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This scenario had an Italian colonial force attacking dug in British regulars, the mission for the Italian's is simple capture both hills on the playing area.
This was my first game against a new opponent, Felipe, and my first game without using FOW rule which Felipe requested, more on that later.
The Italians march on from the south and advance to contact in a parade ground manner, splitting into two groups, the larger group would move to the right flank and capture the smaller hill before turning to take the remaining Black Watch units in the flank, the smaller group would try and prevent any reinforcements getting to the targeted hill and then attack in concert with the flank attack already mentioned.
In fact the first Italian casualties came from this smaller group when a long range shot from an HMG took out an Italian unit as it was manoeuvring but apart from this mishap the first Italian attack actually did quite well initially, storming up the slopes they engaged the kilted enemy in bitter hand to hand fighting. There now began a long fight for this first hill, the Brits were perhaps a little to passive in their defence with very few local counter attacks probably because the first such counter attack had not gone well. However it took more than 2 hours to clear the hill, the clock was ticking for the Italian commander, which in turn meant that the assault. H on the second hill went in rather piecemeal. Here the British MTR's had a field day with accurate fire disrupting the attack, however using SMOKE the Italians did get to grips with the Scottish units but fared worse in the initial assaults. The British commander then launched a counter attack and with the bagpipes playing the kilted soldiers leapt from their dugouts and pushed the native troops off the hill, accurate fire from flanking units killed many of the colonial troops as they retreated. On the penultimate turn the Italian commander seeing that it would now be impossible to take the second objective called off the assault.
**A good solid game against an excellent new player, the scenario only rates a 3 because the odds are stacked against the Italian. It was strange to play with out Fog of War and though it aids the attacking player more than the defender normally it still felt tough for the Axis forces, I also should have taken up Felipe's offer to use the strategic movement rule which I normally don't use as as this would have saved me some time at the beginning of th battle though probably not enough to influence the outcome **
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A quick salute to my distinguished and PG-expert opponent, who graciously ignored my many tactical and PG-mechanic-related mistakes & miscues. This was a fun-filled experience for me thanks in no small part to Wayne's sense of humor and patience with a newbie player.
This scenario came down to practically the last turn and was better balanced than most on offer from the set included with Desert Rats. I concur that this scenario is stacked against the Italian side. This is one reason for the rookie (me) to play the defending Black Watch troops. My very experienced opponent was certainly able to get the best out of the invading Italian colonial troops in spite of the same kind of unfortunate combat and morale die rolls that regularly plagued both sides.
Without the loathsome, defending-side-favoring FOW rule, his initial employment and subsequent movement to contact was both elegant and effective in pinning the British side to their hilltop positions. Wayne's use of OBA, smoke and onboard artillery/mortar bombardments was a case study in how to support a series of close assaults in difficult terrain, as was his use of Italian Colonial BAN units as skirmishers to draw hostile fire away from his stronger formations and better leaders.
Aw Shucks....