Cold Crocodiles (ASL Annual Scenario 25)

Played Cold Crocodiles over VASL on the 16th and 23rd (and a bit PBEM).  Not giving away the ending but I can happily say that I LOVE CROCODILE TANKS!

Fire, Heh, heh, heh...  (The perfect tank for a closet Pyro like myself)

End of Allied Turn 1, entering the board, laying smoke, nothing happening.  We are hunting for the hipsters and the 88LL guns the Germans are hiding.

End of Axis turn 1, meander on away from the Brits.

End of Allied Turn 2.  Arty DMs some Germans and UK fire DMs another.

End of German turn 2.  A 2 sniper pumps a crimp in my plans, at least it did not kill the 10-2, but now he is a gimpy 9-1...

End of Allied turn 3, should have stopped here and let Crocodiles push onto the board...

Instead Brits get captured...

Tales of woe...

A Faust toting Hipster pops up and fires at my 76LL tank in the same hex.

Burning Sherman!

End of German turn 4, JagdPanzers (not Stugs) come on.  Followed by lots of shooting.

End of Allied turn 5 - I REALLY like Crocodiles.

A shot from one Kills a crew and destroys an 88LL before it has a chance to take aim at the Croc (it fired and missed, it need to swing it's covered arc twice in rough terrain)

End of German turn 5.  Brits need to hustle, not lose any more tanks and not lose any more of the buildings they already have.  Not going to happen.

End of Allied turn 6.

End of German turn 6.

End of Allied turn 7, Time for praising Crocodiles again.

Their Cooking!

Can you tell I like Crocodiles???

End of Axis turn 7

End of Allied turn 8 and the game.  If the Croc had survived it might have been possible, but no such luck.

Preach it brother!

An EXCELLENT scenario, lots of fun in this one.  The Germans get two 88LL guns, neither of which got to have much fun in this particular playing and two JagdPanzers (which had a blast).  The Brits get two 76LL armed tanks of some kind (not Fireflies) and the Crocodiles.  The ability to kill a tank with an 8 or less without stopping is priceless.  The Germans would have needed a 3 or less to kill the Crocodiles with their tanks while the Fausts of course are not quite so limited.

The US Civil War turns 14 through 17

Well, it was the US player's turn to feel like this cat, up till he remembered that northern VP cities have an intrinsic garrison... 

Lee and the CANV cavalry went on a wild ride through West Virginia and took Pittsburgh, the Cavalry then went on a jaunt through the north wracking up VP points each turn.  In the end we took away all but 4 (now down to 2 due to fading glory).  

End of turn 14.  Union has 31 VP and need 39 to be on track.  Confederates also have 2vp for the swing up to Pittsburgh.  So Union is down 10.

At the top left you see Lee on his wild ride.  He threatened to go to DC first and then went west instead.  Just managing to keep a supply line open - Attrition in the winter would have been brutal.

In the west Sherman made a lunge for Chattanooga, Longstreet intercepted in the mountains and repulsed him.

In the Far West Curtis is on the move.

End of turn 15.  Union have 36vp and need 42 to be on track, CSA has 4vp from still holding Pittsburgh.  So down 10.

Lee hustles back to friendly territory, he managed to make a couple of Attrition rolls on the way and keeps the army intact.  The Cavalry circled in the middle of the map is the only reason he can be in supply where he is at too.

In the west things are fairly quiet.  Some jockeying for position.

In the Far West Taylor is beaten by Curtis (actually a draw but Taylor lost his last SP and goes poof).

I think the Union made a push for New Orleans and was beaten back - might have been the turn before though.  Last but not least the union take Houston.

End of turn 16.  Union needs 45 to be on track and has 40, CSA actually has 3vp at this point since fading glory would have kicked in.  So down by 8

In the East Lee moves into North Carolina, Virginia is lost...

Confederate Cavalry try to cut off union forces north of Chattanooga but get chased away.

In New Orleans a large CSA force (9sp, Hood and Taylor) attack a smaller Union force led by Meade, all they had to do was win and the Union would have to surrender most of their forces.  But the rolls are crappy (first roll is union 8 and CSA 4, see even with a +6 it is a draw), second was CSA 3 and union 5.  Those forces holding New Orleans will be desperately need elsewhere but New Orleans is too many VP to let go.  In the Far West Beauregard is moved in to take Taylor's job and maneuvers to put Curtis Out of Supply.

 

End of turn 17, US has 41vp and needs 49 to be on track, so down by 8vp.  CSA has 2vp but they will be gone soon due to fading glory.  Normally on the next turn the USA has an election which means he would need at least 45vp that turn or lose the game (Lincoln lost the election).  I volunteered to ignore that but even so he should be able to get the needed 45 even with the Confederate 1vp making it 46 he needs - too few CSA troops facing too many USA ones next turn.  Winter will be no help either since the CSA will most likely lose 2 or 3 sp then.

In the East Lee attacks Grant (mainly due to thinking that 1 more VP space would have ended up in CSA victory - but rules screwup means it would not).  Grant intercepted and the battle ended up a draw.

In the West Sherman moves on Chattanooga.  Longstreet manages to intercept and is forced back but both sides take losses, Sherman than attacks Chattanooga proper and suffers a draw.  This move does put the Chattanooga force out of supply though.

In the Far West Beauregard beats Curtis but is then attacked and beaten by forces sent from Memphis.

All of that took seven hours, started at 10:30 and finished up at 6 with a half hour break for lunch.  Last three turns should take quite a while as well since every move is going to be important.  The US needs 19 more VP to win at game end and there are roughly 23 free points floating around.  The CSA has a few VP areas they can retake and opening the Mississippi is worth 3vp to the union as well.  With average rolls the Union will have 36 activations left in the game which should give enough time to get those VP spaces - but any setback or bad luck on activation rolls may be deadly to either side.

Not going to Historicon 2016 day 1 (or TUSCW turns 10-13)

Lawrence and I played turns 11-13 of The US Civil War today, and I have the pics of turn 10 that I forgot to take last time.  Just like the last couple of years instead of going to Historicon and spending a bunch of money we just take the days off and game at home.

Not as much of a writeup as earlier posts, the gist of it going into the day is the South was about to crack open like an egg being hit with a hammer...   (or like this cat)

For those of you coming from Facebook - that is what is should show!

First off the pics from the end of turn 10.  The USA is behind schedule but I forget by how much, somewhere around 3 VP I believe (they need 27 to be on track)

In the east RE Lee is staring down US Grant (moved to the East instead of being left in the west)

In the west Chattanooga is holding out. 

Far West see the US forces at Little Rock.

And along the coast the US forces attacked and took Houston.

Forgot to move the turn counter but it is the end of turn 11.  The US has 29VP and need 30 to be on schedule.  Getting better for them.

In the east the USA took Stanton and Lee fell back to Richmond and entrenched. 

In Florida the USA makes a landing and moves in to take some more real estate.

In the west Forrest tried to make an attack and the US player managed to roll a 6 and kill his SP (only a 6 would have killed an SP).  That is where the US control flag sits in the middle of the pic.  Another cavalry unit tried to cut supply as well and both ended up dead along with Bragg's army.  On the plus side the US forces were distracted from attacking Chattanooga - which now has a fort.

In the Far West Tyler took back some space in the north (maybe last turn) and is finally defeated.  He is brought back with new troops to chase Couch (now Hancock) away.  Near the Mississippi a confederate unit dances around with US forces and fights a few battles - also holding the US back from advancing.

End of turn 12, the CSA cavalry is starting to make life hell for the northern aggressors.  The US is now 4vp behind schedule, having gained none this turn.

In the east Lee moves out to keep the US from taking Lynchburg.  Grant followed up to try and attack Lee and Lee ran away over the mountain.  This would put him in an excellent spot to attack Stanton if the South won the next initiative - they did not and Grant was in position to intercept.  Lee moved forward, Grant intercepted and Lee did not go through with the attack (you can hold back if an enemy intercepts and you have cavalry).  Next activation Lee went first and skeedadled to where he ended up.

After a bit of maneuver Morgan managed to keep the US busy and away from Chattanooga yet again, he did so by keeping the US from being able to supply the corps that is currently 2 hexes away from him.

If the Far West Curtis is moving toward the Mississippi while Hooked is pushed back some more by Tyler.

End of turn 13.  The US gained 3VP leaving it 4 behind schedule still.

In the east Lee moved back to Richmond and dug in, Grant moved forward to entrench in the way of DC but Lee managed to intercept while he was crossing the river.  I think Grant was DM before the move (they had a fight the activation before) so had a -2 for the battle and lost 3sp while the CANV lost only 1.  Lee then ran north and did more damage, he is now outside DC with 5 strength and only 4 in DC proper.  With winter coming up there are no reinforcements for either side but I'm sure the US will move units to DC by rail and road - but that means moving them out of other areas.  It will come down to who gets the first activation roll.

In the west the CSA cavalry manage to keep the US hopping, constantly cutting supply which the US has to re-open or suffer attrition.

In the Far West Custis moves further down the river and Tyler is beaten (another roll of 1 for the CSA and a 6 for the US - happened 3 times this game, yes I'm whining).

So the CSA holds on another year with minor losses in territory - they also managed to retake a union city (right up at the top right of the last picture).  It will only be worth extra on the supply roll but that may be VERY important.  The US has a hard job ahead, they have to move forward while the CSA keeps cutting supply paths.  Next game day is this Saturday, and it now looks like this one is going to go the entire distance so at least one more game day after Saturday to finish up.