Wargames Weekend: Trouble in Tunisia

For our fourth game we returned to Nuts! but for the war they were originally written for - WW2. In this case a scenario in North Africa using my newly acquired 28mm Artizan figures.

Following the failure of the push towards the important road junction of Pont du Fahs, after the sudden appearance of German tanks, General Maurice Mathenet's Division de Marche du Maroc) have withdrawn into the Eastern Dorsale mountains. You have been ordered to hold your positions there, avoid pitched battles and wage a guerilla war to tie down German resources.

The French unit, from the 3rd Tabor of Lt. Col. Leblanc's 1st Groupe de Tabors Marocains, was given the objective of attacking a DAK supply dump. Lenin took command of the Goumiers and decided to attack at night.


The Goum decided to split their force in two and attack with a section each from two directions, the first from the ridge behind the fuel dump and the second from the south west across some open ground towards the main supply dump.

The attack began well with the DAK sentries happy to remain in their fixed positions and so the Goum were able to sneak up to the wire and cut it without being spotted. Each section then sent a group through the wire covered by another fire group. The group, led by the Lieutenant, nearest the fuel dump nearly tripped over an alarm wire (with the traditional tin cans) but spotted it at the last minute. Whilst the group attacking from the south west swiftly and stealthily approached the first building.


The Lieutenant's group moved down the side of the sandbag wall at the side of the fuel dump, concealed from the DAK sentries in the nearby two storey building but were then in a quandary - to advance further risked being spotted by the Germans and the game would be up but to remain where they were would limit the damage they could achieve.

The other Goum group successfully entered and cleared the ground floor of the first building and decided to ascend to the roof to deal with the two sentries there. Two Goums managed to sneak up the stairs and rush the two sentries but one must have stumbled because in the ensuing melee one sentry was killed but the other bested his Goum. The two remaining men faced each other but the DAK sentry decided he needed to escape to raise the alarm. As he turned, the Goum was on him and it was all over in a few seconds. With the building completely secured the Goums called in their second group. The Lieutenant decided to do the same to chance rushing their DAK sentries.

With the attack advancing well and to plan things were looking good for the French force; however, unbeknownst to them, the DAK Feldwebel had decided that now was a good time to conduct a check on the sentries and the wire. He and another man began moving around the wire just at the time the second south western Goum group was moving through the break in it. The Goums spotted the Germans first but decided just to cover them, hoping to avoid raising the alarm. Unfortunately, the Germans spotted the Goumiers but as they raised their weapons to engage them they came under fire from the French. One DAK solider fell in a hail of automatic weapon fire but the Feldwebel was unscathed and ran back to the safety of the machine gun post guarding the main entrance. The Goums kept the initiative and rushed the guard post but the MG34 team spotted them as they emerged from the dark and opened fire. One Goum was killed but the second hit the deck and returned fire killing the MG gunner and making the loader duck back behind the sandbags. The remaining Goums then rushed forward to the sandbag position. Unfortunately the Feldwebel must have heard them as he readied and dropped a grenade over the top of the sandbags. The grenade exploded taking out several of the Goums but when the MG loader grabbed the MG34 to look over the side he was shot by one of the survivors. The Feldwebel prepared a second grenade but fumbled when throwing it and was forced to dive for cover as it exploded on his side of the sandbags. The Goums seized the opportunity and stormed the position killing the cowering German.

With small arms fire having given the game away the Lieutenant decided now was a good time to deal with the sentries overlooking his position. His men popped up and were spotted by the sentries, who opened fire, but the French won the ensuing firefight.

The firing had alerted the remainder of the German garrison who struggled into their boots and to find their weapons in order to respond. Meanwhile the Goums continued to advance and also to set some of the explosive charges they had brought with them in the fuel dump.

The Germans mustered in the courtyard of the headquarters building and some were sent to the second floor positions to assist with the defence. The first men peered over the parapet to see the French advancing down the road, mostly using the shadows at the base of the building's walls. The Goums who were covering the parapet opened fire but lost the firefight and the remaining DAK soldier readied and dropped a grenade into the midst of the Goum force to devastating effect. With their advance hampered by another German sentry position the Lieutenant's group were trapped under the wall and yet another DAK grenade caused more casualties.

The other Group were fairing a little better having forced the sentry overlooking the main supply dump to keep his head down, they leapt over the packing crates to set their charges.

The rest of the German garrison then began to emerge from the HQ building to go to their ready positions. The first team, whose ready position was the MG34 post, were in for a surprise when they came under machine gun fire as they approached the position but neither were hurt as they took cover behind the wheels and engine block of a parked kubelwagen. They managed to ready some grenades and, in a co-ordinated throw, lobbed them into the MG pit taking out the Goums there.

At this point the remaining Goums withdrew gutted at having to leave their wounded comrades but had the satisfaction of hearing both the fuel and supply dumps go up in a massive explosion.