From Moves#60

Expanding "Across Suez"

Across Suez is SPI's simple, fast-moving game which simulates the first
part of the battle of the Chinese Farm during the Arab-Israeli War of
1973. The game covers the first part of the battle up to the Israeli
crossing of the Suez Canal. Across, Suez contains 46 printed counters
out of a sheet which would permit 100 counters to be printed. The 44
unprinted counters on the countersheet offer opportunities to expand the
game by making extra units to simulate the presence of smaller units
that took part in the action and provide an increase in detail. These
extra units also allow for a couple of variants to be made depicting
actions or maneuvers which did not take place in the historical action.
Additional units may be made for the Israelis using the tan counters and
for the Egyptians using the brown counters. New units may include: 

ISRAELI: Israeli Parachute Units 

35th Parachute Brigade: Only one battalion of the 35th Parachute Brigade
participated in the action depicted in Across Suez. This unit appears
during turn 4 in hex 1609. 

23rd Parachute Brigade Task Force: This unit represents a battalion of
the Israeli 23rd Parachute Brigade which was attached to the Reshev
force; it enters play together with the rest of the units of the Reshev
force. 

EGYPTIAN: Egyptian Parachute Units 

The Egyptian Army had some limited ability to conduct an airborne
operation and these units are used in the variant which allows the
players to conduct airmobile operations: the 6th Kuwaiti Battalion,
Palestinian "Ain Jalloud" Brigade, and Egyptian and Israeli antitank
units. 

All of these units function as normal infantry units. The anti-tank
units represent infantry armed with anti-tank weapons and some vehicles.
One anti-tank unit is made for each side. The Israeli anti-tank unit
enters play on turn three and the Egyptian unit enters play on turn five
on hex 0921. Both the Kuwaiti and Palestinian infantry units enter play
on turn five in hex 0921. 

Egyptian 130th Marine Brigade: Historically, one battalion of the 130th
Marine Brigade was attached to the Egyptian 25/4 unit. The three units
of the 130th Marine Brigade are used when the variant allowing
amphibious landings is used. Otherwise, only one of the Marine units is
used in the historical scenario and enters play on turn 5 in hex 0921. 

Israeli and Egyptian Commandos: Two commando units may be used by the
Israelis; they represent company-size units of the Ha Sinai recon unit
of the Israeli southern command, which were elite commando and recon
units. Both units enter play with the Israeli Reshev units. The
Egyptians may receive one commando unit which enters play on turn three
in hex 0921. 

Israeli and Egyptian Artillery: One artillery unit is made for the
Israeli player (Editor's Note: The Israeli "artillery" capability is
erroneous. The game gives the Israelis an airstrike. The reason the
Israeli "artillery" capability increases as the Israelis cross the Canal
is because as the Egyptian SAM sites were destroyed there were more
Israeli airstrikes, not more artillery penetration. - Mark Herman) and
two artillery units for the Egyptian player. The artillery rules remain
the same except that to use artillery support or make bombardments the
defending unit must be l.) adjacent to an attacking unit and 2) within
four hexes of the artillery unit. Each artillery unit may make one
attack per turn. The Israeli artillery unit enters on turn 1 on hex
1708. (Editor's Note: The Israeli player may wish to use the Airstrike
marker instead, ignoring this section.) Both Egyptian artillery units
enter on turn 1, in hex 0401 and one in 1301. 

Airborne Landing Variant 

Both sides had the capability to make airborne landings during the
Battle of the Chinese Farm, and this variant assumes that either one or
both sides conducted airborne operations. This variant may be used in
conjunction with the regular scenario. Both sides may make airborne
landings as soon as they have airborne units available to them. Airborne
landings are made only by airborne units and are conducted simply by
picking up the airborne unit and placing it on the map in any hex not
occupied by an opposing unit or in an opposing unit's zone of control.
Airborne units may conduct an airborne landing only once per game. Upon
landing, the airborne unit functions like an infantry unit in all
respects. Victory conditions are the same as in the regular scenario. 

Amphibious Landing Variant 

This variant posits that the entire Egyptian 130th Marine Brigade
crosses the Suez Canal and is committed to the battle as an independent
reinforcement rather than in piecemeal fashion earlier in the battle.
All three units of the 130th Marine Brigade enter play on turn five on
any coastal/canal hex north of Matzmed or south of Lakehan. Victory
conditions are the same as in the regular game. 

In all cases, regardless of the variant currently being played or the
numbers of extra units being used in the regular scenario, the victory
conditions in all cases are the same. In addition, commando units have
their combat strengths doubled during night turns and may also ignore an
opposing unit's zone of control at night. 

Players may make photocopies of the counters below and paste them to the
extra counters in the game or make the counters by hand.	

James Meldrum 

NB submitted by John Kula ([email protected])
on behalf of the Strategy Gaming Society
(http://www.boardgamegeek.com/~sgs), 
originally collected by Andrew Webber 
([email protected])