Thanks for the mention, @lloyd! Yes, I did have a Hurricane IID, Stuka, and Messerschmitt BF-109E at the Boot Camp in desert colors. However, I would be remiss not to mention that so did @davebpg (Stuka and LendLease P40 Warhawk, I believe), in true 1:100 scale, and these were the ones that actually saw combat on the Boot Camp tables. 😀

And finally ~

Great interview segment with @bothi ! This is a really great guy to meet in person (even if he was they guy who finally knocked me out of the Sunday mega-game … hey, many others tried and failed, it took Bothi to get the job done)! 😀

He took me through a game this weekend (during the Alam Halfa Ridge campaign turns) that rules-wise, was one of my favorites. Night attack through a British minefield, just like the opening of the battle historically. It was a great example of how to use to the mission scenarios in the back of the book as a way to reflect what’s happening on the campaign map or in any other larger context (straight from history, for example).

@dignity – at 1:16:50 – You’re not far off on the chronology. You win the Oriskany “Silver Seal” of approval. 😀

1) El Alamein wrapped up in early November 1942

2) Almost at the exact same time, the Americans and British are landing more forces far, far to the west in North Africa, specifically Morocco and Algeria. There are actually some pretty interesting battles here between the Americans and the Vichy French (gives “blue-on-blue” a whole new meaning)

3) Monty’s 8th Army converges from the east (El Alamein in Egypt) with the Americans and British from the west (Morocco and Algeria, and pin down the Germans in Tunisia, starting in Dec 42 – Jan 43.

4) The Germans launch some pretty serious counterattacks in February 43 that really hammer the Americans, who are very green and inexperienced at this time, this is our first major land engagement of the war against the Germans (Kesserine Pass, Sidi Bou Zid, etc).

5) The Americans rally in March 43 with battles like El Guettar (made famous … and inaccurate … in the movie Patton). The British, meanwhile, are caving in Rommel’s defenses in the southeast along the Mareth Line (roughly, along the Tunisian / Libyan border).

6) Tunisia finally wraps up in May 43 – with the final surrender of all Axis forces in North Africa.

7) SICILY is next, which the Allies invade from the south in July 1943.

8) Finally comes Italy, which the Allies invade at Salerno, September 1943. This campaign will drag on through the rest of the war, right up until VE Day in May, 1945.

Meanwhile, as @bothi says (you win the GOLD seal of Oriskany approval 🙂 ), Barbarossa kicked off in June 1941, and war on the Eastern Front raged for almost four years non-stop until VE Day. Specifically during this time frame, when the Battles for El Alamein get started, we have the second great German offensive into Russia taking place (Case Blue: July-September 1942) – which leads immediately into the Battle of Stalingrad, which was raging at the exact same time as El Alamein. Stalingrad lasts a little longer, finally finishing in Jan 30-Feb 02 1943. By the time you get to the collapse in Tunisia and the end of the North African war, there are Manstein’s masterful counterattack at Kharkov in March 1943 (probably Germany’s last operational-scale victory of WW2, except for maybe Market Garden, depending on how you define “operational victory”), and the build-up for Kursk, largest land battle in human history, starting on July 5. 1943 (almost the same time the Allies are about to invade Sicily, on July 12 or 13, I believe).

So yes, in mid-war, a lot is going on at the same time. I didn’t even get into the pivotal battles in the Pacific ALSO going on at this exact same time like Guadalcanal and Kokoda Track in New Guinea.

Part of what makes mid-war so interesting! 😀