On September 1970, Syria invaded Jordania with an armored force, in an attempt to protect the Palestinians during the "Black September". The were countered by a Jordanian armored brigade with air support, while the Syrian air force did not participate to the invasion. The Jordanians were initially pushed back but with the help of severe airstrikes, they eventually forced back the Syrians.

This historical event inspired a simple solo game with the two-pages, Pz8 1950-75 rules. Here are the orders of battle (a tank fest...) and the scenario victory conditions:
SYRIANS (Green)

20 x T55
5 x PT76
3 x BM21 Kathusha
1 x HQ+Truck

JORDANIAN (Average)

16 x M48 Patton
1 x HQ + M1134 x Jeep + RCL
3 x Field Artillery (Off table)
2+1 D6 x Air-to-Ground Attacks

Targets of Air-to-Ground attacks must be at least 10” from Jordanian units.

Syrians must destroy at least 8 Jordanian units, losing less than 10 of their units. Otherwise it is a Jordanian victory.

In the first turns, Jordanian artillery and airstrikes destroyed two Syrian BM21 batteries (the third did not do too much during the game) and above all, killed the Syrian HQ, meaning that the other Syrian units could not rally when Disorganized or Suppressed. On the other side, the Jordanian guns remained quickly out of ammo.

Syrian PT-76 light tanks (in column along the road) boldy advanced but two platoons were destroyed by the Jordanians recoiless guns; the others decided to withdraw behind the hills, leaving the job to the heavy T55.

One Syrian tank battalion climbed a big hill and slowly advanced towards the village, meeting the fire of the Jordanian M48 from another hill. The green Syrian gunners were not able to inflict any significant casualty to the Jordans, and their advance was halted. 

The other tank battalion moved toward a wood and was targeted by the Jordanian RCLs, this time without success. The jeep rushed away from the wood and another tank battle begun. At short distance and on plain terrain, the Syrians managed to wreck two M48 platoons, but it was not enough. The Syrians had now 10 units destroyed, and this ended the battle. 

I like modern fictional countries for my wargames, because I can make use of whatever cheap model I can grab on e-bay, supplemented by other units from my existing armies.

As you all know, for example, the Desolado desert is disputed since the 19th century between the Bananarama (now People Republic of Bananistan) and the Costa Pobre. Bananistan just launched a suprise attack and occupied the town of El Gordo with its elite unit, the “Diablos” Paratroop Battalion, with an unknown number ATGW and SAM missiles. This vital bridgehead into the enemy territory, is supposed to be soon reinforced by an armoured battalion of old T55 (ex Egyptian surplus). Costa Pobre quickly reacted and sent the “Capitan Raimundo Navarro” Armoured Brigade, with TAM tanks (bought from Argentina), M113s and a squadron of Cobra attack helicopters (both kindly donated by the USA), to take back the town.

I played the game solo, using the Pz8 1975-2010 rules.

Costa Pobre was holding half of the urban area, when the Bananistanos collapsed and withdrew. Total losses were: Costa Pobre 2 helicopters, 1 TAM and 1 infantry units, Bananistan 6 x Paratrooper, 3 x T55 units.

This evening I played one Afghanistan scenario with my old wargaming friend and the  "Pz8 1975-2010" two pages wargaming rules, than can be downloaded from the Pz8 Yahoogroup.

Soviet (Green)
  1x HQ and 9 x Infantry, 10 x BMP-1, 1 x T62, 2 x 2S1 Gvodizka 122mm

Mujahideen (Green for Fire / Elite for Morale)
  1x HQ
  6 x Infantry
  1 x 82mm mortar
  3 x Bunker
  6 x Ambush spots /see scenario notes

Double all distances in the rules.
Deploy the Mujahideen around the base, over the mountain.
Only infantry can move over the mountain: Soviet infantry move at 25% (1”), Mujahideen at 50% (2”).
The mountain is considered “bad ground” for firing effect (-1 to hit). 

Ambush spots (= poker chips) are placed near the road. When a Soviet unit moves within 1” must stop. Roll 1D6: with a result = 4,5,6 the unit is immediately attacked by a Mujahideen infantry unit, that disappears before the Soviets can react. Remove the spot after the D6 roll.

Victory conditions: the Soviet player must destroy at least 6 Mujahideen units, loosing less than 5 of his units. Otherwise it is a Mujahideen victory.

It is difficult to represent this conflict at this level (1 base = platoon) and with very simple rules... but the result was satisfying for us. The "ambush" rule added a bit of suspence to the game and made the Soviet advance slow, while the effect of rough ground, bunkers and Green level of troops, reduced greatly the effect of gunfire, compelling the poor, bloody Soviet infantry to close combat, with high casualties. Now I need to buy and paint, guess what? Yes, of course... Hinds! (or if yo prefer, Крокодил).

With the help of the other wargamers of the Pz8 Yahoogroup, I am developing the Pz8 1975-2010 Two Pages rules for micro armour (a draft version can be downloaded from the Files section). This is a playtest solo game, set between two modern South American imagi-nations (Malaguay and Pizzarra) in the desert of the Sierra Moana.

Malaguay army is a professional force with German equipment, while the Pizzarran are a conscript army with ex-Soviet weapons... could be a Cold War game, indeed. 

Here are the Order of Battle and the data for the various units involved.
Malaguay (Regular)

6 x Leopard 2
6 x Marder (1 is HQ)
2 x M109

Pizzarra (Green)

9 x T80
9 x BMP1 (1 is HQ)
4 x 2S3

                               Move           Range       LRF       S         Att (Soft / Armd)           Defence

Leopard 2                5”                 27”          y          y            3 / 6                           6

Marder                    6”                 12”                                    2 / 3                           2

M109                      4”                 40”                                    5 / 3                           1

T80                        5”                  27”        y            y            3 / 6                           6           

BMP1                      6”                 15”                                    2 / 3                           1

2S3                        4”                 40”                                    5 / 3                           2

ATGW                                         30”                                     - / 5

LRF = Laser Range Finder S = Stabilization System

Marder & T80 have 1 ATGW (Anti Tank Guided Weapon) each


Malaguay wins if destroys 7 enemy units, Pizzarra wins if destroys 5 enemy units.

The battle started with a salvo of ATGW at extreme range from the Pizzarran, without effect. Then the Pizzarran force advanced, under fire from the Malaguayan Leopard 2. First T80 and Leopard 2 units were destroyed, with both forces moving to take cover in the rough ground areas.

The regular Malaguayan managed to score more hits, but the Pizzarran enjoyed a larger volume of fire. Malaguayan Marder fired their ATGW and hit some enemy units, but some of their Leopards were destroyed while still in the open desert. 

Battle continued with both forces firing at long distance from cover, and with the Pizzarran scoring loads of 6s! Malaguayans switched target and fired to the distant enemy self-propelled artillery, destroying two units. 

Seeing three Leopard units burning in the desert, the overconfident Pizzarran T80 advanced, but did the same ending... and that ended the battle too.

Losses were: Malaguay 3 x Leopard 2 and 1 x M109; Pizzarra 5 x T80, 2 x 2S3.

Overall a fun game... if you are found of two-pages modern rules!

There was some discussion on the Pz8 Yahoogroup about the Pz8 WW2 Divisional rules. As a result I made some changes (a revised .doc file can be downloaded from the Files section of the group) and made a test solo game. Since I think that this simple set (only two pages) may be used for pre-WW2 and post-WW2 conflicts too, I arranged a (sketchy) scenario about the battle of Abu-Ageila, during the Six Day War (1967).

Israeli (Regular, except Paratroopers = Elite) 

 HQ

• 1 Centurion Btg (Slow / Heavy Tanks) + 1 Paratrooper Btg ( Motor Infantry) + 3 Artillery Btg
• 1 Super Sherman  Btg (Medium Tanks) + 1 AMX 13 Btg (Fast / Light Tanks) + 2 Motor Infantry Btg + 3 Artillery Btg

Egyptian (Green)

HQ

• 1 Infantry Btg + 1 SU 100 Btg + 1 Artillery Btg
  
• 2 Infantry Btg + 1 T34/85 Btg + 2 Artillery Btg
  
• 2 Infantry Btg + 1 T34/85 Btg + 2 Artillery Btg
  

EGYPTIAN INFANTRY deploy in Fortifications
EGYPTIAN/ISRAELI INFANTRY add + 1 vs tanks
SU 100 add + 1 vs tanks
EGYPTIAN/ISRAELI ARTILLERY units have 4 turns of fire


VICTORY CONDITIONS: Israeli must occupy Abu-Ageila within the end of the day, loosing less than 3 units; or destroy at least 6 Egyptian units. Otherwise it is an Egyptian victory.

The IDF advanced towards the North and Central Egyptian positions and engaged them on turn 3, after one turn of ineffective artillery preparation. Centurions and Paratroopers crushed the northern enemy defences, meeting only some resistance from the SU 100 tank-hunters. In the central area, things went badly instead for the Israeli, that lost all their Motorized infantry before clearing the Egyptian fortifications. The T34/85 Btg counterattacked and engaged the Super Shermans in a long fight, while the AMX 13 Btg was badly treated by artillery fire and compelled to withdraw out of range, for rallying. 

In the following turns, the Paratroopers Btg rushed towards Abu-Ageila, followed by the slow Centurion tanks, while from the South the Egyptian T34/85 and Artillery moved to hinder the fatigued Israeli tanks. This was the situation after Turn 9, when a D6 roll = 5 ended the day.

The changes discussed in the Pz8 Yahoogroups worked well, but I am not still 100% satisfied about the rules.   There is still some work to do about Artillery, for example. I will do other games before publishing a revised version on this website, together with another project: the Pz8 1975-10 Two Pages wargaming rules (a first draft of these too, can be downloaded in the Files section of the group).

I got from e-bay a number of 6mm Cold War Soviets and after repainting and basing them, they don't look bad. But since I have not NATO armies, I decided to use them for battles between two fictional nations, born after the collapse of the Soviet empire: Laskovia and Unionistan.

The two countries have a sizeable, if obsolete, armoured force, inherited from the USSR Reserve Army that stationed there. In this scenario, the Laskovian are defending a town against the Unionistani offensive.

Unionistan

5 x PT76
6 x T62
12 x BMP1 + Infantry 
1 HQ + Truck

Roll 2D6 = nr. BMP with (1) Anti Tank Guided Weapon

Laskovia

4 x T72
10 x T55
4 x 2S1
6 x Infantry (inside the town)
1 HQ + Truck


T72 are not included in the Pz8 1950-1975 rules (my fault!), here are the data I used for this tank:

Move =  6”    /  Range = 18”   /   Attack (soft-armoured)   3 - 6   / Defence   6 

All units are Green. Table is 120 x 80 cm.

Victory conditions: destroy at least 10 enemy armoured units; or for Unionistani,  take the town with their infantry.

The battle started with the advance of the Unionistani, shelled at long distance by the Laskovian self-propelled artillery, with no effect. Three BMP1 fired their ATGW but missed... uh-oh.

Unionistani PT76 took cover in the fields around the village. Unionistani T62 and Laskovian T72 approached and opened fire. One Ladskovian armoured unit was immediately destroyed and the over confident Unionistani BMPs ran towards the wood on their right... but two units were destroyed by the Laskovian 2S1.

The fratricide combat between the T62 and the T72 continued at short distance, while another wave of BMP1 entered the wood on the left, planning to shot at the T72 from the side/rear. On the right side, the BMP1 inside the wood realized that were really in trouble; their last ATGW hit but merely disorganized the enemy tanks... and a whole battalion of Laskovian T55 encircled their position!

Three units of T62 were destroyed and one was disorganized. Behind the black smoke from his burning PT76 in the fields, the Unionistan commander opened another bottle of vodka and waited for the inevitable catastrophe. The Laskovian destroyed 11 enemy armoured units, losing only two T72 units. The town is save!

... & Jeep with 106mm Recoiless guns... for this Saturday game I dusted off my 1965 Pakistani and Indian armies. The 2nd Kashmir War was the theatre of some of the biggest tank battles after WW2 and is very interesting for the mix of Western vehicles fielded, with some Soviet PT76 added if you want.

- This scenario is very straightforward, with no terrain features except a line of fields in the middle. 


Pakistani (Green)

3 x M24 Chaffee

8 x M47 Patton ( 1 is HQ)

8 x M48 Patton

Indian (Green)

3 x Jeep + RCL 106mm

8 x Centurion (1 is HQ)

8 x Sherman w/76mm

Jeep w/RCL deploy in the fields (not seen over 5” if they don’t shoot)

Pakistani Objective: destroy at least 6 Indian Tank unit

Indian Objective: destroy at least 6 Pakistan Tank unit

The game was fast and I must admit, a bit too simple. Pakistani armour came within 5" from the fields and the Jeeps fired their recoiless guns, failing the targets and receiving immediately one hell of fire from the Patton tanks. With all the 3 Jeeps units destroyed, the Pakistani occupied the fields and started to target the slow Indian Centurions at distance, enjoying the cover. Indians had to come at half range and try to hit the Pakistani with a "six", exposing the old Shermans in the open to the fire coming from the fields. After some turns, 4 Indian tank units were reduced to wrecks and three others were Suppressed, including the HQ, while the Pakistani had only one Patton unit destroyed and one Suppressed. At this time I gave the victory to the Pakistani, since the dinner was ready!

Next time I will play this scenario, I think I will force the Pakistani to exit the fields to reach one objective, for example a village behind the Indian Armour.

The Soccer War (1969) was a brief armed conflict between El Salvador and Honduras. It was the last time when aircrafts with piston engines fought each others. Both air forces used F4U Corsairs (El Salvador had also  P51 Mustangs); mine are plastic 1/700 from the Aoshima Royal Naval Planes kit, that gives you 32 planes (Swordfish, F4 Wildcat, Supermarine Seafire and the F4U Corsairs) at a very cheap price.

These 1/700 models are tiny (even more than the 1/600 aircrafts I already have in my collection) and not really detailed, but you can paint them fast. I used the Wings Palette website as a reference, a real treasure for all wargamers and modellers. A detailed account of the air operations of this little war can be found in the ACIG website.

I played one game solo using the Pz8 1935-65 Aerial Rules. I started with 2 x Honduran F4U Corsairs (painted overall dark blue with light blue and white national markings) on one corner of the gaming board, and 2 x Salvadoran F4U Corsairs (camouflaged and with distinctive yellow stripes) on the opposite corner. All pilots are Green. After the turn 3, a D6 = 6 means that 2 other F4U Corsairs (Honduran or Salvadoran) enter the board from the same corners.


In the picture you see one damaged Honduran plane trying to escape from the board edge, pursued by the Salvadoran enemy. it was at this point that other 2 Salvadoran Corsairs joined the battle, giving no escape to the poor Honduran pilot. His colleague tried to flee away from the 4 enemies but just when he reached the edge, other 2 blue Corsairs arrived... too late! With one enemy killed and a superiority of 2:1, it was a Salvadoran victory. It was a fun game that I will play again.

A brief report of two quick solo games with the Pz8 Aerial Wargaming Rules, 1935-65 and 1/600 models. Each airplane is marked with a card symbol and activated when that card is drawn. This make a fun game even without a real opponent... in fact I lost both battles!

In the first game I had 4 British Hawker Hunter (Average pilots) against 6 Egyptian MIG 15 (Green pilots except the MIG marked with the Ace, that was Average... a Soviet pilot in disguise?).

The two squadrons deployed on opposite corners and then the air battle begun. With fast jets on such a small surface, the fight is fast and furious. The green Egyptian pilot were disadvantaged at long range firing, but their number (and a very bad luck for the British) at the end gained a victory... all the Hunters were destroyed, at the loss of 3 MIGs and another damaged one.

In the second game, I experimented a kind of scenario and some quick rules for ground attacks, and they worked rather well. The objective of a Squadron of 3 Israeli Ouragan w/rockets (2 Average, 1 Veteran) was the  Egyptian column in the middle of the board. The small red dice, each showing a number from 1 to 6, indicate the possible entry point of a Squadron of 4 Egyptian Vampires (Green). From turn 2, roll 1 D6 = 5,6 = the Egyptian jets enter the table.


The Vampires arrived from the first D6 roll (ooops!), and surprised the Ouragan while preparing their ground attack the lowest altitude level... one of the Israeli pilots managed to shoot his rockets and destroyed the head of the column, but then was Damaged and crashed. The other two encountered a similar fate, without killing any other ground objective. A sad day for the IAF!


Here are the add-on rules (I did not still playtest the Dive bombers rule...):


Ground Attacks
Ground Attacks can be done instead of firing, when one aircraft ends its movement in one hex adjacent to a Target. Select type of attack: Bomb(s) / Rockets (once in a game) or Strafing.



Roll 1 D6 – Alt Level, - 1 if the aircraft expended more than 3 MPs in that turn. Exception: Dive bombers must attack from their max Alt Level, and simply roll 1D6 -1.



Target is Destroyed with a result = 3-5 if using Rockets, 4-5 if using Bomb(s), 5 if Strafing. If the D6 roll = unmodified 1, the Aircraft is Destroyed by AA fire.



Aircrafts carrying Bombs or Rockets subtract - 1 from their MPs and max. Altitude and can’t change direction 180°, until they deliver them.