ASL Winter Offensive 13 AAR

Played this ASL scenario back in February (still behind but catching up).  As the Russian player I loved it... 
The eye catching bits for this scenario are the Sherman tanks the Russian gets and the "rolling" barrage.  It automatically lands each turn and gets pushed back 3-6 hexes (Russian choice) as well.  Once it lands offboard it is gone.  The Random Direction is a maximum of two hexes away as well.  It is harrasing fire at 70mm so not TOOO deadly unless the target is in the woods but it made for a very effective shield down the middle.

Board setup.  The Russians need to earn 12vp to win.  They get exit VP for getting of the South edge (2VP per tank, prisoners don't count, normal for others).  They also get VP for the 3 stone buildings, 3vp each if captured on turn 5, 2 on turn 6, and 1 on turn 7.  

End of Russian turn 1.  Things go pretty well for the Russians in their half of turn 1, 2 squads broken but German skirmish line pushed hard.

End of German turn 1.  German front line retreats and two squads left with nowhere to go are captured.

End of Russian turn 2 Fire phase.  The Russians press forward quickly, breaking apart the second German line.

End of Russian turn 2.  The Germans lost the CC up north and the Russians advance forward.

End of German turn 2.  Germans stacks are broken by the Arty and Russian squads.  Down near the bottom is a German 82mm MTR.  The middle of the board is clear of resistance but the Russian's own arty will keep them from just swarming right through.

End of Russian turn 3.  The remainder of the German front line is eliminated when no quarter is declared.  The German MTR is overrun and the crew scattered.  A Russian squad rolls boxcars when chancing a trip into the barrage...  Finally a German sniper breaks the HMG crew which had only just rallied after breaking earlier.

Maybe I didn't give the arty it's proper due in the opening comments...

End of German turn 3.  The German AFV reinforcements come on board while the HT up north Bogs itself trying to go over the hedge. 

End of Russian turn 4.  The tanks take the top of the map and kill the HT in advancing fire, the Germans did not hit the Sherman moving across their front.  The German 8-1 stack fired causing NE on the CX unit when it was in the woods. 

End of German turn 4.  The 8-1 squad breaks one group of Russians but Berserks the other.  Meanwhile the Sherman fired and got Acquisition.  Near the bottom the HS broke the stack next to it.

The situation after the first Russian shot of turn 5.  The Sherman broke the 8-1 and the squad and we called the game.  Barring something very strange (a sniper attack is all I can think of) the Russians would capture the 3vp buildings for a total of 9vp, the Sherman up top would get off the map for 2vp, and that would leave just 1vp for a Russian win.  The Stugs would not be able to get into position to stop the remaining Shermans from getting off the board the next turn for 4 more VP.

This scenario was one of a series where things seemed to go easy for one side over the other (in this case it was me it was easy for, in others it was Tycho).  Perhaps a slightly different setup may help the Germans or slightly different dice results, I don't remember especially good luck in this one but it almost always seemed to go my way - so I'd rate it as my being the lucky one in this scenario.  A one turn holdup early on would have made all the difference between a blowout and a much tighter game and that is where the Russian luck comes in, the German front line never got a hit on the Russians that could slow them down.  At any rate this is a good medium sized scenario with a nice force mixture.