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Digital Gaming => Computer Gaming => Topic started by: Crossroads on September 14, 2016, 12:59:25 PM

Title: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on September 14, 2016, 12:59:25 PM
I realise I never posted about this here so better late than never. Because there's soon more cool stuff coming from him for CS Middle East  :smitten:

So here goes. Those of you who have CS Middle East might have noticed the 1.02 UPDATE included a mod containing this mod package, with Ode to AIW I - IV scenario packs completed, for a total of 40 new scenarios for the game. After 1.02, Alan finished the remaining Ode to AIW V and VI scenario packs, for a total of 60 Arab-Israeli Wars inspired scenarios.

DOWNLOAD Alan R. Arvold's complete "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars I - VI Scenario Pack Set"

1. Download the complete Ode to AIW pacakge from HERE  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/0cvlslkqwjor3g0/Alan%20R.%20Arvold%27s%20Ode%20To%20Arab-Israeli%20Wars.zip?dl=0)

2. Unzip, drop on your MODS folder on top of the existing Ode to AIW folder, allow for overwriting. Enable with JSGME, enjoy!  :knuppel2:

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Alan R. Arvold's Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario Pack

Many of you who grew up with boardgames recognize Alan R. Arvold from the many situations he created for Avalon Hill's PanzerBlitz, Panzer Leader and Arab-Israeli Wars games, as were made present like in Avalon Hill's AH General, Wargamer, and other magazines. Later, as tabletop boardgames were replaced with computer wargaming, Alan performed the paramount task of preserving all these games in Talonsoft's Campaign Series game titles.

I am very happy to be inform you all Alan's been continuing to preserve some genuine wargaming history in electronic format, now with CS: Middle East

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.matrixgames.com%2Fforums%2Fupfiles%2F32195%2FB22460FB033742E2BFAF9F0D9D3920B8.jpg&hash=aa27e6adbafa5037a05c67639fb31a12872aff4f)

From his design notes:

SUPPLEMENTAL DESIGN NOTES FOR ARAB-ISRAELI WARS

By Alan R. Arvold

These notes are additional notes for the conversion of the Arab-Israeli Wars scenarios from Divided Ground to Middle East. The original notes for the conversion of Arab-Israeli Wars scenarios to Divided Ground are still applicable here with a couple of exceptions, thus they will not be duplicated here.

1. Scenarios will be done in the Middle East format, especially in the scenario description. Since Arab-Israeli Wars scenarios are basically caricatures of the real battles, they will be listed for the most part as [HISB], with the few hypothetical scenarios listed as [FIC].

2. No Optional Rules will be listed nor will the statement that none of them will be used either. Players are free to use what ever optional rules they want or none of them as they please.

3. No files will be made for the adoptive AI system for any of these scenarios. If players want to make their own for these scenarios, go ahead. (Frankly I am still not familiar with this system and while it is obviously a great asset to an historical scenario, I do not feel it would be right for scenarios that are caricatures of history.)

4. The Order of Battle files will be based on the old ones from Divided Ground. Yes I know that the new Order of Battles in Middle East are more accurate, but I am not making historical scenarios with Arab-Israeli Wars, I am making caricatures. In order to keep the flavor of the times when both Arab-Israeli Wars and Divided Ground were respectively designed I am using what was known then, not now. I will use some of the new units though from Middle East that weren't in Divided Ground, which I had to provide substitutes for in the old scenarios. I will also provide substitutes for units from Divided Ground that are no longer available in Middle East (i.e. those Arab 1973 three-point armored infantry and engineer units that really represented the equivalent six-point regular rifle and engineer units). I will take advantage of the one strength transport point to two infantry points transport ratio (i.e. instead of a six-point halftrack unit carrying a six-point infantry unit in Divided Ground, a three-point halftrack unit carrying a six-point infantry unit in Middle East).

5. In keeping with rule established in Arab-Israeli Wars and continued on in Divided Ground, infantry and commando units, and any other units normally assigned to their line companies according to the standard Order of Battle, will have a Morale Level one step lower than their nation's given morale level in the scenario (i.e. Morale 7 becomes Morale 6). This does not apply to leaders, non-infantry units in weapons or support companies, or to non-infantry units attached to the line companies for the particular scenario.

6. Contrary to Matrix Games policy of not naming leaders or giving them ranks out of a fear of lawsuits, I will continue to give my leaders names and ranks. I will use historical names and ranks if possible and if it is not possible then I will use generic names from the Divided Ground leader files and ranks equal to the command level.

7. Contrary to Matrix Games policy that all Middle East maps will have their tops pointing north, I will continue to give the map tops their true direction. Matrix Games' policy seems somewhat hypocritical considering the fact that they never disabled the Compass Function on the Middle East Map Editor.

8. Some scenarios will have changes in the force structures, namely the total number of tanks each side has, compared to the number of total tanks they would have according the same scenarios in Arab-Israeli Wars. (Originally I left out the command tanks in a few the AIW scenarios I made for Divided Ground, but I eventually found that that short-changed one side or the other. Now I am correcting for that error, not only in Middle East but in Divided Ground as well.)

9. The numerical designations of the units in the orders of battle will be based on information from the times when the original games were created. In some cases I may make changes such as giving a numerical designation to a unit that previously did not have one or change a named designation of a unit to a numerical one. These will be based on various sources.

10. There will be some changes in the numbering of the scenarios. For example, Scenario #7 in Divided Ground was Kerama, a scenario that I created. This was because the real #7, Irbid, was not possible to do in Divided Ground because it was an Arab versus Arab scenario. Now in Middle East such scenarios are possible so Irbid has been restored to its rightful spot in the list. Kerama will be presented later on in the list. Also there are five scenarios occurring in Lebanon in 1982 that were published in the General Magazine #21-6 that could not be done in Divided Ground. Now they can be done in Middle East and so they will, to be listed later.



Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on September 14, 2016, 01:03:50 PM
Ode to AIW I includes the following situations:

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.matrixgames.com%2Fforums%2Fupfiles%2F32195%2FFDA85550DF1C42BFACB9866519296CBA.jpg&hash=960edb690a69c0944986ef26544c97586a4ce717)

Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on September 14, 2016, 01:07:28 PM
The download includes detailed Design Notes for each Scenario Pack for anything you ever wanted to learn as how to convert some old boardgame situations into a computer game format.  O0

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.matrixgames.com%2Fforums%2Fupfiles%2F32195%2F3EA1B6A30386437196D94880759AFB1E.jpg&hash=ef8c58adafb67fd1966619104c0251fb235ef402)


Additional information also available at the Matrix CS Middle East Forum (http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/fb.asp?m=4094139).

Miss at your peril!

:)
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on September 15, 2016, 10:53:25 AM
Alan's Ode to Divided Ground project is now with seven new scenarios as well, depicting in detail the Valley of Tears 1973 battles.

This scenario pack now contains these scenarios:
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: mirth on September 15, 2016, 11:32:45 AM
Awesome stuff!
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on September 15, 2016, 11:42:44 AM
Quote from: mirth on September 15, 2016, 11:32:45 AM
Awesome stuff!

They are! You gotta love all the detail Alan's put into these scenarios of his  :smitten:
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on September 19, 2016, 01:37:52 PM
Ode to October War scenario pack releases on October 6

From Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War):

QuoteThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War, or October War (Arabic: حرب أكتوبر‎‎ Ḥarb ʾUktōbar, or حرب تشرين Ḥarb Tišrīn; Hebrew: מלחמת יום הכיפורים‎‎ Milẖemet Yom HaKipurim or מלחמת יום כיפור Milẖemet Yom Kipur), also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, was a war fought by the coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6 to 25, 1973. The fighting mostly took place in the Sinai and the Golan Heights, territories that had been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967.

To commemorate the date, we are releasing a brand new scenario pack from Alan R. Arvold on 6 October 2016 to mark the 43rd anniversary of the conflict.

From Alan's Design Notes:

October War was a game by SPI that came out in 1977 in the magazine "Strategy & Tactics", in issue number 61. It was SPI's answer to Avalon Hill's game "Arab Israeli Wars". It was a tactical armored wargame that dealt with battles in the 1973 "Yom Kippur" War. As I have converted the scenarios from "Arab-Israeli Wars" to Divided Ground and Middle East, it seemed only natural that I do the same with the scenarios from "October War". So here we go.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.matrixgames.com%2Fforums%2Fupfiles%2F32195%2F7957C40DAAC247A181D8E9778AB6F4C7.jpg&hash=1abc5bf5fa68d3a9b6dbb807f845d3b9ec58b69d)

There are fifteen scenarios in "Ode to October War", thirteen that came with the game and two more which were published in Moves magazine #32. The scenario pack also provides four scenarios with an alternative, more historical map in addition to these original 15 scenarios, bringing the number of new scenarios to nineteen.

So, something to wait for then! :)
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on September 19, 2016, 01:49:06 PM
We're a bit new to this DLC fad, so we thought we'd price this at $0.00. We accept PayPal, major credit cards, and direct bank transfers.  O0

If you feel the price a bit deep for some twenty new scenarios, please remember for the fee you get to download it as often as you want!
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Boggit on September 19, 2016, 09:18:59 PM
Thanks very much.

FWIW, I also have the SPI October War stuffed away in storage somewhere. I recall it was a very good game, if anyone was ever wondering about it.
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on September 19, 2016, 11:33:59 PM
Quote from: Boggit on September 19, 2016, 09:18:59 PM
Thanks very much.

FWIW, I also have the SPI October War stuffed away in storage somewhere. I recall it was a very good game, if anyone was ever wondering about it.

+1

A very modern concept at the time, with initiative and things like that introduced that we nowadays take for granted. That's a pic of my copy right there, gave it a couple of spins a few months back  :)
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on October 06, 2016, 01:38:42 PM
Quote from: Crossroads on September 19, 2016, 01:37:52 PM
Ode to October War scenario pack releases on October 6

From Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War):

QuoteThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War, or October War (Arabic: حرب أكتوبر‎‎ Ḥarb ʾUktōbar, or حرب تشرين Ḥarb Tišrīn; Hebrew: מלחמת יום הכיפורים‎‎ Milẖemet Yom HaKipurim or מלחמת יום כיפור Milẖemet Yom Kipur), also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, was a war fought by the coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6 to 25, 1973. The fighting mostly took place in the Sinai and the Golan Heights, territories that had been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967.

To commemorate the date, we are releasing a brand new scenario pack from Alan R. Arvold on 6 October 2016 to mark the 43rd anniversary of the conflict.

From Alan's Design Notes:

October War was a game by SPI that came out in 1977 in the magazine "Strategy & Tactics", in issue number 61. It was SPI's answer to Avalon Hill's game "Arab Israeli Wars". It was a tactical armored wargame that dealt with battles in the 1973 "Yom Kippur" War. As I have converted the scenarios from "Arab-Israeli Wars" to Divided Ground and Middle East, it seemed only natural that I do the same with the scenarios from "October War". So here we go.

There are fifteen scenarios in "Ode to October War", thirteen that came with the game and two more which were published in Moves magazine #32. The scenario pack also provides four scenarios with an alternative, more historical map in addition to these original 15 scenarios, bringing the number of new scenarios to nineteen.

So, something to wait for then! :)

I am happy to announce the immediate availability of Alan's fab Ode to October War scenario pack at Matrix CS Middle East forum (http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4159885).

Enjoy!

O0
Title: Re: Alan Arvold's "Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars" scenario pack for CS Middle East
Post by: Crossroads on October 15, 2016, 09:27:50 AM
Two new Ode to Divided Ground scenario packs available for download in the Matrix Campaign Series Middle East Mods and Scenarios (http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=1519) subforum:


Enjoy!  :)