ASL Comp: Afrikakorps – Frontier War

FRONTIER POST, LIBYAN-EGYPTIAN BORDER, 12 JUNE 1940: The frontier wire was some 12 feet wide and 16 feet high; the Italians had built it along the Libya-Egypt border from the coast near Sollum to the oasis of Jarabub, 150 miles to the south. On 12 June patrols from the 11th Hussars and the KRRC quickly breached the wire. Attacking at dawn and out of the rising sun, the Hussars surprised and confused the Italian defenders, who watched as their machinegun posts were suppressed by British mortar fire and their tankettes destroyed by British armored cars and close-range machinegun fire from Vickers tanks. These raids continued through the rest of June and July of 1940, until the British 7th Armoured Division was recalled for a refit in Egypt. The raids destroyed many Italian vehicles, considerable supplies of ammunition and petrol, and significant water storage. Twenty-five Italian officers (including a general of engineers) and five hundred other ranks were captured. This series of raids also marked the beginning of an overall erosion of Italian morale, as the inadequacy of their tank armor and the scarcity of effective antitank weapons and ammunition became apparent....

ASLComp AFRIKAKORPS: Frontier War is a detailed new ASLComp VARIANT that tells the story of the War in North Africa. It's about time the desert warfare goodness that was spawned by Hal Hock's seminal work TOBRUK back in 1975... was brought to the gaming tables of ASLers. And now it is, in a big way.

The eighth portion of the set-piece is ASLComp AFRIKAKORPS: Frontier War and depicts the British push forward during the blazing hot summer of 1940. Italy had the meatballs to declare war on Great Britain as Mussolini decided to join his fellow dictators and gorge on Europe's spoils. Il Duce failed to take into account the fighting spirit of Tommy Atkins and his commanders. The result was anything but a massive offensive by numerically superior Italian soldiers in the Western Desert. Instead, British probes became attacks. Attacks became offensives. And the entire affair became a major problem for Mussolini's Italy and dreams of more easy conquests on the African Continent. This batch of 8 scenarios takes things from the frontier raid of 12 June 1940 through Graziani's offensive and the "first haul of booty of the desert war" along the coastal road west of Alam el Dab, Egypt some months later.

You receive a set of 8 scenarios, all depicting actions from the exciting offensive, rife with combined-arms actions. And yes, these are aimed at playability. Slap them down, bang them out, do it again. And again. Please do a little hooting and hollering while you're at it... at least when you roll 'snakeyes' (or the other guy rolls 'boxcars').