I have again decided to write to Operations because during the last Tunisia game, my friend Carlo and I have discovered an Allied gamey technique that, in our opinion, seals the fate of the Axis armies in Tunisia from the very beginning. Let me tell you the sad story of how the Allies conquered Tunisia in Game Turn 3. You can easily see whose side I was on.

I will not discuss the setup because we are writing an article on the Tunisia campaign we are playing right now; it will be discussed in depth there. To tell you the truth, these were the first turns of the campaing portrayed in the article, but we had to restart it as you can imagine.

The first turn went as planned, apart from the departure of the 6th Commando for the Amphibious Raid (rule 4.0c). Remember, this is a no-cost option, and I started to feel uneasy.

In the second turn the world began to crumble as the 6th Cdo landed in Mahares (B53.27) and quickly moved adjacent to Sfax, which was "garrisoned" by one 2-0-3 static regiment and a 3-1-3 MG Bn; immediately after the 2-509 and 1st Para were shipped to Mahares. In the reaction phase the 190th Pz Bn scrambled to Sfax along with 3 Italian AG battalions and one Italian artillery regiment of the Superga division, and the 6th Cdo was annihilated. In the Axis turn this same kampfgruppe tried to capture Mahares but was DG'd by the Allied Air Force and so called off the planned attack.

In the third turn the 6th Armoured and 1st Armored stormed over Sidi Nsir and reached the outskirts of Tunis, defended by a march battalion and the 80th Corps HQ. KG Witzig, the only available reserve, moved to Tunis, but the Allies rolled 11 for surprise, 6 on the shifts roll, and 12 on the combat table; Tunis fell into Allied hands and I conceded the game with much gnashing of teeth and four-letter words echoing in the room.

Of course, in the Axis first turn I could have garrisoned all the villages on the coast where the Tunis-Gabes railroad runs, but by doing so I would have stripped my defenses in front of Tunis and Bizerte, which were already pretty thin; moreover, remember that after the 6th Cdo lands it has the full capability to move during the Movement Phase, so it can land adjacent to a garrisoned village--probably not garrisoned very strongly, as the Axis player has only six 4- or 5-action rated units and one 4-rated unit in the Sicily B box--then overrun it in combat mode with a great chance of succes. After that the Allied player can move reinforcements into the Port and secure it.

Instead of playing the first turns repeatedly to find a countermove, we have decided to limit the ability of the Allies to land on the all the coast. We have decided to do so also for historical reasons, because the raid was done in one night, as the rule rightly portrays; in fact the unit involved has to be in a port at the end of the movement phase and after it lands it has the full capability to move. So we have calculated the distance that a ship sailing at 10 knots can cover in one night. We obtained a distance of 138 miles, which is equal to 27 hexes.

So our modified version of the amphibious raid rule is:

The unit can embark for the raid only in an already supplied port (this is to avoid silliness like an Allied unit coming from the interior that captures a port and then promptly embarks on the raid).

The landing hex must be within 27 hexes of the port of departure (for the Algiers box start counting from the west map edge).

The rest is like the standard rule.

By the way, note that Bizerte is within 27 of Bone and Tunis is within range of Tabarka.

Obviously this is an extreme case, but I think that the interruption of the coastal railroad cannot he overlooked by the player when recapture of a village necessitates such a big force that it severely limits the Axis player's ability to harrass the Allies in the northern front.

I hope that this rule will be useful to fellow gamers with the same experience and that other gamers with different solutions to the same problem will write to this magazine.

Andrea Galliano, Genova, Italy

I think Andrea does not need to institute his suggested rule. It seems the Allied player faked him out causing a majot diversion of forces against a target of little value (at that point) while leaving the vital centers of Tunis and Bizarte devoid of troops. Let the allies have Sfax at that time--worry about retaking it sometime before the DAK shows up, but After you have the troops to do it without having to leave Tunis unprotected. The Allied player launched a very successful diversionary operation and rather than making rules to keep him from doing it that way (next time he'll just drive a recon unit overland), I'd suggest not falling for the trick in the first place. --Dean