I like scenarios from Desert Rats but I neglect them because many require two maps and I don’t always have the playing space available. This scenario looked very interesting but I did have to borrow three British trucks from another game to complete the setup.

The Germans can pretty much control this scenario, at least in my game play, as their PzIIIJ, 88mm, 50mm & the Italian 90mm pretty much have range on the British Crusader I, Stuart & 2-pdr AT guns with their small 2-6 & 2-5 AT values. Once the British Armor is subdued there is too much battlefield for the British Infantry to prevent ten steps of German units from exiting the map and trying to knockout 8 Germans steps as well. The Germans also have 2 x16 off board artillery, one aircraft every turn which can easily take out the British only long distance firing unit, the 2 x 3-inch. The Italians units weren’t even really needed, even though they did come on the map. The end was a clear German victory. Maybe I just don’t know how to play the British in this scenario.

First off, this was my first shared play with PG -ever. The last year I had been struggling with 2nd edition rules before finding this site and even with the annotated rules here had still misunderstood more than a few of them. Thanks to my opponent I had a lot cleared up after this scenario.

The scenario is a tough one for the British and even my opponent confided this after giving me a good thrashing. The British force is charged with preventing superior German AND Italian battlegroups from exiting 10 steps off the east edge of the map before the course of 40 turns and is also required to eliminate at least 8 enemy steps -any other result is a an axis victory.

The axis, providing that the Italians show up (which they did on turn 5), outnumber British foot units alone by over 2-1 along with better firepower and morale. The axis also receive 2X16 OBA compared to the British 2 3-inch mortar units for indirect fire AND get to draw an aircraft every turn. The one thing the British do have is a lot of tanks but though they may outnumber German and Italian armored units their AT firepower is very weak, especially against the PzIIIJs and could only inflict a step-loss on them by rolling a 12 without being adjacent or having crossfire set-up. Oh, and the Germans also have two 88mm AA guns, two 50mms complimented by an Italian 90mm AA and two 47mms.

Anyway, I can only make so many excuses. I set my British forces up in a straight line attempting to cover as much area as possible. I covered the road with 3 2-pdrs; one on each flank and one in the center and stacked some HMGs there. I divided my armor up on each flank as well and waited to see where my adversary would move onto the map. His German units make straight for the northwestern hill and instead of digging in I decided that I would bring the battle to him. That was a huge error. I thought that since I got the higher ground in the hill with my Crusaders and Stuarts I would strike first, outnumbering his PzIIIJs 2-1 there that I would just get lucky and roll a 12 before he could fire back -it didn't happen. The panzer's return fire immediately inflicted step losses and then, soon after, felt the wrath of the long-ranged 88s. Some of his foot units started to make way for the other, southwestern hill and foolishly I opened fire with the other tank group there thinking more of the great direct fire values of the Stuarts grouped together and not paying attention to the fact that I had moved into the range of both the 88mms and the 50mm guns. Somehow I thought I wouldn't be spotted after firing but had moved too far west and did not have the cover of the upper hill across from me to block the line of sight. So, more armor step losses. Soon I was down to just one good order, reduced Crusader I unit for my functionable armored force.

On turn 5 the Italian Ariete Division arrives in timely fashion and I have no real effective force to deal with them on my left flank. I keep trying to keep German foot units contained in the hills but that is also a losing battle. I think I managed to send one unit fleeing from demoralization but other than that, not much damage done. Meanwhile, 10 steps of German infantry make a break for escaping off the east edge of the map and I have no way of stopping them without giving up my roadblock units. I did manage to eventually slow down some Bersaglieri units from Ariete Division from making their getaway but soon that small attack force sent to dispatch them was annihilated. The only step loss I was able to inflict on the Italians was destroying an empty truck with one of the 2-pdrs that had nothing else it could shoot at. Eventually my foot units in the northwestern hill were decimated but they did resist for quite a while and they did manage to inflict one German INF step loss but that would be my highwater mark. Everything else fizzled out. I couldn't even force a step loss from Italian armor with repeated shots from my remaining, good order Crusader tank unit or from the 2-pdr set-up at the roadblock. I needed to roll 10s and only got 9s, a lot of 9s!!! So eventually, a column of 10 German infantry units are able to escape off the map with no real threat after 15 turns and as the British player I was lucky to have had a few disrupted and demoralized units left and a lot of empty, good order trucks strung out on the road.

I rated this scenario a 3 because I really enjoyed it as my first shared play and learned a lot from my opponent. A lot of rules that I had problems understanding were clarified in this session. It was truly a challenge for the British and probably should merit closer to a 2 rating just for the sake of balance of play. I blundered a lot in this battle. I don't think my initial deployment was bad, just a lot of the choices I made thereafter. Of course I had a lot of doubts about winning this one weeks before I played it, it looks formidable enough on the scenario card an even more so once the axis units begin to roll onto the map. The most important thing is that I had a lot of fun playing it and was able to keep a good sense of humour while taking a thorough beating. I would play this again solo, at least once, if not twice before thinking of playing against the axis again in a shared play. I would try doing a lot of things differently and keep more calm instead of throwing everything I had into the axis woodchipper. I am also very much looking forward to my next shared play

This scenario was played as a team event by my gaming group. I act as moderator and facilitator for each game, and I do not participate directly as a player. My listing of “winning” is based on the PG HQ site cannot support a neutral role in AARs.

Lt Col Auer led the column towards the hill. He spread the units out, avoiding the road as he suspected the British were waiting in ambush on the other side of the flanking hills. He planned to come over the hill and catch them from above. But the British weren’t waiting passively. Lt Col Auer was surprised by the sudden appearance of British armor atop the hill, overlooking his truck mounted force. He immediately ordered the offloading of his guns, but too much of his infantry was slow to receive the dismount order. His tanks were in advance, so he would have to rely on them to destroy the British tanks.

The German tanks opened up, but the surprise of being caught off guard from above threw off their aim. Not a single British tank was destroyed, and five platoons of British armor opened fire on the loaded trucks. Five platoons of German engineers and infantry were blown to bits. Bodies and trucks littered the desert. Lt Col Auer, looking through his binoculars, could plainly see the British (players) high fiving each other in celebration. Little did they realize their celebration was coming to an end.

Half the German infantry was held back in reserve, and was not in a position to support the offloaded guns. While some heavy machine guns and a couple of other platoons were nearby, the Germans were caught off guard and in a weak position. Had the British infantry chosen this moment to rush the German guns it could have been a quick end of the German force. But instead the British infantry stayed over the crest of the hill, and the British tanks began to withdrawal. German 88mm fire blew apart a platoon of Stuarts. British forces on the flanking hill and the rear guard along the road began to advance on the battle site. The Germans began to establish their line at the base of the hill. Aerial reconnaissance showed the British troops were digging in just over the crest. The Germans sent half their tanks up the hill to flush them out.

The British infantry, along with their Bren carriers, rushed the German tanks, surrounding them and cutting off retreat. The Germans responded with artillery, aircraft, and machine guns, blowing a hole in the British envelopment. From then the tanks played a cat and mouse game with the British forces, who repeatedly attempted to envelope the tanks. German 88s repeatedly smashed Bren carriers, while artillery and air attacks rained down on British infantry. British tanks succeeded in getting flanking shots off on the remainder of the German tanks, but near misses weren’t enough, and the Germans escaped. British tanks, Brens, and infantry fell in numbers, scattered across the landscape. More aircraft attacked the reserve two pounders, making hash out of many of them. The British morale finally broke, and the British Colonel and Major agreed it was time to retreat. The British fell back, leaving the field to the Germans. A few parting shots by the Germans came to naught, but the battle was already over. The Germans remounted and continued their advance.

After reading AARs located here and taking a good look at the scenario, I decided to remove the Italians from the scenario. Everyone agreed keeping the Italians would have changed the scenario from a challenge for the Brits into an impossibility. The scenario still seemed sided towards the Germans, but there were several moments that could have made a German win more of a struggle. Unfortunately, even after plastering ten steps of Germans on trucks, the Brits never once won the initiative roll. The Germans always had a free hand to spoil the British plan. And the British never scored another step loss on the Germans, while the Germans destroyed seven steps of Stuarts, four Brens, and seven steps of other units, along with three leaders. The Brits still had significant forces, but artillery and air were causing so much problems the Brits never would have been able to stop the Germans exiting ten steps. The initial German casualties made the Brit players confident enough to advance on the Germans, but no so confident to charge them while five German infantry platoons were still off board. Had they mixed it up quickly while the German guns were getting positioned they may have stood a chance. Instead they regularly positioned themselves to get a gain with a successful initiative roll, a roll that never appeared.

Adding back the Italians would kill this scenario. My rating is based on no Italians. There was still a German bent to the scenario, but at least it was playable and provided fun for the group. Keeping the Italians would reduce my rating and result in what would seem to be a nearly unplayable British position.

This scenario was played over Skype in 3 sessions against PGHQ member, Nebelwurfer. It was his first dual player PG match-up after some 70+ solo games. The scenario was picked as one of a choice of three sent for selection and had not been played by either player before. The situation represented is that of a out-gunned British force having to try and stem the advance of a mainly German force but with Italian back up not far behind. The Axis have more foot troops, the better tanks, some OBA and regular aircraft support. The British have equally moraled troops with which to put up some form of defence, but on paper, the balance of the scenario looks very much against them.

The Axis forces, whose aim is to exit 10 steps at the other end of the long map enter the battlefield area faced with a British enemy that has fanned out across the front in a linear formation. The British main strength seems to have been the placement of their armour on the flanks and a nasty HMG force blocking the only road running straight through the battlefield. As the Germans began the advance towards this enemy, they fully expected to see the British frantically digging-in readying themselves for the Axis attack. Instead, with great surprise, they saw this weaker enemy begin an advance towards them in a bid to get on the higher ground. Once this initial surprise had passed, the Germans gathered themselves to destroy in detail this very bold inferior British force.

The German PzIII’s jostled into a position to start loosing shots off at range against the British Crusaders and Stuarts and also made sure their two 88 flak batteries and 50mm AT battery were positioned in order to take advantage of any enemy tanks that would render themselves spotted once they fired their own guns at the German tanks. The ruse worked and before long, British armour was becoming shredded pretty quickly, along with many Bren carriers that happened to get in the way as well.

The two sides infantry also began to battle for the high ground, but here too, although a slow whittling pro cess, the Germans began to gain the upper hand. Also, Italians had entered and their infantry forces began to stream out along the Axis right flank. With the main battle for the high ground going the German way, another infantry force composed of the German infantry in turn pushed along the left flank ensuring the British could never stretch their thinning forces to cover both flanks. Despite good British resistance on the hills, they were eventually out-gunned, all the more so with such a vast initiative difference that had been formed due to heavy British casualties. To put it mildly, the British force was eventually destroyed in detail with many Axis steps making their way up the other end of the map. Eventually, the 10 German infantry steps exited easily and the battle was up.

It had been a bloody baptism for this British force suffering a massive 51 step-losses to just 1 German infantry step. When I totted up the damage and 'pictured' the battlefield in my mind, I just saw this horrible vision of burnt wrecks, corpses et al and they were all British ! A pure horrid devastation of what was once a fighting force. The scenario to be fair, should not be that one sided. British step-losses came in at 20 Foot steps, 5 Officers, 18 AFV, 8 APC and 5 Ordnance. It gets a ‘2’ rating for me as I can not see how the allies can win this one. If they ever do, I’d like to see the AAR. Maybe an experienced Brit player against a newbie Axis might do it.