I admit a fondness for European Axis forces that didn't speak German. Not because they were allied with a vicious genocidal partner but because they often seem comical in their ineptitude. Fronte Russo makes it clear that, at times, the Italian army could be the equal of their partner in crime. Afrika Korps, however tends to focus in the other direction. The King's Officers gives one the chance to see if it had to be that way.

The first scenario provides three fledgling Italian leaders the chance to beat up some Brits. The Italians have armor (sort of) perfect for running off the edge of the map for victory purposes while the Coldstream Guards have, um, uh... better morale, at least until they are all shot up.

The Italians focus their attention on the road, as the only territorial objective other than exiting units. They lose some tank(ette)s to the British AT fire which is quickly hammered by OBA leading to assaults and overwhelming force being aimed at insufficient defense. Add to that the fact that the British leader characters who could have helped spent most of the scenario trying to recover morale. The Italians shot up 15 steps of British forces (most from hammering demoralized troops) while the British only managed three steps of infantry/artillery and two tank.

The final campaign score was 41-7 as most of the remaining Italian tanks left the board while the infantry continued to attack the British.

One Italian leader actually managed two medals in one scenario and still managed to avoid promotion. Another got one medal and the third seemed to have been lost on the battlefield.

None of the British leaders had much positive to say. One actually had a negative LP total while two others were barely positive and none made it to "mentioned in dispatches".

It should be noted that this is the likely and somewhat desired result. The scenario introduction and conclusion make it clear that there really wasn't much of an objective to the Italian attack on Egypt except to attack Egypt, therefore great results from such a promising start aren't expected.