When first reading the German victory conditions, along with the scenario length(60 turns),I thought to myself -"I've got a very bad feeling about this". So I began with the Indian/Australian commonwealth set-up; placing three entrenchments on the base of the Eastern hill with 2 HMGs stacked and three entrenchments a few clicks further North, below the West hill with 4 HMGs. In the space between hills I built the "traditional" British square with dug-in, double stacked INF units in front and flanks; 2-pounders in the center; and mobile ACWs and Bren carriers to the rearguard, ready to move and dig-in where needed to fill in gaps; with MANY trucks as far back as they could be placed. From the aerial view of the map this somewhat resembled one of those Zulu war classics! With the German 5th Light Division I grouped all the panzers to the West; all 5 HMGs grouped with a (2-10-1)LT to the East flank which would give a right hand punch with a 22-45 effect on the direct fire table. Both sides seemed to have a solid plan of action. The German plan had it's flaws but seemed to work and casualties remained very low from the onset. It seemed as if this ambitious operation might actually work. Then at about 18:00/turn 47, a sandstorm appeared right before dusk and changed both side's best laid plans (gotta love those timely random events!. At first the storm benefited the Germans but ultimately, in the end, worked in favor(as in most cases)for the commonwealth, with the continuing movement modifier of +1. But for a time it still seemed possible that the 5th Light may just reach their objectives. In the end though,the Indian square served it's purpose by way of delaying action though not without outrageous losses (21 steps of INF alone!). At the scenario's end only one of six entrenchments were taken giving India a victory. I rated this scenario a 4 of 5 because it remained tense yet enjoyable until the end though my "very bad feeling" proved legitimate as far as the Germans reaching their objectives though they kept step losses below 10 until turn 58 and only after it was certain they could not occupy or evacuate all the entrenchments.

This is one of those scenarios that I would definitely revisit when I have another spare 5 days to invest and maybe learn a few new lessons and tactics apart from being able to defeat a sandstorm!

Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Germany
Play Date	2022-12-12
Language	English
Scenario	DeRa009

When playing these scenarios sequentially like a crazy person, this is a nice change of pace from surrendering, brittle Italians. Combined arms Germans must take a series of entrenchments from Indian forces while limiting their casualties. Indians set up dug in and entrenched in mutually supporting positions, with the corners manned by double HMG entrenchments. Nothing too special here.

Despite having a TON of troops, the Indians are actually somewhat limited in what they can bring to bear. Much of their force is a swarm of APCs which immediately run to the northwest hill and dig in. They are far to brittle to stand up to the German armor, so will act as a mobile reserve if an opportunity presents itself. Both sides have to flee their motor pools to their safe corner though, a desert rats theme, as taking out the pool is enough steps to usually win the scenario... They also have a lot of 2 pounders which can really only threaten the PzIIs.

Due to these limits to the Indians, the game plan for the Germans is to be extremely patient (look at that turn count), and hammer the allies with concentrated OBA/mortars, long range armor fire, and masses of machine guns. Of note is the fact that German HMGs have a range of 5, and Indians only 4, so aside from the 3 inch mortars, the Indians can't touch... really anything the Germans have unless they move in too early. The Germans also luckily drew their combat modifier 2 LT, so they can have 5 HMGs firing at the same time at one target while not being stacked 3 deep.

The early OBA focus was on the mortars, and once gone, the Germans just get their heavy hitters in position and bleed the Indians for the whole day. Seeing the inevitable coming, the Indians send their reserves and the dug in INF out for a desperate counter attack of the German right flank but they get shot to bits by the now dug in for hours German INF. It was basically a suicidal charge, but sitting there just getting shot would have meant the same result just slower.

In retrospect, I think the only chance they have for a draw is to slip their ACWs around the Germans and hit their motor pool. Having anchored their left with the PZIVs and the Right with the PZIIIs, the Germans were ready to make them run the gauntlet to do so. I'm surprised to see the play results so far. Did the other Germans not use the full time alloted and just slam in instead of taking advantage of the superior range and arty? Idk...