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Turn 36
18th January 1941

The Australians are proving brittle and are reorganising once more. I start with a series of bombardments, but first push the rest of the Polish brigade onto the coastal road to try and continue impeding the Italian retreat. I do the same with the Australian 20th Brigade further to the west and have the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers guarding their rear south of the escarpment.

Turn 36 - Round 3
18th January 1941

Another mix of bombardments and a couple of combats are planned. These are largely successful but I can't help the thought I've played this pretty badly. There are a number of Italian divisions that appear to not be engaged at all and that is not good - e.g. I haven't seen the Sirte, Savona or Sabratha divisions.

Round 5

Not bad results this time in that I've cleared the last remaining Italians from the El Adem area. The next Round will almost certainly be the last so this is all about anything I can do to trap as many units as possible.

Round 7

This round saw the Italians pushed back further - but the only thing that matters now is the extent to which the units around Tobruk can be trapped and destroyed.....


Position pre-Round 7

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 36 - Round 3
18th January 1941

Another mix of bombardments and a couple of combats are planned. These are largely successful but I can't help the thought I've played this pretty badly. There are a number of Italian divisions that appear to not be engaged at all and that is not good - e.g. I haven't seen the Sirte, Savona or Sabratha divisions.

Historically you are behind in terms of territory, and probably in losses, too. Is it time to think about fortifying before Rommel comes?

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 36 - Round 3
18th January 1941

Another mix of bombardments and a couple of combats are planned. These are largely successful but I can't help the thought I've played this pretty badly. There are a number of Italian divisions that appear to not be engaged at all and that is not good - e.g. I haven't seen the Sirte, Savona or Sabratha divisions.

Historically you are behind in terms of territory, and probably in losses, too. Is it time to think about fortifying before Rommel comes?

warspite1

I am probably about a week behind in terms of territory (depending on when I can actually get Tobruk) but in terms of digging in I can't think about that because I still try and need to get as many Italians as possible. So my current priority list is:

- Take Tobruk
- Destroy as many Italian units as possible
- Head west to try and take Derna and Benghazi and destroy as many Italian units as possible
- Remind myself of what happened in the game vs the AI. There is something wrong with the withdrawals table and I need to be clear in my mind when the Aussies start disappearing. I then need to come up with a plan for facing Rommel.

Turn 37
22nd January 1941

There were no attacks that turn but I did detect a lot of Luftwaffe activity....

Turn 37
22nd January 1941

Here is a New Summary I received. I will try and explain if I can, to those not au fait with this scenario, what the latest developments mean:

Firstly, there is an Axis reinforcement hex on the western edge of the map. The CW cannot go within 20 hexes of that or they receive massive penalties (and they don't want to go there). I as the CW player (if I was any good or my opponent was rubbish) could have voided this restriction had I taken Tobruk by turn 35 and Derna by turn 37. I failed miserably and so that is not an option and I have to stay away from the reinforcement hex.

But the Luftwaffe mentioned above appear to be available because of this (taken from the scenario documentation):

4. Luftwaffe formations that have units that arrive prior to Rommel have been placed in reserve, to be released on turn 53 (arrival of Rommel). But the Axis player can immediately release them by exercising his [theatre option] to remove restriction zone 2 from protecting the Axis reinforcement area.

I can't see that Restriction Zone 2 is defined and I note the grey hexes have gone missing. So not really sure what all this means to be honest.....

Turn 37
22nd January 1941

Not really sure what to do now. I feel the need to press on but Tobruk still looks formidable and then there is the nonsense with units that are invulnerable to attack on the coast.

Little choice but to begin with bombardments. There is time for just three attacks. The units south of Tmimi are successful in pushing back some Italian infantry and to the east, Gazala is taken by an Australian brigade - though at a cost. Pre the round the Italian on the coastal road are pushed back and then the one major assault pushes the main Italian line back further.

Turn 37
22nd January 1941

The turn ends with a final attack along the coast road.

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 36 - Round 3
18th January 1941

Another mix of bombardments and a couple of combats are planned. These are largely successful but I can't help the thought I've played this pretty badly. There are a number of Italian divisions that appear to not be engaged at all and that is not good - e.g. I haven't seen the Sirte, Savona or Sabratha divisions.

Historically you are behind in terms of territory, and probably in losses, too. Is it time to think about fortifying before Rommel comes?

warspite1

I am probably about a week behind in terms of territory (depending on when I can actually get Tobruk) but in terms of digging in I can't think about that because I still try and need to get as many Italians as possible. So my current priority list is:

- Take Tobruk
- Destroy as many Italian units as possible
- Head west to try and take Derna and Benghazi and destroy as many Italian units as possible
- Remind myself of what happened in the game vs the AI. There is something wrong with the withdrawals table and I need to be clear in my mind when the Aussies start disappearing. I then need to come up with a plan for facing Rommel.

How about stopping at Gazala, even if it means letting the eyeties get away?

Turn 38 - Axis Turn
25th January 1941

No attacks but four bombardments against the Australians east of Gazala - who once again go into reorganisation mode....

Turn 38
25th January 1941

The strength of the Italian air force at this stage of the game is really annoying....

The Italian infantry around Tmimi are destroyed and as are most of the units caught between Tobruk and Gazala. The Antipodean troops meanwhile edge closer to Tobruk itself...

Turn 39 - Axis Turn
29th January 1941

The Polish Anti-Tank Battalion is mauled west of Tobruk while two bombardments are also carried out against the Australians

Turn 39 - Axis Turn
29th January 1941

Mmmm... the air situation is spoiling the game somewhat. The CW can't move without being ground struck - another furball causes the loss of an entire Hurricane unit.... It doesn't seem to matter what orders I give either. A unit immolates itself attacking an airfield....

Ho hum....

In (slightly) better news - Tobruk falls but there are still three stacks to try and destroy...

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 39 - Axis Turn
29th January 1941

another furball causes the loss of an entire Hurricane unit.... It doesn't seem to matter what orders I give either. A unit immolates itself attacking an airfield....

Have you asked the developers for an explanation? Perhaps it is a real bug.

Have you asked the developers for an explanation? Perhaps it is a real bug.

I'm confused about what's going on......is it a problem that a unit get shot down attacking
an airfield? Sounds normal to me.

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Have you asked the developers for an explanation? Perhaps it is a real bug.

I'm confused about what's going on......is it a problem that a unit get shot down attacking
an airfield? Sounds normal to me.

warspite1

Yes that is always a problem [:D]

No, I was just letting off some steam. The furball thing has really got under my skin - I should just do an Elsa and let it go as it is what it is - but....

I have no confidence in the air assistant (can two players have different settings in a PBEM?) as every time I check my air units at the start of the turn in some cases their orders have seemed to change....

Ho hum....[:)]

Turn 40 - Axis Turn
1st February 1941

Ha Ha that was clever - I pressed the wrong button and missed the Italian turn [8|] But it looks like there were no Axis attacks.

Turn 40
1st February 1941

Sadly the game goes from bad to worse. Because there is still an Italian artillery unit west of Tobruk it looks like I've lost the western strong point. That means Tobruk isn't going to last very long.....[:(]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 39 - Axis Turn
29th January 1941

Mmmm... the air situation is spoiling the game somewhat. The CW can't move without being ground struck - another furball causes the loss of an entire Hurricane unit.... It doesn't seem to matter what orders I give either. A unit immolates itself attacking an airfield....

Ho hum....

In (slightly) better news - Tobruk falls but there are still three stacks to try and destroy...

Better get used to it.[;)]
I'd pull every air unit back to Alexandria at this stage of the game.

ORIGINAL: warspite1
Sadly the game goes from bad to worse. Because there is still an Italian artillery unit west of Tobruk it looks like I've lost the western strong point. That means Tobruk isn't going to last very long.....[:(]

I may be wrong, but I think your "strongpoint" will appear when you take that hex. Bob Cross should chime in to confirm.

ORIGINAL: warspite1


Sadly the game goes from bad to worse. Because there is still an Italian artillery unit west of Tobruk it looks like I've lost the western strong point. That means Tobruk isn't going to last very long.....[:(]

Not necessarily. As I understand it, the stronpoint will come in when the hex is cleared.

ORIGINAL: Olorin

I may be wrong, but I think your "strongpoint" will appear when you take that hex. Bob Cross should chime in to confirm.

Correct. Like any reinforcement, if its arrival hex is enemy occupied then it will backlog till that hex is cleared. Of course, a long way down the road, those things are withdrawn (assuming they still exist), so if you wait that long to take the hex then it never will arrive. But that doesn't appear to be an issue here.

Turn 41 - Axis Turn
5th February 1941

I think I will simply disband the RAF and create RAF Field Divisions. Sorry but that is rather pathetic. As advised, I will move all air units to Alexandria and place on rest.