This is one of the smallest and earliest scenarios in Afrika Korps, just four days after Italy declared war on the Allies a small British force croseed the Libyan frontier wire to attack Fort Capuzzo.

Fort Capuzzo was adquately fortified against Arab raiders on horseback carrying small arms, but not against a modern armored force.

The Italians set up in the triangle area denoting Fort Capuzzo, a 65 mm artillery piece in back (protected by a reduced platoon of infantry), with 3 reduced infantry platoons and a reduced HMG platoon in the entrenchments in front.

The British company (3 platoons and an HMG platoon on 3 trucks and a Bren platooon), supplemented by an A9 tank platoon, entered from the east on the road.

The British truck borne contingent (2 platoons of infantry, the HMG platoon, a captain, two Lieutenants and a Sergeant) dismounted out of artillery range and moved towards Capuzzo, while the tanks and Brens (carrying an infantry platoon with a Lieutenant) moved southwest across the sand to encircle the fort.

The Capitano sent a platoon and a Tenente away from the fort to act as forward observers, they only need two step losses to deny the British a win. The 65 mm isn't much, but all it takes is one or two lucky hits.

They didn't get them, and the Tenente and his men raced back to the fort.

The British moved closer, and spent some time with the tank and Brens just out of small arms range southeast of the fort, exchanging fire with the Italian HMG until the infantry got close enough to engage. Losses were minimal on both sides.

The British infantry closed in from the northeast, the fire at long range and mostly ineffectual. With the British HMG firing, they were able to keep the forward Italian troops engaged so a platoon could close to the fort and engage the artillery in close combat. The artillery was the only unit likely to damage the A9's, as it was engaged they moved within it's range to attack the entrenched infantry.

The Capitano figured all was lost without the artillery, and reinforced the assault with himself and his reduced HMG platoon. This kept the Italians in the fight a little longer.

With time drawing close to the end, the British continued to assault the remaining entrenchments, killing and scattering the remaining Italians. The only major casualty was a green Lieutenant who jumped up to run away when under heavy Italian fire.

The fort taken, the British grabbed prisoners and destroyed what was left before returning through the wire.

I forgot to use the surrender rules in this scenario, it would have made the game quicker. Barring some lucky rolls, I don't think the Italians have much of a chance.

Good report! I'm just getting into the Panzer Grenadier series with Airborne. Do you enjoy playing it?

Lee.

I enjoy Panzer Grenadier, but I don't think Airborne shows off it's strengths. I like PG best when the attacker can use movement to attack the defender at the weak points, with Airborne the map is cluttered and the attackers are mostly channeled down the roads.

For Airborne, the Merderet scenario, where the yanks start reduced and demoralized and slowly recover, looks the most fun. I played a few turns into it and it seemed like a fun race against time, as the German reinforcements kept coming in.

I've only played one AK scenario, so I don't have a favorite yet.

I bought a copy of Iron Curtain but I need to buy the other modules that are needed to play it. It looks pretty good.

Great account. I have a British Army publication at home dating from early 1941 in which the autumn/winter 1940 campaign is described in great and amusing detail. It describes Capuzzo as looking like a leftover from a Hollywood film set about the Foreign Legion with its tesselated walls. The book honours the Italians sometimes and, with AK also one senses the game designer's affection for these men. One of the things I like about Benighof and gang is their depiction of the 'lost' world war ii. There are so many off-beat scenarios - such as the one just described. PG creates windows in which glimpses of the forgotten war can be obtained. To my mind there is something very humanist about this approach, a real honouring of the troops engaged. I played this scenario myself and also didn't use the surrender rules. I just can't be bothered to learn them.
PG of course also depicts classic battles - swirling tank warfare, blitzkreig etc but I have a lot of time for these little gems and oddities. Thanks.

I had to try the Capuzzo scenario after reading about the actual attack in Alan Moorehead's Desert War. He was a war correspondent spending most of his time in North Africa.