Historical Background: 15th of June 1941 - Egyptian border. Reinforced by a shipping convoy that bring 200 new tanks, general Wawell launched Operation Battleaxe at the pressing demand of Prime Minister W.Churchill. As for Operation Brevity, one month ago, British general Beresford-Pierce was in charge to capture Halfaya Pass, to destroy Axis forces on the border and to advance toward Tobruk to deliver the besieged Australian troops. But Rommel was aware of this attack, he decided to sacrifice his infantry to weaken the British armored units before to counter-attack on the second day with his own tanks to surround the British forces then destroyed them. The Axis strongpoint at Halfaya Pass was the pivot of the battle. The resistance of the Axis kampfgruppe, under the command of Hauptmann Back and Maggiore Pardi, to the attack of 11th Indian Brigade, supported by Matilda tanks of 4th Armored brigade, was decisive. Knowing the huggy losses in tanks, the British general withdraw his troops to Sidi Barrani before to be surrounded by Rommel's panzers. Operation Battleaxe was the end of the Matilda tank "Queen of the battlefield" during two years and victim of the deadly 88mm Flak gun. The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.
Briefing: Allied player [United Kingdom] : 5 command cards, you move first. Axis player [Germany/Italy] : 5 command cards.
4°RTR : 4° Royal Tank Regiment 2nd SG : 2nd Scots Guards Battalion 3rd CG : 3rd Coldstream Guards Battalion.
Conditions of Victory: 6 medals.
Special Rules: - Use "North African Desert" rules (Action 9). - Use "BCF Command" rules (Nation 5). - Infantry units with badge DAK are Germans, the others are Italians. Use "Royal Italian Army Command" rules (Nation 6). - Panzer units can't move before the 6th turn, but they can fire on enemy units on the range at any time. - 4th & 7th RTR have 4 figures to symbolize the well-armored "Matilda" tank.
Scenario Bibliography: - Magazine Histoire de guerre n°20 - Afrika Korps 1941. - Militaria Magazine hors-série n°3 - Tobrouk. - "Rommel, la trace du Renard" - D. Irving.
Warning: Please note that this scenario was not approved by Richard Borg or Days of Wonder, so you have to check yourself about playability, potential gaming issues, etc.
|
Set-up Order |
 |
1 |
 |
2 |
 |
6 |
 |
3 |
 |
5 |
 |
4 |
 |
6 |
 |
6 |
 |
9 |
 |
9 |
|