Conquest of Ethiopia, scenario #3: The First Clash: Rama’

I really like these unique Panzer Grenadier games and this scenario was a 12 turn, low unit count and direct victory conditions for the Italians, clear map and town hexes of Ethiopian units with certain degrees of victory levels depending of the achievements.

The key to Conquest of Ethiopia is leader management, as you don’t get many for each scenario, so don’t lose them! My Provincial Irregular Ethiopian put up a long major resistance in the larger town hexes on the western side of map #87, that it took the Italians forever to clear even with the help of the L3/35 tanks and after that they could not clear the single town hex on the eastern side of map #87 in time, giving the Ethiopians a victory. The Ethiopians had three good order units on the map plus some demoralized and disrupted units, both leaders and controlled one town hex for a Major victory. I guess maybe I should have split my Italians into two groups, one for each leader and gone after both town groups at the same time but to clear the maps of Ethiopian units would be a big task in 12 turns but the town hexes could be possible.

Author	wleonard1
Method	Solo
Victor	Italy
Play Date	2020-08-08
Language	English
Scenario	COOE003

You’re an Italian Lieutenant leading a small battalion of irregulars. Your objectives are to take and hold a village (minor victory), and to clean every opposition unit off of both mapboards (major victory). In only 3 hours. Two of which are night. With only a sergeant to help maneuver all of your units. Only 1 unit that has a direct fire range greater than 1, and that single step of tankettes arrives as a reinforcement. And then it has to drive 45 minutes to get to the battle. No artillery or air support. Not even a heavy machine gun. Despite all of this, you do at least have a morale modifier. Looks like another opportunity to excel!

The first hour sees the Tenente lead two-thirds of his force toward the village, skirt around the left flank of the Ethiopian screen, brush off some opportunity fire, and slip two platoons into the village to start an assault. The remainder of the force closes up to the screen, so the opposition does not go wandering too far away. Both sides look for a chance to catch a lone unsupported unit; but even when that happens, there are a lot of die rolls in the middle of the assault table and not much happens. An Ethiopian attempt to reinforce the village assault starts well, with Italian step losses and DM’s, but an unlucky leader casualty check removes the 11-2-2 MetoAleqa from the board. The Amsa Aleqa attempts to ambush the tank as it arrives, but doesn’t get the initiative roll that was needed. As dusk falls, there are 5 turns left; the village is still under assault, 85% of the Ethiopian force is still alive, half of it is still mobile, and the Tenente is not optimistic about his promotion prospects.

But by the start of the last hour, every Ethiopian unit is tied up in an assault. And then, the die rolls suddenly start going Italy’s way. Next turn ends with 3 more Ethiopian step losses, and every remaining unit except 1 demoralized. The turn after that, the defenders in the village all fail recovery and flee and Italy has a path to a minor victory. And that is where it ends up – the Italians take and hold the village, but cannot clear the board of all units. Overall, a nice lesson in managing scarce leaders and assaults.

Per the scenario rules the Ethiopian player sets up first, they chose to occupy several hexes of the main village on map 87 with one platoon defending the village near the eastern map edge (hex 0516). This setup would give the Ethiopian forces the opportunity to deny the villages to the Italian forces and if they had to retreat they could try for the minor victory conditions provide they had the forces left to meet the requirements.

After the Ethiopian setup the Italians divided their forces into 2 attack groups, a reinforced company would attack the village in hex 0516, while two company’s would attack the main village, the goal to take control of all village hexes.

On the east side the Italians had a tough time capturing the village in hex 0516, the lone Ethiopian platoon put up fierce resistance for four turns before succumbing to superior forces. The Italians left a reduced platoon to guard the village while the rest of the company headed down the trail to attack the main village from the rear, could they arrive in time to tip the battle in the Italians favor?

When the Italians entered the main village they were met with accurate Op Fire from two Ethiopian platoons that disrupted and demoralized two units, this caused a delay in the Italian planned assault for the next turn as the Sergente (9-1-1) tried to rally these platoons. The Italian advance in the village was slow but steady, every time they had the advantage the Ethiopians would inflict a disruption here, a demoralization there and the Italian dice got cold with a no effect die roll on the DF or Assault table, very frustrating for the Italian forces.

The timely arrival of the tankette section, though not decisive, helped clear one town hex but with time running out it was the arrival of the east Banda Company that turned the tide of battle when they attacked the Ethiopian rear. This was just too much for the Provincial Irregulars, what platoons that were not eliminated fled out of the village demoralized leaving the Italians in control of all village hexes.

Another scenario that went down to the wire, the Ethiopians put up a good fight that could have gone their way, maybe if they gave the east village another platoon they might have pulled off a victory.

This is a short 12 turn scenario, with no artillery and nearly even forces that has one side (the Italians) having to take a small village from the Ethiopians. Well, in my game, the Italians failed. Bad tactics, and bad rolls kept them from victory. But, it could have gone the other way. A better planned attack at the village might have worked. Both sides only had 2 leaders each, but the Italians did have a reduced MG armed tankette, but, that didn’t help much. In the end, the Ethiopians just failed less morale checks. And that’s all it took!

In what should have been a fairly easy clear and secure operation, the Italian Bande were severely handicapped by their impartial leader selection. The opposite held true for the Ethiopians, who randomly selected an 11-2-2 leader in their draw, which proved to be wildly effective.

The Ethiopians set up in a tight cluster in the villages on the south board with the uber leader centrally located so as to have a positive effect on all his troops. The Italians came in from the north and split their forces between their two under achieving leaders (6-0-0 and 7-0-0) in an attempt to envelope the Ethiopians. The initial approach was performed in textbook manner, until the assault actually began. In that turn, the Ethiopians won the initiative and surged forward to attack the right wing of the Italian advance. With the advantage of the high ground (hexes 0909, 0809, 0810) the Ethiopians were well situated to defend against the Italian thrust. In a moment of bravado, the Italians attempted the up hill assault despite the terrain (and odds) working against them, and they were brutally handled. With the right wing disrupted, demoralized, and generally despoiled, the Ethiopians swung left and gave their full attention to the right wing who were unable to penetrate into the left most area of the village. Event the arrival of Italian armored support on turn 7 did little to affect the Ethiopians, and at the end of the day, they were the masters of the village, and the Italians as well.

This scenario is a prime example of the effect of leadership in the PG system. Without a single factor in their favor, and poor morale among the leaders, the Italians were wholly unable to dislodge the Ethiopians. Every time an Ethiopian unit suffered a DIS or DEM result, their 11-2-2 leader was able to rally them on the ensuing turn or activation segment. Conversely, the Italians were unable to muster anything resembling an cohesive attack and their poor leadership left them as a broken and fleeing mass, foreshadowing battles in the desert in just a few more years.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Italy)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Ethiopia
Participants	Tambu
Play Date	2022-08-01
Language	English
Scenario	COOE003

This was a 3-session battle with Tambu playing the stout, Ethiopian side in what should have been an Italian victory at the start of the Duce's invasion of Ethiopia. Not even close to what transpired in this mighty slugfest! As is frequently the case, the quality of relative leadership on both sides and the intervention of the Fates, were the most important contributors to a straight forward Ethiopian triumph. The majority if the fierce fighting in this play-through was in the south board, in and around, the Ethiopians settlements. As others have tried, an Italian double envelopment from the north was attempted and was soundly defeated. The Ethiopians had great die rolls, the Italians did not, though they did have a pet hamster named Guido as their inspiring mascot.

Even a near-flawless movement-to-contact will miscarry, if one's leaders are inept and the enemy is ready to jump out of his defensive positions to counter attack with vigor. In this case, the Ethiopian defenders ran downhill to overcome the Italian's right flank, and many disruptions and demoraliozations ensued by way of a series of close assaults that completely unhinged the Italian advance. When a limited amount of Italian armor finally arrived, it was too late to make a difference in this short scenario. High leader morale and very successful morale and combat die rolls buttressed the determined Ethiopian counter attacks, and caused the premature collapse of the Italian colonial troops.

Fun to play this one online, but it should probably be relegated to solo play only, since it effectively highlights the impact that good leadership quality has in this fiddly game. I give this decently-balanced scenario a 3, as it is a good, quick introductory scenerio.