Shad's Note: I'm dumping in a bunch of my old BGG AARs. If you've followed my "work" on BGG then you've read these before...

DEPLOYMENT

Basically, the Italians have a 3 hex entrenchment complex at the end of the road with their backs to the wall. The land is flat except for a small hill in the north center that has no bearing on the scenario's development.

The British load up the transports and enter on the road.

There's a long string of wire all across the battlefield, but it's only a speedbump for the British.

THE BATTLE

Transports for everyone and the ease of road movement meant the British were able to reach the wire on Turn 1. This left 15 turns to massacre some pizzamen. Knowing that only 2 steplosses would sink the whole damn operation, the British took their time.

The light infantry unloaded from the trucks at the wire-line and the detachment began moving in a large semicircle to the SW with the armor leading the way.

A few Italian mortar rounds fell here and there, but with the exception of a LT who lost a contact lens the British steadily walked towards the scared-shitless Italian infantry peeking through the entrenchment viewslots when they weren't busy changing their pants.

The British A9 armored platoon & the Bren carriers loaded with HMG infantry cautiously approached the clearing in front of the first of the three Italian entrenchments. To their shock and amusement, a 19th century musket suddenly popped out of one of the entrenchment observation ports - shoulder stock first! - and was vigorously waved back and forth in the air. Stranger yet, attached to the triggerguard was a lovely pair of white silk panties!

The A9 crews could only watch in awe as several dozen Italians came skipping out of the entrenchment with their hands in the air. Not a single British round had been fired!

Without immediately handy prisoner containment facilities, the British rounded up the Italian infantry and restrained them... by tying their bootlaces together. (Historical Note - prior to the fullscale switch to Fascist Velcro in mid-1942, this was the most effective way to keep an Italian captive)

The second entrenchment, led by the Italian capitano himself, proved equally ready to fly the silk panties and come out skipping to be shoe-bound.

Only upon reaching the last entrenchment did the British finally find themselves in need of actually using those strange firesticks their government had insisted they carry. By turn 10, though, it was all over.

Shad's Conclusion

All Italian steps eliminated. No British steplosses. British Victory

Final Thoughts

As the British I did use my plane - pulled a good one too! - and then promptly rolled a 1d6 one for a miss. Crap!

The surrender rule is wild. You are allowed to ask an adjacent hex of demoralized Italians (good order if you have armor asking) to surrender once per hex per turn. The Italian player must roll 2d6 higher than the highest morale of any unit in the hex. Considering all the Italians have a base morale of FIVE in this scenario, you can see why all the white silk panties were flapping in the breeze so easily.

While they had basically no impact on the scenario, I really like the wire counters and the greatly simplified terrain.

Lastly, this was my first foray into the PG desert - and it's not a scenario that one could really pass any meaningful judgment on - but I will say that after this little dust-up I'm quite eager to start my next desert adventure...