table - and intimidate the Syrian players - I converted ten 3D printed T-55's to knocked out models, victims of an earlier attack.
I also tarted up some of my Timecast Arab buildings sticking them on bases adding walls, crops etc. - SWMBO donated some beads which made great 6mm flower pots to stick on the farm's roof!
I ran two games over the day (approximately three hours for each), these happy souls playing the morning game.
The Israelis only had four tanks to face (initially) 20 Syrian tanks
But the Centurions were deadly accurate and despite a speedy Syrian advance, more knocked out T-55's soon joined those from the previous attack.
At one point it did look like the Syrians might manage to secure victory (something that had never happened in the play tests)...
But leaving a Centurion behind you is a mistake...
So close, but so far... The Syrian players did get four of their tanks off the board, the east result we'd seen (two was the previous play test best) but not enough to claim even a minor victory.
The second game in the afternoon though was a different kettle of fish...
The Syrian players ignored the left side of the valley and concentrated their forces in the centre and on the right, again the T-55's speeding across the field of battle.
Not only were the Israelis facing an enemy who substantially out numbered them, but also occasional attacks from RPG armed Syrian Commandos who had infiltrated the Israeli lines! Whilst they proved a worry for the Israeli players, the Commandos did not manage to take out an enemy tank.
The pedal to the metal on one flank approach of the Syrians saw them push though Booster Ridge...
And despite suffering several casualties, the Syrians exited six tanks to safety securing a minor victory!
The Centurions proved a very tough nut to crack, over the entire day the Israelis only lost whens the crew of this tank baled out due to accumulated Shock - after the tank had been hit 18 times by a Syrian tank company!
Everyone who played said they had fun, which was great, and other event attendees said nice things about the game, including Mr Lard himself Rich Clarke. Will have to have a think about what I'm going to put on at Winter Wonderlard IV now!