Author	wleonard1
Method	Solo
Victor	Ethiopia
Play Date	2020-11-25
Language	English
Scenario	COOE007

This scenario sets up on two boards almost as two separate battles. A battalion of Italian allies wants to push a group of local mercenaries out of a village on the south board; a second battalion of Italian colonial troops wants to capture a fort from a group of Ethiopian regulars on a ridge on the north board. Moving between the boards is discouraged by heavy mud that reduces everyone’s movement, everywhere.

No subtlety on the south front; the Italian militia moves right up to the village and starts taking fire. There is some more maneuver up north; the Italians circle around to approach the fort from the west; the Ethiopians redeploy to face the new threat axis. After an hour, the Ethiopian regulars have redeployed , but the Italian colonials are making some progress in assaults on the front line. Olol Dinle’s forces in the south are not so fortunate in their assaults on the village; six lost steps and a lot of disruptions and demoralizations for not much progress.

The next hour is close to an even fight in the north; Italian airstrikes help soften up the Ethiopian front line, but Italy has not yet broken through. Bad news for Italy in the south – they are pushed out of the village hexes, and Ethiopia finally extricates a leader from an assault hex to get the reserves moving forward. As we reach the halfway point, Italy has broken the Ethiopian defense line in the north, but has not yet been able to rally and approach the fort. And the air support has run out. In the south, Ethiopia has started to pursue the Italian militia, but has again made the mistake of tying up all of their leaders in assaults, so the rest of the troops can’t move toward the enemy.

It takes an hour, but the Italian troops in the north finally close up adjacent to the fort. One assault is pushed back, but a second may be imminent. Hamid Badil’s Ethiopian irregulars continue to push Olol Dinle’s troops away from the southern village. Ethiopia looks to have a secure minor victory. Ethiopian Major/Italian minor hopes will rest on control of the fort. The second assault on the fort goes in as darkness falls. A couple of step losses for both sides, lots of disruption and demoralizations, but the Ethiopian garrison holds on to the fort. With keeping the village as well, that’s a major victory for Ethiopia.

Overall, not as lopsided a battle as the final score might indicate. A couple more airplanes that could find targets, one or two better assault rolls, and the battle easily could have gone the other way. This play ran as two completely separate battles, except for allocating air support and initiative between the two battles. Mud slows down movement between the village and the fort, but the Italian Bande are effectively twice as fast as the Ethiopians, and might easily be able to concentrate against one objective initially. It would then be down to the wire to see if they could reach the second objective in time.