FOOTNOTES

1. F.1B ENTRENCHING: In many areas of the desert a solid bedrock of limestone lies a few inches beneath the surface. In such ground a man was lucky if he could dig even a "slit trench", which was a shallow excavation in which to lie prone. The construction of deep entrenchments almost always required drilling and blasting equipment; hence such fortifications were rarely found in hastily organized positions.

2. F.4 AXIS VEHICLES: This rule is included because early in the campaign these vehicles were not properly modified to cope with the harsh conditions of the desert. Of primary importance were special air and oil filters for engines - the lack of which, in combination with the tremendous clouds of dust raised by moving vehicles and the great distances rapidly traversed, caused engines to overheat/seize-up and led to the premature breakdown of other components.

3. 1.1 OPEN GROUND: The northern stretches of the Sahara Desert are not, for the most part, vast areas of rolling sand dunes but rather an extremely flat, barren and stony waste, with no cover for miles at a time save for the occasional slight undulation unnoticed to any but the trained eye. Of course, other types of terrain do exist there - some of which are enlarged upon in Chapter F - but generally the panorama was so devoid of landmarks that units could become lost quite easily, and so relied heavily on navigation by the sun and stars.

4. 2.1 SCRUB: Scrub represents the camel thorn bush which grows in the North African desert. Since it rarely attains a height of even two feet it offers little in the way of cover (which is why it doesn't negate FFMO), but it can aid in the camouflage of positions. It also imparts a jolting ride to the occupants of vehicles, forcing them to greatly reduce their speed.

5. 3.1 HAMMADA: Hammada is a type of desert terrain whose surface is strewn with loose rocks and stones. It reduced the speed of vehicles to a crawl and severely punished their tires and suspensions, while increasing the fragmentation effect of exploding shells, thus providing an extra danger to infantry and soft-skinned vehicles in the vicinity.

6. 3.31 HAMMADA IMMOBILIZATION: Trucks of British design had several advantages in the desert, one of which was the use of a single tire per side on their rear axles. Double tires (i.e., two tires side by side per axle) frequently trapped rocks between them, leading eventually to a puncture. Moreover, even normal desert terrain rapidly ruined tires due to the many cuts and gouges they sustained from the stony surface. Hence, the ability of hammada to cause immobilization is not an entirely literal representation of this terrain type; to a certain extent it is a game mechanism intended to randomly show some of the desert's deleterious effects by providing a possibility of unexpected breakdowns.

7. 4.1 DEIRS: This terrain feature is an area of ground slightly lower than the surrounding terrain. A deir in the game is not a marked concavity in the landscape but rather an inconspicuous indentation - albeit one that could provide a welcome degree of protection if the enemy were not too near or at a higher elevation. The Lip is more a tool of the game than an easily identifiable terrain feature.

8. 5.1 WADIS: Wadis are similar to gullies but, being formed by the rushing waters of winter's downpours, are more prone to have vertical, cliff-like sides. In some spots however, they slope up to ground level less abruptly and could provide excellent hull-down positions. The wadis on board 25 represent eroded ravines gouged into the sides of the djebel (mountain).

9. 5.422 VEHICLE EXITING CREST STATUS: Exiting directly to a different hex incurs no cost for leaving the wadi hex because that was either paid as the vehicle ascended the wadi to gain Crest status, or did not apply due to the vehicle's never having been IN the wadi (since it entered Crest status directly from another hex).

10. 5.422 VEHICLE EXITING CREST STATUS: Exiting by moving INTO its present hex incurs no expenditure for COT because that was paid either when the vehicle originally moved INTO the wadi (i.e., prior to assuming Crest status) or when it entered Crest status directly from another hex.

11. 6.1 HILLOCKS: A desert hillock was usually not much more than a swell in the flatness of the landscape, and was sometimes referred to by the British as a "pimple". It could provide vital cover and power of observation; hence the presence of one could dominate a tactical situation. A hillock has no Crest Line, and costs less to ascend than a hill, because its slope is so slight in comparison.

12. 6.4 HILLOCK LOS: While the rules for hillock LOS might look intimidating, don't despair. An easy way to visualize their general effects when attempting to see "past" one is to picture it as a very thick wall. Hence a non-entrenched/Emplaced unit adjacent to a hillock "wall" can see past it to those hexes directly behind the next hillock "wall", but if not thusly adjacent to it the unit can see past it only to those hexes immediately "behind" it. The exceptions to this are: units at > the height of a hillock treat all hillocks at that elevation as flat ground (due to their low height and lack of significant slope); units on a hillock treat it and the next (only) hillock along their LOS as flat ground; and entrenched/Emplaced units directly behind a hillock cannot see past it to their own elevation. The latter is not meant to imply that entrenched units are somehow lower than those who are prone; it's simply an abstracted way of enabling units to adopt a reverse-slope defense, which was commonly done to keep from being seen by the enemy until he was at close range. Obviously, if troops wished to dig in where they had a more commanding view, they would do so higher up on the hillock.

13. 7.1 SAND: A sure way to add to one's problems in the desert was to drive through an area of soft sand. Not only would precious fuel be consumed at a much higher rate, but bogging down in it became a distinct possibility. Sandy areas - even when level - were usually identifiable by experienced drivers, but occasionally the sand's surface was baked into a crust that was virtually indistinguishable from hard ground; such a trap could fool even the most veteran driver.

14. 7.31 BOGGING IN SAND: British-built trucks were less prone to bogging down in sand because they were usually fitted with specially designed desert tires. Such tires were not available to the U.S. Army until after the North African campaign had ended. The Italians built several types of vehicles specifically for use in the sands of the Sahara(one was even designed to exert the same ground pressure as a camel), but most were used only as artillery prime movers. That British trucks had superior mobility in sand was even attested to by Rommel, who at one point directed that all trucks used on recon missions should be captured British types "because ours stick in the sand too often".

15. 8.1 SANGARS: In the desert, proper entrenchments and trench systems could rarely be just "dug"; usually they needed to be cut, drilled and/or blasted out of the rocky limestone ground. When the specialized equipment or necessary time for this was lacking, defenses of a more improvised nature were constructed. Known as sangars (a Pushtu word for stone-built breastworks), these consisted of rocks, gathered from wherever they could be found, piled into a low circular wall. Though less than ideal cover, sangars were infinitely preferable to being "naked" in the open desert.

16. 8.6 TRENCH-SANGAR MOVEMENT: These rules have been included to reflect the fact that in a fortified line (which is what trenches usually represent) communication trenches linked the various defensive positions. It wouldn't make much sense to fortify a hilltop but not provide a protected access route to it. Sangars were included to further emphasize the benefits inherent in a well-planned position.

17. 9.1 TRACKS: Desert tracks were trails used by the Bedouin. They cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered the equal of roads. In fact, trails that were frequently traveled became thoroughly rutted and covered with fine powdery dust a foot or more deep; consequently they were usually avoided, with vehicles instead moving parallel to them at a distance.

18. 11.3 TIME OF DAY: Desert assaults were sometimes coordinated to come "out of the sun" when it was just above the horizon, using its blinding brightness as "cover" for the attack. Alternatively, as the sun rose, the heat reflected from the desert's surface created a shimmering heat haze that could make target recognition almost impossible at a distance. Heat haze tended to shrink in apparent size anything that was at or just above ground level, while taller objects appeared greatly increased in height and seemed to dance about in mid-air.

19. 11.6111 EARLY MORNING MIST: In the winter night, the near-freezing temperature caused dew to form. The next morning a thick mist often formed as the sun evaporated it again. This could happen even in the summertime under the proper environmental conditions, but since this was a much less frequent occurrence it has been ignored.

20. 11.7 DUST: Moving vehicles, artillery bombardment, bombing, the weather, and other factors could all distinctly impair visibility during a desert battle by creating a ubiquitous pall of dust. In fact, dust was probably the single most effective type of "cover" available in that theater. Vehicles fleeing from the enemy often escaped destruction thanks to the dust they raised, which effectively acted as a smoke screen (hence rule 11.74). A mass of moving vehicles, or a heavy artillery bombardment could reduce visibility in the affected area to fifty yards or less.

21. 11.71 SUBSEQUENT dr: Players will probably find it more convenient to instead add a third, different-colored die to this TH/IFT DR, using it to determine the Dust DRM. The familiar term "subsequent dr" was used in the rule because it obviates the need to explain a "new" concept - i.e., that of rolling a third die simultaneously.

22. 11.74 VEHICLE DUST: In effect, the Dust counter "follows" the vehicle as it moves from hex to hex (provided it expends ≤ two MP each time it does so).

23. 11.76 WIND vs DUST: Another wind-related aspect of the North African environment is the desert sandstorm, or khamsin in Arabic. Chapter F includes no special rules for it because, with visibility cut by the storm to as little as three yards, all activities generally were reduced to seeking cover from the sandblasting wind and chocking dust. However, the game does not ignore the possibility of a khamsin's occurrence. The proper combination of Weather, EC, Wind and Gusts in a DYO scenario can create its effects, and the probability of its occurrence is greatest in a scenario set in spring or summer - the time when khamsins occurred most frequently.

24. 12.43 OVERLAY X1: This overlay is intended for use in a HOLLOW LEGIONS scenario.

25. 12.5 ESCARPMENT: The famous North African escarpments are similar to cliffs, but with less steep (and very eroded) slopes. Some are six hundred feet high, though generally their heights range from one hundred to two hundred feet. Their significance in the desert war lay mainly in that they were commanding heights, provided good defensive positions for infantry, and greatly restricted vehicular movement across them. Hence they were often the scene of heavy fighting, especially where crossed by a road or motorable track.