Island of Death - Return to Malta, The 1942 Counter-Invasion (Gold Club Exclusive)

In our game Island of Death, we studied Axis plans to invade the British-held island of Malta in 1942 by a combined airborne and amphibious attack. In the expansion book Fortress Malta we went into even more depth on those plans, and also looked at a number of alternatives including a daring 1940 plan for an Italian invasion and a German airborne attack in 1941.

Had any of those plans succeeded, the Axis powers had prepared for the occupation as well. The Italian XVI Corps, consisting of the 26th “Assieta” and 54th “Napoli” infantry divisions, would remain on the island as its garrison, together with some units of the Royal Italian Navy (chiefly coast-defense artillery). That would provide an occupation force roughly the same size as the wartime British garrison, as Italian infantry divisions were smaller than their British counterparts.

The Allies appear to have had no well-developed plans to re-take the island in the event of its fall. Britain held Malta and had no intention of surrendering it, nor did the Maltese. But we can make an informed guess as to what formations would have been available for a counter-invasion of Malta, and that’s the basis of Island of Death: Return to Malta.

Return to Malta has 180 new playing pieces representing the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division, the Polish Parachute Brigade, the U.S. Marine Corps’ 2nd Provisional Brigade and two small brigades of Royal Marines. Their task is simple: take Malta back from the Italians.

Return to Malta is not a complete game: Ownership of Island of Death and Fortress Malta (and only those two items) is necessary to play all of the four scenarios included.