In May I posted up about my positive impression of Avalon Hill’s old Arab-Israeli War.

Since then, I’ve played a couple of the advanced scenarios and confirmed why the game isn’t that well regarded.

The first is line-of-sight.  It can be hard to envisage, especially if the player does not have any experience with map countours, military crest, reverse slope and dead ground.  For that player, it’s a puzzler.

The second is the slow pace of play.  Slow, if the Israeli’s want to win.  The Israeli’s have to advantage of the ground, and maintain their ability to stand-off and destroy the Arab units piecemeal.  This takes patience.  No charges up any valleys.  Slow and steady working on the flanks.

The Arab player’s best hope is to delay/defend and reduce the level of Israeli victory by having the game end before objectives can be achieved.

While not necessarily action-filled armor fun, this type of play makes it an interesting challenge for both sides.