From: Brian McDonald Subject: Bar-Lev Designer's Notes Hi all, As promised, here are the notes from my copy of Bar-Lev. I hope Jack, the recipient of these letters, doesn't mind that I posted these. I've also mailed it to grognard@grognard.com so it can make it's way to the appropriate section of Web-Grognards. I didn't include any editorial comments, since I'm still not real familiar with the game. I'll leave that to the rest of you. :) brian -- brian mcdonald ---- -- --- -- - --- -- --- --- - software engineer -- -- brian@chyron.com - --- -- ---- --- -- ---- - --- chyron west coast -- -- (408) 988-2305 -- --- ---- -- - --- -- - ---- -- santa clara, ca -- Bar-Lev Designer's Notes John Hill ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preface: These notes are taken from originals found inside my copy of Bar-Lev, They are a correspondence between designer John Hill and someone named Jack, who was apparently having trouble winning the game as the Israeli player. Hope you find them informative. brian brian@chyron.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Typewritten letter: Dear Jack, Your comments on the Fisher article of mine were well taken. I just may re-work it. But, Dana mentioned that you were having a hard time winning with the Jews in BAR-LEV. Well, until you become very familiar with the game they will constantly have trouble ... however, once all the tactical tricks that the Israeli's can do are mastered then the Arab faces a tough time of it. Given time, I'm sure you and your playtesters would learn how to use the Israeli army effectively, but to perhaps save a little time I will outline a number of techniques that have turned the tide for the Jews. THE LIGHT SCREEN This tactic is often used effectively on the Suez Front. The Israeli player makes a light screen of recce jeep and armored car units, just out of range of the Egyptian artillery. The Egyptian armor runs up to it. The recce jeep units exercise the pull back option and the remaining armored car units are blown away. Now the Israeli artillery, which would have been gathered into a pile far behind the screen, cuts loose and the Egyptian has a good chance of losing T-62's and T-55's when all he killed was armored cars. Enough turns of this can really upset the Egyptians. PULL OUT/COME IN This ploy must be carefully timed. Basically it has all the Israeli units zipping out one road while the waiting units in the "Front Box" blow in on a completely different road. This can be particularly frustrating to either Arab. But the Egyptian is more vulnerable. If the road is blocked that you wish to come in on, blow the Arab unit away with either air, arty or heliborne people or a combo of those. PULL BACK IN SYRIA This often can be effective in the early game. The Israelis pull back to a ridge line that is just out of the range of the Syrian guns. The Syrian will have a hard time if he keeps hitting without any arty prep, so he will try to move his guns up to within range ... on the turn that he does ... hit them with the longer range Israeli guns. There is one basic rule in BAR-LEV, and that is if you can cripple or destroy the enemy's artillery he will find it exceptionally difficult to continue a satisfactory attack. THE USE OF THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE General Rules In general the use or misuse of the Air Force will tell which side wins. Initially the Israeli's have a very rough time in the air since the Arabs have so damn many planes that they can put up. Hence it is often prudent to fight an air holding action on one front while the rest of the air force beats up on the other guy. Hence one effective combo is fly the Phantoms and Skyhawks to Egypt and the Mirages to Syria for the first few turns and then maybe switch and send the Phantoms and Mirages to Syria. Try to catch the over-ambitious Arab going for a deep penetration ground attack so you can "bounce." Also use the Shrikes as soon as they become available. Your first air objective is the holding off of the large and very dangerous Egyptian air force, but your next objective is the complete destruction of the Syrian Air Force. NOTE: If the entire Israeli Air Force went to Syria for three consecutive turns, the chances are reasonable that the Syrian Air Force would be rendered impotent in three days. NEUTRALIZE EVERYBODY TRICK This requires timing and finesse in judging when the Syrian Air Force has had enough and will probably sit in it's bases. Then "Shrike" his SAMs that are within range of one whole sector of the front. Then put one Skyhawk and one Phantom on every unit on that sector. Each rolls separately so a roll of 1 or 2 with either plane will neutralize the unit, so the probable result is that a good chunk of the Syrians will be neutralized. Then, let the Israeli artillery finish them off as another neutralize will kill the unit. And it is no great thing for the Israeli arty to neutralize a unit. The net effect is that the offensive plans for the Syrians on that one sector will be really scrambled. HELIBORNE ASSAULT - AUTO KILLS This is based on the fact that a neutralized unit would have little or no defense, particularly in their psychological frame that they would be in, to resist a sudden attack from the sky. Now, take a close look at the heliborne assult rules. When you land on top of a unit ... "the fighting continues on a simultaneous basis until one side or the other or both is wiped out." BUT, a neutralized unit can't fire so a "1-to-2" heliborne assault will guarantee the death of the neutralized unit. Doing this in conjuction with the "NEUTRALIZE EVERYBODY TRICK" will often fry the Syrian mind. Don't forget the Hueys can then simply fly away following this raid. FORT HEBRON? Often the Syrian will forget to garrison or just leave it very light. And the taking of it by an Israeli heliborne force will futz up the Syrian in his drive for the victory conditions. It's particularly galling if the Syrian has left it naked and the same units that heliborne on a "1-to-2" sure kill are the ones that settle in the fort. LETS HELIBORNE QUICKER TO THE FRONT... Now notice that the Heliborne Phase is prior to the Movement Phase and the key is AIR TRANSPORT. Now, in the air transport mode, unlike the other "airmobile moves, the units do not lose their normal ground movement." So, if one front really needs bodies, use the choppers to transport people from the Mobilization Box to the Front Box from which they would then use their normal movement to move onto the Front. Hence, it is possible for the Israeli's to get up to 8 "4-4"'s rushed through one turn quicker than they normally would be using the regular mobilization route. LET'S SNIPE ON THE SAM... Once the Syrian air force has been grunched, the only protection he has against the Israeli air force is his SAMs. Now, since SAM's can take no benefit from terrain or fortifications, they are good arty targets ... and they Syrian knows this ... and will try to keep them out of range. However, it is very difficult to stay out of rance of the Israeli 175's since they can shoot ten hexes on the Syrian Front. And once SAM's are gone that is one less thing you have to shrike when you ground attack. DON'T FORGET THE ARAB AIR PEOPLE... Very true, in the early stages of the game it will be the Arab air forces that are ground attacking and the Israeli will have some of his own tricks pulled on him. The Egyptian paratroopers can also do the "1-to-2" auto zip on neutralized Israeli units ... they are very good at popping the Bar-Lev line hexes since all airmobile, paratrooper type assaults ignore terrain restrictions. Hence the first turns make sure the Egyptian doesn't have a 50% air superiority so they can drop on you ... later on your stacks will be heavy enough that you let the paratroopers drop with no real hassle. Then is when you can get cute with your air force in Syria. OVERALL STRATEGY In the over-all view it is really the Egyptians that are far more dangerous than the Syrians so the first priority for the Israeli players will be to make sure that a complete and total debacle doesn't occur in Egypt. You will be able to perhaps be skimpy on sending the Egyptian armored reinforce- ments, but he should receive the bulk of the arty, but not all. Once you feel that the Suez front will be relatively save for maybe two turns, go beat up on the Syrian, particularly his air force. Then things will probably be getting scary in Egypt, so then re-concentrate there. Re- stabilize it. Then go and hit the Syrian hard again, this time his morale will probably crack. Force the Syrian to abandon his offensive operations, once this occurs. The net result of stabilizing in Egypt and beating up on Syria will probably result with an Israeli win in Syria and a draw in Egypt. (NOTE: you can almost always get a good chance on a draw in Egypt by heliborning in and re-taking a part of the BAR-LEV line so as to pimp the Egyptian out of his victory condition, which is basically clear the entire Suez Canal. Obviously, the perfect time for this is right close, or even on, the last turn.) TEAMWORK What really in the historic battle was the real Israeli edge? I feel it was "teamwork." In the actual battle the Israeli's used air, airmobile, armor and artillery in a "team" with high skills. Also, their general staff was considerably better. But that historical fact is _not_ in the game. To put it in, is the option of the wargamers themselves. To do so, have the best players in a wargame club be the Israelis. Let them form a set team of three players. The third player is their supreme commander who decides what units to refit, and which front gets the airforce and how it will be used. Have them study and dissect the game. Then you will have a "historical" simulation of the talented, well geared Israeli general staff ... the resignation of Elazar not withstanding. Then have the pre-worked up Israeli team take on all comers. This will probably result in an Israeli victory ... most of the time. GAME BALANCE -- OVERVIEW Then, we ask, where does the game balance lay. I personally feel that the Arabs still have a slight edge. However, I am challanged on this by the Israeli team the Purdue Wargamers have put together. It's win record is an impressive 80%. So, I will modify my stand to say that if the Israeli team is talented, experienced and innovative with all the special things the Israeli's can do, then, _and only then_, do the Israelis have the edge. But if they are all that then that edge would be very reasonable. GAME BALANCE -- ARABS STILL WINNING? If all the aforementioned things still don't work, make the following rule modifications: I. Change the morale rule to say that "once a side has it's morale broken, then all fires against it would have one subtracted from the die roll AND when it fires it must add "one" to it's die roll. HISTORICAL ARGUMENT: When a side has had it's morale crack it's combat will traditionally lack aggresiveness. II. Lower the morale break point of the Syrians to 100 and the Egyptians to 200 dead combat points. HISTORICAL ARGUMENT: The original "break points" were fairly arbitrarily assigned as the data can really support either viewpoint ... take your choice. ALL IN ALL TO REBALANCE THE GAME TO YOUR OWN TASTE THE BEST PLACE TO PLAY AROUND IS IN THE VARIOUS MORALE RULES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS. I DID ALL THAT ... BUT STILL LOST Well, have viewed or played in at least six dozen BAR-LEV games, I have noticed that there are a series of traditional and classic mistakes that often cost the Israeli the game. The classic mistakes are: 1. Try to meet the Egyptians "head-on" early by throwing your reserves right into them as they come on. This only enables the Egyptian to fight his battle ... a steady grind of roughly equal attrition. 2. Arab gets to the Israeli artillery. There is really no excuse for this, every instance I've seen of it happening it was either due to Israeli overconfidence or carelessness in his ground troop placement. 3. Make a monster stack within a good bunch of Arab artillery range. A monster stack is seldom necessary, except with artillery and then if it gets shelled by the generally shorter ranged Arab arty, you've made some other botches. 4. Making a monster artillery stack without a HAWK AA missile with it. The only time this would occur would be if ALL the HAWKS were destroyed, which is mistake #5. 5. Lose all, or most of, your HAWK AA missiles. 6. Get greedy and go for a quick kill on the Syrian and not send enough to Egypt. This is a strategic error which a good supreme commander should not let happen. The reverse also applies, but not as often. 7. Send all of the Air Force, all of the time, to only one front. This usually is because the air commander is fired up to destroy one or the other Arab air forces off to the last plane. It is surprising how often this does occur. 8. Try to do lots of ground attack missions before getting air superiority. This usually happens when the air commander listens too much to the ground people's pleas for air support. It is a serious loss of face if the Israeli air force gets bounced. 9. Forget about all the nifty things the Heliborne forces can do. Once again, this happens more times than one might think. 10. Re-fit _only_ the bigger 6-6 armored units. Often a bunch of 4-6s, 2-10's, 4-4's and so on are more useful than a handful of the larger tank units. That sorta sums up the "ten commandments" or the "shalt nots" for the Isreali army and air force. Well, this started out as a quickie note to comment on Dana's passing remark that Jews had not won for your playtesters and it evolved in almost a full article on "Winning with the Israeli's." What the hell. If you guys do think that some of this should be incorporated into the Designer's Notes, I am working on for BAR-LEV... One thing I did not go into is some of the real nifty things the Israeli can do on his initial set-up to annoy the Arabs. But, I should leave a few things for your playtesters to discover. Your Friend, John P.S. I personally am strongly tempted to implement as "official" _both_ of the morale rule changes ... play it both ways and tell me what you think. J.H. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Handwritten note: >From the desk of ... John Hill Jack, These are some more rule clarifications that seem to be working out very well for us. With these points clarified and noted the Jews seems to have a visible edge. Playtesters here are shocked to hear that "your" Jews are not winning... - John ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Typewritten page: RULE CHANGES, FURTHER CLARIFICATIONS AND TACTICAL NOTES SYRIAN MORALE/EXHAUSTION (changes) The point where the Syrian morale breaks is unchanged but the definition of the effect is. The effect is now defined to be: The effect is as follows. From that instant on all Syrian direct fires against Israeli units must add "one" to their die roll. Artillery shelling and air combat is unaffected. And Israeli fire against them is also unaffected. However, any Syrian units in either Fort Hebron or in a "fort- ified area" hex are immune to this rule. So when the Syrian fires out from these positions his fire is unaffected. Note: This "re-definition" of the effect of the morale breaking also applies in the same manner to the Egyptians and the Israelis. MIG-23, EGYPTIAN OB. (correction) When the basic research for BAR-LEV was done there was reasonable evidence that Russia had given the Egyptians the new MiG-23 jets. There was even speculation that in the war the Russians were piloting them. Since then, it has shown to wrong. The MiG-23's, if in Egypt, were never committed to battle and hence should be deleted from the OB. However, they could still be used in various "what if" scenarios. REFITTING ARAB ARTILLERY (clarification) On the REFIT TABLES it is said that the Arab artillery cannot be refitted. This is true, but the question arose of using it to "re-fit" equivelent units. In other words, what the Arab wanted to do was scrap one "6-4" mech unit and two "6-4" arty to get a "6-4" mech returned. This _would not_ be allowed. Arab artillery may not refit and, in addition, it _may not_ be used to refit any other units. When it is killed it is immediately placed in the "Units Scrapped Box." The same applies to SAMs. RECCE JEEP UTILIZATION (clarification) The rule, though it describes their function, does not actually explain its implementation. Since the creation of a light recon screen is a key Israeli tactic it is important that it be understood. The actual sequence is as follows: 1. Arab unit moves up to Israeli "jeep" and _announces_ that it intends to fire at it. 2. Israeli player then either has his jeep sit and take it _or_ he immediately pulls back one hex. 3. The Arab unit that had announced his intention to fire on the jeep then occupies the hex where the jeep used to be. That _particular_ Arab unit _may not_ then fire at anything else. Clarifications: a. The recce jeep may not pull back as outlined above if his movement would be through or across Arab ZOCs. b. There is no limit to the number of times the recce jeep units may be "recycled" via the refit option. c. The recce jeep can do this only in the Arab Module. If it voluntarily stays, or moves, adjacent to an Arab unit in the Israeli Movement Phase then it can be pasted where is stands like any other unit.