Tuesday 28 February 2012

Jahra, 1990

Putting together the recent series of posts on my 1990/91 Gulf War toys prompted me to search for photos of of games involving them.  Of the three scenarios I have run (Jahra, Khafji and Kuwait Airport), I only have pictures of the first, which I suppose gives me an excuse to do the others again...

On to Jahra.  I ran this game at least twice - in January 2007 - with my own NATO Brigade Commander rules and then-new Hexon terrain.  I'll let the photos and captions tell the story, which opens as the invading Iraqi forces trundle into Kuwait along the major road which bypassed the town of Jahra.
Iraqi armoured forces move round and into Jahra - at 1 km per hex this was a fairly sizable town.  It was garrisoned only by a few rather nervous Kuwaiti policemen...
Elements of a Kuwaiti brigade deploy from their desert base.  The BRDM at the highway junction is a recce platoon moving ahead of the main Iraqi force.
Some of the Kuwaitis managed to cross the highway, hoping to stem the Iraqi advance.
The Kuwaitis had the best of the opening rounds - the white crosses are casualty markers (each company-sized stand takes two hits to 'kill' it), and the lead Iraqi tank battalion has suffered a morale crisis (the yellow marker).
Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti police - on their home turf - were working round the Iraqi flank.
Soon the opposing forces had fought each other to a standstill - with casualties and morale failures all round.
Sadly for the local boys, there were lots more Iraqis following on.  Numbers soon began to tell...
Eventually the Iraqi artillery arrived - on tank transporters.
The fresh waves of invaders soon pushed the Kuwaitis out of central Jahra.
Several Iraqi battalions were shattered during the intense fighting for Jahra...
...but they pressed on as fresh units were thrown in.
By now the Iraqis had control of the highway.
Iraqi artillery deploying to support their tanks and infantry.
The Kuwati last stand - literally.  Well, not quite, as the brigade's HQ and artillery slipped away to the west into the desert.

13 comments:

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Gosh, this is an interesting scenario

I remember news clips of Saladin Armoured Cars fighting in urban surrounding

Spookily accurate Tim

Al said...

Very original game Tim

Tim Gow said...

Geordie
The actual game had just the right atmosphere, with the Iraqi players rubbing their hands gleefully and the Kuwaiti being appalled by the amount of incoming kit.

Tim Gow said...

Al
Thanks. Seeing the photos makes me want to run it again!

Paul said...

Nice looking game Tim. Pleasing to see the Iraqi's getting some hits as per usual.

Tim Gow said...

Paul
It was a messy business all round on both of the game's outings. Seeing the photos again has raised my enthisiasm levels for the period!

Martin Rapier said...

I think I vaguely remember playing this one. Those tank transporters on the main highway look terribly familiar!

Tim Gow said...

Martin Rapier
Amazing how a mere game can induce flashbacks!

Pete. said...

Good looking game- appropriate too as I watched 'The Devil's Double' this evening and it had footage of the Saracens in.

Is NBC an update of Megablitz for post war games?

Tim Gow said...

Pete
Thanks for the heads-up on the film - I hadn't heard of it. NBC is a lower level game than Megablitz, with players generally running a brigade and toys representing companies. In Megablitz it's divisions (at least!) and battalions.

Wg Cdr Luddite said...

Memories indeed. I was a Kuwaiti player and really enjoyed commanding Chieftain tanks. Until the Iraqi main force turned up !

Tim Gow said...

Wg Cdr Luddite
Did we have Chieftains first time out? I'd completely forgotten!

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Coming round a decade later to be interesting again!
Just when we all thought that the era of tanks crossing international borders had came to and end, 2022 shows us different!