019 The Cauldron

Details: Written by: 1A Games; Category: African Front; Published: 17 January 2021; Last Updated: 09 February 2026; Hits: 1648

Victory Results:

89 %

11 %

Total plays 9 - Last reported by JVHillegas-Elting on 2026-02-09 01:10:45

The Cauldron was a position caught between Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie's.fully-supplied army, which vastly outnumbered the Germans, and a minefield which prevented Rommel from reaching his supplies. Rommel had blitzed through British defenses and captured Tobruk, but out-ran his supply chain, which would be a major theme for the German desert campaign. The situation was so bad that Rommel was hours away from asking the British for terms.

	British	German
Division 1	2 Squad Bases - 4 Regular Infantry - 3 Elite Infantry - 1 Officer 3 Crusader Mk. II Tanks 2 Bren Gun Carriers 2 Bedford OY Transports 1x AntiTank	3 Squad Bases - 6 Regular Infantry - 5 Elite Infantry - 1 Officer 6 Panzer IV Tanks 3 SdKfz 251 Half-Tracks 1x Medic
Division 2	4 Squad Bases - 11 Regular Infantry - 1 Elite Infantry - 2 Officers - 1 Machine Gun Crew 1 Matilda Mk. II Tank 1 Crusader Mk. II Tank 1 QF 6-Pounder AT Gun 1 Bren Gun Carrier 1x Bravo Unit	2 Squad Bases - 3 Regular Infantry - 4 Elite Infantry - 1 Officer 2 SdKfz 251 Half-Tracks 3 Opel Blitz Trucks
Strategy Decks	Desert Tactics 1 (Shared) Disruption 1 (Shared)	Desert Tactics 1 (Shared) Disruption 1 (Shared)
Starting Strategy Cards	0	0
Operations Cards	-	019 Panzer IV Ausf. E (optional balancing suggestion)
Deployment Zone	Division 1: Any orange hex on map 15B. Division 2: Any orange hex on map 16B The QF 6-Pounder AT gun must be placed in the hex containing the entrenchment marker on map 19B.	Division 1: Any gray hex on map 14B. Division 2: Arrives as reinforcements during the Status Phase of game round 1 on the marked hexes on map 17B
Starting Initiative
Objective	German Division 2 must link up with a Panzer IV Tank from Division 1 to simulate the arrival of the fuel convoy. Once an Opel Blitz Truck ends its movement in a hex with a Panzer IV Tank, all movement restrictions are immediately removed. The Germans win if they control the victory objective marker at the end of any game round after the Division 1 movement restrictions are removed (removing movement restrictions is mandatory).
Rounds	6
Actions per turn	3	3
Reinforcements	-	See the German deployment instructions.
Special Rules	All German Division 1 Tanks and Half-Tracks have their movement halved (round-up) until an Opel Blitz Truck truck ends its movement in the same hex as a Panzer IV Tank. This simulates the Italians linking up with Rommel and delivering the much-needed fuel. Minefields cannot be placed on a victory objective hex, a command objective hex, or the bridge (Hidden Minefield card from Desert Tactics deck).
Terrain Features	The crevasse running across the board represents the minefield which was trapping the Germans. Treat each crevasse hex (except the bridge hex) as a permanent minefield.

Discuss this article in the forums (2 replies).

Posts in discussion: 019 The Cauldron

alecrespi replied the topic:

#1570

2 days 22 hours ago

Welcome back, James,
I've added your suggestion as "optional" in the Operations Cards section.

JVHillegas-Elting replied the topic:

#1569

3 days 6 hours ago

ScubaSeth and I played this four times nearly a year ago (April 2025) and overall had a great time but noticed an oversight in the design that makes the scenario unpleasantly imbalanced. We each played both factions twice, and found an easily-corrected design oversight that heavily favors the Germans. Life kept me from sharing our takeaways on this forum for many months, but today I finally have time.

** The Positives **

The dynamism and contingent victory conditions make this scenario fun. The German play first needs to link-up at least one Opel Blitz truck with one Panzer IV tank before moving on to the Victory Objective Marker behind British lines. Doing this requires German units traverse across mostly-open ground, while British units can be more defensive and leverage interlocking lines of fire from cover.

** What Needs to Change **

This scenario is set in June 1942. Because of this, the German Panzer IV tanks can only be early-war variants with the lower-velocity and shorter-barreled 75mm guns, not later-war variants with higher-velocity long-barreled 75mm guns. Therefore, the German player must use Operations Card 019, "Panzer IV Ausf. E," but the scenario designers did not specify this.

Making this change significantly alters balance. Rather than the German player being able either to make Concentrated Fire actions at farther range and significantly higher firepower than any British unit on the field OR make Fire-and-Movement actions with on-par firepower against vehicles, they will have only slightly better firepower against vehicles. This game-mechanical balancing reflects real-world circumstances which the Days of the Fox expansion designers accounted for in creation of Op Card 019, so I'm confused as to why the scenario designers did not specify its use.

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