Conquest of Ethiopia, scenario #4: Passo Gashorche

An interesting mix of Infantry types, with the Italian side needing to clear the hill hexes and prevent any direct fire on to the main trail hexes. The Ethiopians start with a small force guarding this critical area but get a large reinforcement force. In fact the Italians also come on the with smaller group of Infantry followed by two larger reinforcement groups. Funny thing is, all the reinforcement groups on both sides rolled to come on the map on their first try.

It was a bloody fight until the end and last time I counted both sides had lost 9 steps each but the Italians lost two Leaders early which hurt. The Italians also had two airstrike which did minimal damaged and managed to stack three 75/13 gun unit together but only scored once. There were many demoralized and disrupted units on both sides running around and you will need all those markers and maybe more, as the low morale makes it hard to recover. The Ethiopians came away with a Major Victory as the Italian couldn’t clear the hills or even the direct fire onto the trail below.

Author	wleonard1
Method	Solo
Victor	Ethiopia
Play Date	2020-08-20
Language	English
Scenario	COOE004

And like any party, everyone arrives at different times. Three Italian battalions – one of irregulars, one of colonial troops, and one of regulars – are trying to clear a hill and a trail. And the air corps is scheduled to pay a visit. The initial opposition is a small group of dug-in local irregulars, but there are two battalions of the Imperials on their way. The Bande close up to the local Ethiopian irregulars in the hill; initial assault is delayed by some timely direct fire. The second hour sees the assaults finally go in on the Ethiopian positions on the hill. Losses are even, morale on both sides is terrible and gets worse, and then Italian air support hits the fleeing demoralized Ethiopian units. The Bande have broken the local Ethiopian irregulars, but their own morale status is too bad – only one good order platoon left - to finish clearing out the hill or set up a defense.

So, what started out as an assault to take a hill is now turning into something closer to a meeting engagement, as the Colonial battalion enters from the east edge and races for the hill before the Ethiopian Imperial irregulars arrive. They reach the north-south trail - the one that the victory conditions say needs to kept clear from Ethiopian direct fire - just before two battalions of Imperial Irregulars arrive in a human wave along the south edge. And fifteen minutes later, a battalion of Italian regulars arrive on the east edge.

The colonial battalion is in a hedgehog in clear terrain. The hedgehog formation was intended more for command-and-control/chain activation purposes, but it offers the temptation of staying put, opening direct fire against the Ethiopian right flank, and hoping the reinforcements arrive before the Ethiopians convert their 5-2 manpower advantage into Italian casualties. The alternative is to quickly pick up and move out of range toward the hill, which is an objective and more defensible terrain. The Colonial Capitano takes stock of the situation, glances at his 7-0-0 leader rating, overrules his two much higher rated Tenentes, and retreats his battalion toward the hill. The Ethiopian forces pursue north along the hill/ridge and the trail. As dusk falls, there are two new assaults in progress, 3 steps of Fanteria in the graveyard, but the Italian regulars are now in contact.

Now it becomes an assault slugfest. I often had six simultaneous assaults going on. An hour later, The Italian regulars are engaged along the trail and have moved halfway down the ridge from the north. But the Ethiopians still have dug-in reserves at the south end, and one irregular is still holding on the north end after three hours in assault combat. Italian Bande are still ineffective with only two good order units left, and the Colonial Fanteria is mostly demoralized as well. Step losses are 16 Italian, 9 Ethiopian. The last hour will be up to the regulars. And they just don’t have the strength to dislodge the Ethiopian positions on the hill. The losses start piling up quickly in the assaults, and Ethiopia finishes with a 4-1 advantage in step losses. Ethiopia retains a strong position on the hill, and can bring plenty of direct fire on the north-south trail, resulting in a major Ethiopian victory.

Most Valuable player? The Ethiopian provincial irregular platoon and Amsa Aleqa who came under assault on turn 5, and were not eliminated until turn 20.

Well, this game wasn’t close as to the victory conditions. The Italians came nowhere near pushing the Ethiopians from the hill. With the forces they had, it simply wasn’t going to happen, no matter how long the scenario lasted. But, considering that with the distances involved, you really only had 8-10 turns to drive them off, well forget it.

But, it was fun! The variable timing of the reinforcements make this a good scenario for replay ability. And, you have three kinds of Italian troops, and two kinds of Ethiopian, so, it was an interesting mix.

All in all a good battle, have fun and don’t worry about victory conditions.

As to casualties, the Ethiopians took 12 and the Italians 10. Pretty even overall.

Was looking forward to playing this scenario for several reasons, first the Italian Regulars and their Red Fezzed Colonial troops (Ascari) make their first appearance in the game. On the Ethiopian side the neon yellow Imperial Irregulars are back in the lineup since first appearing in scenario one.

The Ethiopian forces setup dug-in on the south end of their setup area to be as close as possible to their reinforcements and to make the Banda march a long way to engage them as well as any Italian forces coming from the east.

It was the Regia Aeronautica who drew first blood on turn 6 and again on turn 7 when they bombarded the dug-in Ethiopian positions on the hill. The Banda had just reached the enemy dug in positions and began their assault, which did not go as well as hoped and became a stalemate, things started to go downhill from there for the Italian forces.

It all started with the Italian Colonial reinforcements being late getting on the board, which allowed the Ethiopian reinforcements, who arrived on time, to set up a strong dug-in defensive position along the trail near the bottom of the map, while sending two companies to clear out the hill of all Banda forces.

Once the Colonial troops got on the board they made several probing attacks to try and reduce, disrupt or demoralize the Ethiopian forces but were repulsed each time with heavy casualties while they waited for the Italian Regulars to tip the balance back in their favor.

Alas it was not till after dark, on turn 16, that the Italian Regulars finally got on the board. They made a bee line for the Ethiopian forces as quickly as they could to join the Colonial forces who renewed their assault but there was not enough time left in the scenario to bring all their forces into contact with the Ethiopian forces who had a strong defensive position along the trail and on the hill.

Cosie la vita!

This was an exciting, 2-session, face-to-face bashing of 3 different types of Italian and Italian-Allied infantry. Tambu led the Italian side with the tough job of clearing a mix of Ethiopian troop types from some hills and various trails. Unlike other play-throughs, reinforcements for the Italians were delayed, but the Ethiopians arrived on time and ready to fight!

As others have reported, what ensued was a costly brawl of a scenario with multiple leader losses on the Italian side. Air strikes did minimal damage to the defending Ethiopian units, as often happens in PG games. Both sides suffered an immense number of demoralizations and disruptions, driven by the relative low morale factors involved. In the end, the Ethiopians scored a major victory as they held out on the hills and adjacent to, or on, the main trail that was swept by there DF. Final step loses were 12 for the Italians, and 10 for the Ethiopian side.