DESERT RATS

Variant for AH Panzerblitz

by Norman Beveridge

	When Italy first  entered WWII, her leaders envisioned a great colonial empire spreading from the Italian colonies in Africa.  Perhaps some of them even thought  that Italy  might regain the splendor  and might of Rome. Two world powers  opposed  such  a move by possessing most of the rest of Africa. But French opposition from their north west Africa colonies  virtually  ended when the Germans  overran France early in 1940.  That left only Great Britain to attempt to  stem the  Italian tide. British troops in  the Middle East and nearby colonies,  as well  as units in Australia, New Zealand, India, and the rest of the Commonwealth, prepared  to defend Egypt and the Suez pipeline.
	The  fighting   that  followed  the Italian invasion of Egypt soon indicated that Italian units alone could not invade  and   conquer  adjacent   land blocks,  much less hold  onto the land Italy already  possessed.   Very  soon the Germans  found it  in  their interests  to  send aid  to  their failing allies. They did so  in  the form of and a  very  able commander Erwin Rommel.   From the time of his arrival the battle  in Africa began to sway back  and  forth quite often  and  the situation  became   so fluid that  neither side  could really consolidate anything east of the Quattara Depression.   But in the  end the supply problems did Rommel in, and the Allied units  pushed  the  Axis forces right off the continent.
	This  kit   contains   34 scenarios picked from  crucial battles  and campaigns illustrating  the various types of battles   possible  in  the desert. The forces  opposed usually  involve a very high proportion  of vehicles, and that  combined  with  the  vast, empty spaces on  the  board  should  provide some very different battles from those of any other Panzerblitz scenarios you have ever seen.  Have fun.

CHANGES AND RULES ADDITIONS TO  THE REGULAR RULES
	The  regular  rules  apply  in  all cases except as modified herein: 
Stacking:   Germans and U.S. units are platoons,  and stack three per square. Italians and  British  units  are companies, and stack two per square.
Bren Gun Carriers:    British Bren gun carriers count as halftracks.
Jeeps:  Jeeps have only a 1/2C designation.   This means that  to carry any unit except  a Recon unit,  the Allied player must  use two Jeeps.   When two Jeeps are  carrying a unit,  the whole stack counts  only as one  unit.  When separated   or  unloaded,   each  Jeep counts as  one unit.   The British may put two Jeeps in a square with another unit,  but must load up the next turn.
Panzerblitz Assault:   U.S.  units may not use this type of attack; all other armies may.
Movement: This rule is VERY IMPORTANT! ADD ONE TO THE  MOVEMENT COST OF EVERY TYPE OF  TERRAIN  EXCEPT  ROADS.   For example,  a clear square now costs two
movement  factors.   Every unit with a movement  factor of one  or more; however, may move at least one square per turn regardless  of Movement  costs of terrain  within  the  restriction that the unit  must make a legal move if possible before making  one that would exceed its MF.
Reading the Scenarios:   At the top of each scenarioappears the  number and name of the battle and Just below that you will find the  action depicted and the date.  Next comes a brief description of the battle, and below that the board configuration.   This letter refers to the type of board shown on the board   configuration   diagram.   All boards are  conpletely  devoid of terrain.   Next you should  find the OB's giving units involved and then listing the playing pieces  used in the scenario.   To avoid  confusion  I have included a  chart  showing  exactly what the various  abbreviations  refer  to. Initial set up,  order  of move,  and entry aids are given next.  In no case may units  set up within  five squares of the  outer board edge  (even if the setup says "anywhere") unless the conditions specifically permit it.  Mines must  be  laid  in  straight  lines at least  four  hexes  long  if possible. Next you should find  the victory conditions.  If the conditions are stated for only one side, then the other side must avoid  those conditions  in order to win.   In  scenarios  involving destruction of units,  trucks count only 1/2 unit.

FREE SUSTITUTION RULES (OPTIONAL)
	Of course, the weapons used by each side were mixed and  hardly as uniform as I  show In  these  scenarios.   All kinds  of  weapons  were  used  at all times,  partly  because  of the difficulty   in getting  replacements   and partly  because  new  items  wore  out quickly,  so the  old  one  was better than none.  Using this rule (which not only  permits  this  realistic  mix of weapons but  also  adds  playbalance), one player chooses which scenario will be played.   Then the other player decides on  the OB's  by substituting as many units as lie  wishes into the regular OB  according  to  the  free substitution  table.    Then   the  first player chooses which side he wishes to play.   To substitute  a unit,  simply look down the line showing the type of unit  (tank, mortar, etc.)  and choose any of the  units listed.   You cannot choose a unit before it entered combat Germans could  not use  PzlVa in 1941. You may  mix  units  as you  please as long as  the number  of  units remains the same.

DESIGNER'S NOTES
	I  have  discussed  U.S.  units  in "West Front  Panzerblitz"  and British units in "Omaha Beach",  and now I introduce into  this game  Italian units which I discuss below,
	I have  included only  twenty-three different units for  the Italian Army; by far the fewest of any of the armies so far.     This   did   not  happen by chance.   Many more units do exist beyond a  doubt,  but sources  for their organization are  few and far between. I included  only those  that were most common,  and  therefore  those which I could   easily  cross   check  between sources.
	The Italians gained world-wide fame for  tlieir  fighting  spirit,  which I think only  the South  Vietnamese have surpassed.   For  those  of you who do not know,  they had next  to none.  If they could they avoided a fight, so to give their,  effectiveness in the game I had to make their  units company size. Of  course,   game  units  had as much spirit  as the  German SS,  and  those units have  much more  strength in the game.   Unfortunately,   the  Italians also  suffered  from  poor  and scarce equipment.
	The Italians depended on one medium mortar,  like the  other major powers, more  than  any  other  light or heavy weapons.  Like almost all others, they preferred  the  Sinmi size,  and  their weapon of this type compared favorably to those  of other nations.   For that matter,  most of the Italian artillery units had  weapons of good  quality in general  compared  to  other  nations. Furthermore, the artillery units themselves compared very well  to those of other nations.   As far as I can tell, the  Italians  had  great  fun sitting back a few  miles and  taking potshots at enemy soldiers with HE even if they didn't  like  looking him  in the eye. Maybe that made it impersonal and thus easier to do.
	The Italian  anti-tank guns cane in three basic  sizes.   Their 37mm model was crummy--no range and no firepower. The 47mm  model  had  slightly  better characteristics,  and served  as tlieir chief  piece  in this  category.   Not completely developed before the end of the war,  the 90mm  AT gun  showed the makings  of  an  excellent  piece, and actually  went  into  battle  in  some tanks in its early, primitive stage.
	Like the mortars,  the Italian flak weapons,   mainly  20iinn,  compared  to other weapons of its class favorably.
	I'lie  Italians had many, many artillery pieces and I had  trouble finding out enough  about  most of them,  so I chose the most coimnon pieces.   In the light category,  the '65mm piece showed up most often,  but compared  to other countries' guns of this type it failed the test.   Their heavy weapons showed some very  high marks in  accuracy and power,  but lacked  a little  in range and ease of loading.   This last fault was due  mostly to  their   antiquity. Like other armies,  the Italians  took old types of artillery,  including IVWI pieces,  and remodeled  them to modern needs.   Unfortunately,  the  Italians never  modernized  quite  as  much  as other armies did.
	Italian  infantry  had  morale problems.   The "conscripts" or Ragruppamenti formations  had low morale, manpower weakness, and poor weapons.  The Regulars  had  better  equipment,  but that is about all.  The Italian Bersagliers units  functioned like the German Waffen  SS  units in that they had the highest spirit,  best weapons, and best leaders.  The paratroops also had good training and equipment.
	Engineers are  engineers  are engineers,  except Italian  engineers, who did not have enough equipment to function well as engineers.
	The  Italians  built  tanks  out of paper   mache  or  so   their  drivers thought.   Their skins,  especially on the M3  models,  had  such  thin armor plate that  light' machine  gun or even rifle bullets penetrated.  The M3, M11 and M13  models  served  well as Recon vehicles, though they were supposed to be main  battle tanks.   At least they were fast.   Later tanks, like the P40 and  JgdMI3  mounted  bigger  guns and sometimes better armor.
	So much for the design of the units The scenarios  in  this  one took more research  than in  any  of the others, not only  because I did  more of them, but also because the sources disagreed on who  liad how  much when  and where. But as always I chose playability over strict realism, and a few scenarios do not quite duplicate the actual battle, but only  approximate  the action.  In the desert  of  course the  terrain is not total waste as is indicated by the blank boards,  but I found no easy way to show this  without overcomplicating the game.  SO, if you have anything to say about it, write me.

The Scenarios

	Actually,  instead of  34 scenarios there are only 31: Scenarios  27  and 28  were Tunisian actions involving American units  and  Scenario 34 was unfinished by Mr. Beveridge.  The 'original numbering was preserved.