Rommel in the Desert - Campaign Game with Vassal

 

So just before the close of play last year, Steve and I decided to finish off 2020 with the full campaign game of Rommel in the Desert (RITD) which combines the 1941 and 1942 scenarios into a two year campaign by linking the orders of battles and checking for supply and build up points from month to month in effect twenty turns of play that covers the period encompassing, The retreat from Benghazi, Operation Crusader, Gazala, First and Second Alamein if you get that far.

Empire Set Up April 1941 with the Tobruk garrison of five units plus some extra infantry operating in the outskirts and my forward units of Neame's battered and worn XIII Corps

Out of preference to the way I like to play, I would probably err towards playing Afrika Korps and the Axis, but we decided to roll for sides and I took the Empire forces.

This is a game that Steve and I had discussed many times as one we would like to play using the board game with time permitting and room to leave it set up, and so Vassal really makes playing this longer variant so much more 'doable' in that we were able to play through for three nights over three weeks, saving and coming back to the game in between.

Empire Order of Battle for the Campaign Game, less the set up units which are illustrated above in the placement I opted for at the start before Steve started the Axis forces rolling forward from El Agheila

As will be surmised from the orders of battle in the two shots from the game set up, the advantage in numbers and quality lie with the Axis in 1941 and early 1942 and for the Empire player it is not simply a case of hanging on, but one of looking for opportunities to degrade the Axis order of battle by writing down Afrika Korps units in particular, whilst not paying too high a price to do so, knowing better quality units and lots of them will arrive in the later period.

The Axis Order of Battle, very much front loaded with some excellent Afrika Korps units, but starting to dry up as the war progresses into late 1942

In addition to managing the battle situations, the Empire forces, in particular, have to know when to trade space for time, ideally leaving well reinforced garrisons in Tobruk and Bardia with effective defences, better supported with mines if possible, thus stretching the Axis supply line if they advance past those garrisons and allowing the Empire to shorten their supply and logistics route to Alexandria at the same time.

Of course if the Empire forces fall back too soon without drawing Axis units forward in their wake, they run the risk of leaving the garrisons to be overwhelmed before relief forces can reach them and if the Axis get control, particularly of Tobruk in 1941, it could be a very long game for the Empire.

The set up for 1941 recreates the battered and worn Empire units fresh from their success under General Richard O'Connor having defeated the Italian Tenth Army during Operation Compass between September 1940 to February 1941, seeing them capture 130,000 prisoners, 400 tanks and 1,292 guns, but leaving the Empire troops exhausted and regrouping near Beda Fomm with forward elements patrolling towards the Italian supply base of El Agheila, and much weaker after having a veteran cohort of the force siphoned off by Churchill for operations in defending Greece and Crete.

Enter the Afrika Korps under a relatively unknown German general, Erwin Rommel, who not prepared to sit back and wait for his total force allocation to arrive, plunged off into the blue with his first units of armour and reconnaissance troops that clashed with and then rolled back the weak Empire forces before them in April, starting the first part of what became commonly known to the British 'Tommies' as the 'Benghazi Handicap' as opposing forces raced each other along the North African coastal highway to be the first to the next potential choke point before Tobruk.

Empire Retreat April 1941 - Turn 1
Empire rear-guard forces do an excellent job delaying the Axis advance and inflicting annoying casualties, whilst forcing them to burn vital supplies in the advance to Tobruk

In anticipation, from the Ultra intercepts I had been receiving, I planned for my inevitable retreat to be more ordered than that achieved by Lieutenant General Phillip Neame commanding XIII Corps and placed small units of motorised and lorried infantry supported by the odd battered remnants of cruiser tanks from 2nd Armoured Division at choke points such as Benghazi and the coastal corridor through the mountains of the Jebel el Akhdar and south of them on the desert track at Mechili, to act as speed bumps.

I could not hope to stop the Axis units coming up the road towards me but by occupying positions that were far enough away, such as Mechili to force supply point expenditure to get there or in places like Benghazi and its fortifications together with limited access reducing the number of Axis forces that could attack at any one time, the plan was to fight and withdraw, hoping for the manoeuvrability, and/or armour of my troops to give them an element of protection from pursuit fire, but enabling me to delay the Axis and build up my forces in and around Tobruk.

Axis consolidate whilst Empire reinforce from Alexandria May 1941 - Turn 2

As my rear-guard forces fell back before Tobruk in May 41, the delaying tactics seemed to have paid off with two highly valuable Afrika Korps units in the destroyed box alongside three of my battered remnants and a more valuable brigade from 70th Division, caught up in the retreat from Mechili, but a reasonable trade off that allowed me to build up supply and manpower as the Axis spent theirs in the pursuit.

Destroyed Axis and Empire units April-May 1941
Those two Afrika Corps units, more than made up for the loss of my three remnants and the lorried infantry brigade from 70th Division.

As the Empire forces fell back on Tobruk and later towards the Egyptian frontier, both sides drew breath and pulled forward their reinforcements, which saw a formidable stack of Axis troops advancing around Tobruk as the Empire had the fortune of the early arrival of several full strength cruiser tank brigades, plus spending fifteen 'build up' points to build minefields in and around the Tobruk defences.

Our previous warm up games playing Crusader and Gazala had taught both of us the lesson to be wary of charging in on stacks unprepared and the value of all arms attacks to cover those eventualities, but the pressure for the Axis to make hay in those early months ensured the attacks that came in during June, July, August and September as we both fought in the sands south of Tobruk on the frontier, attempting to weaken the other enough to enable either the Axis to assault Tobruk without hinderence or face being driven back to regroup from losses sustained in the fighting.

End June 1941, Axis lay siege to Tobruk - Turn 3
An ominously large stack of Axis units hovers south of Tobruk, looking to force events on the Egyptian frontier south of Bardia

In the end the fighting close to Bardia proved too much for the Empire troops, having called in reserves from Bardia itself only to see the Axis rush troops forward to occupy the key town and then to smash the Empire armour units in a very large drawn out battle near Fort Capuzzo as both sides increased their forces committed that broke the Empire force sufficiently to cause a general withdawal back to Alexandria and the Alamein line at the end of November.

The start of the Battle of Fort Capuzzo as the lead elements engage, that would see the Axis victorious and the Empire forced back to El Alamein in November 1941.

The really great part of playing the full campaign is that it forces the players to think ahead and not just on the battle in front of them during a two or three month scenario.

In the campaign, decisions have to be made when to call an end to the combat, to allow the opportunity to get key forces away from the battle to hopefully be rebuilt alongside newly arrived reinforcements; and leaving those forces as rear-guards to die, unable to escape multiple attacks in pursuit is sometimes not an option, but the decision to fall back from the frontier to Alexandria was a difficult one.

Destroyed Axis and Empire units End Nov 1941
This screen-shot tells the tale as to why the Empire forces had to fall back to Alexandria and leave Tobruk to fend for itself in January 1942

The decision put the ball very much in the Axis court and Steve found himself having to decide whether to pursue the Empire towards El Alamein with Tobruk behind and on his supply line and all the problems of the length of the route causing to his own supplies and reinforcements, but with the opportunity, should the Alamein line be broken, to end the North African campaign in 1941; or to make use of the breathing space to turn the full force of the Axis against Tobruk and deal with the problem in time for the next campaign in 1942.

End November 1941Tobruk under siege and Empire back on the El Alamein Line - Turn 8
A difficult decision at the time, but the Empire had to fall back to Alamein if it were to stand any chance of holding on into 1942

Steve chose the later option and so January 1942 saw the Battle for Tobruk as Axis troops braved shell, shot and mine to attempt to batter their way into the city as the Empire reserves desperately rebuilt and regrouped alongside the new arrivals to rush along the coast road to Bardia, with not much hope of closing on Tobruk before February 1942.

The minefield placement in Tobruk in May proved a wise investment and the Empire infantry together with support from their 25-pounders chewed up the Axis attacks in the first rounds of combat, but Steve was committed to the offensive and threw in the reserves, reducing the defenders to a single artillery brigade with one strength point left before the Axis were compelled to withdraw through lack of supplies to support more attacks; 'a close run thing' as the Duke would have called it!

As the Axis battered themselves against the defences of Tobruk, the Empire reserves rushed up to Bardia and with the Axis frontier stripped of troops investing Tobruk, assaulted back into the town and rounded up the German infantry left to hold it, later laying mines around it before advancing on Tobruk with a large force of mechanised infantry, armour and artillery to Gambut on the coast road below the Sidi Rezegh escarpment as January drew to a close.

End January 1942 - Turn 10
The battle to take Tobruk was a close run thing but the Empire just held on as their reserves rushed forward from Alexandria to retake Bardia 

The choice of positioning the main Empire relief force at Gambut was deliberate in that it both supported Tobruk and Bardia, enabled reinforcements to make their way in to replace the losses in Tobruk and being on the coast below the Sidi Rezegh escarpment limited any Axis attack to just two routes in, thus limiting the numbers that could engage at any one time.

With the Axis forces busy sorting themselves out at Gazala, the crisis of our campaign had been reached with the beefed up units of Eighth Army due to arrive in the summer including the new Grant tank brigades, Steve would have to force the issue around Tobruk now.

The fighting in January and the subsequent losses together with the Empire reinforcements had seen a shift in the balance and now the Axis were hard pressed to attack Tobruk whilst preventing those forces from being attacked, but, having the advantage to move first, moved immediately back into the attack on Tobruk, whilst placing a blocking force between the city and the Empire reserves at Gambut on the coast road at Belhamed.

However the Gambut forces were composed of armoured and mechanised troops supported with artillery and anti-tank guns, so that as the reinforced garrison in Tobruk now sporting a brigade of Matilda infantry tanks in support held the Axis attack, the forces at Gambut fell on both the Axis blocking force and were also able to put units into the Torbruk area thus splitting the fire of the Axis units there.

End February 1942 - Turn 11 and they think it's all over, well it is now! The Axis forces fall back from Tobruk for the last time

The fighting in Tobruk and directly outside it at Belhamed proved too much of a stretch for the Axis units left and with supplies dwindling and the Afrika Korps armour bled white together with numerous other support units now destroyed, they fell back to Gazala.

A quick look at the 'Dead Pool' at the end of February 1942 shows the comeback the Empire made in the first two months of the year with numerous Axis units written down in and outside Tobruk in the bitter battles for possession of the town.

Destroyed Axis and Empire units End Feb 1942 and Game End

At turn twelve with the first Grant tank brigade to arrive and another eighteen Empire brigades in the next six months, with next to nothing for the Axis we decided that Rommel would be looking to fall back to Tunis from here and so called the game.

The campaign lived up to all our expectations with all the added drama of retreats, build ups, pursuits and massive battles in between the twelve months of campaigning, as we worked our way through, and RITD is a definite favourite and one I'm sure we will return to again.

Thanks to Steve M who played a great game as Field Marshal Rommel and produced a real cut and thrust contest with the Empire driven back to Alexandria in December 1941, eight months earlier than his historical counterpart managed and came within a battery of 25-pounders of also emulating the German general by nearly taking Tobruk the following month.

Next up - Lots of stuff in the pipeline; The Leeward Line scenario continues using War by Sail as Collingwood's British division of ships comes broadside to broadside with Admiral Alava's and Magon's Franco-Spanish division, plus Steve and I managed to squeeze in a Vassal game of Columbia Games' Richard III as we played the campaign game between Xmas and New Year, and later I have six French 3rd rates on the stocks in a slightly different Revolutionary War livery and an interestingly different Age of Sail book that I'm reading at the moment to review a bit later.

Rommel in the Desert - Vassal (The Battle of Gazala 1942)

 

Following our first Vassal game of Columbia Games' Rommel in the Desert where we got into getting to grips with the rules in the scenario creating Operation Crusader, fought in the winter months of 1941, we moved on to the next sequential scenario, namely Gazala fought the following year in the summer of 1942.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/12/rommel-in-desert-vassal.html

Axis Order of Battle for The Battle of Gazala in May 1942.
The strength of each unit is at the top, with fourteen of my twenty-four carrying losses from the winter of 1941

For this game we swapped sides and I took the Axis forces, who having been pushed back from their siege of Tobruk at the end of the Crusader operation had fallen back towards Benghazi and El Agheila to rebuild over the winter of 1942, before pressing forward in May to resume matters with the Empire forces who had been similarly rebuilding and reinforcing their garrison of Tobruk.

Rommel in his personalised halftrack together with a command Panzer III oversee the fighting at Gazala in 1942
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gazala

The scenario in Rommel in the Desert sets up in May with both sides having accumulated 30 Build up Points which they can spend on preparing their forces for the coming clash.

These points are used to move units from and back to the front from each sides respective main base at El Agheila and Alexandria, rebuilding damaged units from the previous campaign at various costs ranging from 3BP to put a strength point on an armoured brigade to just 1BP for a basic leg propelled infantry brigade and a whopping 15BP to place a minefield or 10BP to buy an extra supply card.

In the case of the Axis forces I chose to repair all my armour and German mechanised infantry, together with my anti-tank guns and artillery that had been damaged in Crusader back at base leaving me with no points to do anything else and thus forcing me to deploy elements of the 90th Light Division, together with the Afrika Korps Recon regiments and my Italian leg infantry up on the front line as illustrated in the map below.

Our game map at the start of play with Steve yet to place his Empire forces and with the Empire set up line indicated. Most of the Axis force is still refitting in El Agheila and will be rushed forward to support my forward screen, running from the coast out into the desert of Cyrenacia, in the first turn.

Of course the blind play of this game meant that I would not know what Steve would do with his points or how he would deploy other than along and to the east of the line of red hexes illustrating the Empire line at Gazala, and the blind play in all the Columbia block games is one of their strongest features.

Empire Order of Battle for Gazala.
Similarly to Axis, Empire forces are shown still in the process of rebuilding their units in May but ahead with just over half of their brigades back up to full strength and available to be deployed on the front line.

The Battle of Gazala would see the Empire forces wield a major new addition to their armoured strike force thanks to the entry of the USA into the war and President Roosevelt earmarking the latest deliveries of the M3 Lee tank, adapted by the British for desert use and renamed by them as the Grant, offering them the opportunity to field for the first time a tank capable of delivering an HE round against German softskins, infantry, and more importantly anti-tank guns, instead of relying on the BESA hull and turret mounted machineguns that had proved unsuitable for dealing with this menace.

In addition the Grant carried carried a 75mm main gun that as well as delivering an HE round could also deal very adequately with most of the German tanks and so although not ideal, being mounted in the hull with limited traverse, was a welcome addition for the Empire armoured brigades.

One of Eighth Army's new Grant tanks passes a knocked out Panzer I command vehicle during the fighting at Gazala in May-June 1942

As it turned out we both spent the best part of May 42 refitting the balance our units and bringing them to the front, spending our pool of supply points to do so, and with both of us aware of the importance in this game of looking for ways to hold on to as much of ones own precious supply points whilst the enemy fritters their own away we were being very cagey about throwing units into battle.

However the difference between playing this game, with the scenarios, and the full campaign game is that in the scenarios time is a much reduced commodity and for the Axis (24 units), that puts added pressure to attack and look to start eating away at the Empire order of battle (36 units), as the minimum victory conditions are to have more units on the board than the other chap to have caused them to pull back.

So rather like the historical battle I committed the Axis forces to their first attack on the Empire line just prior to us both passing, a situation which brings the current month to an end. Not wishing to spend too much supply but wanting to feel out the enemy positions as well as score some early kills, I pushed forward with a small battlegroup of Trieste mechanised infantry supported by German recon and Ariete armour finding Empire infantry and armour and pulling back after a short skirmish around Retima, suspecting other larger stacks behind were other Empire armoured units.

With just the month of June to conclude this game, both of us were now focussed on using our recouped supply cache for battle rather than long marches and, with hidden deployments and the defender getting to fire first, the distinct possibility to set up an ambush to create a battle that the other side may not wish to fight.

The battle at Bir Hacheim is indicated 'Active' at the close of play in June 1942, having drawn in much of the Empire line and with Axis supply spent, with just four dummy supply markers on the grey border at the top of the map. Empire supply was in a similar state.

Thus with a firm flank of Italian and 90th Light Division troops anchored against the coast I pushed forward an Afrika Korps anti-tank screen battle group of the 11th and 3rd FlaK brigades supported by two regiments of 90th Light Mechanised Panzergrenadiers into the Bir Hacheim hex hoping that Steve might take the bait by leading an attack with some of those armoured stacks I felt sure were close by.

With my line relatively short and with this battlegroup hanging out on the flank I was concerned that Steve might try to move around it before attacking so placed the Axis armour and further groups of mech infantry back behind it to refuse my flank and supporting my forward anti-tank screen.

Well Steve declined to flank and came into the Bir Hacheim hex with a mix of armour and infantry to find those 88mm guns and Panzergrenadiers as they revealed themselves and the German guns ripped into those Empire Grant tanks.

The battle lines at Bir Hacheim with the Empire armour badly battered by a combination of German tank and anti-tank fire, but equally the German Panzergrenadiers battered by Empire infantry and artillery fire.

The Empire force survived first contact with some units damaged but with the Axis force untouched and it is these kind of actions that force the players to make decisions about whether to stay and fight or to try and pull back all governed by the mobility of your force versus the enemy and the likelyhood of surviving pursuit fire, how much supply remains, what your enemy is likely to have left and in the case of a short scenario how much time remains.

Well both Steve and I were keen to force a decision point battle and the line up above shows the units still standing at the close as we both consumed what was left of our supply bringing more units to the fight and initiating battle.

As the last of the supply points were laid and both of us passed in June, ending the scenario, we both drew breath not knowing what the result was after the firing died down.

The points cost of remaining units were totted up with Italian and Empire brigade/regiments equating to one point each and the Afrika Korps one and a half points each.

The 'Destroyed Box' shows the units lost to both sides, effectively three Axis units to eight Empire based on points value

The Empire had lost eight units against two Afrika Korps units, equating to eight points versus three points lost. which left the totals at thirty-six points of Axis units on the board versus twenty-eight points of Empire units plus another two points to the Empire for holding an unbesieged Tobruk for a total Empire score of thirty points and an Axis attritional victory by six points.

Thus with two scenarios under our belt and our knowledge of how to play this game up to speed, we have decided to play the campaign game which combines the 1941 and 1942 scenarios and adds that other dimension of time alongside the other other great components of supply and unit management around the battles.

This is where I think the Vassal system will shine allowing as it does everything to be easily left and started again between games and we are looking forward to battling away up to the Christmas holiday.

More anon.

Next up, I take a look at a recent play through of Rolica 1808 from O'er the Hills, another book gets reviewed and the first exchanges of play in Steve and my Campaign game of Rommel in the Desert.

Rommel in the Desert - Vassal

 

Both Steve and I have a hard copy of Rommel in the Desert, the block game by Columbia Games and it is a firm favourite with both of us, modelling very cleverly the supply issues that dominated the movement and combat in the Desert War in North Africa in the first half of WWII.

Thus the game presents classic decision points throughout for players, judging when to go large on supply point spend to make that 'battle changing' all out attack whilst pinning the enemy along the line or when to back off and 'go firm' as the supply dwindles and you desperately hope the enemy is in the same state as you and a natural pause will begin as you both stop to rebuild, resupply and reorganise.

However when you haven't played a game for a while it's surprising how the learning curve needs to be overcome again to grasp the familiar mechanisms yet again and so after making a mess of our first game, by playing our combats through to completion instead of stopping after the prerequisite number of rounds allowed by the supply points spent, thus seeing our units get eaten up in a month instead of the three month scenario being played, we reset the board and started again.

That's one of the many advantages of cyber play that setting up a game in Vassal is often just a case of a couple of clicks on the mouse and you're good to go.

The Crusader set up map clear of troops with all the named hexes visible for reference to places mentioned in the post. The two supply points and rebuild bases for the Empire and Axis are of course Alexandria and El Agheila respectively and the border between Libya and Egypt with the two Oasis of Jarabub and Siwa out in the desert marking our set up line.

In addition to getting used to the play of the game we also had to familiarise ourselves with how the Vassal module facilitated it and with this most recent incarnation, I have to say very well, with the board shots of our game displayed here in the post showing our game of the Crusader Campaign in the winter months of 1941 set up, with me playing the British Empire forces and Steve's Axis line hidden from view as his blocks are turned face down.

Along the top border the supply points for both sides appear which in the shot below shows the end of our first of three phases of play and me sitting on two supply and Steve with three having just passed after my pass to end play for the month of October 1941.

The end of October 1941 and my Empire forces have punched a few holes in Steve's Axis line along the Libyan border, but I'm down on units lost with an armoured and South African reconnaissance brigade and two motorised New Zealand Infantry brigades written off and my supply desperately depleted.

The Crusader Campaign found the Empire forces driven out of Libya and back into Egypt as Rommel's recently arrived Afrika Korps reinvigorated his Italian allies and chased the enemy back through Cyrenacia along the coast and through the open desert beyond the Jebel el Akhdar, only halting after the supply ran out and a formal siege put in place to deal with the Empire garrison of Tobruk ensconced behind the Italian constructed defences of pill boxes, trench lines, wire and minefields,

Czech infantry of the 11th Battalion man the defences around Tobruk in October 1941 with a captured Italian field gun set up in their positions

The period of of rebuilding saw the Empire forces receive massive numbers of men and materials with Churchill pushing for an early resumption of the battle to drive Rommel away from Tobruk and better still see his force destroyed once and for all.

Thus my set up saw my five block garrison positioned behind the Tobruk defences surrounded by Axis troops and with both sides strung out along the Egyptian border but with the Empire now boasting five brigades of armour, together with a couple of Army Tank brigades, one being Matildas, still a formidable punch through unit at this stage of the war.

So setting off into the blue, I drove my armour out into the desert in an attempt to turn the Axis line whilst pinning in the centre, but despite the success of taking out a couple of German recon brigades and an Italian infantry regiment, I lost two New Zealand infantry brigades and an armoured brigade in return together with several other infantry units battered but still in being.

In addition I had spent big in that first month trying to break through and ended up with just two supply points left, so the likelihood would see me sitting tight through the next month trying to bluff my way through it with occasional challenges to any of Steve's moves by throwing out a dummy supply, hoping he might spend an extra real one to do what he had wanted to do in the first place.

Empire reconnaissance on patrol during Operation Crusader

Well Steve didn't fall for my ruse, but it seems my big offensive in September had caused him to spend big as well and so it wasn't long before we had both passed in succession and November 1941 was over, with both of us having our line drawn closer to the coast but with me having some recon units out in the desert at the Jarabub Oasis.

The end of November 1941 and with both of us desperate to consolidate our supply, with me just sitting on one supply and four dummies at the close of play, both our lines along the border have been drawn in to the coast with groups brought together ready for the big and hopefully final push in December

Well with just one month to go and Tobruk still firmly tied up by Axis forces, my only recourse was to go for an attritional victory by marking down as many Axis units as I could and hope to have more Empire units left at the end of it to force Rommel to fall back, as was the case historically.

The key would be to knock over the tougher Afrika Korps units worth 1.5 units in the total count of Axis units and I needed to get Steve embroiled in a big scrap to draw in and then kill those German troops.

To help matters I had reinforcements to bring up from Alexandria in the form of the 1st Armoured Brigade, two Guards motorised brigades and an Indian infantry brigade who during the build up drove up to Sidi Barrani in preparation for my final push.

In addition I pulled my reconnaissance units in to bolster my extreme flank held by my South African Infantry.

A British Crusader Tank passes a burning Panzer IV during Operation Crusader, a sight that would have been seen in our game 

Well as the map below shows, I got my big battle at Sidi Omar on the escarpment south of Sollum on the coast road as I pushed two armoured brigades, an army tank brigade supported by an antitank battalion, two brigades of Indian and South African infantry and two brigades of motorised guards and New Zealand Infantry in a 'Blitz Assault' that for the cost of three supply points out of just five held initially, allowed me to feed eight units into the battle over the two hex-side entry points in two moves and fight two rounds of combat.

The battle that followed saw Steve have a bad night with the dice as my large force created the swirling tank action and managed to draw in and destroy the 5th Panzer Regiment of 21st Panzer Division and the 115th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of 15th Panzer Division alongside the Ariete Italian armoured regiment, leaving two German anti-tank brigades and a battered Italian motorised infantry brigade to pull out at the close of the battle.

This after a probing attack made by the Matilda Army Tank Brigade supported by 1st Armoured Brigade along the coast towards Sollum, causing the latter to get destroyed but pulling in Axis reserves to counterattack the Matildas setting up the big attack at Sidi Omar.

December and the end of our Operation Crusader with the battle site at Sidi Omar shown and both Axis and Empire lines along the border emptied of units as the depleted Axis forces start to break off from their siege of Tobruk to fall back towards El Agheila.

However the Empire forces paid a high price for an attritional victory with Steve marking down ten of my units with two armoured brigades, an army tank brigade, four motorised infantry and two South African infantry brigades written off.

The units left standing in the final battle at Sidi Omar with German antitank units and Italian infantry holding the rear-guard against the Empire assault.

The 'Dead Box' of written off units tells the tale of our three month fight in Operation Crusader with those five German units accounting for a loss of over seven Axis units equating to just over nine Axis units in total to the ten lost by the Empire forces

As with the historical battle our Crusader was a close run thing and with both of us getting back into relearning this game, mistakes were made by both sides which we chatted through in our wash-up afterwards.

However the basics of this game that make it such a classic in the Desert War catalogue was still as good as we had remembered and our play should get better with more games, so the plan is to resume with our next set to, refighting the Gazala line in 1942 with me taking the Axis forces this time, with our plan then to go on and play the full campaign game linking the 1941 and 1942 scenarios together and allowing the phases of build up and battle to really show how this game can model the whole war in North Africa as we battle back and forth along the coast road between Alexandra and El Agheila.

More Anon.

Next up, the series of All at Sea posts continues with a look at the second piece of conversion work, to produce a 64-gun third rate, plus I have another book review and Steve and I ended up having a swirling dog-fight in the desert at Gazala which ended up extremely close on the victory conditions.

Washington's War on Vassal - Game One

The adventure into the world of boardgaming with Vassal continues for Steve and me as we get to grips with playing Washington's War, the GMT revision of the original Avalon Hill game, We the People that Steve and I first got to grips with in its original incarnation, as one of the first card driven games that is such a modern feature of many games today.

Having cut our teeth using Vassal to play Columbia Games 1812, followed by L2's revision of another classic Avalon Hill title, Breakout Normandy, we wanted to see how Vassal copes with using a card driven mechanic

War of 1812

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/04/war-of-1812-columbia-games-on-vassal.html

BKN Game One

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/04/breakout-normandy-vassal.html

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/04/breakout-normandy-on-vassal-d4.html

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/05/breakout-normandy-on-vassal-d6-end-of.html

BKN Game Two

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/05/breakout-normandy-on-vassal-end-d3.html

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/06/bkn.html

The position on our first game of Washington's War, at the end of 1777 played using Vassal 

We started our game of Washington's War just before my computer hard drive blew up and sadly I lost the first three years of play game shots and so my account starts from the end of 1777 with the map seen above.

The first thing to say is that the graphics in this game are superb with a great map and game pieces rendered as beautifully as the original board game, and once we had reacquainted ourselves with the rules of play, the game flowed along quite nicely, with two or three rounds of card play being quite possible in an evening of play.

Below is a shot of the British card hand, with the American having the same screen not visible to the British player. The cards are drawn by a simple click of a button under each card, so not visible here and the cards are played by a right click on the selected card, giving a drop down menu of the range of options to play it, as seen over the D'Estaing card seen below, with the system delivering the card to the playing board once an appropriate selection has been made - 'simples as the meer-cat would say!' 

Vassal handles the seven cards held by each player at the start of each turn in this window allowing easy play of a selected card without the other player being able to see the hand held.

Both Steve and I were finding our way with Washington's War in the early play, being more familiar with the older version of the game, but as you will see from the map below, we had had some early action, with Greene and Washington driven out of New England by Howe, attacking out of Boston, later supported by Cornwallis, establishing a line above New York and gradually securing up to Canada with an array of British PC control markers.

End 1777, the Year of the Hangman and the British are starting to build their position in New England with the US army relatively weak and French intervention a long way off.

In 1776, Clinton landed at Norfolk with a 5 strength army, drawing Arnold south to cover him, only to see Clinton quickly reembark to his ships and land at Wilmington to allow a march on Philadelphia, then held by Washington, defeating the American leader and dispersing Congress, only to have Washington counterattack after an American PC was placed behind the British force to prevent any retreat.

Clinton was forced to surrender losing his army and the British Infantry advantage as well as ramping up the French intervention chart, with the only recompense for the British being the turning of Arnold and his removal from the American order of battle leaving the map looking as it does at the end of 1777. 

End of 1778, with Congress dispersed to Charlotte, North Carolina, and British garrisons starting to take up residence in New England

Playing the British, I soon focused my attention on New England to give me my six states including Canada to give the Crown victory should the war come to a close before 1782 as the last card laid indicated it might.

The one asset the British are wealthy with is troops, which provide a useful way of sprinkling garrisons behind British lines to hold down the country from American PC placement and flipping once my main armies had marched past.

It soon also occurred to me to have my generals in close proximity to police the River Hudson and prevent American incursions as one of their number moved between states delivering those garrisons, thus forcing the Americans to make the running and take their chances against my mutually supporting armies able to call out the militia and get naval support when close to the coast.

End of 1780 and Greene has moved into Canada to try and threaten Montreal and Quebec, before Carleton and Burgoyne returned north to seal off that front. Howe and Cornwallis hold the Hudson line against Washington, whilst Clinton has done a first class job setting up garrisons around New England to secure the rear

By 1780, the British had got a strangle hold on New England with French intervention still six points away, not the three shown on the map and no sign of the Ben Franklin card.

Steve had a go at breaking the British line at New York, initially driving the British army out and back to Long Island, only to have Cornwallis counterattack after picking up reinforcements there and rolling a one with plus two on the dice leaving Washington needing a four or more to repulse the British but rolling a two and finding himself wintering once again in Philly.

End of 1781 and end of the rebellion, with Washington surrounded in Hartford and with the 1779 card played indicating war end.

As the war rolled into 1781 the British were in a strong position and looking for that war end card to grab the six state victory.

It was then that Steve played the 1779 war end card that decided the war would end that year leaving Steve to make a final bid for glory by threading Washington between Howe and Cornwallis to grab Hartford Connecticut and thus deny the state to the British by playing his last card with two activation points to place the necessary PC markers.

Of course the Americans were banking on the British not having a campaign card to mitigate such a move, but sadly, they did and Howe moved into the attack as Clinton took up his position on the Hudson to secure New York and the forward line.

War end with the British Minor Campaign card on the board and Washington bottled up in Hartford and unable to prevent British control of the state 

Howe lost the battle of Hartford and pulled back to New Haven, but this left Washington surrounded and unable to flip Hartford to American control thus leaving the state in British control.

Quite a nail-biting conclusion to a cat and mouse struggle and with me looking forward to commanding the Americans in our next play through.

The small changes in the rules between Washington's War and We the People make this feel a distinctly different game, but still a classic in that how the cards roll out will produce a completely different game each time and will force different strategies from both players accordingly.

The northern strategy worked well in this game with no intervention from the French and the early ejection of Greene and Washington from Boston and New York. However that might not be the case in our next play and the British may be forced to look south where North and South Carolina and Georgia are relatively small states sitting below the winter line making the establishment of British garrisons less problematic to maintain provided strong British forces are nearby.

As far as an American approach to the game, my mind is still open to ideas and I will be thumbing through the playbook this weekend for some new ones.

Next up: A book review from the Age of Sail and work starts on the Spanish collection of Napoleonic ships with JJ's Dockyard ringing to the sound of hammers.