Desert Campaign Game # 4: Revenge of the Sij

The stunning Axis victory in the third game of the campaign, with the destruction of 2/3rds of the British tank force and the Indian infantry taking significant casualties, made the Axis players to be bolder than anticipated and instead of reinforcing the positions recently won, they launched a counterattack that could be decisive to win the campaign.

With the British now cornered in the first rung of the campaign ladder (see At the Sharp Endcampaign book for more detail) it was expected to be an all-out fight: a defeat in the game today would put an end to the campaign with the Axis emerging as the victors.

Desert Campaign Game # 3: Panzer Battles

The North Africa desert campaign continued today with the third in which the Axis troops after being badly mauled in the previous encounter, were now to conduct a defensive retreat action (scenario 4 of the Chain of Command book).

An what an epic struggle it was: the DAK Panzer section won several iron crosses and other garlands, taking revenge on behalf of the beating received lat week by its brother infantry platoon. The Panzers on its own sent the enemy Indian infantry platoon reeling out of the table, destroying almost two sections and then  almost totally wiped-out the British armour assets.

The Heroes of the Day

Desert Campaign Game # 2: When the DAK melted like ice in the heat

The second game of our Desert Campaign resulted in a total disaster for the Axis player, whose DAK platoon received a severe punishment and lost almost a full section. This time the Indian troops were much more cautious than in the first game and took revenge from the shameful rout suffered.

The Axis players decided to take a defensive stance and not counterattack;  they had one DAK and one Italian infantry platoons, this time supported by an anti-tank section instead of an armoured platoon. The ATG section had one 88mm guns and two Pak 36 guns.

The table was similar to that of the previous game: the Axis deployed on the left of the map below, in a  position at the foothills of a defile in the desert; this side of table edge  is dotted with hills (up to two levels) representing the area just outside the gorge. The Empire troops should move in a relatively flat terrain before reaching the enemy positions.