Advanced Tobruk: Tank Battles in North Africa 1940-43

About this board game

Advanced Tobruk: Tank Battles in North Africa 1940-43 is a two-player tactical World War II game with an approximately 180-minute play time. It introduces the Advanced Tobruk System, a detailed game system for recreating armored combat across the North African campaign.

The base game focuses on the decisive battles of the theater, including Gazala, Rommel’s celebrated victory before El Alamein. It also reaches beyond that campaign, with scenarios covering Crusader, Battleaxe, the 1940 campaign, and actions in Tunisia. German, British, and Italian forces are represented.

Advanced Tobruk re-implements the classic Avalon Hill Tobruk system while presenting its tactical-level combat through accessible rules and charts. The base set includes 24 scenarios, two essentially blank desert maps, six play aids, a rulebook, a quick-start sheet, 39 terrain overlays, 41 AFV cards, and two dice.

• Detailed tactical combat for World War II battles in North Africa
• Scenarios spanning 1940 through 1943, including Gazala, Crusader, Battleaxe, and Tunisia
• German, British, and Italian forces
• A campaign line supported by seven expansions and a gamers guide

The North Africa expansions broaden the system with battles such as Wavell’s 30,000, Benghazi Handicap, Devil’s Garden, Blunted Sword, Kasserine and Beyond, Torch to Tunisia, and Killing Fields. Together, the base game and expansions are described as providing a total of 109 scenarios, with additional scenarios also made available through downloads and Fire and Movement issue 145.

Advanced Tobruk is the classic pre-2014 version of the system. Later editions and re-implementations updated the rules, maps, counters, and expansions, although naming across the releases is not always consistent.