Lew Ritter and Bill Vargas on BEDA FOMM

British Player: Bill Vargas
Italian Player: Lew Ritter
Game Result: British Decisive Victory

Bill Vargas and I played a game of Beda Fomm over the weekend. I think there is a good game system here, but I have doubts about the situation.

On first turn, the Italians are required to move six MPs down the main coastal road. The British have a small blocking force ready to intercept them. The Italians cannot initiate combat until after first player turn of contact. 

On turn one, the British Comberforce surrounded two convoys of Italian troops moving down the road toward the map exit. The Italians were wiped out. They moved a few survivors and new arrivals to form a defensive perimeter. They moved to form a line with units from the 10th Bersigliari with their 0-5-8 strength. The Italians were limited to a battalion of artillery with a 2-2-4. 

Italian artillery (2-2-4) has no chance of getting good odds on the barrage table. they need a minimum of three attack factors. Italians used it to Interdict and slow down a column of British tanks. 

Italians mounted a counter attack with tanks from Babini tank brigade. they tried to surround the British troops and force a withdrawal or even surround some of the tanks. Retreating into enemy ZOC means elimination in this game. British AT fired destroyed a tank unit reducing the attack odds to a 1.5 to 1. 

The game was a stand off for several turns. Neither side could muster a decisive attack. Then the British 4th Tank brigade showed up. They brought in a large force of tanks . 

The Italians receive nine convoys consisting of an infantry unit and two worthless trucks per turn. They get some good artillery units and poor Italian tanks, but inability to stack seems to limit Italian ability to get good odds on the Bombardment table. The Britsh receive their 4th Tank Brigade at end of first day. At that point, night fell and neither side could move into enemy ZOCs. 

The Italians retreated to form a solid line, but had no ability to counter attack. It seemed that the Italians had the choice of a desperate counter attack or scattering in different directions in hopes of running off the board. The Italian position seemed hopeless and I gave the British the victory. The situation is historical, but seems no fun for the Italians. 

One interesting rule is that if you have a tank unit stacking on top of infantry or artillery units, they are protected by the tanks from regular combat. The Italians must somehow eliminated the tank unit to allow them to have regular combat on the artillery units, which seemed to be the arm of decision for British. 

The Italians are limited in stacking. Their artillery units are battalions and you can only stack one battalion and one company unit per hex. The British have several artilery companies, which allowed them to stack several artillery units per hex. 

Units are only allowed to concentrate fire from the same hex, not adjacent hexes. This made it hard to for the Italians to fire on more than the three column. The Brits could get to 9 factors, allowing them to bombard at the top of the Bombarment CRT unless they were engaging Italian armor (which receives defensive column shifts on the barrage table). 

I'm curious to see how the Italians can win. We were puzzled by the limitations placed on Italian artillery to stack together.

Lessons Learned

Don't mess with the British. Italian infantry battalions cannot stack enough to deliver an offensive punch. Italian artillery battalions are limited in ablility to mass attack on bombardment CRT due to Fire Coordination restrictions. Armor unit sheltering infantry units from Regular Combat also makes it harder for the Italians to close to regular combat.

Should the Italians forces scatter or orchestrate a desperate counterattack?

What do you recommend?

If you've played this game, we'd love to see your Game Report.