Rommel Test Game - STARTEX

Been a bit quiet here of late what with work, a book deadline on 30 April and various domestic issues which have seen my physical space for wargaming shrink a bit (hence smaller table above!)

But I have now got the Rommel introductory adventure of Op Brevity underway. Allies attacking from bottom, with objectives being the two oases and the port. The Axis have low grade Italians deployed forward, a German Kampfgruppe on the back line, and another due to come on at Turn 8.

In the first "turn" (i.e Allied then Axis turn) the Brits pushed an armoured thrust into the desert on the R flank, the Germans came out to meet them, but the Brits came off the better and the German's bounced off with the higher casualties.

In right-centre there was a British infantry assault against the Italians on the hills. It failed but at lest one Italian unit only has 1 HP left.

On the right the coastal force engaged the Italians forward of the port. Again Italians damaged but not eliminated.

End of Turn 2

Impressions so far ... not wonderful I'm afraid. The use of the Ops Dice and the range of Events and Tactics make it quite Saga like, you seem to spend more time worrying about dice allocation decisions and choosing a tactic to use than you do actually playing a "real" tactic on the table. Also the fact that tactics should be simultaneously revealed makes it not ideal for solo play.

In terms of game tactics you really need overwhelming force so you can eliminate a unit in one go, and that needs a combination of multiple units, ideally a flank attack, and the deployment of some good Ops Dice tactics. So it may become a case of orchestrating a set-piece or two each turn - which in some way may not be too unrealistic. We'll see.

Ops boards at the end of Turn 2. Whether to reset and draw 3, or just draw 6 but have filled tactics I can see being a big decision.