The Italians have it rough. They have to survive Australian OBA and AT fire. The Italians in this case, did not. The Australians got some fortuitous AT rolls and the Italians were shot to pieces in short order. Given the dispositions, this would be tough for the Italians to win. Australian victory.

I enjoy the short (10 turns or less) scenarios as I play solo to learn the rules, and this second game of Afrika Korps gave me my first tank vs anti-tank game so far. The Italians lost both steps of the M3-35 fairly quickly, losing the first step to AT fire on turn 1. Recovering from disruption, the reduced platoon moved on with the full strength M13-40 to get close enough for their direct fire value to have some effect. The second step of the M3-35 was lost at 2-hex range from the most forward Australian outpost, the one that happened to have the 2pdr and the good 9-1-0 Australian captain. The M13-40 managed to get to the adjacent hex on turn 5 and lost one step but became disrupted but survived everything that could be thrown at it on turn 6, successfully regaining it's morale. With nothing to lose at that point, the Australian captain lead a platoon of infantry on the assault but failed to do any damage, being disrupted along with the infantry in the hex with the Italian tank. With a victory condition that allowed an Italian victory if any Italian unit was in or adjacent to an Australian unit at the end, it became an Italian victory. Good game, and one I would use again as a teaching scenario when I start getting some face-to-face play in.

A real quick and small scenario. Took less than 30 minutes to play. The Italian tanks are set up at the edge, and the Australians set up the 2 pdr in the southern entrenchment to get the most shots at the Italians. The Italians advance with the intention of just getting adjacent to the defenders at the end for a victory. On the second turn, the 2 pdr eliminates the L3/35 tank with a 11 on the dice. This leaves just the M13/40. The tank circles the outpost waiting for the last turn. The 2 pdr gets no more results as the game moves on. The last turn comes, and the tank moves adjacent, but the defenders move away on their impulse, and the game ends.

Author	sagunto (Australia)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Australia
Participants	treadasaurusrex
Play Date	2022-07-26
Language	English
Scenario	AfKo011

It took an afternoon to complete this scenario in which 2 Italian tank platoons try to take an entrenched Australian company on the edge of Tobruk. Basically, the Italians are trying to peek into Tobruk harbor and the Aussies are tasked with eliminating the tanks with there only AT gun. The Australian defenders were successful in this play-through and destroyed the approaching Italian tanks by the end of the 6th game turn. This took both accurate AT fire and a close assault to finish off the M13/40 tank. There was little room for maneuver and the burden of movement and decision making was on the Italian Commander.

I enjoyed this simple, quick scenario with a skillful and aggressive opponent. I am just getting used to the game mechanics and VASSAL, so this was good practice for me. Not sure that the Italians can win this one without a great deal of luck, so I give it a 3.

The Battle

This is one of the smallest (or perhaps the smallest) PG scenario. The Italians have 2 armour units which run into some Australian infantry and an AT Gun.

There isn’t very much to this 7 turn scenario. The Italians advance, get shot at, shoot back, and hope to do some damage before they lose their L3s.

The Australians destroyed 5 of the 10 Italian tanks (1 unit), but the rest ended the scenario adjacent to the Australians. Both sides fulfilled a win condition and the result was a draw.

On the last turn the Australian infantry tried to run away but the Italian armour chased them ending up adjacent and next to the AT Gun which missed.

There really isn’t much to this scenario nor really much of a reason to play it other than that it can be set up and finished in 10 minutes. Although it could be used as a lesson in armour and AT Guns for new players. For that reason I give it a 2.

Scenario Rating 2/5.

Two Italian tank platoons approach the entrenched Australian company on the edge of Tobruk's defenses with the goal of getting close enough to see what the encircled defenders intend to do: stay and fight or evacuate. The Italian goal is to get close, the Australian goal is to eliminate the tanks. Helping the Australians is that they have an AT gun, Unfortunately it has only a "2" factor. This is good against one of the tank platoons which has a "0" armor value but the other is an M13/40 with a "2" armor value.

Nevertheless in 6 turns the AT gun scores three hits and the remaining M13/40 is dispatched through double demoralization in an assault. The outcome of this one is highly dependent on the success of the AT gun which in this case was exceptional. With the short time frame it is quite possible for the Italians to run up to the Aussie defense and gain adjacency (which is the victory condition) but surviving the contact is up to the AT gun and the ensuing assault. I would suggest staying at long range until nearly the end of the scenario and then dashing in, thus limiting the AT fire to a greater than 5 hex range and forcing the Aussies to come to you. The "thin" slip of terrain will make lateral maneuver difficult but this is the best way for the Italians to win.

The Aussies need to kill both units to win so if the tanks won't come to you, you have to go to the tanks. The AT gun should be able to get at least one hit on the tankette leaving it vunerable to assault and the M13/40 doesn't have the firepower to cause two steps of losses on you so attack it is...

This is a very simple and short scenario. Useful for getting the rules down and shaking out some armor units, but not much else. I give it a "2".

This is a quick scenario. The Italians decided to hold back their forces until 1330, at which time the plan was to rush the Australian positions. Apparently, they did not stay far enough away, because accurate fire by the 2-pdr eliminated the L3/35 platoon at 1245.

Despite several shots, the 2-pdr could not stop the M13/40, and at 1330, they rushed in and were adjacent to the Australian entrenchment. This resulted in an Italian victory. The primary reason for this outcome was the inability of the 2-pdr AT gun to hit the target (consistently low dice rolls).

This scenario is best used to become familiar with AT gun rules, and is not particularly entertaining.

This is a quick and easy, unbalanced, 7-turn scenario. The Italians have 2 armor units which run into 3 entrenched Australian infantry outfits with a HMG platoon and an 2-pdr AT Gun.

There isn’t a lot of room for clever tactical maneuver. Basically, the Italians advance as fast as possible risking opportunity fire from the AT gun, dodge behind one of the Australian strongpoints to prevent additional AT shots since the AT gun has no transport to move it to a better firing position. For the Australians, the drill is to make best use of their opportunity fire and close as quickly as possible in assault mode with the unescorted Italians armor platoons.

The Australians eliminated all but a half-strength M-13/40 tank platoon in a series of infantry assaults next to one of the entrenchments. Even so, the end of the scenario found that intrepid Italian tank unit directly adjacent to one of the strongpoints. The result was a draw.

As others have observed, this is a decent, quick training scenario to learn how to move armored units and position AT guns for maximum effect. Without any supporting infantry and a leader, the best that the Italians can shoot for is a draw.

2 Italian tank platoons attack an Australian outpost with a 2 Pdr gun and a few platoons. One Italian tank was destroyed, but the stronger one survived and then moved adjacent to the Allies on the last turn to win the game. A simple scenario with unusual victory conditions.

Not quite sure what happened here.

Firstly, the Australians flipped terribly for leaders - none with a morale or combat bonus. I placed the 2-lbr + HMG in the farthest north entrenchment; 2xINF in the other two.

First silliness: the Italians moved up to within three hexes of the SE entrenchment (range of six from the 2-lbr). So the 2-lbr fires off a '12' roll (at -2 for range & move in prev. segment) but the reduced step makes the M2!).

Then, of course, the Italian tank leader realizes that there is no difference between firing DF from four hexes or three, but the former places him out of range of the Australian AT fire. Doh.

So the ITs try 1-col DF shots at the entrenched Aussies (now from a range of four) hoping for a miracle: in fact, they do force two M checks, but the Australians hold morale (even with the pitiful leaders).

Now here is where I must have been stupid/complacent. Do the other Australian INF units try to close and/or assault the IT tanks? If one can eliminated them by game end ... but my guys just sat there drinking a few Fosters.

So on game end, in come the Italians ... the Australian 2-lbr tries a shot ... misses ... OF fire can't get an X result vs. the armor (hoping to induce a morale failure) and, well, one IT step lost, but units are adjacent.

::scratches head::