October War: Doctrine and Tactics in the Yom Kippur Conflict, 1973 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1977 that simulates the Yom Kippur War.
October War: Doctrine and Tactics in the Yom Kippur Conflict, 1973 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1977 that simulates the Yom Kippur War.
On 6 October 1973, the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, an Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel with the strategic objectives of recovering the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, both of which Israel had occupied following the 1967 Six Day War. [1]
October War is a two-player board wargame at the tactical platoon/company level with tactical armored combat where one player controls the forces of the Arab Coalition, and the other controls the Israeli forces. [2] One generic hex grid map is used interchangeably with all the scenarios. With only 200 counters and 12 pages of rules, this game is not considered very complex. [3]
The game comes with eight individual scenarios representing various battles that took place during the war, four of them on the Golan Heights, four of them in the Sinai. Each takes 15 to 20 turns. There is also a campaign game that links the Golan Heights scenarios together, and a campaign game linking the Sinai scenarios together. [3]
October War was designed by Irad Hardy, who revised the rules from SPI's 1975 wargame MechWar '77 . The result was published by SPI as a free pull-out game in Issue 61 of Strategy & Tactics (March–April 1977) with graphic design by Redmond A. Simonsen. It was also offered for sale as a boxed set. The game failed to find an audience, and never cracked SPI's Top Ten Bestseller List. [4]
In The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training, Martin Campion thought this game "gives some feeling of realism without great rules complexity." He felt that October War successfully "suggests the reasons for Israeli tactical superiority and shows other factors that influenced the fighting in the Middle East." He also noted that for players looking to explore the subject further, "The game equipment can easily be used to develop other scenarios on the war." [3]
In Issue 13 of The Journal of 20th-Century Wargames, Marion Bates acknowledged the use of revised MechWar '77 rules, saying, "The results are usually an improvement, but at times the cure is worse than the disease." Bates used the alternating movement rules as an example, pointing out "in scenarios with heavy unit density, it is easy to forget which units have moved or fired." However, Bates felt that changes to panic, disruption, and overrun were all improvements, saying, "The result is both a better game and a better simulation." Bates concluded by calling October War "an outstanding alternative to Avalon Hill's [ The Arab-Israeli Wars ]." [5]
At the 1978 Origins Awards, October War was a finalist for a Charles S. Roberts Award in the category "Best Tactical Game of 1977."
The Arab-Israeli Wars, subtitled "Tank Battles in the Mideast 1956–73", is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1977 that simulates various battles during the Suez Crisis, Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War.
Patrol, subtitled "Man to Man Combat in the 20th Century", is a skirmish-level board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974 as a sequel to Sniper!, which had been released the previous year. Whereas Sniper! was set in urban environments during the Second World War, Patrol is set in a non-urban environment, in various conflicts ranging from 1914 to 1970.
Chinese Farm, subtitled "Egyptian-Israeli Combat in the '73 War", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates operational level ground combat between Egypt and Israel at the Battle of The Chinese Farm during the just completed Yom Kippur War of October 1973. Chinese Farm was originally published as part of the "quadrigame" Modern Battles: Four Contemporary Conflicts.
Golan subtitled "Syrian-Israeli Combat in the '73 War", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates operational level ground combat between Egypt and Israel on the Golan Heights during the just completed Yom Kippur War of October 1973. Golan was originally published as part of the "quadrigame" Modern Battles: Four Contemporary Conflicts.
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Wacht am Rhein is a grand tactical monster board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1977 that simulates Germany's Battle of the Bulge offensive in late 1944 during World War II.
The American Civil War: 1861–1865 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974 that is a strategic simulation of the American Civil War.
Combined Arms, subtitled "Combat Operations in the 20th Century", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974 that simulates various combat engagements in the mid-twentieth century
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MechWar '77, subtitled "Tactical Armored Combat in the 1970s", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates hypothetical tank combat in the mid-1970s between various adversaries, using the same rules system as the previously published Panzer '44.
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Musket & Pike, subtitled "Tactical Combat, 1550-1680", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1973 that simulates combat in Europe during the transition from edged weapons to firearms in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Bar-Lev, subtitled "The Yom-Kippur War of 1973", is a board wargame published by Conflict Games in 1974, only months after the end of the Yom Kippur War. The game simulates battles on the two major fronts of the war: the Golan Heights and the Suez Canal. The game proved very popular, and a second edition was published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1977.
Grenadier, subtitled "Tactical Warfare 1680–1850", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1972 that simulates combat during an age when musket and cannon predominated.
Oil War: American Intervention in the Persian Gulf is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates a hypothetical invasion of oil-producing countries in the Middle East in response to the oil crisis of 1973.
Panzer '44: Tactical Combat in Western Europe, 1944–45 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates historical tank combat during World War II.
Sinai: The Arab-Israeli Wars – '56, '67 and '73 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1973 that simulates three conflicts in the Middle East: The 1956 Suez Crisis, the 1967 Six-Day War, and the just-completed 1973 Yom Kippur War. The staff of SPI had been developing a wargame simulating a hypothetical Middle East conflict when war broke out in October 1973. Using newspaper and television reports, SPI found that their envisioned simulation was not accurate, and quickly redeveloped the game, releasing it only weeks after a ceasefire had been signed. The game proved very popular, and remained a best-seller for SPI during the 1970s.