Gazala - Board Game
Avalanche Press
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MSRP:$19.99
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Your Price: $15.99
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A Knife Fight in the Desert
Starting with the Italian invasion of Egypt
in September, 1940, war flowed back and forth
across the North African deserts for 18 months.
The summer of 1942 found the Axis and Allied
armies facing one another west of Tobruk,
where the Commonwealth forces had dug in behind
extensive minefields. Each army prepared to
renew the offensive, but the Axis won that
race. On the night of May 26th four mobile
divisions turned the southern flank of the
British line at Gazala.
Gazala simulates the critical battle in
the summer of ’42 that led to the fall
of Tobruk and the arrival of the Axis armies
at the gates to the Nile delta. We’ve
shown the battles before on a tactical level
in our Desert
Rats game. With 140 game pieces and
one 22x17-inch map, Gazala’s three scenarios
can be played in one to eight hours. The game
system is very similar to that in America
Triumphant and Alsace
1945, with the addition
of anti-tank fire. Most units are brigades
or regiments, with a few battalions as well
(usually tanks). Italian, German, British,
South African, Indian and Free French units
are represented.
The following scenarios are included in the
game:
Operation AIDA
The Axis in Africa saw their position quickly
becoming untenable position as Allied strength
grew almost on a daily basis. Soon the British
would have overwhelming power with which to
eject the Axis from the continent. An immediate
attack seemed the best, maybe the only, hope
to win the war in Africa. The attack against
the British Gazala defenses set out late on
May 26th. Initially the Axis attacks gained
little ground and suffered casualties at a
rate, which lower than those being inflicted
on the British, would soon erode German and
Italian striking power.
Opening Moves
The Axis desert offensive in May 1942 was
a gamble. The British Army was strong and
known to be preparing an offensive of their
own. The first few days of the attack went
well for the German and Italian formations,
but soon threatened to develop into a battle
of attrition that only the British would win.
Erwin Rommel turned an all-but-stalemated
battle into a victory the likes of which the
Axis would never again see in Africa.
The Offensive the British Never Launched
The British did not meekly await the Axis
attack at Gazala. They had been extending
the desert railroad line from the Delta in
order to more easily move reinforcements and
supplies to the front. Immediately following
the completion of the railroad extension,
General Ritchie, commanding the Desert Army,
planned to attack. He expected to wear down
the Axis forces by virtue of his superiority
in armor and drive them from Cyrenaica. The
British attack was, fatefully, scheduled to
begin several days ahead of the Axis offensive,
but delays in the railroad construction program
pushed it back and the Germans and Italians
went first. If the railroad had been finished
on time. . . .
The game is packaged just like Defiant
Russia in a small box, for just $19.99.
Included are 140 game pieces and one 22x17
inch map.
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