Wargaming Tobruk Today

Promoting the hobby of Tactical wargaming with AH Tobruk, using miniature rules, observations, and the new add-on expansions. Resources, reports, and links to free rules for improving play for enthusiasts of the original issue of Tobruk follow. Dusting off my original copy of Tractics (minus a sand table and micro armor) several years back, I started replaying Tobruk using the two main General articles below, adding miniature rules to improve realism. These additions were based on reading first-hand accounts of combat in the desert. Your possibilities are endless with Tobruk now by cherry-picking these. Expansions will add terrain and almost all weapons and AFVs for North Africa. Solitaire play with Simultaneous Movement and Fire examples are shown in detail for maximum realism.

Beginning with PDF copies of the General v12#2 and Hal Hock's article from the AH General v13#4. These add an extra dimension with new units, corrections, and Hal's comments. The General 12#2 p.2 starts with AH Philosophy, which outlines the construction of Tobruk and the importance of Miniature Rules specifically Tractics, to its creation. Often overlooked are The Firefights p. 11-12, small engagements that represent the majority of desert combat. Reading recommendations of AFV desert combat are Brazen Chariots and Take These Men, must-reads for wargaming WWII AFV combat in the desert and its conditions,  best yet is Armoured Odessy if you can get it. Ending with Designer's Notes which details everything  and finally Weapons Effectiveness. The General v13#4 starts with the main complaints of Tobruk, now we will fix them here. 

1. Speed of play, or the sore wrist problem. Solution: print out hundreds of die rolls, cut and paste these to a document, and print, make a hex range ruler, and those problems are gone. The Bofors and 88mm are now easily calculated on the HTP, use D12 print-outs for hits.

 

Resolved - no more sore wrist.

The remaining game complaints are easily solved.

2. No Terrain Solution use: Tracing Paper Overlays, simply draw it on, tack to map, or weight down. Rolls in light yellow match the board color, simply draw them in. Ridges, Escarpments, Wadi's,  and tank hull-down hides,  photos around Tobruk will give plenty of usable ideas. A look at the terrain a bit south west of Tobruk at  Sidi Rezegh.
3. Rates of Fire and Movement unrealistic: adjust as you see fit based on first hand accounts and miniature rule sets, see Desert Warfare Experiences below.
4. Morale is too High: As with ROF and Movement adjust as you see fit based on, researching books. The osprey elite series is an excellent starting point. Gunfire Factors etc can also be adjusted based on DTIC reports, covered later on.

New Units: Data for adding numerous units (home made) is given in the rest of the General 13#4 p.6+,  or see Add-ons Section for buying the counters if preferred.

Experimental Rules pages p. 10-11 add more realism, see Miniature Rules below for more. Included are rules for Camouflage and Concealment, Visibility, Dust, Air Burst 88MM HE, Morale Loss etc. Hal closes Tobruk: Combat, Expansion, and Comment: "If players include most or all of the above-listed Experimental Rules, TOBRUK should represent a nearly complete representation of desert war as revealed in historical accounts."  

- Miniature Rules: Let you go even further, adding more realism, as much as you want, the possibilities are truly endless. Beginning with two excellent Micro Armor rule sets below. Tractics was the old standard from the 1970's.

Panzer-War Micro Armour rule set is packed with AFV rules to add to Tobruk's experimental rules,  it is devoted to AFV resolution, like Tobruk, one designer being a tanker himself. The ideas alone in sections 4 through 9 are worth the download. The site offers many other interesting reports.

Tank Charts 2nd Edition is another set of AFV-heavy designed rules but not as detailed. Using these two miniature rules in conjunction with Tobruk, plus its Experimental rules will cover almost anything. The link here is the updated charts, not the rules itself in the 1st Edition.

Other popular miniature rule sets you might consider. Bolt Action,  Flames of War, Chain of Command, and Crossfire. These are more Infantry-based rules, BA and FoW both have extensive Design Your Own (DYO) tables and setup suggestions. All provide ideas for play.

My original copy of 1971

- Observations: The Desert Warfare Experiences by General Toppe cover Heat Haze etc. A must read, you can fine tune your own hybrid rule set with the above Mico-Armor Miniature Rules additions along with these desert-specific observations.
WWII Desert Tactics are best covered with Paddy Griffith's book.
George Forty's excellent coverage of the Desert War has great photos and personel accounts (p96-98) of armoured combat for playing ideas to test in AH Tobruk. An excellent chapter on the desert war that covers everything under the desert sun, is in Tank Men.

Observations made while playing Tobruk over the last 5 years include:

A) Changes to Gunfire Factors: do all squads, crews fire as efficiently as others? Units with combat experience vs ones without. Modifying die roll results with a simple - or + 1 makes great impact on these results. 

Ammunition loads for infantry units impact play considerably as for tanks, Unit conditions, like low on munitions, prior casualties, are set before the start of play. If the base ammunition carried is 6o rounds, then 12 turns of shooting are the section's maximum. Consider resupply options during play.

B) Simultaneous Solitaire Play. Easy to do, write down all commands, Movements and Fire for both sides. But you know everything that's going to happen, not by the time you finish, you'll forget all. Make a basic AI for decision-making based on dice and using first-hand accounts. Examples here of AFV duels and Infantry Firefights.

Plot out everything on scrap paper and execute the turn based on dividing the 30 second turn into segments. This allows you to break up the Rate of Fire (ROF) for weapon to weapon dueling. Conflicts like two AFV's firing at each other with the same ROF, who fires first, is resolved by the die.You will be playing 1 turn a day maybe. After some fine tuning you'll speed up the process. 

AH General v16#3 p18, Tobruk Tournament at Orgins II, (Tank for the Memories) gives further ideas, and can have major impact on play. Units with reduced ammo, fatigue, etc. from extended combat, are just some of the conditions to modify before you start your simulation.

C) Critical Hit Expansions:

There is a lot of confusion as to what is here. I stumbled onto this in a Google search a few years back and was also confused. With two complete sets of Tobruk for large Battalion size games, a third set, wasn't needed. Meaning that Rule set v1.3 is the only thing you need if you have boards. This will give you all counters and charts included in the core set! Pictures, link below.

To have a complete North Africa Campaign set with Sherman's, US Infantry, Lee's, and Tiger tanks, you'll need 5 Expansions plus the ruleset. You can even drop the consolidated rules and use Miniature rules and counters from SL/COI or a similar game. In any event, you don't need the core set if you have boards.

Electric Whiskers, Benghazi Handicap, El Alamein (just A), Operation Torch, Kasserine and Beyond, will give the complete set. All 3 Alamein Expansions have the same counters, so it's scenarios only that differ. Will we see more Expansions with AFV's from Critical Hit, I hope so. The Normandy expansions don't include AFV's as far as I know so no comment.

BRL1192 Expansions to play the entire Desert War

BRL 1192 Expansion charts and counters for Hal Hock's Tobruk

 

BRL 1192 Rules and Play Aid set 1.3 gives you all charts and counters for the Expansions pictured above.

The Crusader Project, is a goldmine of information and ideas, one of the most interesting tank battles ever, November 1941. Unfortunately the Pz III e,f,g's in the battle are not in any of the expansions leaving out a key 1941 element. The up-armored H model was not available in numbers until late Spring 1942. More research is needed on what types of Pz III models were present during the Crusader battles.

Does it end with North Africa, no! We have enough units now for Sicily, Italy, and Russia using Lend- Lease AFV's. A bit of research will give plenty of ideas for DYO situations. Flat terrain exists everywhere you provide the undulations. See 2. above.

Reading an account of a rear guard action from a reconnaissance battalion, it was easy to simulate this action retreating from the Caucasus in 1943 based on books. Using simulated snow conditions with a result, that matched the original outcome.
This becomes- Frankensteining Tobruk - testing, adjusting, and having it play your way! DYO examples will follow later.

Further references: In order of my favorite books on the North Africa Campaign.

Armoured Odyssey: 8th Royal Tank Regiment in the Western Desert, 1941-42, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, 1943-44, Italy, 1944-45 - The best account on desert warfare and what really happens during action in a tank.

Tank Charts Rules

The Sidi Rezegh battles, 1941 by Agar-Hamilton 

Totensonntag, November 23 1941 excerpt from the book

New Zealand accounts of the Desert War. 

From Tobruk to Tunis by Neal Dando, his original thesis, here (PDF).

Combat and morale in the North African Campaign by Jonathan Fennell

Operation Crusader and the Desert War in British History and Memoryby Alexander Joffe

 

Geared to the tactical wargamer and history buff who has a bookshelf loaded with OOB's and many books on the desert war, pictured last are two in depth assessments first of Operation Crusader 1941, and the  campaign through El Alemein. 

 

 

The idea here is to spark interest in Hal Hock's Tobruk and expand on it with miniature rules and expansions available to customize it to play the way you want. The links provided should interest anyone who is a AFV war-gaming or North Africa Campaign history buff, which is a dying hobby today.