GCACW: McClellan's Opportunity

Played this over VASSAL yesterday with my normal FTF opponent.  Since I'm away for over a month it was the only way to get some game time in.  After getting VASSAL and Skype up and running we only had a couple hours of game time.  There are lots of counters to move around in this one too.

ASL Scenario DB 132: One Last Victory

Played this with Tycho on VASL - so disgusted with the VASL Dire (typo - but I'll keep it in the blog) roller that I conceeded at the end of turn 4 instead of finishing up.  8ML Germans almost always breaking or dying when attacked at 2-2 or 2-1 (and I HAD to take those types of attacks in order to get to the victory hexes in time - stopping for a firefight was not an option) while having 8 straight shots do squat against 6ML troops over half the time gets old after a bit.

Germans have to take at least one building in the Red shaded area to the left in addition to ten total buildings including another stone one IIRC.  By the end of turn 4 the Germans had only gotten to the leftmost stars and there was still a solid line of US troops in the way.  The stars on the right are where the first shots were fired and most of the Germans in those hexes broke or died.

Normandy 44 continues

It is a slugging match but the Allies have been able to push the Germans back slowly.  I expect the pace to pick up now that the Mulberrys are done.

ASL Scenario Into the Rubble 18 "Capital of the Ruins"

A fun scenario.  I would play it again - as the Germans...

The Setup.  The US has to capture all the circled buildings in 7 turns.  By Bounding Fire Productions (BFP) rules a number of the buildings have a third story.

End of US turn 1.  Things are going pretty well so far...

End of game (turn 6).  I called it after this turn.  A number of mistakes on my part and some bad dice (see below) did me in.  Besides that IFT being in the red I rolled the German sniper (5) about 10 billion times!  (no exaggeration!).  The German 88 in Q12 was a ballbuster too.  It got rate and scored hits almost every time.  Knocking out multiple groups.  My tanks managed to disable of malf a weapon a piece - with the M10 in W11 winning the prize.  Bogged, MA Disabled, and MG disabled.  Managed to unbog for the recall though!  UP in R7 a 1mp ESB breakdown roll results in a breakdown...
Even with all that another turn might have been enough.  Played better I think the US has a good chance at this one but perhaps the 3 story buildings would make it tougher to root out the Germans then can be done.

And the Dice Rolls...  When I did roll a 5 it always seemed to be when firing 4fp shots at units in stone buildings (well, all the Germans were in Stone buildings the entire game except the gun and I didn't roll low when firing at that, oh no!, so...)

Another happy day of ASL!

Next up is our third playing of Purple Heart Draw.  The first two ended up as blowouts for each side so this is the drawbreaker.

Normandy 44 continues

Part 1 at https://fiftyshadesoffeldgrau.blogspot.com/2019/10/normandy-44.html

Lawrence and I continued our Normandy 44 game yesterday getting in 2.5 turns (4 through German turn 6).  Found out we were playing the retreat stopping rules wrong - we had thought you needed the terrain AND the units already in the terrain to stop a retreat and rereading found out it was one or the other.  That makes a big difference going forward.  We also had to read (and reread) the Bocage advance rules...

End of German turn 4.   (June 9).  A counter attack pushes the Brits out of Epron.  Otherwise falling back is the order of the day.

Something went wrong with the Panorama shot on the next picture!

The Allies attack, attack, attack!  They did the same around Caen too.  The front line is getting pushed back but only a hex or so at a time.  Bocage is great stuff.

End of German turn 5 (June 10).  Clear Weather!  BAD!  Reforming the line again...

Allied turn 5 (June 10).  Epron is retaken but I did a sneaky (he was planning a reserve attack).  The Epron defender retreated back one space and was available to blunt the Allied Reserve attack.  The Allies still have two VP spaces on the German side of the line (so they count for game end VP).  I also stuck around too long between the Allied Beaches and now have two strong (if crappy TQ) units cut off.

End of German turn 6.  (June 11)  More CLEAR weather!  More BAD!  A counter-attack pushes the Americans back and the line looks a little thin there.  Strong German reinforcements are on the way and if the weather gets crappy again (2 clear days in a row) it could be a good time to retake more.  

Lawrence and I both like this game a lot.  A perfect size and scope for us.  Even at one map and a "normal" number of counters for a one mapper there is a lot going on each turn.  Part of that is the ability to do a Determined Defense, another part is the need to balance where Arty, Air, and Naval power is used and the final bit is the CRT has a lot of D1, DR, A1 and EX results.  So a single combat is hardly ever decisive in and of itself.  To take ground requires grinding away and the use of reserves - which neither of us has mastered yet.  It is a deep game in a small package.

The only "problem" I have is that the game "series" (Normandy 44, Holland 44, Ardennes 42) is so similar but with minor differences in each title that lead to major changes in how to play the game.  They are different scales in each game and different time scales so I admit it would be needed but (mis)remembering things from the previous games has been a problem from time to time.

ASL Scenario Journal 54: Showtime

Finally got a chance to play ASL with Tycho after 2 or 3 times I had to cancel - work was being a pain in the rump.

We played the last scenario in the Kursk Mini Campaign from the Journal.  The second scenario from the campaign made it near impossible for the Russians to win the campaign so we played the scenario as a stand alone instead.

End of German turn 1.  Since there are no Russians on the board the Germans move their turn 1 forces from the left to the right and prepare for Russian arrival.  There are 2 Tigers, 3 Panzer IVs and a few halftracks under those Concealment counters.  The Germans have to get 40 EVP off the right side to win.  Vehicels that are armed and mobile at game end passed the red line also count.  Each Russian armed and mobile AFV adds 2 EVP to the needed total.

End of Russian turn 1.  The Russians come on, take up position behind a wall and open fire.  neither side scores hits.  Another Russian tank bogs in the woods but is in a position where it will have to be dealt with to get forces off the board.

Highlights of turn 2.  Germans move forward to engage the Russians behind the wall, the Russians miss with their shots and the Germans roll 2 turret hits in a row.  A very rough start for the Russians.

End of German turn 2.  German turn 2 reinforcements come on and the Halftracks onload their passangers.

End of Russian turn 2.  Russian fire takes out a tank I put too far forward (with crappy armor).  A big sniper recalls a HalfTrack and another Russian tank kills another halftrack.  Tycho is crafy - scooting into firing position, firing, and then scooting back.  He did try an intensive fire shot that malfed the gun and rolled boxcars on another shot.  Luck is not going in his direction.  Finally near the middle a couple T60 come in around a Tiger to try and get rear shots.  One of the them hit but the shot bounced.  The other one was taken out by a PZIV.

End of German turn 3.  I get lucky again.  Halftracks rushed off the board with only one of them being stopped.  The remaining T60 is dealt with and a half squad jumps into CC with a mobile T34, rolls snakes, and creates an 8-1 leader for his "trouble".  All the rolls I REALLY needed to make have come up in my favor.

End of Russian turn 3 and the game (of 5.5 possible).  Tycho starts up a tank and my Stug Rolls snakes and then a 3 on the TK to start it burning.  After ineffective fire during his Prep we call it a game.

As I told Tycho, I had a blast... 
The dice always came up in my favor so I can't say if this one is balanced or not.  Looking back I played badly since I was playing to take out Russian forces instead of to move off the board.  I should have taken all my troops in one direction (top of map or bottom) to place them for exiting by game end.  As it worked out however the lucky rolls when I needed them made it moot.

Next game is November 23rd.  Another in December and then back to our third playing of Purple Heart Draw on New Years Day.

Normandy 44

Lawrence and I got together for Normandy 44 yesterday.  Another fine game in the Mark Simonitch 4X game "series".  (Normandy 44, Holland 44, Ardenness 44)

Some major mistakes on the first game but we will keep playing it.  First up was mis-remembering that Infantry units did not pay 1/2 for road movement like they do in Holland 44 (which is the last one we played).  So the German first turn is less then optimal.  Combined with a horrible airlanding for the US troops and it may even out.

End of German turn 1.  The US air drops were a disaster while the Germans forgot to hustle on the road - leaving way more deployment space for the Allied advance off the beach.  Omaha went fairly well, a 1 was rolled for one beach but the other went well.  Overall the beach landing rolls were on the bad side though.

End of Allied first turn.  Right off the beaches and into combat with the German front line.  We (I) also forgot the Strongpoints could do a Determined Defense so a fort or two might have held.  On the plus side we (I) mis-remembered a normal advance being one hex in any direction instead of two hexes.  The Germans attacked a US airborne Cadre and knocked it out of the game.

Overcast 3 for turn 2.  The Germans move up to seal off the front line.  Thin in many spots but it is a line.

Allied turn 2.  I remember DD for the forts but even the +1 fort fails (a 1 in 6 chance) to hold.

German turn 3.  Overcast 2.  The line is getting thinner but reinforcements are on the way.  No counterattacks this turn.

Allied turn 3.  German reinforcements at Caen arrived just in time.  British attempts to flank it on their left are stopped by a DD result.  They then try a reserve force attack and it is also beaten back by a successful Determined Defense.  The British do have three powerful stacks next to Caen now however, on the plus side for my Germans I have two powerful stacks on the flanks and the city itself is ZOC blocked from being entered.  The weather roll will determine my plans for next turn - if it is a Storm or Overcast a counterattack may be in order, clear and it is time to hunker down again.  DDs should hold Caen for this next turn or two and then more reinforcements start arriving.  The Allies get them too but their front line is about as full as it can get near Caen anyway.

Part 2   https://fiftyshadesoffeldgrau.blogspot.com/2019/11/normandy-44-continues.html

African Campaign Deluxe Edition second try

Played this again today.  First game I made a mistake that allowed the enemy a 1 in 6 chance of killing off my main stack - and he rolled the six...

Second game the Allies could not take Tobruck and the Axis would not be able to get off the map.  We both realized that it was not only possible but pretty much required to put a line of troops across the desert and neither side would then be able to advance past it.  They could attack and maybe eventually attrit  the other side but there was no way to break the line and surround the enemy.  So sadly this one goes back on the shelf.

The optional rules may be able to handle this but the 15 hex supply makes the desert feel like the Somme...

ASL Scenarios J53 (scenario 2 of Kursk Mini Campaign)

Finally got round to playing the second scenario in the Kursk Mini Campaign with Tycho.  I went into an ASL rules seizure after the first scenario and stopped playing for a year.  The first scenario was April 29 2018...

Anyway.  For this scenario the Germans have to exit a certain amount of VP OR take 3 multi-hex buildings.  Since for the campaign it helps MORE to hold certain buildings at game end then to win (though winning is nearly as many campaign VP) I focused on taking the buildings instead of exiting and leaving the other campaign VP buildings unguarded.  (kinda screwy you ask me but nobody asked me).

The setup.  The Germans have to take 3 multi-hex buildings to win (I focused on the ones at the bottom of the map) and for Campaign VP each of the circled buildings is worth 2VP.  Winning the scenario is worth 5.

First German movement turn goes pretty well.  The Russian hero in the one building didn't manage to do anything and dies from failing a couple of MC.

German turn 2 movement phase is a BIG mistake.  Thinking I had enticed Tycho enough to draw a reaction shot I moved the 9-2 and a squad int he open.  NOPE I did not entice him enough, two squad unHIP and blast the leader and squad.  I thought for sure that stupid mistake would cost me the game.

German turn 3, the remaining Germans come on in HTs.  Needing to hurry I rush them right up to where the 9-2 and squad died last turn.  They survive minefields and Russian fire, unload and fire themselves.  The Russians break.  A massive bit of luck thinking back on it.

Russian portion of turn 3.  The second multi-hex building is secured.  The 9-1 and squad blundered into another minefield but are not harmed.  The hero (way left) "won" a CC by passing an MC caused by fire from outside the hex while the Russian squad failed it.  The PzIV was shocked but rolled a 2 to recover right away.  Near the top of the picture a Tiger is blind as a bat due to smoke and grain.  The last VC building is nearly unguarded (the ?? is a dummy but there is a crew a level above).  There is also a Squad hiding in that other building but I send my Hero that way to investigate.

End of Russian 4 and the game.  Both VC buildings were cleared out.  A HT went into the hex with the last Russian squad VBMFSing the guy.  My squad shot into the hex and once again broke the squad without breaking the HT.  A Russian tank came in on their turn but did not manage to hit.  Next turn I would have gone into his hex with the PzIV and kept it in motion while moving the Tiger in for a kill.  Probably would have missed but would have kept him from killing the HTs.  The 228 was not revealed yet but would have been with another movement (all I had planned is to consolidate the position this turn).  With that the Russians conceded the scenario and the campaign as well.  The Germans were ahead by 10 campaign VC, which would allow them to not even TRY to win the next scenario in order to win the campaign.  Instead we are going to play the last scenario as just a regular scenario.

Dice can be a fickle mistress.  I took one last shot at a dummy stack (not knowing it was a dummy but thinking it was...) and did nothing to the dummies (which WERE dummies) but my oppo got a Big Sniper...
I think this is the only game (certainly of this size) where I managed to lose TWO 9-2 leaders and still win the game. 

The African Campaign Deluxe Edition

Played this on the 10th (Last weekend as I write this) and got creamed as the UK.  Rommel is a butt kicker!

The Desert as seen by wargamers millions of times.

End of turn 1.

Things get off to a SMASHING start for the UK (and if they don't restart the game - it won't take long).  Two auto-overruns, an Italian unit destroyed (far left) and the remainder attack my 2-6 unit and kill it (not so smashing start after all but those two escapees dies quickly enough).

Skipping ahead to end of turn 5 when the Allies have captured Tobruk.  Rommel has been building up strength during this time.

There is Tobruk safe and sound.

End of turn 11, The Allied forces have been obliterated in a couple of turns leaving only the 7-6 armor and 6-6 Austalians along with the HQ unit.  The Germans have the required points off the board to start the victory clock.

End of Game two turns later.  UK attempts to break the supply of the Axis units failed with a couple of repulses at Tobruk and Alexandria.  

Going to play this one again in a few weeks with lessons learned.  I'm afraid it will end up feeling more like a regular fight with long lines of units trying to get a breakthrough across the whole map then the desert war but we will see - I certainly messed up THIS game.

ASL scenario FT94: Here Stands the Legion

Played this one today with Tycho over VASL.  A fun scenario but I think it is pro-German (and I was playing the Germans).

Game Start.  The Germans have 5.5 turns to win.  VP are awarded for each building hex on the lower board controlled and the Germans can get 2VP for each tank exited off the bottom of the map.  The French win the instant there is no mobile armed AFV on the map however.  In addition to the forces shown the French had an AT gun on the left side of the map but since I never went into it's LOS it never fired a shot. 

End of Game.  The 9-2 Fire stack did squat on the first turn while the rest of the Germans went to the right.  The Hard Luck Franz tank smoked DD02 and the Germans moved adjacent.  I'm fairly certain the 458 starting in BB2 failed an MC and routed.  This got the Germans firmly into town on the first turn.  After that a 16fp kill stack with a 9-1 leader managed to do just about squat all game.  He did live through an ambush to kill the concealed squad that jumped into CC with him.  After that however they never caused anything for a pin result and even that was rare.  The 9-2 kill stack made up for it easily brushing aside the French Resistance on the left, they only had to make a couple of MCs and managed to break and rout everyone put in front of them.  The Strong point was where the French 9-2 leader was and his group held till the next to last turn (when we called it).  I jumped him in CC and lost two squads to an ambush!.  He did have two squads with him at first but one went berserk and died to a 12-2 defensive fire shot when he had to bypass into the adjacent hex to rush my 2 squads.  Then there is Hard Luck Franz.  After his first shot he malfed the gun, not wanting to lose him I had him run around without trying to fix the MA.  When he tried to enter the French 9-2 hex to freeze sleaze him he was immobilized which worked out great!  Now I could fix the MA without fear of losing an AFV.  He managed to fix the MA too for a Point Blank shot at the 9-2 and friends.  THEN he manages to Malf the MA again...  All the Tanks together finally managed to break everyone in the hex and that ended the game (along with the German 9-2 going on a rate tear).  Finally there is the suicidal German 8-0.  Having been DMd where the 20L tank currently sits he routed to where the ATR armed guy is.  First Rally he rolls boxcars and wounds himself.  Second rally he rolls boxcars and Kills himself...

A fun scenario with choices for each side but like I said, I think it is pro-German to some extent.  Though a bad guess on the AT gun placement and it could be a really rough time for the Germans too.

GCACW: The Battle for Washington

Played the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War scenario The Battle for Washington last week.  I'm not doing detailed writeups for a while so just one picture.

The Rebs have three days to capture and hold the circled Ovals and to burn the RR stations in the little red stars.  The majority of the fighting took place in the Big Blue star.  Lee's path across the map is the blue line.

Things I remember. Lee hauled ass the first activation (rolled a 6 to go eight hexes).  My plan to hold him in the swampy are (to the right of the battle zone) went down the crapper and the fallback plan to fight along the stream was looking iffy.  Lee won the second activation (first was a gimme) but did not roll nearly as well for movement.  Next up was my units and they managed to get to the Stream in time to hold it - but I had to force march one unit to make it into position.  The First Days' fighting was a knock down dragout even though I had BOTH of my attempts at an assault by Burnside fail (each a 1 in 6 chance of failing).  On the other hand the CSA assaults went in my favor.  Finally Jackson was a acting like he did at the seven days, poking along...

The SECOND day.  Burnside got the initiative and surrounds Lee!  Tries an Assault and makes it!  Tries the Grand Assault and FAILS!  OK - a  33% chance of not getting at least one other hex but combined with a 1 in 36 chance of two failed assaults in a row yesterday we are down to a 1/72 (roughly) odds of such bad luck.  The North wins initiative again!  And fails another assault roll (1 in 6, odds of this streak of luck is now roughly 1 in 432).

Still up to this point

Burnside

Was Kicking

Lee's

Ahem

Right then somebody

Lit a Fire

Under Stonewall's

Ahem...

The CSA gets the initiative and Stonewall rolls max move.  His first two divisions surround my flanker on Lee and his last smashes into the unit leaving it demoralized 2 and basically out for the rest of the game.  He then wins initiative again and does the same to another USA division. 

At this point I conceded (with some disgust I must admit).  I find the flanking rules a bit screwy when combined with a single enemy adjacent as long as the other enemies have the other hexes in ZOC but friendly units do nothing to keep that from happening - and only adjacent friendlies can help mitigate the effects of being flanked.  Combined with high movement speeds it is possible to (often) surround an opponent and flank him without any way to mitigate it and being flanked can be worth having a 5-1 numbers advantage.

After a couple days I thought about it some more and have ideas for next time...