Death above the desert

The Collections, Part III:

 1960-1980: Middle East Air Combat

When I decided to have a go at air combat, choosing a setting was quite tough. I considered the Falklands War initially, but I decided against it as there was not a huge variety in aircraft or the missions that could be played. Vietnam struck me as a somewhat overdone period, and I have little interest in the history personally. Eventually I landed upon the idea of wargaming the conflicts between Israel and Egypt.

The collection has expanded from the originial 10-20 planes a side to more like 40-50 a side. On the Egyptian (standing in for Syrians, Jordanians etc. where needed) side have some Hawker Hunters, MiGs 15, 17, 19, 21s, Su-7s, Il-28s. The Israeli's have Mirages, Super Mysteres, Vautours, F-4 Phantoms, and (when I finish painting them) some F-15s and F-16s. Almost all the models are from Tumbling Dice. They're good models, nicely detailed for 1/600th and as of yet I've never had a model with any serious moulding issues.

I use the Check Your Six! Jet Age rules, which are fun and quick. They give a good feel, yet allow a single player, even a relative novice to handle at least two aircraft with ease. The games I've played have been quick and frequently brutal.

The most recent game I ran consisted of an Israeli fighter formation intercepting an Egyptian bomber force heading towards Tel Aviv during the Six Day War. The scenario was Hollywood "based on" an actual event in the war. The Egyptian bomber force had an escort of 10 fighters, mostly MiGs, while the Israeli's were attacking with 8 Mirages.

Israeli Mirages (anachronistically painted for the War of Attrition) sweeping in to the attack.

The Egyptian strike force.

 The Israeli's swept in to the attack in a broad formation, passing through the first escorts to engage them to attack the bombers at the heart of the formation. Unfortunately, the Egyptian top cover came into the engagement on the Israeli right flank, and a massive dogfight ensued. After initial successes downing a MiG, the Israelis found the battle turning against them.

The screams of jet engines fill the sky as a massive dogfight breaks out.

Israeli pilots plot their attack on the bombers.

Thanks to terrible dice rolling, several Mirages were soon sent spiraling into the desert, trading off with MiGs at a rough 1:1 ratio. One of the Il-28 bombers was brought down by a Mirage, before that Mirage was felled by defensive fire from a second bomber's rear turret.

Losses among the Israeli aircraft mount.

A bomber falls, and is avenged by another bomber.

 By the time the Israelis broke off and fled, they had lost 5 aircraft and three of their pilots, including one of their best. The Egyptians had lost one bomber and 3 MiG 21s, with two bombers breaking through to attack an airfield around Tel Aviv.

A dark day for the Israeli Air Force with heavy losses in aircraft and pilots.

 Overall this collection has proven popular with my wargaming mob, and I'm looking forward to putting many more of these planes into the sky, and sending them crashing back down again. I've painted up the Israeli's for the later War of Attrition, firstly because that colour scheme lasted longer than the silver with red flashing used during the Six Days War, and also because personally I think it looked better. The Egyptians are painted a mix of the various schemes in use at the time of the conflicts.