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The Tripolitania Option

The Tripolitania Option: A Mod to add Tripolitania in the Torch Scenarios of the Desert Games

The Operation Torch scenarios in Torch, War in the Desert, and Wavell’s War do not allow the Axis to attempt to defend Tripolitania in early 1943. This is justified in part due to Rommel’s decision to abandon the area as hopeless to defend with his shattered troops against Montgomery’s advancing forces. It is also due to the fact that the maps for the Operation Torch scenarios (Maps 24/24A and 25/25A) only show the western part of Tripolitania. The lines the Axis would have used to try to hold the region are all off-map to the east.

The German and Italian high commands actually wanted Rommel to defend Tripolitania. Their first choice was the Buerat Line. Rommel did pause here, but only to induce Montgomery to pause his advance in order to regroup his forces for a major attack. Once the Allies began to advance, the weak Axis forces fell back to the Homs-Tarhuna Line. This potentially was a strong defensive position but became untenable once Montgomery sent a large force to outflank the line. Rommel then retreated back to Tunisia (his actual plan all along) and into the Mareth Line, which the Axis would hold until almost the end of March 1943.

What if the Axis did try to defend Tripolitania? The Tripolitania Option is a Europa mod that adds this possiblity to the Torch scenarios of the Europa desert games.

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Zone E Alternative Weather Zones

Zone E Alternative Weather Zones: A House Rule for the Desert Games

There are considerable differences in how Weather Zone E works in War in the Desert (and Wavell’s War) from the way it did in Torch and the earlier desert games. In Torch, the zone has “Rain” effects, which have much milder effects on combat that the “Mud” effects in WITD. This unfortunately causes problems in WITD for the parts of Tunisia and Cyrenaica that are in Zone E. In essence, the Zone E areas of northern Tunisia and Jebel Akhdar are drier than the rest of Zone E and should be less affected by wet weather than the rest of Zone E. This house rule modification address this issue by carving out a drier Subzone EA from Zone E. As a bonus, the wetter portion of Tripolitania is added to Subzone EA. This house rule module is mainly for War in the Desert and Wavell’s War. However, its expansion of Zone E to cover part of Tripolitania can be used in Western Desert and Torch.

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Spanish Intervention in the Desert Games

Spanish Intervention Module

The Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942 risked Spain intervening against the Allies in some form. Although Spain was a neutral nation, it was also a pro-Axis authoritarian dictatorship and in fair part owed its existence to German and Italian aid during the Spanish Civil War. Allied contingency planning for Operation Torch had to take the possibility that Spain might intervene against the Allied invasion. One concern was the Spanish might detect the approach of the Allied invasion fleet, fear it was going to invade Spanish Morocco, and decide to launch air strikes against it. If the Spanish did not detect the approach of the invasion fleet, another concern was that the Spanish might fear the Allied landings in French Morocco would be followed by an Allied invasion of Spanish Morocco. In this case, the Spanish might decided to preemptively intervene against the Allies with its forces in Spanish Morocco.

In the actual event, the Spanish did not intervene. However, once the Allies invaded French Morocco, they maintained a large garrison there to deter the Spanish from intervening. This Spanish Intervention module adds the possibility of Spain intervening against Operation Torch. The Allied player no longer is required to garrison French Morocco, but failure to do so increases the chances of Spanish intervention.

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Soviet Mountain Rifle Divisions

Organization of Soviet Mountain Rifle Divisions, 1936–1945 covers the organization and weapons of the Soviet mountain rifle troops from 1936 through 1945. The campaigns of these troops during the war with Germany are sketched out. An appendix also briefly covers the organization and campaigns of the Soviet mountain cavalry divisions, cavalry units specially organized for mountain operations.

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German and Soviet Punishment and Probation Units of World War II

German and Soviet Punishment and Probation Units of World War II: Many European countries fighting in World War II often needed more soldiers than they could recruit through conventional means, such as conscription or calls for volunteers. Some of these countries tapped alternative sources of personnel that normally were not allowed to serve as combat soldiers: civilians who had been convicted of crimes, and soldiers who had been court-martialled for military offenses or were being punished for various infractions. The two major totalitarian powers in the war, Nazi Germany and the USSR, used these sources of soldiers to a great extent. They also had a third source to tap: German citizens in German concentration camps or inmates in the Soviet GULag.

Bulgarian Order of Battle by Carlos A. Pérez Melón

This is a Europa-rated order of battle for Bulgaria in World War II.

Analysis of Soviet Tank and Mechanized Corps, 1942-1945

This charts shows the total number of Soviet tank and mechanized corps in existence in 1942-1945, per month. It also shows how many of these corps were engaged in active operations each month. See the chart at Analysis of Soviet Tank and Mechanized Corps.

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Russian and Soviet Northern Ports

In 1914, the Russian Empire lost the use of most of its major ports soon after the outbreak of World War I. Russia had to turn to its backwater northern ports to import vitally needed weapons, materials, and supplies for its war effort. The empire embarked on an ambitious construction project to upgrade the existing ports and rail lines as well as building a brand new port and rail line there. However, the empire fell into revolution and after a civil war was replaced by the USSR. In 1941, history echoed when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, which quickly lost the use of most of its major ports. Once again, the northern ports became a major route for weapons, materials, and supplies to reach the USSR. Find out more about these ports in Russian and Soviet Northern Ports, 1915-1945.

High Tide of Empire

A Scenario for Wavell's War

• High Tide of Empire

High Tide of Empire is a Europa scenario for Wavell's War. It covers the brief Italian campaign in mid-1940 that seized British Somaliland from the small Allied garrison there. It represents the first and last campaign in World War II that Italy won without German assistance and thus in many ways marks the high tide of Mussolini’s “New Roman Empire”.

Grande Fantasia Imperiale

A Scenario for Wavell's War

• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: Scenario Rules
• Part 3: Orders of Battle
• Part 4: Final Notes

The Grande Fantasia Imperiale is a "historical-hypothetical" scenario exploring whether, with just a few reasonable changes in policy and preparations, Italy could have wrested north-eastern Africa and the Near East from Great Britain in 1940-41. Italy’s big chance came in the spring of 1940, with France defeated and Britain’s army abandoning its modern equipment in the Dunkirk evacuation. Since Britain had begun rearming for war late, British industry needed considerable time to replace these losses. Britain itself also faced a fight for survival, as the Luftwaffe soon attacked Britain in preparation for a German amphibious invasion of the country. Never again during the war would Britain be as weak.

The Carmel Plan

Adding the Carmel Plan to Western Desert/The Near East, Torch, War in the Desert and Wavell's War

If the Germans had succeeded in defeating the British at El Alamein in 1942, the British might have been forced to withdraw from Egypt, Palestine, and nearby lands, leaving the 500,000 Jewish inhabitants of the British mandate of Palestine to their fates at the hands of the Nazis. The Carmel Plan was the Jewish plan to try to protect the Jews in Palestine from the Germans. This article, The Carmel Plan, covers the historical and geographical setting of the Carmel Plan and provides a set of house rules to add it to the Europa desert games.

The GDW and GRD Europa titles in all forms are owned by Paul R. Banner. Copyright 1972–2026 Paul R. Banner. The ESW Europa titles are owned by Europa Series Wargames. Copyright 2026 Europa Series Wargames. See the full Legal Notice