Egypt, noble are your children.

Loyal, and guardians of the reins.

Be we at war or peace

We will sacrifice ourselves for you, my homeland.

Bilādī, laki ḥubbī wa fuʾādī (Egyptian National Anthem)

Having played a couple of October War games using Seven Day To The Rhine I came across a blog where Robert Avery had been using Too Fat Lardies’ Vietnam rules, Charlie Don't Surf (CDS), for Arab-Israeli games.

This might seem a bit of a leap but CDS has its heritage in I Ain't Been Shot Mum (IABSM), the Lardies' company level WW2 rules, so I suggested to Andy we might want to see how it played as a large scale tank game which, given Andy's familiarity with IABSM and lack off with CDS (which he bought a couple of days before we played) led to us playing a fun hybrid we called Don't Surf Down The Suez, Mum (I'm sure such a catchy title will prove popular!)

The game started with both sides forces hidden by 'blinds' and a couple of dummy ones to add to the 'fog of war' (as we didn't have any period ones we used Andy's Chain of Command deployment tokens)

Using the same card driven system as IABSM, my cunning plan crumbled almost immediately as I pulled Poor Fire Discipline for the Egyptians

A T-62 platoon opening fire on an Israeli blind on my left flank.

On the other side of the table a Sho't platoon was revealed...

Which spotted a second Egyptian T-62 platoon in the centre.

The blinds added an extra level of tension as Andy's Israelis had no idea what that dust cloud behind the hill on their flank was (two of the blinds here were dummies).

The Israelis had more 'Big Men' cards than the Egyptians (and of a higher level) reflecting their better command and control which allowed them to be more responsive in the game.

Utilising this advantage Segen Mishne Benado ordered his platoon to open fire...

Destroying one of the enemy T-62's with some accurate gun fire.

However things did not all go the Israelis was as Benado's tank drew an Ammunition Shortage card.

A second IDF Sho't platoon then appeared on the Egyptian left flank.

Opening fire and taking out a T-62.

Benado's platoon advanced only for another of his Sho't's to report it was short of ammo!

However this did not stop them hitting a T-62 and damaging its optics.

Then blowing it up with their next shot!

On the Egyptian left the IDF advanced into the flank of the T-62 platoons.

Their unerring gunfire hitting another T-62 inflicting Shock on the tank crew.

Egyptian return fire did see some success with one of Benado's tanks losing its main armament causing it to withdraw.

The stalemate in the middle was not replicated on the Egyptian left though as Andy pushed his Sho't platoons through the Egyptians like a knife through butter...

Tank after tank brewing up!

Another Egyptian blind revealed a third Egyptian T-62 platoon in the village...

This did not cause the Israelis to halt their sweeping move through the Egyptian left...

And with the screening platoon now all destroyed the flanks of the second and third T-62 platoons were dangerously exposed.

It was becoming a bit of a turkey shoot on the Egyptian left flank.

Desperately the Egyptians deployed their reserves to prop up the crumbling flank but almost immediately two T-62's were blown up!

The IDF had now got around the rear of the Egyptians...

Opening fire...

And brewing up one T-62...

After another!

Swinging into the village the Israeli Sho't engaged the T-62's in their exposed rears...

With predictable results!

In a vain effort to stem the Israeli tide, the surviving T-62 platoon on the hill opened fire on the advancing Sho't's...

One shot inflicting some Shock on one tank...

Another blowing up a second...

Another Sho't then ran low on ammunition.

But despite its reduced firing capability it still took out one of the T-62's on the hill.

The central T-62 platoon, despite being being one tank down and the two survivors carrying Shock, opened fire...

And took out the Sho't.

And then inflicting shock on another advancing Israeli tank.

The respite was brief as the IDF ploughed into the disorganised Egyptians in the village...

Whilst also moving up on the flank of the supporting T-62 platoon on the hill overlooking the village...

And slamming a round into the flank of one of the T-62's there.

A surviving T-62 from the reserve platoon returned fire...

And inflicted Shock on the Israeli tank and damaged its optics.

However such successes were few and far between as the remaining T-62's in the village succumbed to IDF tank fire...

As did the remaining T-62's on the Egyptian left. At this point the Egyptian commander, Naqib Hassan, decided that it was not his day and conceded the battlefield to the Israelis...

Despite being on the receiving end of such a resounding defeat I actually enjoyed that. Cohen Don't Surf Down The Suez, Mum... gave a good recreation of the tank battles of the October War with the IDF tanks destroying a lot of Egyptian armour when not worrying about Saggers and Commando RPG teams.

The card system with the limited number of Big Men for the Egyptians certainly worked well. My only bone of contention was the stats from the 'briefings' on the Vis Lardica blog we used. The only difference between a T-55's stats and the next generation T-62 is one point - on its Strike (firing) roll, and the Sho't armour stat is 16 compared to the T-62's 10 which seems somewhat disproportionate (you wondered why they blew up so easily?) - oddly a Magach 3 (M48A3) armour is only 12 so I wonder if the Sho't's was typo. The Centurion was a good tank but not that good in 1973!

Steve Blease

Ed.’s Note: The Sho't/Centurian armour value is taken straight from CDS itself, but you're right on the T-62: armour value should be 13. R