Rommel at Bay (1984)

Rommel at Bay is an operational level simulation of the World War II Allied offensive in southern Tunisia which took place in mid-March 1943. Located here were the main Axis fortifications defending Tunisia, fortifications nearly as formidable as those at Alamein. Had the German-Italian army succeeded in defending, the war in North Africa would have been lengthened and perhaps Allied command would have changed again. The playing pieces represent the actual units which participated in the campaign and the map represents the actual terrain over which those units fought. Rommel at Bay is basically a two player game in which one player controls the Axis forces while his opponent controls the Allied forces.

The two players maneuver their units across the map and conduct combat according to the rules of play. Victory occurs and the game ends immediately when one player has achieved the conditions given in the scenario being played. The other player wins the game by preventing his opponent from achieving his victory conditions.

The game has two scenarios. The first (Medenine) is a smaller scenario of the battle that was fought March 6th to 8th 1943. The second scenario is the main Mareth Campaign March 20th to 28th.

The game is part of the "Battles for North Africa" Series. The other games in the series are: Decision At Kasserine, O'Connor's Offensive, Hellfire Pass, Patton Goes to War, Objective: Tunis, and Race For Tunis.

The BNA series games were mostly designed by Vance von Borries. He did an earlier game whose rules bear a remarkable resemblance to BNA: Drive on Damascus. He also designed Bloody Keren which has distinct similarities too.

Magazine References:

The Wargamer Magazine Article List:.

• issue #53 of May 1986, including the game Dynamo: Dunkirk, 1940.
  • Rommel at Bay: Errata
• issue #56 of August 1986, including the game First Team: Vietnam.
  • Rommel at Bay: Errata