Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Britain, India
Play Date	2022-12-10
Language	English
Scenario	DeRa006

This is an interesting scenario, but its a situation that PZG does not model well. The inability to move and fire creates these bizarro, gamey scenarios when breakouts or fighting withdrawals are concerned. Because of that, this plays out as more of a puzzle than a battle.

Italians must exit steps of the far end of the map, getting around a small but mobile force of Indians. Their very low morale makes combat a hopeless situation, so they must focus on scattering, running, and trying to avoid contact. The Indians on the other hand must close and typically assault to pin the Italians down while they exterminate them. Oh yeah, and its night, so scattering is pretty hard, as the units must be commanded to move forward by leaders even when out by themselves kilometers from the enemy.

Italians have CAV and BANDE forces which are faster than the Indians, These can pretty much walk across and off unopposed, and the Indians should not pursue. It just wastes men and time. Likewise, the MIT are too slow, and should more or less be abandoned by the Italians. Maybe they roll well on OP fire when the Indians close and help out, but they probably just get wiped without a fuss.

The meat of the game seems to be the dancing between the Brit infantry and Brens and the Italian FANs which both move at the same speed. One wants contact, the other doesnt. There's the rub of it. With the MITs killed, and the CAV and BANDE off the board, the Italians win, so long as their FANs stay alive, off map or on. Because of this they hare happy to pass activations to the Indians, who close 3 hexes to be adjacent, and then the Italians move back, or around, or anywhere. And they dance and dance and dance until the clock runs out, or FOW kills the turn after the Brits close and they win init the next turn. Or they cast a wide enough net to catch individual units with nowhere to run.

I made one key mistake that cost the Italians the game. I assigned a leader to the BANDEs when I should have just let them move with the CAV at speed 4. The lack of one more leader meant one less group of FANS and the Indians were able to catch one of the groups, getting enough kills for a narrow win.

Entirely ridiculous and unrealistic, but there it is.