Anybody good at dessert fighting

[Mobhack]

dessert warfare

If that is your problem - then perhaps employing some pastry chefs would help out there in the blancmange ...

Side turret armour of a merk 4 is 35. The Egyptian 120mm weapon #103 will pass through that regularly to 4500 metres. The M60 TTs with weapon #105 will perforate that at 1900m. Both can dice up better result (and both can bounce, or you may be attacking off 0 degrees axis to the target)

So flank and rear shots is the thing. Adopt a "U" shaped ambush if he is coming at you. Hide behind any terrain and fire as they go by. OK tactic, so long as you are not the advancer..

Otherwise, just drop shed loads of arty on them, or where the seem to be firing from. Arty can break tracks, and an immobilised merkava is 600-700 points stuck in the wrong place. As Don said - dust them down with your cluster rockets (MLRS, Saqr-CM). Any on-map ones with access to armoured resupply can play shoot and scoot. Off-map ones should probably unload as fast as possible to avoid counter battery fires. Your arty and mortars are your primary delouser for Israeli infantry too.

If you're Jordan - simply use some javelin and TOW-2B T-A ATGMs... The Al-Hussein III can penetrate Merk 4b frontally to 1000m (best to 1600m but I would not bet the farm on it). So greeting them with a reverse slope ambush (with views to the flank for side kills to 5000m) should work.

If you are Syria, then go large on kornet teams (120 HEAT pen) and RPG-29 users, and advance as an infantry mob behind a storm of arty + mortars. And buy uragans. Any tanks etc to hide in the rear till needed to sweep up APC and wrecked merkavas in the end game.

Remember that tank turrets often turn to face the enemy - so firing something from the North may make him point there, so your units down to the South get to see his turret side. If the shot from the South makes the turret turn to face there, then the North firing group should get an exposure of his side. Keep pinging shots from the opposite angles and jumping back to the ones that get an exposed side.

Alternatively, for Israel's neighbours, use the Chinese strategy.
Merkavas cost the same as probably 2 rifle companies.
Israeli APC are rather expensive and have no cannons.

So buy a force based on 4-8 leg rifle companies (get any elites you can for better morale), many mortars and arty, plenty of inf-at teams + a few inf-SAM. Then walk forwards behind a barrage of HE, swarming over any tanks and APC - the HE will immobilise some, and duff his grunts up. The more super-expensive tanks he buys, the less infantry he gets, and you have not given those any targets by not investing in tanks of your own. Only buy a few APC-killer light vehicles (like a platoon) which hide deep in the rear till needed to off any surviving Israeli APCs (e. Pt-76, BMP-2 or Fahd 240-30 with plenty of 30mm AP). If he buys merks, you probably only have to deal with 4 or so, plus loose change, then.

Andy

[Imp]

The Chinese tactic does work eventually overcoming so long as you can maintain contact. Pastry Chefs are effective if you can find one of those hidden ridge lines quick enough, look like regular level zero but in fact block or some raised dirt etc.
The obvious ones though are arty magnets or avoided. They can also prove death traps as his extra vision rating means does not work quite as expected.
Cheers for the input as you say the key is cover managed to stop a couple of times if I have some but when its thin on the ground its very hard work managing to isolate some units for flank shots.

[hoplitis]

To the reverse slope,flank shots, low tech numbers vs high tech=hich cost approach add:
1. the obvious: don't target units you have little chance of disrupting/damaging/killing, ie forget the Markavas go for the APCs etc (if there are not around yet,wait...)
2. try to "separate" the attacking armour from its accompanying mechanized element. Arty and arty delivered mines may help at this. A forward "skirmish" line may also do the trick. If some of your forward units survive the armor onslaught, they might cause the mechanized element to unload. Then apply artillery as usual. The armour element may continue to advance but without infantry support.Your chances are better now (well in the theory!)
Avoid the strong(er), hit the weak(er).

[Imp]

You have to strip the infantry away realy to have much chance at getting to the tanks with grunts. Am kinda overemphasising the problem wide open maps do not appear that often but if only 3 or 4 crest lines you know where his gold spots are or just given a wide margin. This time have a few nicely placed hills for flanks & a few depressions to boot so in with a chance of inflicting some hurt. The generator does a good job the amount of midnight oil that must have been spent deciding on settings for respective opponents let alone getting it to work does not bear thinking about.

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

To stop a superior and expensive armor force you'll need a bunch of atgms, if your nation has rocket/atgm carrying helos, but a few and park the at the sides of the map, when armor appears move them in, pop from cover, fire, change positon, then keep shooting

[gingertanker]

If I play against IDF(I hardly do cause burning Merkavas makes me a bit tense), I usually dont buy much AFVs. The IDF in real life as in SPMBT is simply superior to any of its possible opponents in armored warfare and will happily fight you on its own terms(Massive, hihly dynamic, armored encounters in open terrain). Now....If you want to counter that it is not really terribly diffecult.

Pick ATGMs. Lots of ATGMs. If Syria go for Kornets and Metis, IF egypt than Milan and TOW(by the way Egyptian M1s arnt that infirior to ISraeli Mk3s). If possible get infantry that has RPG-29s those are very effective. You should only fire at flanks, unless Merk 2 and than Kornet and Metis can probably give you kills at the front. YOu can also get some Sggaers and older crap and use them to waste the Israeli countermeasures than go for the kills with the heavy hitters. Your still going to suffer badly but you can probably cause enough casualties in AFVs to hault the advance.

[runequester]

The infantry ATGM teams are usually hard to spot and pretty cheap on points, compared to modern MBT's.