I had to rate this scenario high for the sake of solitaire play though the balance of play is highly in favor of the New Zealander/Maori player. The scenario takes place at night though it is not specified whether visibilty is 1 or 2 hexes, so I went with 1 hex as it is described as an ambush. In setting up the Maoris I spread them out with one unit per entrenchment, sacrificing firepower but making the already tough German victory conditions tougher. The Germans have to be in control of all hill hexes by the end of play with fewer than 8 step losses to win. There is no possibility of a draw as the victory conditions state: If neither or both players win, the New Zealand player wins.

So with the Germans I did what I could and was very impressed with their results though New Zealand ultimately won in the end. From 22:00-22:45, the battlegroup advances having some intuition that danger is up ahead and at 23:00/turn 5, they make contact with the enemy. Surprisingly they don't take any step losses from Maori opportunity fire and are successfully able to encircle most of the entrenchments without any major morale breakdown, save maybe one or two disrupted INF units but leadership is intact. At this time the opposing portree' units bump into each other and the Germans call in fire support demoralizing the mobile, N.Z. 2-pdr.

By 23:30/turn 7, neither side is able to inflict much damage on the other, mostly because of nightime visibilty and hill hex modifiers, though at 23:45 the disabled N.Z. portree' unit is eliminated. The Maoris have only been able to shake up the Germans at this point, far from annihilating them as the historical conclusion states. At 00:00/turn 9, in one wave, all disrupted German units (5 of them)are rallied. Maori units rally as well with superior morale (9/8)and a German assault is postponed. At 01:30/turn 15, the Germans are ready, as their time and luck are sure to run out soon and a first assault is made. Neither side is able to cause much injury to the other, at least for a while. A second German trench assault begins at 01:45/turn 16, reinforced with pzIIs and has far better results, eliminating a step of Maori INF and demoralizing the other. By 02:15/turn 18, one Maori trench is in German control but at 02:30/turn 19, the Maoris bounce back and wipeout over half of the force attacking them, along with a German Major, from the first assault, leaving one demoralized HMG unit left in the assault hex. A third German assault is conducted, assisted by the pzIIs at this time and another entrenchment is weakened, losing an INF step but by 02:24/turn 20, the Germans withdraw.

I was really amazed at how this battle picked up towards the end and it was one of the most intense trench battles I have ever played. The 20 turns passed by very quickly and was able to finish it in less than 24 hours. Though the play seemed biased I enjoyed it immensely though I believe I would do no better with the Germans second time around, in fact they far surpassed my expectations to begin with. Though this was a nightime ambush, the German actually inflicted more step losses on the Maoris with the odds stacked high against them. Also, was very glad that the pzIIs have finally showed they are useful for something after all, combined with INF in assaults.

Replayed this one in face-to-face mode as the German side and emulated the wily waynebaumber's tactics from a previous, online thrashing. Gracious game host, Sagunto, led the high-morale, Maori defenders entrenched on a barren hill, daring anyone to throw them off without losing every attacker. This was a seesaw-like, very costly encounter played over 4-sessions with a lot of beer and salsa. The final result was a hard-fought German victory that materialized on nearly the last turn.

We ignored the FOW, but used the excess initiative, consolidation, smoke and extended assault optional rules. We also used these two house rules: 1) Standardized Movement for Mechanized Units- All mechanized units may move through clear hexes at a movement cost of only 1 movement point (MP) per hex, instead of 1 1/2. Add one to this cost if moving up, across, or down slopes hexes, and 2) Dug In Units are Automatically in Limiting Terrain in Desert Games - Unless prohibited by special scenario rules, ALL units that are dug-in on slope hexes are considered to be in limiting terrain and are spotted if enemy units approach to within 3 hexes, or 4 hexes for reconnaissance units – – unless they are marked with a spotted marker, see 8.22. This rule set helped ease in-person play and added substantially to our fun.

As others have described, this one was a back-and-forth, counterattack-filled, bloodletting. It boiled down to many German-induced, mechanized infantry assaults, and brutal, adjacent-hex firefights for virtually the entire game. The ferocious Maori infantry slowly melted away, taking many Germans with them. It seemed to us that the challenge is one of patience on the part of the Allied player as the Maoris are deadly with grenade & bayonet when out of their trenches in counter attack mode. However, once the supporting AT portee and the HMGs are gone, the German halftracks can make hay in close range, combined arms combat. Casualties were many once the Axis troops were in range, and luckily for them, they managed a number of magnificent 6-die, initiative rolls!

This was a relatively balanced one, that requires considerable forebearance for the Allied player, and great persistence - plus lucky combat die rolling for the Axis side. If the fierce Maoris stay in their trenches, the Germans will almost certainly lose the fight. We give this bloody-but-fun, scenario a solid, rating of 4.

The German assault's first turn broke even. Three Maori entrenchments were assaulted; one was captured, one went disastrously badly for the Germans, the third was an ongoing affair. A German tank platoon maneuvered to reinforce the entrenchment where the assault went badly. The Maori 2 pounder unit activated, abandoning its entrenchment to rush across the hill and get adjacent to the German armored platoon. The Maori won the next turn's activation roll; the 2-pdr fired on the tanks with a modified roll of 13, eliminating the armored platoon. Since tank steps count double for VP that put the Maori VP total at 8 steps, immediately ending the engagement at the start of Turn 6.

Author	waynebaumber (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	treadasaurusrex
Play Date	2022-01-03
Language	English
Scenario	DeRa025

This small scenario has a single company of Maori sitting entrenched on a hilltop, attacking them are two reinforced companies of Afrika Korp (AK) with armour support. The action takes place at night, VC are pretty simple, AK to take the hill and not lose 8 steps. Visibility was rolled for and was deemed to be two hexes, the first initiative roll generated a random event which meant that the AK had lost their limited OBDA, what a jolly start for yours truly. The Maori's set up was solid and with their 9 morale I knew I was in for a tough time, when facing troops with that high morale you know you need to get X's to have a ,hope of shifting them these boys were not going to flee off the hilltop just to please me. I split the AK forces into two groups, my plan was attack from both flanks, making sure my half-tracks, tanks and portee avoided the 2pdr. I was initially going to try and use firepower from adjacent hexes to whittle down the commonwealth troops before committing to assaulting however events were to change that tactic. The first few turn went to plan as I manoeuvred in an reasonably efficient manner my units into position with no casualties on either side. As I moved adjacent to the entrenchments however I was surprised to see the Maori commander gather 50% of his force and charge out of the entrenchments and assault my leading units, this brave (foolhardy) move initially proved to be very successful and in the first assault took out 2 AK steps, and over the next few turns this one assault cost me 7 steps just one of the magic number for a Maori win. However Felipe's move had left some entrenchments empty except for an officer, and I ran over him with my SPW's. It had also left his 2pdr isolated and that was overrun by my INF, this left my two tanks and halftracks free to move. I decided that in the main assault I would just feed units in but not attack and to try and deal with the rest of the Maori force before having to deal with these mad New Zealanders. This plan worked, but to be honest it now turned into a die rolling contest as attacked with overwhelming fire power but Felipe only had to roll one X on the combat to get his win. The dice gods favoured myself and I eliminated the entire Moari force with plenty of time to spare. However it was a close run thing. **As a scenario this is not one of the best the New Zealand player just sits in his entrenchments and watches the AK drive up, disembark and advance to contact, of course Felipe went very aggressively on the attack which nearly won him the game would he have been better waiting for me to assault him I actually don't know, for the last five of the game turns he would have won the game with a throw of 2/3/10/11/12 however he didn't in this instance fortune did not favour the brave. **

Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Maori, New Zealand
Play Date	2023-03-09
Language	English
Scenario	DeRa025

I thought I left the jungle behind? Morale 9 Maori entrenched on a hill, who leave their line to counterattack a larger but weaker morale attacking force...

Similarities to just about every Jungle Fighting scenario aside this one does have a bit of play and counterplay because even though the Maori want to be in assault combat as much as possible due to their crazy bonuses, and the fact that they cant be shot at from multiple hexes per turn, they still must avoid the SPW stacks, lest they get shot up while racking up their kill count. Each step lost is felt due to their low numbers.

I'm not confident that the Maori want to deploy their trenches, because they plan on leaving them and dont want to have to leave them to the Germans but they set up in them anyway. 2xINF in one, INF + HMG in the other on the front, and INF + Portee in the back. The portee is vulnerable, but if it can hopefully shoot at SPWs that get into assault. Maori plan is simple, let the Germans approach to visible range, open fire on op fire with their HMG + INf stack and then move the X2 INF stack adjacent before the Germans can return fire. Trust in their INIT to pull through and assault first thing next turn and then methodically work down the line.

The plan works getting enough kills while depleting their own force. This makes the Germans play for a draw, but they are unable to dig out that INF + HMG stack. Morale 9 is just crazy in this system, especially when paired with the extra assault bonus that the... Maori... and Japanese... and Finns.... get. Same thing here, as was in JF and AF.