AP160 Carrier Hill

[ScottRomanowski]

Tobruk, 22 April 1941
My Australians win by controlling all five hillock summits, and eliminating all three ART guns and/or controlling their hexes. The multiple hillock overlays are treated as one large hillock.
The Italians have 16 squads, three 75* ART guns, and two 20L AA guns. I have 6 carriers, 2 Matilda IIs, and 9.5 squads. I have much better leaderships, a -2, two -1s, and a -0 vs the Italian three -0s and a +1.


At start
I've circled the three ART guns. 31N3, S3, S4, T3, and T4 are the hilloc summits. My plan is to move the carriers to the west of the hillock and use Vehicle Dust to screen my infantry.

The approach seems scary until you calculate the TH#s. There is a LV equivalent to Mist, and with Red TH#s and a * barrel, the 75mm guns need to roll a 4 to hit a vehicle at 13-18-hex range, and that does not include Cases J or P. Also, every Italian weapon, except the two 20L AA Guns, is B11.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Turn 1a
I enter and try to screen the carriers with the Matildas or dust. The Italians open fire with the three ART guns and mortars in N3 and Q5.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Turn 1b
The Italians take various improbable shots and malfunction the T4 ART. The empty sangars are where his HIP AA Guns are located. Guns must set up in sangars, and while the Guns are still HIP in the scrub, the Sangars were revealed.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Turn 2a
I deployed one squad at start, and the four leader each deployed one more in the RPh. In the DFPh the Italian N3 mortar fires, rolls my SAN on the TH DR, no effect on the IFT attack, and my sniper breaks the N3 mortar squad. He rolls a 12 on the TH DR of his other mortar.

The Matildas are firing at the U6 ART. I've created a Carrier FG, and most of the Carriers fire at the Italian 6+1, MMG/347 in the M4 sangar, disrupting the 6+1 and breaking the 347. The 8-1, 9-1, and 10-2 each advanced with a LMG/458 under a Carrier.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Turn 2b
The Italians sit tight, only taking some shots with the two working ART guns. I break a 347 trying to AM from M3 to M4 to man the MMG. In the DFPh one of the Matildas hits the U6 Gun, but the 2FP IFT attack has no effect. I break a 347 in N4, and ELR a 346 in Q5.

So far my plan is working, I've reduced the Italian western outpost and haven't taken any losses. I've broken 5 Italian squads. One ART is malfunctioned, and both mortars and the MMG are unmanned. As I close I expect to start to take casualties.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Turn 3a
I continue firing at the U6 ART with both Matildas. I roll a '2' for one attack, but sadly it's for a CMG IFT attack, not a TH DR, and the 227 passes the 1MC.
I DT all the 248s, moving them into the lead, past the leader-led LMG/458 stacks. Fire from both sides was ineffective, except I eliminated a broken squad in the AFPh. I hope to do more in DFPh3b, but almost all of the Italians in the east are still concealed.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Turn 3b
I break the squad for the 75 ART in U6 and capture some prisoners from the western outpost. I malf my mortar firing at his HIP 20L in R6.
At the halfway point I've taken no losses, not even a broken unit, which must be demoralizing to my opponent, and am facing 3x347, 7x346 (2 broken), 3xLMG, 3x -0 leaders, 2xHIP 20L w/ crew. Of the 75ARTs, one is AOK, one is manned by a broken crew, and the third is malfunctioned but the crew is OK.
I can leapfrog the carriers over the infantry, but I expect to take some casualties in 4a.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Turn4a
I get a lucky break in the RPh as my opponent tries to repair the T4 75ART and rolls a 6. It's marked with a Gun Disabled counter per SSR since I have to eliminate them to win.
I push forward and take my first casualties: a 20L AA in R6 Immobilizes the P6 Carrier C, and the 75* ART in S3 eliminates the P4 Carrier B. Other Italian units fire, finally dropping concealment, but have no effect. In AFPh I get a 2MC on R6 from the P6+P7 FG, but the crew passes with an Original 4. I'm consolidating prisoners in O2. My mortar is still malfunctioned, but I'm not bringing an Italian mmg to the fight.

 

[The Purist]

Desert scenarios are just so damned sexy!

 

[von Marwitz]

Desert scenarios are just so damned sexy!

Well, I wouldn't go as far as calling them sexy - but for sure the are hot.

von Marwitz

 

[Old Noob]

That's the trouble with desert scenarios, you always end up thirsty.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

We fire at short range in +1 TEM with predictable results.
In the PFPh two large, multi-hex FGs, one 24FP+1 and the other 8FP+1, break the 10-2 and LMG/458 in 31Q6. One 20L destroys a Carrier C and the 75* ART destroys a Carrier B. My opponent tries to move the crew from the disabled ART to the ART with a broken crew; a Matilda catches it AMing in OG with its CMG and eliminates the crew.
In the DFPh I get revenge: A FG breaks the 20L crew with a 16FP+2 attack; the captured Italian mmg ELRs an 8-0 and 346. Other FG break a 347, and a Matilda's MA breaks the crew on the last manned 75* ART! I malf my ATR.
At this point I have lost three Carriers and one is Immobile. My opponent has one manned Gun, a HIP 20L in 31V4, and seven unbroken squads. I have two turns to destroy three 75* ART or control their hexes, and control four more Hillock Summit hexes (S3, S4, T3, T4).

 

[ScottRomanowski]

In turn 5a I push forward aggressively, overrunning two of the 75 ART in sangars to eliminate them. Italian defensive fire breaks a 248 and creates a hero. My vehicles restrict routing to make four Italian squads surrender, and one squad is eliminated for FTR. The prisoners are becoming a problem -- I have to guard eight squads and a 6+1. I control three hillock summit hexes, but one is only by vehicle control. I think I can overrun the last gun and control all the hillock hexes in my last player turn.
The sangars hide everything; this is what it looks like without them and with some stacks expanded. Hex P5 has the 10-2, LMG/458 and broken 248 under the Carrier. The 9-1, LMG/458 are in P3, the 8-0, mmg/248 are in O5. One Matilda is in Motion, with an Italian 7-0 and 346 in the hex. I overran them, so their sangar was eliminated.
If you look carefully, I could have a 8-hex, hero-led FG in DFPh5b.

 

[Sparafucil3]

If you look carefully, I could have a 8-hex, hero-led FG in DFPh5b.

My favorite shot ever: a 4-hex Firegroup to encircle on one toss of the dice -- jim

 

[ScottRomanowski]

In turn 5b the Italians make some ineffective PFPh attacks, and stay in their Sangars. My DFPh from the 10-2 stack in P5 breaks the units in U5 and T6, the 8-1 stack in Q7 breaks U6, the 9-1 stack in P3 wounds the 7-0 in T5, and the U6 Matilda gets a CH on V6 and breaks that squad with the 4FP-1 attack.
The wounded 7-0 advances to S5 to attack my 248 guard, yielding a Melee. Luckily Italians will never attempt to escape.

The situation with annotation and without sangars.

 

[von Marwitz]

My favorite shot ever: a 4-hex Firegroup to encircle on one toss of the dice -- jim

Recently, one of my opponents topped that:

First, he boldly moved a Carrier into my hex and unloaded its half-squad, which survived my Final Fire and bound me with Target Selection limits.
Then, he moved in a unit ADJACENT to this hex above and below and pulled off the Encirclement with a single shot by three units, one of them Firing TBPF (halved) during his AFPh.

von Marwitz

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Turn 6 ended with an easy British victory. I used a carrier to overrun the Italian 20L and crew in the V4 sangar; the carrier survived, eliminated the 20L and sangar, and restricted the fire of the only unbroken Italian unit. I moved other units to capture the remaining hillock summit hexes, force broken Italian units to surrender, and to fire on the V4 crew. The 10-2 led fire to break it in the AFPh, and all the Italian remaining Italian units surrendered in the RtPh (or were eliminated for FTR) -- the hero captured its maximum of a squad and a HS! At the end, I had eleven prisoner squads. The number of surrenders took me by surprise and I had to adapt as I played. Be prepared for it in North Africa scenarios (F.5).

 

[VonHutier]

Thanks for this thread, looking to do this scenario soon, given me a few heads up on a lot of things, including the rulz ....