North Africa '41 - The Western Desert, March to December 1941

This is a complete redo of my old design The Legend Begins which was first published 30 years ago by Rhino Game Company. Everything has been redone—new map, new order of battle research, and improved rules using many of the ideas developed in Stalingrad ’43, Holland ’44, and Salerno ’43.

The map and unit scale from the old game remains the same as well as some of the rules.

There are still Limited and Active ZOCs, Tank shifts, Coastal Shipping between ports, Malta convoy rules, port destruction/repair, and Resource Points. Resource Points are used to build or purchase assets that are in limited supply such as: air support, battleship convoy escort, air transport, and temporary full participation of the Italian army.

The basic game system borrows heavily from other games in the WWII 19xx series, but there are no ZOC Bonds in this game. Only the ZOCs of motorized units stop enemy movement. Units can move past non-motorized units by paying +2 MPs to exit each ZOC.

New rules have been added to enhance excitement and prevent perfect plans: Event Tables, Delay markers, strafing, Rommel movement bonus, and the Long Range Desert Group.

The game includes three scenarios: The Campaign Game, Battle Axe, and Crusader.

COMPONENTS

One 22” x 34” map sheet and one 22” x 28” map sheet
Two counter sheets
One Rules booklet
Two Setup and Reinforcement cards
Two identical CRT/TEC player aid cards
Two 6-sided dice