Another Afrika Korps Gambit
Another Afrika Korps Gambit
Another Afrika Korps Gambit
By Stephen S. Packwood
Steve Packwood is the fourth winner of the
prestigious AH500, having made the long trip from
his native Arizona to Ann Arbor, MI last summer. As
was the case with all previous winners of this
grueling three day event in which he fought his way
to the top over 127 other entrants, Steve emerged
with many "war" stories. This episode which
occurred in the hectic last round under intense time
pressure is just one of them.
An interesting and embarrassing thing happened
in my final round of play in the AH 500 at Origins
this last summer. I knew I wasn't really great at AK,
but I did think I was good enough to pick it as my
second choice game in the AH 500: Bruno Sinigaglio
was the Axis and I the Allies in the final round.
Bruno pulled an AK gambit that I had never seen
or even heard of before, but one which was not
unknown to some of those watching the game. I have
no idea who developed this ploy or how long it has
been around. Here's what happened:
On the first turn Bruno's play was normal - he
isolated Bengasi with the Italians and ran the German
armor into the desert between Msus and Mechili,
with Rommel and the recce unit traveling in the
South to T22 and T24 respectively.
My reply was "normal" with all my 1-1-6's going
to sea and my heavier units holding the escarpment
passes and supply #2 going to J45, heading for my
Home Base.
On his second turn, Rommel and the Recce kept
on going East, with the Recce ending at R33, I
reacted strongly with most of my sea-going 1-1-6's
sealing off K35 to P30, keeping him away from
Tobruch. My supply reached my Home Base. At this
point I had lost my home base and did not even know
it! In the west I still held the escarpments, while he
left two Italians to starve out Bengasi and sent the
rest down the coast road towards Derna, and his
German armor maneuvered about the escarpments.
On his third turn (May I) his 15th Panzer advanced
past Msus towards Mechili and everyone else got as
close to the escarpments as they could. 21/5, still
traveling with Rommel, continued East to P45 and
R41 respectively. Now I saw the problem. In the past
2
German threat; but again it is not helping Tobruch
and is guarding against a threat that may never
materialize. I37 is mentioned, since from there a 1-16 is close to Tobruch, but can still get to J53, denying
the Recce access to the coast road.
TABLE 1
Recce
Coord.
J-42 (H.B.)
K-62
K-61
K-62
K-59
1-1-6
Coord.
L-64
L-64
L-63
L-62
L-61
1-1-6
Coord.
K-61
L-61
L-60
El Alamein
L-58
K-58
J-57
J-56
J-55
J-54
L-60
L-59
L-58
L-57
El Daba
L-57
El Daba
K-55
K-54
K-53
Result
Surrounded
Surrounded
Surrounded
Surrounded
The Recce
lives but the
Allies get the
Home Base
Surrounded
Surrounded
Surrounded
Surrounded
Surrounded