The fictitious Battle of Kairouan, 19 November 1942

The fictitious Battle of Kairouan

Race for Tunis Campaign - November 19, 1942

A 20mm WWII tabletop wargame fought on Saturday, February 20, 2010

Another battle from our Race for Tunis campaign, a supplement for the Command Decision rule set created by Frank Chadwick, Greg Novak, and others. The Axis are on the defensive as a mixed US force approaches from the west.

The battle was fought in El Cerrito, California by the Gourmet Wargaming Club, using 20mm miniatures and our Hail of Lead homebrew rule set.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a list of the miniatures and their manufacturers.

A view of the battlefield from the south. The US force enters on and near the west road (top left), while German units enters from the east.

On the first turn, a couple of German heavy tank units open fire on US forces as they attempt to cross a wadi.

A Stuart light tank battalion mixed with recon units is lit up by German antitank fire. The tanks are largely destroyed. Shortly after, the US commander observes the adage that discretion is the better part of valor. The Germans hold the field at the end of turn two.

A close-up of the carnage. These units stalled in front of the wadi while attempting to find paths into it. Fortunately the enemy largely ignored the soft vehicles (jeeps), and the scout cars and halftracks largely escaped.

A full squadron of B-26A Marauder medium bombers hits suspected enemy position in the town. (The model is actually a B-26B, for you sticklers). Note the German armor is under an artillery barrage (marked by krump markers).

A German combat engineer company (bottom right) attacks the hill to get at an FO stand with jeep (center). The FO is wiped out by small arms fire, but not before the Germans shell the hilltop with 105mm artillery. Suddenly, the remnants of the Stuart battalion counter-attack with a couple of recon jeeps, tearing into the engineers. Then the American retreat was announced.

More American medium bombers pound the town. This time a squadron of B-25C Mitchells. (The model is actually a B-25H.) This attack was followed by another squadron of B-26B's. The town was smashed to rubble, but the Americans had no way of knowing how hard they had hit the enemy.

With the quick termination of the battle, our merry band of fighters has an unrestricted lunch period and open afternoon. How about a visit to the SS Red Oak Victory?!

For a few diehard gourmets who returned to dismantle the game table: homemade pound cake with lemon icing. This takes the edge off of the clean-up.

The Miniatures:

The recon jeeps, US halftracks, PzKfw III N's and Tigers are all 1/76 scale plastic kits by Fujimi (some formerly Nitto).

Stuart tanks are old 1/76 scale Matchbox plastic kits. M3 White scout cars are 1/72 Italeri (formerly ESCI) kits.

The German SdKfz 10/4 flak halftrack is a converted 1/87 scale Roco ready-to-run plastic model.

American and German figures are 1/72 scale soft plastic figures, a mix of Revell and Italeri (ESCI), and some 1/76 Airfix and Matchbox.

The B-26B is a 1/72 scale Matchbox plastic kit. The B-25H is an old Monogram plastic kit, supposedly in 1/70 scale.

A view of the battlefield from the south. The US force enters on and near the west road (top left), while German units enters from the east.	On the first turn, a couple of German heavy tank units open fire on US forces as they attempt to cross a wadi.	A Stuart light tank battalion mixed with recon units is lit up by German antitank fire. The tanks are largely destroyed. Shortly after, the US commander observes the adage that discretion is the better part of valor. The Germans hold the field at the end of turn two.	A close-up of the carnage. These units stalled in front of the wadi while attempting to find paths into it. Fortunately the enemy largely ignored the soft vehicles (jeeps), and the scout cars and halftracks largely escaped.	A full squadron of B-26A Marauder medium bombers hits suspected enemy position in the town. (The model is actually a B-26B, for you sticklers). Note the German armor is under an artillery barrage (marked by krump markers).
A German combat engineer company (bottom right) attacks the hill to get at an FO stand with jeep (center). The FO is wiped out by small arms fire, but not before the Germans shell the hilltop with 105mm artillery. Suddenly, the remnants of the Stuart battalion counter-attack with a couple of recon jeeps, tearing into the engineers. Then the American retreat was announced.	More American medium bombers pound the town. This time a squadron of B-25C Mitchells. (The model is actually a B-25H.) This attack was followed by another squadron of B-26B's. The town was smashed to rubble, but the Americans had no way of knowing how hard they had hit the enemy.	With the quick termination of the battle, our merry band of fighters has an unrestricted lunch period and open afternoon. How about a visit to the SS Red Oak Victory?!	For a few diehard gourmets who returned to dismantle the game table: homemade pound cake with lemon icing. This takes the edge off of the clean-up.