Golden Journal No. 56
Dragon Rampant
Scenario Preview, Part One
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
July 2024

Our Golden Journal is a game designer’s playground, allowing the designer (which to date has exclusively been me). It’s a means to add fun extras to our games, things that didn’t quite fit either physically or in terms of the game’s theme.

Golden Journal No. 56: Dragon Rampant adds the tanks of the 1st New Zealand Army Tank Brigade to Panzer Grenadier. The brigade actually existed, but it was broken up before entering combat, with its trained tank crews going to the 4th New Zealand Armoured Brigade and fighting in Italy.

The New Zealand military establishment felt that the British Army did not follow through on its promises to provide tank support to the 2nd New Zealand Division with British formations. Therefore, they needed their own tank brigade. And when designing our Campaign Study, New Zealand Division (following the division’s campaign in Tunisia), I saw that while that was not completely true, neither were the Kiwi complaints without merit.

So in the first chapter of Dragon Rampant, the Kiwis get their tank brigade; most of the scenarios in this chapter are similar to some in New Zealand Division, but with added tanks (and adjusted victory conditions since now, the Kiwis have tanks). Let’s have a look at them.

Chapter One
Tanks in Tunisia

Stuart light tanks of the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry.

New Zealand formed a tank brigade for the expressed purpose of supporting its infantry division fighting the Germans and Italians in the Middle East. As we’ve seen, that would never actually happen. But we do have five new scenarios where the brigade does arrive as requested, reaching the front in time for the campaign in Tunisia.

Scenario One
Camel Riders
March 1943
The 2nd New Zealand Division went into action in southern Tunisia already badly depleted, with one of its three brigades completely out of action and the others at reduced strength. When the Kiwis went forward against the well-prepared Italian defenses along an old Roman Wall in the Tebaga Gap, they did so without the armor support promised by the British. But with their own tanks . . .

Conclusion
This is a modified version of Scenario Four (Roman Wall) from New Zealand Division, with a tougher Italian opponent on the one side and tank support on the other. This is why Freyberg wanted tanks, so his infantry wouldn’t be fighting alone when the promised assistance did not arrive. But that wouldn’t have stopped higher-level commanders from detaching the tank brigade to fight elsewhere (as they did with the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry and its handful of light tanks).

Notes
The Italians are tough; long-service professionals who really did ride camels before this battle (by this point, they had become a motorized unit). Now that the New Zealanders have dedicated tank support, they have a much better chance of taking this position than they did in the actual battle (but the camel riders to have a 90mm anti-tank gun, which even the thick hides of the Valentine tanks can’t easily resist).

Scenario Two
Point 209
March 1943
Before the destruction of 4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade, division commander Bernard Freyberg had hoped to create a mobile brigade within his formation, including both tanks and the 28th Maori Infantry Battalion. The Maoris would be used to fill a gap in one of the remaining infantry brigades, and New Zealand armor did not fight in North Africa. Tanks and Maoris would have made a formidable combination.

Conclusion
This is a heavily-modified version of Scenario Five (Tebaga Gap) from New Zealand Division. The Kiwis have better armored support this time, and all of their infantry (Maoris, this time) can ride (either in their shiny new Bren carriers, or aboard those New Zealand tanks). But the Germans, they get some tank support, too (eventually), making for a tank battle.

Notes
Except for their tanks, which are crewed by the embittered survivors of the long North African campaign, the Germans just aren’t that enthusiastic about this fight. And now that the Kiwis have tanks, it’s going to be a long afternoon for the Herrenvolk.

Scenario Three
Hilltop Village at Takrouna
April 1943
By design, an Army Tank Brigade such as the New Zealand Military Forces proposed adding to their division was intended to support infantry divisions during offensives. The tough Italian-held position at Takrouna resisted even the splendid Kiwi infantry, but this might not have been the case in the New Zealanders could add their own armor to the equation.

Conclusion
This time, we have a heavily-modified version of Scenario Eight (Night Action at Takrouna) from New Zealand Division. For starters, it’s not at night: the Kiwis attack at mid-day, not least because this time they have tanks. The Italians are tougher, though, and they have a little armor support of their own. Not much, but it will help.

Notes
Even with tanks, this one won’t be easy for the Kiwis. It’s a mid-sized scenario, one of the smaller ones in this set.

Scenario Four
Tank Battle at Enfidaville
April 1943
The 1st New Zealand Army Tank Brigade had been intended to support the division’s infantry, not to confront German panzers. That intent would be difficult to uphold on the battlefield, where the enemy would also get a say. The success brought by the New Zealanders’ integral tank support would eventually draw a response from the Axis.

Conclusion
This scenario’s suitable for three players, with the German and Italian forces each controlled by a separate player. Victory conditions remain the same; the Axis players rise and fall together. And while the Kiwis have more tanks than either Axis force, those Valentines aren’t very good in an anti-armor role.

Notes
I like for these Golden Journal scenario sets to include at least one very large scenario suitable for team play; this one would be that scenario.

Scenario Five
On the Djebel el Srafi
April 1943
The bloody assault against the Italian Bersaglieri d’Africa Division (formerly the Young Fascists) defending the Djebel el Srafi only clarified Kiwi calls for their own armor. Without much in the way of British tank support, the New Zealanders had to clear the Italian defenses with bayonet and grenade, enduring heavy casualties in the fighting. Would it have been any different with their own tanks fighting beside them?

Conclusion
This scenario is a re-made version of Scenario Ten (Neither Young Nor fascist) from New Zealand Division. The Kiwis have the tank support that they believed would have made a difference, but that comes at the price of having to accomplish more now that they have all of this extra firepower.

Notes
This is a large scenario, with extremely tough defenders holding rough ground; the Kiwis are going to need their tanks.

And that’s it for Chapter One. Next, we look at Chapter Two.

Golden Journal No. 56: Kiwi Armour tells the story of the 1st Army Tank Brigade, and of New Zealand’s armored formations in general. It’s in our usual Journal format, with 24 new pieces (all of them die-cut and silky-smooth) plus eight new Panzer Grenadier scenarios so you can play with them. This Journal’s tied to our Campaign Study, New Zealand Division, which added 88 New Zealand pieces and ten scenarios (in two chapters, each with a battle game) featuring the New Zealanders’ campaign in Tunisia to Panzer Grenadier: An Army at Dawn.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children, and new puppy. He misses his lizard-hunting Iron Dog, Leopold.

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