It was my intention to provide you with some compelling play of a classic Desert War game, and contrast it against AFRIKA II from SCS. The old Avalon Hill title has straight forward rules.

Some weirdness around supply, and a somewhat bizarre counter attack rule, where the defender may counter at double combat strength….. Perhaps some historical tid bit from the CNA theatre. After 2-3 turns it all seemed a bit strange to me.

SoI shall attempt to find another title in my balliwick to add to the VASSAL based play of AFRIKAII.

I have heard good things about Desert Rat. If any one has a copy cheap let me know.

So what happened? Well on turn one the Allies go first….so we start driving… and driving and with 60 move points end up in Tobruk…….In fact west of it. We screen some forces and await the Axis.

Who drive….and drive and drive…..They attack – kill one unit.

So….Next turn more of the… You want swirling desert combat with combat factor 1 and 2 units moving 60 hexes… you got it.

There are some little features that prevent too much of this. You need to be with certain ranges of the Supply dumps in order to obtain full combat strength and in some instances not have moved.

Well needless to say this is a bit old, a little simple, but more importantly we are really missing some of the key elements that are going to make this a ‘good’ game for me.

I have tried really hard to step back and accept it for what it is. But the components, the rules and the mechanics are not letting me ‘enjoy’ this. The supply and I guess the combat counter attack thing are a nice attempt for the time to capture the era and the theatre. But I think if is pretty generic.

If you can grab it for cheap, perhaps you will have more luck with it, and perhaps you can drop me a note and share with me your experience with the title.

Next.

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