Description

"Rommel: The War for North Africa", one of the "Great Battles of History" series wargames, actually should have been titled "Battles for Tobruk", since it only covers the general area around that famous fortress/Port.

The container for this is a pinkish fold-over cardboard with a large cut-out on the Front and smaller cut-out on the back for storage of the Mapsheet(front) while some sort of "pocket" is used on the inside back. It's best to provide your own plastic baggies for counter storage and you supply the 6-sided DIE needed.

The Game components consist of the following: a 17-inches by 24-inches Mapsheet; a HUGE fold-out RULES sheet(about the same size as the Mapsheet); a Turn Track Chart(with RULES modifications); over 72-5/8-inch rounded corners cardboard Counters including some small round ones for Supply Record keeping; and a very small Sheet with Combat Computation Charts on one side and Historical Notes on the reverse.

On the mostly GRAY Mapsheet at the upper portion is a RED section which contains the Sequence of Play; Unit Movement Abilities; Terrain Analysis Chart; Attack Analysis Chart; Attack Taken/Supply Expenditure Chart; and a Supply Point Index for EACH player. The Mapsheet has some RED features while the rest are of a BROWN color. The Counters are ORANGE with BLACK print for 8th Army units and GRAY with BLACK/ORANGE print for Axis units, with a few PINK informational markers. The UNIQUE symbols used for the AXIS units is actually what the Wehrmacht used for their "unit types" on their situation maps and vehicles! A FIRST for any company at this time in the industry. They take some getting used to for NON-historical minded folks.

There are 3 Scenarios from which to choose to play: Battleaxe-3-Turns-14-15 July 1941; Crusader-10-Turns-18/19 November-7/8 December 1941; and Gazala-15-Turns-27/28 May-24/25 June 1942. Sequence of Play is: 1.Reinforcement Segment; 2.Initial Movement; 3.Combat Segment; 4.Exploitation Movement; 5.Supply Point Index Adjustment and then the second Player repeats these. Optional Rules include Reserve status indication & possible Breakdown of Armor types using a die-roll after Exploitation Movement. Units are back-printed for step losses and allows for Replacements to be incorporated when available.

Overall, this wargame introduces some aspects used by other companies later on, such as Wehrmacht symbols(used by Avalon Hill in the Longest Day game), single Combat factor printed on the counter and having a "set" movement rate for EACH type, and differing Combat results tables for various combinations of attacks. I was unable to determine ANY credits by anyone involved in the production of this.