Sabre Squadron - Arab-Israeli

I don't only do horse and musket. WWII or modern games involving tanks also meet my criteria for interesting tabletop wargames. In the 19th century, it is infantry, cavalry and artillery that provide the balanced triad that produces suitably complex tactical challenges and interesting games; in the 20th century, tanks take over from cavalry and the same applies.

I have therefore been angling for a while to get in a game of Sabre Squadron. This is a ruleset for company-level wargames "from the Cold War to the Digital Age". This week Nick O finally obliged and ran one for us.

The background was the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The scenario was set on the west side of the Suez Canal, after the Israelis had counterattacked across it. I was given a company of Israeli Centurions and a company of paratroopers to seize a bridge across an irrigation canal in the Egyptian rear. Will's Egyptian infantry company and supporting armour was tasked with holding it.

This kept us amused for three hours. It was two games in one. First, the superior quality of Centurion tanks and Israeli crews blasted the Egyptians out of the objective and shrugged off the Saggers and T-55s trying to stop them. Then the Israeli paras ensconced themselves on the objective, a load more T-55s tried to counterattack, Israeli quality again beat Egyptian / Soviet quantity.

Here are some photos of the action. Reflections at the end include my impression of the rules.

View from the Israeli entry edge: an idyllic scene of date palms and canal-side villages, about to be disturbed by the clank of armour and the rumble of guns.

I brought my force on in balanced formation: one tank platoon either side of the road, one leading the mechanised paras up the road, HQ tanks central.

Egyptian infantry about to leap into their defensive positions in the village. All figures Heroics & Ros. Nick says he painted them when he was a teenager. Does that make them veterans?

Meet Mr Sagger! The Soviet AT-3 wire-guided antitank missile was a nasty shock for the Israelis. Fortunately Will only had these couple and I managed to dispatch them without loss.

One platoon plus HQ on overwatch while the infantry push through the date palms towards the village.

Egyptian reaction: one T-55 platoon rumbles up the road ...

... and another takes position on the rise behind the village. I told Will I wasn't sure whether the T in T-55 stood for "Target" or "Terrible".

Nevertheless, I showed some respect and shifted my central platoon right with a view to adding to my firepower there.

Big beasts among the trees: paras about to debus at the plantation edge, with a Centurion platoon in support.

The paras draw fire from the village and also from another Egyptian company in the plantation beyond it to the left. A column of smoke on the road reveals what's about to happen. Having already seen off the Saggers, the Centurions will wipe out the T-55s and the infantry in the village. Our only loss will be one Centurion in the plantation disabled by artillery fire.

After that emphatic and rather one-sided success, we reset. My paras occupied the village to hold the bridge. Some of my Centurions were deemed withdrawn for business elsewhere. Will got to bring on another couple of companies of T-55s to counterattack. 

Coming on in the same old way. Who'd volunteer to lead an Egyptian tank column? This lefthand Egyptian company did eventually manage to register a few hits on HQ troop but didn't actually break any Centurions before being seen off.

The righthand company advanced past the plantations, killed a Centurion (the artillery took out a couple more) and pummeled the paras a bit, but not enough to winkle them out. Then it too went up in flames.

Reflections

Nice to Push Some Tanks Around. I do like a decent tank battle now and again. (And it's healthy to play something other than BBB occasionally too.) Tanks have so much character. And they do make a battle move along.

Hidden Deployment/Movement? It would be even more interesting to play this with a bit more fog of war: hidden deployment for the defender, maybe hidden movement for one side or both. Something to think about for next time.

Terrain. Nick's terrain was simple but effective. Most of our BBB games are on green fields, so his desert table looked exotic. I particularly liked the palm trees.

The Rules.  The rules worked well. Troops can move useful distances across the table. We had tactical choices to make. Moderns being moderns, there were necessarily some stats to look up for tank armour and gun penetration initially, but once we'd got these down, firing was slick and quick to resolve. I like the morale system, which allows a chance of catastrophic failure. The on-table results felt plausible. All in all, I'd be happy to play Sabre Squadron again.