Overview
Toward the end of 1942, the German High Command saw that the tide was turning in the war. On the East Front, von Paulus was surrounded in Stalingrad. Rommel had been defeated at El Alamein in Egypt and, in October, was retreating with his battered army toward Tripoli. Now the Americans were making their presence felt by landing at various points in Morocco and Algeria, threatening the Axis position in Africa from the rear. The Germans rushed forces by air and sea to Tunisia to counter the threat. They arrived just in time, as the lead elements of the allied forces made their drive to capture Tunis by Christmas 1942. Then the tide turned with the weather, the roads turned to mud tracks and the Allied drive was stalled. Wedged between the on-coming Allied Armies of Algeria and Egypt, a scratch force of powerful Germans panzers, intermixed with available infantry replacement forces, regained the initiative through February, inflicting serious losses on green US forces facing battle against a determined enemy for the first time. But this was only to delay the inevitable loss of the Axis presence in Africa.
Scenarios
Panzer Campaigns: Tunisia '43 covers the three major offensives during the period from late November through May 1943:
The Race to Tunis - Nov 25th to Dec 9th
The Germans Kasserine Offensive - Feb 14th to Feb 21st
The End in Africa – April 22nd to May 6th
All the Major Battles covered Chouigui, Sidi bou Zid, Kasserine, Operation Ochsenkopf, Flanking the Mareth Line and El Guettar to name a few. A total of 34 scenarios are included plus a map-viewer scenario so you can see the entire map at one time.
Features
Game features include:
Game scale is 1 hex = 1 km, 1 turn = 2 hours, with battalion and company size units.
Full Map of Tunisia covering 144,000 sq km from the Mareth Line in the southeast and as far west as Tebessa on the west side of the West Dorsal mountain range.
Three OOBs covering each period of the fighting in Tunisia covering changes in the organization of the units as well as equipment upgrades (and downgrades –in the case of US Sherman losses being replaced with M3 Lee tanks).
Extensive Designer Notes.
Tunisia '43 provides multiple play options including play against the computer AI, Play by E-mail (PBEM), LAN & Internet "live" play, and two player hotseat.
Changes
Changes in the Panzer Campaign series new for Tunisia '43:
Added new Night Move Disruption parameter data value which determines probability of night movement by non-rail and non-travel or non-road movement units causing Disruption.
Added ability to toggle Movement Sounds off and on (in Settings Menu).
Really excited about this one, can't wait to play the Flanking the Mareth Line scenario as that is one of my favourite battles.
Glenn also makes it clear in the designer notes that threads on forums like ours asking for this title did have an influence on the decision to design and release this title.