CHRIS HARDING SIMULATIONS

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MERSA MATRUH

ALAM HALFA

BATTLE FOR KORSUN

SALAMANCA

Mersa Matruh

This is an operational level game, for two players, of the battles that took place in North Africa, near the coastal Egyptian port of Mersa Matruh in late June 1942. After Panzer Army Africa (PAA) had defeated the British 8th Army in the Gazala battles, and had captured Tobruk, the newly-promoted German Field Marshal Rommel was intent on destroying the retreating 8th Army and advancing to Cairo. Initially Lt Gen Ritchie intended to mount a stand at Mersa Matruh but he was relieved by his superior General Auchinleck, the Commander in Chief, Middle East, and 8th Army was ordered to break contact with PAA and retire to the El Alamein defensive position. Can PAA stop the 8th Army from conducting an orderly retreat and destroy sufficient units so it can continue its drive to the Nile, or can 8th Army slip away from their pursuers, with minimal losses, so as to be able to regroup at El Alamein and halt the eastward march of the Axis forces?

Units are regiments/brigades with some battalions. Map scale is 4.8 Kms/hex and each of the six turns represents about half a day. Mersa Matruh comes with a full colour 11" x 17" map, 198 mounted color counters, rule book, roster sheets and charts in a ziplock bag.

Cost is $15.50 Aus for Australian buyers or $20.50 Aus for buyers outside of Australia. Australian buyers must pay by direct deposit, cheque or money order. International Buyers must use Paypal. Cost includes postage (AirMail) for all buyers. Email Chris at topkat-at-chariot-dot-net-dot-au [address modified to foil mailbots and other malware] to place an order.

	Sample Commonwealth unit
	Sample German Unit
	Sample Italian Unit

Game Support

Errata

Mersa Matruh errata as at 17 April 06.

Page 3

Turn Sequence is rule 4, not 3.

Page 6 rule 9.3.2

Second sentence should read:

"Modified results greater than 9 are treated as 9, while modified results less than -2 are treated as -2."

Game-related Links

There is a Mersa Matruh page on Board Game Geek.

There is also a forum for this game on ConsimWorld.

Replacement Counters

It has been pointed out that the color of the Italian units in the game is a little too close to that of the Commonwealth units. For those of you who would like a greater contrast between the Italian and Commonwealth forces, we have produced a new part-sheet of Italian counters for download. To use up the spare counters on the sheet, new Air Support counters have been included to replace the original simple counters, with upgraded counter art, plus some extra Supply Counters. None of these extra counters are necessary to play the game, but are provided as an option.

Sample updated Italian counter

Sample updated Air Support counter

The sheet has been provided in A4 and US Letter sizes to suit all tastes. Simply print, mount, cut out, and play!

Replacement Italian Counters - A4 size
Replacement Italian Counters - US Letter size