Kasserine Pass (2nd Edition)
Designed by John Hill
Published by Conflict Game Company (1977)


The title of this review comes from the number of tanks destroyed in the series of battles fought in the Atlas Mountains of Tunisia during February 1943 between the forces of the Afrika Korps and the combined forces of the United States, Great Britain and France.

The game was a quite innovative design at the time and, IMHO, still compares favourably with war-games designed since then.


Components

Box – solid cardboard with strong images in red and black – the box is partioned into 6 compartments for storing counters and dice.

Counters – larger than normal counters that are a little on the thin side (as are most of GDW counters) – colours initially appear all to be the same sort of tonings and you should have good light while playing to make it easy to tell the difference between your friends and your enemies. For some reason there is an extra U.S. Recon. unit in the counter mix which does not appear on the set-up charts - don't worry about it.

Map – solidly mounted with predominantly cream and brownish tonings – some terrain (particularly high ground and rugged crests) is only printed towards the centre of hexes and the placement of counters in these hexes will obscure the symbols and consequently you are frequently lifting counters to see what sort of terrain is in the hex.


Charts – 3 set-up and reinforcement charts as well as one card with Terrain Effects on one side and Combat Results on the other.

Rules – two and a half pages of rules, half a page of advanced rules and one page of historical information.


Rules & Innovations

Sequence of Play – move and shoot, you-go and then I-go.

Victory Conditions – only the German scores points for control of the following towns.

Ferriana, Kasserine & Sbiba …1 point each
Le Kef & Thala……………….2 points each
Tebessa………………………..3 points

The Allied players scores 1 point for each of Fondouk el Aouareb, Faid and Maknassey.

-3 to -1 …Crushing German Defeat
0 to 2 …... German Defeat
3 to 4 …... German Tactical Victory
5 to 7 …... German Decisive Victory
8 – 10 ….. German Strategic Victory

When I play as Rommel, I am very happy to get a Tactical Victory. To get more than 4 points of towns requires an extremely rapid advance and then a solid defence as the Allied Reinforcements start to appear.

Specialised Units – some units have special abilities and these give the game a genuine tactical flavour and make it most important to get the right troops for the job to the right place and by the right time. Motorized and mechanized German units, as well as U.S. infantry and engineer units, can move through ZOC’s at the cost of an extra movement point. The German motorized and mechanized units may withdraw from an ‘engaged’ situation. Engineers may destroy and repair bridges. Rangers may ignore terrain during movement. Reconnaisance units may withdraw before combat.

First Turn Surprise – During the battle the Allies were expecting the attack to be launched further north. To simulate the surprise created, the Germans get some combat bonuses on the first two turns and the Allied units have movement restrictions during the first turn.

Artillery – artillery units may fire at range to support units in both the attack and defence. This was first game that I ever played which used this particular mechanic – although now it is fairly common.

Combat – combat uses two D6 dice to resolve battles. This means that there are 11 possible results and not all have the same likelihood – in game terms this create less certainty during battle. The results can be elimination, retreats, contact or engaged (which will pin all involved units for a turn)


Playing the Game

I find the game quite exciting, regardless of which side you play. At the start of the game the Italians are holding in the North-east corner of the map. They are confronted by a significant force and French and British troops. During the game this front will probably remain fairly static. If the Germans are successful in the south they may be able to come and give assistance to the Italians.

The Germans attack in strength along the Southern and South-eastern edges of the map. They have the choice of trying to totally eliminate the Allied forces that are there or simply trying to contain them so as to be able to drive in a North-westerly direction, hoping to take control of VP towns as quickly as possible and thereby forcing the Allies player to have to counter-attack to recapture them, rather than simply holding onto them

The Allied player has troops but they are initially badly out of position. The Allied player needs to move troops quickly to strategic locations. However, to send too small a force too soon will only result in disaster. Terrain is the Allied players best friend while the Allied player is defending. It is hard work to slow the German Advance and to minimise troop losses at the same time.


Summary

As you can tell, I think the game is superb. By today’s standards the graphics are a touch on the bland side but playing the game is an exhilarating experience. The mechanics are solid and the unit specialisation gives a feeling of reality missing in many other SPI and Avalon Hill games of the same period. A game lasts for 12 turns and should take just over 3 hours to complete.

“Dead Men Tell No Tales!”