Dick move or fair play?

[broccolini]

I am playing a game of North Africa and Axis player is sending camel cavalry and motorcycle's around to harass the British supply line. It seems legit to me because harassing a supply line is good policy when it's an enemy army advancing into Mussolini's territory. But I don't know.
Which is it. Legit or Dick move?

Screenshot 2026-03-13 070459c.png (1.11 MiB) Viewed 420 times

[nemo69]

Reckon that'd be me

[broccolini]

Reckon that'd be me

Hi Marc,
No. Our game was almost three years ago. I started another and this time I am playing Axis.

[cathar1244]

Probably unrealistic. What a scenario won't depict is a bunch of rear echelon units that would have opportunities to run off small enemy units like a platoon.

The image here reminds me of scenarios in which a partisan unit creates huge supply problems by blocking a rail line and doesn't have to reckon with all of the forces that were historically present but not depicted in a typical scenario.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

How big is the unit depicted? I agree with the above that the rear area usually has MP detachments as well as loads of supply troops etc.. that could handle a platoon but they probably could not easily handle a battalion, at least not initially.

[sPzAbt653]

Isn't this why the 'Overextended' status was created? If I understand it, if this setting is used correctly then units such as those depicted above would decline in strength and evaporate after a few turns.

[broccolini]

They are desert camel units. They can't stay out in the desert forever but can roam far and wide. Company strength. Seems like made to be supply line harassers to me.

[Lobster]

The guys shooting the guns are not camels.

[macgregor]

I don't consider it necessarily realistic. But unless you house-rule it out, it has to be expected. Long supply lines require some defense.

[broccolini]

The guys shooting the guns are not camels.

No. Its these guys. and they look like desert raiders to me.

Screenshot 2026-03-11 115155.png (244.61 KiB) Viewed 257 times

[broccolini]

Most are actually getting rounded up by the Polish Brigade fairly easily.

[Lobster]

The guys shooting the guns are not camels.

No. Its these guys. and they look like desert raiders to me.
Screenshot 2026-03-11 115155.png

I don't care what kind of raiders they are. Camels can go days without. People cannot. The people are the ones carrying the guns.

[broccolini]

The guys shooting the guns are not camels.

No. Its these guys. and they look like desert raiders to me.
Screenshot 2026-03-11 115155.png

I don't care what kind of raiders they are. Camels can go days without. People cannot. The people are the ones carrying the guns.

Without what? water? They carry it on camels. Along with everything else.

[Lobster]

Get real. The motorcycle unit has gone all the way to the Nile Delta. The camels are on their way there. The game allows players to do things that would be impossible in the real world. Over extended doesn't come close to addressing things like this.

[broccolini]

You can use Camels to carry gas....

[broccolini]

So here it is by the numbers.
Motorcycles of that era= 50miles/gallon
Those motorcycles traveled approximately 800 miles per the scale of that map
so
800miles/50mpg= 16.5 gallons.
They wouldn't need camels to carry the gas. Just a few jerry cans each would easily do it.

[Lobster]

And that's exactly why history shows how camels and motorcycles captured the Suez Canal from the British. But the British eventually drove them out and used Dr. Who's Tardis to go back in time and change how history was written. You are absolutely correct. Impossible to argue your logic.

[sPzAbt653]

So if 'overextended' doesn't work, then does this go all the way back in time to the 'ant unit' discussion?

Historically - if a small group of camels and motorcycles captured Alexandria, then these units should be included. If not, then these units have no place in the OOB.

Didn't the Long Range Desert Group and 33rd and 15th Recon Bn's make deep forays into enemy territory? Maybe that is what the design is trying for. Is the LRDG represented?

I'm not defending it. Designers shouldn't miss the unique TOAW supply rules that aren't seen in any other wargame.

[Curtis Lemay]

The latest versions of CFNA out there do use an Overextended Threshold of 5.

[broccolini]

The latest versions of CFNA out there do use an Overextended Threshold of 5.

Which is what we are playing. The units are able to make the trip, roam around a little and then go back. Those that were not destroyed by Poles in armored cars.
Most were. I don't think they stopped the trains for more than a few days and did not get that close to Alexandria.
Clearly Lobster thinks its far-fetched. I don't.
Once my opponent started securing his supply line with the Polish Brigade this foray was over.