Played ftf against old chum Wayne Baumber over 4 x 8 hour sessions (its an involved scenario).

Wayne and I have our own random selection system for picking scenarios and have now added a 'favourites' section interspun amonst our plays. These 'favourites' are scenarios that we have both nominated as 'must plays' after checking every set in our PG collection of scenarios. These 'must plays' are then recorded on paper tags and then drawn randomly in a lottery type draw. It kind of adds to the fun ? However, THIS particular scenario we have both had a severe itch to play and we both decided to just get on and play it NOW. I recommend you do the same. Hopefully after reading this AAR, you'll be tempted !*

THE FORCES The combined three Allied Brigades of South Africans, New Zealanders and Company of British heavily outnumbered the Axis by 3:1 in foot units. OBA was about equal as was on board ordnance. Axis armour had around a 3:2 advantage and was qualitively superior. If these armoured forces were to become involved, the Allies would be probably well advised not to lock horns with enemy armour but instead support their own infantry against enemy infantry. Morale was interesting. The Axis were all 8 moraled as were the Allies New Zealand troops. The Boks were just 7 moraled and subject to surrender. But it should be borne in mind that the New Zealand forces alone outnumbered the total Axis foot units.

THE AIMS The South Africans were required to either aid a New Zealand withdrawal from the field whilst engaging as many enemies as possible OR, along with the New Zealander’s take Point 175 once and for all! The Germans and Italians for their part needed to hold Point 175 and inflict severe losses on the allies whilst losing far less themselves. Differing decisions for both sides meaning this would affect the dispositions. Neither side therefore would have an inkling of what the enemy planned to do with any certainty and this opened up the battle for many permutations.

DISPOSTIONS & ENTRY: Italian forces were set up to defend around Hill 175. HMG positions were placed on the corners of the hill, AT guns hidden around its area with adequate Bersaglieri troopers interspersed amongst them with all defenders dug-in. To the west of the hill were the massed Italian armour consisting of eight M13 platoons and three SEM75 platoons. Panzer III’s and IV’s from 21st Panzer Div.were also added to these Ariete tanks. The Axis armour were placed to face the believed advance area of the two New Zealand Brigades. There was also a light smattering of more Bersaglieri to the south-west of the hill. These were going to act as the ‘bracket’ to the DAK positioned to the south of the hill. These DAK forces assigned with the Ariete were placed to cover the main southern approach to the hill. It was evident that when the South Africans arrived, they would be coming from this angle in their easterly advance. The South Africans advance from the east would put them in direct contact with the Afrika Korps Recon Bn. and infantry from the 21st Panzer Division. The two Kiwi Brigades found themselves directly in front of the enemy armour mentioned above and would have to find a balancing act between attack and then ultimate withdrawal if they did not take Hill 175.

THE BATTLE 0800 hours both sides guns began their bombardments and the battle was underway. The South Africans lost a platoon in these very first exchanges. That was not surprising as both the Boks and the Kiwis closed in on their foe and the old saying “An omlette would not be made without breaking eggs” came to mind. As the Allies closed the ring around Point 175, the Axis troops made sure to keep their own men redeploying where needed. They also tried to act aggressively with their motor-cycle elements from the Recon unit, but accurate South African fire cut half of this company down. By 0930, casualties were relatively light given the OBA and troops available. But things were now set to ‘hot up’ as befits the desert. Infantry firepower, HE and MG fire from AFV’s and the ubiquitous OBA blasted casualties on the Allied lines, mainly on the South Africans and mainly too on their ordnance (22 steps). The DAK sustained all the casualties on the Axis side (9 steps).

With these casualties, it was becoming evident that the New Zealanders would find it highly dangerous to advance toward the massed Axis armour on the west side of the hill. Such an attack it was feared, would result in heavy losses. To the south of Hill 175, the South Africans were showing themselves not quite so up for the fight as the Kiwis despite their officers throwing them into the fray and these troops struggled when tested to hold their resolve. This led to quite a number of Bok platoons fleeing southwards and as well as thinning their lines, made command control awfully difficult when trying to keep cohesion. However, the Allied numbers were still overwhelming enough to make sure the Axis forces held their own line and did not advance aggressively.

The Allies seemed to be finding themselves in a dilemma. They appeared unable to decide whether the NZ troops should withdraw as originally planned by Higher command or attempt to get Hill 175. This vacillation in reality equated to them standing in front of Axis armour and neither going forward or retiring. Precious time was lost because of this not to mention casualties added. The South African advance that had originally thinned the DAK lines had also now come to a juddering halt. For the Axis side, time being eaten up was to their advantage and they filled the time fire-brigading possible weak points. By 1230 hours casualties on the two sides were Allies 39 steps, Axis 17 steps.

1245 hours: British armour (5 x Crusaders platoons) that had worked their way toward the front whilst trying to support South African efforts, found themselves encountering four platoons of PzIII’s that had been desptached to meet them. The Allied commander had little confidence in his Crusaders to overcome this enemy and started to pull them back. In a memorable encounter within an encounter, the resulting 45 minute tank battle resulted in 2 x PzIII steps lost without any of the Crusaders harmed. The British tanks felt a sense of victory having gone toe-to-toe with the PzIII’s and winning the gun-battle. It seems this Allied feeling of jubilation may have led to a tactical error soon after. How? By this time, the Kiwis had begun to withdraw to the south in order to save the brigades for another day. The Germans sent forward a platoon of the powerful PzIV’s to the area. The Allies in response threw in no less than six platoons of Stuart tanks and some infantry. In the close range battle that followed, the panzers were attacked and tied down by the NZ infantry whilst the Stuarts tried to blast the enemy tanks away. This ploy not only failed, but saw the NZ infantry blasted mercilessly by the Axis OBA whilst Italian M13 and Sem75’s engaged and destroyed most of the Stuarts.

The previously jubilant Crusaders had also come to a sticky end. The other PzIII’s chased them further southwards, but were then assisted by the remaining motorcycle troops and an MG platoon. In combination, they were able to overwhelm the British tanks destroying 2 platoons and demoralizing another. The writing was now on the wall for the Allied cause. 1530 hours: There were numerous firefights by opposing combatants going on across the front. The New Zealanders had left the withdrawal far too long to enact and the distance needed to travel by them whilst being harassed by enemy OBA and chased by enemy armour would be far too taxing. Yes, some would make it off, but nowhere near the number required to balance up the losses sustained by their own side vis the losses of the enemy.

CASUALTIES Allied casualties finally totaled a staggering 69 steps (equating to 82 step-equivalents). These were made up of 32 SAF steps, 24 NZ steps & 13 UK steps. Also, they could be shown as 44 foot steps, 12 ordnance steps & 13 AFV steps. The Allies also lost 9 officers. The Axis losses came to 22 steps (equating to 24 step-equivalents). These were shared as just 4 Italian steps and 18 German steps. The Axis steps lost were divided as 14 foot steps, 5 ordnance steps, 2 x AFV and 1 x APC. They suffered 3 officer casualties. Around 7 NZ steps managed to exit to the south.

THE RESULT The Axis managed to exceed the 35 steps they needed to inflict as losses on the Allies for a minor victory, and although they held onto every hex of Hill 175, they lost more than 18 steps and therefore could not claim a major victory. The Allies, failing to capture any of Hill 175 were nowhere near a major victory. To get a minor victory, their NZ exited steps plus the steps inflicted as casualties on the enemy needed to exceed their own losses. This they failed to do suffering a 51 step deficit !

Final result – Axis Minor Victory

Well, this scenario lived up to my expectations in enjoyment and excitement levels and for me is quite simply a classic scenario. Well done Doug McNair the creator of this one. On the downside (kind of), because of the many options open to both sides re starting game dispositions and then the decison needed as to what type of VC to go for, I'm not so sure this would be so much fun solo because the player would know what both sides are trying right away ? (Not a problem for me as I only play opponents. Wayne stated to me during the final session that he believed he would not win quite early on in the game. I have to confess, this was not so apparent to me. This is a superb '5' rated battle and the memory will stay with me a long time. Great game !

This is a big meaty scenario, a mixed force of Italian and German units have two missions, hold the high ground and prevent New Zealand troops from escaping to the south. Add a South African division and British Tanks to the mix and you have a recipe for a wild rumble in the desert. The VC need careful reading as both sides have different but linked objectives, as the Commonwealth player there has to be a fine balance between attack and the need to get the Kiwi's off the board. The Axis player's choice are easier but set up is all important. In this FtF game with Herr Hughes, I was of course the allies. The Axis have one big advantage, they have plentiful armour most of which is of better quality than their allied opponents, the Allied infantry greatly outnumber the mixed Africa Corps/Italian counterparts. My first thoughts were to forget getting the Kiwi troops off and go for capturing the hill using my superior weight of forces. This was my first error, the Allies do have to attack as they have to pin the Axis units and eliminate steps, however the key to allied victory is getting those New Zealand units off the board. My attack ran into heavy artillery fire and a counter attack by the German units, although this German attack was turned back it had inflicted some casualties and had disrupted the attack. My Kiwi's had run into a wall of armour and the tanks MG,s stopped that attack cold. There was now a pause in the battle with both sides regrouping however the German artillery was still taking the odd step. Cue second error this was when I should have started the Kiwi withdrawal but I decided to commit the British tanks to the battle, the Crusader faced up to the PZIII's and in fact did OK but lost steps to a German foot assault, the Stuart's swarmed the PZIV but were blown away by the supporting Italian armour. By now I was miles behind the pace in both step losses and time in getting units off, the Allies tried once again to regroup and the Kiwis began the long march to the south and safety but alas there was not enough time or units to cover the retreat. The battle was lost. This is a great scenario with lost of differing options, it nearly gets a five from me I just feel that it favours the Axis just enough to make a Commonwealth victory very hard to achieve.