Operation Cromwell V

The fifth annual FOW completion organised by Camp Cromwell was run this weekend at the Battery Point Community Hall.  The format was as last year, a pairs completion, all blue on red with 4 Axis teams fighting 4 Allied teams.  Each team played each of the enemy teams once on each of the 4 tables, each table having a different scenario.  Each team had 2 coys totalling 2500 pts in the Tunisian campaign from the book North Afrika.  The 8 teams included players from Camp Cromwell, Kingston Bunker Rats & the Launceston Gaming Club.

Table/scenario 1: Rommel's Envelopment at Abdul Fuk Dhir: The allies deploy in the centre of the table, the Axizs with a coy at each end.  There are five 2 VP objectives spread along the road.  This turned out to be the Axis' horror table, with only Munt & Coy's Italians even gaining a VP from it.

Table/scenario 2: Allied Breakthrough at Sidi Bin Hire:  The Axis deployed with one coy on their rear edge, the other defending five 2 VP objectives at in their 2/3 of the table.  This was the best table for the Axis - the only one they did better than the Allies on.

Table/scenario 3:  Fight for Djeble Ali Baba:  Both sides want to seize the mountain top and adjacent passes.  There is a 4 VP objective on the mountain top, two 2 VP objectives on the passes and two 1 VP objectives in the villages.  In this scenario both sides make secret deployment in their third of the table by making a sketch map. The mountain top has been blasted by the RAF and is a mess of craters and rocks providing bullet proof cover & very difficult ground.  The Allies did well on this table, though it's basically a symmetrical scenario.

Table/scenario 4:  Encounter battle in the Kwar d'Fuk Arwe:  Both side deploy 1 coy by the usual alternate platoon method.  The other coy is in reserve.  Its entry point anywhere between 60cm up the LH side and 60cm up the RH side.  The location is recorded secretly at the start & revealed on turn 2 when half the coy comes on.  The other half come on behind it on turn 3. As with table 3 the Allies did well on this table, even though it was a symmetrical scenario.

The Wurzen Und Alle team from Camp Cromwell (Jim & Chris) won a Golden wooden spoon by failing to gain a single Victory Point.  Perhaps they should play Saga where most hair wins tied dice rolls.

The Axis Trophy was a tie between Kampfegruppe Kromwell from Camp Crowwell (Nick & Steve) and Garry & Stu from the Kingston Bunker Rats.

The Allied Trophy was won by John & Rusty from the Kingston Bunker Rats.

Last year the Germans won most of their battles, but this year the boot was on the other foot with the Allies on top.  Nevertheless, the battles were all good fights, often much closer than the VP score would indicate.  The large discrepancy in total VPs between Axis & Allies was largely due to the spectacular lack of success of team Warzen Und Alle.   The 4 allied teams were separated by only 5 VP's and 3 of the Axis teams were separated by only 2 VPs.