Tag: Scenario (Page 2 of 3)

Allied Turn

At the start of the new game turn the Allied player rolls a 5 on the Weather Table and it’s still mud in the E weather zone with rough seas in the Mediterranean. The Malta Status becomes 0 this turn.

The Allies get no reinforcements this turn nor do they spend any RPs or ARPs. They still have 14 ME ARPs and there are still some units in the ME replacement pool.

Late in the initial phase the non-phasing Axis player sends harassment missions to 18A:3228, 3229, & 3230 to help protect his desert front line from a possible big Allied attack.

In the construction segment of the initial phase the two colonial 0-1-4 const Xs begin building one turn 3-cap permanent airfields at Tobruk (4817) and the adjacent overlooking ridge hex due south of Tobruk at 4818. In the movement phase the Br 1-2-8 eng X 8 moves westwards to Msus (3523), where it ends its turn stacked with the Ind 2-8 inf X 161, the Br 44th inf XX HQ unit, and two steps of attack supply.

In the E weather zone portion of the rough terrain Cyrenaican “bluge” region, the Ind 10th inf XX continues its westwards march in the mud weather down the coast road to 3617, closing in on Bengazi from this direction. Behind it the Ind 2-8 inf X 5 and the Br lt flk II 37 occupy Derna. Just south of the E weather line and just above the Cyrenaican interior road the Br 2-8 inf X 132 guards hex 3620 and farther east the Ind 2-8 inf X 11 guards Mechili (4019).

Menacing Axis held Bengazi from the south, just below the E weather zone line, are two stout 8th Army stacks at road hex 3223 and stony desert hex 3422. At road hex 3223 are the Br 6-4-6 arm X 1T, the 4-3-8* arm X 23, and the 3-10 art X 10. At stony desert hex 3422, just west of Msus, are the Br 7-8 inf XX 50, the 3-2-10 arm X 7, and the NZ 3-8 inf X 5.

The Fr 2-8* inf X 2FL admin moves westwards from Giarabub to 4318, where it ends it movement with a 1 RE transport counter and perhaps happy to again rejoin the world war.

Just to the SW of Agedabia, three hexes away from the Axis desert front line in front of El Agheila, the Allies form up a quite powerful new desert front line shield at hexes 3328 & 3428. The Allied desert front line’s westward flank is protected by the impassable coast salt marsh hex 3227. Each desert front line hex stack contains at least two Br arm XXs. At 3328 are 29 half AECA/ATEC defense factors, seven flack factors, and four steps of attack supply. At 3428 are 25 half AECA/ATEC defense factors and ten flack factors. The Allied desert front line eastern flank is protected from encroachment by the nearby Sebchet el Gheneien impassable salt marshes and the Br 3-2-10* lt arm X 4 at hex 3527. Not far away on the opposite SW side of the Sebchet el Gheneien is an Allied multi-national mobile force at 3730.

During his exploitation phase the Allied player does a night strat bombing mission against the port capacity of Bengazi (in this scenario a major port and Axis standard supply source) using the two Well 1C NBs, the Well 2 NB, and the Aus Halfx 2 NHB. The Aus Halfx 2 NHB is returned by Bengazi’s four factors of heavy flack, but the Wellington NBs get through Bengazi’s total of seven light and heavy flack factors and also inflict two bombing hits, in spite of halving the strat bombing factors due to the mud weather, which convert into four port damage hits due to Bengazi’s artificial harbor, jacking the port damage total up to 5.

One thing the Allied player is certainly trying to do in inflicting port damage hits to the Axis standard supply source at Bengazi is to implement the “highly experimental” Optional Rule 12C1e-Standard Supply Terminal Suppression, and thereby knock out Bengazi’s Axis standard supply source status capabilities. I currently think this might be a good rule and might be a way out of the “Bengazi problem,” which evidently began when the Cyranaican “bulge” region was incorporated into the E weather zone in the WitD map revisions and perhaps some influential Allied players (this is said respectfully) began to find it hard to capture Bengazi during the spring 1941 mud weather. Added along with this optional rule, which I understand from an earlier EA posting was originally intended to be used against the Axis at Tunis in ’43 in order to help hasten its fall there, might be a new special rule making Bengazi a “fragile” artificial harbor and that one port bombing hit equals to maybe three port damage hits. This would probably compel the Allied player to use his Wellingtons and Blenheims to bomb the port capacity of Bengazi in 1941, which I think historically is precisely what they did many times in the Western Desert campaign during this period. I think this is certainly better than making Bengazi a standard port “at the start of all War in the Desert scenarios” and as perhaps a sop to historical True Believers, throwing at them the almost insulting dog biscuit Advanced Rule 141h-Port Construction (my gripe here being only in its use at Bengazi as a standard port), which I currently believe very few Axis players could or would ever actually use at Bengazi, and thereby the port construction rule in effect makes sure that Bengazi almost always remains a standard port and therefore never a standard supply source. Yes, Bengazi as a major supply port for the Axis should often be worthless, but I think, due to constant Allied port (night) bombing in 1941 and ’42 and not by knocking it down to a standard port, which frees up the Allied Western Desert bombers for use elsewhere. I believe Playfair in his Western Desert war history says that the British had no problems quickly turning Bengazi into a major Allied supply port after its final Allied capture in late 1942.

On the other hand I’ve currently no problem with beginning Bengazi as a major port but not yet an Axis standard supply source (eg., for WW Graziani’s offensive scenarios, for the regular Dec I 40 at-start WW scenarios with the desert maps in use, and perhaps in hypothetical future WW/Enter Rommel II scenarios) and fitting it with a probably appropriate chain hobble like Advanced Rule 12C1d-Axis Standard Supply Terminal Restrictions, which in WW games without the Balkans in play means Bengazi couldn’t become a new Axis standard supply terminal per Rule 12C1a-Standard Supply Terminals until at the earliest about the Jun II 41 Axis turn.

Later, the Allied player says that he might have begun bombing Bengazi’s port capacity on the Dec I 42 Allied turn, but then still harbored hopes that the Axis would, by his turn’s end, abandon any intentions of taking a “to the death” stand there and continue its westwards retreat towards Tripoli of the entire Afrika Korps. He also goes to the trouble of saying that the Axis defenders at Bengazi will soon be “sacrificial lambs” and is pleased that an It arm XX is among the trapped sheep herd there. I remind him that Bengazi is still Axis with 33 defense factors with 1/10th ATEC, possesses a fort counter, the weather there is still mud, and the end of the Western Desert scenario is close at hand. Don’t worry; we’re old friends.

Near the end of the exploitation phase the Axis player does a non-phasing air unit transfer of the Ju 52 at Tripoli to the 3-cap temporary airfield at coast road hex 18A:2418, containing the It 0-6 const III 5A, a Ju 87D, the It Ju 87B, and a resource point. A Ju88A4 based there transfers to the 3-cap permanent airfield further west at coast road hex 1427, three hexes west of Sirte, which contains another Ju88A4, the It 3-6 inf XX 16 Pis, and the It 0-6 lt flk II 11

By the end of the exploitation phase the two SA 1-10 lt arm II’s 4 & 6, moving stacked together in order to gain hex control per Advanced Rule 5B4-Half RE Units, end their exploitation movement at Oasi di Gialo.

German Turn

This turn in the initial phase the Axis withdraws 5 Western Desert (WD) Axis SMPs per Watson’s End of the Beginning El Alamein scenario Axis Reinforcements OB, which we’re using in the game. This leaves the Axis a net of 25 WD SMPs, which puts an additional pinch on what’s already become an attack supply step and resource point movement problem for the regular long striding retreating Axis forces.

An airbase repair point in the mainland Europe off-map holding box is used in the initial phase to repair a hit of airfield damage at Erakeion (18A:4903) on Crete per Optional Rule 141l-Axis Airbase Repair on Islands; at least this is how we play the rule here.

Although the Axis still has the 4 It & 4 Ger WD ARPs from the last air cycle, they’ve been unused and a CR 42AS and G 50bis still remain in the Med/NA Command’s eliminated box where they’ve been since the game’s start. The Axis player is holding onto his remaining WD ARPs to bring back better quality fighters (or needed B, D, or T types) from the WD replacement pool as they are aborted or eliminated.

At the start of the movement phase the Axis player again attempts to sea transport 1½ Ger arm RP’s from Tripoli back to mainland Europe using his Cent Med on-map shipping ability, but for the second Axis turn in a row the convoy is sunk by the Allied player’s Axis anti-shipping die rolls. The Malta Status is 0 and the Axis player is learning the hard way how difficult it sometimes can be to sea transport in this unfavorable situation.

The Axis player uses the Ju 52 based at the 3-cap temporary airfield at coast road hex 18A:2418 to air transport the It 0-6 const III 5A there to Tripoli. A better destination may have been to Bengazi, and then sea transport out of Bengazi the Ger 3-10 mot inf III Afr there to Tripoli using coastal shipping, but the mud weather at Bengazi prevents the single Ju 52 (the only Axis air transport capable unit on-map) from doing this particular transport mission.

The other It const III admin moves to the 3-cap permanent coast road airfield at 18A:1427, two hexes west of Sirte, where it ends its move with the It 0-8 lt flk II 82.

Meanwhile, the Axis desert front line conducts what might be considered another major westwards retreat along the Libyan coast road and ends its movement with a new desert front line at 2127-2128-2129, twelve hexes away from the Allied front line. A protective south flanking covering line dog-legs westward at 2029 & 1929 from the new Axis desert front line shield.

The Afrika Korps would have retreated en masse even further westwards this turn to perhaps Sirte (18A:1727), but was held up by slower moving Italian motorized 8 MP units that protected remote flanking southern positions at 3133 & 3233 at the turn’s start. However, the Axis retreat this turn is not so hasty as to neglect destroying with ground unit MP’s the five 3-cap coast road airfields at 2328, 2428, 2629, 2829, and at El Agheila (2930). The previous turn the Axis player took the time to place a weak It motorized III at four of the five mentioned coast road airfield hexes specifically for the purpose of destroying the airfields there this turn. A fairly long “rat tail” of Axis ground units runs from the rear of the desert front line shield westwards along the coast road up to and including the Sirte hex towards the Axis Tripoli supply source, thus helping to protect the forward units from possible Allied ZOC encirclement in their exploitation movement. This tactic can also be used in WW Balkan Front games.

EA members unacquainted with WitD games may not understand why the Axis player has been conducting these almost regular westward retreats when a superficial study of the Western Desert map situation as described in the game reports may seem to call for a bolder stand, say at El Agheila or even at Agedabia, and take a war chance with an Allied attack. A slug fest might then develop where the Axis may get the best of both sides’ die rolls and thus an essentially evenly balanced front line stalemate could perhaps result, which could be judged from afar as better than the current somewhat unfavorable Axis situation, where the Allies seem to have a definite close-in preponderance, at least when they have a full fighter umbrella available to protect their desert front line and plenty of A, B, and F (w/ a tac factor of 2) type air units in range for GS & DAS. The reason for the regular Axis westwards retreating during the end game period of the reported Western Desert scenario is the playing war gamers’ perceived reality of the Allied Torch invasion of French NW Africa and also what is perceived here as simultaneously historically happening in Tunisia. This observation is not at all a complaint by either players regarding the Western Desert scenario design and we both sincerely assure the EA and the WitD and WW developers that we love playing the existing Europa desert game and find it quite fascinating and satisfying. Keep in mind even TW will have a seemingly arbitrary and abrupt “photo-finish” ending in the midst of an ongoing violent and fluid but by no means unfinished campaign.

Meanwhile, the Axis is forced to do a major reshuffle of its on-map air units and suddenly finds itself way short of available airfields in what’s left of Axis controlled Libya. As a result the Axis feels it must air transfer to Sicily a Me 109F3, a MC 202, a MC 200, a G 50bis, two Ju 87Ds, two Z1007b’s, the SM 84, and the It Ju 87B.

At the Cauldron at-start 1-cap permanent airfield at Sirte is a MC 202, along with the It 1-6 arm II 21, the 1-8 mot art III 1AC, three steps of attack supply, and a resource point. Two hexes to the west of Sirte at the 3-cap permanent airfield at coast road hex 1427 is a ME 109F3 and a MC 200. The Cauldron at-start 1-cap temporary airfield at Misurata (18A:1022) is still knocked out and useless by a damage hit due to the big desert sand storm earlier in the current desert scenario. At the end of the movement phase the Misurata hex contains the retreating It 2-6 inf XX 60 Sbr and the 0-6 lt flk II 36. A motley crew of other retreating weak Italian non-motorized units are scattered along the Libyan road hexes between Sirte and Tripoli.

At Tripoli (18A:0121) is the Ju 52, two Ju 88A4s, a tall stack of recently arrived It ground units including a total of 7 flack factors, and two steps of attack supply. At the 3-cap permanent airfield one hex to the south of Tripoli at hex 18A:0122 is a Ju 88A4, a Ju 87D, a MC 200, a recently arrived stack of It ground units including 2 flack factors, and a step of attack supply.

At encircled Bengazi are 33 defense factors (but no construction/eng. unit), four steps of attack supply, 8 Bengazi generated gsp’s, two Me 109G2s, a MC 202, and the Me 110E, all “on their own” just like at Stalingrad now.

Allied Turn

This turn the Allied player rolls a 3 on the Weather Table and there is still mud in the E Weather Zone, but with a calm Mediterranean Sea. The mud weather will put a hobble on the Allied ground advance into the Djebel Akhbar rough terrain region of the Cyrenaican “bulge” region. Later in his initial phase the Allies rebuild the aborted Well 2 night bomber and a SA 1-10 lt arm II in the Allied ME replacement pool. The Allied player also spends an arm RP to upgrade the Br 1-10 lt arm II 1 DG to the 2-1-10 lt arm II 1 DG.

In his movement phase the Allies finally venture into the mud weather of the E Weather Zone in the Cyranaica. The Ind 6-8* inf XX 10 marches through the mud into Derna (18A:4116) and ends its movement one hex westwards at coast road hex 4015, thus gaining Allied zoc control on the coast road up to hex 3916. The 8th Army’s main spearhead force proceeds southwestwards down the good weather Cyranaican interior road, but halts and then fans out as it nears the split Axis forces at Bengazi and Agedabia. The main Allied armored forces end their moves at 3525 and 3625, each hex stack containing two Br arm XXs along with other ground units. Protecting the Allied southern desert flank at 3725 is a strong armored stack with 12 defense factors. Another strong Allied armored stack with 11 defense factors stands at stony desert hex 3323, adjacent to the Axis Bengazi covering forces at Soluch (3222) & 3223. Two hexes behind it at Msus (3523) is the Allied forward infantry force with the Br 50 & 51st inf XXs, the NZ 3-8 inf X 5, the Br 1-8 anti-tnk II 95, and two steps of attack supply. The two westward facing sebkha (salt desert) hex sides of hex 3524, just south of Msus, aid in rounding out the Allied desert front line. Additional Allied Br & Ind inf Xs protect the Allied northern flank at 3621, 3821, Mechili (4019), and back at Derna on the coast. Two more steps of attack supply end their turn at coast road hex 4618, two hexes west of Tobruk. At Tobruk (18A:4817) are the 2nd NZ inf XX HQ unit, the NZ 2-8 inf X 6, the Br 0-8 lt flk II 37, and the admin moved in 0-1-4 const X 66 RPC. The 0-1-4 const X 64 RPC ends the turn admin moving to the adjacent overlooking ridge hex 4818, one hex south of Tobruk. The Br 1-2-8 eng X 8, having hitched up with a 1 RE mot transport counter, builds a 3-cap temporary airfield at road/rail hex 19A:0219, just inside the Libyan border, and ends its now motorized movement at 18A:5018. The 8th Army’s available eng/const forces are so paltry and so far back from the rapidly advancing Allied desert front line that evidently at this time there is no thought of sending even an 0-1-4 const X back into Egypt to repair some of the “sanded in” temporary airfields along the Matruh to El Alamein coast road in order to release the six inoperative Allied air units stranded there due to the Nov II 42 Allied turn desert storms. Later in his turn the Allied player complains that the big Axis westwards retreat on the Nov I turn has forced the 8th Army to overrun their fighter cover umbrella protection, come what may, in order to keep some kind of close-up ground unit pressure on the retreating Afrika Korps. I reassure him I had little choice in the matter, in particular if, as the Axis player, I play the WW Western Desert scenario with the historical Allied Torch invasion of French Northwest Africa and an off-map historical progression of events there in mind.

By the turn’s end the Allied player has seemingly done all he can to move the 8th Army forward and westwards and thereby keep the heat and pressure on the retreating Afrika Korps. Splitting the Axis forces between Bengazi and the Agedabia desert front line has perhaps surprised him, as by now he may have become accustomed to the perhaps more cautious and conservative Axis play done ever since its invasion of Egypt earlier in the game after the Axis capture of Tobruk. Next turn Axis ground units can still march freely out of Allied zoc’s between Bengazi and Agedabia, although the Allied player was careful enough to gain zoc control of the Gulf of Sirte coast road hex 3225 before backing to 3525. There is also an Allied zoc on the road hex at 3323, where the Ger 7-8 inf XX 164 LA is at. However, Allied offensive punch during the Western Desert end game period seems quite hobbled now with the closest Allied airfield to the desert front line in western Cyrenaica being the far away newly built airfield at 0219 in far eastern Libya, where he bases the three A-30s. Maybe the paucity of the 8th Army’s eng/const units during this time period is a historical fact. The WitD Allied OB has the Br 1-2-8 eng X 8(th Army) arriving onto the Torch maps (eg., entering onto map 25A) from the Middle East (eg., the Western Desert map group) on the Feb I 43 Allied turn and the 0-1-4 const X 61 RPC arriving on the Torch maps from the Middle East on the Mar II 43 Allied turn. And that’s it for Allied const/eng ground units coming onto the Torch maps from the Mid East. If one looks at the Second Front (SF) Allied OB booklet for additional guidance one finds on the Jul I 43 initial turn the two 0-1-4 const Xs 64 & 66 RPC, the 0-4 const X 54 RPC, and of course the 0-1-6 RR eng X MEF all in the SF Middle East holding box. This is essentially the same place these construction units are found in Watson’s End of the Beginning El Alamein scenario, I think, with an Oct II 42 Allied turn beginning. Are all these construction units still in garrison and/or still building the Haifia-Tripoli RR in the Levant? For the Haifia-Tripoli RR see Advanced Rule 14A1e-Other Railroad Construction & WW Game Play Chart 5-Allied Garrisons. In the SF Allied at start OB the 61 RPC is listed in the British forces in NW Africa (eg., available for a SF Operation Huskey type invasion) and I cannot find the Br 8th Army 1-2-8 eng X listed anywhere in the SF Allied OB.

German Turn

Early in the initial phase the Axis player deactivates two sp op Ju 52s and a DFS 230 glider unit in the mainland Europe off-map holding box that were brought on the Sep II 42 Axis turn. This turn marks the maximum activation time line limit in WW of the WitD Axis OB German 1942 Special Operation Forces. This is perhaps important because it implies that in WW WitD and North African scenarios the Axis could maybe do a Nov I or Nov II full fledged 5 turns planned in advance air drop against Tunisian targets (say, at Tebessa-25A:2817, or Souk Ahras-35A:2714, or Gabes-25A:3021), or perhaps better yet, do 1 turn planned in advance Axis air drops (see WW Game Play Chart 4.2-Special Operations Planning Requirements Summary) using sp op Ju 52s and the WitD regular reinforcements It 2-5 para IIIs of the Folgore Para XX and/or the Torch scenario regular reinforcement LW para IIIs.

Perhaps now might be the time to note that the use of the Axis sp op Ju 52s in this game to airlift steps of attack supply from mainland Europe to the Western Desert did not inevitably result in an In-Theater Surrender decisive Axis victory in the game per Rule 42A. Indeed, the large number of Axis steps of attack supply in the Western Desert has become a SMP transport burden (along with some resource points in the Western Desert) for the Axis in the end game period of the WD/Cauldron scenario when in many games it might conduct its long westwards retreat towards Tunisia.

This desert war gamer also admits that he never found an opportunity to use the sp op Ju 52s along with the It Folgore XX 2-5 para IIIs for any viable 1 turn planned in advance Western Desert target hexes, say to help encircle portions of the Allied desert front line shield from behind in conjunction with a big Afrika Korps frontal ground attack or further eastwards against, say, Alexandria, or Delta targets, or Suez Canal targets. The main reasons for this inability were the strong Allied fighter cover umbrella over their desert front line and the “just enough” defense (eg., some flack, maybe a ground unit, maybe a fighter in interception range) of rearward targets in the Delta or at the Canal.

It should be noted that Axis para-drops are not the only interesting special operations possible in WitD games. Allied para-drops and perhaps small amphibious operations in eastern Algeria and western Tunisia on the Nov II, Dec I, and Dec II 42 WitD/Torch turns are quite important WW II events and interesting Europa war game exercises. This is another reason that a “Race for Tunis” add-on subscenario for WW Western Desert scenarios, perhaps using Rick Gayler’s bigger Kasserine Crisis scenario as a developmental aide, might be an interesting new Europa desert war game feature for someone to attempt to design.

Also in the initial phase, per Watson’s End of the Beginning El Alamein scenario Axis Reinforcements WD OB (which we are using in the current game), the Axis player withdraws from the map the just converted Ger 1-8 eng III Afr. The single Axis resource point in the mainland Europe off-map holding box is broken down to six Cent Med Axis airfield repair points so as to repair a hit of damage on a Crete airfield next turn.

At the start of the movement phase the Axis successfully sea transports his initial phase It arm RP reinforcement across the Cent Med to Tripoli. The Malta status number is 1.

The single remaining Lw Ju 52 (a regular WitD reinforcement earlier) air transports the initial phase It inf RP from mud weather mainland Europe to the Tripoli airbase. However, 1½ Ger arm REs are sunk by Allied Cent Med anti-shipping die rolls when the Axis attempts to sea transport them from Tripoli back to the mainland Europe off-map holding box using his on-map Cent Med sea transport ability.

The Axis player, in the end game period of the WD/Cauldron scenario, decides to keep the initial phase Axis attack supply steps and the turn’s Ger arm & inf reinforcement RPs in the mainland Europe off-map holding box, where for the time being they’re safe.

In his movement phase the Axis player reinforces the Bengazi defense force and holes them up in the port hex, which also has a recently built fort counter and a Cauldron at start 3-cap permanent airfield. He stacks in the Bengazi reference city hex all the ground units in the vicinity because the Allied player may get lucky and roll clear weather for the E weather zone for the upcoming Dec II 42 game turn. This turn an additional step of attack supply is scurried into Bengazi from Agedabia. By the end of the exploitation phase the 3-cap permanent airfield at adjacent hex 3220 is removed from the map after Axis ground units inflict 3 hits on it by MPs before entering Bengazi.

By the end of the turn the Axis has at Bengazi the It 7-6-8 arm XX 133, the It 5-8 inf XX 102, the Ger inf XX 164, the Lw mot hvy flk III 135, the Lw 4-8* para X Ramcke, the Ger 3-10 mot inf III Afr moved in this turn, the two It 2-3-6 art IIIs 20C & 24C, four steps of attack supply, the Me 110E, two Me 109G2s, and a MC 202. The Bengazi artificial harbor major port still has one hit of damage.

During the movement phase the Axis desert front line retreats westwards from the Agedabia front line to a new desert front line shield at 3029-3030, which might be called an El Agheila (18A:2930) front line. Some It mobile IIIs guard 3133 & 3233 farther south against any Allied attempt to outflank the new Axis desert front line by looping southwards around the impassable Sebchet Gheizel salt marsh hexes.

Before leaving the Agedabia vicinity, Axis ground units destroy with MPs the 3-cap permanent airfield at Agedabia (18A:3327) and the 3-cap temporary airfield at adjacent road hex 3427.

The two on-map It 0-6 const IIIs 5A & 10A each build 3-cap temporary airfields at adjacent coast road hexes 2328 & 2428. This adds to the already existing nearby 3-cap coast road road airfields at 2629, 2829, & at 2930 (El Agheila). By the turn’s end there are in this zone four Ju88A4s, three Ju 87Ds, the It Ju87B, two Z1007b’s, two MC 202s, two Me 109F3s, and the SM 84 (transferred back to the Western Desert from Crete during the Allied Dec I 42 turn).

A large array of Axis non-motorized ground units continue retreating westwards along the Libyan coast road and by the end of the Axis turn are spread along the coast road between Tripoli and Sirte inclusive.

The Axis player also sends every one of his B type bomber units on a daylight strat bombing mission against the port capacity of Allied controlled Derna, but reaps only one port hit after 7 rolls, all halved of course due to the mud weather. There are no flack factors in Derna, nor are there any Allied fighters in interception range.

By the turn’s end the Axis player realizes that he has passed the point of no return and will indeed get to find out what will happen if the Afrika Korps split their Libyan forces and attempt to take a do or die stand at Bengazi at the end game period of a WW Western Desert scenario. Will Fate play a joke on him and make sure the Allies roll clear weather for the next couple of turns in the E weather zone? Will an Axis Bengazi stand tall until the game’s last turn or will it in the war game end up being just another “African Stalingrad” and be wiped out?

Allied Turn

This time the Allied player rolls a 6 on the weather die roll, so it’s mud in the E weather zone with rough seas in the Western Desert map group used in the game. Here this includes the Djebel Akhdar rough terrain region of the Cyreaniacan “bulge” region, Sicily & Malta on map 18A, Crete on 19A, and Cyprus & Rhodes on Near East map group map 20A. And that’s not all. Desert storms occur per the Allied player’s second die roll (for rolling a 6) and per the subsequent damage hit die rolls for each side’s unmaintained temporary airfields (per Advanced Rule 36D2-Desert Storms and Temporary Airfields) the Allied player gets “sanded in” with no less than 11 hits of airfield damage at many of his numerous Egyptian temporary airfields between 19A:1119 (by Matruh) & 2120 (by El Alamein). The way we play the rule is that only the airfield sustains the desert storm damage and any air unit based there is not aborted, just maybe inoperative later in the same initial phase per Rule 16C1-Air Activities: Initial Phase. In our case the Allied player has six such inoperative air units, one B type and 5 F types, at sanded-in temporary airfields mostly at Egyptian coast road/rail hexes at Matruh and thence eastward. The Axis player suffers only one damage hit at the Cauldron at-start 1-cap temporary airfield at Misurata (18A:1022), which was vacant. In the reinforcement phase the Allied player rebuilds the Br 1-10 lt tnk II 1DG in the replacement pool from an earlier current game battle loss at a remote Western Desert battlefield, perhaps anticipating its Dec I 42 Allied turn OB strength upgrade. Late in the initial phase the Axis player mulls over his harassment air missions in the context of the mud in the Djebel Akhdar region of the Cyranacia and mets out 5 harassment hits each to the Gazala hex 4518 and the important adjacent coast road fork hex at 4417. However, the numerous Stukas based in the Bengazi vicinity can only carry mud weather affected half loads of bombs and inflict 2-21/2 harassment hits to hexes 4019 (Mechili), 3921, 4122, & 4123. Ju884s and the SM 84 score 3 harassment hits to hexes 4317, 4521, & 4620.

As usual, the Allied player sea transports 8 gsp’s to Malta (they all make it, including two from the very busy West Med Gibraltar hex) and two to Cyprus. A resource point at Alexandria is sea transported in the East Med to Bardia, where it ends the turn with the Br 1-8 MG II 1RNF and the 0-8 lt AA II 12. At Matruh is the Br 1-8 MG II 2 Ch, 5 steps of attack supply, a resource point, a 3-cap temporary airfield with one hit of sandstorm damage, and the Hurri 2D and a Hurri 2C. In far western Egypt right by the Libyan border the Br eng X 8 builds a 3-cap temporary airfield at Halfaya Pass (0419). The 64RPC const X builds a 2-cap airfield at coast road hex 0519 and the 66RPC const X builds a 2-cap airfield at 0420, one hex south of Halfaya Pass. From these new bases three Wellingtons and the Aus Halfx 2 bomber do a big night bombing mission on Bengazi’s port capacity, but fail to make any hits and the Well 2 is aborted by the port’s Ger mot hv flk III. By the turn’s end the airfield at 0519 has two Br A-30s, at 0420 is a Br P-40K and the Aus Halfx-2 bomber, and at Halfaya Pass are the two Well 1Cs and the long-ranging Bftr 6F fighter. There are no Allied air units or airfields in Libya, but the Allied player’s big pause of his const/eng units at the Libyan-Egyptian border to build a cluster of airfields there and the subsequently enabled big night air bombing raid of Bengazi harbor serves notice to the Axis player that the Allies are back. At the Sidi Baraini 3-cap temporary airfield (no hits) is a Hurri 2, a Hurri 2C, and a Spit 5, along with a step of attack supply. Scattered between the Matruh vicinity and Alexandria are 12 other air units (including two transport air units), 6 of which are inoperative due to the big sand storm damage to temporary airfields. The two air transports are at Alexandria and at the 3-cap permanent airfield at rail/coast road hex 19A:2218 are two US B 24D5s (HB types). Also available in the zone is an A-30 and at least three good fighters.

This turn the British reoccupy Tobruk, and by the turn’s end the war plagued North African port fortress is guarded by the NZ 2nd inf XX HQ unit, the NZ 2-8 inf X 6 and the Br lt AA II 37. Two hexes west of Tobruk at coast road hex 4618 are 7 steps of attack supply (all that the Allies now have in Libya) and the Br 2-8 inf X 132 and the Br anti-tnk II 95. One hex to the west at Gazala (4518) are the the Br inf XX’s 50 & 51 (a 7-8 & 8-8 respectively), the Ind 6-8* inf XX 10 and the NZ 3-8 inf X 5. As if being marched into exile, the FF 2-8 inf X 2FL is sent to occupy Giarabub in remote SE Libya. At the forefront of the advancing Br 8th Army are two tall and powerful stacks at Mechili (4019) and at the near by sand hex 4121. Each of these two hexes contain two Br arm XX’s plus other good mobile ground units. Fully armored capable intermediary stacks guard at 4218 & 4322, and a buffer of three Ind inf Xs and the Br 44th inf XX HQ unit block 4519-4520. The whole Allied forward formation between Mechili and Tobruk appears somewhat like a large crab or lobster claw pointing at the long but thin Axis front line desert shield ranging from 3730 southwards to 3726, and also at 3827. However, no Allied units venture into the Djebel Akhdar rough terrain region north of the E weather line. Derna is still Axis controlled at the end of the Allied turn as is the eastwards adjacent coast road hex 4216 and also westwards down the coast road to Bengazi and beyond it to Agedabia & Tripoli. But the Allies claim the coast road up to 4317 and the Cyrenaican interior road to stony desert hex 3921, only two hexes ahead of their westernmost position at Mechili, and thus have driven hard down the good weather central Cyrenaican interior road to threaten Axis held Bengazi from the south. The Axis player does some non-phasing air unit transfers throughout the Allied turn, including transferring two Ju 52s and a glider unit from the Tripoli vicinity to the mainland Europe off-map holding box, where in the initial phase of the Axis player’s next turn they will be deactivated and removed from the board. Two other Ju 52s transfer from the Tripoli vicinity and base at Agedabia and El Agheila. They are intending to maybe begin airlifting some meager Axis Western Desert forces back to mainland Europe, but the bad weather in E zone hampers this good intention. An MC 200 at El Agheila transfers to Tripoli. In a surprise move the Axis player transfers to a Sicilian airfield at 18A:0403 two Me 109Gs from the Bengazi vicinity and also an MC 202 from Agedabia. They base within patrol and interception range of the two Spit 5s at the Valletta hex airfield, but surprisingly the Allies decline the fighter mission.

To give us down here perhaps some needed late 1942 perspective enhancement to the current WW Western Desert/Cauldron game, we’ve provisionally tacked on Torch map 25A to the west edge of Western Desert map 18A and have tentatively retrofitted/revised Rick Gayler’s Kasserine Crisis II from Europa #37 into a kind of truncated “Race for Tunis/Kasserine Crisis subscenario” intended to be an unofficial and tentative add-on play test to the current 100% WW WD(/Cauldron) scenario project, all still ending on the Jan I or Jan II 43 turn, depending if we use the WW WD scenario rules end date or else maybe utilize Watson’s Jan I 43 end date found in the End of the Beginning El Alamein scenario from Europa #63. David Tinny’s Europa #78 Historical Background article entitled “The Torch Landings,” along with some history book referencing and some notes from a WW Torch scenario game we played a couple of years ago helped in backtracking Gayler’s Dec I 42 Axis turn start date (a clear weather turn in E zone, in his scenario) to around a possible subscenario at start date on the Nov I Axis turn or maybe the Nov II 42 Allied turn for a map 25A “Tunis/Kasserine Crisis subscenario link-up” for use in WW WD/ME scenario games. More later on the Tunisian project. Right now, when pondering the WW WD victory conditions within the framework of all the above in the current WW WD/Cauldron scenario, I’m wondering whether getting a certain measurable quanta of Axis ground and air units into western Libya (eg., western Libya on map 25A) by the Jan I 43 Axis turn equal to what is listed in the WitD Jan I 43 “Appears in Libya” Axis Torch OB is every bit as important as keeping Tripoli hex 18A:0121 Axis controlled by the end of the Jan II 43 Axis turn, which fetches Europa war gamers a big +200 VP’s in WW WD scenarios. What do other EA members think about the WW WD scenario endgame paradigm and victory conditions? What about Axis late ’42-early ’43 North African/Tunisian WWII/wargame strategy for both sides? Could the Allies have won the race for Tunis? Is all the Axis effort in Tunisia really worth it or are they actually little more than trapped rats in a large barrel, marching from one side to the other seeking perhaps a false safety in essentially maybe silly and no doubt tragic time delaying maneuvers: meaning a few more months in North Africa as an Axis soldier against overwhelming “killer” odds? What about an evacuation?

German Turn

Early in his initial phase the Axis player deactivates two sp-op Ju 52 air units and a DFS 230 glider unit based in the mainland Europe off-map holding box that were brought on the Sep I 42 Axis initial phase. On the Western Desert map group are two more sp-op Ju 52 air units and another DFS 230 glider unit that will be deactivated on the Dec I 42 Axis initial phase. During the reinforcement/replacement segment of the initial phase the Axis player withdraws the It 2-10 mot inf X 10B per Watson’s End of the Beginning El Alamein scenario Axis Reinforcements OB found in Europa #63, which we are using in the current Western Desert/Cauldron scenario. An It 1-6 arm II is rebuilt from the Axis Med/NA replacement pool using ½ It arm RP from Bengazi and ½ It inf RP from Tripoli, and is brought on at Bengazi. This is done to help clean out the remaining It RPs at Bengazi before it is either very soon evacuated by the Axis or else captured/cut off and besieged by the Allies. In the naval movement segment at the beginning of the movement phase the Axis player safely sea transports via coastal shipping the last remaining 1½ It arm RPs at Bengazi to Tripoli.

Early in the movement phase the Axis player uses two Ju 52 air units to airlift a resource point at the 3-cap permanent airfield at Agedabia (18A:3327) back to mainland Europe. It will likely eventually be further broken down and used to repair a hit of damage at the permanent airfield at Erakleion (18A:4903) on Crete per Optional Rule 14A1l-Axis Repairs on Islands. At Tripoli in Libya, a Ju 52 air unit and the remaining on-map DFS 230 glider unit airlift two Ger inf RPs back to the mainland Europe off-map holding box. Miraculously, the glider unit does not crash land at mainland Europe. Both air transport missions “double up” on their cargo carrying due to the mud weather in the E weather zone. By the end of the Axis turn there are 4 It & 10 Ger arm RPs and 2 ½ It & 7 Ger inf RPs at Tripoli. At mainland Europe are 5 Ger inf and 5 Ger arm RPs. This admittedly tardy and feeble airlift of some of the trapped Afrika Korps (AK) forces in Libya is perhaps somewhat in conflict with what historically is simultaneously going on in Tunisia, where the Axis is attempting to secure a bridgehead at Tunis and Bizerte, but the Axis player thinks all the above mentioned actions may still make sense in terms of Axis world war strategy.

Evidently historically the Axis actually believed it could sustain its presence in North Africa at the Tunisian bridgehead. I believe after the Torch landings Doenitz dispatches 10 German U-boats from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea to aid in the defense of the Tunisian build-up. I believe all 10 are eventually sunk in the Mediterranean. Historically, the Axis attempts to use its air transport resources to simultaneously supply both the Tunisian bridgehead and the Stalingrad pocket. Historically, the later East Front drama/tragedy is just beginning this game turn in Russia. I believe near the end of the Tunisian disaster the Axis air transports in the central Mediterranean historically are largely squandered in fiery deaths against overwhelming Allied fighter superiority as they desperately try to supply the Axis defense of the Tunisian bridgehead in its death agony. The last quarter of ’42 and the first half of ’43 are certainly a quite disturbing and horrific epoch for the German and Italian Axis partners in WW II. In the Pacific the Japanese evacuate Guadalcanal after frightening force losses. Play a WW Torch scenario to relive the Axis disaster at Tunis.

Meanwhile, back on the Western Desert war game maps in the western Cyranacia war zone, the Axis player must decide what to do about Bengazi in the context of all the above. In the current WD/Cauldron scenario game Bengazi is an Axis standard supply source per the scenario’s at-start Axis OB. Maybe the conservative and wise Axis move would be to continue the methodical and steady paced westwards retreat towards Tripoli (and hence further westwards into Tunisia) with all the currently available Axis forces, hopefully sending some back to mainland Europe to be saved to fight another day and sending the rest to their certain death or captivity in the Tunis pocket. The point here is not a cruel joke but rather to keep the unfortunate Italian ally in the war as long as possible, keep an Axis pinch on the Allied sea route through the central Mediterranean as long as possible, and to protect the southern flank of Germany as long as possible using just the available Axis MTO forces and not drawing from other theaters. In real life the world war experience occurred only once, but on the Europa war game maps we can play and replay over and again the same historical event, tweaking, altering, and changing various pertinent details to see what might then happen without ever facing any real life responsibility (eg., hanging, prison, or firing squad) or consequential war horrors resulting from our war game decisions. Accordingly, this Axis player decides to maybe initially risk a bloody stand at Bengazi to see what happens in the context of a WW Western Desert scenario ending in a few turns from now, either on the Jan I or Jan II 43 turn, depending if we use the WW WD scenario rule or Watson’s End of the Beginning El Alamein scenario rule. If a strong enough force is kept in Bengazi and the weather remains mud in the Djebel Akhbar rough terrain region of the Cyrenaican “bulge” region, the Axis might be able to hold onto the Libyan major port till the end of the WW Western Desert scenario. To be sure, Tripoli would likely be the better place for the AK to take a stand in Libya, as it is also an Axis standard supply source and there is no by-pass road going around it (thereby blocking and stopping at Tripoli the Allied 8th Army’s westwards advance), as does Bengazi with the Cyranaican inland road route going through Msus and El Mechili. However, an Axis stand at Tripoli cannot be effectively attempted in a 100% WW Western Desert scenario game (which the current game more or less claims to be) as the Western Desert map 18A ends just west of the Tripoli hex, thereby hindering meaningful war game play around the port city of Tripoli. Therefore in this game Bengazi is chosen to be the scenario’s “Axis Alamo.”

The Axis does not need to immediately hole up in Bengazi, where a little earlier in the current game a fort was built, but for now can screen the port hex with a presumably nonoverrunable forward covering line running from 3220-3221-Soluch (3222)-3223. Behind it at Bengazi are the Ger 2-10 mot hv flk III 135, the It 133rd arm XX HQ unit, three attack supply counters (the third moved in this turn from Agedabia), two Me 109Gs, an MC 202 (these three air units transferred this turn from Sicily), and the It Ju 87B. The strongest elements of the AK form a stout and powerful blocking line at Agedabia-3427-3528. The It lt arm 2-1-8* III 3 guards sand hex 2530 and the It 1-8 mot art III 2AC stands at sand hex 2531 to protect the Axis desert front line shield from any possible Allied dash around the nearby Sebchet Ghenein salt marsh region to the east of the Axis main force.

Virtually all the remainder of the AK is retreating westwards in a long snake-like column on the Libyan coast road between 1627 and 2930 inclusive. The two It const Xs are at 2328 and 2428. The Ger 0-8 const III Afr is at coast road hex 1927, two hexes east of Sirte, but it will be withdrawn next turn per Watson’s End of the Beginning El Alamein scenario Axis Reinforcements OB. At Agedabia are three steps of attack supply, 19 full AECD/ATEC defense factors, the 21st pz XX & the 90 LE mot inf XX, a MC 202, the G 50bis, and the Me 110E. At 3427 are 25 full AECD/ATEC defense factors, the 15th pz XX, two Me 109F3s, and a MC 202. At 3528 are two It arm XX’s (the 131st and the 132nd), the It 5-8 mot inf XX 101 Trieste, and the Ger 3-10 mot inf III Afr. Most all the AK’s remaining D & B air units are at the three nearby coast road 3-cap airfields at El Agheila, 2829, and 2629. A Ju 88A4 remains at Sirte (18A:1727). On a lark the SM 84 and a MC 200 are transferred from Libya to Erakleion on Crete. At the end of his turn the Axis player wonders if the Allied player will immediately use his ground units to decisively cut off the Axis Bengazi force from the main AK force at Agedabia desert front line or if instead he’ll do a more cautious westward advance towards the split Axis forces. If he holds back somewhat this could allow another turn of Axis movement between their Bengazi and Agedabia force concentrations.

There’s been a good amount of work done on crafting, improving, and correcting the initial draft of a WW/WitD update of Frank Watson’s original Desert Cauldron (DC) Battle Scenario (for the original GDW Western Desert war game) found in Europa Magazine #36. The initial draft of the DC revision was used as the OB of the current abbreviated WW Western Desert/Cauldron scenario used in the Game Reports to the EA. This DC reviser is thankful he didn’t dash off to the EA what he had at the very start of the war game reports, as he has done some useful corrections and necessary alterations of a couple of particular details of the Allied at start OB that were caught only by looking ahead in the Allied OB from the scenario’s May II 42 start. It seems relatively easy to revise the DC at start set-up from the old WD maps 18 & 19 to the newer WitD maps 18A & 19A, but refiguring the old WD Axis and Allied OB’s to the newer WitD OB’s is quite tricky, especially regarding the new ground units found in the WitD OB for the period. Where should a DC scenario reviser put them? Should some be eliminated? When comparing the original WD to WitD, one notices that there’s also been some OB date shifting around of some important Allied armored conversions which did not become apparent in the DC revision labor until their WitD changes were stumbled upon as the current WD/Cauldron scenario progressed.

Frank Watson’s “End of the Beginning” El Alamein battle scenario, beginning on the Oct II 42 Allied turn and found in Europa magazine #63, helped with crafting the revised DC at start OB in regards to the new WitD units. It also helped regarding the locations of the revised DC at-start airfields and will undoubtedly help a lot in determining the current WW WD/Cauldron scenario’s end-of-game victory point tallies, if that point is in fact reached for the game being played for the game reports to the EA. Perhaps both the DC and the “End of the Beginning” El Alamein battle scenarios raise the WW II strategic issue of an optimal post “fall of Tobruk epoch” Axis Western Desert strategy in the context of the the Afrika Korps inevitably finding itself at the end of 1942 trapped in between Montgomery’s strengthened Allied 8th Army and Eisenhower’s massive Torch invasion of French NW Africa. In his designer notes I think Watson admits that the “End of the Beginning” at-start set up puts “…Panzerarmee Afrika in a relatively untenable position and being asked to hold it.” He also says that “Montgomery’s plan [at Alamein] was to win the offensive battle using defensive tactics. At this he succeeded and the Axis [‘Europa as History’ Oct II 42 Axis counterattack at El Alamein] AH models this well.” One thing a WW WD/Cauldron campaign game does is, for one thing, allow the Axis player to explore alternative Axis strategies for a mid ’42 invasion of Egypt besides dashing itself against Motgomery’s El Alamein prepared defensive line, which of course is only part of what the “End of the Beginning” battle scenario is about. To a certain degree this “post fall of Tobruk epoch” Axis invasion of Egypt alternative strategy is what the EA game report WW WD/Cauldron campaign scenario has been a lot about. However, at this point in the DC discussion this desert war gamer must take the time to admit to the EA that the “fall of Tobruk” in Watson’s DC is no “done deal” at all, and that this “cardboard armchair Rommel” considers himself downright lucky in the current WD/Cauldron scenario that Tobruk in fact fell onto his lap “on the cheap,” thanks to the perhaps hasty and untimely Jul II 42 Allied turn “Crusader style” attack against the Tobruk Axis besiegers at 18A:4918. The combat die roll of 1 and the 3 to 1, -1 AR result only then in fact made the fall of Tobruk a “done deal,” whereas just prior to the attack the Axis player was seriously worried that he might not ever be able to capture the heavily defended improved fortress in the WW WD/Cauldron scenario with a relatively powerful Allied defensive force (relative to what Wavell had on hand in Egypt in the mid ’41 siege of Tobruk) just east of the Libya-Egyptian border. Watson says “Desert Cauldron can be a real slugfest” in his DC designer notes, and also that “…the Battle of Gazala hung on the brink.” Perhaps he tries to appease those influential desert gamers who might insist to him that Rommel’s capture of Tobruk must be a “done deal” (because it’s “historical!”) each and every DC battle scenario game by offering a “Tobruk in Disrepair” Optional Rule which, as he admits “…obviously tilts play balance in favor of the Axis player.” In real life the ’42 fall of Tobruk was perhaps a risky war battle gamble, and as such may well be what one writer (Samuel W. Mitcham) has called “Rommel’s greatest victory.”

For all the EA postings related to a 1942 Axis amphibious invasion of Malta done earlier this summer and early fall, I don’t think any brought up the fact that in Watson’s additional DC Axis OB for using Cauldron as a starting point for the older WD “War in the Desert” campaign game, he calls for an Axis planned at-start special operation against Malta for the Jul II 42 Axis turn involving “all units in the Axis Special Forces Pools.” In his DC designer notes he says “historically, the special operation planned against Malta for Jul II 42 involved all units in the Axis Special Forces Pool except for one Italian 3-6 infantry division, which was planned for an amphibious operation against Gozo…on the same turn.” This self-styled “DC reviser” confesses to deleting this original stipulation in the present WW WD/Cauldron scenario done for the EA game reports because at the time he believed it to be an unwanted “chain hobble” that was doomed to failure if attempted, and thus limited the Axis player in attempting other possible special ops in the second half of ’42 WW WD/Cauldron time frame: specifically using the Ju 52s for supply and reinforcement cargo carrying from mainland Europe to Libya, or else perhaps for a daring and admittedly risky air op against Cyprus for the purpose of gaining airfields closer to the Suez Canal in order to more readily strat bomb it for Axis VP’s, or else to perhaps augment Axis air drops at Tunisian hexes on the Nov I, Nov II, and/or the Dec I 42 turns (using the Folgore para IIIs and/or the Nov I and Nov II 42 Axis WitD OB Lw para IIIs for the Torch scenario) in order to better initially secure the Axis Tunisian bridgehead. Perhaps someday, if a worthy DC revision is ever posted/published, a Europa desert game aficionado can demonstrate to the EA or the Europa magazine “how to do it.” This labor can clear the air if in fact the WW rules actually allow for these sort of dramatic but complex sp ops to actually occur or if the rules are in fact one way or another “broken” and little more than useless window dressing whose main purpose is to maybe fool and deceive war game buyers into thinking they’ve bought a fascinating product enabling them to explore such genuine WW II possibilities. The 1942 Axis amphibious/air drop Malta operation is evidently no idle and silly table talk, as the real historical existence of the It Folgore para XX, the It air lndg XX 80 LS, and the Lw para X Ramcke (regardless of its wretched permanent supported status in the current WitD OB) is no joke or deception. Their otherwise pointless existence in late 1942 can probably only be explained in the context of the abandoned mid ’42 Malta amphibious/air drop mission.

One problem that’s becoming evident to us here while playing the WW WD/Cauldron scenario is that the Jan II 43 game end and the western edge of map 18A in effect puts the WW Western Desert campaign in a vacuum: the world in North Africa becomes flat and its westernmost edge is a few miles west of Tripoli. That’s one reason why we’re using the more severe Axis Reinforcements OB found in Watson’s “End of the Beginning” scenario. I think what the Western Desert scenario really needs is a map 25A add-on (or at least the eastern half of it) and then a skillfully crafted rework of Rick Gayler’s Kasserine Crisis II, found in Europa magazine #37, perhaps with the ultimate hope in the Western Desert scenarios of allowing the Axis and Allied players to play out the initial Axis occupation of Tunisia and its early battles there with the eastward advancing Allied Torch ground units entering the zone in the Nov I 42 to Jan II 43 time frame, with the WW WD scenario still ending on the Jan II 43 game turn. This idea is not my own and I first heard of it from Victor Hauser at least 25 years ago. Even though the current Axis final VP situation appears somewhat favorable in the WW WD/Cauldron game being reported to the EA, it’s the belief of both players right now that in terms of Axis world war strategy and assuming the existence of a Tunisian Axis bridgehead, the Afrika Korps needs to be largely west of Tripoli at least by the end of January 1943, lest the Tunisian bridgehead be prematurely encircled by the Allied Torch invaders and the Axis end in North Africa ultimately being played out around two diminishing Axis enclaves centered at its remaining major port standard supply sources: Tunis and Tripoli. The implication here is a successful Allied eviction of the Axis in North Africa possibly well before the historical May I 43 game turn. This should perhaps somehow affect Italy’s continued participation as a German ally in Second Front. In the larger context of a WW North African or War in the Desert campaign scenario, the Allied player should perhaps be allowed an additional fairly substantial amphibious capability against the Axis in late 42 and early 43 in both the Tunisian and the Libyan war zones. Watson maybe has the beginnings of this concept in mind with his Allied Amphibious Capability optional rule found in his “End of the Beginning” scenario. Second Front players need to ponder how to link WitD to SF and then figure out how the Axis can economize their losses in North Africa for eventual use in defending Italy from a Husky type Allied invasion and also how the Allies can hasten the end of the Axis presence in North Africa, perhaps using the aforementioned enhanced amphibious assault concept in western Libya or in Tunisia around perhaps Sfax or Sousse. Maybe a future SF game will need to include a super-bloated Herman Goering 25-10 Pz XX for use in Sicily, assuming elements of it were never sent to Tunisia to be subsequently destroyed.

In a small but probably important addition to the revised DC at start Allied OB, the Br Colonial 0-1-4 const X 43 RPC has been included and placed in “Syria or Lebanon” along with the 0-1-4 const X 61 RPC and the 0-4 const X 54 RPC. All three const Xs are busy building the Haifia-Tripoli RR and will be released on the Jan I 43 Allied turn. Per the WitD OB, the 43 RPC const unit is “historically” removed from the Allied ME replacement pool on the Jun I 41 turn. But I currently believe its inclusion is needed afterwards in WW to make game sense out of the WW Haifia-Tripoli RR construction requirement and also to provide the Allied player with a third const/eng unit in the Western Desert in the second half of ’42, which both myself and my opponent believe the Allies then need to make a good go of it. I’ll admit, however, that Watson evidently excludes the 43 RPC const unit in his “End of the Beginning” Allied OB.

Allied Turn

The weather die roll is a 1, and so the weather remains calm in the Western Desert. But next turn there’s a 2 in 6 chance of mud in the Djebel Akhdar region in the Cyrenaican “bulge,” which throws a new factor of instability into the Western Desert war zone. In the initial phase the Allied player still does no ground unit replacement builds, evidently keeping his inf and arm RP’s either for quick rebuilds of important offensive units after big attacks or else maybe for VP’s at the end of the game, which in the WW Western Desert scenario occurs at the end of the Jan II 43 game turn. Near the end of the initial phase the Axis player sends out eleven B, D, and F (the RE 2001 CB) type air units on the harassment mission to possibly completely protect his desert front line from any Allied ground attacks. They fly the harassment missions to Egyptian hexes 0519-0520-0521, 0419 (Halfaya Pass)-0420-0421-0422, and 0320-0321.

At the start of the movement phase the Allied player gets all his gsp’s to Malta without any ntp losses due to the Axis anti-shipping Cent Med die rolls. He also sea transports two gsp’s to Cyprus to supply the Ind 2-8 inf X 7 and the British Colonial 1-2-8 inf X SDF defending the East Med island. The 8th Army’s 1-2-8 eng X moves westwards from Matruh, builds a 3-cap temporary airfield at 1119, and ends its movement phase at 1018. The 0-1-4 const X 64 RPC builds a 2-cap temporary airfield at 1319, and the 0-1-4 const X 66 RPC moves form 1519 to the newly built airfield at 1119. At the first opportunity in the Allied movement phase the Axis player does a non-phasing air transfer of all five Ju 52s based in the Tripoli vicinity back to the Mainland Europe off-map holding box.

Then, in the most aggressive 8th Army action of late, the Allied player advances up to within two hexes of the Axis desert front line “shield” at Bardia, 19A:0218, and 18A:5119, and ends his turn’s movement with his powerful desert front line stacks at 0421, 0420 (just south of Halfaya Pass), and at the fine overlooking ridge defensive position at 0520. Intermediate flanking stacks are at Sidi Barrani, 0721, and 0922; and the Ind 1-2-10* anti tnk X is the southern flanking lynch pin at 1024. When asked why he does no port bombing night missions against Tobruk, Derna, or Bengazi, the Allied player says that this would only be aiding the Axis player’s westward retreat “to do” list of facility damage. By the same token the Allied player has for some time declined utilize Rule 37F-Allied Raiding Forces and do any “desert rat” attacks on Axis airfields by doing the appropriate die rolls on the Success Table. Evidently this turn’s thick wall of harassment just east of the Egypt-Libyan border has saved the Axis desert front line from ground attacks during another Allied combat phase. But the Axis defensive “house of cards” becomes harder to balance each turn, and as he retreats the availability of Axis airfields for the numerous air units needed for the desert defense becomes a critical factor. Moreover, proclaiming themselves True Believers in the pursuit of a genuine “historically accurate” WW II WW WD/Cauldron scenario, both Europa war game players think the right thing to do is to use Frank Watson’s “Axis Reinforcements” OB for the Western Desert scenario found in his “End of the Beginning” El Alamein battle scenario published in Europa Magazine #63, which calls for some additional Axis Western Desert scenario withdrawals than specifically called for in the WitD Axis OB. Perhaps more later on the “hard road” in WW desert games in the second half of 1942.

German Turn

In the initial phase the Axis player rebuilds the aborted Ger Ju88A4 bomber, the only Ger air unit in the Axis Med/NA replacement pool, leaving a net of 2 Ger ARPs. He also rebuilds an eliminated It MC 200 and the aborted CR 42 to be withdrawn the next Axis turn, leaving 1 It ARP. Near the end of the initial phase the non-phasing Allied player sends harassment to 19A:0223, 0323, 0324, & 0423 in order to hopefully prevent the Axis this turn from sweeping around his desert front line at 0421-0420-0520 and attacking. The harassment missions to hexes 0223 & 0323 are within interception range of two Axis fighters at 19A:0218 (the Me 109G2 and a MC 202) and the Allied player sends some fighters as escort along with each bombing mission. But once again the Axis player declines to intercept the Allied harassment missions. He has no intention of risking possibly bloody ground battle clashes (with maybe EX or HX results) at this time and place and doesn’t want to risk losing any good fighters now for the sake of attrition combat alone. Anyway, the Allied player has 12 remaining ARPs. He feels he needs every available Axis fighter and strong front line ground unit in the upcoming Nov I 42 Allied turn in order to face down potential Allied ground attacks and thereby continue a little longer his slow but steady strategic retreat westwards. To be sure, there is perhaps at least one more game turn and likely one more geographical zone on map 18A where the Axis player may choose to take a stand and risk a desert clash ground battle die roll.

At the start of the movement phase the Axis player sends out the He 111H4 at Tripoli on a Malta Status night bombing mission and scores a hit, upping the Malta Status to 5. The Heinkel bomber successfully lands at Tripoli. Then for the second time the Axis player attempts to sea transport the It air lndg XX HQ unit across the Cent Med and rolls 11, but the subsequent die roll on the Shipping Results Table results in a NE (no effect), and the air lndg XX HQ unit safely disembarks at Tripoli harbor (18A:0121) and later moves to the airfield just south of the port at 18A:0122. Using three Ju 52s, the Axis player airlifts another step of attack supply from mainland Europe to the 3-cap permanent airfield at 18A:0122. Two other Ju 52s airlift one of the It 1-6 air lndg IIIs and one Ger inf RE & one It inf RE from mainland Europe to the Tripoli airfield at 0121. Using the remainder of his 3 RE on-map Cent Med shipping ability, the Axis player then safely coastal ships one Ger arm RE from Bengazi to the Tripoli harbor.

The Ger 0-8 const III Afr at coast hex 19A:0217 moves to Tobruk (18A:4817), where it does another hit of port damage, bringing the port hit total there to three, and ends its movement at adjacent coast road hex 18A:4118 (where there’s also a 3-cap temporary airfield), along with the It 2-3-8 art III 16C, the Ger 2-8 inf III 382, and the It 0-8 lt AA II 83. The It 0-6 const III 10A at Bengazi, having completed the two turn fort there, admin moves southwards to road hex 3427, adjacent to Agedabia. The It 0-6 const III 5A at nearby hex 18A:3228 moves to the 1-cap permanent airfield at El Agheila (2930), where it spends its remaining MP’s, upping it to a 2-cap.

The Afrika Korps continues its westwards strategic retreat and creates a new desert front line shield beginning at Tobruk and going due south to 4818 & 4819, with a short close-in southern flanking defensive line angling SW at 4720 & 4620. The large stony desert hex region south of Tobruk probably aids the Axis front line defense against Allied mobile units, at least for the next Allied turn. Covering the southern flank farther westwards are two It 3-6 inf XXs at 4320 (in an at-start Cauldron fort) & 4021. At Tobruk are 18 defense factors with half ATEC and three flack factors. The Tobruk stack includes two It arm XXs, an It hv AA II, the It aslt eng II 31G, and the Lw 4-8* para X Ramcke. At 4818 are 20 defense factors with full AECD/ATEC, seven flack factors, and the stack includes the 21st pz XX. The stack at 4819 (where there’s also a 3-cap temporary airfield) has the 15th pz XX, 19 defense factors with full AECD/ATEC, and five flack factors. The third It arm XX is at 4720. Nearly every Axis B, D, and F type air unit is in the Derna-El Mechili-Tobruk triangle (a total of 23 Axis air units in this zone) except for the He 111H4 at Tripoli and the G 50bis at Bengazi. In the triangle’s rearward hexes are the Ger 4-3-8 art 221 and the 2-10 mot inf III SV 288, both poised for their Nov I 42 conversions. At Bengazi the It 136 GF HQ and inf III units are stacked for their 2-8 inf XX conversion. To the south in the central Cyrenaica, south of the stony desert region below Tobruk, at hex 18A:4525, is an It mobile force stack of five defense factors acting as a blocking force in case the Allies attempt a large westward sweep-around of the Afrika Korps in their direction. It is comprised of two 2-10 mot inf IIIs (one supported, a breakdown of the 5-8 inf XX 102 Trn) and the 1-8 mot art III 2AC. Although the It mobile force is placed there with the hopeful intention of ultimately surviving, the Allied player certainly might attempt to encircle it with zoc’s in his Nov I exploitation phase with the intention of eventually running it down and eliminating it on his Nov II 42 turn. Of course, in order to help protect the new Axis desert front line shield now only five hexes away from the Allied desert front line, a large amount of Axis harassment will need to be sent out in the initial phase of the upcoming Nov I 42 Allied turn.

Allied Turn

At the very start of the initial phase both players are probably glad the Allied player rolls a 5 on the weather table, as a 6 would mean desert sand storms. Per Advanced Rule 36D2-Desert Storms and Temporary Airfields, this would require a subsequent die roll on Game Play Chart 6’s Success Table for each temporary airfield in Weather Zone E without a const/eng unit present to see if any of the of the game’s 17 on-map temporary airfields take hits of damage as a result of the storms.

This is an important reinforcement turn for the Allies and they are prepared for it. At the start of the initial phase the Allied player is set up for all three conversions and gets the two Br 2-10 mot inf Xs 131 & 133 and his second Br 2-10 mot lt AA X (AA=4) XXX. With the two mot inf Xs now available he can assemble two more Br Arm XX’s, the 8th and 10th, and will now have a total of four primo arm XX’s in the 8th Army. He also resurrects the Br 7-8 inf XX 50 from the ME replacement pool, which was cut down in one of the battles swirling round the fall of Tobruk earlier in the current WD/Cauldron scenario. The Allied player does no more builds, and so at the end of his initial phase has a remaining inventory of 12 ARPs, 2 ¼ Br inf RP’s, 6 arm RP’s, 4 Aus RP’s, 2 ¾ Ind RP’s, 2 NZ RP’s, ¾ SA RP’s, and 1 ¾ FF RP’s.

Near the end of the Allied initial phase the Axis sends out no less then twelve B and D type air units on a massive harassment air mission to hexes 0719, 0720, 0721, 0619, 0620, 0621, 0521, 0522, 0421, and 0422. All are out of Allied interception range; the closest Allied airfield is a 2-cap at hex 1418. If the Axis player has counted his hexes right, this leaves only the Halfaya Pass stack vulnerable to attack from its east side facing coast road hex 0519. Sending out all this harassment is somewhat risky as it in effect leaves available for DAS only a Ju88A4, the Re 2001CB, and the Me 110E. Three MC 202s and four Me 109s are available for needed interception at the Axis desert front line zone at the Halfaya Pass- Libya/Egyptian border vicinity.

In the naval movement segment of his movement phase the Allied player ships gsp’s to Malta, and an East Med ntp is sunk by the Axis Cent Med anti-shipping die rolls. At the first opportunity the Axis player does his usual non-phasing air transfer of the three Ju 52s (this Allied turn at 18A:0122, one hex south of Tripoli) in Libya back to the Mainland Europe off-map holding box, but for the time being keeps his other two operative Ju 52s based at adjacent Tripoli. Early in the movement phase the Allied player gets to work and builds as many new forward temporary airfields as he can. The Br 1-2-8 eng 8 moves to the Matruh hex (1218) and constructs a 3-cap airfield. The 0-1-4 const X 66 RPC at coast road hex 1519 (also the easternmost busted up rail line hex of the Alexandria to Tobruk rail line) evidently postpones fixing the rail hit and instead builds a 2-cap airfield there. The 0-1-4 const X 64 RPC, also beginning the movement phase at hex 1519, moves one hex to 1418, ups the 2-cap airfield there to a 3-cap, and ends its movement at coast road/rail hex 1319. As usual a variety of 8th Army mobile/arm units fan out and regain Allied hex control of the road and rail lines between the two opposing sides westwards up to 0618 and 0620, and also regain hex control of the interior road down to the Siwa Oasis. However, the Allies find out they can only make physical contact with the Afrika Korps at its powerful desert front line forward hex stack at Halfaya Pass (0419) from adjacent Egyptian coast road hex 0519 and unfortunately not also from the SE hex side from adjacent overlooking ridge hex 0520. Nor can the Allies muster a significant number of fighters (either CAP or interceptors or escorts) above the Pass hex to force by bluff or genuine attack threat a big overhead air battle there, which the Allies can certainly now afford possessing 12 ARPs two turns before the new air cycle. Instead of boldly advancing forward and pressing close to the Axis front line with his strongest stacks thus far in the game, the Allied player perhaps somewhat cautiously advances his front line to 1019 and 1020, leaving a 5 hex gap between the two opposing desert armies. At 1019 are 33 defense factors, including two arm XX’s, the 1st & 8th, half AECD/ATEC, and 7 flack factors. At 1020 are 34 defense factors, including two arm XX’s, the 7th & 10th, half AECD/ATEC, and 7 flack factors. Protecting the Allied southern flank at 1221 is a 15 defense factor stack, 1/10 AECD/ATEC, and two flack factors. The Ind 1-2-10* anti-tnk X 3 is at 1422. At Matruh are 7 defense factors, 1/10 ATEC, and two flack factors. Finally, near the end of the Allied exploitation phase, back at Tripoli, the Axis player does his non-phasing transfer of the two Ju 52s based there to Bengazi, where he wishes during his next turn to air lift westwards some of the Axis inf RP’s stored there.

So what is the current WD/Cauldron scenario war game situation and what are the implications? The fact is that the Axis has not lost any ground units by combat since the scenario’s May II 42 Desert Cauldron start date and has so far recently avoided heavy air losses. The past several turns the Axis has been able to gradually but steadily withdraw westwards from its earlier Sidi Barani desert front line away from the strengthened British 8th Army, apparently successfully doing so by covering its desert front line shield with a protective harassment muffler and maintaining over the desert front line zone a fighter umbrella and some potential DAS air reserves. This tactic can be maintained as long as there is a sufficient quantity of existing airfields to base the rather large Axis Western Desert air fleet in its current essentially defensive mode for the desert front line. In the existing war game reality of an impending Allied Torch invasion of French NW Africa and an advancing strengthened 8th Army, the Axis can perhaps maintain the current situation, assuming no mistakes and/or perhaps no sudden Allied lunges right up against the Axis desert front line, until backing up to Bengazi. Then a decision will have to be made to either take a stand at Bengazi and risk splitting the Afrika Korps into two fractions: a Bengazi defensive enclave and a Tripoli blocking force continuing to retreat westwards as best it can, beginning perhaps in the Agedabia vicinity, or else abandoning Bengazi and continuing to retreat en masse towards Tripoli with essentially the entire Afrika Korps force. The Axis player currently believes that not hotly pursuing the retreating Allied forces up to its original El Alamein vicinity “stop line” at 1818-1819-1820, and thus not ever outrunning the Axis air force’s fighter and DAS umbrella, is one of the key reasons the Afrika Korps is currently basically intact and not yet shattered and decimated.

German Turn

In the initial phase the Axis rebuilds the aborted Ger He 111H4 bomber and an eliminated It MC 200 and an aborted CR 42AS. The two outdated It fighters are retrieved because there is not much else available in the Italian air replacement boxes. These ARP builds leave the Ger three and the It with four ARPs left. At Bengazi the It 0-6 const III 10A begins its second turn building the fort there. Near the end of the initial phase the Allied player sends out harassment missions to 0918, 0922, and 0923, evidently to cover his desert front line stacks at Matruh, 1019, 1020, and 1221. None are within interception range of Axis fighters.

At the Axis turn’s start the Malta Status is 5. First thing in his movement phase the Axis player sends the rebuilt He 111H4 based at Tripoli on a Malta Status strat bombing night air mission against the Valletta hex and scores a hit. The Heinkel bomber successfully returns to base at Tripoli. Then two Ju 88A4s at Bengazi stage westward to the 3-cap permanent air field at coast road hex 1527 and from there also fly a Malta Status strat bombing night air mission, but both miss the Valletta bombing target. One of the Ju 88A4s is aborted when it crash lands upon returning to base at 1527. During the sea movement segment of his movement phase the Axis gets the It arm XX HQ unit 131 and the 2-10 mot inf III 5B across the Cent Med to Tobruk harbor, but the It air lndg HQ unit 80 LS is forced to return to the Mainland Europe off-map holding box by the Allied Cent Med anti-shipping forces die rolls. However, the Axis player gets lucky die rolls and successfully sea transports the turn’s It and Ger arm RP’s across the Cent Med to the Tripoli harbor at hex 18A:0121. Using his three RE Cent Med sea transport ability, the Axis player transports 1 ½ Ger arm RE’s stored at Bengazi to the Tripoli port hex using coastal shipping to evade the Allied Cent Med anti-shipping sea transport die rolls. Using all his available Ju 52s, the Axis air transports a step of attack supply from Mainland Europe to the 3-cap air field one hex south of Tripoli at 81A:0122 and also air transports three more Ger inf RP’s from Bengazi to the Tripoli hex air field. Back at the Mainland Europe off-map holding box are two Ger inf RP’s, an It inf RP, the broken down It air lndg XX 80 LS, and a step of attack supply. In Libya are eight steps of attack supply and two resource points. Meanwhile the Ger 0-8 const III Afr moves one hex into Bardia, spends 6 MP’s there to inflict 2 port damage hits, and spends its remaining MP to move to 19A:0217, where it ends the turn stacked there with the It 2-3-8 art III 16C and the Ger 2-8 inf III 382. The It const III 5A, beginning the movement phase at Agedabia, ups the 1-cap permanent airfield there to a 3-cap and ends the movement phase at road hex 3228.

After regaining hex control of the transportation lines eastwards up to 0918 and 0819, and also the interior road to Siwa Oasis between it and 1022, the Afrika Korps bids adieu to Egypt for likely the last time in the current game and by the end of the exploitation phase continues its slow but steady westwards retreat completely back into Libya. The 3-cap temporary airfield at 0419 is destroyed by MP’s and removed from the map. A new defense line is created with the strongest AK stacks at Bardia, 19A:0218 and 18A:5119. At Bardia are the three It arm XX’s: the 131st Centauro, the 132nd Ariete, and the 133rd Littorio. At 0218 the AK XXX marker stack contains the 21st Pz XX with 22 full AECD/ATEC defense factors and seven flack factors. At 5119 is the 15th Pz XX, 19 full AECD/ATEC defense factors, and five flack factors. A presumably nonoverrunable southern flanking defensive line goes from 5019-4920-4921 and 4822. The entire AK ground force between the Egyptian-Libyan border and the Tobruk vicinity is under a large Axis fighter interception umbrella and there are plenty of Stukas and bombers available in the zone. Most of the non-fighter air units will certainly be used for Axis harassment air missions during the upcoming Oct II 42 Allied turn.

Although there has admittedly been no significant ground or big air battles in the current Western Desert war game for some time, both players feel that at least one more big desert clash could occur before the game’s end. Starting on the Nov I game turns there may be off-and-on mud weather in the Djebel Akhdar region in the Cyrenaican “bulge” region, which could make desert strategy and tactics tricky. The important fork in the Libyan coast road at hex 4417 and the E weather zone inland route to Agedabia throw a complex transportation factor into the combat plans of both sides as they maneuver in the Cyrenaica. The desert war game isn’t over yet; Death and Mars perhaps still linger by the board wanting to roll the die and play.

Allied Turn

In his initial phase the Allied player still does no RP builds, although there are available in the replacement pool some attractive ground units. Some examples would be a pos flk unit, the 0-2-8 hv AA X 4 (lost at Tobruk), the 3-2-10 arm X 7, and two lt tnk II’s. He keeps his 12 ARPs on ice, as he’s already cleaned out the ME aborted and eliminated boxes. He does the Sep I AA unit conversion and brings on-map the Br 2-10 mot lt AA X. The Axis player is still guessing that his opponent is saving his fair-sized pile of arm and inf RP’s for quick divisional and arm X rebuilds the Allied turn following a big attack against the Axis desert front line shield in case of an EX or HX, thus enabling him to quickly hit hard again the Afrika Korps while it’s weakened and off-balance. This turn the Axis player is in no mood to find out what will happen if the Allies go for an all-out ground attack against the Sidi Barini Axis desert front line in concert with the certain big air battle over the combat hex, and so launches the biggest Axis harassment operation thus far in the current Western Desert war game. Every Stuka, Ju 88, and Savoia Marchetti based in eastern Libya do the harassment mission to nine hexes east and southeast of Sidi Barini in an effort to prevent the 8th Army from moving adjacent to the desert front line zone at Sidi Barini (0718)-0719-0619-0520 and attacking. This leaves in effect only the Me 110E and the Re2001CB available for possible DAS if the Axis player has miscounted his hexes or the Allied player is successful in harassment abatement. By the end of the Allied initial phase the Malta status is reduced to 7.

In the naval segment of the movement phase the Allies lose one West Med ntp and one East Med ntp to Axis Cent Med anti-shipping die rolls as he ships gsp’s to Malta. Later the Allies move the two 0-1-4 const Xs to repair the air raid rail hit at coast road/rail hex 1618; both end their movement at 1519. The Matruh to Tobruk railway (the railhead is actually at 4818) is busted up to 1519. The 1-2-8 eng X 8 moves to 1418 and builds a 2-cap temporary airfield there. Early in the movement phase the Axis player transfers the three Ju 52s and the glider unit in Libya back to the Mainland Europe off-map holding box. Having broken down their two armored XX’s (1st & 7th) at the start of the movement phase, the Allies fan out their motorized units to gain hex control of the inland road down to the Siwa Oasis and westwards on the coast road to hex 0919 and rail line to 0918, including Matruh. Interestingly, he does no air missions in the movement phase, nor does he attempt any preliminary harassment abatement in an effort now to lunge at the Axis desert front line.

In the exploitation phase the Allies advance westwards their Western Desert front line to Matruh (1218)-1219 and 1221, leaving 1220 vacant. At Matruh are 25 (including the 1st Arm XX), at 1219 are 24 (along with two 5-2-10 arm Xs and a 6-4-6 arm X), and at 1221 are 22 defense factors (including the 7th Arm XX). A fourth nonoverrunable stack at 1420 (including the 4-3-8* arm X 23 and three lt tnk units) does the double duty of helping plug the gap at 1220 and covering the 8th Army’s southern desert flank. Smaller stacks with some flack capabilities guard the airfields at 1418, 1719, and 1818. Some ground units still remain at the fortified El Alamein gap at 2119-2120. At the newly built 2-cap airfield at 1418 the Allied player bases the Br Spit 5 and P 40E, at the airfield at 1719 are the SA P 40C and the Aus P 40E, and at the 1-cap airfield at 1818 is the SA Hurri 2. This turn the Allies base the long ranging Bftr 8F NHF at Tanta (2917), thus covering all three Suez Canal ports from Axis day or night naval harassment bombings. Once again, the Allies do no bombing missions against hex targets in the Axis portion of the Western Desert. He must be saving his air units and ARP’s for something else. One thing the Allied player is careful to do this turn is set up the appropriate ground forces for the important two 2-10 mot inf X conversions in the initial phase of the Oct I 42 turn. This will enable him at the end of the movement phase to assemble the Br 8th and 10th Arm XX’s. This will give the 8th Army four primo 8-7-10 arm XX’s by the Oct I 42 Allied combat phase. He also sets up for the second 2-10 mot lt AA X conversion that also occurs that turn.

By the end of the Allied player’s turn perhaps both players more clearly realize that the Axis player can no longer stand up close against the strengthened 8th Army, and also that if he suffers a significant ground unit loss after either an Axis or, more likely, an Allied attack, the heretofore two turn gradual withdrawal westward of the Afrika Korps will likely become a pell mell rout. The Allied player is an experienced ’41 Scorched Earth player who knows how to run down retreating units and will not give the Axis the luxury of maintaining a depleted desert front line while a primo Ger panzer/mot inf cadre or It arm cadres pull rearward out of possible Allied zoc control in order to rebuild to full strength. This situation will likely be the signal for the Allies to press up hard against the Axis desert front line maybe even without a full complement of close-in fighter interception cover for protection, as the Axis player will likely not want to risk further losses (by EX or HX rolls) attempting counterattacks with already weakened forces. Like a house of cards, the current Axis desert defense strategy is becoming based on a delicate balance of hex distance (about 7-9 hexes) from the 8th Army’s front line and a mixture of both harassment and close-in fighter cover protecting the Axis front line. Before leaving for the evening the Allied player reassures the Axis that he’s given him a choice for the upcoming Axis turn: “either attack one of my front line hexes or retreat some more.” What to do?

German Turn

Early in the initial phase the Axis player announces the last possible 1942 Ger Sp Op in the current game and activates two more Ju 52s and the second DFS 230 glider unit for a sp op planned on the Jul I 42 Axis initial phase. The Lw air transport units are placed in the Mainland Europe off-map holding box. Later in the reinforcement/replacement segment of his initial phase the Axis player spends two Ger ARPs to rebuild the two aborted Ju88A4s, leaving them with a net of 4; but he spends no Italian ARPs, leaving them with 7. The Axis player believes the Ger ARPs are dangerously low in the face of a strengthened 8th Army desiring to attack and an almost halved Torch-truncated Nov air cycle to look forward to. If the two Western Desert foes tangle in a major air and ground combat clash in either or both of the two upcoming Oct game turns the Axis could easily quickly lose good Ger fighters in combat and then find itself used up in ARPs. An unfavorable correlation of forces and a paucity of available and upcoming ARPs seem to call for a respite for now through another retreat westwards, assuming the Allied player gives the Axis no opening for an ideal attack this turn. At Agedabia the Axis breaks down the step of attack supply there into three resource points and spends one of them for the It 0-6 const III at Bengazi to begin building a two turn fort there: one of the two Axis North African major ports and general supply sources (along with Tripoli) in the current WW WD/Cauldron scenario.

Late in the initial phase the Allied player sends out a large number of air units on the harassment mission in an effort to protect the Allied desert front line stacks at 1219 and 1221. Harassment is done at 1223, 1120-1121, 1019-1020, and 0920. The last three hexes are within interception range of the three Me 109s at 0618 and the Allied player sends some escorts with the bombing missions to 0920 and 1020, but the Axis player declines to intercept any of these Allied air missions. He already knows he’ll be retreating westwards this turn from 0618 and feels he can’t risk any good Luftwaffe fighters on nonessential dogfights just for the sake of attrition combat, plus the retreat will require a major reshuffling westwards of the Axis air units currently based at two forward airfields to be evacuated (the other at 0519). These Allied harassment air missions successfully protect the ground unit stack at 1221 (22 defense factors w/ 2 flack factors and half AECD/ATEC) from perhaps being encircled by enemy zoc’s and then attacked at perhaps 3 to 1 +1 odds in the combat phase of the current Axis turn, and was the Axis player’s choice spot for a possible major attack this turn.

At the start of the movement phase the Axis player uses three of the Ju 52s in the Mainland Europe off-map holding box to air lift a step of attack supply to Libya and two Ju52s there to air lift 2 Ger inf RP’s and 1 It RP to Libya. However, instead of going to the usual 3-cap permanent airfield at the Gulf of Sirte coast road hex 2629 and to Bengazi, the large air transport mission enters the north edge of map 18A at hex 1501 and, carefully arcing westward around the interception range of the two Spit 5s at Malta, end their long and barely within range one-way regular air transport mission at Tripoli (0121) with the Axis inf RP’s and at the 3-cap permanent airfield one hex to the south of it (at hex 0122) with the step of attack supply. For the time being the two operative It Z1007b bombers remain idle at Tripoli, the Malta Status issue by now not very important in the end game period of the current WW Western Desert scenario. Its status is now at 7.

In the sea transport segment of his movement phase the Axis player transports via coastal shipping the It 0-6 const III at Bardia to Bengazi; later in the movement phase it admin moves to the 1-cap permanent airfield at Agedabia. The three Ger inf RP’s at Homs are moved into Tripoli using coastal shipping and a fourth Ger inf RP at Bengazi is also sea transported via coastal shipping to Tripoli. The Ger 0-8 const III Afr moves from Halfaya Pass (0419) to 0218 and there builds a 3-cap temporary airfield. Meanwhile, at the start of the movement phase the Ger pz and mot inf XX’s break down and fan out to regain Axis hex control of the road and rail hexes eastward to 1018 & 1019, including the interior road from 1020 down to the Siwa Oasis, in the current 4-hex gap no man’s land between the two Western Desert foes. Then the Axis player does another carefully measured retreat westwards to Halfaya Pass-19A:0320-0220-0120 in an effort to hopefully get the Afrika Korps out of harm’s way and keep it intact for the immediate future. A presumably non-overrunnable southern defensive flanking line continues westwards at 18A:5120-5020-4921 and at 4722. The new Axis desert front line demands a major reshuffle of its Western Desert air units and in their exploitation phase the Axis also destroy with movement points the two 3-cap temporary airfields at 0618 and 0519. By the end of the exploitation phase the Me 109G2 and the It Ju 87B are based at the 3-cap airfield at Halfaya Pass. The three Me109F3s are at Bardia and the three MC202s are at the newly built airfield at 0218. The two Z1007b’s at Tripoli air transfer to the coast road airfield at 4618, two hexes west of Tobruk, where a Ju87D is also based. At Tobruk and in its close vicinity are four Ju 88A4s, two SM 79-2s, the SM 84, two more Ju 87Ds, and the Me 110E and the Re 2001CB fighters. The G 50Bis air transfers from Agedabia to Tripoli to guard the Lw air transports based there.

This new Axis desert front line again creates a 7-hex gap between the two opposing Western Desert armies and may well be the last Axis stand on Egyptian soil. In the Oct I 42 Allied initial phase the Axis will certainly need to protect with harassment the southeastward facing arc (at 0320 & 0220) of its new desert front line, leaving exposed to possible Allied attack hopefully only a one hex side “shield” at the eastward facing side of the Halfaya Pass coast road hex. At the Pass the AK XXX marker stack contains 21 full AECD/ATEC defense factors and 7 flack factors. At presumably safe hex 0320 (assuming harassment) are 19 full AECD/ATEC defense factors and 5 flack factors. At also presumably safe hex 0220 (also assuming harassment) stands the Italian arm/mobile force with 19 defense factors at half AECD/ATEC and with 3 flack factors. Thus for one more turn the Axis is barely able to hopefully maintain its slow but steady westwards retreat, maybe buying some time and space to reshuffle its Western Desert forces and maybe build some forts and additional airfields. So critical is the imbalance of ground forces and the subsequent necessity to preserve all its air units for definite harassment and potential urgent DAS and non-phasing fighter interception/escort that the Axis cannot at this time entertain the idea of another possibly large naval harassment mission against the Suez Canal Allied ports for some VPs. The Axis player feels all his air units must be kept intact this turn for use later in the upcoming Allied turn for the sake of the survival of the Afrika Korps in the current position of its desert front line. Of course the Axis wants to do battle with the 8th Army when given a favorable opportunity and at the time and the spot of his own choosing, but this ideal combination has not yet happened against the wily Allied player.

Allied Turn

This turn the Allied player continues to build up his desert force’s strength with good reinforcements and production assets. In the initial phase he has a net of 13 ARP’s, so in the new air cycle he can spend up to 4 ARP’s per turn. In addition to this turn’s five air unit reinforcements he uses ARP’s to rebuild from the aborted box the SA DB-7B and the US B24D5 heavy bomber. This cleans out the Allied aborted and eliminated boxes. Using two arm RP’s he builds the two 5-3-10 arm X (9 & 24) upgrades from the Aug I 41 turn and also brings on the 10 Arm XX HQ unit reinforcement. This cleans out all remaining units in the Mid East Forming Box. However, since he is not stacked for the 2-10 mot lt AA X conversion, he will have to wait another turn for it. Although there are ground units available in the Mid East replacement pool he does no more RE builds, evidently hoarding them for quick vital rebuilds after the game’s upcoming looming battles begin for victory in the desert campaign saga. At the end of the initial phase he has remaining 5 1/4 Br RP’s, 2 Br arm RP’s, 3 ½ Aus RP’s, 1 3/4 Ind RP’s, 1 1/2 NZ RP’s, ¾ SA RP’s, 1 ¾ FF RP’s, and 11 ARP’s. Near the end of the Allied initial phase the Axis player starts to fly his harassment missions, but then becomes flustered when he suddenly begins to see holes in the projected harassment barrier, and in perhaps a fit of frustration then declines to fly any, intending to save the whole lot of appropriate air units for possible DAS in the combat phase. On a lark he sends the SM 84 based near Tobruk on sea patrol.

At the start of the movement phase the Allied player sends gsp’s to Malta, first from Gibraltar, then from Alexandria. The SM 84 goes after one of the ntp’s from Alexandria carrying two gsp’s just south of Crete, but misses. As usual, the Axis player does a non-phasing air transfer mission of all four Ju 52s based in Libya back to the Mainland Europe off-map holding box. The Allied player then moves some of his construction units westwards up to and beyond his previous Egyptian stop line and builds a one-cap temporary airfield at 1818 and a 2-cap temporary airfield at 1719. Evidently he feels it’s time to begin menacing the Afrika Korps and to start forcing the issue of who possesses the Western Desert. At the end of his movement phase he moves a powerful armored/motorized force up to 0919 and 0920, threatening the DAK XXX marker stack at 0819. The Axis player responds by sending the Me 110 F on CAP over the endangered hex, but also knows that he has no less than seven other good fighters in interception range in case things come to a head in the combat phase. He’s also been careful to base the three available B bombers (two SM 79-2s and a Ju 88A4) within half-range of the Axis desert front line shield for possible DAS use along with the two Ju 87Ds and the Me 110 E based in the Tobruk vicinity.

In the combat phase the Axis player sends on DAS all the above-mentioned air units to the imperiled Axis stack at 0819, but the Allied player backs down by not sending GS and escorts, and so there is no combat. His fighters are still out of interception range of the Axis desert front line shield and this may be one reason he doesn’t yet want to engage in an unfavorable big air battle there or in dicey ground combat maybe lacking in sufficient GS (depleted by a swarm of Axis interceptors) and against ample DAS.

During the exploitation phase the Allied player settles into a new forward defensive “stop line” at 1618 and 1620-1621, with a stout rearward line at 1719-1720. At the 1-cap temporary airfield at 1818 he bases the SA P 40C and at the 2-cap temporary airfield at 1719 he bases the Aus P 40E and the new reinforcement Spit 5. Again, he does no night port bombing missions against Axis held Derna, Tobruk, or Bardia, evidently carefully saving up his air units and ARPs for a big desert show down later on. Nevertheless, the Axis player feels hard pressed and threatened at his existing Sidi Barini desert front line, and feels that the Afrika Korp’s day of reckoning is quickly approaching wearing the proverbial “seven league boots.”

German Turn

Early in his initial phase the Axis player deactivates his three Ju 52s from the 1942 Axis Sp Op Forces Pool that have been in play for five turns and removes them from the Mainland Europe off-map holding box, where they are based. Minus three Axis VP’s will be dutifully tallied into the Axis VP score. But a few steps later in the initial phase the Axis player activates two new Ju 52s and a DFS 230 glider air unit from the ’42 Axis Sp Op Forces Pool that was planned on the Jun II 42 Axis initial phase and places these air units in the Mainland Europe off-map holding box. In the reinforcement/replacement step of the initial phase the Axis has a net of 9 Italian ARP’s and 9 German ARP’s for the new air cycle, meaning he can spend up to three ARP’s per turn for each country. He spends two It ARP’s to bring on-map an eliminated Ju 87B and three Ger ARP’s to rebuild an eliminated Ju 87D and and aborted Ju 88A4. Sadly, he withdraws the Me 110F heavy night fighter and the It MC 200, yet another indication that the Western Desert campaign is steadily becoming a low priority theater for the Axis high command as the world war progresses. The It 0-2-6* inf III 330 GaF Tripolitania Garrison release is placed at the Tripoli hex. Late in the Axis initial phase the Allied player sends out a number of air units on harassment and does three hits each on hexes 1418-1419-1420-1421-1422.

At the start of the movement phase the Axis player first sends two Z1007b’s and the He 111H based at Tripoli on a Malta Status night strat bombing attack on Valletta and scores two hits, but the He 111H crash lands upon its return to base. He then sends a Ju 88A4 based near Sirte on the same night strat bombing mission and scores a hit, but it also crash lands when it returns to base. This brings the Malta Status up to 9. This satisfies him, so he doesn’t stage westwards the just replaced Ju 88A4 placed at the permanent airfield at Mechili to do yet another night strat bombing mission against Valletta and keeps it there for possible use in Egypt later. In the naval movement step the Axis player sends his two Ger arm RP’s to Tripoli and the 1 ½ It arm RP’s to Bengazi and they all make it. The It 4-3-6 arm III 31 and the It Inf XX HQ unit 136 GF make it to Tobruk and Bengazi respectively, but the It 1-6 arm II 13 is sunk in transit by the Allied Cent Med anti-shipping die rolls, the first such Axis loss in the present game. The Axis player does his usual air transport of a step of attack supply to the Gulf of Sirte coast road permanent airfield hex at 18A:2629 with the three Ju 52s based in the Mainland Europe off-map holding box (the third Ju 52 is a Jul I 42 Axis reinforcement); the empty DFS 230 trails behind like a dangling kite’s tail. Using his Cent Med shipping capability the Axis player safely coastal ships (per Rule 34B1-Inshore Waters) the It 0-6 const III at Bardia to Bengazi and also an It pos flk unit at Tobruk to the same destination. Then he uses coastal shipping to safely sea transport 3 Ger inf RP’s from Bengazi to Homs (18A:0522) in the hope that this will enable him to buy rebuilds later when the game gets really bad for the Axis in North Africa and Bengazi is perhaps either cut off from the Cyrenaica or captured by the Allies.

The Axis player breaks down many of his motorized divisions at the beginning of the movement phase to better gain hex control of the Egyptian road and rail hexes in the “no man’s land” between the opposing Western Desert forces and to gain a final Egyptian coast rail line damage hit at 1519, but before advancing he does several port bombing missions against Allied owned but unoccupied Matruh harbor. The port hex is within interception range of at least three Allied fighters, but he declines to intercept the bombing mission (two extended range Ju 87Ds) escorted by two Me 109F3s and the new Me 109G2. Had the Allied player opted to intercept the Axis player would have canceled the mission, as he wants to take as few air unit losses as possible this turn in the imperiled Axis desert front line zone in Egypt and save his air units for defense in the upcoming Sep II 42 Allied turn in case the Allied player then executes a major ground attack. He scores one port hit and then sends another bombing mission against Matruh escorted by three MC 202s, which the Allied player again declines to intercept, and this mission scores another port hit, jacking the total to three port hits against Matruh. The three MC 202s land at Bardia. Before the Matruh bombings, the second It const III at the Halfaya Pass hex (0419) ups the 2-cap temporary airfield there to a 3-cap, then moves into the nearby Bardia hex and ups its 2-cap temporary airfield to a 3-cap. Along with it in the Bardia hex are the It 0-1-6 inf III A and the inf XX HQ unit A, and the It 0-8 lt flk II 83. The 0-8 const III Afr at 0618 (with a 3-cap airfield) moves to 0519 and builds a 3-cap airfield there and then ends its move at Halfaya Pass. At the Pass are also the It 1-6 inf III A, the It 3-4-6 art III 8A, the It 0-8 lt flk II 81, and the It Ju 87B and a Me 109F3. The Re2001CB transfers to the newly built temporary airfield at coast road hex 0519. With it in the same hex are the It 3-6 inf XX 17 Pav and the Ger 2-8 inf III 433. In the Tobruk vicinity are three Ju 87Ds, two Ju 88A4s, two SM 79-2s, the SM 84, and the Me 110E.

By the end of the movement phase the Axis has at Bengazi a step of attack supply, the It 0-6 const III, the 1-8 inf III 136 GF, the 8 inf XX HQ unit 136 GF, and two pos flk units (one Ger and one It). But no fighters are based at the important port, the MC 200 having just been withdrawn. At Agedabia is an It pos flk unit, the Fol para III 187, a step of attack supply, and the G 50bis. At El Agheilia is the Fol 6 Para XX HQ unit, and at the 3-cap permanent airfield at coast road hex 2629 is a step of attack supply, the Fol para III 186, the It lt flk II 82, three Ju 52s, and the DFS 230 glider unit. A step of attack supply moves to Derna and there are two at Tobruk. The final on-map step of attack supply is is at coast road hex 19A:0618, one hex behind the desert front line shield. Here also is the 3-cap temporary airfield where the Me 109G2 and two Me 109F3s are based. In the same hex are the It 2-3-8 art III 16C and the Ger 2-8 inf III 382. Another step of attack supply remains in the Mainland Europe off-map holding box along with 1 It inf RP and 2 Ger RP’s.

Feeling frisky and maybe lucky after his Matruh adventure, the Axis player sends the two Ju 88A4s in the Tobruk vicinity on an extended range daylight naval harassment strat bombing mission against the Port Said hex, which the Allied player has still neglected to cover with fighters in interception range. The two Luftwaffe bomber units make it through the three flack factors and one scores a hit, reaping a VP for the Axis player.

By the end of the exploitation phase the Axis player has pushed the rail hit marker in Egypt up to 1519 and has regained road/rail hex control up to hex 1418 and back to the Siwa Oasis. In an apparently small but in fact quite significant move (in this Europa war gamer’s view) the Axis desert front line backs up one hex westwards, putting the desert front line shield now at 0718-0719 (each hex stack containing a Pz XX) and a large It arm/mot stack at 0619. He will still have to secure with harassment the vulnerable southern Axis flank in the Allied player’s Sep II 42 initial phase. This retreat in fact very likely signals the end of any further eastward movement in the Axis invasion of Egypt. It likely marks the beginning of a new and imposed Axis Western Desert strategy of an anywhere from steady to pell mell withdrawal away from an Allied 8th Army now so powerful that the Afrika Korps can no longer stand up to it at close quarters, in particular if the Allies have close-in fighter cover and/or are able to outflank from the south the eastward facing two hex maximum desert front line shield (eg., one Pz XX each in two hexes). Indeed, they may chronically threaten to outflank the Axis desert front line in a “runaway” all the way to Tunis. In each Western Desert war game in late 1942, as perhaps in the real campaign itself, when the Axis player begins retreating the Afrika Korps away from an overwhelmingly powerful Allied force, perhaps in many desert games beginning in the El Alamein vicinity, he only retreats to the final Axis standard supply/major port hex of ultimate Axis disaster and surrender in North Africa. Soon Eisenhower’s Torch invasion of French North Africa will place the Axis in North Africa in the unenviable position of an ant between two large and heavy cinder blocks poised to crush it. In our presumed “historical simulation” situation beginning with the ’42 Desert Cauldron battles, in terms of Axis MTO strategy in the context of the North African campaign, the only two relevant factors for conducting the desert campaign seem be somehow a conservation of some quantity of Axis Western Desert OB forces for use later in the defense of the European mainland (likely Sicily, Sardinia, Italy, and/or maybe southern France) and the delaying of an Operation Husky type invasion of Sicily/Italy/southern mainland Europe as long as possible by a stubborn “to the death” delaying action strategy as long as possible at a North African standard supply source/major harbor (eg. probably either Tunis, or Tripoli, or Bengazi) at the minimum up to the May I 43 Allied turn (eg., the historical date of final Axis disaster in North Africa).

Allied Turn

From the turn’s start the worried Axis player watches the Allied player’s actions in an effort to detect whether he’ll now lunge out and attack the Afrika Korp’s desert front line shield in the Sidi Barani vicinity or instead continue to build up his offensive strength in his El Alamein defensive zone bastion. In his initial phase the Allied player uses two Br arm RP’s to do the Jul I 42 upgrade of the 4-3-8 arm X 8 to a 5-3-10 arm X and also do the Jul II 42 special reorganizations and bring on the supported 4-3-8 arm X and the regular 4-3-8 arm X (23 & 24), a 1RE mot transport unit, and a Br inf RP, to boot. He also brings on with RP’s the Br 8th arm XX HQ unit. This uses up the available Br arm RP’s but leaves him a net of 1¼ Br inf RP’s. In the Mid East Forming Pool remain two 5-3-10 arm Xs (9 & 24) and the Br 10th arm XX HQ unit. Maybe even a blind man can see that with the next turn’s ample production forces the Allied player could easily bring on all three motorized units remaining in the Mid East Forming Pool along with perhaps rebuilding from the Mid East Replacement Pool the Br inf XX 50, the Br 0-2-8 hvy flk X and positional flk unit (both lost at Tobruk), and also the two supported Ind inf Xs (remnants of the Ind 5th inf XX), along with some small change items. Add this to the Br 51st inf XX coming in this turn and the reinforcements coming in on the Sep I 42 Allied turn (especially air units) and the Allied player may very soon have an attack force powerful and lethal enough to give the Axis a big “pay back” counterattack for the earlier Tobruk defeat. The Allied player keeps his one remaining ARP so he can add it on to the 11 he’s getting next turn per the WitD Allied OB and have a net of 12, allowing him up to 4 ARP builds per turn in the new air cycle. Interestingly, the Allied player doesn’t break down one of his 9 available attack supply steps to 3 resource points, perhaps indicating that he’s not currently in a hurry to build forts or permanent airfields in the El Alamein defensive zone. Perhaps the Allied player his hoarding is attack supply steps in the expectation of using them in a rapid sequence series of hopefully large and devastating ground attacks against the Afrika Korps accompanied by plenty of GS. One resource point remains at Alexandria. At the appropriate time in the initial phase the non-phasing Axis player sends the G 50bis on a CAP mission over the three Ju 52s at the coast road permanent airfield at 2629. The two SM 79-2s and the SM 84 do 3 hits of harassment each at Egyptian hexes 0921, 1219, and 1319 to hopefully protect the vulnerable areas of the Axis desert front line in the Sidi Barani vicinity from the feared possible British armored attack mentioned at the end of the previous game report. To be sure, Advanced Rule 22C-Harassment Abatement seems to have very small teeth. The trick seems to be to provide one extra hit of harassment than what the situation calls for in order to make it very unlikely in many WW desert games that the phasing player can successfully shoo off any harassment and subsequently do the ground unit movement the harassment is intended to prevent.

The Axis player also does a necessary and fortunately easy to do on-map correction that was detected in time. On the Axis Jul I and Aug I 42 turns he shipped in error 3 Ger arm RP’s to Libya instead of 2 per the Axis Production Chart found on the back of the WW OB. He was thinking of the earlier Crusader game and accidently neglected to note that beginning on the Jul I 42 turn the Axis arm RP’s reduce from 3 to 2. The three Ger arm RP’s at Tripoli are reduced to 2 and the five Ger arm RP’s at Bengazi are reduced to 4.

As usual, the non-phasing Axis player transfers the four Ju 52s in Libya (the 4th is at Bengazi) back to the Mainland Europe off-map holding box the first opportunity of the Allied player’s movement phase. Then he waits and sees what the Allied player has in store for him. At El Alamein the 0-1-4 const X 68RPC builds a 2-cap temporary airfield and, most significantly for the Axis player, the Br 2-8 eng X 8 goes SE and builds a 2-cap airfield at 2220 instead of fixing the rail hit at 1618. In an instant this reveals that the 8th Army will likely not attack the Afrika Korps this turn. The other 0-1-4 const X 64RPC is at coast road/rail hex 2218. The Allied player uses his plentiful supply of motorized ground units to regain zoc control of the Egyptian coastal area road/rail lines westwards up to 1018 & 1019 and the interior road to the Siwa Oasis up to 0725. At the start of their movement phase the Allies do their routine gsp shipping to Malta and Cyprus, but this turn the Axis fails to sink any Allied East Med ntp’s and the two islands are in supply for next turn. Most interestingly, in neither the movement nor exploitation phases does the Allied player opt to do night strat bombing attacks with his Wellington night bombers against the Axis held Derna or Tobruk harbors. He wonders out loud if he might do one against the Axis held Bardia harbor, but drops the issue when the Axis player half jokingly blurts out that he’d be doing the Axis a favor if he did. The Allied player seems to be wishing to avoid bomber losses this turn due to port flack shots or interception by the Me 110F night fighter in anticipation of maybe having in hand the maximum number of available air air units and stored up ARPs with the intention of perhaps using them to assist in inflicting a writhing blow or two against the Axis forces, in the hopes of eventually exhausting them and bowling them over. At the end of the Allied player’s turn he still maintains the El Alamein defensive zone “stop line” at 1818-1819-1820. All the above mentioned bits of Allied turn and movement data seem to reveal for the anxious Axis player that the Allied player is perhaps “biding his time,” maybe feeling assured that in the ’42 epoch of the WW II Western Desert campaign time is on his side and against the Axis. In this context the Sep I 42 Allied turn or very shortly afterwards seems to be a prime possible date for a big Allied Montgomery style attack with the intentions of destroying or crippling the Afrika Korps and forcing them on a beaten and decimated army’s steady retreat. In any event Eisenhower’s Torch invasion of French NW Africa is not far off. Time seems to be running out for the Axis in North Africa.

German Turn

Though pleased with the admittedly lucky and almost surprise fall of Tobruk into the Axis lap, the Axis player is a little frustrated with the Afrika Korps’ presumably temporary hold-up at Sidi Barani after launching its invasion of Egypt. Indeed, with a little Allied luck and Compass-style maneuvering and attacking he may ultimately become known as the “German Graziani.” The problem of advancing eastwards towards the 8th Army’s El Alamein defensive zone in the third quarter of 1942 is the Axis player’s cautious doctrine requiring that the Afrika Korps’ advance be done with a powerful desert front line shield in place and under the protective umbrella of plenty of powerful short-legged fighters (eg., Me 109Fs and MC 202s) based at forward airfields and protected by a long and hopefully non-overrunable southern flank. At the same time he feels the the rearward forces scattered in the Cyranaica need to be reshuffled to an optimum defensive footing in case a sudden pell mell retreat westwards out of Egypt becomes necessary.

In the initial phase the Axis player spends an Italian ARP to bring an aborted Z1007b bomber on-map and another ARP to move an eliminated CR 42 to the aborted box. The spend on the obsolete biplane is to begin to get it ready for its ultimate required Axis OB withdrawal on the Nov I 42 turn, when it should be on-map. With two German ARPs he rebuilds the aborted Ju88A4 and the He 111H. Then, even though he’s in fact done a 1942 Axis Special Operation, he places the supported Ramke para X reinforcement in the Mainland off-map holding box (along with the turn’s other reinforcements, remaining production chart odds and ends from his last turn, and the four Ju 52s based there) because the operation did not use any German para-troops, just the three Sp Op Ju 52s. This seems to be in compliance with Rule 40A2-Axis Reinforcements. Near the end of the initial phase the Allied player sends 10 air units out on the harassment mission and does 3 hits respectively at hexes 1018-1019-1020-1022 and also at 1319-1320. This leaves on stand-by six fighters and the Well 2 for the Allies in the El Alamein and Delta regions.

Very early in the movement phase prior to sea movement the Axis player launches another large Malta Status strat bombing night attack on the Valletta harbor using three Ju88A4s, two Z1007b’s, and the He 111H and scores three hits, jacking the Malta Status up to 8. This will hopefully abet the Cent Med sea transport of this turn’s Axis reinforcements. A third in a row big night strat bombing attack against Malta will no doubt be necessary next turn in order to help the chances for successful Cent Med sea transport to North Africa of the important Sep I 42 Axis reinforcements and production chart forces, in particular It and Ger armor RP’s. However, two Ju88A4s are aborted when they crash land at the coast road permanent air field at 1527. The two Z1007b’s and the He 111H successfully land at Tripoli, and the third Ju88A4 bases at 1527. Shortly afterwards one Ju 52 air transports two Ger inf RP’s to Bengazi and the three Sp Op Ju 52s do their 5th air transport of a step of attack supply to the permanent air field at the Gulf of Sirte coast road hex 2629. Next Axis turn they will have to be deactivated in the initial phase. The Axis player successfully sea transports all his Aug II 42 turn reinforcements across the Cent Med to Libya without loss, though the supported Ramke para X encounters a possible rendezvous with Death pending the die roll results per the Shipping Results Table, but the paratroopers live another day to tell their tale upon disembarkation at Toburk harbor along with the It 3-6 inf XX and the It 2 RE mot transport unit. The Lw 1-10 mot hv AA II disembarks at Derna because Tobruk harbor still has two port damage hits due to the earlier Axis port bombing there during its siege and no more cargo can unload there this turn. Using some of his 3 RE’s of Cent Med shipping abilities the Axis player sea transports from Derna an It positional flack unit and a Folgore 2-5 para III to Bengazi. This is the beginning of a strategy to start sending westwards slow moving ground units in order to hopefully prevent them from being run down and eliminated if and when a big late 42 Allied Egyptian counteroffensive occurs and begins to roll into Libya. In a tough decision the Axis player uses coastal shipping to send the It 0-6 const III from Derna to Bardia to assist the other two Axis construction units in the Sidi Barini vicinity build temporary airfields in the Bardia-Sidi Barini staging zone for short legged fighter protection. His earlier intention was to send it to Bengazi to maybe begin building a two turn fort there, but now he thinks top priority is preservation of the forward Afrika Korps force. Upon disembarkation at Bardia the const unit uses its remaining four MP’s to build a 2-cap temporary airfield there. The other It const III beginning the movement phase at Bardia moves two hexes to Halfaya Pass (19A:0419) and builds a 2-cap temporary airfield. The 0-8 const III Afr at 0419 moves to 0618 and builds a 3-cap temporary airfield. Now the Axis player finally begins to feel like he’ll very soon have the ample fighter umbrella protection needed to face a powerful and menacing foe like the 8th Army in the third quarter of 1942. Only then will he feel it’s safe to resume the Afrika Korps’ eastward march to the certain desert battle clash presumably in the vicinity of the 8th Army’s El Alamein defensive zone.

Up at the desert front line shield the Axis player breaks down the motorized divisions at the start of the movement phase to better advance eastwards Axis zoc control of the Egyptian coastal road/rail line hexes and better do rail damage hits to the Matruh-Tobruk rail line. But before advancing eastwards he sends the Ju88A4 recently brought on-map with ARPs and based near Tobruk on a port strat bombing air raid at Allied owned but unoccupied Matruh. He rolls good and scores a hit. Then, systematically advancing eastwards, the Axis player pushes the rail hits up to 1319, two hexes east of Matruh, and also pushes the Axis coast road zoc control to 1618, two hexes west of the Allied “stop line” at 1818-1819-1820. Though annoying the Allied harassment doesn’t hinder a successful outcome of these maneuvers.

After closely checking the dispositions of the operative Allied fighters in Egypt, the Axis player notices that the Port Said hex 3413 is just out of interception range of the long ranging Bftr 6F based at the Cauldron at start 3-cap permanent airfield at 2719. Late in the exploitation phase he sends to the Port Said hex the two SM 79-2s and the SM 84 based at the temporary airfield at coast road hex 4718 just west of Tobruk on an extended range tac bombing Naval Harassment mission, which seems to both players to be legal per Rule 20G1f-Ports. The three Italian bombers arc around the northernmost all-sea hex 2711 interception range limit of the Bftr 6F, get through Port Said’s three factors of flack (two intrinsic and a positional flk unit), and when he rolls three dice on the 1 column of the Bombing Table and comes up with a 6, the war gamer nets 1 VP for the Axis side. The Italian bombers return to base at 4718, and no doubt at the watering holes of small Tobruk town have a tale comparable to the Ramke paratroopers or the Matruh bombing Ju 88 flyers.

Close to the end of his exploitation phase the Axis player air transfers three Me109F3s to the new air field at 0618, two MC 202s to 0419, and bases a MC 202 and the Re 2001CB at Bardia. Two hexes due south of Tobruk at 4819 are the Me 110 E&F, and at Tobruk is the fourth Me 109F3 and two Ju 87Ds. At the desert front line hex 0818 is a stack with 19 defense factors, full AECD/ATEC, five flack factors, and the 15th Pz XX. At 0819 is a stack with 17 defense factors, full AECD/ATEC, five flack factors, and the 21st Pz XX. The Italian motorized forces stand in a presumably out of harm’s way stack at 0720, containing 20 defense factors (including the 2 RE mot transport unit), half AECD and ATEC, and five flack factors. There is an attack supply step at 0818, Mechili, Agedabia, and coast road hex 2629; and at Tobruk are two attack supply steps.

Allied Turn

Though stung by the loss of Tobruk, the Allied player is by no means beaten. Indeed, this turn brings on some additional reinforcements for the still formidable 8th Army in Egypt and also plenty of replacement forces. He rebuilds with inf RP’s two 3-8 art Xs and the 0-1-4 const X 64RPC, all three lost at Tobruk in the July turns. The Ind supported 1-2-10 mot anti-tnk X is again resurrected for at least the second time in the current WD/DC scenario. He spends 3 arm RP’s to build the 4-3-8 arm X 8 upgrade from the Mid East Forming Pool. With Allied ntp I turn replacements he replenishes his West Med ntp contingent sea transporting gsp’s to Malta and jacks up his depleted East Med ntp’s to eight. Lately the Axis Cent Med anti-shipping die rolls have been torpedoing with effect. With ARPs he brings on-map two Well 1Cs from the aborted box and the Bftr 6F from the eliminated box, leaving him 1 ARP for the next turn. In the Mid East Forming Pool remain three 5-3-10 arm X upgrade units along with a supported 4-3-8 arm X, a regular 4-3-8 arm X, a 1RE mot transport counter, and the 10th arm XX HQ unit, all reorganization units per the WitD Allied OB. All these units are awaiting arm RE expenditures before going on-map. After the end of his builds the Allied player has a net of ½ Br inf REs, 2 1/2 Br arm REs, 3 Aus REs, ¾ Ind REs, ¾ SA REs, and 1 3/4 FF REs. Near the end of the initial phase the non-phasing Axis player sends the G 50bis on a CAP mission over the three Ju 52s based at the permanent airfield at the coast road hex 2629.

At the beginning of the movement phase the Allies send gsp’s to Malta and Cyprus and ships into Alexandria or Suez his reinforcements and replacement forces starting at the east edge sea hexes of the Red Sea. One West Med ntp is sunk en route to Malta by the Axis anti-shipping die roll. At the first movement phase opportunity the non-phasing Axis player air transfers all four Ju 52s in Libya to the Mainland Europe off-map holding box.

The Allied player then abandons the far western Egyptian defensive zone that was the necessary counterpart of the defense of Tobruk and begins a strategic retreat of the 8th Army all the way back to 19A: 1818-1819-1820, carefully destroying all the Allied permanent airfields in between. Although definitely a prudent and force-saving measure in the short-run, this is by no means the retreat of a beaten and decimated army unable to stand up close against a significantly superior enemy force. It is rather a calculated means of gaining some time, perhaps 2 to 4 turns, in order to build up a potent and lethal counterattack force poised at a defensive bastion base replete with forts, a south flank protected by the advantageously funnel-shaped (for the Allies) Qrattara Depression impassable hex sides, very close to the Allied standard supply source, and possessing lots of close-in airfields for basing short legged fighters and other Allied desert air units. This strategy lures the Afrika Korps ever eastwards down the seemingly endless North African coast road, like a long scraggly chicken neck stretched to its limit, into an alien battle zone devoid of Axis defensive positions/terrain or established airfields and far away from their general supply sources/ports or stores of RPs, eg., into something like a death trap. Since the Axis cannot use it, the Egyptian coastal rail line is left intact for the Axis to tear up. To be sure, the Allied on-map armor inventory is formidable even during the current Allied movement phase featuring a major retreat: two 8-7-10 arm XX’s, two 3-2-8 arm Xs, two 4-3-8 arm Xs, a 6-4-6 arm X, a 3-2-10 arm X, a supported 3-2-10 lt arm X, a 2-1-10 lt arm X, three 1-10 lt arm II’s, two 1-10 mot support Xs, and three 1RE mot transport counters. In this same El Alamein defensive zone are at least four inf XX’s, three 3-8 art Xs, four inf Xs, three const/eng Xs, and numerous other inf, lt AA II’s, and positional flack units. In the vicinity are at least 9 attack supply steps and an unused resource point. All are currently under the protective canopy of the now close-in Allied desert air force.

Late in his exploitation phase the Allied player sends the two Well 1Cs on night strat bombing missions against Tobruk’s harbor and also night bombs the Axis owned but unoccupied Bardia harbor with the Well 2 and Blen 4, but scores no port status hits. Afterwards the Axis player does non-phasing air transfers of his SM 84 and the Z1007b from the Gazala-Tobruk airfield zone to the Tripoli vicinity in obvious preparation for a next turn Malta air attack. Back in the Gazala-Tobruk airfield zone the Axis player does a big reshuffling of his Luftwaffe forces, even though the closest Allied forces to his Tobruk front line are at least 20 hexes away eastwards. Significantly, he sends to Sicily no Axis fighters from the Axis desert front line zone (via Crete and the Mainland Europe off-map holding box base) revealing that the Malta attack will certainly be a night bombing strat attack against the Malta Status, risking crash landings afterwards. At the end of the Allied exploitation phase the Axis player rebases the CAP flying G 50bis at Agedabia.

Some lessons of Tobruk. At the game board the Allied player finally talks some about his ill-fated Jul II 42 attack on the DAK XXX marker at 4918 and reveals that it was done maybe in haste due to a fit of anxiety caused by the fear of a very possible Axis attempt against Tobruk on the Jul II 42 Axis turn (in order to go after the +30 WD scenario VP award for control of Cyrenaica) and increased frustration caused by the growing defense/supply crisis engendered by the ’42 siege of Tobruk. He had hoped to maybe inflict casualties against the Axis side and/or perhaps lift the siege by a DR, thereby restarting the whole isolated/supply status cycle over if the Axis subsequently surrounded Tobruk again. The Axis player reveals that he only had two additional It hvy flk II’s to contribute as “reinforcements” for a Jul II attack against the improved fortress, which in the projected attack factor tally, as still recorded in the botched Axis Jul I 42 attack attempt, would have added maybe only ½ to one additional attack factor, depending on how he would have had to reshuffle his 10 RE attack force crafted around the It asslt eng II in order to do away with the -1 die roll modifier. In the context of the recorded combat numbers after the DAS/GS AA firing of the botched JUL I 42 attack, the Axis player would still be ¾ to ¼ attack factors short of a raunchy 3 to 2, and in that case would have had to roll at patently miserable 1 to 1 odds (possible AH if a 1 is rolled) with maybe a trembling hand. At the end of the table talk both tentatively agree that on his Jul II 42 turn the Allied player should have perhaps “sat tight” without doing any relief of Tobruk attacking then and instead maybe have done the max to assure fighter coverage over the improved fortress and have tried to make available within range lots of DAS tac bombing factors to throw into the next turn’s looming fray, come what may. This could maybe have decreased the chances of the Axis taking Tobruk on his Jul II 42 turn and thereby dashed any Axis hopes for the +30 VP award for control of the Cyrenaica. After the Jul II 42 game turn there would be no scenario VP pressure for the Allies to hold onto Tobruk and then maybe a gradual withdrawal could have been attempted, starting with the sea transport removal of one of the SA inf XX’s, as they get no regular SA inf RP’s in ’42. Even the old Bombay transport could have been flown in at night to pick up a ground unit without heavy equipment and air transported it to safety. So what if it would have crash landed in Egypt; it would have done a heroic rescue mission. Both players readily see that a ’42 siege of Tobruk requires a significantly larger Allied defensive garrison than what was required in the earlier ’41 siege in the Wavell epoch, and this would likely have precipitated an eventual unfavorable U-4 supply crisis there. But with a little luck, no telling how many more turns the Allies could have held onto Tobruk while maybe each extra turn retrieving some of its gallant defenders to fight the Axis again at the newer and better Egyptian desert front line in the El Alamein defensive zone. The two SA inf XX’s and the expensive Br 6-4-6 arm X 32T in the Mid East replacement pool, both lost at Tobruk, will likely not be resurrected in the current desert scenario. In this same Western Desert military grave yard rest the 0-2-8 hvy flk X, an Ind inf X, and a point of positional hvy flk, all lost at Tobruk. Keeping them company amongst the grave markers are the Br inf XX 50, the supported FF 3-8 inf X, another Ind inf X, and also the 8th arm XX HQ unit, the latter placed there per the Jul II 42 WitD Allied OB.

German Turn

The Axis player feels a new phase is beginning in the WW Western Desert campaign scenario after the fall of Tobruk on the Jul II 42 turn. An Axis advance eastwards certainly seems in order to occupy and control some of the hex void caused by the Allied player’s strategic withdrawal to the El Alamein defensive zone “stop line” at 1818-1819-1820. But how far, and in what manner, and to what final end will the North African coast road lead the war gamer’s cardboard Afrika Korps force? For sure it leads straight towards a war game battle clash for possession of the strategic prizes of Egypt.

The Axis player gets some reinforcements and replacement forces this turn, and so turns to these issues in the initial phase. With ARPs he builds an aborted Ju88A4 and an aborted Z1007b, leaving the Germans and Italians with a net of 3 ARPs each. He places both in the Tripoli/Sirte area in preparation for a big Malta Status night strat bombing mission at the very beginning of the movement phase, before shipping, to hopefully improve the chances of the Axis reinforcements and replacements making it across the central Mediterranean to Libya. Using Italian arm and inf RP’s stored at Bengazi, the Axis flips to full strength the Cauldron at start 3-8 arm cadre 133 at ridge hex 4818 overlooking Tobruk, which in a stroke uses up all the meager Italian RP’s so far sea transported across the Mediterranean and carefully stored up in Libya. There are no German ground units in the Med/NA replacement pool. In spite of the interesting array of Italian units in the Axis replacement pool, he does no other builds with the turn’s new It inf and arm RP’s because he feels the need to hoard them in Libya in order to be able to quickly rebuild Italian armored and mot inf divisional losses in the looming climactic Egyptian battles of the Western Desert saga. The Allied player then sends three hits of harassment to 0419-0420 and 0818-0819 each. This annoys the Axis player, as it fouls up his initial plans for advancing eastwards beyond the Libyan border into Egypt. The Br 8th Army’s armored force is very powerful and the next Allied turn will be likely further reinforced by Allied OB armor reorganizations and armor upgrades called for at somewhat earlier turns that now he is ready and stacked for.

The first thing during his movement phase the Axis player sends three Ju88A4s and two Z1007b’s on the Malta Status night strat bombing mission; all make it through Valletta’s flack, but he rolls bad on the bombing table and scores no hits. On their return to base a Z1007b crash lands and is aborted. This leaves the Malta Status at 7, but the Axis player is lucky and the Allied Cent Med anti-shipping die rolls score no hits on the sea transported reinforcements and replacements. The turn’s 1½ It arm RP’s and the Ger 164th inf XX HQ unit and inf III reinforcements all disembark at Bengazi. The Lw mot hv flk II reinforcement is shipped into Tobruk in order to get to the desert front line by exploitation. The three Ger arm RE’s are significantly shipped into Tripoli, an indication that the Axis player doesn’t want to keep too many RP’s in Bengazi and then be caught in a bind when and if a hasty pell mell retreat westwards out of Egypt subsequently becomes necessary. Per the original intended plan the three Ju 52s brought in from the Axis 1942 Sp-Op Forces Pool air transport another attack supply step (the fourth) to the Gulf of Sirte coast road airfield at hex 2629 and the Jul I 42 reinforcement Ju 52 airlifts to Bengazi one It and one Ger inf RP. This turn’s other attack supply step and two Ger inf RP’s remain in the Mainland Europe off-map holding box. At Derna the It 0-6 const III uses all 6 MP’s to finish repairing the damage hits on the harbor. The other It 0-6 const III moves into Bardia and the Ger 0-8 const III Afr moves to 19A:0419. Next turn both will almost certainly build 3-cap temporary airfields in order to help provide short legged fighter protection over the systematically advancing Afrika Korps force sallying into Egypt.

The bulk of the Afrika Korps motorized divisions advancing into Egypt break down and fan out in order to eventually gain hex control of the roads to Giarabub and Siwa and the Egyptian coast road/rail line up to 19A:1319, including the Matruh hex. The rail line is torn up from the rail head at 4818 up to 19A:1119, just west of Matruh. The Axis force penetrating into Egypt eventually settles into a longish defensive perimeter just east of Sidi Barani, with one Pz XX in a stack at 0818 and the other Pz XX in a stack at 0819, both hexes forming a desert front line shield. The Ariete arm XX is at 0720 and the Trieste 5-8 mot inf XX is at 0620. A presumably non-overrunable south flanking line runs 0520-0420-0320-0219-0120 to 18A:5020. This gives the Axis a two hex land buffer to the Mediterranean Sea, hopefully providing free admin movement along the coast road from Libya up to the front line in Egypt. For fighter defense three MC 202s, two Me110s, and the Re2001CB are within CAP range of the desert front line shield, and the two Ju 87Ds are within DAS range.

Meanwhile, at an obscure southern Cyranaican ravines hex at 3928, the It 2-1-8 supported lt arm III 3 and the It 1-8 mot art III 2 AC finally catch up with the U-4 Br lt arm II 1DG “desert rats” and attack them at 9 to 1, -1. Using Advanced Rule 12D3-Minimal Attack Supply, the Axis attack factor becomes 2½ to the Allied ¼ (out of supply and unsupported); elimination is automatic. Late in the movement phase the G 50bis based at Agedabia flies CAP over the remote and desolate battle zone. In the exploitation phase the two It motorized units push northwards towards the Msus-Mechili road.

Late in the exploitation phase the Axis player sends a Ju 87D at extended range to bomb the rail line at coast hex 1618, where he wants a rail hit to better assure the protection of the desert front line shield of his Egyptian invasion force just east of Sidi Barani. The Allied player still has hex control of the coast road/rail line up to 1418. He initially sends the single Stuka to 1618 to presumably lure into interception the lone Allied fighter within range (the P 40C) and then quit the mission and return, but for some reason the Allied player doesn’t take the bait. The tac bombing die roll misses, so the Axis player sends another extended range Ju 87D and finally a SM 79-2 to the same hex before finally scoring the rail line hit he desires. Another SM 79-2 is sent on a second rail line bombing mission to coast hex 1418, but misses. Finally, the Axis player transfers the SM 84 based at Tripoli back to the 3-cap temporary airfield at coast road hex 4618, where the two SM 79-2s are based. At Tobruk are the two Ju 87Ds, the Re2001CB, and a Me109F3. At the 3-cap temporary airfield at 4819 are the three MC 202s and at 4718 are the Me 110E & F and another Me 109F3. A Me 109F3 is based at the 3-cap temporary airfield at 4719 and also at Derna, and a MC 200 and a Ju 52 are based at Bengazi. The G 50bis bases again at the 1-cap permanent airfield at Agedabia. A Z1007b is based at Tripoli and three Ju88A4s are based at the 3-cap permanent airfield at coast road hex 1527, two hexes west of Sirte. At the end of the exploitation phase the five on-map Axis attack supply steps are at the front line 19A:0818 stack with one of the Pz XXs, at coast road hex 4718 just west of Tobruk, Mechili, Agedabia, and at the Gulf of Sirte coast road airfield hex 2629 along with the three Ju52s based there.

About 10 minutes after the Allied opponent leaves for the night, the Axis player, upon reviewing his finished turn at the game board, suddenly sees flaws that maybe earlier desert storms must have blinded him to. Maybe the reason the Allied player wasn’t too concerned abut a rail line hit at hex 1618 is because the 8th Army 2-8 eng X is only four hexes away at the bottom of an Allied stack at the coast road/rail hex 2018 and can easily repair the rail hit. This makes both the Ariete arm XX or the Trieste mot inf XX liable for a very powerful British armored attack along with plenty of GS and fighter protection. Moreover, rearward hexes 0618&0619 are vacant. Egad! The two SM 79-2s and the SM 84 will certainly have to be used for harassment. But the 15 defense factor stack (full AECD/ATEC) at 1819, spearheaded by the 21st Pz XX, is still in harm’s way. Next turn will be interesting.