This is Allied Corps beta-tester monkspider. You can find my earlier AAR for Kasserine Pass here: viewtopic.php?f=121&t=42825
I have one more AAR in store for you before you will get the chance to get your hands on the game yourself. This time, the AAR is going to be an ongoing project with one or two new turns being posted a day. Feel free to share your thoughts or strategic input. If you read the last AAR, then you will know our heroes suffered a pretty bad bloody nose but ultimately emerged with at least a modest victory. Well, it is time to move on to the next scenario, and despite Rommel's clever tactics, the Allies have his troops trapped in Tunisia. Here, where once mighty Carthage stood, the Afrika Korps has been ordered to stand fast against the combined Allied assault. Historically, the Germans were defeated, finally ending the longest pincer attack in history, and the Allies ended up bagging 275,000 prisoners.
This scenario is significant within the context of the campaign, as it is the first scenario where you get to fight with a combined American/British force. You actually get to have a mixed nationality core in Allied Corps, which is a concept that Afrika Korps players are already familiar with. If you had taken the British path (which starts in 1940), this is the first time you can buy American units, and likewise if you took the American path.
As you can tell by the victory conditions, this battle is a bit unusual in that the goal isn't to capture any objectives per se, but instead the outright destruction of the Afrika Korps. Though, it is a safe bet that the bulk of the remaining Axis forces will be centered around Tunis.
Before we get things started, let's take a look at the Allied order of battle. There are three main battle groups that will be participating:
This is the US 9th Infantry Division, though it lacks a great deal of striking power, it will have an important role to play.
Here is the US 1st Armored Division, it will undoubtedly do most of the heavy lifting in this battle. It is my strongest overall collection of forces.
These are the new British units I purchased for the campaign, I have christened them the 7th Armored. They will also be absolutely key to my plan.
Finally, there is a small auxiliary contingent of Free French troops. I don't expect much of them, but if I can keep their artillery from being destroyed, they might play a helpful role.
Here is my rough plan of attack, the green represents 9th Infantry, red is 1st Armored, blue is 7th Armored, and yellow is the Free French auxiliaries. The plan centers around a pincer attack from 1st and 7th Armored that will converge on Tunis from two directions and crush the majority of the German troops. 1st Armored would then swing east/north-east to help 9th Infantry clean up in their sector, while the British will head northwest to remove any remaining German resistance in that area of the map. Though, I feel I should warn readers that I am a somewhat George McClelland-like general in that I tend to be overly cautious at times, so if there are some would-be Grants or Stuarts in my audience who find such a style of leadership to be tedious, I apologize in advance.
Of course, last time my plan fell apart almost immediately, but I have high hopes for this one. Then again, as the mission briefing mentioned, there are Tigers on the prowl....
The first turn was relatively uneventful. 9th Infantry discovered some small pockets of troops in their sector and are repositioning to deal with them adequately.
My recon Grayhound discovered a sizable force of Germans in the area around 1st Armored, I struck a first blow by sending some air units to weaken them, especially focusing on their artillery, and then a Sherman knocked one of their infantry down to 1 strength.
I should mention at this point that while getting an AI unit down to 1 strength was infuriating in the past since they could often get replacements the next turn and be back to full strength. Probably the best overall change in 1.20 is that replacements now come suppressed, making it much easier to deal with AI units that keep bringing in reinforcements to troubled frontline units. Of course, this applies to your units too! So you will have to use replacements more judiciously.
Finally, the British start their advance north by knocking out an enemy infantry unit.
Thus concludes the first turn. Thoughts? Comments? Do you have a secret plan in mind that is going to blow the battle wide open? Let me know!
) frustrated when this happened.
