336 Against Enemy and Ground: Final Days of the Battle of Keren

Div 1 Element 1: Elements of the 4th Indian Infantry Division

4 Squad Bases
- 7 Regular Infantry
- 2 Elite Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 1 Mortar Crew
- 1 Machine Gun Crew

1x Alpha Unit (1 star)

Div 1 Element 2: Sappers and Miners
3 Squad Bases
- 8 Regular Infantry
- 3 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officer

3x Engineer

Comprised primarily of the 11th Black Shirt Legion “Consul Ugo Gresele” and 10th and 11th Regiments Savoia Grenadiers, plus artillery units.

Div 1 Element 1: 11th Black Shirt Legion
3 squad bases
- 6 Regular Infantry
- 2 Elite Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 1 Machine Gun Crew

1x Bravo Unit (1 star)
1x Medic
2x Concealed

1 Cannone da 47/32 mod 1935 anti-tank gun

Div 1 Element 2: 10th & 11th Reg’t Savoia Grenadiers
4 squad bases
- 7 Regular Infantry
- 4 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 1 Mortar Crew
- 1 Machine Gun Crew

1x Bravo Unit (2 stars)
1x Medic
2x Concealed

Div 2 Element 1: 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment and 3rd Battalion 5th Mahratta Light Infantry

4 Squad Bases
- 10 Regular Infantry
- 3 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officers
- 1 Machine Gun Crew

1x Alpha Unit (1 star)
2x Medic

Div 2 Element 2: 2nd Highland Light Infantry, 4th Battalion 10th Baluch Regiment, and 3rd Battalion 2nd Punjab Regiment

4 Squad Bases
- 13 Regular Infantry
- 3 Elite Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 1 Machine Gun Crew

1x Alpha Unit (2 stars)

2 Bedford OY Transport

Comprised primarily of elements of the 6th, 12th, 16th, 41st, and 61st Colonial Battalions, plus artillery units

5 Squad Bases
- 12 Regular Infantry
- 2 Elite Infantry
- 2 Officer
- 1 Mortar Crew
- 1 Machine Gun Crew

1x Medic
2x Concealed

1 Cannone da 47/32 mod 1935 anti-tank gun

American Air Support 1
Artillery 2
Desert Tactics 1 (shared)

4

In Play Area
▪ 1 “Air Superiority” (American Air Support Deck I)
▪ 1 “Increased Priority” (Artillery Deck II)
In HQ Area
▪ 1 “Offensive Artillery” (Artillery Deck II)
▪ 1 “Bombing Run” (American Air Support Deck I)

4

In Play Area
▪ 1 “Bombing Run” (German Air Support Deck I)
▪ 1 “Take Cover” (Morale Deck I)
In HQ Area
▪ 1 “Sniper Attack” (Desert Tactics Deck I)
▪ 1 “Offensive Artillery” (Artillery Deck I)

2

3

Commonwealth forces must capture and hold both Objective Markers by the end of Round 7, otherwise the Italians win.

Round 2 (Status) placed at the orange “R” hexes on map 19A.
Fletcher Force is activated to advance through the Dongolaas gorge.
3 Squad Bases (Div 2)
- 8 Regular Infantry
- 3 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officer

3x Recon

3 Bren Gun Carriers
2 Matilda II tanks

Status Phase of the Round in which Commonwealth forces capture the Victory Objective Marker in map 14A, placed at the grey “R” hexes on maps 13A or 15A.
Italians commit the few armored vehicles they have remaining in-theater
Division 1
2 Carro Armato M11/39 tanks

Round 3 (Status)
Carabinieri and newly-arrived colonial battalions, under strength due to RAF attacks en route
3 Squad Bases (Div 2)
- 7 Regular Infantry
- 2 Elite Infantry

Lancia 3Ro trucks

Available Command
Commonwealth player begins the game with 3 Command available.
Italian player begins the game with 2 Command available.

Command Point (CP) Markers
The game starts with CP Markers on maps 17A, 15A, and 20A under Italian control.

Incendiary traps
During the first phase of the final Commonwealth offensive, the Italians successfully stopped British tanks from moving through the Dongolaas gorge with a combination of artillery, mortars, avalanche roadblocks, and buried incendiary devices. A Minefield Marker represents the latter, placed in the road on map 14A.
Vehicles and squads entering a hex with a Minefield Marker must stop. The Italian player then rolls 4 die to conduct a Normal Attack, and hits on rolls of 5 or 6. All units in the hex roll defense die and register hits as normal. After resolving this attack-and-defense sequence, the marker is removed.
Squads with the Engineer specialization can enter a hex containing a Minefield Marker without triggering the attack. The squad can then remove the marker for 2 movement points.

Avalanche roadblock
The two Objective Markers in one hex on map 14A represent an Italian avalanche roadblock in the Dongolaas gorge. The Commonwealth player can only take control of this objective once they have removed the roadblock. Only units with the Engineer Specialization token may remove the roadblock, represented by one of the Objective Markers. They do so by moving into the hex and expending two movement points.

Hill hexes & overlays
Hill hexes (except those with a road) are impassable for vehicles. This reflects the difficult, craggy terrain, and the fact that Commonwealth vehicles were forced to use the road through the through ravine to traverse this landscape.
The two hill overlay hexes on maps 21A and 15A labeled “Mt. Falstoh are Level 2 Hills. The quadruple Level 2 Double Hill overlay on maps 17A and 20A is considered Level 1.

Cover provided by higher elevation
Squads and AT guns in Hill hexes get +1 cover. For squads, Hill hexes are also to be considered Rough Terrain in that they require +1 movement point to traverse; AT guns retain their base moment of 1 point per hex.

Inherent anti-tank gun crews
Use this optional rule from the 1A Games Tide of Iron Kickstarter Bonus Booklet, p. 4.

Concealment of anti-tank guns
Anti-tank (AT) guns may be assigned Concealed markers. They are revealed in accordance with normal rules. Also note that units may not set up concealed in hexes with Victory or Command Objective markers, nor move into such hexes and remain concealed.

Cover for anti-tank (AT) guns
AT guns gain additional cover in two ways. First, by the special cover rule for units at higher elevation (see above). Second, they receive cover by being in the same hex as an Entrenchment; standard rules state that whereas AT guns cannot themselves be placed within an Entrenchment, they gain +1 cover when they are in a hex containing an Entrenchment. Thus, AT guns located in Hill hexes that contain an Entrenchment Marker gain +2 cover.

Entrenchments
The steep, rocky terrain surrounding Keren made creating entrenchments difficult. This landscape did, however, serve as effective defensive terrain. Entrenchment Markers in this scenario do not necessarily represent entrenchments per se, but, instead, stand-in for the extra cover afforded by areas of boulders, rocky outcrops, and other terrain features. Squads located in Entrenchments receive the standard +2 cover.

Morale Deck
Create a custom Morale Deck comprised of the following ten cards:
From Morale Deck I
▪ “Go to Ground” (x2)
▪ “Take Cover” (x2)
From Morale Deck II
▪ “All or Nothing” (x2)
▪ “Counter Assault” (x2)
▪ “Rally” (x2)

Commonwealth initiative
By late March, Italian troops were becoming haggard. Through Round 1, Italian units cannot move out of the hex they currently occupy.

Fletcher Force
For the final attack on Keren, Lieutenant-Colonel Bernard Fletcher transitioned from his role as commander of the 10th Indian Brigade into leadership of a mobile force comprising the Central India Horse and six Matilda II tanks. This mobile force was to exploit the break in Italian defenses and move rapidly through the Dongolaas gorge into Keren.

Central India Horse
From its founding in 1857 into World War I, the Central India Horse (21st King George V's Own Horse) operated as a regular cavalry unit. During its service in World War II, the unit served as the mechanized divisional reconnaissance regiment for the 4th Indian Division, equipped with light tanks and Indian Pattern Carriers.
Indian Pattern Carriers were four-wheeled armored cars produced in India and built on Ford or GMC CMP truck chassis imported from Canada. Specialized for reconnaissance duties, they were typically armed with a Bren light machine gun. In this scenario, Bren Gun Carrier figures are to be used as stand-ins, and they have the same statistics as standard Tide of Iron Bren Gun Carrier units.

Royal Air Force (RAF) superiority
By this time in the East African campaign, the RAF had almost complete air superiority, with the Regia Aeronautica nearly destroyed. This is represented by one Air Superiority Strategy Card in the Commonwealth player’s Play Area.

Cannone da 47/32 mod 1935 anti-tank gun
The Austrian firm Böhler exported this quickly-disassembled 47 mm (L/32) gun, which the Italians found to be an effective portable canon (“canone”) for infantry, Alpini, and airborne units. Though primarily used in the anti-tank role, Italy also found it effective as an infantry close support weapon.
Unit specifications:
▪ Type: Equipment
▪ Movement = 1 (only with fresh squad starting in same hex)
▪ Armor = 1
▪ Against Vehicles: Range = 5, Firepower = 6
▪ Against Infantry: Range = 6, Firepower = 5
▪ Concussive Firepower: +2 range and +2 firepower against infantry in buildings or pillboxes
▪ Concentrated Fire, Prepare Op Fire: May only perform with squad in same hex that is fresh or in Op Fire mode
▪ Fragile: Is destroyed when heavily damaged

Regia Aeronautica
By March 1941, the Regia Aeronautica at Keren was almost entirely destroyed. This is reflected by the presence of the single “Bombing Run” card from the German Air Support Deck I Strategy Deck in the Italian player’s play area. With the Royal Air Force in the ascendency, this is the Regia Aeronautica’s last gasp in East Africa.

Lancia 3Ro trucks
Lancia 3Ro trucks were among the primary heavy transport vehicles the Italian Army fielded during the war. These can be represented by German Opel Blitz figures, and have the same statistics.

Black Shirt units
Italy’s Camicie Nere—“Black Shirt”—units evolved from Italian Fascist Party paramilitary groups first organized in the early 1920s. By the late 1930s, Benito Mussolini began integrating these party militia into Italian regular army divisions. Mussolini intended them to be elite, highly motivated shock troops, inspired by Italian Arditi and German Stosstuppen of World War I. In reality, these units were committed and reliable, but the inefficiencies of Italian strategic planning, tactical deployment, logistics, and armaments engineering tended to make these troops much less effective than they aspired to be. Given the right conditions, however, these troops were excellent.
In this scenario, the esprit de corps and enhanced effectiveness of these units (particularly in defense) is represented by the Medic and Bravo specialization tokens and presence of Elite Infantry figures.

Carro Armato M11/39 tanks
Inspired by the British Vickers 6-ton design of the late 1920s, the Italians considered the 11-ton Fiat-Ansaldo Carro Armato Medio (“medium tank”) 11/39 a type of “breakthrough tank" (Carro di Rottura). In concept it was at once an improvement upon earlier Italian tankettes and a regression. It had many weaknesses which shortened its service life, but the type did serve in the North African, East African, and Greek campaigns.
A significant deficiency was that its 37 mm Vickers-Terni L/40 main gun was in a hull sponson, with the idea that crews would use this gun against other tanks and defend with the turret armament, a pair of 8 mm machine guns. Additional weaknesses included poor endurance; slowness (top speed of just 20 mph); unreliability; and relatively weak armor (particularly on the sides, top, and rear). Its 30 mm frontal riveted steel armor and turret armor, designed to withstand 20 mm fire, was vulnerable to British 2-pounder (40 mm) guns at any range at which the M11/39’s main gun was effective. It carried a crew of three.
Unit specifications:
▪ Type: Heavy Vehicle
▪ Movement = 5
▪ Armor = 2
▪ Against Infantry: Range = 5, Firepower = 5
▪ Against Vehicles (37 mm): Range = 5, Firepower = 4
▪ Against Vehicles (8 mm MG): Range = 3, Firepower = 2
▪ Limited Fire and Movement: Cannot conduct fire-and-movement actions against armor (only against infantry)
▪ Concussive Firepower = +1 range and +1 firepower against infantry in buildings or pillboxes
▪ Overrun: May move through enemy-occupied hex, pinning all squads present (+1 movement cost per enemy squad)
▪ Sturdy: Being lightly damaged by Op Fire does not cause a Heavy Vehicle to become Fatigued
Keren, Eritrea, March 1941.
Still from How Keren Fell (film), Movietone News, 1941.