El Alamein – October’s game of the month

Late – late and out of timetable order. I know, I know. Here’s to a more frequent posting schedule in 2011, and of course a Happy New Year to all!

This is the first in my game of the month asides – posts about games about battles that happened during a month. In these I plan to roam a little more widely than I would in a game review. If you’re just after computer game reviews don’t fret, they’ll still appear here too. Who knows, maybe next time the game of the month post will even appear closer to the month in question.

El AlaMein

The battle’s interesting to me for a couple of reasons. There’s the pro vs anti Montgomery debate obviously, but that's overlayed over a battle that’s interesting to debate in itself I think.

Some of the main debates are worth mentioning at least in passing. When did the battle start? Were the attack plans sound? What should have been done once a breakthrough failed to materialise on Monty’s first day? Were the “crumbling operations” unnecessarily costly? Was the battle even necessary at all in light of the subsequent Torch landings - could Rommel have maintained a position in Egypt after Torch even without Alamein? How did an Allied army with such a huge advantage in both men & material come so close to losing? And finally of course, just how did the Afrika Korps escape that overwhelming force?
All interesting stuff, and a good wide field for at least several years worth of reading and arguing so far. My idea of fun!

The games

HPS does have a Panzer Campaigns game on Alamein but I haven’t played it. Now that Tiller’s games look to be moving to be available to buy & download online I may get the chance at last, but in the meantime other than the occasional TOAW scenario it’s going to be up to board games to fill the Alamein breach.

DAK2 is the boardgame I’ve decided to mention briefly here; DAK2 it’s worth saying at the outset is a monster game, and this is really just a mention, not in any sense a review of so big a game.




A comparison of two Dean Essig designs: DAK 2 at 5 miles per hex vs. Afrika 2 at 10. For scale those floor tiles are about 13” to a side.

That picture may explain a bit about this post’s delayed appearance!

Also worth mentioning is that DAK2 is out of print and has been out of print for a while, so unless you’ve got yourself a copy already it’s going to mean an expensive trip to E Bay to get one now. MMP, who also regularly keep most of their flagship ASL game series out of print really do themselves no favours sometimes.

DAK2 is part of the Operational Combat Series (OCS) series of games, published — past tense, as I’ve said — by MMP, since MMP took on the Gamers’ stable of games.

Probably the main reason I mention (and play) DAK2 is how the OCS games handle supply. Handle is the wrong word. They treat supply seriously. Revolve around supply even. But they manage to do so elegantly and with a minimum of overhead.

The vast difference in the supply situation for the two sides at Alamein, with the limitless supply sink of the Nile Delta ports & the short rail & truck link from there to the front on the Allied side, opposed by the strained & vastly overextended Axis supply line to their West mean that the role of supply is vital in any Alamein game.

In OCS games movement, combat, pretty much everything you want to do means moving and using supply. I won’t go through the mechanics, the rules are available online, but suffice to to say the system involves no off board record keeping at all, just the simple movement of supply chits. And if you don’t stockpile sufficient supply and keep it safe your grand offensive will certainly be going nowhere fast.

DAK2 and the other Operational Combat Series (OCS) games take supply just as seriously, but also handle supply more elegantly than most computer games I know of, including even WITP/WITP:AE in the “seriously” side of that comparison.

I’ve spent a long time looking for a computer wargame that does things as well as the OCS games. War in the East (WITE), out since late 2010 and soon to be reviewed here and appear as part of my January game of the month aside, WITE may be just the computer game I’ve been looking for. It’s system of HQs providing supply is similarly elegant (and indeed similar!) to the OCS games.

Here’s hoping, and once again – a Happy New Year to all!