FoW Scenario: The End of the Beginning
Hi folks! My last FoW piece for the Bell was on the subject of unfair games, and how scenario play could enhance your mini gaming experience. To follow that up, this week I’d like to share an exemplary “unfair” scenario I cooked up for the Mid-War African theater.Please note that both the scenario and the associated character’s rules are the creations of a private individual and are not in any way “official”, despite following established Battlefront format.
On November 3, 1942, what is known as the Second Battle of El Alamein to most English speakers had already raged for almost two weeks. In actuality it was the third battle fought in that locale on the frontier of Egypt in a row, and the Italian and German soldiers of the Panzerarmee Afrika were lacking in almost every conceivable asset for making war – reserves, replacements, air support, provisions, tanks, guns, ammunition, trucks, petrol and perhaps most of all, sleep.
Newly arrived in the theater and able to instill a fresh confidence in the troops of the British 8th Army, General B. Montgomery had succeeded in blunting German counterstrokes while making gains of his own in a grinding battle of attrition against the exhausted and materially inferior Panzerarmee. The time now came at which the German and Italian allies had no choice but to retreat from Egypt and leave behind their hopes of strategic success in Africa.
On the afternoon of November 3 when the staff of the Panzerarmee was well advanced in preparing for a retreat to positions near Fuka, an order came from Hitler himself that was, to say the least, controversial. It read (translated):
“It is with trusting confidence in your leadership and the courage of the German-Italian troops under your command that the German people and I are following your heroic struggle in Egypt. In the situation in which you find yourself there can be no other thought but to stand fast, yield not a yard of ground and throw every gun and every man into the battle. Considerable air force reinforcements are also being sent to C-in-C South. The Duce and the Comando Supremo are also making the utmost efforts to send you the means to continue the fight. Your enemy, despite his superiority, must also be at the end of his strength. It would not be the first time in history that a strong will has triumphed over the big battalions. As to your troops, you can show them no other road than that to victory or death.”
Staff officers who read the message were unbelieving. The message stunned Generalfeldsmarschall Rommel, the famous leader of the Panzerarmee, into silence. The retreat, already underway, was halted. On the night of November 3, chaos reigned on the Axis side of the lines.
On the morning of November 4th, the 13th day of continuous battle for the Panzerarmee, the troops of 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions were surprised to find, in the somewhat informal atmosphere of the desert, that General der Panzertruppen Wilhelm Josef Ritter von Thoma, commander of the Deutsches Afrikakorps, was wearing full dress uniform including medals. Ritter von Thoma passionately called Hitler’s order “madness”, and not without reason – the Axis position had become untenable, and his own Afrikakorps, the hardest-hitting, most mobile and most reliable troops in the entire army, had been reduced to 24 functioning tanks, many of them obsolete models. This unrealistic order was apparently the last straw for Ritter von Thoma, veteran of both World Wars, knighted for his deeds in 1916, decorated 17 times for bravery, wounded several times in action. That morning he leaped into one of the tanks of his headquarters’ guard and led that unit into the thickest of that day’s fighting near Tel el Mampsra. He would not return…
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When setting up terrain, use any mutually agreeable method, but place one large hill (to represent Tel el Mampsra) with its crest at least 24” from the short edges and at least 12” from the table’s centerline.
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The German player is automatically the Defender and the British player is automatically the Attacker.
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The Defender’s table edge is the long edge closest to the crest of Tel el Mampsra. The Attacker’s is the opposite long edge.
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The Defender now deploys his entire force in Prepared Positions in his half of the table. Because of the ragged nature of the defense and the total air superiority of the Desert Air Force and its many reconnaissance planes, the defender gets no ambushes.
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The Attacker now deploys his entire force in his half of the table, anywhere more than 16” from the center line.
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Starting with the defender, both players now deploy their Independent teams in their deployment areas. In addition to whatever independent teams the defender may have, he must also place General der Panzertruppen Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma and his burning command tank (see rules below) somewhere on the central hill.
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The defending force begins the game in Prepared Positions, so its troops are in Foxholes and Gone to Ground.
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Starting with the defender, both players make Reconnaissance Deployment moves.
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The attacking player takes the first turn.
At the end of the battle, the number of German platoons withdrawn from the fighting without their becoming Destroyed determines the outcome. Consult the chart below to determine the players’ relative performance. Note that if the entire German force safely withdraws the defender scores the highest points possible, even if the number of his platoons withdrawn would not be sufficient to do so on the chart.
(Since the blog format of BoLS does not play nice with tables,there is no victory point table reprinted here. In words, the points the Axis player earns are equal to the number of platoons safely withdrawn up to a maximum of 6, whereas the Allied player’s score is 7 – (Axis score).)
“I Have Accepted The Possibility Of Losing 100% Casualties”: General Montgomery said the above on November 1 with reference to the British 9th Armoured Brigade’s mad charge into a known German AT gun screen. The comment reveals the iron will of that commander to win at any cost and to make tactical concerns subordinate to the strategic needs of 8th Army.
Having chosen to make his stand (whatever his reasons) at Tel el Mampsra, Ritter von Thoma’s team may not ever for any reason move more than 6” from the burning hulk of his command tank, which must be placed on the Tel when the defender deploys his Independent teams. For the purposes of this scenario, von Thoma’s team cannot be destroyed or otherwise removed from the table in any manner other than being Destroyed by an enemy assault (this represents his capture). If his team would normally be destroyed in some other fashion, simply ignore this and leave the team where it is. To prevent abuse of this rule, von Thoma may not use the “Sharing the Risks” rule in the rulebook.
General der Panzertruppen: A veteran of the Eastern Front and a member of the mechanized arm of the German Army basically since its inception, von Thoma knows a thing or two about Panzers! Once per Step, a German tank team with line of sight to von Thoma can re-roll its first failed armor save, motivation check to remount, or check to avoid bogging or to free a bogged down vehicle. This re-roll can only apply to one tank (and one roll) per Step.
Well, that’s it! As I’m sure you can see, the scenario can be adapted to almost any last-stand situation between almost any two forces without much additional work. Hope you enjoy!
