Italian-Ottoman War 1911-1912 is a two-player wargame using a variation on the system used in Windhoek (S&T #313) simulating the Italian invasion of the territories that became Libya in 1911 and the subsequent campaign that ended in the following year. The campaign saw the Italians seize the coastal towns, but the Ottomans, supported by local Arab and Bedouin tribes, fell back into the interior. The war came to an end via Italian naval attacks in the Aegean and elsewhere, with the Ottomans finally ceding Libya to Rome. This laid the foundation for the establishment of an Italian colony and had an obvious effect on the campaign in North Africa during World War II.

Scale: Each hex represents 45 kilometers, with each game turn one to two months. Units are at the battalion level.

Components: One 22" x 34" map & 176 counters.

Articles:

• Italian-Ottoman War: Struggle for Libya, 1911–12. This lesser known conflict was an Italian military victory, both on land and, finally, at sea. Then Rome found itself fighting a protracted counterinsurgency in North Africa to secure its gains.
• The Battle of Pydna: Phillip V saw his chance to dominate Macedonia while Rome was under attack by Hannibal. However, once Rome defeated Carthage, it turned its attention to Macedonia. At Pydna, Roman maniples demonstrated their flexibility over the cumbersome phalanx formation and ended the Macedonian kingdom.
• Stalin’s Command Decisions: There are many parallels between Stalin and Hitler: supreme military command was assumed, not earned, costly underestimation of the enemy, even costlier overestimation of his own force’s capability. The chief difference would occur later in the war: Stalin began listening to his advisors, while Hitler continued to ignore his.
• Sandino’s War in Nicaragua, 1927–34: Through the 1927 Agreement of Tipitapa, Liberal general Sandino continued to fight. Thus began a six year struggle in which the US military eventually lost but learned the art of jungle warfare that supported their success in the upcoming Pacific War.