Knife fight at Ahmed's all-night Kebab and Houri House.

The battle of Gabr el Ahmar, 05 August 1940

As soon as the Italians declared war the British forces began raiding the Italia positions in Cyrenaica. The Italians only had L3/35 tankettes, armed with twin 8mm MG, which were outclassed by even the British armoured cars, armed with the Boys antitank rifle, and the Vickers Mk.VIb tankettes, whose 0.5" HMG could penetrate the Italian tankettes at close range. Any convoys or outposts required antitank guns and artillery for protection from the British raiders. In July, though, the Italians received a shipment of M11/39 tanks, mounting a 37mm L40 gun in the hull. It was time to teach the British a lesson.....

The game was played using Command Decision rules and the scenario comes from the Benghazi Handicap scenario and rules extension. Bill put the table together, ready to blood his newly finished British and Italian forces. The models were a mix of 1/76 kits, some kit-bashed, and 3D prints. We rolled for who got which side and I rolled the Poms. Maps were marked up and then the forces placed on the table. In the map above the red line shows the Italian start line and the blue the British, so the troops started the game nearly nose-to-nose. The three asterixis show the objectives that need to be held/captured. For the British to win they need to hold all three objectives. The Italians only need to hold the houri house and their end of the highway to win. Both sides have reinforcements coming- which can come in on either the top of bottom of the map. That's right, your enemy's reo's can come on the board behind you.

British- a 2pdr ATG Portee, RR and Morris armoured cars, Mk.VIb light tanks and an A9 Cruiser tank. The Italians have a Bersagliari motorcycle company and too many M11/39's.

Setup- nose to nose.

Game Turn 1. The game's sequence of play requires orders to be given at the start of GT 1, before the units that were visible (all of them, as it turned out) were placed. Not surprisingly we both gave orders for a grab at the kebab bar. Initiative is rolled for, Bill wins, and a platoon of his Bersagliari grab the kebab shop. My British move up onto the hill, the A9 and portee leading in the hope they may do some damage. The RR armoured car falls back to the HQ squadron, and with no infantry all I can do is vandalise the kebab shop with MG fire and some inefficient artillery. In the next two turns fighting on the hill takes out the portee and A9. In the centre of the table a Mk.VIb brews an M11/39 by using its agility to get close to the enemy tank's side. However return fire from another Italian brews up the Mk.VI. A couple of tank troops have fallen back, due to poor morale rolls, and things are looking sticky.

In GT 3 my reo's come on the board- behind Bill. He'd anticipated the move and turned to fight- and brought his reo's on immediately behind mine on GT 4. The knife fight was joined.

I won't do a turn by turn AAR. Basically vehicles started brewing up, morale tests failed and there was more smoke around than you'd find in a 1960's pub. My infantry company lost a truck, but the passengers escaped, and the company routed off. The CO was killed in an exchange of tank fire (I mixed up commanders and sent him forward, so it's his fault), so the chances of rallying any of the reinforcements went out the window. On the hill Mk.VIb tanks duelled with Bill's M11/39 and managed to wipe out the platoon holding the kebab shop, which was captured. The armoured cars returned and wiped out the Bersaglieri command stand and took down an M11/39, before succumbing to 37mm rounds. On turn 8 we had to throw a D10 to see if the game continued, and it did. I recaptured the kebab shop, and a draw was possible. GT 9 and Bill won the initiative and recaptured the shop. I had nothing in range to oppose him , but next turn I would. We rolled for the game to continue- 8 or less on a D10. I rolled a 9.

The fight for 26 kebabs, 43 beers and an Armenian belly dancer.

11th Hussars charging some guns. Where have I heard of that before?................................ The surviving senior officer in the A9. A pity he can't rally himself...........................

It's not a bad system and a very interesting scenario. I'm still not wholly comfortable with the game, I need some more game time to get rid of other rules in my head. While I have no trouble with the one model = one troop/platoon idea, the combat system feels very much 1 model = 1 vehicle. Clash of Armour's book keeping was a bloody pain, but it did allow the erosion of strength rather than the (seemingly) sudden swatting of a platoon. That's me, not the rules, and more game time will sort that out.