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FoW Scenario: The End of the Beginning

8 Minute Read
Dec 16 2010
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Hi folks! My last FoW piece for the Bell was on the subject of unfair games, and how scenario play could enhance your mini gaming experience. To follow that up, this week I’d like to share an exemplary “unfair” scenario I cooked up for the Mid-War African theater.Please note that both the scenario and the associated character’s rules are the creations of a private individual and are not in any way “official”, despite following established Battlefront format.

On November 3, 1942, what is known as the Second Battle of El Alamein to most English speakers had already raged for almost two weeks. In actuality it was the third battle fought in that locale on the frontier of Egypt in a row, and the Italian and German soldiers of the Panzerarmee Afrika were lacking in almost every conceivable asset for making war – reserves, replacements, air support, provisions, tanks, guns, ammunition, trucks, petrol and perhaps most of all, sleep.

Newly arrived in the theater and able to instill a fresh confidence in the troops of the British 8th Army, General B. Montgomery had succeeded in blunting German counterstrokes while making gains of his own in a grinding battle of attrition against the exhausted and materially inferior Panzerarmee. The time now came at which the German and Italian allies had no choice but to retreat from Egypt and leave behind their hopes of strategic success in Africa.

On the afternoon of November 3 when the staff of the Panzerarmee was well advanced in preparing for a retreat to positions near Fuka, an order came from Hitler himself that was, to say the least, controversial. It read (translated):

“It is with trusting confidence in your leadership and the courage of the German-Italian troops under your command that the German people and I are following your heroic struggle in Egypt. In the situation in which you find yourself there can be no other thought but to stand fast, yield not a yard of ground and throw every gun and every man into the battle. Considerable air force reinforcements are also being sent to C-in-C South. The Duce and the Comando Supremo are also making the utmost efforts to send you the means to continue the fight. Your enemy, despite his superiority, must also be at the end of his strength. It would not be the first time in history that a strong will has triumphed over the big battalions. As to your troops, you can show them no other road than that to victory or death.”

Staff officers who read the message were unbelieving. The message stunned Generalfeldsmarschall Rommel, the famous leader of the Panzerarmee, into silence. The retreat, already underway, was halted. On the night of November 3, chaos reigned on the Axis side of the lines.

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On the morning of November 4th, the 13th day of continuous battle for the Panzerarmee, the troops of 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions were surprised to find, in the somewhat informal atmosphere of the desert, that General der Panzertruppen Wilhelm Josef Ritter von Thoma, commander of the Deutsches Afrikakorps, was wearing full dress uniform including medals. Ritter von Thoma passionately called Hitler’s order “madness”, and not without reason – the Axis position had become untenable, and his own Afrikakorps, the hardest-hitting, most mobile and most reliable troops in the entire army, had been reduced to 24 functioning tanks, many of them obsolete models. This unrealistic order was apparently the last straw for Ritter von Thoma, veteran of both World Wars, knighted for his deeds in 1916, decorated 17 times for bravery, wounded several times in action. That morning he leaped into one of the tanks of his headquarters’ guard and led that unit into the thickest of that day’s fighting near Tel el Mampsra. He would not return…

“The End of the Beginning”
A Flames of War scenario for 2 players
 
This scenario depicts the battle around Tel el Mampsra on November 4, 1942, between the 10th Royal Hussars regiment of the British 2nd Armoured Brigade and a Kampfgruppe of the Deutsches Afrikakorps led by its commanding general, Wilhelm Josef Ritter von Thoma, which culminated in his capture.
This scenario uses the Prepared Positions special rule, as well as a modified version of Strategic Withdrawal and two new, scenario-specific special rules detailed below.
YOUR ORDERS
Attacker: Jerry is finally on the run and there are penetrations all along the lines. You are to break through in the area of Tel el Mampsra and make all possible steam for the enemy’s rear areas. Excellent air reconnaissance and signals intelligence indicates your opposition will be scattered remnants of the more static elements of the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions. Some of you may remember these chaps from earlier scuffles – but they’re mere shadows of what they were, and this time the day will be ours! Up and at ’em lads!
Defender: I won’t lie to you, Hauptmann – this is a rearguard action. We are ordered to hold our positions and delay the Tommy panzers as long as possible so that the Italian and German Infanterie zu Fuss (walking troops), poor bastards, have more time to get away and don’t become encircled. Once we’ve done what we can, we will catch up to them – if the petrol holds out!
PREPARING FOR BATTLE
  1. When setting up terrain, use any mutually agreeable method, but place one large hill (to represent Tel el Mampsra) with its crest at least 24” from the short edges and at least 12” from the table’s centerline.
  2. The German player is automatically the Defender and the British player is automatically the Attacker.
  3. The Defender’s table edge is the long edge closest to the crest of Tel el Mampsra. The Attacker’s is the opposite long edge.
  4. The Defender now deploys his entire force in Prepared Positions in his half of the table. Because of the ragged nature of the defense and the total air superiority of the Desert Air Force and its many reconnaissance planes, the defender gets no ambushes.
  5. The Attacker now deploys his entire force in his half of the table, anywhere more than 16” from the center line.
  6. Starting with the defender, both players now deploy their Independent teams in their deployment areas. In addition to whatever independent teams the defender may have, he must also place General der Panzertruppen Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma and his burning command tank (see rules below) somewhere on the central hill.
BEGINNING THE BATTLE
  1. The defending force begins the game in Prepared Positions, so its troops are in Foxholes and Gone to Ground.
  2. Starting with the defender, both players make Reconnaissance Deployment moves.
  3. The attacking player takes the first turn.
ENDING THE BATTLE
The battle can only end with the capture of Ritter von Thoma. There is no time limit, and both the attacking and defending forces are rendered immune to the effects of failed Company Morale checks for the purposes of the scenario. The battle ends at the end of the step in which von Thoma is captured.
DECIDING WHO WON

At the end of the battle, the number of German platoons withdrawn from the fighting without their becoming Destroyed determines the outcome. Consult the chart below to determine the players’ relative performance. Note that if the entire German force safely withdraws the defender scores the highest points possible, even if the number of his platoons withdrawn would not be sufficient to do so on the chart.

(Since the blog format of BoLS does not play nice with tables,there is no victory point table reprinted here.  In words, the points the Axis player earns are equal to the number of platoons safely withdrawn up to a maximum of 6, whereas the Allied player’s score is 7 – (Axis score).)

Mission Special Rules
We Fought Until Our Ammunition Was Expended”: The Afrikakorps was the pride of the German Wehrmacht in the Mediterranean theater, and it fought hard against hopeless odds to preserve that reputation.  However, the supply situation and threat of encirclement became so dire that it was impossible to keep a unit in the line even one moment longer than was necessary.
This rule is as the Strategic Withdrawal rule, but ignore the necessity for 5 platoons to be on the board and disregard the Delay Counter mechanic. Every defender turn after turn 2, a platoon must be withdrawn.

I Have Accepted The Possibility Of Losing 100% Casualties”: General Montgomery said the above on November 1 with reference to the British 9th Armoured Brigade’s mad charge into a known German AT gun screen. The comment reveals the iron will of that commander to win at any cost and to make tactical concerns subordinate to the strategic needs of 8th Army.

Attacking platoons that are removed from the table for whatever reason (their teams were all Destroyed, they failed a platoon morale check and were Destroyed, their last teams moved off the table voluntarily, etc.) are not Destroyed forever, but are put into Reserve. They will automatically return to the table in the attacker’s next turn – there is no need to roll to see whether they arrive – and will move on exactly as Reserves would.
Note that if the attacking company is rated as an Infantry Company, its force may be augmented by a Transport Section of 4 trucks for free before the game begins. This platoon follows all of the usual rules for Transport Platoons, with the addition that if it is not deployed on the table at the start of the game, it must drive on from Reserve carrying the first Infantry or Gun platoon to arrive, with no roll necessary.
Rendezvous with Destiny: After the battle at Tel el Mampsra, Rommel speculated that Ritter von Thoma had gone to the front to purposefully seek his death in battle. Other staff officers of the Panzerarmee more quietly suggested that he meant to be captured by the Allies all along. On one thing, all sources agree – von Thoma was seen to bail out of his command tank only after several penetrations of its armor, and he stood erect near it even once it caught fire, ‘seemingly impervious to the [gun]fire passing all around him’.

Having chosen to make his stand (whatever his reasons) at Tel el Mampsra, Ritter von Thoma’s team may not ever for any reason move more than 6” from the burning hulk of his command tank, which must be placed on the Tel when the defender deploys his Independent teams. For the purposes of this scenario, von Thoma’s team cannot be destroyed or otherwise removed from the table in any manner other than being Destroyed by an enemy assault (this represents his capture). If his team would normally be destroyed in some other fashion, simply ignore this and leave the team where it is. To prevent abuse of this rule, von Thoma may not use the “Sharing the Risks” rule in the rulebook.

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General der Panzertruppen Wilhelm Josef Ritter von Thoma
Characteristics
General von Thoma is a Warrior and a Higher Command team rated as Confident Veteran. He is armed with a pistol with the following ratings:
Range: 4”/10cm, ROF: 1, Anti-tank: 1, Firepower: 6.
Von Thoma may command any Panzer, Panzergrenadier (motorized or armored), Panzerpioneer, or Aufklaerungs company from the Afrika book for +40 points.
Special Rules
Chivalric Valor: Ritter von Thoma did not inherit his title (Ritter being the equivalent of English “Knight” or “Sir”), but rather was granted it in 1916 for bravery and honorable service. This speaks volumes of his personal bravery, but also means that his men can relate to him – he was not born to privilege, but had to earn his rank the same way they have had to. Von Thoma and any platoon he is currently leading pass Motivation checks on a roll of 2+.

General der Panzertruppen: A veteran of the Eastern Front and a member of the mechanized arm of the German Army basically since its inception, von Thoma knows a thing or two about Panzers! Once per Step, a German tank team with line of sight to von Thoma can re-roll its first failed armor save, motivation check to remount, or check to avoid bogging or to free a bogged down vehicle. This re-roll can only apply to one tank (and one roll) per Step.

Well, that’s it!  As I’m sure you can see, the scenario can be adapted to almost any last-stand situation between almost any two forces without much additional work.  Hope you enjoy!

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