After a long chat reconnecting with a friend from 3 yrs ago who I wargamed with a few times. We set to and started to play the aborted magnet wall game of OCS – Tunisia II the Kasserine Campaign that I had been attempting to run solo.
Boy was I glad I did. I’m learning a LOT!
Above is an image of the starting locations of forces.
We agreed to try my minor mod of no mad dash to the coastline for the US on Turn 1 if they go first.
Instead the US forces hunker down in the middle of the map and the South. Pulling a line back to protect Tebessa. In the North the Allied units creep up on the Axis defenders.
Hex 41.34 cannot be attacked out of by track or mech. Same with 41.35 so they are inaccessible to the Germans. While pondering this I realize that hexsides matter in OCS almost as much as the EFS system. Its called the rule of reciprocity. I was aware of this but rarely had I considered it to be limiting as it is!
German approaches using Afrika Corps units and Centro division make their approach thru Feriana to Kasserine.
The US elected to hold 1st position near the salt marshes east of the Dorsal mtns and tighten up towards Tebessa.
In the Center they formed up in readiness it seems to press into the northern pass, near Fondouk/Pichon. Further North around Bizerte they push up along the valleys looking for gaps and encirclement opportunities.
German turn :
The final movements after the German turn had ended:
The primary thrust for the moment must be south then North. With a goal of hitting Tebessa. But we need to ensure no rando units sneak into the rear. I’m hoping to draw units South.
I hold the 10th Panzer at the pass Mountain pass, to lock the US in position, since they appear to not wish to disengage. Which leads me to reconsider my lunge for Kasserine.
In the North we pop units into defensive mode and pop reserve markers up. With news arriving from the South that Monty’s army has finally arrived, out work is really cut out for us now.
During the 3rd turn the 1st Armoured fail to dislodge the AT gun battalion, or deal with 15th Pzr. 9th Infantry moves further south to assist them, and the French stream south also.
Monty’s chaps begin their movement in and up the coast. Italians units retreat, Agosta sacrifices its self to get a light Italian tank unit out. [AR rating of 4].
In the 3rd German turn things get interesting. 10th Panzer goes into reserve mode. Sweeps North to the edge of the Oued Zeroud wadi then plunges up the road to Fondouk. The way was early cleared by stout work from Italian forces. They drive a seam and this allows 10th Pzr to threaten supply lines while keeping good supply with them via truck. The French and Yanks will now need to displace or attack the 10th Panzer dugin around the mountains of the Maktar pass [38.10].
Faid pass is guarded by the Tigers and 15th Italian armoured brigade
The Germans clear a path during combat to Tebessa, but pull up short of attacking.
Not wanting to push their luck they settle for securing the road and blocking supply. There was a temptation to try and take Tebessa, but we knew there was at least an HQ with a defence of 5 in their and at least one other unit. With no air to bring to bear it would be a stretch to attack into the town.
In the North after building hedgehogs, and repulsing two encirclements the Germans are looking hard at how to hold back the British and Commonwealth forces from over running them! We had to spend a lot of supply to conduct counter attacks. It was not pretty.
Next Turn 25th
Whoever gets initiative will be off to a great start!
[Well we.. or I made some errors in game play. Look for a reboot of the battle in he next few weeks. We kick off a new live session tomorrow at 0900 starting turn 3.