Panzer North Africa 2: Duel at Sidi Azeiz

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Not content with our initial play of Panzer North Africe 3 weeks ago (at this writing), we embark on a venture to make all new and ridiculous mistakes. The scenario, per title, models a few companies in a meeting engagement just inside the Libyan border a bit west of Bardiya. We've been here before at an operational scale with The Dark Valley Operation Compass scenario.

This game I took the Germans and AS the Commonwealth. The idea is each force enters opposite map edges, and must make their way to the opposing forces map edge, the Commonwealth entry hex in the Axis' case.

As is usual for both of us, particularly when learning a new set of rules, and especially when panzers (or tanks in general) are involved is just drive head on into each other, so we did.

And we managed to botch up all kinds of rules, from the initiative system, to armor penetration, movement, command, you name it we screwed it up. We even managed to get a few of the wrongi tanks on the field: the Germans found themselves with the Panzer IVF2, which has the 75mm long barrel and is just murder… but not actually in this order of battle. :(

We did not get an image of the end result.

We do intend to play it more. It's such a good game, there is just a lot to it, and we haven't put in the hours to really appreciate it.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.