I hope their countrymen up at El Kantara are made of similarly stern stuff. The Punjabis defending the settlement respond with commendable ferocity, inflicting three times as many casualties as they sustain. After a preliminary artillery bombardment (the foe has arty in the hills to the east of my southern VLs) Turkish transports spill infantry onto the papyrus-fringed shore near Toussoum. Up north at El Kantara all is quiet until HMS Swiftsure, steaming south on a scouting sortie, spots two Turkish infantry units and gives them a teeth-rattling taste of her 10-inch guns. The sooner I get them over to the eastern bank, the sooner they can use their impressive mobility to devastating effect. In the key central port and railway junction of Ismailia, I hurry my three core units down to the quay for embarkation. As HMS Clio, a nearby Royal Navy gunboat, is still a turn or two away, it looks like the Punjabi battalion defending Toussoum are in for a warm morning. Concentrated fire from my pair of artillery batteries barely scratches this ominous flotilla. The scarab-rolled sun rises to reveal enemy troop transports already crossing the Canal in the south. However, there's the little matter of an amphibious assault to deal with first. These three units will (hopefully) lead the glorious counter-thrust that takes Bir Murra and Kataib-El-Khail. The battle briefing has hinted that cavalry will be especially useful, so after a spot of stubble stroking, I've decided to spend my 1000 PPs on blue-chip British engineering, Indian panache, and grumpy, humpy, ungulates. Assuming they survive the Suez scrap, these chaps will be carried through to the next episode of the campaign, their growing experience a boon and the seed from which a characterful leader unit may eventually germinate. Using a small fund of Prestige Points (usually the reward for campaign victories) I get to buy my first core units. Positions on the Canal must be held, and Bir Murra and Kataib-El-Khail, two Victory Locations in the desert to the east, recaptured.īefore the bullet-slinging begins, there's a chance to participate in one of PG2's most distinctive and rewarding rituals. I've got eighteen turns in which to smash their offensive and re-establish Allied supply lines. On 3rd Feb 1915, the Indian troops defending the Suez Canal got a first-hand taste of that fluidity, when 25,000 Turkish troops tramped out of the shimmering Sinai and attacked them. While the armies of the Entente and Central Powers were busy stalemating each other in the shell-ploughed fields of France and Belgium, in the Middle East, WWI remained a fluid affair. It begins on the banks of the Suez Canal in the Spring of 1915. A particular campaign called 'The Last Crusade' has caught my eye. Because SSI's charmer is a little temperamental on modern machines, and I'm a bit WW2ed-out after last week's Arnhem marathon, I'll be using Open General - Luis Guzman's clever rewrite - and the refreshingly Sherman-less Kaiser General II mod (included in the free Open General installer) for the coming hostilities. Ready a salute, you are about to enter the command tent of Panzer General 2.Īc tually, strictly speaking, it's not Panzer General 2 that will be powering this AAR. Beyond the jump is a world of hard-won hexagons, coveted core units, and tight timetables. Having featured Sid Meier's Gettysburg! and Close Combat 2 in the last two Heavily Engageds, it only seems right that the subject of this week's rumble reportage is the third of the trio. Three of PC wargaming's most succulent fruit reached ripeness in the same fortnight in autumn 1997.
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