Club Night 5th February

Luke and I continued to be bitten by the FOW bugs and continue our desert games. We are so familiar with the rules now we managed to get in three games, well two games and a false start. First game, the false start. We rolled up a fighting withdrawal mission, with the plucky Italians again taking the role of defender. I set up to defend two objectives, and planned to deploy my ambushing 88's over the third. However I had not allowed for the recce move, or Luke to launch all his tanks across the table at the double, relying on the dust to cover his advance. Also this is the first mission where victory can be judged before the 6th turn. However, there was still a slim chance I could stop Luke. Either destroy the tanks and the armoured cars on the objective, or some manage to destroy enough stuff while it was vulnerable to break his company. But when the 88s opened up on the armoured cars and every shot missed, it didn't look likely. I manfully admitted defeat and we started rolling up a new game, and ended up with the same mission, same defender, on different terrain and decided to go for it.

Luke advanced his infantry against my dug in Bersaglieri on my right and deployed his armour opposite mine in the left. Despite the losses of my Semoventes my 88s inflicted damage before they fell and I managed to have some decisively accurate fire wit my armour to swing things my way on left, while my dug-in infantry resolutely held off the British Motor infantry on the other flank.

I now have to be honest. I don't remember who won. I think I did, but I can't be certain! It was certainly close. And we had time for a third game! This time a hold the line mission., and the Brits finally started defending. There where two objectives for the Italians to take, the first in some scrub on the British right, and the other behind the infantry dug-in on the ridge (below)

I decided to try and take the ridge was suicide, so sent my armour against it, while my Bersaglieri used the Avanti! rule to advance quickly on the other objective and then to dig in, with the Semoventes in support. In the opening salvos the 88s only managed to make the Shermans bail out before return HE fire destroyed them. Meanwhile my tanks advanced on the British armour, displaying the same elan the British had in their attacks. As shown below, they advanced on, closed with and actually passed through the enemy lines, managing to destroy the enemy armour by firing on its rear.

Much to my surprise this attack worked, and my infantry had occupied the other objective, although it was contested by a tank and armoured cars, neither side was able to inflict casualties on the other, the infantry too well dug-in to fear the machine guns of the enemy and their 2 pounders having no HE, and the infantry had no effective anti-tan weapons in a position to retaliate.

On the other flank, the 88 Commander led the surviving tanks across the ridge and on to the objective I had not expected to get near, the British infantry rushing out of their positions to contest it. Both forces were thoroughly battered buy this point, and the British had to take a company morale which they passed and so continued there desperate defence. It was then the turn of the Italians to take a Company morale, unfortunately the commander ad died leading the heroic charge of the Carri, and so the company automatically failed and the Italians surrendered, having been unable to break the British lines.

This was also the first game I had my own rule book for, and having read them some more, I think we are ready to try adding some artillery to the mix in the next game.