This is an interesting scenario. A bunch of Australian infantry, with a couple of 2 pounders and a couple of increments of OBA, plus a few Matildas, come across some Italians mostly encamped behind a hill (why behind? I have no clue) and need to create havoc before Ariete division, with lots of Italian tanks and infantry, and a few German tanks, too, comes to the rescue. The Aussies win by inflicting 12 step losses (doable) or chasing the Italians away from the environs of the hill (probably not doable, what with all that armor coming...assuming it shows up, which may not happen). So, as happened historically, the best plan for the Aussies is to come in, get the Matildas to scare a bunch of Italians into surrendering, and then run away before the armor can hurt them.

That's the plan, anyway.

And that's what I tried as the Aussies. Yet the Italians were stubborn, refusing to surrender, and rallying from demoralization consistently, when they needed a 5 or less to do that. The Matildas wandered too close, and got caught in an assault. In my defense, the Brits had a 4 initiative at the time, the Italians had a 1, so the odds of the Italians going first were only 1 in 11 that it would happen), and got demoralized. They recovered, but never got out of the assault, and even with infantry reinforcements, they eventually fell to a crossfire between 20mm guns (the set-up) and 47mm guns (the kill on a boxcars). That was 2 step losses for the Aussies, and Italian artillery and accurate MG fire took care of the other 2. Meanwhile, the Italians doggedly held on, outrolling or equal rolling the British in an assault.

The armored reinforcements showed up on turn 12, the 2nd possible turn they could enter. It's only a 1 in 6 chance, so that was good luck for the Axis. As they drove to the front, the Aussiestook aim on them with with OBA, and finally got a couple of Italians to surrender. This put the Axis at 8 step losses (there were others from fire and assault) and put a draw in reach. The armor rolled up to the Aussies and blasted away, however the Aussies mostly hung tough. I thought to myself "Hey, let's bring up some infantry to get combined arms with the PZIIIs in assault and dissuade the Aussies from any further battle." This turned out to be a mistake, and a lucky HMG shot demoralized a stack of adjacent Italian infantry and they failed their surrender roll, taking the Axis to 12 step losses and a draw. So, bad judgment on my part.

This was a fun scenario. A little luck by the Italians and it's easy enough for them to win, and, as I found out, they should rest on their laurels. Getting Italians to surrender is generally easier than it was for me in this scenario. At the same time, if the Matildas don't get toasted and get a few Italians to surrender, the Axis have to be much more aggressive to take out 4 steps of Australians before they run back to cover.

Oh, player's tip. I rushed the Bren carriers into an assault to help sway the odds to the Aussies. One of them promptly got ripped apart by AT fire, and the other was demoralized and ran for the hills...well, not hills, it's the desert. The rear. Yes, they ran for the rear. This also left the 2 lbers without transport. They can move 1 hex per turn on their own if limbered, and that's not going to be enough to escape any infantry that comes after them. In this scenario, the Brens should not function as MG platforms, they should probably hold back.

Still, good fun and I'd play it again.