Orsogna

ORSOGNA depicts the struggles of 2nd New Zealand Division to control the area around the Italian village of Orsogna in December 1943 and the stubborn German LXXVI. Panzerkorps defense led by the 26. Panzer-Division.

In the countryside and in the hills of Abruzzo overlooking the Adriatic, in the winter of 1943, divisions which a few months later would clash again under the imposing figure of the monastery founded by San Benedetto and later to the north up to the Gothic Line, were confronted.

Think of the 1. Fallschirmajger division, the German paratroopers then passed to history as the "green devils", the 26. Panzer division the 65. Infanterie division, the 90. Panzergrenadiere division, the 1st Canadian Armored brigade, the 8th Indian division and the 2nd New Zealand division. The New Zealanders of the 2nd division, who came from so far away to contribute to the liberation of Europe, proceeding northwards over the Sangro river, were unexpectedly blocked in Orsogna, a small village on the slopes of the Maiella Massif.

What at first seemed an intermediate stage soon became the first tragic Italian test for young kiwis. There are many similarities with the fights that saw them as protagonists in the ruins of Cassino and its ridges close to the abbey in the following months. Everything suggests that precisely the failure to conquer Orsogna was one of the causes that prompted the New Zealand commands to become stubborn a few months later in Cassino in order to avoid a second failure from the hands of the same opponents.

ORSOGNA contains the following:

14 action packed scenarios, including 4 campaign games (CG) covering Operation Florence in Orsogna area in December 1943

96 full color, die cut 5/8" ASL counters

420 full color, die cut 1/2" ASL counters

Three 31.3” x 22.0” and one 31.3” x 26.8” HASL map sheets which represent the historical layout of Orsogna sector

Rules pages describing ORS Scenario Special Rules (SSR), map terrain and campaign game rules

Ownership of the following Hasbro/MMP ASL products are required to play all of the included scenarios: Beyond Valor, For King and Country