Benito Mussolini had declared war on 10 June, but his generals dithered, and no attack had been launched. The French were already beaten, and Paris had been taken a week earlier. Mussolini needed a trophy to boost Italian morale. That trophy was going to be Nice. On 20 June at midday, Mussolini's troops were finally ready, and his best divisions led an attack supported by what little armor he had. French troops knew their country was on the point of collapse but were not prepared to give an inch of ground to the Italians. As the enemy came towards them, they spat on the ground, primed their weapons, and prepared to show that they were not beaten yet.
Full AAR here: https://asl-players.net/asl-aar-latecomers-j223/
The French took this one square on the jaw and couldn't hang with the elite Italian quads, HMG, and good leadership (9-2). I kept my Italian tanks mostly out of it after firing one and breaking it's MA pretty early, thus making it worthless for VP and succeptible to recall if I permanently disabled it. But I actually repaired its CMG, but I think I only fired a tank one more time the entire game. They kept out of LOS of the single exit hex where I knew the INF gun was set up adjacent to. As soon as I had a chance I drove three AFVs off the map after already capturing 4 buildings (18 VP of the 16 needed). All Scott had left were 2 GO squads, a wounded leader, and a couple 8-0 leader cowering deep in the woods. He tossed in the towel at that point knowing he couldn't recapture any of the buildings with all my remaining MMCs and leader counters protecting them (I had 18 VP and hadn't exited any MMC off the board yet).
Feels like the French have to play a perfect game to win this one, but the record to the right says otherwise, sooooo...I dunno, felt kind of one sided to us. Not my favorite scenario ever.
2024-01-10
(D) Richard Jenulis
vs
Will Fleming
Italian win
The dice were not kind to me on this one. Coupled with Will's excellent play, I ended the game with one GO French squad.
2023-11-03
(D) Andy Bagley
vs
Matt Ellis
French win
Excellent scenario, which I thought for a long while I was going to lose, as the Italians swung round to attack from the West. They used their tanks aggressively, with the DRs going against me as numerous 37mm and MG rounds bounced off their armour. However, the one nut they couldn't crack was the stone building H4, with multiple shots including one IFT 36 +3 failing to break my 9-1 leader and 458 squad (with the 37mm INF gun). Eventually they piled in for CC, which became a mega-CC when the Italian 9-2 leader joined in as well. Against the odds, I won this, taking out his 9-2 leader and a couple of his squads. At about the same time, I knocked out a couple of his tanks (one from each platoon), and my opponent conceded at this point. Possibly prematurely? Not sure, but it was a very enjoyable game for both sides.
2023-10-21
(D) Lawrence Spangler
vs
Charles Watson
A
French win
2023-10-15
(A) Jonathan Kapleau
vs
Duenskie, Ron
French win
2023-10-08
(A) Douglas Leslie
vs
Jeff Howell
Italian win
I took the Italians in this unusual early war match up from Journal 14. I sent one platoon through the western woods while the bulk of my force headed towards the C1 building. Jeff opted to fall back from there rather than make a stand against the powerful Italian force but his allowed the Italians to capture four victory locations very quickly. The need to confront the flanking force weakened the ability of the French to counter attack and Jeff conceded on turn seven when it became clear that there was no prospect of preventing the Italians from exiting the CVP that were needed for the win. Fun scenario with much depending on how effectively the INF gun can deal with the Italian tin cans that are leading the assault.
2023-08-05
(A) Rich Weiley
vs
Dave Wilson
French win
2023-08-01
(A) Paolo Cariolato
vs
Federico Corso
Italian win
2023-07-18
(A) Andy Beaton
vs
Mark Watson
Italian win
French malfed their gun allowing the Italian armour to roll about largely unopposed. Armoured assault cleared the big building but the 9-2 died in glorious close combat with a French hero. French conceded when Italian firepower could be concentrated on the surviving French units.
2023-07-18
(D) mark watson
vs
Andy Beaton
D
Italian win
2023-06-12
(A) Eric Partizan Eric
vs
French win
2023-06-08
(D) Seumas Hoskins
vs
French win
2023-06-04
(A) Dan Best
vs
Dave Mareske
Italian win
The Italians attacked into the buildings. They captured six and exited a tank. The French could not muster a counterattack on the last turn. it helped that the Italians rallied frequently.