The desperate battle at the Valley of Tears (Israel vs. Syria, October 7, 1973) continues:
System: Avalon Hill’s The Arab-Israeli Wars. @damon playing Israelis, @oriskany playing Syrians.
Turn Two – Syrian advance continues, lead tank brigades are now fully across the Purple Line, advancing 750 meters before being struck again. Damon has no shortage of targets here, obviously, he has LOS on nearly everything thanks to his elevated positions on the Tel Hermonit hill. So he has to carefully choose his targets. He’s picking off APCs still loaded with infantry for double points, as well as mine clearing PT-54 tanks and MTU-12 bridgelayers.
Again, consider OPEN IN NEW TAB to get best resolution on these images.
Speaking of killing bridgelayers, the first Israeli fighter-bomber streaks in to take out my poor brirdgelayers attached to 81st Armoured. Awww! He’s just a bridgelayer! They barely have guns! And didn’t even shoot at anyone! He just wants to build his little bridges! 🙁
Things get more serious to the north. Okay, by now Damon has clued in to my intentions. The way the overall map is laid out, there really is only one viable path for me to make an operational-scale breakout (the point of the Syrian victory conditions). I can’t swing to the south because the Bental Reservoir blocks my path. I can’t go up the center because he’ll collapse both wings on me and butcher me in a crossfire (PRO TIP – in breakthrough games – never, ever, ever go up the center). That leaves only the north, which Damon now realizes ad commits another four IAF fighter bombers to blunt. This time I put up counterfire (a heavy decision as this counts as opportunity fire, any Syrian unit that uses it will be unable to fire or move <i>next</i> turn). But it turns out to be worth it, I actually shoot down one F4 Phantom! BA-BOOM!
A wide-angle view of the situation at the end of Turn 4. Originally feinting to the center, 78th Armored Brigade now pivots and faces northward to join the 81st Armored in a single titanic shove of Soviet-built steel. There are still over 150 Syrian tanks rushing up, and the range has now closed to within 1000 meters in some places (4 hexes). Also note @damon is bringing up some of his tank platoons off of Booster Ridge to the south. Flexible defense, baby!
Increasingly frantic to keep the Syrians at bay, @damon keeps calling in air strikes. Great, but remember I get 2 VP for each air strike he calls in. That’s just that much LESS air support going to other sectors that probably need it more, like the tragic 188th “Barak Brigade” – historically fighting a battle perhaps even more desperate to the south.
At last, the Syrians … open fire.
With lead Syrian elements of 85th Mechanized and 81st Armored just 750 meters from the edge of the table (upper left), Israeli reserves and Damon’s redeployed tanks off of Booster Ridge to the south are arriving just in time to seal this possible breach.
Seriously, JUST in time, I was within inches of winning the game right here.
In his haste, though, Damon moved one platoon of Sho’t Cals in the open atop t he north shoulder of Tel Hermonit ridge, and T-62s of 81st Armored blew them to kingdom come. A massive frontal fusillade also opens fire on another of Kahalani’s platoons on the top of the ridge, including a hail of dreaded AT-3 “Sagger” guided antitank missiles from that infantry battery hidden in Al Qila. I get on the 7:1 odds column on the Combat Results Table, the deadliest there is, but remember that Damon gets a +2 for hull down shielding and a +2 for Improved Positions (historically, tank firing ramps). This means a total +4 defense bonus on my d6 roll. That a very serious modifier, but I get lucky with a “2” and just barely kill that platoon. That’s two platoons down, a full quarter of Damon’s initial force.
The first crack has appeared, and I’ve got my crowbar pushing in deeper every turn . . .
But my “crowbar” is also crumbling and on fire.
Will I run out of tanks before @damon runs out of time?
