The Long Drive Home
August 1940, somewhere in North Africa
Colonel Bradwaith was a worried man. Again the Desert Fox had outflanked the Eight Army and triggered a general withdrawal. During yesterday's sandstorm, Bradwaith and his command group had been separated from the column of infantry heading eastwards towards the new line, leaving him and his staff in their lorries and two tanks that had been providing security for this HQ alone in the empty desert. This far off the tracks, the lorry were essentially useless, his adjutant was checking them for maps, documents or anything else that shouldn't be left behind before they were to be burnt. Cramped as it would be, he and his staff would be making the rest of the journey in the tanks. His concern was simple, could the tanks make it back. Even without the enemy trying to stop them, fuel was tight, the terrain hard and navigation was challenging.
His contemplations were interrupted by one of the tank commanders.
"Sir, we're picking up radio traffic from some armour to the north. They're assembling to make a break for our lines in the morning. Sounds like the Queen's Own sir."
Bradwaith nodded.
"We'll join up with their push then, Lieutenant, light them up, we are leaving."
Two hours later, Bradwaith's pair of tanks had linked up with the remnants of two squadrons of tanks. The plan was to strike out to the east at dawn, hoping the sandstorms off to the west would keep the Luftwaffe at bay. With luck, the column would sneak past any resistance.
We played out this scenario at one of the regular office wargames evenings. The basic situation was that Rommel had (once again) thrown the Eight Army back in confusion and some isolated British tanks had to break through to home, while an Italian force tried to stop them.
The British forces consisted of 9 A13 cruiser tanks (two troops of 4 and a commander representing a depleted squadron) and 17 Crusader I (a squadron of 3 troops of 4 with a commander plus the armoured battalion HQ of two tanks plus two additional tanks carrying Bradwaith and his staff). Prior to the game the British had to choose which of three routes to take home, with longer routes giving a greater risk of mechanical breakdown or running out of fuel but a lesser chance of coming into contact with off table enemy forces, and whether to proceed in one large group or to have a staggered column.The players chose to proceed en masse along the longest route. This meant that they were able to deploy all their forces on table, but at the same time restricted their deployment area to the edge of the table.
The Italians were fielding two companies of M13/40s plus a battalion command group, with each company consisting of three platoons of 4 tanks, plus two tanks as a command group, with an additional two tanks for the battalion command group. Their pre-game decisions consisted of choosing where to deploy their companies, choosing one company to be deployed on each of the long and middle length routes. This meant that one company could be deployed in defensive positions on table at the start of the game and the other would march on later. Rather cruelly I made the Italians role to see when the extra company would arrive, rather than sticking to my initial plan of a one turn delay, and they, naturally, rolled the maximum possible amount of time.
The area the fight occurred over was little more than a patch of desert with some small sand hills. The entire area was hard sand, so the tanks could move at a blistering pace (90% of road speed under the rules). The Italians deployed behind some hills, rather than hull down on them as I expected them to, while the British similarly used the hills to mask their approach.
The British plan was to cut south of the Italians at speed, blasting any targets of opportunity aside as they went. The Italians planned to strike into the British force as they moved, holding out until their reinforcements arrived.
The British cruiser tanks stormed up the board with their high speed, while the Italian forces pushed west. The British sighted the Italian forces as they moved out and opened fire, not achieving any hits. The Italians, ably led by Capitano "Why is it always me?" Arvinda suffered from his traditional bad luck, failing to acquire the British forces.
The second turn saw the first British squadron approaching their escape point and forming a gun line. To buy time, the Italian forces charged headlong towards them, both sides blasting away. The Italian company commander had happened to end up on the southern extremity of their line the turn before, so now formed the tip of the spear, which earned him the attention of two British tank troops, which resulted in his tank being knocked out. Both sides lost an additonal tank apiece.
The second Italian company rolled onto the table at the end of the turn, and both threw themselves at the British after the British had assembled their entire force within a single move of the edge of the table. With both sides at close quarters, the shooting was brutal. One Italian platoon was wiped out in a single shooting phase, and several others suffered losses, while a British troop lost three tanks.
In the end of turn morale checks, the Italian first company failed and was forced to hold position or retire from the enemy, while the entire battalion was reduced to half moves or less. The British passed their checks and escaped into the desert.
In the post mission survival rolls for the British, not only did no tanks break down or run out of fuel, no contact was made with Italian or German off table forces, so all the tanks that made it off the table made it back to British lines.
In the end the Victory Points were tallied up, 205 for the British, 42 for the Italians.
A few notes on the scenario, firstly I should have stuck with my original plan of having the second Italian company arrive at the end of the first turn, rather than making them roll. Secondly, I misread a passage in the rules, so the British shouldn't have been able to move as fast as they did and fire, although with the British plan that might just have reduced the amount of shooting in the game. I think I also should have restricted the British movement in some way, maybe with minefields or soft sand, to give the Italians the chance to hold the British.
Overall though, both teams had a good laugh, and we're looking forward to putting these troops back onto the table at some point.
His contemplations were interrupted by one of the tank commanders.
"Sir, we're picking up radio traffic from some armour to the north. They're assembling to make a break for our lines in the morning. Sounds like the Queen's Own sir."
Bradwaith nodded.
"We'll join up with their push then, Lieutenant, light them up, we are leaving."
Two hours later, Bradwaith's pair of tanks had linked up with the remnants of two squadrons of tanks. The plan was to strike out to the east at dawn, hoping the sandstorms off to the west would keep the Luftwaffe at bay. With luck, the column would sneak past any resistance.
We played out this scenario at one of the regular office wargames evenings. The basic situation was that Rommel had (once again) thrown the Eight Army back in confusion and some isolated British tanks had to break through to home, while an Italian force tried to stop them.
The British forces consisted of 9 A13 cruiser tanks (two troops of 4 and a commander representing a depleted squadron) and 17 Crusader I (a squadron of 3 troops of 4 with a commander plus the armoured battalion HQ of two tanks plus two additional tanks carrying Bradwaith and his staff). Prior to the game the British had to choose which of three routes to take home, with longer routes giving a greater risk of mechanical breakdown or running out of fuel but a lesser chance of coming into contact with off table enemy forces, and whether to proceed in one large group or to have a staggered column.The players chose to proceed en masse along the longest route. This meant that they were able to deploy all their forces on table, but at the same time restricted their deployment area to the edge of the table.
The Italians were fielding two companies of M13/40s plus a battalion command group, with each company consisting of three platoons of 4 tanks, plus two tanks as a command group, with an additional two tanks for the battalion command group. Their pre-game decisions consisted of choosing where to deploy their companies, choosing one company to be deployed on each of the long and middle length routes. This meant that one company could be deployed in defensive positions on table at the start of the game and the other would march on later. Rather cruelly I made the Italians role to see when the extra company would arrive, rather than sticking to my initial plan of a one turn delay, and they, naturally, rolled the maximum possible amount of time.
The area the fight occurred over was little more than a patch of desert with some small sand hills. The entire area was hard sand, so the tanks could move at a blistering pace (90% of road speed under the rules). The Italians deployed behind some hills, rather than hull down on them as I expected them to, while the British similarly used the hills to mask their approach.
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| Initial deployments, with the British at the far (western) edge, and the Italians in the Nort Eastern corner. |
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| A keen eyed Italian tank commander spots the approaching mass of British armour. |
The second turn saw the first British squadron approaching their escape point and forming a gun line. To buy time, the Italian forces charged headlong towards them, both sides blasting away. The Italian company commander had happened to end up on the southern extremity of their line the turn before, so now formed the tip of the spear, which earned him the attention of two British tank troops, which resulted in his tank being knocked out. Both sides lost an additonal tank apiece.
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| Leading from the front, the Italian company commander attempts to inspire his men, and pays the price. |
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| Tanks begin to brew up accross the field |
In the post mission survival rolls for the British, not only did no tanks break down or run out of fuel, no contact was made with Italian or German off table forces, so all the tanks that made it off the table made it back to British lines.
In the end the Victory Points were tallied up, 205 for the British, 42 for the Italians.
A few notes on the scenario, firstly I should have stuck with my original plan of having the second Italian company arrive at the end of the first turn, rather than making them roll. Secondly, I misread a passage in the rules, so the British shouldn't have been able to move as fast as they did and fire, although with the British plan that might just have reduced the amount of shooting in the game. I think I also should have restricted the British movement in some way, maybe with minefields or soft sand, to give the Italians the chance to hold the British.
Overall though, both teams had a good laugh, and we're looking forward to putting these troops back onto the table at some point.
