4 October 1935; Daro Tacle fort, Ethiopia. The battle starts at 1500 and is only two hours long (8 turns). So the Italian forces, the Serae Banda of II Corps, who are attacking have no time to waste and have to get going. The Ethiopian forces, elements of Sahale's forces garrisoning the fort, really have their job cut out for them: hold. The Sahale's force is made up of Impererial Irregulars led by a Shambel (captain) with the help of one Metoaleqa (lieutenant). They are a small company reinforced by a HMG platoon. Their advantage is the entrenchment of the fort and being dug in. Also they set up dug in on higher terrain. They are tasked with holding the fort and keeping a LOS/LOF on the trail leading to their rear areas. The Shambel decides to spread out, occupying not only the fort but the high ground to his right flank. He places the HMG there under the Metoaleqa. This position covers most of the trail with fire. The HMG is the only really "modern" weapon in the battle as the Imperial Irregulars are mostly armed with pre WWI rifles while their opponents even have spears and bows! Meanwhile the colonial Italian forces are made up of three companies. A total of ten platoons of Bande (irregular tribal infantry). Advantage in numbers for sure but attacking a strong position and up hill to boot. And worse of all the troops are weak in the knees with a morale of only 6/5. But this is slightly offset by having two pretty solid leaders. A Tenente (lieutenant) with a morale of 10 and a +1 morale bonus and an Sergente with +1 morale and fire bonuses. As a historical side note the Tenente was named Morgantini and was the first Italian officer to die in the war. The Tenente decides to split his force. One group of five platoons to attack the HMG position on the high ground and the remaining five to go for the fort. The Native Sergente leads the attack on the high ground and has success in routing the Ethiopian's off of the hill. But takes almost the entire two hours to do so and by the time he stands over the foxholes of the Ethiopians the majority of his platoons are back at their starting positions cowering in the rocky cover. He is therefore unable to reinforce his Tenente who is attacking Fort Daro Tacle. The Ethiopian Shambel's troops hold the fort to the bitter end (and thus keep the trail under LOF) but not because of the Shambel's efforts. He actually spends most of the action hiding in his bunker: he stays disrupted or demoralized for the entire attack! Even though the Italian Tenente leads several attacks against the entrenched position he is unable to overcome the Ethiopians. After all is said and done very few losses occur. The Bande loose half of a platoon but more importantly have half of their troops flee. The Ethiopians only loose the one position of the HMG when it flees. A nasty little fight with poor quality troops in a unusual scenario that was fun to play.