Tobruk 1941 - Op. Sonnenblume [Baron veteran map posted]

1.Background

In early 1941, British forces were engaged in Operation Compass, an attempt to drive the Italians out of North Africa. On 21st January 1941 the Australian 6th Division made an assault to capture the Italian garrison of Tobruk which offered one of the few good harbors between Alexandria and Tripoli. By the end of the first week in February, Operation Compass had resulted in the Italian forces being driven from Cyrenaica and in the surrender of the Italian 10th Army. However, the Allies were unable to take advantage of their victory. With the Italians close to collapse, the British Command calls to a halt the offensive in order to allow many of the most experienced British units to be moved to Greece to fight in the Battle of Greece. Meanwhile the Germans had started to concentrate in Africa the two divisions of the Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel in an attempt to prevent total collapse of the Italian forces.

2.Allied Objective:

-Defeat the Italian garrison and capture Tobruk.
-Maintain control of Tobruk in front of the imminent Axis attack. Support operations will be launched to reinforce the port, once captured from the Italians and to destroy any Axis presence in North Africa.

Maintaining the port of Tobruk is crucial to the Allied war effort. Other than Benghazi, Tobruk is the only other major port on the African coast between Tripoli and Alexandria. If the Allies lose it, the German and Italian supply lines would be drastically shortened. Operation Battleaxe is prepared in order to relieve Tobruk.

3.Axis Objective:

-Capture Tobruk and maintain control of the Port at all costs.

Axis forces are in no position to attack across the Egyptian border towards Cairo and Alexandria while Tobruk’s Allied garrison threatens the lines of supply to the front-line of Afrika Korps.

5.Scenario Plot

Deployment and Objectives:



# Italian Garrison will be deployed first in its deployment area (“Tobruk Perimeter”) and cannot move outside it. Its objective is to inflict as much damage as possible to the attackers, the Australian 6th Division. If the Garrison holds and destroys all attacking forces, it will be reinforced by sea with Italian Garrison Reserves deployed in the marked area in the Port. The amount of reserves will be equal to the amount of enemy unit points destroyed, the Axis player(s) having the possibility to choose any Italian unit available until 1941.

# The Australian 6th Division will deploy second, in its designated area. The Allied player must destroy all Italian Garrison units and still have at least one unit inside the “Tobruk Perimeter”, before the Port of Tobruk is declared conquered. Failing to do this, forces the incoming British 70th Infantry Division (that was supposed to form the Allied Garrison inside Tobruk) to land on the “Southern Beach” without the possibility to unload any Heavy Equipment (see deployment map).
The player controlling Australian 6th Division must declare if his attack on Tobruk fails and retreat any forces inside the “Tobruk Perimeter” to the outside, in order to activate the incoming British 70th Infantry Division which will land in this case on the “Southern Beach”.
If Australian 6th Division is successful and Tobruk falls into Allied hands, the Port will be reinforced by sea with British 70th Infantry Division which will form the Allied Garrison.



# The Allied Garrison will be deployed in the marked area in the Port (see deployment map). The new formation will deploy also an Ammo Dump and Fuel Depot - these support units will serve only the Allied troops inside the “Tobruk perimeter”.
The Allied Garrison will have limited movement (only inside “Tobruk Perimeter”) until the deployment of the Allied force for Op. Battleaxe, after which is free to move and join operations with friendly Allied units.

# After the Allied Garrison troops are deployed (either in Tobruk or on the “Southern Beach”), the Axis players controlling Afrika Korps (DAK) and the Italian XX Motorized Corps are allowed to deploy in their designated areas.
Their objective is to conquer the Port of Tobruk in 5 turns from deployment, if the Port is in Allied hands. Axis troops must try and capture the Ammo Dump and Fuel Depot, hence they will not attack these support units. The Port will be considered conquered if the Axis players place one unit on all target hexes inside Tobruk at the end of any turn, from the 5 allowed.
If the port is conquered, the Axis players gain control of the Ammo Dump and Fuel Depot inside the port, all (existent) Axis Vehicles gain “Veteran Crew” Special Ability, all Axis Soldiers gain “Hardened Veteran” Special Ability, while all Axis Aircraft gain “Ace” Special ability and all Axis Artillery gain “Seasoned Crew”.
If Tobruk is under Italian Garrison, the Axis players can choose which units (if any) to reinforce the Italian Garrison (the newly formed Garrison will be allowed to move outside the Tobruk Perimeter though and join friendly forces at will). In this case, the Axis players won’t receive any reinforcements or Special Abilities for the existing units.
If the combined Axis force is able to destroy all Allied force for Op. Battleaxe, the Axis players win the game.

# Any Aircraft can be deployed starting with the 3rd turn after DAK deployment.

# Allied force for Op. Battleaxe (XIII Corps) will be deployed after 4 turns from the moment of the Afrika Korps deployment, in its designated deployment area. The objective is to destroy all Axis units present in the “Tobruk Perimeter” and “Coastal Roads Area”, in this case the Allied players winning the game. The Objective is considered achieved if no Axis units are present in the above areas at the end of any turn.
The player controlling the Allied Force for Op. Battleaxe must declare if and when his attack fails and retire Op. Battleaxe units to the deployment area. The units once arrived in the deployment area will be taken out of play permanently at the end of the turn. If all units are destroyed and cannot retire to the deployment area, then Allies lose the game.
Any Axis unit destroyed by the Allied Force for Op. Battleaxe will be added as available cost points supplement to the Allied force for Op. Crusader in the form of the XXX Corps Reserves. The Allied player(s) can choose from any UK, Australian, Polish or Free French units available until 1941.



# Allied force for Op. Crusader (XXX Corps) will be deployed if all previous attempts to destroy the Axis Units in “Tobruk Perimeter” and “Coastal Roads Area” failed. In order to win, all Allied units on the map must destroy all Axis units present in the “Tobruk Perimeter” and “Coastal Roads Area”.

# DAK and Italian XX Motorized Corps Reserves: deployed in the Afrika Korps deployment area immediately after the deployment of Allied force for Op. Crusader (in the same turn), as a last attempt to reinforce Axis presence in Africa.
Part of the reserves can be chosen by the Axis player(s) from all Italian and German units available until 1941, consisting of the same amount of points as the enemy units destroyed starting with the 5th turn after deployment of DAK and Italian XX Motorized Corps.
All reserve units do not receive any special abilities, than the ones they already have.

6.Dice modifiers / Units restrictions/ Color hexes:

- Fortifications, Obstacles and Traps once deployed cannot move - the player controlling the port controls them. If disabled, they will be removed from the battlefield.

- Minefield does not affect own troops.

- Naval Inland Bombardment: Allied player can choose any land target in the Assault phase and attack it with 10 dice. Special abilities: Inaccurate 1, Shrapnel 2, Blast and Bombardment.
Range: 5 hexes inland from last sea hex.
Available: in any turn in which the port is in Allied hands.

- Barbed Wire: deployment – on the intersection point of 2 hex sides, as a result both hex sides have this obstacle.

- Minefield: deployment – across a hex side, so being available in two hexes.
Casualty: if an unit other than an Engineer, passes or stops in a minefield hex, it will roll a dice: on an “1” – mine ineffective, “2-3” – one hit face down, “4-5” – two hit counters face down, “6” – three hit counters face down.

- Tank Obstacle: deployment – across a hex side, so being available in two hexes.

- Cars (Jeeps): may carry up to 3 Soldiers – no artillery.

- Half-tracks: Halftracks with Gun Transport may transport any type of artillery.

- Engineers / Pioneers: if the unit enters a Minefield, Tank Obstacle or Barbed wire hex, the trap/obstacle is removed immediately from that hex, if the unit does not attack or move in the Attack phase.

- Color hexes: white - clear, yellow - city, red - hill, blue - sea, blue axis - road.

*Optional: use the Weather House Rule starting with the 3rd turn, for “enhanced” fun/realism – the Player that wins Initiative rolls a die, if it turns out an “1” you get “bad weather” and any airborne units can’t be deployed.

*Optional: For scenario enrichment use WAS Ships as symbols for the special off-board “Bombardment”. The ships can’t be attacked or the Allied players stopped from using Naval Inland Bombardment.

How to get the Map?
The map for this scenario is available. For more information PM me.

7.Victory Conditions:

-If the Axis player(s) are able to destroy all Allied units from Op. Battleaxe, the Axis wins and the Allies do not deploy Op. Crusader units.
-If the Allied player(s) are able to destroy all Axis units inside the “Tobruk Perimeter” and “Coastal Roads Area” during Op. Battleaxe, they win the game. If this is not the case, then the same victory condition is valid for Op. Crusader. If Op. Crusader fails to destroy all Axis presence in “Tobruk Perimeter” and “Coastal Roads Area”, the Axis player(s) wins the game.