The Sooner The Better DTO (id:#56495)
Multi-Man Publishing (ASL Journal # 6 ID: J91)   [next]   [previous]
Designer: Matt Romey
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
GermanCommonwealth
42.5%

Overview:

Rommel launched his first attempt to take Tobruk by storm on the night of Easter Sunday. After Afrika Korps engineers succeeded in breeching the formidable anti-tank ditch, wire and mine fortifications of the outer perimeter, infantry riding on tanks and guns in tow headed for an assembly point about 200 yards inside the perimeter. Once the tanks dropped off their cargo and headed north towards the port, Australian 2/17 Battalion opened fire on the unsuspecting German infantry. Meanwhile the tanks ran into a series of anti-tank batteries and Matilda cruisers that quickly turned the tide. The Germans decided to extricate themselves from the fiasco – the sooner, the better. . .
Attacker: German (8th Machine Gun Battalion and the 5th Armored Regiment)
Defender: Commonwealth (2/17 Bn, 9 Australian Division and British 1st RTR and "J" Battery, 3rd RHA)  
6.5 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: Commonwealth     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:11.0 D:16.0
AFVs: A:14
PzKpfw IVE x 2
PzKpfw IIIH x 6
PzKpfw IIIG x 6

AFVs: D:8
A13 Mk II CS x 2
Matilda II x 6
2pdr Portee x 2

Guns: A:3
3.7cm PaK 35/36 x 2
7.5cm leIG 18
D:0
Boys ATR x 2

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: Light Dust (F11.71), A: Sangers (F8), D: PB (B30). May not operate captured German guns.
Overlays: NONE
Errata (source)
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Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultTimeComments
2026-04-05(D) Vic Lauterbach vs JM German winI drew the Aussies in this Tobruk attack. This kind of scenario gives the DTO a bad name, tricky setup, lots of SSRs and DTO weather make it a slog. We persevered through many VASL sessions and more rule checking than excitement. It wasn't as bloody as I expected because running infantry across DTO OG wasn't suicidal due to the dust. We wore out the ASLRB checking routing and interdiction in the DTO. I'm sure we missed some broken MMC that should have been eliminated for failure to rout. Jim: This one is actually well-designed, just complex and favors the Aussies. Lots of dust made hitting the DAK units tough, and I kept the tanks rolling except three that stopped once to load up squads. Vic drew a red chit mid game which helped me get 3 Panzers, 3 MMC and an 8-0 off the south edge. It was still close. Scoring immobilized tanks (some abandoned, some not) was a puzzle. Are they really worth 0 points unless captured? Our final tally was Commonwealth 59, DAK 32 leaving Vic 13 shy of a win.
2020-06-22(A) Shane Pask vs Commonwealth winDid the maths and calculated that if I got all the tanks off, Australians couldn't win so kept them all in motion behind a cloud of dust. So at the start of turn 2, the Aussies knocked out 2 tanks. Managed to stay in the game by taking out an A13 and both Portees. (Sniper shot a Portee with a 1 - does this break the gun crew or immobilise the truck?) Also kept Post R33 mostly broken and Aussies helped out by malfing their MMG there. Managed to kill two Matildas with CH (one crew survived) and just missed taking out 2 more with snake eyes TK failing to penetrate frontal armour - one on the last turn to almost save the game (turret hit would have got it). The tank that scored the 2 CH was immobilised on T6 and just had to survive the last turn for victory. Unfortunately 3 Matildas was too many to resist. Final tally 73-31.
2020-01-13(A) Jonathan Kapleau vs Holland, Donald German win
2019-11-16(A) Jonathan Kapleau vs Duenskie, Ron Draw
2016-10-30(D) Will Willow vs D. Dolan Commonwealth winVASL
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ActionDate
dieneuner25 Uploaded an Image2026-05-07 12:37:46
dieneuner25 Added a playing2026-05-07 12:36:41
jgarlic79@gmail.com Added a playing2025-09-07 17:09:00
Hutch Modified the misc. rules2025-04-14 11:10:45
Hutch Modified the unit counts2025-04-14 11:07:35
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(germ-britaussie.png)Imagehoxson11700
Game End Situation (J91 at game end.JPG)Imagedieneuner2524
(J91-VASLMap.png)Map Imagebkemp011951
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Statistics:
Avg Rating: 6.10Votes: 10
Views: 8061
To-Play list count: 1
Estimated Play time: 10.7 hours
Recorded Games: 9
Archive recorded plays:
German3
Commonwealth5
Drawn:1

ROAR Data: (as of today)
The Sooner the Better
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[A] German 14
[D] Australian 18
All Rights Reserved. (c)2022 Dave Ramsey.