Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Germany
Play Date	2022-12-14
Language	English
Scenario	DeRa011

This is a rather large armor battle, but the Allies are severely limited by their force being nothing but light tanks. Ideally, they are pursuing a small German recon force which they can outgun, while the German III and IVs come to the rescue, but with a lack of setup restrictions for the Germans, they can start with the recon elements on the far side of the map. This removes any real chance for the Allies to score any kills. This leaves the only alternative for them being to dig in in positions that funnel the Germans into flanking shots, or their 18 lbers. But this is an easy trap to see and avoid.

The Germans advance with their IVs down the center, flanked by the IIIs which the Infantry moving along with the IVs in to deal with the 18s. Using the map edge, they cover their right from flanking shots and the Brits continually withdraw an displace but no opportunity presents itself. Eventually they run out of map and are wiped by the Germans.

The German IIs, Armored Cars, and Trucks stay in the rear safeguarded by their 88s as well, producing no easy kills.

Not really much they can do here. Balance is pretty awful. Rommel makes an appearance but ultimately does nothing of note, the overpowering tanks ruling the day.

Desert Rats, scenario #11: Gabr Saleh

I reacquired this game, as I was missing playing some of the scenarios from it and especially after reading the excellent book called: Steel Centurions, not to mention the Italian Ariete Division was at their peak performance in many of these scenarios, which I can relate to after reading the book mentioned. Funny thing is, I ended up playing a scenario without any Italians in it. Also I picked a scenario which required two sets of counters, which was kind of irritating, but pulled counters from other games. I believe Desert Rats has 3 scenarios out of the 50 that require two sets of counters, I played many of them years ago.

In this scenario, it is all about eliminating enemy steps and the Germans can pretty much protect their weaker units but not the British as even their Stuart tanks are weak. About the only chance the British have in this one, was to charge the Germans in the darker hours and hope for good dice rolls. My game ended with the Germans achieving 37 points to the British 8 points for an easy victory.

I could kind of see the Germans were going to win this one, before I even setup it up but wanted to play some wide open tanks battles. It would have been more fun if the British would have had stronger Grant tanks. The Maps are pretty dull compare to the newer games like: An Army at Dawn but I reacquired this game mostly for the scenarios, counters and got it at a really good price from Noble Knights. Next time I’ll pick a closer match scenario.

Others have reported in detail about this massively unbalanced scenario, so I played it as a SOLO venture. What a surprise - the Africa Korps clobbered the near-hapless British side in this pitched battle.

Unless one is a hopeless masochist, don't play this one in SHARED play as the Allies. However, It was fun to play in SOLO mode and I give it a generous rating of 2.