Desert Rats doesn’t get enough attention!

[JayTownsend]

Besides the German, Italian, British, New Zealand & Indian you get:

Italian Colonial troops: Eritreans, Libyan.

The first two scenarios in the Somaliland makes you want more from the area and time period but they are a nice bonus within the Desert Rats game.

In the standard Desert Rats game, scenario #10: Bir el Gubi is a classic and fun to play but I think the Italians have the advantage in this one but it’s a must play.

Unique units like the ACW India Pattern Carriers and the Italian 102mm Naval Guns show up.

Desert Rats is a fun game in the PG series that gets overlooked!

[vince hughes]

Strange thing is Jay, is that although it is played less, it rates higher than Afrika Korps ?

Wayne and I played an excellent one from it. "A Pirbrochs Skirl".

Also, the SotM I played from it against Tony Langston was a thriller.

[Shad]

Strange thing is Jay, is that although it is played less, it rates higher than Afrika Korps ?

Afrika Korps came out in 2002-07.
Desert Rats came out in 2004-03.

There were 5 titles released in between: Arctic Front, Bulge, Guad, Edelweiss, and Tank Battles.

One would hope the designers learned something during that period, so Desert Rats logically should be the better game!

[larry marak]

Hard to measure as part of the impact of Desert Rats is the use of its components in DAK44, Carpathian Brigade, and Indian Unity (and maybe Alaska's War?). Quite a few of the counters and some of the maps are still involved in combat in other theatres.

[Shad]

That has no influence on its rating here on the site, though. The game rating comes solely from child scenario ratings.

[Matt W]

"child scenario ratings"

Oh, I must have been doing this wrong. I'll have my kids start rating the scenarios from now on...

[Adepss1]

Desert Rats is a good game, I will second that.

[Shad]

"child scenario ratings"

Oh, I must have been doing this wrong. I'll have my kids start rating the scenarios from now on...

We've got some real horror stories here...

Eastern Front Deluxe... single mom, 112 children who've never met their father. The welfare check comes from Publisher's Clearinghouse.

Then there're those poor Secret Weapons kids... their paternity is a multiple-choice question... shameful, utterly shameful.

[beast013]

Desert Rats is a very good game. I'm currently playing through it now. The diversity of the units/nationalities reminds me of Cassino. I have to agree with Shad that some of the older PG titles are dated as the designers learned from the past and improved on the design of newer modules/games. Never the less, I have played some very good scenarios in Desert Rats and look forward to tackling the balance of the game.

[waynebaumber]

Coming to PG from ASL I think PG does a really great job of nailing desert warfare with the clever use of terrain counters and simple special rules. Desert Rats is better than AK because as Shad says the designers have more experience. Vince and I have had some cracking desert battles over the years. Including some from South Africa's War, I suspect these games get less attention because its Commonwealth units not US, and to be fair the entire Western Desert campaign was a sideshow compared to the Eastern Front, no disrespect meant of course to those from all countries who fought and died in it.