Questions about "The Reluctant Offensive"

[musurca]

Hi -- I just picked up Desert War in the latest sale and I'm very much enjoying it, with a few qualifications. On my first time out, I slogged through all 36 turns of "The Reluctant Offensive" and won a fairly overwhelming victory as the Axis (2078 to 22!). Since I doubt I'm that much smarter than the real Graziani (bumbler though he obviously was), I wanted to bring up a few points that occurred to me during the game. (And since I'm a newb, please let me know if I've missed anything!)

1) Given the results of the real offensive, the Italians in this particular scenario seem far too flexible and mobile compared to their historical counterparts. Might it not make sense to cut down their movement points and/or severely limit the command range of the HQs? (Didn't some divisions reportedly get lost in the desert?)

2) It seems a bit too easy to push units through the desert over bad roads, and it's possible that game mechanics don't punish you enough for this. Do long road movements just decrease readiness, or do they also decrease unit strength due to breakdowns a la "Campaign for North Africa?"

3) The Allied AI seems far too easy to encircle, and rarely protects their flanks or line of supply. Given #1 and #2 above, it was very easy to neutralize both the initial Allied build-up in Halfaya Pass as well as the reinforcements that start arriving later. (I ended the game in possession of every VP up to and including Mersa Matruh.)

Thanks for reading -- and looking forward to the upcoming Stalingrad game!

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