Posting #1

Now how do I get through all that as the British player in 15 turns and control hex 2008? I am sure the Italians can harvest 10 steps from the British if they try. Well, here is to finding out!

Posting #2

This scenario has more than meets the eye. It’s a very different mix off opposing forces. Overall, you need to play it twice to get it right as the British, maybe!

My Initial British force of light Mk VIb tanks, Rolls Royce armored cars and mixed units of a 25-pdr with truck, 2-pdr Portee and two LT-leaders must hit a wall of Italian Infantry and mix artillery with some L3/35’s as well.

The time is short, 15 turns, so as the British player, I must start ASAP and not wait for the Reinforcement, A9’s & A10 tanks. The Italian just have to keep their defense line in tact and trade out demoralize & disrupted units before British units can ask for surrender. Also, using the terrain to their advantage, hills, salt marshes & so on. The ocean marker should be another salt marsh marker, that I didn’t have the patience to find.

As the British I wasn’t sure how to go at the Italians in this, I mean that small start up force, well with the surrender rule, I decide to stay out of range of those big 105mm guns with a nice AT fire factor and try and punch a hole through the middle and right flank. It started to payoff but then those Italian 75mm gun start to dwindle my Small tanks and Armored Cars too much and the Italians were just trading out their demoralize & disrupted with fresh units. So it was time to pull out, before it was too late and pull an end around, through and opening by the big 105mm guns I was trying to avoid. Besides, the medium size tank reinforcements had now arrived.

Ok, the British now have new life. Everything through the small opening in the desert, passing the big Italian guns! I should have tried this in the first place with numbers. The big Italian 105mm, all four them, did rake in a good harvest but there was still enough armor to try for the victory hex # 2008 and make this thing a draw, as the Italian already achieve their victory of at least British 10 steps eliminated, in fact I quit counting after 10 steps. The 2-pdr Portee is useless in this scenario, with no direct-fire, it was shot up early and never made it through to engage any Italian light armor. The British can use their 25-pdr but not close to the front, or it will get pounded and with only one Leader left, it can only shot to twelve spotted hexes away.

Incredible but I found two great ways to use the Italian L3/35’s in the final defense of hex #2008. First to cluster it in two hexes in or around hex #2008. When the British engage them with their armor it took them up a couple of turns and the Italians then assaulted a stack of British armor with the adjacent hex of L3/35’s and rolled a 6 on the assault taking out the last chance the British might of have to pull off a draw. The BER INF then filled in the victory hex, as these units do not surrender, the British were finish, a complete Italian victory! Using the L3/35’s to assault British Armor, was their best use in this game, I can’t believe they pulled it off.

In hind sight, I should have rush both British forces through the small opening in the desert and risked the big guns from the beginning but maybe the Italian could have filled that hole as well? I want to try this again someday. Both Air-Forces showed up a couple of times but no real effect to the outcome of the game.

This scenario was more fun then I thought it was going to be. A real puzzle for both sides. I highly recommend it.

Italians set up per scenario rules although I made adjustments to be within stacking limitations. British armor drove forward and tried to exploit the gap to the west of the main road. The Italian AT and artillery guns had an easy time of it and hammered the thin skinned armored cars and MKVIb tanks from all sides, eliminating many of them. Those that weren't eliminated and/or demoralized retreated and pushed forward again, but this time they headed north east atop the large hill. At this point it looked like a major victory for the Italians, but then the A9's and A10's arrived. They quickly moved up the road, climbed the eastern hill, and made their way toward the Italian lines. They slammed into the lines and immediately began assaulting the Italian infantry. The Italians began surrendering in droves, but always had more troops to throw into the fray. As the game drew to a conclusion, the British armor had gotten to within two hexes of the objective, but there were still stacks of Italians to overcome. It was a victory for the Italians, but I can see this going the other way if the initial British thrust had been in the same area as the that of the reinforcements. A very enjoyable scenario that looks one way at the beginning, but takes on a completely different atmosphere half way through.

The British strategy was to approach the center of the Italian position between the hill to the east and salt marsh area. The goal was to force surrenders, find a gap, and move to Hill 2008. The Italian plan was to remain in place and rely on their AT guns to eliminate the 10 steps of British armor. In addition, infantry platoons would retreat and form a defensive position on Hill 2008.

Within the first 30 minutes, the British had broken through the line and were approaching the objective. The Italians were falling back to the hill to delay and make things difficult for the British. This included the Arditi Company, and they had no intention of surrendering. By 1600, Hill 2008 was surrounded by MkIVbs and armored cars, all taking shots at the tough Arditi unit. Two L3/35 platoons were on the hill too. Many Italians had surrendered, but AT guns had taken out two British tank platoons (8 steps lost). The A9 and A10 reinforcements were approaching from the south.

An hour later, the British still surrounded the Italians on the hill. MkIVb direct fire had resulted in two reduced Arditi infantry units. Now is was time to assault with the MkIVbs. For the next 45 minutes, the Britsh assaulted the hill, but with very unfavorable dice rolls, were unable to dislodge the remaining Arditi infantry platoon, leader, and a reduced L3/35. The British would likely have earned a draw if they had assaulted earlier and included an A9 or A10 to handle the L3/35. They were somewhat delayed by several shorted turns due to the fog of war. To me, this seemed critical. The delaying tactics of the Italians combined with limited maneuver in the shortened turns made it more difficult to get into position for effective attacks against the hill. The Italians won this time, but I believe a replay with a more aggressive British approach would at least earn a draw.

This one was play solo and I am glad I did. This one and scenario #17 have the Italians surrendering in mass which makes it impossible for the Italians to win, it will be just a matter of time. This one gives the Italians some support weapons, but they surrender too.

Here is the run down in two acts, first act the Rolls Royce and the MkIVB charge forward and get thirty Italian steps to surrender in the first two turns. With the road cleared they move for the 105mm on the hill so the British tanks with AT can take on the guns. In this fight 4 steps of Rolls Royces are knocked out, before the guns surrender. At this point the British tanks pull back out of range of the remaining infantry and await the heavier tanks.

Act two, the tanks arrive and drive up the road to the Italian tanks that have dugin in the objective hex. The British portee move up the east side to setup cross fire if needed. It wasn't, the A9 and A13s move into AT range and open fire. All the Italian tanks are destroyed. The remaining BERS try to move toward the objective hex but is hit by bombardment fire from the 25lbrs and the remaining Rolls Royce and MkIVb's screening the A9's and A13's. The British gain the objective hex without much resistance as most of the Italians gave up.

I could see the game possibly going the other way if the Italian gunners don't surrender and can hit the British scout tanks. But they will run once the tanks get close.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Italy)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Draw
Participants	OldPueblo
Play Date	2022-10-07
Language	English
Scenario	AfKo018

We finally got around to finishing this months-long, 5-session online ordeal. This was a real fight with a wily and skilled British Army opponent, who was getting used to handling a fast-moving, armor-heavy task force. We skipped the defense-favoring FOW rule, but used the excess initiaitive and smoke optional rules. As others have reported, the overall British strategy was to move rapidly to contact in the center of the dug-in Italian defensive line between the eastern hill and salt marsh. This was intended to force Italian infantry surrenders, and thereby create a viable gap in the Axis line, allowing an eventual mass move to take Hill 2008. I played the defending Italians and hope to catch as many Allied AFVs in AT crossfires as possible, while slowly backing the infantry to positions closer to the hill and Hex 2008. Surprisingly, this strategy worked.

It took the Tommies about 4 turns to break through the initial Italian positions, and start a cascade of Italian tactical withdrawals aimed at delaying the armored onslaught as long as possible. Luckily, Italian artillery fire was effective and British armored cars and light tanks began to brew up under AT fire, which helped the BERS infantry of the Arditi Company to fall back successfully to where the Italian tankettes was holding. Oddly, there were fewer than expected surrenders of the dug-in Italian units, although there were many disruptions and morale recovery failures.

Seven turns in, the more mobile Tommies had surrounded the Italians on the hill and the Arditi infantry units and tankettes were slowly being ground down. This led to 6 turns of brave, but unsuccessful, close assaults by MK-ViB light tanks, who dearly needed some supporting infantry and OBA. British Cruiser tanks showed up on turn 8., and quickly managed to force surrenders of a good many Italian units, but Axis delaying tactics and difficulty in coordinating attack sequencing undid the overall battle plan for the Allied side, resulting in an unsatisfying drawn game.

I give this one a 2.