Chinese Farm - Simulation Value

Simulation Value

Chinese Farm offers rather limited value in simulating Israeli efforts to cross the Suez Canal and Egypt's counter efforts. The map and scenarios are sufficient to develop a general operational understanding of the simulated events. Order of battle data is problematic, however, and most brigade and lower units have generic unit designations and some counters include unexplained letter designators. Those letter designators are abbreviations of the names of the IDF brigade commanders, and the full names can be ascertained from any detailed history of the conflict; the numerical designators are either IDF brigade numbers or Egyptian division, or independent regiment, numbers. Unit designators are irrelevant to unit positioning, and the accompanying materials do not describe how the opposing forces were arrayed historically. Information on Egyptian and Israeli doctrine, tactics, and equipment is also largely absent. The Designer's Notes and Player's Notes are sparse in adding context and do not include references or recommended further reading. The game was published in 1975 when there was little detailed information openly available. Unsurprisingly, SPI made some order of battle errors.

The game rules for the canal crossing are unrealistic in that some Israeli units are permitted to cross the Suez Canal absent engineer support. It is unclear how this would be occur as the canal was too deep to ford and had steep sidewalls, and the Israeli Army did not have amphibious vehicles (other than some M113 armoured personnel carriers), but relied entirely on engineer units to build temporary bridges. In contrast, Egyptian units may only cross the canal at the Ismailia Bridge, although historically the Egyptians had established a number of temporary crossings and retained a robust engineering capability. Moreover, the Ismailia Bridge was destroyed during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and had not been rebuilt, although the simulation appears to treat the bridge as intact and functioning.