by RockyMountainNavy, 19 September 2024
On something of a whim, in May 2023 I pledged my support on Kickstarter to a small wargame named The Soft Underbelly, 1943-1945 by Sergio Schiavi from Dissimula Edizioni in Torino, Italy. The game focuses on the Italian Theater in World War II, promising quick play averaging 60 minutes. The game components, using a mix of cardboard counters and wooden cubes, looked interesting and the game mechanisms appeared relatively simple (roll [6] to hit in combat; use rulers for aircraft range). For a pledge of 29 Euros the risk looked low.
I am very glad I chanced supporting 1943-1945 (the name changed mid-campaign) because the game delivers everything it promised and, more importantly, is a fun, challenging, yet highly rewarding game play experience.
The Italian job
In their book Tug of War: The Battle for Italy: 1943-45, authors Dominick Graham and Shelford Bidwell state that, “The campaign in Italy is an example of how an operation of war begun to achieve rational or limited goals develops a momentum of its own. As each is reached another even more desirable appears.” (Graham, D. and Shelford Bidwell (1986) Tug of War: The Battle for Italy: 1943-45. New York: St. Martins Press.) They go on to write:
Yet the Italian war is of abiding interest. It demonstrated the self-generating momentum of military operations once begun, it is full of examples of the pitfalls of coalitionary war, and offers an insight into Anglo-American relations at a period fraught with mutual dislike and suspicion. The debate centred about the aim of the campaign and the question, never satisfactorily answered, of how far the military resources poured into what was manifestly a subsidiary theatre of war paid a dividend. (Graham & Bidwell, p. 396)
While the underlying questions behind the Italian Campaign are overwhelming political, players of 1943-1945 have a much simpler challenge than those British General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief, Allied Armies in Italy, faced. There are no rules for coalition warfare in 1943-45; cooperation between the British and Americans is assumed. The aim of the campaign in 1943-1945 is straight-forward—the Allies need to occupy territory while the Germans need to prevent it. Resources for both players in 1943-1945 are pre-defined with somewhat limited player agency. Importantly, the relatively narrow game focus of 1943-1945 empowered the designer to make a small, focused wargame design that delivers those essential experiences in a small footprint wargame that is easy to learn and play.
Big theater, small game
When I pledged my support for 1943-1945 I certainly saw the components but did not realize the small form-factor of the game. The small box (6.25” x 8.75” x1”) should be easy to store on most any game shelf. The mounted game board is four-fold measuring out just under 12” x 17”. The game board is generally centered on Italy and is divided into zones (no hexes here!). Units are a mix of wooden cubes and cardboard counters, and player aids (Turn Track, Conversion Costs, Event Trackers) are stiff cardstock. The rule book, in both Italian and English, is digest sized on glossy paper with full-color illustrations. I am very pleased that the component quality delivered is much higher than I expected in a wargame of this cost. The small form factor of the game also means you do not need a huge gaming space to play; the game sits comfortably on a standard 3’ x 3’ card table with room to spare.
Tunisia onward
To call 1943-1945 a wargame focused on the Italian Theater in World War II is not strictly correct. The game actually begins in the winter of 1942-43 (Turn 1) with the Allies facing off against the German Africa Korps in Tunisia. There are eight turns in a game of 1943-1945, each covering a season starting with Winter 1942-43 (Turn 1) through Spring 1945 (Turn 8). The win conditions in 1943-1945 are very simple and direct; if the the Allied player occupies all the orange-star zones (eight) the game immediately ends. If either player is the only one with forces on the board they automatically win. Finally, if the Allies occupy Munich at the end of any turn they win.
Campaigning up the boot
Given designer Sergio Schiavi wanted 1943-1945 to play in an average of 60 minutes, the game mechanisms used are for the most part not revolutionary, but packaged in such a way that they bring a feeling of freshness to game play. Every turn of 1943-1945 is played out over six phases:
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- The Initiative roll is a straight-up dice off with the winner deciding if they go first or not.
- Next comes Reinforcements, which consists of players receiving pre-designated amounts of cubes (found on the Turn Track) which are deployed.
- Following Reinforcements, players have the option to undertake Conversion of cubes into specialized forces such as tanks, planes, paratroopers, elites, or partisans; the conversion cost in cubes is shown on the Conversion Chart player aid.
- The heart of the game are the Impulses where players alternate moving their forces then fighting; there are usually four (4) alternating Impulses in a turn though players can play an Event to add more.
- The Movement rules are simple and can result in combat when enemy fleets are Intercepting Naval Transport against units moving using Naval transport.
- Combat is a matter of rolling a number of d6 equal to the number of forces with every roll of [6] scoring a hit. Specialized units, such as tanks or aircraft, can support an attack; doing so results in hits on rolls of [5] or [6] (tank or aircraft supporting) or a [4], [5], or [6] if both a tank and aircraft support (real combined arms). Specialized units like tanks and aircraft can take two hits to eliminate (only one hit is needed if the unit is in the “engaged” condition).
- After all Impulses are completed (or passed on) Supply is checked.
- The End of turn phase sees “engaged” units (tanks, planes, fleets used in combat) returned to “operational” and the turn track advances to start the next turn.
While the specialized forces in 1943-1945 have rules that are “exceptions” to the standard movement or combat rules, none are difficult to keep track of or implement. Most interesting are the rules for Planes. Planes (aircraft) can:
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- Support a combat to increase the roll to hit on offense or defense.
- Support another plane in combat.
- Fight as a cube (with a standard roll [6] to hit).
- Conduct Air bombardment at anytime, even during an enemy Impulse; a loss is inflicted on a roll of 4-6 unless an enemy air unit is present in which case the roll it hit is 5-6.
Planes in 1943-1945 also use a ruler to determine combat range. A short ruler is used by both players at the beginning of the game, and starting on Turn 5 the Allies can use a longer ruler reflecting the longer ranged Allied aircraft coming available.
Each player in 1943-1945 also has six special tokens they can play for seven different Events such “Reinforcements” or “Additional Impulse.” Players can generally play only one Event token per Impulse, though some Events can be played more than once per game (up to a limit shown on the Event Tracker).
As previously stated, 1943-1945 is not a game that gives players power over political decisions. That said, two key political events are depicted in the game. If any zone of Italy (less Sardinia) is occupied by the Allies, the Italian forces in the game surrender and are removed. Second, on Turn 5 the Allied player must remove certain forces to reflect their reapportionment to Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.
[Avalanche Falling]
[It is Turn 3 (Summer 1943) and the Allies are on a roll. High command decides that rather than driving up the boot of Italy the amphibious forces should be given a chance to bypass some of the defenders. With the surrender of Italy the naval threat is much diminished. So Operation Avalanche, the invasion of Salerno, is accelerated.
Allied Naval transport capacity is “6” so four “infantry” cubes and two armored units embark on the assault. The Allies, however, neglect to attrite Axis airpower which combines with a lurking U-boat to inflict two hits (roll 5-6 to hit) on the landing force; the armor units are lost!
Undeterred, the Allies let loose with a massive bombardment to smother the beaches (roll 5-6 to hit) but the Germans are too well dug in and suffer no losses. The Allied first wave swarms ashore pummeling the German defenders (Allies score 2x hits but the German Elite unit scores an automatic loss).
Sensing victory, the Allies attack again (round 2 of combat) but, even with airpower supporting from Sicily, they are stunned by the ferocious German defense and lose two units.
The Allied player uses one of their six special tokens to play the “Stop Battle” event and turns away from the beaches. The Allied High Command wonders if any amphibious invasion, here or in France, will ever be successful.]
Inevitable wargaming
In the final chapter of Tug of War, authors Graham and Bidwell reflect on the the Italian Campaign:
The next question… is the conduct of operations on the highest level. It has been claimed that the aim the Allied high-command gave Alexander was consistent throughout. This is an oversimplification. We have seen that the aim changed repeatedly, from a cheap victory over Italy, to prove to the Russians that the Western Allies were really fighting in Europe, to support the strategic bombing policy, and finally to contain Army Group “C”. From the German point of view there were two threats. Operationally Kesselring feared amphibious end-runs round his flanks all through the campaign. In terms of grand strategy Hitler saw his whole rickety empire in the Balkans threatened. It was only by exploiting these threats that the vast military assets poured into Italy could have been made to pay a strategic dividend. (Graham & Bidwell, pp. 403-404)
While 1943-1945 puts grand strategy into the background, the operational opportunities the Allies possess and the threats the Germans feared are well-represented in the game. The Allies for most of the game will have near-exclusive use of Naval transport which allows movement of counters or cubes to zones adjacent to the sea. Early in the game the Italian Fleet might oppose such movement but once Italy surrenders it is a lone German U-boat that threatens. The Allied player also has exclusive use of Paratroopers for dropping behind the front lines or even Partisans to threaten German rear areas and supply.
Opposing the Allies, the German player in 1943-1945 has access to better defenses, be it the use of Fortified Lines (two combat dice, can be supported, but once deployed do not move) or Tanks in mountains unable to support a combat (bad for Allied attackers) to the use of Elite units which automatically inflict or absorb a hit before becoming “engaged” and acting as a normal cube-like unit. All make whittling down the Germans that much tougher.
Ultimately, a game of 1943-1945 devolves into a condition described by Graham and Bidwell as inevitable “offensive action”:
The mere existence of two opposed armies within striking distance of each other seems to generate “offensive action”. We have seen how the generals, manifestly for the best reasons, all became identified with their armies and missions, feeling that what coincided with their ambitions was militarily correct. They were, after all, human.
We argue that a great war in Italy was inevitable from the moment that the Anglo-American forces were built up in French North Africa. It was found, as ever, that it is easier to start a war than stop one. (Graham & Bidwell, p. 404)
The primary question posed to each player in 1943-1945 is how to win the war they are handed with what they get. Their forces are never enough to dominate the enemy; occasionally they will have to fight with even less. Both players have strengths to leverage but also weaknesses they need to avoid exposing. These operational-level of war conditions might seem narrow or restricting to some players but as a wargame 1943-45 focuses the Allied player on Offensive Action while the German player has to play a deliberate defense slowing the Allies as able.
Players of 1943-1945 are handed an inevitable military challenge and, by removing the political aspects of the campaign, focus in on the “offensive action” that can lead to victory or defeat…all packaged in a small game with excellent components playable in about 60 minutes. That in itself is the real victory.
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