More than a Tournament, RTT’42 is a Campaign for Many players who will be involved in Multiplayer Battles. It is probably best described as an Operational Level Multiplayer Meta-game with Battle Academy as the Combat Resolution Mechanism. RTT’42 simulates the early stages of the Tunisian Campaign in late 1942 as the Allies attempted to take Tunis and Bizerte, cutting off Rommel’s retreat from El Alamein, and the Axis desperately attempted to prevent this. Players command forces on both sides as this Campaign is waged, fighting battles, but having to live to fight another day.
Basics
• Campaign Length-The Campaign will last from Tuesday 17 NOV 1942 through the day turn of 25 DEC 1942, inclusive. That is 39 turns.
• Gamemasters – The Axis and Allied Theater Commanders are Gamemasters. There is a third, unaffiliated Arbitrator who will aid in resolving any rules disputes or quandaries that may arise during play.
• Turns – There are 3 turns per day: a Command Turn, an Operational Turn and a Planning Turn. Each Turn is performed in order.
• Battles - Battles begin after dawn, end after dusk, and are 24 turns long. The Attacker may be able to make a Night attack or a Pre-Dawn Assault. Pre-Dawn Assaults begin before Dawn and last until the Afternoon. They are 24 turns long. Night battles begin at dusk, end at dawn, and are 16 turns long. The Allies are always the first side in battles.
• Support – There are Air and Artillery support rules which guide the use of Air and Artillery in battles.
• Players – Many. The more the merrier.
• Roles – There are 2 Theater Commanders, The Allied First Army Commander and the Axis XC Korps Commander. There will be Area Commanders who are subordinate to the Theater Commanders, and Tactical Commanders, subordinate to the Area Commanders, who will command the Battlegroups (BGs, This is a British Term, also colloquially called Task Forces or Kampfgruppen to use US or German terminology, respectively..). No fear; everyone will get to fight battles!
• Units and Terminology – Those who have played in the GJS’44 Tournament are familiar with the term BG, Battlegroup. In that tournament, this was used to describe a BN-level unit. In RTT’42 they will be termed BN (for “Battalion”). The term BG will be used as a standard to describe one or more Battalions under the Tactical command of one player. So as an example, if I as an Axis commander command a force containing III BN/7 Pz Regiment and II BN/92 Regiment/Superga Division, the whole force is referred to as Battlegroup III/7 Pz RGT, or BG II/92 or BG Navaronegun (my forum name).
• Nationalities – There are Germans, Italians, Vichy French, Free French, British and American Units.
• Credits - This Campaign took a lot of help to see it to fruition. I’d like to thank Amaris for multiple new models, gorgeous ones, and help with multiple scripting issues. Cavehobbit for tea and sympathy and being a sounding board on multiple ideas, as well as probably having the best eye for the little things. The GJS Tournament crew (Morge4, Guardsman, Landmarine, Honour79 and jcb989) for their constant encouragement and positive attitudes. Also, I’d like to credit Frank Chadwick’s “Race to Tunis” game published by Game Designer’s Workshop in 1992 for providing the Theater Map and movement rates for this Campaign. And now, we begin....
Pre-Game Campaign Decisions:
*The Axis opt to leave the 1 Tunis Marsch Battalion in play on Map (in hex 0714, Djedeida), forgoing 1000 Infantry Replacement Points in their Replacement Pool.
*The Allies opt to leave 1 Para BN/1 Para BDE in play on Map (in hex 1320, Beja), forgoing the opportunity to start them off map which would have potentially allowed an Airborne Assault by this unit.
So the Axis and Allied Theater commanders approached the first turn cautiously. No potential Airborne Assaults this day.
The Situation Map as the Calendar Day Begins:
Coming Next: Airbases and Supply Phase
