CWC Game at GAJO

Russ staged a huge Cold War Commander game on a non-club night, pitting Israelis against a coalition of Arabs in the 1970's. He used a modified scenario from the old Avalon Hill boardgame Arab-Israeli Wars. I get a strange satisfaction from playing the Jordanians, so I got that part of the coalition, which also consisted of Iraqi and Syrian armor. Mine was the smaller force. The main view above is from the Syrian position as their armor and mech infantry head for a town in the center of the board. The Israelis will be coming down the open area along the ridge on the right. The Iraqis are attacking toward the town from the left. My Jordanians are in place off table to their left (close to the store door).

Above is shown the Israeli deployment. Vast Quantities of Centurions and mech infantry race towards the town and the Syrian side of the table in the background, while a task force of M50s and halftrack-mounted infantry move to intercept Iraqi armor skirting to the left of the town. 

Syrian armor advancing to meet the Israeli threat. Not only was there a ton of Russ-provided minis, but Bart and Dennis supplied a huge number of minis as well.  Unfortunately, the Syrians would experience difficulties with command orders today. Their advance was slowed.

The M50 group encounters Iraqi tank battalions coming at the Israelis from the flank. Some of the Super Shermans and infantry got caught deploying and suffered casualties.  Notice that there is no sign of the Jordanians yet, which are sitting off-table at the bottom of the picture. In the distance, the Israelis were first into the town and were fighting off Iraqi assaults.

The Shermans give back as good as they get. These Shermans were able to hold back the Iraqi flank attack while the Centurions off camera to the left engaged the Syrians at long range. And why no Jordanians yet?  Because I had secret orders to hold back. It seems that the Jordanians in the real battle that this scenario represents held back in real life. You see, their brigade general refused to take orders from the lower-ranking Iraqi commander. In the very far distance the Syrians are sending a real general to give the Jordanians their orders. So got to sit and throw a quiet tantrum at my fellow players!  Actually I'm just the kind of player to give such a command, I love these little role-play bits.

From the Israeli left flank point of view. The Centurions are dueling at long range with the Syrian tank hordes while infantry repulse Iraqi infantry from the town.

Syrian mech infantry finally getting near the town. They still had trouble getting in. Faulty memory at work here, but I believe they were held off by artillery.

Israeli infantry deployed in town. The Centurions in the background will be shortly suffering severe casualties.

Syrian armor taking occasional hits and more often than not insufficient command rolls. However, their long-range fire is taking a steady toll on the Israelis.

Finally, a BTR with a Syrian general arrives and issues battle orders to the Jordanian brigadier. Satisfied at last, the Jordanians drive forward into the flank of the M50s. The Jordanians were blessed with very good command rolls, and the mech infantry battalion surged forward hoping to seize rocky terrain to the left of the picture. Their job would be to blunt Israeli reinforcements, seen assembling in the distance. The Jordanian Centurions attacked what was left of the M50s, practically destroying everything left. They would next encounter a counterattack of Israeli Centurions. Unfortunately, time ran out and the game was called slightly in favor of the Arab coalition.

Figures and vehicles are 15mm Quality Castings, QRF, and Old Glory. Terrain mostly hand-crafted and set up by Chris and Dennis at GAJO. Sorry for some of the fuzzier photos.