Description

Description from the publisher:

Desert Struggle (DS) is a stand-alone game in the War Storm series. Recreates the events of those days and allows the players to reproduce the most famous battles on the Africa Front at a tactical level. Players take command of either the Allied or Axis forces (or can play solitaire) in the tactical battles of each scenario.

DS while utilizing "Paths to Hell" base rules, incorporates new and adapted rules and additions for this new front. The WSS promises many hours of fierce fighting between the infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft belonging to the armies enveloped in this conflict. Just a few of the additions include:
Sand Storm
Battalion officers
Recon rules
Flamethrower tanks
Motorcycle recon
Rocky ground
Gully
And many other desert special terrains
One 8'5 x 11" chart with many overlays

DS has a moderate complexity with good solitaire suitability. The system emphasizes the role of officers. Officers can activate units, coordinate with other officers and their units, call for artillery support, air support, smoke screens, influence moral checks, coordinate assaults, and much more. Rules for special actions.

Based on the principle of simultaneous execution, or simply "WE GO", a hybrid system of turns and "real time". The players must activate unit leaders to perform many actions (fire, assault, move, coordinate, etc). A turn ends when both players have completed all their activations. The scale is platoon level with units representing groups of between 30 and 40 soldiers, weapons units represents groups of 3-4 weapons and their accompanying crews (20-25 soldiers), and the AFvs-Transports representing groups of 3 to 5 vehicles and their corresponding crews. Scenarios are divided into turns representing about 12-15 minutes of action.

Turns are divided into the following phases: Command Phase, Initiative Phase, Activation Phase and Marker Removal Phase

The game uses isomorphic mapboards, each of which are aligned to any edge of equal length on any other mopboard. This allows for an almost unlimited number of combinations to create any terrain situation, including player designed scenarios. Each map hex represents a distance of approximately 150 to 200 metres.