Detaching the Scenario

Remove the center four pages from the magazine by carefully lifting the staples and removing the pages. Then push the staples back into their original positions. When finished, this page and the facing page 27 should constitute the centerfold of the magazine.

Sources of Inspiration

The administrative movement rule is adapted from the Second Front playtest and John Astell's comments in Europa #11. The armor/antitank, and c/m naval transport modifications are from Scorched Earth. The unopposed march and exploitation movement rules are modified versions of those Duane Romfoe presented in his article "Forward March" in TEN #10. The -1 fortress die modifier is based on various proposals by Ben Knight and others. The rest of the optional rules are either my own favorite chrome rules or evolved during the course of developing and balancing the scenario.

I considered incorporating more of John Astell's rules from TEN #8, but decided against it. First they are experimental and second they require homemade units, which would deter some people from playing the scenario. Third, quite a few people reading this might not have TEN #8 and that would necessitate repeating the details of John's proposals. Finally, I've always gotten a kick out of those little Italian 0-8's trotting around.

But for those of you who have the new counters and don't care for the tankettes, here is a schedule for replacing the Italian Light Tanks battalions with the units John proposed:

Italian Light Tanks

Delete: Within two hexes of 18:2530

3x 0-8 Lt Tank II 4L, 5L, 11 L

Previously scrapped

6x 0-8 Lt Tank II 20L,21L,60L 61L,62L,63L

1x 1-6 Tank III 41

Permanently eliminated

1x 0-8 Lt Tank II 9L

Add.

Permanently eliminated

1x 1-8 Lt Tank X 1

Axis WD Replacement Pool

1x 1-8 Lt Tank X 2
2x 1-6 Tank II 1M, 2M

Notes on Italian Units

I decided to keep the 102th Trento Division as infantry, not motorized, given that the stripping of the transport from the division occurred before the scenario begins.

I assumed the original Feb I arrival of the 132nd Cadre, followed by an upgrade to full strength achieved by spending one armor RP obtained by scrapping the units shown under the "Previously Scrapped" heading.

There is some question as to whether the 64th Division, destroyed by the 7th Armoured Division at Buq Buq, should be listed in the permanently eliminated section, but my records indicate that it was "eliminated while in general supply."

The Axis command problems rule is fairly accurate of the command problems Rommel faced in working with the Italians. It also makes the first turn a little more unpredictable.

All That Movement!

I feel that the revisions to the movement rules are more than just chrome; without them, the game takes on a totally different flavor.

Most noticeable in this regard is the appearance of Rommel himself! Without the enhanced movement rules, his forces can't even get in position to launch his Mar II 41 raid. Even with the new rules I had to fudge a hex or so. In additon, the 9th Australian Division can't make it back to the Tobruk perimeter without these rules. The Aussies would have to fight the panzers in the open.

One thing the movement rules do is let either side make longer desert hooks. For example, the Axis can now reach Alexandria from hex 18:5021. This raises possibilities for "Slime in the Desert." I was a little concerned about this, but then decided that maybe this gives the British (or the Axis) a good reason to keep some units garrisoning rear areas like they always seemed to do in the real thing. And any German unit pulling such a rash stunt will likely be unsupplied and easy pickings. Besides, unlike Russia, the British can always just spend a supply counter if they need to.

A note on admin movement. Note that the requirement for ownership of hexes for this purpose is judged at the instant of movement. That is, the rule allows admin through all owned hexes, not just those previously controlled at the start of the turn. This is important to note as the Axis dash across Cyrenaica.

Syria

I felt that including the Syrian campaign in detail expanded the scope a little too much for a minigame. If players wish to, however, it's easy enough to set up the Vichy French. Needless to say, it is not as easy to take them out and translate the results into victory conditions. So I decided handling the Levant abstract y was best.

Even taking this approach there were some problems with the Syrian invasion. As originally written, the British could admin/ rail their entire force into the Levant on the final turn and abandon Egypt, collecting a bucket of VPs and no penalty or risk for doing so. Thus the final wording of the rule.

Along similar lines, the Allied player could make hay with his Jun II reinforcements by just sending them to Syria via rail movement for easy points and no risk, particularly since there is little else for them to contribute. The exception is the South African brigade which can't leave Africa. In any case, I believe the 50th Inf Div HO and 150th Brigade were earmarked for the defense of Cyprus, a decision which should be beyond the scope of Enter Rommel. I finally decided just to exclude these reinforcements altogether.

Airfields

The airfield at 19:1526 is Maaten Baggush, the headquarters of the Desert Air Force in 1940. The field at 18:3719 is the captured Italian field at Maraua.

Supply

Ben Knight and I disagree on how many supply steps the Allies should have. The difference lies in my belief that the captured Italian supplies at Tobruk Jan II were worth an extra supply step to the Allies. Per Kenneth Macksey in Beda Fomm, the Classic Victory.

"As a strategic prize Tobruk was of incomparable value to the British, for apart from its military complement the town contained a superb port, a power station in working order, 4,000 tons of coal, bulk petrol storage, refrigeration and a water distillation plant with 10,000 tons of stored water."

The Australians also used lots of captured equipment during their defense of Tobruk, especially artillery and artillery ammunition.

I had pretty good sources on the location of the Allied supply steps at the start of the scenario. Msus (18:3624) was the major British supply dump in the area, hence the two steps. There was also an important dump in 18:3224. If you feel it is just too easy for the Germans to overrun the Allied supplies, move one of the two steps at Msus to Barce (18:3419).

Victory

Setting tight victory conditions is a difficult task. A great deal of effort went into making the victory point schedule in Enter Rommel a competitive one. This notwithstanding, the best measure of performance in Enter Rommel can be obtained by having each player take one side in a first game and then the other side in a second playing. Each player then total his points for the two playings and the one with the most points wins.

In establishing the victory levels for the scenario, my general feelings were something like: s British Decisive Victory. the British hold Benghazi and Tobruk at game's end.

• British Substantial Victory. the British keep a supply line to Tobruk and invade Syria.
• British Marginal Victory: the British keep a supply line to Tobruk, but don't invade Syria.
• Draw: no supply line to Tobruk, but Syria invaded.
• Axis Marginal Victory. no supply line to Tobruk, Syria not invaded.
• Axis Substantial Victory: the Axis capture Tobruk.
• Axis Decisive Victory. the Axis capture Alexandria.

Victory points for destruction of units are necessary in a minigame to prevent exceedingly messy end-play. Malta VPs are necessary to keep the Axis from swamping the Allies. The need to open a supply line to Tobruk or capture Bardia, Halfaya Pass, or Matruh can prompt a "Battleax" operation and keep the British from sending everything to Syria.

The chances of either side gaining a decisive victory should be low at this stage of the African campaign. Both sides, with the exception of Rommel himself, were fighting delaying actions.

The reason for excluding losses incurred in Greece from the victory conditions is that losses from the Balkan campaign are much too random a factor to introduce into a game so short.

I calculate a historical victory point total of about 26 points consisting of : Tobruk (+30); Halfaya Pass (+5); Matruh (+5); Tobruk isolated (-10); Levant invasion (+12) consisting of 7 Aus HQ, two Aus Xs, two FF Xs, 70 Div HQ, one Ind X, two British Xs, one Cav X, and two air units; net eliminated units (-7); and Malta status (-9).

I consider the actual event a draw, although one could argue for an Allied marginal victory, since 26 points seems difficult for the Brits, and after all, they did get Syria. Looking at it from a personal perspective however, it was hardly a victory for Wavell, since it got him sacked.

Enter Rommel Europa Battle Scenario for Western Desert

Introduction and Rules
Allied Order of Battle
Axis Order of Battle
Designer's Notes: Frank E. Watson