I spent most of my free time in November and December working on features for PG-HQ. Come Christmastime, I was ready to sneak away from the computer for awhile and actually play some PG! I'm currently trying to get each of my PG games played once, and I had an itch for some freewheeling carnage, so that meant Desert Rats was going on the table. Also, with 11 plays notched for Airborne my Average Counters Pushed stat had slipped to 43, which left me ranked 48th of 65 and well below the site average of 63. For someone who claims to love monster battles, this was getting embarrassing! To recover some honor, I resolved to play the Desert Rats scenario with the most counters, which according to PG-HQ's basic search function turns out to be #47: Khamsin.

Unfortunately, as stated in the scenario book, Khamsin requires two sets of Desert Rats counters. I don't have two sets of Desert Rats counters. However, as I was looking over the OOB I didn't see anything too exotic, so I decided to "take one for the team" and spent the better part of an afternoon figuring out if substitutions from other games would allow me to play the scenario without too much pain and suffering.

In the end, yanking units freely from Afrika Korps and Beyond Normandy left me with only 7 units (Shermans all) without exactly correct counter stats. This was easily fixed between the ears, though. So, with 218 counters stacked neatly on my ManTable, more than 5 times my current Average Counters Pushed and equivalent to 12% of my Total Counters Pushed to date, I was ready to go.

This scenario pits a small but extremely potent German force against a mass of weaker but exceedingly numerous Brits. The maps are arranged such that the roads run east-west. There are no terrain features to speak of. The Germans begin in place, though not dug-in, and may set up as far as halfway across the map. The Brits enter from the east.

There is the possibility (2d6 = 1 or 2 at the start of each turn) that a blinding sandstorm will blow up and reduce visibility to 3 hexes for the rest of the scenario. The earlier this happens the greater the chance the Brits will miss out on a large chunk of their reinforcements, as the sandstorm will turn them away. Victory conditions are simple - kill more of them than they kill of you. In short, this is one giant armored nose-to-nose badass freaking fistfight.

Battle Plans

As the Germans, I based my initial setup around the absolutely awesome 88mm. With an AT fire of 8 and range 9, this baby can sling shells at AT Fire 4 a full 14 hexes. Not a single British AFV has armor greater than 3, so when placed as forwards as possible and in the center north/south you've got a killzone that covers most of both east-west roads and roughly half the map - brutal!

Backing up that position is the bulk of my infantry, as the German armor is going to do most of the heavy-lifting this day. As for the armor, the longest ranged AFVs will start in the middle, with one large battlegroup astride either road to the north and south. The British forces which will begin the battle are no match for my AFVs, so I aim to pounce and eliminate as many as I can before any British reinforcements show up (1d6 = 6 at the start of each turn).

As the British, I plan to take full advantage of the complete lack of terrain features. I'll enter along the southern east-west road and then swing well south to stay out of range of the 88s holding the center. Attacking from due south, I'll prevent the Germans from establishing any meaningful crossfire. Concentrated, my initial detachment is enough to overwhelm either of the German flank battlegroups.

The Germans will either have to redeploy to match my numbers leaving the north open for my reinforcements, stand and fight which gives me the best chance, or withdraw to the north which breaks up their defensive array and buys me time for my reinforcements to arrive. Best case scenario for the Brits is to get all reinforcements on and THEN have the sandstorm kick-up, negating the significant German AT Range advantage. We shall see...

Neutral Observer's Predicted Outcomes

• If the sandstorm never comes and Brit reinforcements are late, German advantage
• If the sandstorm comes early and Brit reinforcements are thereby halved, German heavy advantage
• If the sandstorm comes late (or not at all) and Brit reinforcements come early, fair fight
• If the sandstorm comes early, but Brit reinforcements all arrive just beforehand, British advantage

Turn 1 - 0800 - "Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men Go Often Askew"

Chance is a funny thing. As it happened, none of those 4 predicted outcomes came to pass...

(turn preliminaries)

2d6 = 1 or 2 brings the sandstorm... German player: 2d6 = 2! The sandstorm arrives on the very first turn! The British reinforcements are halved! The British player (also me, of course!) is crestfallen!

1d6 = 6 brings the remaining British reinforcements... British player: 1d6 = 6! The reinforcements appear over the next dunes. The British OOB has been doubled in one fell swoop! The German player is shocked!

As the British, I enter the battlefield by rushing headlong down the southern road towards the German flank. With a visibility of only 3 for the duration of the scenario, I need fear neither the 88mm artillery in the center of the map nor the greater overall German AT fire range.

We are now fighting square, at least when it comes to range of engagement. Furthermore, with all of my reinforcements in hand, aggressive entry has the potential to create a massive force disparity on the German flank before he can redeploy his central and northern detachments. Maximum aggression and a bit of luck from here on out will see me victorious in the end.

As the Germans, my careful initial deployment is suddenly a dreadful liability. I need time to bring my central and northern forces down into range, so I push the infantry from my southern battlegroup right up to the nose of the British spearhead and unload them to block the road. We'll assault man vs. tank if we have to - it's imperative that I jam up the road long enough for my help to arrive. My AFVs in the north and center have to cross sand to join the battle, while the British are flying straight down the road to hit me head-on.

I plan to draw fire and make as orderly a withdrawal as possible westward along the road. At worst, I'll take losses but delay the British. At best, I'll string them out a bit and leave them vulnerable to flanking fire when the main contingent arrives. With a +2 initiative advantage, this might just work!

Turn 2 - 0815

As the Germans, 3/4ths of my forces are in manic flight southward to meet the onrushing British. The remaining 1/4th are desperately trying to jam up the road. 3 steps of infantry were lost to deadly accurate AFV opportunity fire from lead elements of the British column as I pulled back westward, but in doing so I succeeded in stopping British westward progress on the roadway. The few AFVs I have available in the south have been arrayed in a widely-spaced wall to try and contain the possibility of British flanking fire.

As the British, I happily machine-gunned the fleeing German infantry. The enemy has been bloodied and after only 15 minutes of combat! Stopping to shoot Nazis in the back did slow my westward progress, though. As a result, my disposition has morphed from a column to a mushroom shape as AFVs previously in the rear flow off-road out and around to either flank. All infantrymen and their APCs are being kept in the rear as reserve. With such low visibility they are best kept behind but very close, thereby positioned to dart forwards and unload should German armor get careless and be caught too far forwards.

Turn 3 - 0830, GSL=3, BSL=0

As the Germans, I won the initiative roll but found myself with only one activation. After a lot of thought I decided to try and extricate 2 platoons of PzIVEs rather than have them sit and shoot up the British AFVs which were adjacent on 3 sides. If I'm going to win this scenario it'll be through patience, not suicidal heroism. The choice proved wise as my PzIVEs disappeared rearward into the howling sandstorm with the loss of only one step, despite 8(!) British AT OpFire shots.

This action alone pinned their spearhead in place for at least another 15 minutes. A fair trade. Further north, the bulk of my forces have begun to reform a new, centralized defensive front. The delaying tactics have worked, for now.

As the British, I did manage to smoke several platoons of weak PzIIs, however I was unable to capitalize on my near encirclement of the PzIVEs. While the sandstorm has neutralized the superior German AT fire range, it hasn't made their armor any weaker! The Germans have done well to stall my comparatively numerous forces and give their central and northern detachments time to reunite, but I still command a markedly larger force and have plenty of time to grind them down into desert dust.

Turn 4 - 0845, GSL=13, BSL=0

Play Note: per scenario rules, the British have met their victory condition (most kills wins) and satisfied the minimum (6 kills), and thereby could retire from the board victorious rules as written. However, as the introduction explains, the British tankers were eager for battle - and are not about to pack it in so quickly! Especially when the beating has been so lopsided, ha!

As the Germans, my fighting withdrawal has gone beautifully. The infantry, when asked to make a suicidal stand to delay the enemy advance, decided instead to make a stand and keep right on living - holding things up far longer than I could have dreamed. Additionally, hot shooting by my PzIII crews (3 hits on 4 unmodified shots) have served notice to those overconfident limeys that the DAK is never to be taken lightly, regardless of force disparity.

As the British, my inability to clear the road of infantry meant little to no forward progress would be made this turn. The sandstorm continues unabated, limiting my ability to bring the superior numbers of my armor to bear on individual German targets. Combined with some lousy shooting by nervous tankers, the German delaying tactics have been indisputably successful and their heavy formation can be seen digging-in on the horizon. We must be patient and careful, for the tiger has been cornered...

Turn 5 - 0900, GSL=13, BSL=8

As the Germans, my forward infantry have finally fallen, but I was able to evacuate some 50mm pieces, extremely valuable when I suffer for lack of AT capable units (if not for their potency). My main force has begun digging in along a curving front, anchored at one end by my 88s and at the other by my PzIVF2s. Four platoons of PzIIIGs are screening out in front to make sure the British don't advance too quickly through the sandstorm.

As the British, several more German AFVs were destroyed, and the last of their suicidal infantry routed, but a handful of Crusaders got a bit ahead of their detachment in the sandstorm and suddenly found themselves face to face with the PzIVF2s. Predictable, it did not end favorably. The Germans have established a respectable line of battle. The natural response is for us to leave enough units in the center to command respect, while flanking either end of the line in a pincer movement.

With all German units furiously digging in, the German advantage in armor quality, and the sandstorm making our artillery all but useless... the hard work will be left to our infantry. The Bren carriers have been ordered out to either flank, and our men will shortly unload and proceed against the ends of the German line. Skirmishing has ceased. The real battle begins now.

The Real Battle

If I have learned anything from this scenario, it is that I am a poor leader of men. When faced with the task of crushing a cornered and outnumbered foe, I managed to attack in a disjointed and inefficient fashion that put many good men 6 feet below. As the German commander, I succeeded in establishing a strong defensive arc, the mother of all hedgehogs, if you will.

As the British aggressor, I found it particularly hard to crack this nut. The 3 hex visibility made setting up AT crossfire extremely dicey. Even with the crossfire bonus, my tankers were often shooting with a -1 or -2 DRM whereas the dug-in German PzIVs were confidently blasting away at +2 (or better) all day.

The next 3 hours of battle was a toe-to-toe slugfest. Each side blowing massive holes into the other's lines. Only one side had the numbers to refill those holes, however, and as the British I slowly made headway against the well-organized Germans.

And yet eventually even the most hungry wolf has eaten its fill, and Turn 16 saw the last bit of momentum drain away from the British attack. The order was given to disengage, retreat into the cover of the howling walls of sand, and rally and reform the lines.

The withdrawl was complete by the end of Turn 17, and steplosses stood at 87 for the Germans and 91 for the British. More tellingly, though the number of disordered British units far outnumbered their good-ordered men, as they melted away into the desert the German commander found himself with precious little left to command.

The devil-sent 88s remained in their ferocious glory, led by a fanatical 10-0-1 LT COL, 10-2-1 SGT, and HMGs. But one PzIV platoon was all that remained of the intimidating Afrika Korps AFV detachment. British infantry had slowly and methodically destroyed the rest.

With ample time (another 23 turns) for the British leaders to reorganize their men, and knowing their AFVs would soon be attacking with impunity, the German commander surrendered despite his marginal lead in steplosses. To do otherwise would mean death to the very last man. It was simply a question of when.

Analysis

As the Germans, I played an excellent defensive battle with relatively few mistakes. But defending is always easier than attacking.

As the British, I struggled mightily. A plethora of units and poor visibility made for lots of traffic jams and inefficient deployments. A better commander than I would have had greater success under the circumstances.

Overall, I enjoyed this scenario immensely, though it did test me both mentally and in terms of patience. I very much recommend it for solo or head-to-head play, with the caveat that there are really 5 or 6 different situations hidden in this scenario due to the British having 2 waves of variable reinforcements and the on-going possibility of a sandstorm blowing up.

I think somehow finding a way to play this double-blind, with AFVs probing and feinting amidst the sandstorm, would be the highlight of a wargamer's life...