Fate of a Nation Jordanians

 By "Tarzan" Eric Lauterbach

At last!!  The New Fate of the Nation book is coming out!  My Jordanians are saved!!  I was about to dump them on eBay for a song... and not even a very good song.  I was ready to do this because, lets face it they were useless and unplayable. It was a huge exercise in frustration to play Jordanians vs the Israelis - it was not even a game. Because of this, they were banished to the bottom of the gaming closet not even fit to be a paper weight.

Now.. the new book has arrived and breathed new hope into my scrap army..can they be the "Jordanian Lions" I once hoped for?  Well they are certainly a lot better. So what were the major fixes for this army?  Death to dreaded "Taa"(Hen and Chicks) rule.  Now it is possible to move and shoot and have a decent chance of scoring a hit, which really unties your hands now you can at least dance a little vs the Israelis.  This fix was the most needed -  it is no fun when you can't shoot.

The next major change was the addition of the "Professional Traditions" rule, which is you may re-roll main gun misses when stationary at targets over 16" away. The Israeli player will now think twice about the long range duel with Jordanian armor.  Another rule that tips the balance of power back to something reasonable is "Operation Tariq" which is Jordanian armor companies always defend.  I find this to be an interesting change and certainly will add more of challenge to the Israeli armor player.

What Jordanian armor looked like under the old rules... 

I hope this will be the new version of Jordanian armor...alive.

The Jordanians did retain the "Jordanian Lions" rule which gave them a re-roll on failed counterattacks. They also kept the "Qadri" rule where you roll a die on failed company and platoon morale checks if you get a 5 or 6 the company or platoon stays but the commander runs off! Doh! In all the games I played I think I only had a chance at the roll once, usually everyone was dead.  So that covers the major structural rules that bring the Jordanians back from the dead. The Sareya Mudara'AA or Jordanian Armor company had a few changes to the army list as well.

All these great updates for Jordanian tanks did come at a price, which is totally understandable. The old price for 3 M48 Pattons was 275 points now they are 300 points. Which - for my money - is a pretty good deal with the upgrades to rules. The price for 3 Centurions went from 290 to 355 I am not quite sure why they went up slightly disproportionately. My force contians M48s so ..oh well. The majority of Jordanian armor was the M48 - only the Royal Guard was Centurion as I understand it.  The stats for the vehicles looked to have all stayed the same.  So this does mean I am probably going lose a tank or two in comparison to the old lists.

What the old Jordanian mech platoon looked like.

Slightly disappointing to me is no Jordanian mechanized infantry force was included in the lists. Just the same single mech platoon you can get in the tank support choices.  I was looking forward to making more of these guys but no reason now without a list.  The whole thing is puzzling to me because the 60th and 40th Jordanian Armor Brigades each had a battalion of mechanized infantry. Maybe we will see pdf. or an additional book.  The other two new additions were 155 Artillery batteries and a jeep mounted AT platoon with a M40 recoilless gun that punches AT 16, its not a bad value.  Still no recon in the list but the always defend rule helps that out.

A completely new formation was added to the book "Sareyat Moshaaa" Infantry company.  This confident trained formation is a battle for Jerusalem infantry company with mandatory fortifications and fortified platoons. This companies platoons has a great rule "Camouflaged Positions" as long as you do not shoot the enemy must be within 16" to shoot you.  It has infantry companies that are fairly cheap at 170 points each but does have a minimum 380 point fortification purchase that includes two HMG bunkers 4 minefields and 6 barbwire...ouch! They also get two platoons of tanks, good artillery and heavy mortar choices. The AT options do not end with the tanks.  They can have M40 106mm recoilless nests with ROF 1 AT16 which is nothing to sneeze at. Plus they can also add a jeep mounted recoilless platoon.  All in all the Israeli player is really going to have to put some thought into his list now with all these fortified platoons out there.

Hurrah!!! we are saved from the scrap heap!!!

Well I am looking forward to doing some battles again with my Jordanians again.  I didn't think I would be saying that anytime soon.