Duel in the Sun: The African and Italian Campaigns

Duel in the Sun sees Bolt Action players take the helm of the Desert Rats of Monty’s 8th Army, the fast-moving and hard-hitting raiders of the LRDG, or Rommel’s mighty Afrika Korps, to recreate some of the most iconic battles of World War II – Operations Compass, Crusader and Torch, Tobruk, and El Alamein, amongst others.

Packed with the usual Theatre Book offerings of new scenarios, special rules, troop types and theatre selectors, Duel in the Sun takes players across the Mediterranean from North Africa, where they can follow the Italian Campaign from the invasion of Sicily, through the battles for Anzio and Cassino, to the final assaults on the Gothic Line.

Mussolini Strikes
The first section of the book concentrates on the early stages of the war in North and East Africa. Introducing additional/alternative rules for Italian, French and British forces in those theatres, as well as unique terrain special rules. Also in there you will find several scenarios to fight operation Compass and daring small-scale raids by the Free French and Long Range Desert Group. Additional units are introduced like camelry (!) and rules to field an Indian Division reinforced platoon.

Greece and Crete
This second section depicts the bitter fighting in the mud-logged ravines of Greece and then the fall back of the Allied forces onto Crete, to finish with the massive German airborne assault on the island. Scenarios and additional rules to recreate the battles of operation Marita and operation Mercury – specifically the battle of Tempe gorge in Greece and the assault on Maleme airfield on Crete. Included rules for Maori infantry sections (and hard-as-nails NZ Cpt Charles Upham!) as well as a complete German Fallschirmjӓger reinforced platoon! The Axis players should enjoy complete air superiority possibly for the last time on the Western front.

Duel in the Desert
This part is focusing on the alternating fortunes of the Afrika Korps and its Italian allies against the 8th Army with all of its mixed nationalities from both Europe and the Commonwealth fighting together. Operation Sunflower, the siege and fall of Tobruk, operation Crusader, operation Theseus, and finally the decisive battles at El Alamein that, in Churchill words, might not have been the beginning of the end, but certainly were the end of the beginning.
Rules for Rommel’s command, night fighting, minefields, limited supply etc. will allow you fight either static battles like the ‘siege of Tobruk’ scenario and dynamic ones like skirmish in the sand or Operation Lightfoot. In terms of additional units, the most exciting are certainly the SAS infantry sections (including rules for Paddy Maine!) on the Allied side, and the Ramcke Brigade (led by Ramcke himself!) on the Axis side.

Operation Torch and Tunisia
The US enter the war! This section deals with Operation Torch, from the first rehearsal of an amphibious landing against an enemy held coast with the invasion of Vichy France held western African territories to the steep learning curve of the Americans as they faced the battle-hardened Axis forces in Tunisia – Kasserine pass, El Guettar, Longstop Hill… a series of scenarios where the Allied forces fighting their way to Tunis will have a taste of what expects them in the broken, mountainous terrain of Italy. Also, the rules for the Hermann Goring division, both in its African campaign and then its Italian campaign incarnations.

Italy Invaded
Starting with operation Husky, play through the invasion of Sicily, and then Avalanche into mainland Italy, the fighting in Salerno, Anzio, against the Gustav and Gothic lines, the bitter struggles at Monte Cassino and the remorseless resistance war in the North of the peninsula. Fight with American or British forces as they race up the Italian peninsula against the stiff German defense. Rules for veteran US infantry, late war Italian paratroopers, as well as characters such as Mad Jack Churchill, Otto Skorzeny, Charles ‘Commando’ Kelly and Dan Inouye. Importantly, in this chapter are guidelines about how to collect Italian forces after the surrender of the Italian Kingdom – choose to field either Allied-equipped Italian troops on the Allied side, Repubblica Sociale troops alongside the Germans, or Italian partisan armies.

Additional Rules
This appendix collects generic rules for minefields, both airborne and amphibious assaults and night fighting, as well as new rules that are far more specific to this sector, like multinational forces and desert warfare (both terrain and environmental effects).

Number of pages: 136