Modern Spearhead game and some new goodies..

Played a game of Modern Spearhead last evening at Stephen B's with him as umpire against another Stephen P (they hunt in packs).
Stephen B set up a game in 6mm pitting Syrians against Israelis in the Bekka Valley Lebanon in 1982. Israelis (Stephen P) had Veteran units comprising 2 Merkerva Tank Battalions and a Mechanized Battalion.
They set up hidden in defence and were classed as Nato 1 type doctrine with some artillery support and 2 Aircraft sorties.
The Syrians (yours truly) had command of 2 Tank Brigades (1 of T72s & 1 of T62s) and a Mechanized Brigade in BMPs with 2 Batteries of 122mm and one SPG battery of 152mm and classed as Warsaw Pact 2 doctrine.
Syrian mission was simply to get 1 Brigade off the Zionist table edge, Israeli mission to stop this and break 2 of my 3 Brigades.
Syrians therefore had a huge numbers advantage (36 Tanks vs 8) but lesser quality and a large amount of real estate to traverse, in 16 turns maximum, as game was played down length of 6ft table for a change.
Stephen P had never played MSH or any modern period game whilst I had never played MSH (despite owning it from publication) but have played WW2 Spearhead.
My plan was brilliant in its simplicity drawing three attacks arrows for respective Brigades straight down the length of the table on the right hand side (basically split in two by a road) to Zionist edge and a simple pedal to the metal subtlety.
Surprisingly this actually worked as Stephen P not being fully conversant with MSH/SH sat right back (on a couple of hills and a central built-up area) which allowed me to proceed unmolested for several turns passing the table centre line before coming under any sort of fire.
I was then aided by several poor throws by Israeli gunners (I blamed it on their having Arab children 'employed' in their munitions factories) which saved several Arab tank crews from almost certain destruction.
I then hurled my Mech Infantry combat teams into close combat with as many Israeli units as I could to stop them firing on my T72 Brigade.
They suffered losses (eventually enough to cause a break test which they failed) but did kill a couple of the precious Israeli units including a Merkeva)
Their sacrifice freed up the T72 Brigade to conduct an end run to table edge after running gauntlet of Zionist air strikes (these were singularily pathetic destroying nothing) and win the game.
Just as well as the T62 Brigade was suffering greatly from the other Merkerva Battalion and was close to breaking point.
Israelis I think needed to be much less passive in their defence and should have moved up from initial deployment area to hold Arabs much further down the table.
They can win the scenario even if they lose every unit but still a tough ask to halt 3 Brigades with 3 Battalions no matter how good quality they are.
Great stuff so good in fact that I only managed to take 2 picks of my initial deployment as I got so caught up in action (always a good sign).
A nice reminder of how fast and playable the Spearhead system is and nice to see MSH in action (adds a bit more complexity due to modern weaponry -ATGWs etc but nothing excessive).

Syrian move on to the battlefield

Also more board game goodies arrived this week........................................

This is supplemental pack for Combat Commander

This one an Ebay second hand purchase (but in great condition)

This one sourced from USofA

Just this very hour received an email from one of chaps from Munster bemoaning my not being able to attend this year (not as much as I am !!!) and attached this rather pertinent picture............