Afrikakorps - Battle Gazala Core Pack #2

East of Bir Temrad, LIBYA, 26 May 1942: By late May, Rommel had assembled a potent strike force and needed merely to decide where to attack. He finally decided on a grand sweep around the south end of the British line at Bir Hacheim, held by Free French forces. The sweep would be accompanied by a feint in the north, aimed to distract the British command. Rommel instructed General Crüwell to take one German mechanized infantry brigade and two Italian infantry divisions, along with all of the Axis heavy artillery for an attack in the north. To further confuse the British, trucks mounted with aircraft engines were to raise huge clouds of dust behind this attack to suggest large mobile forces were assembling there. The frontal feint by Group Crüwell began on schedule at about 1400 hours on the 26th. However, as Robert J. Icks reveals in his book Famous Tank Battles, the “...Italians pressed the attack so half-heartedly that the British decided it was only a feint...” Units from the Second South African Brigade held off Italian infantry units from ‘Sabratha’ Infantry Division, ‘corset-laced’ with German troops from the 15th Rifle Brigade. Seven hours later the grand sweep south of Bir Hacheim by the rest of the Afrika Korps was launched. The Battle of Gazala had begun....

AK #7 CORE PACK 2 BATTLE OF GAZALA is a detailed new ASLComp VARIANT that tells the story of the War in North Africa. It's about time the desert warfare goodness that was spawned by Hal Hock's seminal work TOBRUK back in 1975... was brought to the gaming tables of ASLers. And now it is, in a big way.

The new offensive in the Western Desert starts big… and stays big. They're talking about the seventh set, AK #7-CORE PACK 2 BATTLE OF GAZALA. It's bigger, meatier and contains the kind of filling desert fans love: tank action! The scenarios are nine adaptations of the original classics from TOBRUK. No, not the reduced "Programmed Instruction" versions….these are the full-blown battles for the Gazala Line that broke new ground in board wargaming in 1975 and led to an era of tactical-level gaming that brought us many a great game and system since Hal Hock broke new ground straight out of his experiences as an ordnance expert.

TOBRUK scenario adaptations bring the War in North Africa to the ASLer in a heretofore untouched scale and scope. And that means blowing the playing area wide open with TWO map scenarios. But do not fear… for you the convoy ALWAYS gets through with supplies and AK #7-CORE PACK 2 BATTLE OF GAZALA includes not one but TWO full-size copies of the desert 22" x 34" linking mapsheets that will provide battlefields with ranges beyond your previous experience east, west north or south of Alamein.

The set also includes new overlays for use with the included scenarios and those that follow in AK 8-12. Very useful ones that will get a good run and continue to create fascinating battlefields unlike any tactical-level desert presentation before. The new overlays include hills, shellhole fields, a new village, wadi/hill terrain, minefields, and a massive ESCARPMENT presentation that has no pass or road going across it … unless you use the also-provided escarpment pass overlay.

Okay, that sounds like a lot of gear! And it is. But not enough, not for the true Western Desert aficionado intent on building the ultimate collection of actions and on board with those that aim to make that happen. You also receive two more sheets of counters, 88 counters on each sheet. That's '88' times two … and they know you appreciate an '88' when you see one! These are two separate sheets, not a double supply of the same sheet.

Okay, twist their Palm-patched arm. Go ahead! Uncle, and not as in 'uncle Adolph' .. but instead as in … they'll DOUBLE YOUR COUNTER SUPPLY absolutely FREE. That means you get '88' x 2 … x 2 for a total of 352 color die cut counters!

AK #7 CORE PACK 2 BATTLE OF GAZALA contains:

• 2 x 22" x 34" desert mapsheet