This was the introductory scenario for Conquest of Ethiopia (CoE). I was very eager to start this series of scenarios as I had a relative who served in the Italian army throughout the war, and I was very interested to experience, through the game, some of the challenges he faced.

Fairly straight forward scenario... at only 8 turns, there is little time for maneuver and strategy. The Italians start out with a battalion of colonial Banda (10x platoons worth) and no heavy weapons or OBA. Their mission is to clear the trail of any Ethiopian troops. The Italian colonials are opposed by a reinforced company (3x Inf, 1x HMG)of Ethiopian irregulars in a fort astride the main road.

The Italians split their forces to envelope the Ethiopians from both sides of the pass. While the concept looked good in planning, Mr. Murphy had other ideas. Right from the start, very fortuitous Ethiopian opportunity fire served to disperse and demoralize some of the Italians on both sides of the fort. As it was a fairly short scenario, the Italians threw caution to the wind and launched very hasty, ill coordinated attacks on the fort. At no time were the Ethiopians in danger of losing the fort, and at the end of the scenario, most of the Italian Banda were in full flight.

In reality, with the very telling initial fire from the Ethiopians, even a novice commander would have seen that the initiative was lost and would have pulled back to regroup his forces. However, when playing against a set time (in terms of the game, 8 turns) I was forced to attack quickly in hopes of a signal success that would turn the tide in the Italian favor. Unfortunately, the Sons of the Negus had other ideas!!!