Israeli Tanks: Strengths and Weaknesses

Fate Of A Nation gives players a wide range of tank options for building their Israeli force. Because of the variety, trimming the list down might be harder than it seems depending on your preferences and criteria. Right now I have a little of everything painted, but these lists will require me to add some extra models if I want to maximise the performance of the Formations.

For now, I am using history to guide me as I want to paint more Sho't tanks (Centurions) and Isherman (105mm) tanks as I am going for a Golan Heights based Force. However, I am going to want to paint a bit more of everything in time so I can do whatever I want, or just play really big games!

To help guide me with my painting prioritisation I thought I look at each of the tanks that the Israelis can field and share my thoughts.

Tank X vs T-54

I am going to use the good old T-54 as my baseline enemy tank. Whilst the Arab nations can field other options I think the T-54 provides a good enemy for comparison and is likely to be the most common tank that players will face. A Syrian T-54 comes in a little over 4 points per tank and has a Courage and Remount of 4+, with a Morale of 3+, whilst the Skill is a base of 6 with improved Assault (5+) and excellent Counterattack of 3+. Finally, it is Hit On 3+.

The T-54 has good armour with Front 13, Side, 9 and Top 2, whilst the gun is average with a Range of 32"/80cm, Rate Of Fire (ROF) 1 across the board, AT 16, Firepower (FP) 2+, HEAT (no long range penalty to the AT value) but Slow Firing (+1 to Hit when moving). Rush to a position and then concentrate fire is the order of the day when playing with T-54 tanks.


Sho't vs T-54
The Sho't comes in two varieties, the original 20pdr version (8pts each) that was fairly uncommon even in 1967, or the much improved 105mm version (9pts each). What differentiates the two versions in terms of stat lines is that the 105mm has a higher AT (18 vs 16), Firepower (2+ vs 3+) and has the Brutal rule which means infantry, guns and so on need to re-roll successful saves.

Comparing it with the T-54 we see that the 20pdr gun is slightly better than the T-54s 100mm gun, with better Range, better ROF, and the Accurate rule (no long range penalty). However, the T-54 does claw a little back with slightly improved Firepower and the HEAT rule. The 105mm version is clearly superior on all counts.

Turning to the rest of their details, they both have the same Front Armour (13), whilst the T-54 has slightly better Side (9 vs 6). The T-54 is slightly improved in terms of its Dash speeds but the Sho't has an excellent Cross of 2+. In terms of the crews it comes as no surprise that the Israeli crews have equal or better Courage and Skill across the board.

For the points I think the Sho't (105mm) is easily the best buy. They should out shoot a pair or T-54 tanks every time, whilst I think a pair of T-54 tanks vs a Sho't (20pdr) is a much closer match up. Forcing the T-54 tanks to come to you, even if they get off the first shot should still result in you winning the firefight. Just remember though you don't have many so each loss is costly.

Magach vs T-54
Much like the Sho't, the Magach can come with a 90mm gun (7pts each) which has the same stat lines as the Sho't 20pdr, or the upgraded 105mm version (10pts each) that has the exact same gun as the Sho't (a British L7 105mm gun).

As the guns are the same, the differences in points is driven by an increase in Side Armour on the Magach (8 vs the Sho'ts 6), higher Dash speeds but slightly lower remount (4+ on the Magach vs 3+ on the Sho't).

Frankly all of these changes are bad news for the T-54 as it means that in the areas where the T-54 eclipsed the Sho't, the Magach narrows the gap. In terms of battlefield performance I think it comes down play style, although the Magach (90mm) does look pretty effective for its points.


Magach 6 vs T-54
Magach 6 is the Israeli designation for the US built M60 tank. Israel had a relatively small number of these at the start of the 1973 war and received emergency shipments from the US stocks in Europe. The tank is armed with a 105mm gun and the stat line is the same as other Israeli 105mm armed tanks, but it has even more armour (Front 15) making it impenetrable at long range when engaging in firefights with T-54 tanks. However, Sagger

teams will still cause some consternation thanks to their AT18 missiles.

So why would you even bother with the other tanks if this is the wonder weapon of the IDF? Two reasons jump to mind; they are 12 points each making them very expensive and whilst I feel they are worth their points it means you are not going to have many of them on the table and if you start rolling 1's you might find a tank or two dead and (assuming you are playing 100 point games) then the relatively small platoon sizes will start causing you to take tests to stay on the table. The second reason is simple history. They weren't there in 1967 if that is where your interest sits.

Sherman (75mm) and Isherman (105mm)
Putting my cards on the table here, Isherman (105mm) are the absolute best looking tanks in the game. End. Of. Story! 


Sherman (75mm) tanks are good old fashioned World War II Sherman tanks with an upgraded French made 75mm gun that was influence by the German Panther 75mm gun. With 36"/ 90cm range it is more than good enough, ROF 2/1, AT14 (bit low for killing T-54 tanks) and Firepower 3+. Great for hunting everything except front line Arab armour.


Isherman (105mm) tanks are the same Shermans but with a few upgrades, starting with a very long 105mm gun that bumps the AT up to 17, Firepower up to 2+, adds HEAT (so no armour penetration penalty for long range) and Brutal which is great for killing enemy Sagger teams.

Both tanks have average Courage and Skill ratings (identical to the Sho't) of 4+/3+/3+ and 3+/4+/3+ but thanks to their heritage have terrible armour ratings of Front 6, Side 4 and Top 1. Both versions have a Cross of 3+, with the Isherman (105mm) mitigating its overly long gun with HVSS style suspension (think Easy 8 from WWII).

Where they truly shine though is that they come in at 3 and 4 points respectively. A 10 tank company, with support platoon and integrated mortar battery will be around 55 points making it a great foundational Formation for your army, or a cheap backup Formation if you strip back the numbers.

Don't have a stand up fight in the open against T-54 tanks as the disparity of armour values will result in a poor result for the Shermans.

Tiran 5
During the 1967 war the Israelis captured many T-54 tanks from the Arabs. Short of modern tanks they pressed these into service under the designation of Tiran (Tyrant). In Fate Of A Nation they have been significantly modernised adding improved weapon systems (the traditional 105mm gun and extra machine-guns), new engines, gun sights as well as crew comfort improvements.

So how does the Israeli "T-54" compare with the Arab/Soviet one? First up the Tiran-5 comes in at 7 points each vs 4.3 each for the Syrian model. They both have the same armour values but the Tiran packs an AT 18 gun (with Brutal and Smoke) but still has the drawback of of the cramped T-54 turret leading to ROF 1/1 and Slow Firing. So mobile engagements are not going to be high on your list. However, since the Syrian T-54 has the same penalties but only AT16 it is still looking good for the Israeli player.

Despite a new engine both versions still have the same movement stats, but the Israeli version does still win out on the Courage and Skill side, although the stats are the same as most other Israeli tanks.

The Tiran 5 looks good, but this is a really close decision for me as to which is actually better. The Tiran should win the shoot-out thanks to the higher AT making it approximately twice as likely to kill the T-54 (at close range) than vice versa. However the Slow Firing and low ROF means it is less suitable for a mobile engagement that an Israeli force will have to be ready for against a much more numerous opponent. Either way a shoot out between the two tanks will be entertaining.

AMX-13

Another favourite of mine, the AMX-13 is (like the Sherman tank) outclassed by the T-54. With the same gun as the Sherman (75mm) and Front Armour of 4 there is no shoot out that these are going to win.

However, they are only 2 points a pop and fairly fast when Dashing (24"/ 60cm Cross Country) which means that whilst they cannot win a head-to-head fight, they are a cheap support Formation (10 tanks for 20 points) that can harass all of the Syrian support units and if they get around the flank of a T-54 their guns will penetrate like a hot knife through butter.

Conclusion
So which one (or ones) are the best? Good question that. I think that it really comes down to how you want to play but you should really be looking at either some Magach or Sho't tanks, and in both cases it is hard to beat the 105mm armed versions thanks to their increased killing power.

I still love the Isherman (105mm) though and think they make an excellent addition for some cheap firepower, just don't let them get caught in the open.

1967 vs 1973: So What To Field...

Over the previous weekend I spotted a few people asking about which models or units they should field, assuming they were planning on building a force based on either a specific battle, or for a '67 game vs a '73 game. I was tempted to start putting together a list based on a combination of my general knowledge and a little extra reading. Luckily for me Michael McSwiney, one of the writers of the updated edition had been thinking the same thing and started work on his own version.

From a rules perspective these in service dates are strictly optional and based on what I currently have painted at the moment I won't be getting too carried away with them as I'd rather keep working on the models for now rather than restricting my gaming options. However they do provide a great resource if you are looking to build a new army with some specific plans in mind.

The links:
Miniature Ordnance Review (Michael's blog)...
Israeli Forces...
Jordanian Forces...
Egyptian Forces...
Syrian Forces...

Time to start planning on what to paint next.

"Israel vs Syria: Fighting For The Golan", A Series Introduction

This weekend will see the release of Fate Of A Nation, this time brought up to Team Yankee standard and with the inclusion of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Bringing the Arab-Israeli Wars (AIW) in to Flames Of War was something of an obsession for me and I can happily take some of the credit for the initial inclusion after relentlessly and repeatedly reminding people that after the success of our Vietnam releases, AIW would be a great place to turn next. After all it was a period that many gamers recognise, it featured the worlds superpowers fighting over proxy battlefields, and when it came down to it, it was about tanks duelling it out. Perfect for a Flames Of War conversion!

I've tried to pin down the root cause of my obsession or passion and I have no solid idea as to why. I have no recollection of the actual events, both wars happened shortly before my birth and the global impact never really affected me (that I remember). I do recall reading a series of magazines called "War in Peace" and being struck by the destruction of so many tanks as the Syrians pushed across the Israeli built anti-tank ditch in the Valley of Tears.

I am sure that reading about the efforts of a relatively small number of tank crews fighting against overwhelming odds would have left quite the impression on a budding wargamer. The greater history of the conflict no doubt partially lost on me at the time.

Once we received the initial go-ahead to write the very first version of Fate Of A Nation (obviously the name as stuck through multiple printings and revisions) we began to review what was actually required from a workflow perspective. We knew that it was going to be a big job, but so great was the passion to complete it that a number of us volunteered to paint the armies required for the initial photography. Casey stepped forward to paint the Egyptians (closest thing to the Soviets at the time), Evan took on the job of painting the Jordanian armour, whilst Victor took care of the infantry and guns, whilst I charged forward to do the majority of Israelis. Being involved in this original project was certainly one of my favourite experiences of my time at Battlefront.

Find out how I painted my Israelis here...

Jumping forward 4 years and we found ourselves in a similar situation with a new version of Fate Of A Nation being put together, this time with much of the initial writing and editing being completed by Scott Elaurant and Michael McSwiney (two long time contributors to the Flames Of War community). Once again, we needed to add to the range of models. Luckily Aaron (our inhouse painter) had taken care of the vast majority of new releases since the original book and was on deck to take care of the extra items now for the Israelis and Egyptians, however painting enough Syrian models was a problem. It probably comes as no surprise then that I happily volunteered to start building a Syrian force - I say start as it still needs a lot of work to finish...

Over the coming weeks (or months) I thought I might spend some time taking a look at the Israeli and Syrian forces, then look at what I have painted and how it compares to some of the lists I have been dreaming up, and then review what I need to do to complete both armies. The jury is still out as to how much actual progress I will make as I have a few competing priorities on the go, not to mention some future Battlefront projects have been taking my fancy, but I am sure that I'll have something to share.

Stay tuned...

Painting a Shahak / Mirage III CJ

With the Fate Of A Nation book coming out, I volunteered to paint a few more bits and pieces and whilst I didn't get as much done as I hoped I enjoy painting up a Mirage...

I airbrushed it with a couple of different silver paints. A solid coat initially and then a bit of panel fading to highlight the centre of the panels with a lighter one. The red on the engine cowling was hand painted and involved a lot of swearing - my freehand work is really not that good but it all came together nicely on this one.

Add in some decals and I found it quite enjoyable to paint! Really got to paint up a MiG-15 one of these days!

If you haven't had a chance to check out Fate Of A Nation yet it is worth doing. My personal favourite list is the new Israeli Sayaret Company - lots of Jeeps with 3+ saves. Going to see them on the blog in the new year hopefully.

Israeli Air Support!

I feel like I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog recently, mainly because I have not really gotten anything finished…. My Jagdtigers have been slowly pushing along the painting front with the 3 colour camo applied and pin washed, whilst the Dust SSU walkers and infantry are slowly progressing to the point where they would be ready for washing this weekend. Meanwhile I decided to take a little break and knock out an Israeli Ouragan for Fate Of A Nation. I’ve had this model sitting on my desk for goodness knows how long so I thought it would make a quick and easy side project so I could feel like I have managed to finish something this month.

I airbrushed it with a couple of different Tamiya silver paints, pin washed it, applied decals, then painted the bombs, wing tip noses (whatever they are called) and canopy. It was a really quick and simple job – so much so I am thinking about painting an Egyptian MiG-17 just for fun.

 

 

 

1956 and 1967 Israelis On Display

Last year I painted a fairly decent number of Israelis for both Fate Of A Nation (1967) and my own 1956 project. Just before we broke up before Christmas I hijacked the camera at work and took a few shots. Turns out taking decent "book style" photos is harder than it looks!

1956 - M50 Mk I Shermans

1956 - M1 Super Shermans and M4A3 75mm Sherman Company

1967 - Sho't Platoon

1967 - M3 TCM-20s and M3 D (120mm) guard a crossroads

1967 - M50 Mk II Shermans and M51 Super Shermans

1967 - M51 Super Shermans

1967 - Magach Platoon

1967 - Sayeret (Recon) with AMX and M3 A

1956 - And still unfinished 25pdr battery.... 18 months after I started them. Maybe in 2014!

Best And Worst Of My 2013 Gaming!

I thought I would take a quick look back at 2013 and put this year to rest by picking out a couple of my highlights and low lights!

Best Moment: Fate Of A Nation
Watching Phil, Mike and Wayne working on their projects is a real privilege as you see how the sausage is made and sometimes you close your eyes and hope that things work out okay, and other times everything seems to just come together like magic. I was a little apprehensive when Phil started work on FOAN as I was so passionate about the project and sometimes it is hard to put your own feelings aside and let the guys just do their thing! FOAN worked out so much better than I could have expected and the finished product is awesome and I cannot wait till the next time we visit the Sinai Desert and Golan Heights!

Honorable Mention: DUST
DUST is just cool, simple as that! I've enjoyed meeting Paolo and Olivier and chatting to them about their game and the products and are looking forward to what comes next. Of course and excuse to add cool toys to my collection is a definite bonus!

Worst Part of 2013: The Year of the Trollbloods (and not the internet type!)
I was so looking forward to tackling my Warmachine Trollbloods army this year and thanks to a couple of (by my standards) large FOW painting projects it got shelved. I would say that 2014 will be the year but I have already worked out that this will not be the case, so hopefully 2015, The Year of the Trollblood!

Dis-Honorable Mention: X-Wing
Such a cool year of X-Wing products and somehow I think my last game was in February or March. Going to have to remedy this in 2014.

FlamesCon - The Event

I've been struggling to find the time to write up a bit of an event report from FlamesCon. After the weekend I was completely shattered and since then I only time I have spent on the computer at home as been doing work.... So I thought I would break the event down into bite sized chunks, and stick to primarily pictures (I've been learning from the graphics guys!).

First up - some general shots from the event:

Setting up the venue - Mike had it all mapped out and planned down to the square metre

Just add gamers, terrain and armies!

Evan hard at work

John-Paul with a large bag of confectionery

Phil showing his WW2 plane game that he has been working on

Flames of Tanks with Sean and Andrew

My List for the weekend..
I didn't get my 1956 Israeli Tank Company list finished before the weekend so instead I reverted back to Blood, Guts & Glory as an easy standby.
HQ:
Creighton Abrams in a M4A1 76mm Sherman - although over the weekend his tank was an M50 Sherman (early)
Company Commander in a M4A1 76mm Sherman
M32 TRV

Combat Platoons:
2 M4A1 76mm Shermans with 1 M4A3 (late) Sherman
2 M4A1 76mm Shermans with 1 M4A3 (late) Sherman

2 M4A1 76mm Shermans with 1 M4A3 (late) Sherman

Weapons Platoons:
3 M4 81mm Mortar Carriers with 1 M3 Halftrack
Cavalry Platoon with two jeeps and one M8 (played by a Staghound since the Israelis had a small number of them)

Divisional Support:
4 105mm Howitzers with HQ (played by a battery of 25pdrs since this is what the Israelis had)

Without wanting to go into specifics about how the army went and spoil the surprise... it was a really fun list. Abrams gave the list a few surprises that people really did not expect and whilst Trained is my least favourite skill level, it is appropriate for the Israelis in '56 even though I found it hard work in places. The list was definitely missing "something" though and my plan is to finish off a few little bits and pieces here and there (most notably the 25pdrs since I had to borrow some from work), and then play around with some options like SP AA and Limited Air Support (Mustangs with Napalm anyone...).

Next up, Day One!

 

Painting Israeli Tanks

I posted this on the Flames Of War site, but thought I would put it here too...

When Fate of a Nation changed status from being a project that I hoped would one day happen, to an actual project with Phil working on it I found myself quickly volun-told to paint the Israeli vehicles. 

What colour is Sinai Grey?
The colour of Israeli tanks is the subject of almost as much debate as what is the correct colour for Dunklegelb (WW2 German tank colour). Over the years Sinai Grey has also changed numerous times to make it more appropriate for the battlefield and once you add in slight regional differences caused by local commanders and the effects of weathering it gives you a lot of scope to pick and choose. Trawling through books and internet sites (most of which disagree on the “perfect” colour) I’ve come to the conclusion that you should pick the colour that you feel is right and in our case we have chosen Green Grey or German Camo Beige as the base colour.  

Step 1: I undercoated the vehicles black and then put a basecoat of Green Grey (886) on the tank. I airbrushed the base coat on for speed, using a 2/3 to 1/3 mix of Green Grey to Mr Muscle glass cleaner (think Windex). The Vallejo went through the airbrush nicely, although it did need a good clean afterwards. I now have an almost empty spare Tamiya bottle of my Sinai Grey mix that needs topping up!

Step 2: Grab your biggest brush and give the entire tank a dry brush of Stone Grey (884). This will help the details pop out a little and give some early contrast to the model.

Step 3: Recently I’ve been experimenting with the MiG Productions and AK Interactive range washes. I carefully pin washed the model with MiG Dark Wash, then used a spare brush (with a little white spirits) and cotton bud to clean up any excess wash. I was quite rough with the clean-up as I quite like the effect of a little bleed around the areas you are washing because once you add a couple of layers of light drybrushes and a final weathering over the top it helps to give some nice colour depth. As you can see in the photo it really helps to define the detail of the model as well.

Step 4: Next I painted the tracks, road wheels, exhausts, .50cal and tank commander black. The tracks (and .50cal) were then given a light dry brush of Black Grey (862) and then Oily Steel (865) whilst the gun mantlet cover was painted English Uniform (921) The whole model was given another dry brush of Stone Grey. This helped to tidy up any spots where the wash had gone astray.

Step 5: On to the finishing steps, I painted the exhausts Flat Brown, and then stippled a little Light Brown. The tank commander was painted Khaki (988) and Leather Brown (871), whilst the Searchlight had a little blue and white at the top (I prefer the slightly more cartoon look for glass).

Step 6: Decals maketh the tank! I put chevrons on the skirts, battalion rings on the barrel, number plates on the right side of the lower turret and on the underside of the hull (below the spare track links) and a great big platoon/tank number on the rear of the turret. I didn’t put air recognition panels on as I have not seen any photos of Centurions with them, however I have seen Sherman tanks, Magach tanks and M3 halftracks with and without them so it stands to reason that some Centurions (or Sh’ots) would have had them.

Looking online there are plenty of places you could put decals, especially number plates and brigade symbols. I chose to put the decals in these positions as they seemed to be correct for 1967, but like everything to do with the Israeli army there is a fair amount of secrecy surrounding markings so you should feel free to have a look on the internet for inspiration and once again do what looks right (or cool) to you.

Step 7: This last step is optional. I chose to break out the airbrush and give the model a little weathering with Iraqi Sand, thinned down a little with glass cleaner. This helped to make the decals look like they were more natural as they were then covered in dust and sand.

All finished!

Close up of the Searchlight after a little gloss varnish

Platoon decal on the rear turret bin

Fate Of A Nation - Arab-Israeli Wars

Ever since Pete mentioned the idea of doing a Vietnam game as a Wargames Illustrated "exclusive" all those years ago, I have been quietly hoping and not so quietly agitating for an Arab-Israel version of Flames Of War. Earlier this year I got my wish and so for the past few months Phil has been busily studying every AIW book on my shelf, plus a few more to get his head around a conflict that has kept the attention of the world for so many years.

Best of all, with a lot of guidance from James I was able to paint all the Israeli vehicles in the book (which is one of the reasons I have been a little quiet on the blog since I had so little I could share). I still have a few more to paint for the next Wargames Illustrated deadline in about 3 weeks as Casey and I are going head to head in a battle report (Casey painted all the Egyptians in the book). Really looking forward to putting my Magach and M50/M51 Shermans on the table!

The commercial plug... Fate Of A Nation is coming out FREE with Wargames Illustrated 312, on shelves late September, so tell your retailer you want a copy because once the copies of the mag run out, thats the whole print run of the book gone (as far as I am aware!).