Tobruk--The Ameritrash Wars---Advance to the Castillo!!!

It was 3:00am. My phone rang and I picked it up with some trepidation. I knew that the call was coming from Matt Thrower and what he had to say might possibly spell doom for the Ameritrash side in the Great War against the Eurosnoots. I rubbed my eyes and knocked over my alarm clock as I reached for the phone.

"Hello", I grunted

"General Weeks, I got them!!!", said Matt Thrower with an excited voice.

I paused for a minute and said,

"Right!"


Matt Thrower had done the impossible. He had got his hands on 3 M3 Medium Grant tanks. It would be in these 30 ton monsters that we would assault Greg Schloesser in the Castillo.

The Castillo is Eurosnoot Central. The main Headquarters for the Eurosnoots and it had been recently located to Tobruk for many reasons. The main reason being was the previous location was in a wooded area and allowed easy assaults for AT task forces from close range. The desert terrain provided at Tobruk would give Greg's guards the ability to sight enemies at long range.

In addition, Greg defends the Castillo with 5 Panzerkampwagen III tanks. He is ready for anything.

Rick Thornquist knocks on Greg's bedroom door shortly after 3:00am.

Greg gets out of bed. He is wearing his cube pajamas as he answers the door.

"Sorry to bother you Greg but here is the latest enemy intercept."

Greg reads over the conversation from General Weeks' tapped phone.

"What do you think this means? What did they get?"

"They got the Grant tanks. Our operatives spotted 3 Grant tanks headed towards Tobruk.", replied Rick

"What is their ETA to the Castillo?"

"They should be here at dawn. We can expect the attack to commence at dawn."

Greg frowns

"Ok Rick, you know what to do!"

Rick wakes up Derk, Aldie, and Alan Moon. The Eurosnoots quickly prepare for the AT invasion. Everyone begins to ready their Panzer tanks.

Rick sings "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" as he polishes the gun on his Panzer. Rick sniffs the turtle wax as he puts a high sheen on his 50mm gun.



As dawn approaches, Greg looks out at the desert with his binoculars. He sees dust in the background.

"Here they come!!!"

Approaching from the west are 3 Grant tanks driven by General Weeks, Michael Barnes and Matt Thrower. Weeks is on the left, Barnes in the middle and Matt on the right side as they approach the Panzer tanks lined up at the Castillo.

General Weeks sights Derk's Panzer at a range of 12 hexes. Weeks wants to conserve the ammo on his 75mm gun but fires 2 shots from his 37mm gun at Derk's Panzer.

The first shot fires and hits Derk's Panzer in the gun. Smoke fills the tank.

"Son of a bitch, my frickin' gun is damaged and won't fire!!!", says Derk

General Weeks fires his 37mm gun again at Derk's tank and it misses!!

Greg comes on over the radio,

"Derk hang tight, I think that is Weeks in that tank, I'm firing!!"

Derk screams,

"Negative, Negative Greg, those tanks are too tough you gotta get closer!!!"

Greg agrees,

"Everyone hold your fire, we will advance and destroy them!!!"

Barnes sights Greg's tank at a range of 12 hexes and fires his 37mm gun twice.
The first shot hits but ricochets off Greg's tank.

Greg's eyes look up toward the tank hatch,

"Hellooooooo"

Barnes 2nd shot hits the tank and ricochets off again.

Greg laughs.

Matt Thrower comes on over the radio,

"Gentlemen, I must get a little closer before I fire this beast."

Matt sips some Earl Grey tea.

Turn 2:

All of the Euro snoot forces advance except Derk who was an F-Kill. He has no fire power.

Weeks and Barnes stay still as Matt Thrower advances.

Since Derk was effectively immobilized, Weeks aims at the tank on the far left which is driven by Aldie.

Range of 10 hexes, Weeks opts to only fire his 37mm guns at Aldie's tank.
Weeks fires two shots.
The first shot hits Aldie's Panzer but ricochets off and the 2nd shot does the same.

Barnes has Greg's Panzer in his sights. Barnes comes over the radio,

"Target acquired! Firing my 75mm!!"

Barnes fires the 75mm gun 3 times at Greg's Panzer. The first shot misses, the second shot hits but bounces off Greg's tank and the 3rd shot misses altogether!!"

Greg laughs,

"Meeple power baby!!!"

Barnes with a determned look now fires his 37mm gun at Greg's Panzer 6 times!

The first shot misses, the 2nd shot hits the tracks of Greg's tank and rips them to shreds, Greg cannot move!!!

the 3rd shot bounces off the tank, the 4th shot slams into the turret ring and Greg's tank explodes into a ball of fire!!!

Matt Thrower comes on over the radio,

"Good show Barnes!!!!"

Barnes cracks his knuckles.

Turn 3:

Weeks and Barnes both advance their tanks towards the Panzers. The Panzers don't move and their turrets can be seen taking aim.

Matt Thrower fires at the tank on the far right driven by Alan Moon.
Matt's 75mm gun is out of the field of fire and can't fire on Alan Moon's Panzer. Matt fires his 37mm gun twice at the tank.
The first shot hits the 50mm gun on Alan's tank and smoke fills the tank. Alan's gun is inoperable!! An F-Kill on Alan Moon!!

Aldie fires his 50mm gun twice at General Weeks' Grant tank. the first shot hits the tracks on Weeks' Grant tank!!!

Weeks grinds the gears on his tank!!!

"Shit!!! I can't move!!!"

Aldie scores an M-Kill on Weeks.

The 2nd shot from Aldie hits the Upper Hull of Weeks' tank and bounces off.

Rick Thornquist fires his 50mm gun twice at Barnes tank which is moving towards him.
The first shot hits the tracks of Barnes' tank and he grinds his gears.

"Looks like we are sitting ducks out here Weeks!!!"

"That's General Weeks, just keep your hand on that gun and blast away!!!", screams General Weeks over the radio.

The 2nd shot from Rick's Panzer hits the upper Hull of Barnes tank on the front and just bounces off.

Rick adjusts his glasses and his eyebrow goes up like Spock.

Turn 4:

Since Alan Moon's tank cannot fire he moves back towards the rear of the battlefield. Matt Thrower pursues Alan. The rest of the tanks on the field do not move.

General Weeks fires his 75mm gun at Aldie's tank which is at a range of 7 hexes. General Weeks moved into a position to fire at the right flank of Aldie's tank.
The shot hits the turret of Aldie's Panzer and the tank explodes into a ball of fire. The smoke cloud from the tank takes the crude form of a geek holding a checkerboard.

Barnes fires his 75mm gun at Rick Thornquist's Panzer. The range is 7 hexes.
The shot hits the front of Rick's tank and bounces off.

Rick's eyes look upwards toward the hatch. A small bead of sweat appears on Rick's forehead.

Now Barnes fires his 37mm gun twice at Rick's Panzer. The first shot hits the front of the tank and bounces off and the 2nd shot does the same thing.

Rick has acquired Barnes in his sights. Rick fires his 50mm gun 4 times at Barnes immobile tank.

Weeks radios over to Barnes,

"Incoming Barnes!! Sit tight!!"

The first shot hits the front of Barnes' tank and bounces off. The 2nd shot hits the lower hull of Barnes' tank on the front and just bounces off. The 3rd shot hits the front of the tank and bounces off, the 4th shot misses.

Barnes wipes his forehead.

Turn 5:

Derk moves his impotent tank over towards Alan Moon's tank which also can't fire.

Matt Thrower takes his aim off Alan Moon's tank and fires at Rick's tank. Matt fires his 75mm gun at the flank of Rick's tank at the range of 5 hexes and hits but the shot just bounces off. Rick's tank is jolted and his copy of "Galaxy Trucker" falls off the small shelf in the tank and the pieces go everywhere. Rick speaks to himself,

"Now we are playing for keeps!!!"

Now Matt fires the 37mm gun twice at Rick's Panzer. The first shot hits the turret ring and the tank explodes into a ball of flame!!!

Eric Martin who is watching the battle from the top of the Castillo smiles and says,

"That was Rick's tank! The Boardgame News Website is now TOTALLY mine!!!!!"

General Weeks radios,

"That's it gentlemen we have taken the field!!!"

Matt Thrower gets flames in his eyes and replies,

"Not yet General, I have some unfinished business with Alan Moon!"

Matt fires his 75mm gun at the range of 7 hexes at the rear of Alan Moon's retreating Panzer.

Alan Moon's Panzer explodes!!!

Derk gets out of his tank, puts his hands up and surrenders.

The Castillo has been taken!!!

The above scenario was a scaled down version of the "Clash of Armor" scenario in Avalon Hill's Tobruk game. The game gets much more complicated as you progress through the scenarios but this tank on tank combat is the heart of the game. The battles are very detailed and the dice are constantly thrown to give you detailed results.

I hope you enjoyed this look back at an Avalon Hill Classic!!!

Oh wow, of course I heard about the Advanced Tobruk System, but didn't know this game is considered such a classic.

Again a great session report, but three Grants (titled the Land-Battleship) against five Panzer IIIs doesn't really make for a balanced fight, does it?

A classic? Well... people complain about too many dice throws but those guys just have limp wrists and have no business playing a wargame anyway!!!

How can you be more fair? They had 5 tanks and we had 3!!!

the*mad*gamer wrote:

A classic? Well... people complain about too many dice throws but those guys just have limp wrists and have no business playing a wargame anyway!!!

Yeah, I read those complaints. Probably half of the ratings on BGG are from people who barely remember playing the game and just recently switched to playing euros, which are so much easier on the brain.

How can you be more fair? They had 5 tanks and we had 3!!!

You could have given the eurosnoots tanks which can more than scratch a Grant.