A Wargaming blog chronicling the campaigns of the Israeli Defense force from 1948's War of Independence through the Border Wars, the 1956 Suez Crisis, the War of Attrition, the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the 1982 War in Lebanon, through the various incursions one way or the other in the present day. This will be done at skirmish scale in 15mm.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Introduction

All,

Greetings, and welcome to another new wargaming blog.  This is my fifth; here's what I have going so far:

-Blackhawkhet, where it all started.  Lots of batreps from various projects/campaigns, and a catalog of all my painting.  Every now and again I place minis for sale there as well.

-Cuba Libre, my major ongoing splinter campaign.  The concept is that Cuban exiles staged an invasion of Cuba in 1990 and overthrew the Castro regime, then set out on a crusade to fight for freedom and democracy worldwide.

-Island Hopping with the Old (Lead) Breed, a blog following a platoon of US Marines and a US Marine fighter squadron throughout WWII, from the Fall of the Philippines through the Solomons, the Central Pacific, and finishing in Okinawa.

-The Hakuna-Matata Wars, a blog chronicling a pair of post-WWII African Imagi-Nations fighting it out in 3mm from 1950 to present.

So, why another blog?  Because I can't stay focused and overcommit myself to projects.  This blog will follow a platoon of Israeli soldiers through that country's various wars.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a political blog, or any other type of blog attempting make a political statement.  While I admit to having an affinity for Israel, the point here is that this is a toy soldier blog and will be used to document battle reports  of games played using toy soldiers.  I will be playing fictitious battles of real wars, or fictitious engagements of real battles, but I will not be making any political commentary and I would appreciate it if you don't either. 

My overall plan is as follows:

-The War of Independence, 1948-1949: play maybe ten or so games following a group of villagers defending themselves that end up being incorporated into the Haganah (the pre-cursor to the IDF).

-Play a few of the cross-border actions, 1950-1955.

-The Suez Crisis, 1956: the platoon is now part of an airborne brigade and takes part in the push to the Suez Canal, maybe half a dozen fights.

-Play a few of the cross-border actions as part of the War of Attrition, 1956-1966.

-The Six-Day War, 1967: continuing as a paratrooper platoon, maybe a dozen fights pushing south into the Sinai, then coming back to take Jerusalem and then airlifted to the Golan.

-Probably play a few more of the cross-border actions in the War of Attrition, 1968-1972.

-The Yom Kippur War, 1973.  Not sure yet where I'll place them (down south or up north), but probably ten or so fights.

-The 1978 Lebanon War, 1978.  Take part in the invasion of Lebanon as part of Operation Litani, probably only a few fights.

-The War in Lebanon I, 1982.  Take part in the invasion of Lebanon, probably face off against the Syrians in Operation Peace for Galilee.

-The War in Lebanon II.  Not sure what year yet, but we'll say the platoon went home in 1983, then returned later for another tour in Lebanon, this time dealing with Hezbollah in Beirut.

-The First Intifida, 1987-1993.  Have a few fights in Gaza Strip and/or West bank.

-The Second Intifada, 2000-2005.  Have a few fights in Gaza Strip and/or West bank.

-The Israeli-Hezbollah War, 2006.  Have a few fights in Lebanon against Hezbollah.

-The Gaza War, 2008-2009.  Have a few fights in Gaza Strip as part of Operation Cast Lead.

-The 2014 Gaza War, 2014.  Have a few fights in the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Protective Edge.

To be honest, I'm not sure how committed I am to any of the above after 1982, but I definitely will get at least to that point.  I plan on playing these out in 15mm, squad-sized battles using Ivan's "Five Men at Kursk" (modified a bit).  I'll probably shift between playing on 2' x 2', 3' x 2', and 4' x 4' fights, we'll see.  I also like the idea of following a fighter squadron through all this; Me-109s to Mustangs to Mirages to F-15s sounds cool, but that's probably a bit ambitious with all the other stuff I have going on.

So, whaddaya think?

V/R,
Jack

4 comments:

  1. Do you anticipate using armor?
    How do you plan to adapt the rules to changing weaponry (ie: from bolt action to assault rifles,etc.)?

    Good luck!
    - Pan Marek

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    1. Pan,

      Thanks for the comments. I do intend on using some vehicles, and the rules cater to them, though it is definitely primarily an infantry game. For me, vehicles on the table will mostly be props, there in a limited fashion for a very specific purpose.

      Regarding the move from bolt action to assault rifles, I look at it the same was as Force on Force: the issue isn't 'what is the difference between a bolt action rifle and an assault rifle?' The question is, what is the difference in relative capability? So, for my purposes, if both sides are using bolt action rifles, than this rifle = that rifle, and the same thing if both sides are using assault rifles. The only time I would have to factor in a difference in table top capability would be if one side had bolt action rifles and the other assault rifles, but I don't see that happen as both sides have bolt action rifles in the War of Independence and the Suez Crisis (1956), but then go to FNs vs AKs for 1967 and 1973, Galils vs AKs for 1982, etc... So, for me, parity in arms, which means your average rifleman is primarily firing with 1K 1S.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  2. Very ambitious. I'd probably call an end after 1982 if I was you, you have more than enough to do to even reach that point as it is.

    Do the air stuff too, please. Me-109's with star of David markings, how can you not do that?:)

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    Replies
    1. Vicki,

      Yes Ma'am, I seem to be overly ambitious quite a bit, don't I? ;) And you're probably right about post-1982, but we'll see, we're still a long way off that.

      And you're killing me! Trust me, I really want to do air combat, I just don't know how I'll fit it in, time-wise. Plus I'd need to buy and paint some new stuff.

      V/R,
      Jack

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