Old School Tactical: Volume 4 – Italian Theater 1943-45

About this board game

Old School Tactical: Volume 4 – Italian Theater 1943-45 is a two-player World War II tactical board game with an approximately 180-minute play time. It brings the Old School Tactical system to the Allied campaign in Italy, from the invasion of Sicily to the final surrender of Axis forces in May 1945.

Players contest scenarios covering the drive through Sicily, the landing at Salerno, the beleaguered beachhead at Anzio, and the advance toward Rome. River valleys and fortified defensive lines create a challenging battlefield, including the Volturno River, Rapid River, Liri valley, Gustav Line, and Caesar Line.

British forces enter the system with Vickers machine guns, Commandos, Bren guns, PIATs, sticky bombs, Sherman tanks, and Churchill tanks. German and Italian forces answer with infantry, weapons, and powerful armored vehicles including the Marder III and Elefant. A large map of Italian countryside provides the setting for the scenarios in the playbook.

• Impulse Points: Players alternate turns, spending points to enable their forces to act.
• Infantry combat: Firepower is compared with a target’s Defense value, with Leadership, support weapons, and terrain able to modify attacks.
• Close combat: Assault moves into enemy hexes can trigger deadly engagements resolved with the Infantry Combat Table.
• Armored warfare: Vehicle attacks require a roll to hit before the attacker’s gun Firepower is compared with the target’s front or flank defense.

Vehicles can also use HE Firepower and secondary armaments against soft targets. When a scenario ends, casualty and victory points are tallied to determine the winner, making Old School Tactical: Volume 4 a focused contest of positioning, firepower, and battlefield decisions.