Somewhere in the very convuluted mess of my mind I began humming "Runaway" as my Italian trucks and civilians tried to get away from the British tankers. With the surrender rule in force and civilian morale at 5 running was critical. The British, however, seem to have forgotten about the AT guns and ended up losing 6 tank steps to a variety of armored car, regular artillery and AT guns firing at close range.

The Italians correctly set up their combat forces so as to screen the masses of soft targets which littered the road. Those soft targets ran away as quickly as possible but they make poor runners in the sand, permitting the British tanks to close the distance. The Mark VIbs head for the right of the Italian line looking to breakthrough there while the A13s try the center of the line. Both groups of tanks take some hits from AT fire and only on the right do the British get a breakthrough. In the end, 2 Italian units fall to direct fire and 12 surrender. If you are counting that is 14, or one less than the British needed to get a draw given their losses.

I have to admit that the Italians had extremely good luck with their AT fire and that a draw seems eminently possible. On the other hand, we don't get a chance to try out any true pursuit battles very often in PG and this is one for the books. It was highly enjoyable and one which probably warrants a replay down the road. I give it a "4".