The Australians went with the same set up as the prior scenario, entrenched behind the AT ditch. This worked well the first couple of turns, but went south as the German infantry crossed the AT ditch and assaulted two entrenchments. One entrenchment to the rear was unoccupied as the Aussies wanted a frontline defense. It crumbled, and the Germans took three entrenchments. But, the Aussie arty was on point again. The Germans lost four steps of infantry and one step of armor to the Aussie AT guns. Hard fought draw again.

You’re Welcome!

When the dust settled, the ditches mattered little.

As the morning opened, the Allies (Austalians) entrenched themselves no more than 2 units high and waited. All units got comfortable-until they saw the armor coming from the south. For 1 painful hour the tanks pounded the nearest entrenchment, petrifiying the leader and killing some HMG troops. The lone 2 pounder from a nearby entrenchment did not help that leader’s courage even after he joined them by fleeing. Sometimes the rolls go your way, but this time, all the rolls went to the German side. When the reinforcements showed up, the Allied offboard arty and the RAF joined in, but with very little effect. The Germans split their ranks with the HMG troops not wasting time by moving, instead just pounding the one stack they could reach, while the rest of the line plowed forward. Within an hour they had gone through the ditches and began assaulting the Aussies, who just could not roll to save their rear ends. The arty constistently either missed, or did morale damage only, with no losses and most troops recovering quickly. The Germans, meanwhile, rolled snake eyes not once but twice here and just mowed the defenses. I chose to finish the engagement, and the German troops eventually did fill in a ditch and moved the tanks through one by one while the troops finished their assaults.

As a newbie, I think all scenarios are fun, and this one is fine as well. It is again a really small scenario with a really big map, but it is a good exercise in close assault. I chose to run like heck to get in range and then exchange fire until one side started to bend, at which time I would change my strategy. Since the Germans never took much damage, I just kept firing. In addition, the off board arty and air cover is critical and in this case, missed almost every time. I did combine the arty (3 max and then the 2 left over), but if you keep rolling 7’s and 8’s, it matters little.

The German and Italian armor arrives before the infantry does, unfortunately for them the 2 pounder proved lethal on its first few shots taking out both steps of the Italian L3/35 light tanks. The armor was in a bad way as they were in range of the AT gun, but struggled to be effective firing a the entrenched Aussies. The AT gun claimed a half step of the PZII a short time later. The Aussies already had at least a draw prior to the German infantry could join the fight. The Germans brought some good leaders and made good use of chain activations allowing almost all of them to push towards the Aussie left flank together. For their part the Aussies hit them with OBA and MGs, but lost one section of OBA on the first shot (boxcars!) The Germans closed on the AT ditches while fighting to stay non-disrupted.

Once they moved into the ditches they found one unfinished. This allowed the M13/40 to join the assault into an entrenched hex, but the Aussies fought back hard keeping the German/Italian combo disrupted and preventing other armor from moving though the break, unfortunately the Aussie artillery rained down a solid friendly fire hit (Foster Lager?) disrupting the troops which eventually lead to their deaths. With that entrenchment the Germans made a dash to an unattended one (Hex #1601, Aussies had gambled to maximize forward firepower). At this point the AT gun was destroyed during an assault that also reduced the accompanying infantry (HMGs, ENG and leader proved potent). At this point (about 5 hours into the battle) the German/Italians controlled three entrenchments, but had lost 9 steps. The Aussies where not going to retake the entrenchments, but Germans were not likely to take any more in the remaining turns. The German Major consolidated his position to secure the breach, leaving the battle as a draw.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany, Italy)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Draw
Participants	Chaco
Play Date	2022-10-08
Language	English
Scenario	AfKo022

This was a 3-session play through with a seasoned Australian player and my favorite West Texan leading the Allied side. I had the German and Italian side that began this scenario with no infantry support. We played with the smoke, excess initiative rules and without the FOW optional rule. In action, the Axis armor showed up first before the infantry, and unfortunately for them the Aussie's 2-pounder proved itself very lethal, as it eliminated the Italian tankette unit almost immediately. A lucky pair of shots from the Italian medium tanks and the Pz-IVE ended the 2-pounder's reign of terror during turn 5. At the same time the Australians already had at least a draw before the German infantry showed up. The Germans rapidly closed on the AT ditches, and with some decent leaders were mostly able to remain undisrupted through turn 8. Fierce close assault fight followed as the entrenchments came under fire one-by-one. Aussie OBA was mostly accurate and timely in this play-though and the Axis side slowly lost strength to frequent disruptions & demoralizations as the game went on. By turn 21, the Germans were in control of 3 entrenchments, but they had lost 8 steps, yielding a hard-fought draw.