Sicily, Triumph and Folly reformatted. 

1943. A dynamic year for the Allies in the Med, this is a brief AAR. The AAR will not follow the usual format and discussion of the various metrics used to determine how much the title was filling game play aspects that are important. This is due in the main to the fact that this is one of many AARs on the OCS system from MMP Games that can be found on this site. A fully fleshed out system review will be done at some point. Suffice to say it is a winner at the BigBoard! Instead what we will look at is just the highlights.

 

Preamble:

Commonwealth forces plan originally had 8th Army landing between Gela and Pazallo. This area was huge and likely too much to take on. 7th Army was similar tasked with landing from Sciacla to Marniela, with landings then @ Palmero on DDAY +2 and Catania on DDAY +2 also.

This was adjusted by Monty to the historical plan we all likely know from our diligent historical reading! Where 51st and 231st and 1st Canadian landed at Pachino, and 50th +elements of 51st landed at Avola attempting to quickly secure supply lines via minor ports.

While 7th Army focused upon Scoglitti- Gela Licata. with 45th, 1st and 3rd Divisions respectively.  The 82nd Airborne flew in and were tasked with taking the Niscemi airfield.

In our game we ran a modified version of this as can be seen below:

 

With Sicily II the smaller footprint and lower unit density makes for a somewhat different playing experience when we look at Sicily versus Sicily II.  There are plus’s and minus’ to both editions, which I talk about in this video

A full play list of live and just recorded play thrus can be seen on the youtube channel or by searching here on the site.

Turn 1

 

The various Kampfgruppen or battlegroups brace for the landing.

 

 

 

 

 

Airborne units from Commonwealth and US forces drop:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn 2

During T2 the Allies expand their beachhead and the Axis do little fighting.

Axis attempt to slow down the Allied moves with some Interdiction effort.

The Primrose bridge is held as long as possible!! The Germans reinforce around the River lines nearby.

Turn 3 / 14th of July.

The scale and lower density puts extra pressure on the Axis players defensive plans. It seems to let the Allies advance far more quickly. This likley means the Axis will turtle up pretty quickly to allow the exit of units to the mainland.

Below the Germans leave a skeleton force and retreat!

Allies take initiative:

By the end of July 28th the  rapid advance has slowed. The Germans leverage reserve mode arty AND infantry to clog up the coastal road. This proves expensive in steps lost for the Allies.

The bashing and crashing continue. Now its almost a matter of receiving the double turn to flush out the Reserve units of the Germans and still having enough supply on hand to feed a follow up attack.

 

The losses mount for the Germans. The Allies grind away.

Weak Italian units field the gaps, forcing the Allies to mop them up.

In Italy proper units begin to make the Ferry exit, and air support the local fighting forces delaying the Allies. This proves to be the last straw for the Allies they cannot make enough progress and the Axis accumulates enough VP’s to eek out a win.

After a careful look at the time remaining, supply and Victory Conditions the Allies resign.