Battle Report - AAR for Fate of a Nation

Hello hello...

Recently our club decided to move ahead with a Fate of a Nation campaign, however the GM decided to base it on the Tank Aces model to give that system and the more modern force lists a try.  In July we had the opportunity for Arab and Israeli forces to meet and go toe-to-toe.

Using the Tank Aces was a fun idea (we also ran an Infantry Aces Italian campaign that was very successful) but there were some definite quarks to the system that had some pro and con game play issues...none of which took away from the overall enjoyment and fun of the day.  As always, miniature battles are much more fun to play than the real ones!!

Anyhow, I arrived at the day with a T55 Arab tank force as well as an Israeli Isherman tank force ready for action.  We needed an extra IDF player, so I volunteered to play the long guns.  The GM was press ganged into action partway into the morning when another IDF player showed up so he took my T55 horde for a spin...

All in all, I played 3 games, with the first one being waaaaaaaaaaaay longer than the other 2 combined...

Game 1: my first opponent was a mixed Arab tank force, composed of T34's, IS3's, and a few ISU 100's (?).  Needless to say they easily had 4:1 odds on my 5 Ishermans.  The most difficult thing with playing this force in this game system was the inability to shoot at an entire platoon/company.  With Tank Aces, each tank is an independent team...this means you can only target one tank at a time...as well, I had forgotten one of the abilities of the IDF (re-roll failed to-hits when over 16" and stationary) which certainly cost me some kills...regardless, the game was fun, I think I killed approx. 10-13 tanks (memory is a little foggy), but we ran out of time...my company commander was still alive at the end however...

Deployment...IDF on the right, Arab forces on the left in the ville...

 

Turn 1...shooting by IDF, none by Arab forces...more bails than kills...these bails would haunt me...the IS3's were very very tough to crack.

 

Turn 2...IS3's remount and get themselves into the fight...T34's take some more pain, but keep on chugging

 

Turn 3+...IDF guns hitting far, managed to get some kills on the IS3's.  These 3's took the bulk of my focus, bordering on obsession...they definitely interrupted my shooting cycles.

More long range gunnery... 

Game 2: Without a lie, this game literally took 5 minutes...I'd like to say that the vastly outnumbered IDF tanks took the fight to the enemy and through guts and determination were able to soundly defeat their foe...I'd like to say...

The IDF brought the fight to their foe...and were soundly crushed by an Arab horde of T34's...I think the number came in at 25+...25 T34's!!!!

Israeli right flank...

 

 

Israeli left and centre (left)...right flank (above)...Arab horde of T34's

The horde on the move...IDF shooting is ineffective...here they come!!!

 

Their shooting is much more effective...something to do with volumes (?!?)

Closing the loop on the company commander...one brewed up T34 off in the distance...

Game 3: This game took longer than 5 minutes...however it was the IDF's turn to lay out a spanking.  I was up against 5 Jordanian M48's...in this situation, it all came down to deployment and who would win the initiative to shoot first.  Deployment was like a mirror...after I placed my first tank, my opponent placed his in a shooting position, I then placed my next tank to cover his first tank, and he then did the same, which I repeated, etc, etc.

It really came down to who was going to be able to shoot first.  This time, I was very lucky on the roll, was able to shoot first and effectively removed the immediate threats to my tanks in turn one.  Actually, I think I knocked out 3 of his 5 tanks in turn one...the remaining 2 turns were spent mopping up and hunting his remaining tanks down.

The IDF get some payback in this one...taken part way through turn 1...

As I said, a lot of fun was had on this day...I like the Arab-Israeli lists...I enjoyed the Tank Aces...I even enjoyed the relative mayhem that the rules caused...all in all, a great gaming day.

Take care folks.

What's Next:

WW1 German troops in 28mm...currently on the painting bench, hoping to have them finished by end of the weekend.