Desert Warfare

Armour against armour along a coast road of seven regions, over ten turns. The road runs from your depot at Alexandria to WOPR’s at Benghazi. Units cut off from their depot attack at half strength.

Start it

wopr desert

Or log on, type LIST GAMES, and pick number 11 from the list. It also answers to 11 and desert-warfare.

Screenshots

Click or tap a screenshot to see it larger.

The opening: the tank on the coast road, the rules, and the map from ALEXANDRIA (1) to BENGHAZI (7). Your armour and infantry are at EL ALAMEIN, and WOPR’s are at TOBRUK.

Turn 2: your armour reached MERSA MATRUH, and a minefield cost WOPR’s ARM2 a step (ARM2*). WOPR’s armour waits at SIDI BARRANI.

Three attacks on SIDI BARRANI destroy WOPR’s INF1. The sandstorm that follows blows sand across the top of the map.

How to play

Take BENGHAZI (region 7) to win. You lose if WOPR takes ALEXANDRIA (region 1). After ten turns, whoever holds more of the road wins. An even split is a draw.
Each turn WOPR asks for one order per unit (ARM1 IN EL ALAMEIN:). Then both sides’ orders take effect together. Every move happens first, then every attack, then an event card and the new map.
Orders are MOVE, ATTACK and HOLD. Name a region by its number (MOVE 4) or its name. The first letters of a word in its name also work (MOVE SOLLUM, MOVE MERSA). HELP lists the orders. STATUS shows the map. END holds every unit not yet ordered.
Your units are ARM, INF and ART. ARM armour has attack 6, defence 4 and moves 2. INF infantry has attack 3, defence 5 and moves 1. ART artillery has attack 5, defence 2 and moves 1, and it attacks up to two regions away. A unit has two steps. A * marks a unit that lost a step and fights at half.
A unit is cut off when WOPR holds any region between it and Alexandria. A unit that is cut off attacks at half. The map’s heading counts them: SUPPLY: 0 OF YOUR UNITS CUT OFF.
An attack hits the strongest enemy unit in the region. ROUGH ground shifts the odds one column toward the defender. A CITY shifts them two columns.

Controls

You type	What it does
`MOVE 4 or MOVE SIDI`	move as far as the unit can, not through a region with an enemy
`ATTACK 5`	attack the enemy there: next door for armour and infantry, up to two regions away for artillery
`HOLD (or an empty line)`	stay in place
`END (or DONE)`	hold every unit not yet ordered and play the turn
`STATUS (or MAP)`	show the map again
`HELP`	list the orders and the combat results
`Esc, Esc`	leave the game and return to WOPR

Tips for winning

Keep infantry with your armour. WOPR attacks only at 2 to 1 or better (its artillery at any odds). An attack always hits the strongest unit in a region. So infantry on the rough ground at EL ALAMEIN is very hard to attack.
Attack in the open. MERSA MATRUH and SIDI BARRANI are open ground. SOLLUM is rough, and TOBRUK and BENGHAZI are cities. Rough ground and cities shift the odds one or two columns toward the defender.
Watch your supply. A region stays WOPR’s until one of your units takes it. Every unit beyond that region attacks at half. So do not advance beyond a region WOPR still holds.
Every move happens before any attack, so attack a region WOPR’s units will still be in. If they leave it, the order fails with NO ENEMY THERE IN RANGE.

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