First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now.
On the 4th day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…
4 Allied Trucks Running Supply
I love a good North Africa wargame! To me, the reasons that I love it are several but the focus on supply and how difficult it was in this theater as well as the various elements of infrastructure used to perform that supply, such as shipping, ports, trucks, etc. are always good fun. I also love the scope and scale of the North African Theater. The front covered an area over 2,000 or so miles stretching from Morocco on the western coast of the Atlantic, through Algeria, Libya and onto Egypt. Names such as Tunis, Kasserine Pass, Tripoli, Benghazi, Tobruk, El Alamein, Malta (I realize not a part of Africa but an important cog in this theater) and Alexandria. There is something about this theater and the games we have played we have absolutely loved.
Well, when you pair this interesting theater with a great system in the ’40X Series and a great designer in Mark Simonitch, you have a recipe for a really tasty treat! And after playing the game, I was amazed with how much I loved it even though many of the systems and hallmarks of the ’40X Series, such as the infamous ZOC Bonds, were not really present but there were other interesting things to take their place.
North Africa ’41 has a focus on assets in the form of Supply and Resource Points. Typically, Supply is more abstracted in wargames and is just assumed to be there if you have open supply lines to your supply sources. But in North Africa ’41, Supply assets are critical and actually provide the ability for units and artillery to attack. Supply is more of a resource than a concept and you must keep that in mind or you will find yourself unable to do much of anything but defend. There are also an important focus on Trucks and their ability to move this supply around the battlefield. The trucks are used to carry Combat Units, Replacement Units from various ports to the east and west or Supply Points to the fronts. Each of these trucks may carry either one combat unit of any size, one Replacement unit or one Supply Point using the Mechanized Movement rate. These trucks may also use Extended Movement to expand their movement potential. These trucks do not have to pay extra Movement Points to pick up or drop off units as the truck merely enters the hex where the unit is located, picks it up and then continues with movement. But if you move a unit with a truck, that unit must stay with the truck for all of its movement allotment. I really liked having to manage and juggle my trucks. The Germans can also attack and steal some of the Allied trucks and have counters to represent these commandeered vehicles. You have to make sure you are moving them efficiently as it takes a long time to move from ports to the front and you have to kind of have a chain of them coming and going. There is a Truck Special Transfer rule that allows the transfer of a Truck to a friendly Off Map Box or in any hex that contains a friendly Combat Unit that is currently in Full Supply. This transfer rule specifically is for empty trucks and once they have a combat unit or Supply Point, they will be unable to do this. This means that you have to place a few units in the rear to allow this teleporting, also an exercise in prioritizing front line versus rear troops and then placing where most needed.
In the picture above, you can see that the Allies have 4 of their 10 available Trucks located in this area of desert to the south of the city of Sollum. They are busy going about their business of bringing Supply and Reinforcements to the beleaguered troops here who are attempting to occupy the German and Italian troops on their way to join the assault on Tobruk. These trucks have to be used in an efficient way but they also have to be protected from the Axis as they will steal them and begin using them to bring in their own supply.
If you want to know more, you can check out our video review at the following link:
I also wrote an in-depth look at the game and its systems in my First Impressions post and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/01/24/first-impressions-north-africa-41-the-western-desert-march-to-december-1941-from-gmt-games/
If you are interested in North Africa ’41: The Western Desert, March to December, 1941, you can order a copy for $65.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-962-north-africa-41.aspx
You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:
2 Aircraft Bombing – General Orders: World War II from Osprey Games
-Grant
The Players' Aid 