Un scénario avec les bersagliers. Eux ne se rendent pas juste à la vue de quelques australiens dépenaillés ! Une ligne de défense italienne est au nord de l’aéroport de Dernia, tenue par trois pelotons de mitrailleuses, sept pelotons d’infanterie, un canon anti-char et trois batteries d’artillerie, pour un total de 22 points. Une force australienne équivalente (quelques pelotons d’infanterie, de mitrailleuses, deux mortiers pour 16 points, un peloton d’automitrailleuses Bren) doit les rayer de la carte, en perdant moins de six pas ! Très difficile à PzG, où le réalisme défavorise l’attaque.

Je sépare les australiens en deux groupes pour attaquer la ligne de défense par les deux bouts. Les mortiers restent derrière. Les trois pelotons de mitrailleuses italiens décrochent de l’aéroport pour rejoindre le gros de leurs troupes et ont le temps de s’enterrer avant l’attaque. Le groupe d’attaque à l’est se fait pilonner par l’artillerie (un double-un élimine deux pas d’un coup !) ; le canon anti-char fait sauter la Bren du premier coup ; très vite, les australiens ont perdu cinq pas, et à l’est, pas de progrès. Les australiens devraient se retirer au vu de leur perte, mais à l’ouest, ça se passe mieux. Les italiens ont quitté la ligne, et la batterie d’artillerie est à portée. Un groupe de deux infanteries contourne pour essayer d’attaquer l’artillerie à revers ; un groupe d’infanterie italienne doit quitter ses positions de défense pour s’interposer. La ligne est près de craquer.

J’ai poursuivi quelques tours : les australiens progressent petit à petit et arrivent à faire s’enfuir les servants d’artillerie. Mais tout ça va trop lentement. A un moment, les bersagliers font un carton (double un) sur des fantassins, et ils tiennent toujours la ligne. Défaite australienne, ils ont perdu plus de six pas, mais le résultat normal aurait dû être un match nul.

Again, another of the first plays for me and probably made any number of newbie blunders. As I recall, I hadn't quite realized yet the importance of concentrating fire in the PG system so the Australian attack was hampered by naive ideas of "that group would do this, and that group would do that." Dug-in Bersaglieri with equal morale to the attackers made life quite difficult, particularly as one was learning the ropes regarding how to conduct an effective assault. Might be interesting to explore this one again in light of the Aug 2012 Scenario of the Month.

The Italians won by eliminating 12 Australian steps and keeping their positions.

The Australians wasted too much time to take care of the IT HMG units and failed to advance on the INF to assault it, which is the best (the only?) way to take the objective hexes. It is hard to limit losses (2 INF plts, 1 HMG plt, 1 BREN plt, 4 INF steps, 1 LT.COL.). What is the 2 pdr. gun for?

The Italians had a good setup and were blessed with good officers. Having BERS units with 8 morale also helped. Losses: 3 HMG plts, 2 65 mm batts, 1 TEN. As usual, IT troops are better in defense.

I dislike this scenario for the following reason: I think the victory conditions are poorly done. This scenario would be much better if it was done with the "modern" VP method. Why?

Because the two sides are almost identical in make up! The defender (Italians) are dug-in and the Australians need to eliminate (or dislodge) them all. Net morale is "0" and the only real advantage the Aussies have is better leaders, which is fairly balanced by the Italians being dug-in.

So how did it play out?

As the Australians spent their first few turns advancing, the Italian MGs fell back to join the rest of the Italian "line". By the time they advanced, the Aussies had less than 20 turns to eliminate all the Italians. They did a good job and got about half of them, suffering not quite as many casualties when the whistle blew. I really don't see how they have a chance in this one as the 0-4 record on PG-HQ shows.

Scenario Rating: 2/5

En este escenario aproximadamente tres compañías de "bersaglieri" defienden unas posiciones en las proximidades del aeródromo de Derna. Están apoyados por dos secciones AT de 47mm, dos baterías de artillería de 65mm y una batería de 105mm. Los atacantes son tres compañías de infantería australiana con el apoyo reglamentario. Ambos contendientes carecen de artillería fuera del mapa. A diferencia de las unidades italianas de escenarios anteriores, los "bersaglieri" son un cuerpo de élite, bien entrenado y armado. La moral es similar a la de sus enemigos y, en este escenario, los líderes italianos son mejores que los australianos.

Los italianos despliegan tres secciones de HMG justo al norte del aeródromo. El resto de las fuerzas forman una línea defensiva unos 800 metros detrás.

Desde el principio se ve que los "aussies" no tienen opciones de victoria, ya que deben desalojar a toda la línea italiana de sus posiciones, pero los latinos tienen unos efectivos similares, una moral similar, unos líderes mejores, una artillería potente y, por si fuera poco, están atrincherados en pozos de tirador.

A pesar de las pocas perspectivas de éxito, los "aussies" avanzan valientemente. Sufren las primeras bajas al ser blanco de la artillería italiana y al recibir el fuego de oportunidad de las unidades HMG adelantadas de los "bersaglieri". No obstante, los australianos consiguen aniquilar a dos de las secciones HMG enemigas y siguen adelante, pero en ese momento los cañones AT italianos consiguen destruir una sección de "Bren" que remolcaba piezas de 2-pdr. Eso supone que los "aussies" han sufrido cinco "steps" de bajas y que si reciben una más habrán perdido el combate. Dado que la línea principal italiana está intacta y parece infranqueable, el comandante australiano da orden de retirada, para al menos acabar el combate en tablas. Sin embargo la artillería italiana sigue martilleando implacablemente a los "aussies" y les provoca la sexta baja, con lo que la partida acaba con una fácil victoria italiana en el turno 12.

El resultado es prácticamente igual al de la batalla real, pero como juego se trata de un escenario flojo.

This is a challenge from the start for the Australians. The Italians are dug in, have high morale, but must be eliminated. I approached the challenge by forming three teams to take out the Italians at the airfield, to be followed by movement toward the main defensive line.

At 1500, the Italians were still stubbornly holding on at the airfield, where two of the three teams were preparing for assaults. Further north, the third team was taking artillery and direct fire at the east edge of the Italian line. At this time, it was clear that the Australians would quickly run out of time before they could meet their objectives.

At 1645, one Italian position was still holding on at the airfield, despite ongoing assaults. Meanwhile, the Australians were pressuring other Italian positions, but few gains were made. If only the Australians had some Matildas or heavy artillery. And the clock was ticking.

At 1800, it was clear that the Italians would not be moved out in the last 45 minutes of daylight. This Italian victory result was consistent with history. Although Australian casualties were light, the Italians high morale and dug-in positions were too much for the Australians, especially without artillery and armor. Overall, I give this scenario a low score because it seems that the Australians would have to be consistently lucky, and the Italians consistently unlucky with the dice to achieve victory.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Italy)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Italy
Participants	goosebrown
Play Date	2022-02-10
Language	English
Scenario	AfKo009

Other reviewers have suggested that this scenario’s victory conditions are seriously flawed. The Australians side must control darn near the entire map, which means that they have to traverse a great deal of game board real estate. Again, as others have reported, this scenario is, "fundamentally broken." The victory conditions call for the Australian/British player to control all hexes on the map except those in the northwest corner in only 22 game turns!

In this scenario, I was the defending Italian side against a determined Australian opponent, in a 3-session, online, play-through, the Commonwealth force came diagonally across the map directly at the advanced Italian HMG positions on the west side of Derna's airfield. The Australian Commander split off a task force of mortars and HMG units in a right flanking move to engage the northernmost Italian HMG position; and a left flank force that eventually was aimed at the right side of the primary Italian Bersaglieri INF & artillery positions. Fierce short-range fighting ensued, first around two of the HMG positions, and then later as the Australians left flank attack developed -- on the right 2 dug in hexes of the main Italian defensive line. A plucky British Bren Carrier acted as an advanced skirmisher and drew a significant amount of Italian fire away from the approaching Australian infantry columns for 6 turns, before eventually succumbing to Italian AT fire.

In then end, the Australian Commander conceded defeat at the start of the 15th game turn when we decided that there was no hope for a Commonwealth victory or a draw. At that point the Italians had lost 5 steps and the Australians had lost 12 steps and 2 leaders. The poorly-conceived Italian victory conditions called for the loss of at least 6 Australian steps and for holding the NW corner of the map.

Here are some suggested scenario Instruction changes:

Italian Force - Delete 1, 47mm AT gun platoon - Add 1, 81mm Mortar platoon

Commonwealth Force - Delete 1, 2-pdr AT gun platoon - Add 1 additional 3-inch Mortar platoon

Special Rules

The Commonwealth Force may use the smoke rule with 3 turns of smoke per individual mortar unit.

Replacement Victory Condition language

The Australian player wins a Major Strategic Victory by eliminating all Italian units, while not losing more than 12 steps. The Australian player wins a Minor Tactical Victory if there are no undemoralized Italians units within 13 hexes of Hex 0818, while not losing more that 8 steps in combat. The Italian player wins a Major Strategic Victory by eliminating at least 10 Allied steps, and by maintaining at least 4 undemoralized combat units and a leader within 13 hexes of Hex 0818. The Italian player wins a Minor Tactical Victory by eliminating at least 8 Allied steps and maintaining 2 undemoralized combat units and a leader within 15 hexes of Hex 0818. Any other result is a draw.

As published, I rated this scenario as a 2, only because it was an enjoyable, fun play-through with a creative, resolute and entertaining opponent leading the Australian side. The scenario truly deserves a rating of 1.

I reserve ratings of "1" solely for scenarios that are fundamentally broken. This is one such scenario. The victory conditions call for the Australian/British player to control all hexes on a large size map except those in the far corner. With the limited time and force pool available, this task is only possible if the Australians spread out and comb the map with single unit patrols for most of the game, completely unopposed by the Italian player. Of course the Italians can do the same to combat this. (Did second edition, which I believe this was originally published with? have a different definition of control than third? Third dictates that the closest unit at the start of the game controls, and then occupying the hex flips it.)

I hate playing with "gamey" tactics, but here the Australians have no choice. They must play for a draw as their victory is basically impossible. This causes them to fall back and dance in the backfield, forcing the Italians to come at them, reversing the scenario. Even then, it is very easy to avoid contact with the Italians with the short scenario length, and large room to maneuver. This makes Italian victory also practically impossible.

This is a real shame, because there is a likely a good scenario here with some victory condition rework. Its a very nice change of pace to have equal morale Italians, and a unique terrain feature to deal with. Unfortunately, the scenario as is gets the dunce rating from me.