We really enjoy Mark Simonitch’s 19xx Series of World War II operational wargames. We have played most all of them, with our most recent conquest being Ardennes ’44 after tackling North Africa ’41 last fall. The system is highly playable and I just love the various elements including ZoC Bonds (Zone of Control Bonds), Desperate Defense amongst others. A few months ago, a new expansion for North Africa ’41 was added to the P500 called North Africa ’40. The design was submitted to Mark by a new designer named Arthur Dieterly. I reached out to Mark and he and Arthur were more than willing to answer my questions about the expansion.
*Keep in mind that the design is still undergoing playtesting and that any details or component pictures shared in this interview could change prior to final publication.
Here were some introductory comments from Mark on this expansion before we get into my questions:
Mark: Thanks for this opportunity for me to explain what the 1940 Expansion is all about. The 1940 expansion was submitted to me by Arthur Dieterly so I’m going to let him do the heavy lifting on this interview—he knows the details better than I do. And both Fred and I are extremely impressed with his work. Arthur submitted the game to us out-of-the-blue less than a year ago and has been a pleasure to work with.
Before I hand it off to Arthur though, I would like to make a shout out to some important team members. In the old days it was just me and once and a while a friend or my younger brother who would test the game. But life was busy for all of us back then, so help was rare. Now I have a great crew. Fred Thomas does amazing research and has dramatically improved the quality of the games. My developer Christian Diedler constantly test the games with me and helps me spot problems and helps find solutions. He plays a lot of games besides the 19xx Series so is a great person to bounce ideas off. Henrik Reschreiter is a doctor living in England who, along with Christian, is one of my main testers — I’ve never won a game against Henrik. For the North Africa games, Robert Fabbro came on board to help us with tank information and Kevin Shewfelt joined the team to help with DAK info. So I am blessed with a great team and we all work well together.
While Arthur is working on the North Africa ’40 Expansion, I’m working on Italy ’43 that will carry the series started with Salerno ’43 to the end of 1943 with the Allies’ advance to the Gustav Line. Eventually we plan to do Anzio ’44, another East Front game, North Africa ’42, and an expansion for Normandy ’44.
Grant: What is your upcoming game North Africa ‘40 about?
Arthur: At its core, the North Africa ’40 game is about something rather unique – heavy armor shocking the world for the first time. Arras in France was a silent knife fight to the world; the collapse of an Axis army was an earthquake!
Grant: As a prequel to North Africa ‘41, why is it important to tell this story?
Arthur: The storyboard of the North Africa ’40 campaign allows our customers to feel, see, and engage via a classic hex-and-counter wargame, capturing the drama that unfolded in Libya and Egypt in 1940 and that truly forced German direct involvement to avoid total loss of North Africa and potentiality of total Italian collapse.
Grant: How does the prequel link up with the sequel?
Arthur: In one word, perfectly. I know that is a high bar. We have succeeded. The journey across the map in this campaign truly is a lesson in military history. At the end of it, the Italian army is surely doomed, but the Germans will arrive. That transition imaginatively plays out before you in a unique low counter density dance that players will never forget.
Grant: What was your overall design goal with the expansion?
Arthur: My goal was to accurately portray the campaign utilizing the North Africa ’41 system as the frame on which to build. I was brought to this as my dearest friend in life, a fellow wargamer, passed away a few years ago and he and I were working on getting the wargame The Legend Begins to truly work as a campaign from September 1940 to the end. When North Africa ’41 came to market, I knew what I had to do – and what I could do given the framework of North Africa ’41. I am doing this for him. His name is Mike Stahl. My friend forever.
Grant: What about the history of the Allied invasion of North Africa in 1940 did you need to include and model in the game?
Arthur: The British Empire was built on the keels of thousands of ships. I wanted to bring a holistic look at the campaign and give the players what I call “The 360”. You will see more of the peripheral influence on the land campaign in the desert and that is in the package and with minimal overhead to the players. Most importantly, I had to show the greatly different characteristics of the Italian 1940 army in comparison to that which you see later in the war. Lastly, the portrayal of Matilda tanks as the lead and key protagonist of the storyboard was paramount.
Grant: What is the scale of the game and the force structure of units?
Arthur: I utilized the same scaling as North Africa ’41 exactly; 8 miles per hex, 5-day impulses, brigade/regiment/battalion. It is an easy to learn expansion.
Grant: What major campaigns from this year are focused on?
Arthur: There are 2 scenario start points. Each start point can link to North Africa ’41 as a full campaign game. Those start points are in September 1940 (Operazione E) the Italian invasion of Egypt or in December 1940 (Operation Compass) the Allied raid-turned-counteroffensive.
Grant: What challenges did each of the campaigns create for your design process?
Arthur: For one, I never had to translate Italian language sources before. Secondly, there are aspects within the 1940 campaign that were not in game within North Africa ’41. For example, Sollum Port, wherein the Allies built an extensive jetty there so that Sollum could be used as a temporary port to bring critical supplies directly to the front without need of trucks. I was finding at almost every turn of page important aspects that needed modelling.
Grant: What opportunities did the history provide you with?
Arthur: From a personal viewpoint here, it is a completion circle that I am drawn to. From an academic view it gave me an opportunity to paint my imagination of those times within the confines of a board wargame, my life hobby, and be admired for that. Mark’s NA41 system and graciousness has given me that opportunity and I’m running with it, pedal to the metal!
Grant: What strengths and weaknesses does the Italian 10th Army present?
Arthur: A book could be written to answer that question. I will do my best to answer here in a couple sentences. The Italians were coastal road centric in everything. I cannot highlight that enough. The game will brand that on you. It will hurt, be ready! I found that their heavy weapons elements were ready, able, and would fight hard to their death. The Italians were simply outclassed, and most notably, their heavy weapon elements could not stop the Matilda tanks. This accurate realization demoralized the Italian army and stunned their leadership.
Grant: What is the makeup of the Italian Saharan Forces?
Arthur: The event tables subsystem allows me to portray the southern Libyan events around Kufra of late 1940 and early 1941. Additionally, the Saharan battalion, within the Italian 10th Army, is modelled in game.
Grant: How do you model the effects of Theater Whiplash in 1941?
Arthur: The whiplash from the Allied perspective is caused by the effects of the Greek campaign that is thrust upon the Middle East Command in February 1941 just as the Allies are finishing up bagging the Italian 10th Army in Cyrenaica. Resources, supplies and air assets become more scarce as the Greek campaign strains the MEC. Major ground forces must be sent back to Egypt for use in Greece. Newly arrived units must take their place in Libya…7th Armoured Division must be refit…and then the German lead recon arrives…and then the German Luftwaffe…and then the Panzers and Rommel. It causes whiplash, be ready!
Grant: How does the Allied commander have to prepare for the coming of the German Panzers and Rommel?
Arthur: Firstly, bag the Italians ASAP which is not easy; it is a long way from Mersa Matruh to El Agheila! The Allied player must efficiently use his transport capability to bring up supplies and relieving forces and be positioned as best as possible for the DAK arrival. There truly is no time to spare!
Grant: How do the Italians deal with the enemy heavy armored Matilda tanks?
Arthur: Given hindsight: Fight! Fight! Fight! The Germans are coming to win the day for us – FIGHT! With each battle the Italians’ hope is to attrit the British armor, especially the lone Matilda unit, via EX and DRX combat results.
Grant: How do civilian evacuees and stragglers affect the campaign?
Arthur: I utilized the “Delay system” that Mark and team built into North Africa ’41. With the elegance of that game sub-system, I was able to put in a mechanism where the Allied player places the evacuees/stragglers delay which can choke, momentarily, the collapsing Italian Army movement and escape.
Grant: How is tank reliability dealt with?
Arthur: In researching the forces of the North Africa ’40 campaign it became clear the medium tanks on both sides had reliability issues, but the light and heavy ones did not. The light tanks (machine-gun) of both armies were deeply ingrained in their respective services supply chains and service history. There was no significant unusual reliability issue in any of the light tanks. The heavy tanks (Matilda) were brand new tanks with repair parts available, and their repetitive maintenance problems, such as failing steering clutches, were locally, easily remedied. The medium tanks on both sides had significantly impactful reliability issues. For the Italians, this related to a defective critical engine part (which later in the war was remedied by using German manufactured replacements) and for the Allies it related to poor service condition and a severe lack of repair parts for their cruisers. It is the glaring difference in light, medium, and heavy reliability in this campaign that keys us to highlight this with a mechanism. As a player, if you push your medium tank units too hard you won’t be able to get them all to the target. Here again, you will see in the North Africa ’40 game that the players must be good operational planners!
Grant: What general strategies are there for both sides?
Arthur: The Allies must steadily go forward. There is no time for a “lull” – pressure the Italians at every turn. Plan your supply usage, well forward. For the Italians, keep a force in being before the Allies and seek unexpected, quick counterpunches wherever possible. Some units must be sacrificial speed bumps to buy time when the situation dictates, or collapse is imminent.
Grant: What are the victory conditions for each side? Which side has the harder time of meeting them?
Arthur: The victory conditions are razor sharp. 2 players of equal caliber will find North Africa ’40 to be a nail biter. In solitaire, it is a truly fun journey of twists and turns that will keep your attention piqued. The campaign scenarios use the North Africa ’41 VP Benchmark sub-system, wherein each turn the Axis player should control a number of airfields, but with the addition that in some turns a particular location is the Allied objective (Bardia, Tobruk, Derna, and Barce). In the non-campaign scenarios, victory determination is based on when the Axis no longer controls any in full supply airfields.
Grant: What are the various scenarios included? Which scenario do you like to play and why?
Arthur: I prefer the Operazione E scenario. It takes longer but as the Italian player I set-up my defensive deployment in preparation for Operation Compass rather than the historical position. As the Allied player, personally, I feel the same way; let me decide what is what! On the other hand, Operation Compass gives you the historical alignment for December 40, is a faster scenario, and gets you directly into the meat right away.
Grant: What are you most pleased about with the design? What do you think it does well?
Arthur: It brings the right amount of tension, with a low counter density overhead; a thrill ride! In my view, players on both sides, at the same time, will feel that they “are behind”. The tension and excitement this creates is what makes North Africa ’40 a fun ride.
Thank you so much for your time in answering our questions Arthur. I have really enjoyed this series of games and had a blast with North Africa ’41 and can’t wait to get back to the deserts of North Africa with this expansion.
If you are interested in North Africa ’40: The 1940 Expansion to North Africa ’41, you can pre-order a copy for $29.00 from the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1106-north-africa-40.aspx
*Be aware that North Africa ’40 is not a complete game and ownership of North Africa ’41 is required to play.
-Grant
The Players' Aid 