3/4/2023 0 Comments Ez pz rpg blackwind boss![]() ![]() This invasion of British Somalia was the backdrop for our first Battlegroup game. Sheer weight of numbers delivered an Italian victory here, and the British were forced to evacuate “Dunkirk style” to Aden. First, their army in Ethiopia invaded the British colony in Somalia in August 1940 (when the Battle of Britain was just reaching its greatest pitch). The Italians actually enjoyed some success here. While the Italian invasion of southern France met with disaster (six French divisions smashed an Italian Army five times its size), the Italians were also striking at British possessions overseas. Basically, when Germany was overrunning Western Europe in May 1940, Mussolini thought the time was right to strike the weakened Allies for some quick, easy territorial gains. The Desert War started almost by accident. A Matilda II with a 2-pounder or a Panzer III with a 50mm gun is mighty, and when the basic Sherman first appeared in late August of 1942, it was practically (and briefly) god-like. These were armies often held together with baling wire and duct tape. Many are the historical moments when you could accurately field the ENTIRE armoured strength of Rommel’s Afrika Korps on a single table of Battlegroup or Flames of War.Īnd lastly, players who brave the desert are challenged to win with a lot less than on other fronts. This smaller context can give your games bigger comparative impact to the overall picture. For anyone who’s interested in expanding the diversity of their armies, this is a good place to start.įurthermore, at least from 1940 to the beginning of 1942, most of the battles in the Desert War were actually quite small, at least when compared to other fronts. African colonial units were drawn from armies as far-flung as Madagascar. Free French and Vichy French figured prominently, sometimes even fighting each other (e.g., Syria in 1942). Of course the Americans joined the conflict in November, 1942 with the Operation “Torch” landings in Morocco and Algeria. There were even detachments of Zionist Palestinians and an anti-aircraft unit from Hong Kong. The “British” forces are often nothing of the sort, usually Indians (including troops from modern-day Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal), South Africans, Free Poles, Greeks, New Zealanders, and Australians. About 75% of the Axis troops are Italians, not Germans. The Desert War was also incredibly diverse. The SAS was born in these deserts, after all. ![]() These include “hull down shielding” for tanks and some of the first “special forces” operations. The old tricks won’t work here, while new tactics become available. The terrain here is obviously very different and offers a whole new outlook and backdrop for tactical wargaming. The Desert War also provides new challenges for players perhaps growing weary of French bocage or Russian steppe. Diaries and records show that there was a certain degree of “fair play” shown between the armies, perhaps because both sides faced a third enemy.the desert itself. There were no SS units deployed here, and there were very few civilians to get caught in the crossfire. So why play a wargame set in this campaign? For starters, there’s actually a core of truth to the romance connected to this theatre. Using a mix of information presented in the game’s “Blitzkrieg,” “Barbarossa,” “Kursk,” and even “Fall of the Reich” sourcebooks (along with a plenty of “Oriskany-style” historical research), we were able to cobble together a Desert War miniatures dataset that ran very well. To help facilitate the discussion, we’re running a series of 15mm miniature games using an adaptation of PSC’s “Battlegroup” (still the best WW2 miniatures game I’ve played). What made the Desert War different? How can games be adapted to play in this theatre? What kind of terrain do we find, what tactics were used, and what did the armies look like? In this article series, we’ll be taking a “wargaming look” at the Desert War and what sets it apart from the usual World War II games many of us enjoy. This, of course, is the Desert War, fought in Africa and the Middle East from June 1940 to May 1943. Even amidst the horrors of World War II, there’s one campaign that somehow seems “clean,” isolated, and almost chivalrous. In the study of military history, certain battlefields can acquire a mythic, almost romantic allure.
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