032 Rat Patrol

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Written by: Richard H. Berg
Category: African Front
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A standard British LRDG patrol, a rapid moving strike three, contained about 40 men armed with heavy weapons (mostly Lewis machine guns) traveling in ex-civilian Fords, Chevrolets and Jeeps. The squads were also armed with anti-tank rifles, and the patrol usually had a truck-mounted 20 mm anti-aircraftlanti-tank gun, usually one captured from the Italians.
Archibald Percival Wavell, commander of the British Army forces that defeated the Italians in North Africa, referred to the LRDG as his "mosquito columns."
The primary purpose of these elite units was to gather intelligence. However, some of the reconnaissance unit's missions included harassing raids on important targets. In this hypothetical — but historical — scenario, the LRDG is striking out of the deep desert, attacking an unsuspecting German supply convoy.

 

  British German
Division 1

3 Squad Bases
- 4 Elite Infantry
- 4 Machine Gun Crews

4 M3A1 Half-Tracks * (Americans)
1 M3A1 Half-Track * (Americans)
(see special rules)

1x Recon
1x AntiTank
1x Bravo Unit

3 Squad Bases
- 8 Regular Infantry
- 1 Machine Gun Crew
- 1 Mortar Crew

2x AntiTank
Division 2

2 Squad Bases
- 3 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 2 Machine Gun Crews * (Americans)

4 Bren Gun Carriers

1x Recon
1x AntiTank

4 Squad Bases
- 15 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer

1 Panzer III
4 SdKfz 251 Half-Tracks
6 Opel Blitz

2x AntiTank
Strategy Decks Morale 1 *shared
Desert Tactics 1 (remove "Hidden Minefields," "Sandbags" and "Sniper") *shared		 Morale 1 *shared
Desert Tactics 1 (remove "Hidden Minefields," "Sandbags" and "Sniper") *shared
Starting Strategy Cards 3 1
Operations Cards - Double Time
- Seize the Initiative		 -
Deployment Zone No British units start on the map. During the Action Phase of round 1, the British may move these units onto the board with a movement or move and fire action. They may enter any hex with an orange border.
The units are considered to be moving from a Clear hex.

Div. 1: Any hexes on map 18B.
Div. 2: Does not start on the map. During the Action Phase of round 1, the Germans may move these units onto the board with a movement or move and fire action. They may enter the hex with the grey border. The units are considered to be moving from a Clear hex.
Starting Initiative Initiative Token  
Objective
  • 3 VP for every destroyed German Opel Blitz Truck
  • 1 VP for every German Opel Blitz Truck still on the map at game's end.
The British win if they have at least 6 VP at the end of Round 6.
  • 2 VP for every Opel Blitz Truck they exit the board from the blue shaded hex.

The German VP are subtracted from the British VP .

The Germans win if the British have less than 6 VP at the end of Round 6.
Rounds 6
Actions per turn 3 3
Reinforcements British Divisions 1 and 2 enter during round 1 through any orange shaded hexes. German Division 2 units, ("the convoy"), enter during round I through any hexes with a grey border.
Special Rules
  • The blue-shaded hex on map 18B is the exit hex for the German units. A German unit on the blue shaded hex may spend 1 movement point to exit the board.
  • Specialization Tokens may be assigned to British/American Machine Gun Crews.
  • The Crevasse on Map 20B is treated as a Dirt Road.
  • The German player may move all of his 11 convoy vehicles at the same time by using all 3 actions for that Action Turn, as long as they all start and stay on a Dirt Road for the entire movement.
  • Place a VP token beneath 1 of Division l's M3A1 Half-Tracks to mark that it is armed with a 6-pounder AT gun. It may still transport 1 squad, and has a Range of 7 and a Firepower of 9 when attacking a vehicle.
  • The German Opel Blitz trucks may not carry any squads as they are carrying fuel and supplies.
HINTS The British can concentrate their force to attempt to block the German exit. and/or use the hill as a good position to fire into the convoy. The Germans must decide whether to defend forward, attempt to claim the neutral Command Point. stay close to or even with the convoy to protect the trucks, or use the lone Panzer III as a "wild card" to defend or aggressively attack the British.

 

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Posts in discussion: 032 Rat Patrol
alecrespi replied the topic:
#721
2 years 8 months ago
Posting here some comments found online.
www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/37980/tid...1-player-comments-ba
  • What's really great about this scenario is that it plays very differently from a "standard" TOI assault scenario. What's really fun in this one is that both players can-and have to- do a lot of maneuvering.
  • The scenario is very unbalanced in favour of the British IF they choose the strategy of going all out for the German position where the trucks have to leave the map. 
  • The British also have a larger number of halftracks at their disposal than the Germans do and their squads also have a lot of firepower.
  • A tough puzzle for the Germans as their trucks are very vulnerable to British fire when they pass the village. I'm not sure if there's an effective German response to this yet.
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