The end of turn 4 was very good for the Axis forces as we managed to steal the initiative and push Ariete further south cutting off the major British thrust towards Tobruk. As we entered turn 5 the luck continued and I managed to win enough battle arrows to attack all the cut off elements, starting in the south and moving north, while an attack from 15th Panzer was launched to cut off another British attack towards Tobruk.
On Friday Steve K and I set up to play the first two attacks against the cut off British while Duncan commanded a German defence against an attack by the New Zealanders near Bardia. Duncan managed to hold off the British although it was a tough fight.
In the first game the isolated British Armoured regiment found that being out of supply reduced their strength while Ariete launch all 3 of its tank battalions against them. With the few British deployed in an arc during a cauldron battle I deployed a big arc of tanks against them. My superior numbers meant I could afford to sit and let the British come to me and destroyed them in short order by massed fire-power for a decisive victory, wiping out the British regiment in the campaign.
In the second game I attacked the second isolated British regiment with a force of Bersaglieri, supported by some heavy guns. In a breakthrough mission with an immobile force this could have proved problematic, but the allied commander made a mistake and deployed his armour forward, so I was able to deploy no less than 12 guns ranging in calibre from 47mm up to 100mm against them and destroyed all but 1, which sensibly was abandoned as the crew fled.
The rest of the battle was a little tougher as I ground forward under fire and tried to push the British infantry off the objective, but when their supporting armour turned up and also fell to my anti-tank guns victory was inevitable and once again the Italians were victorious, destroying another British regiment. The next game was scheduled for the following Sunday where I would attempt to wipe out a larger, but now totally isolated British force to decisively swing the campaign in the Axis favour by wiping out a large part of the allied armoured forces.
My armoured cars rushed across the table to sit on the objective leaving an impressive trail of dust.
Meanwhile the mass of Italian armour descended on the scattered British infantry and began to drive them back from their positions.
Until they found themselves surrounded and were cut down by the tanks and another Axis victory was recorded driving the British forces North into another pocket.
Our second game was far closer as played another cauldron battle, following our now familiar process of grinding each other down and trying to avoid defeat until the enemy broke, which they duly did, resulting in another pocket of allied troops destroyed or captured.
