Author	goosebrown
Method	Solo
Victor	Germany
Play Date	2022-01-21
Language	English
Scenario	AfKo034

The scenario notes that the three platoons of A13 Cruiser tanks thought they were being chased by Italians so turned to stop the pursuit.

Big. Mistake. Twice.

I played it twice and it was worse the second time.

So the A13s of the 5th RTR all start within one hex of the road at the base of a hill. The other side of that hill is the German's exit point and they need to exit steps without losing more than 2 steps.

With a slight initiative advantage, the panzers of the 5th Panzer Regiment simply charged down the road to meet the A13s closing to bumper car range (except the PzKW IIs which followed along like the fragile little flowers they are (Patton could have slapped one in Algeria and had the rest in Tunisia turn belly up from sheer relayed fright...))

Next turn the Germans won a two action initiative roll and simply shot three steps away out of 6 steps present and demoralizing one step. The Brits, bless their little hearts, fired back and took one step from the Pz IIIfs. German won the initiative again the next turn and the 7 steps of Pz IIIs just finished what they started. With nothing to hide behind there wasn't much for the A13s to do except burn.

Next play I moved the A13s back over the ridge as the Germans came on the same old way. Hoping to get a reverse slope sort of defense I split the Cruisers north and south to cover the road and hopefully get a cross fire on the Pz IIIs, but no such luck. The Germans won the initiative with a 1 action advantage and they butchered the northern platoon then took a step from the two platoons in the south. Half the Brits gone by turn three. Then the 8 steps of Pz IIIs and Pz IIs on the road just drove away while the last 4 steps of Pz IIIGs shot up the A13s till they stopped moving. The A13s did not even get one step. It was brutal.

If you have to use a 2pdr against panzers, you really need a lot of armor to protect you so you can get multiple hits before they knock you out. I would have traded all the Cruisers here for two steps of Matildas and it might have been a fair fight in terms of victory conditions in that they could have sat on the Axis exit hex and toughed it out.

Note that this is a short scenario so any way you do it it is fast.

Also it is into the setting sun so if the Germans move methodically, they are going to have to get closer and closer to fight which is not a great idea considering how fragile the British armor is at a few hexes.

Good lesson on the Pz III v Cruiser match up.