6mm FATE OF THE NATION

A few years back,  Battlefronts  Flames of War  was one of my biggest games,  I was amassing forces faster then I could paint... Early War,  Mid War  and then a toe dip into Late War,  this came  all crashing down when I experienced some nastiness at one of  the  Derby Worlds competitions,  and the further introduction of late war books which featured ad-hoc and unheard off Allied formations  verging on fantasy.  With the  release  of  Early  War,  it rekindled my  interest only to be dashed by  poor army lists and then the release of the  v3  rules and new army list books on the horizon, to which I had the month previous purchased hammered in the last nail into the coffin now labeled FOW. It was consigned to the reserve game list.

Then game Team Yankee and all its hopes and dreams,  I dived heavily into the pre release hype and euphoria which surrounded the game.  Based on the Fictitious novel by the same name,  it succeeded in rekindling the Modern period in most people.

One thing I vowed was not to buy the Minis as I had a large collection of 1/300 Moderns already.  I succeeded in that goal and also did not jump at buying the Army books either.  Some of my friends were not as strong minded and succumbed to the tempting coolness of the minis in 15mm.   With the slow release of the Army books,  I have decided to wait until a compendium has been released.

Then came the release of  NAM.

Vietnam has been on my Radar on and off for over twenty years,  I have had forces in 20mm before but no rules.  This set of rules which is a compendium,  not only containing the rules but also all the army lists and information required to paint your armies and lots of eye candy.  I plan to do NAM in 10mm and cover the forces and book at a later date.

What  NAM  did was give me a taste of what was to come with the release of  Fate of the Nation or FOAN for short.

When  FOAN was released I held back until I could see in flesh a copy which I managed to do at  HAMMERHEAD.  As with my purchase of  NAM,  I hit the internet and sourced my copy from a cheap bookstore.  Two days later it arrived.

From the first moment I opened the pages,  I was in love with the book.  Again this book is a compendium containing the Rules,  Army Lists,  and painting guides.
The rules are of the  TEAM YANKEE  format,  but also smack of including  v4  rule amendments.  It feels like  FOW,  Plays like  TY,  but there are some subtle changes.  The rules seem more basic and my only issue is how ground attack aircraft work once on table is missing.  The rules defently need a little tweak here and there but in our first test game worked very well.

What armies are Featured:  Well the book covers both the 1967 Six Day Way and the latter 1973 Yom Kippur War.  So you get Israeli,  Syrian,  Egyptian,  and Jordanian army lists which all allow you to choose from Armoured or Infantry formations.

Israeli  players get to choose from 10 formations:  6 armour,  2 Mech Infantry,  2 Special Forces. The Armoured Companies, allow you to choose from a wide range of armour:  Sho't,  Magach,  Magach 6,  Sherman,  Tiran 5,  and  AMX tanks.  With the Mech companies, you get to choose from either  a M3 Halftrack or M113's.   The Special forces are either a Sayer (recon) Company or a Paratroop Company.

Each tank company consists of a HQ and 3 platoons with an additional support platoon, which varies depending on the formation.  Infantry are the same.  All formations get to choose from a wide selection of supporting units.  Artillery consisted of towed 25 pdr's, 105mm Howitzers, and 155mm Howitzers.  Self propelled artillery is in the form of M7 Priests and M50 155mm.  Anti tank options are M3 Half-tracks with 90mm guns and either recoiless armed or TOW armed jeeps. 120mm Mortars are also available either ground deployed or mounted in M3 Half-tracks or M125's.  Ant-aircraft is limited to M3 Half-tracks with 20mm AA guns.  You also get to choose from three types of air-support in the form of Ouragan, Mirage and Skyhawk.

When it comes down to the Arab list, Between the Egyptian and Syrians, there is not much difference in equipment to choose from.  Both get to choose armoured formations equipped with T-54,  T-62,  and  T-34/85 tanks, with the Egyptians getting to choose from either IS-3 or Centurions to equip some of therir formations.  Infantry companies are again similar in that they get to choose BMP-1,  BTR-60  or  BTR-152 equipped companies.  Both also get to choose ordinary infantry companies,  with the Syrians getting a Golan Heights Defence company.  Artillery is basic with Mortars, 122mm Howitzers,  152mm Howitzers  and BM-21 Rocket launchers.   Various other support include  Recon units equipped with  PT-76 tanks,  BRDM-2's and BTR-50 with scouts.  Anti-aircraft cover is provided by ZSU-57-2,  ZSU-23/4 and 30mm AA guns.   Air cover is lacking with just MIG-17s.
Jordanians get to choose from either Centurions or M48's,  Infantry are mounted in M113's or you can choose a defensive posture using dug in infantry and fortifications.  Supports are minimal, with M-42 AA, 25 pdr's and 155mm Howitzers.  No AIR support either.

When it comes down to choosing which army to choose from the Arab lists, its down to personal preference and taste as there is not much to choose between them, although Syria has the edge Morale wise.
You will get a small compact Israeli force and a large soviet style army for the Arabs.  The Israeli's have good morale and better skill, 3+, so can make good use off their supporting Artillery and Air support.  Where as, there is actually no point in having Artillery or Air-support in the Syrian Army as you need 6's to hit anything, and only marginally better with the Egyptians needing 5+.  So you may as well spend the points on Saggers.  Jordanians are a poor mans Israeli army with bad skill and morale and no support.

Conclusion:  I find the rules inspiring and I almost purchased a 15mm army, but held true to my cause, and have started amassing the armies in 6mm.  The army lists allows you to mix and match your armies. So you can have equipment from the 1967 war fighting along side 1973 equipment. I would have liked to seen limitations on equipment and the army lists broken down into the two different conflicts  or even each selection marked with a symbol to denote what conflict it actually was used in.  So Israel can use M51 Shermans with M3 Halftracks along side, M60's and Skyhawks.  But the same goes for the Arabs, T34/85's along side T-62's.  Although BF have only produced data and lists for equipment that they only make, means that it misses out on some of the other equipment used.
Syrian Pz.IV are only available as a tank emplacements, No Hawker Sydney for the Jordanians, Israel miss out on a few support options and of course they are missing one complete country that participated in the Six day war...  Iraq.

But overall this is a good book for a stand alone period. I look forward to playing more games.