Very early on in my PG playing I found myself consistently rushing attacks. As a result my plays had a tendency to end up as defender wins loaded with heavy casualties for the attackers and a failure to break through the defender's initial lines. Only when the attacker was stunningly superior (e.g. the Germans in many Eastern Front situations) were the "run up and punch them in the mouth" tactics effective.

As time went by I noticed that many of these scenarios ended well before the turn limit due to exhaustion or destruction of the attacking force. I then began developing real tactics with fire and movement, reserves and all the stuff you really are supposed to do. I can't say as yet that I have mastered the system but at least I understand it a lot better and can find ways to use bombardment, direct fire and assault in ways to improve my attacker's odds.

In this scenario a force of the Ariete division must drive through an Indian battalion which is holding a road along a ridge. The Indians have substantial artillery and prepared positions with ample AT guns and will receive a couple platoons of A9s early on. The Italians have a couple battalions of Berseglieri (sp?), two companies of motorcylists and a horde of slow, weak and thinly armored "tanks" as well as some good AT guns and some light artillery. The objective is to eliminate the Indians and gain control of the road without losing too many Italians in the process.

The Indian AT guns and the A9s made mincemeat of the Italian "armor" but the firepower of the Ariete troops slowly wore down the Indian prepared positions. Italian losses were substantial but the Indians were also losing steps as the Italian attacks first rooted out he defending dug-in troops and then moved onto the entrenchments. Since the Italian losses were too high they could not win but by controlling the road they would deny the Indians the win as well.

The defenders were reduced to two positions astride the road with an hour and a half to go in the battle and were finally eliminated on the very last roll of the game. It was a fun, but incredibly bloody battle, one that I didn't think could go the Italians way, even to acheive a draw. I give this one a "4".

In this scenario, an Italian combined-arms force attempts to clear a road of British-led Indian infantry reinforced by a few British tanks. The Italians have Bersaglieri and motorcycle troops, and equal morale to the Indians. They outnumber the Commonwealth forces more than four-to-one in tanks. Sounds easy, until you see the Italian tanks. They're forced to use L5/21 & 30 "Iron Coffins," easily the worst tanks in the Panzer Grenadier system.

The Indians set up perpendicular to the road, with the line anchored on the ends by entrenchments. One platoon with machine guns sets up in an entrenchment on the road well back of the line as a reserve point to rally around if the line is breached.

The Italians send the motorcycles around the Indian left flank in the valley between the hills, intending to get behind the line and take out the Indian mortars. This doesn't work, as the bikers are badly disrupted by the Indians' substantial off-board artillery. The rest of the force goes for the Indian left along the hill rather than try a frontal assault. Using the rough ground for cover, they start on the Indian's far left and begin to slowly roll up their flank.

The British tank reinforcements appear on the first turn when they are available and go tin-can hunting. They are able to stand back out of Italian gun range and knock off the L5's whenever they enter clear terrain, or assault or fire and get spotted in the hills.

The Italians eventually roll up the right side of the line and reach the road, but they're not able to crack any of the Indian entrenchments. The entrenchment on the north end of the line, defended by only a machine gun platoon and an anti-tank gun, fends off all the Italians can throw against it despite being surrounded for most of the day. While the north half of the line is holding off the Italians, the Indians holding the left side fall back to the rally point along the road and dig in.

In the end, the Indians still hold the road and the area is littered with burning Italian tanks. Italian losses far outnumber the Indians' (mostly due to the tank losses), earning the Allies a Major Victory.

This is a tough one for the Italians, but still could be winnable with some (or a lot of) luck and good planning. It's interesting to see British A9 tanks as the Kings of the Battlefield. Probably the only time the British tankers get to feel like the German Tiger drivers.