Another site on this game
This game is also presented in the French site "le site du club de Stratégie de Moissy Cramayel" with
The rules, very detailed (in French)
The game overview
The game
Yom Kippur is a wargame about the 4th Israelo-Palestinian conflict: the 6th of October 1973, during the Yom Kippur day and also during the Ramadan, a combined attack was launched by the Egyptian army, coming through the Suez canal in the south, and the Syrian army, coming through Golan heights, in the north of Israel.
First of all, it was a terrible conflict, a traumatic experience for whose who participated or lived in the area. It was also a turning point, with a military victory for Israel, a political victory for the Arabs, and a world economic disruption, with the first world oil shock. After this conflict will start the process of the peace initiative with the signature of the Camp David accords and the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, 6 years after.
This conflict is simulated by several wargames. From a strategic point of view, it's a very challenging subject: "Pearl Harbor" bombings, "Normandy 44" landing, "Tobruk" tank race in the desert, but everything with modern weapons and during a very small period of time.
A very good article is available in French in the E-revue of the net4war site
An English article is available on wikipedia.
It's a very good International Team game, that helped many new players to start with wargaming: it includes basic rules, around Suez canal and advanced rules, with 2 maps and more complex aircraft managements rules.
This game will be later enhanced and pubslished by Eurogames.
The illustration
The illustration is signed by Enea Riboldi. The picture is impressive, the dangerous aspect of the Phantom is reinforced by the pilot masks. The bottom part of the image is curiously on a white background. It seems to be initially a desert background.
The aircraft is of course a McDonnell F-4E Phantom, a classical one with more than 5000 produced between 1952 and 1979. It is still used in Israel as a modernized variant "Phantom 2000". The illustration is well detailed, there is only a missing marking in the vertical tail plane, as it is on the picture from The McDonnell Douglas RF-4 Phantom II page available on the "Israeli defence force" site .
Opening of the box
The box contains the rulebook, the example book, 3 elements for the 2 maps, 1 die, the counters.
The 2 maps
The 2 maps are in 3D.
The smaller map represents the area around Golan heights: the frontier region between Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordania. The Jourdain river cross the map from North to South, with the Galilean see well visible in the middle.
The counters
The counters represent the units engaged in the conflict, but also bridges, aircrafts, bunkers, sol-air missile batteries (SAM) etc. This counter scan is coming from the "Eurogames" variant (published later in the 90s).
The rules
The detail of the rules is available on the club de Stratégie de Moissy Cramayel site (in French).
The Eurogames rules (in French) are improved and only include the advanced rule concept of International Team
A terrains table and a combat tables sheet are available here (thank you Bathory)
The International Team rulebook includes 20 pages in 2 languages: Italian and French.
There are 2 rules: the basic and the advanced one.
Basic game:
The basic game is only played on the Sinai map. Each turn corresponds to 2 days and is subdivided into 10 phases.
Egyptian turn:
1) air phase: aircraft positioning, paratrooper launching
and helicopter transported commandos movement.
2) movement phase, including reinforcement entry
3) bombing
4) combat phase
Israeli turn:
5) air phase: aircraft positioning, paratrooper launching
6) 1st movement phase, including reinforcement entry
7) bombing
8) combat phase
9) 2nd movement phase (without possible attack)
10) time counter moved on the calendar - the next turn can start
The basic game includes some rules to manage the paratroopers, the helicopter transported troops, mobile artillery, sol-air missiles only for the Arabians. The aircraft combats are simplified with different rules for each player: The Egyptian player has to bomb under SAM protection and is not very efficient. The Israeli player has to use another combat resolution table, that depends on the number of Egyptian SAM involved.
The victory is calculated using a rating:
- for Israel, 2 points for each intact bunker, 1 point for each reduced bunker, 5 points for each unit standing west of the Channel, 2 points for each Egyptian bridge destroyed.
- for Egypt, 10 points for each controlled pass, 1 point for each unit exiting along the coast road to Israel 1 point for each Israel unit eliminated. If less than 16 units are standing east of the Channel, the player has to remove (16 - number of unit) to the score.
Advanced game:
The advanced game is played on the 2 maps by 2 3 or 4 players. The aircraft are divided into 3 categories: bombing, intercepting, bombing fighter. The aircraft combat rules are introduced.
Each turn is divided into 9 phases.
Arabian turn:
1) air phase with Israeli interception
2) positioning of bridges on the Channel
3) movement phase, including reinforcement entry
4) combat phase
Israeli turn:
5) air phase with Arabian interception
6) 1st movement phase, including reinforcement entry
7) combat phase
8) 2nd movement phase (without possible attack)
9) time counter moved on the calendar - the next turn can start
The victory is calculated using a rating:
- for Israel, 20 points if Damas is occupied, 5 points for any other Syrian city occupied, 2 points for each intact bunker, 1 point for each reduced bunker, 5 points for each unit standing west of the Channel, 2 points for each Egyptian bridge destroyed
- for the Arabs, 10 points for each Israeli city occupied, 2 points if the Syrian bunker remains intact, 10 points for each controlled pass, 1 point for each unit exiting along the coast road to Israel 1 point for each Israel unit eliminated. If less than 16 units are standing east of the Channel, the player has to remove (16 - number of unit) to the score.
The Casus Belli articles:
An article was published in Casus Belli n°25 with some proposal to enhance the rules: Frank Stora proposed to add logistic line management, to replace a retreat from 2 or 3 hexes of 1 hex with shock (forbidden to move or attack), to change victory point calculation.
The article on Yom Kippur (International Team) in Casus Belli 25
A second article was published in Casus Belli n° 54, When the Eurogames release was published.
An article on Yom Kippur (Eurogames), in French, in Casus Belli 54
An article in Jeux et Stratégie n°29:
Some price (2004-2006):
This game is not usual as "International Team" release but it remains cheap (probably because there are no English rules and because the subject remains sensible). It is easier to find as Eurogames release. You can notice here a German sold for a game only in French + Italian !? But the buyer was French.
| N° EBAY | Price EBAY | Country | Date | Remarks |
| 5923035614 | EUR 35 | Italy | 03 oct 2004 | not sold |
| 5944182999 | EUR 38,50 | France | 26 dec 2004 | |
| 5953056868 | EUR 42,50 | Germany | 6 feb 2005 | |
| 5981905014 | EUR 41,51 | France | 20 June 2005 | |
| 5221604480 | EUR 16,50 | France | 27 July 2005 | |
| 5225520435 | EUR 49 | France | 7 July 2005 | with an Eurogames kit |
| 5227046273 | EUR 22,50 | France | 14 August 2005 | |
| 5233524669 | EUR 36,50 | France | 29 August 2005 | |
| 5995091540 | EUR 37,50 | France | 30 August 2005 | |
| 5233793725 | $ 235,26 ! | Italy | 2 sept 2005 | |
| 5237478175 | EUR 41,14 | France | 8 sept 2005 | |
| 8702527400 | EUR 35,50 | France | 10 oct 2005 | |
| 87134655935 | EUR 45 | France | 31 oct 2005 | |
| 8723526141 | EUR 26,50 | France | 24 nov 2005 | |
| 8813546010 | EUR 9,50 | France | 24 may 2006 | |
| 8819976744 | EUR 15 | France | 4 junen 2005 | |
| 8820061035 | EUR 91 | France | 5 june 2005 |
YOM KIPPUR overviewreference: W120
Game for 2/3/4 players from 15 years on
Duration of the game: from 2 to 4 hours
Duration of one turn at scale: 2 days
Size of each hexagon at scale: 7 Km
Difficulty: 2 (easy, basic game) or 5 (hard, advanced game)
Date: 1984
Remark: on the fiche "jeux et stratégie", there are 2 hearts meaning "we like it a lot".
Links:
YOM KIPPUR in La caverne
YOM KIPPUR in Boardgamegeek
YOM KIPPUR in Isimulacrum
YOM KIPPUR in Trictrac
YOM KIPPUR in le site du club de Stratégie de Moissy Cramayel
A similar game:
there are several games on the Israelo Palestinian conflict. Another game has the same name: Yom Kippur, published by the Gamers and translated in French by Oriflam. It's a good game, easy to find.
Two books:
My life by Golda Meir
In search of identity by Anouar el Sadate
Some words of Golda Meir:
There is nothing Israel wants so much as peace. There is nothing Israel needs so much as peace. With all the bleakness of the desert, the desert of hate around us is even more bleak
your comments on this page ?