ASL Scenario Ozb4, Jackboot to the Rear

 I am generally a fan of Lone Canuck products but this particular scenario is a dog, a flea bitten dog at that.  Lest you think it is sour grapes I was the "winner"

Game at start.  The Axis win by capturing 10 LVP locations and not losing the ones they have already (the church steeple building at the top is worth 2 or 4)  The building at the bottom is worth
 4 instead of 2 as well - since it has a second story.

End of turn 1 and end of game.  I offered to let my opponent off the hook.  75mm destroyed the Russian defenses in the factory which is worth 6 points alone.  The bridge would most likely fall this turn for 3 more points and the building at the top right was captured for 1 point.  The Germans get reinforcements on turn 4 and the Russian Mortar crew was eliminated last turn.  
If the Axis arty does not get all red chits this scenario is a shoe in for the Axis.

ASL: Quick 6 scenario 1 Simple Mission

 Fun game, lots of bad luck on both sides.  My FT did zip, same for my DCs.  His 25LL could not take out a tank after a couple of solid hits.  Said tank malfed his MA on the first shot (which would cost the game by a single VP at the end by not having a functional MA for the exit VP).  

All that said it is a good little scenario with options for both sides.

German had to get offboard at the bottom left, jussst a little bit too little...

ASL Quick 6 scenario 22. French Spirit by Lone Canuck Publishing

 Game two for today.  An interesting situation but I don't see how the Germans can win outside of extreme good luck (I had decent luck).  I'm not saying it is unbalanced, just that *I* can't see a German win in this one.

Situation at game end.  The Germans start with a platoon in the red area.  To win the German's have to have a good order MMC in the Red Lined area.  The French had troops on the level two hills to start and reinforcements came in on turn one at the roundel to the left.  At the bottom a platoon of FT-17s came on turn 2 as well.  An equal size German force entered from the top of the map on turn 1 as well.  Perhaps I should have taken my time and advanced in slowly while having the initial guys retreat away to come back later.  May have to try it again someday since it is an interesting situation and I love a scenario with FT-17s in it.

ASL The Steelworks Scenario 3: Tiger Attack (Finish)

 Finished up this game today.  The Brits got all the smoke they needed and managed to kill a tiger from the side when it was in +3 smoke.  When another Tiger was recalled for MA malfunction I conceded.

At this point the last Tiger had to destroy 4 Shermans in two turns for a win.  

ASL The Steelworks Scenario 3: Tiger Attack

 One more try for The Steelworks scenario pack from Lone Canuck.  The map looks great and the situation interesting but this one is not rating high on my favorites list.

the setup.  The Germans have to clear the map below the paved road by the end of German turn 6.

The German Rocket OBA drifts to the worst spot possible, it DMs a single HS but is more of a hindrance to the German advance then any kind of help.

German Tiger tanks come on turn 2 followed by the UK Firefly group on the same turn (a dr <3 needed to come on this turn).

The Firefly gets in position to fire on the Tiger, still a risk since the Tiger will get off a couple shots but that smoke from the small mortar is a decided pain in the arse.

The Tiger made it through the turn by the Germans bringing up a few squads (lots of Fausts!) to take on the Firefly.  The Tiger managed to Malf it's MA trying an IF shot at the Firefly however.  A Faust took out the Firefly in return.  Another Tiger went up near the map top to take on the regular shermans and so far managed to take one out even though it tried to cover itself with smoke.  So at the end of German turn 4 this could still go either way.  The main problem is that the best bet for the UK to win is play hide the Shermans from the Tigers, just silly and not a lot of fun.

ASL: The Steelworks 2 - Hunt the Hun

 Got in a game of ASL.  Tycho was busy with an online tourney so we kept it small.   The Steelworks Scenario 2.  A fight for a small industrial area in France.  With mist and stone buildings this is a tough one when the Germans start with four squad equivalents onboard and the UK has 10 SE coming on turn one.  The Germans roll for a further three squads starting on turn 2 but...

The setup.  The UK wins if there are no Good Order Germans in the buildings inside the red lined area at the end of the game.

First turn coming on for the brits.  The only units that were broken were either moving in non-building terrain or the one stepped into mines.  The +1 for mist up to 6 hexes (and going up every 6 from there) along with stone buildings makes defensive fire (or offensive) somewhat meaningless.

I left a guy in the road to try and get a kill, hoping he would only be possibly DM in response if things went badly.  Nope, multiple shots killed him outright.  The UK troops stream on and CC my other units after 1 hex shots at them in buildings (8+4) does nothing.  To be fair Advancing fire did nothing as well but self breaking and routing was not an option or there would be no one left to hold the line at all.

Germans get reinforcements as early as possible on turn 2.  They run up the road on the left.  Blast the units in the building adjacent and move in for CC.  Still did not manage to kill everyone even with an ambush so they jump out the hex to see if they can shoot them with firepower and move back in.  They did manage to break everyone but also get pinned by return fire so can not jump back in later.  I conceded on that note.

Maybe using snap shots is a better idea.  A 4+1 shot being better then an 8+4.  Hard to find good snap shot angles but worth keeping in mind for next time.  OK - won't be a next time for this one, too many better scenarios to play at least once first.

ASL, Lone Canuck, The Steelwork, Knock Them Down! (Game Day 3, End of Game)

 My Germans through in the towel.  I did not play well but I also don't think this one is balanced.  Even though my opponent managed to malf half his vehicle MA I still was unable to take out a single one of them and the manpower losses were highly lopsided as well.  The problem is the amount of map to cover and the Germans only getting two leaders at the start of the game.  A forward defense to buy time means the Allies can mass and destroy one group and with only a single leader for each side of the map...

The other option is a defense further back but with the Massive amount of smoke the Allies can create that is also iffy.  So damned if you do and damned if you don't.  Reinforcement rolls for the Germans may make all the difference.  On turn 4 I got none of them (5 chances rolling a 1 or less).  On Turn 5 only 1 group (the arty, with a 2 in 6 chance for each).  On Turn 6 I only managed two groups out of the four remaining (with a 4 in 6 chance for each).  By this time my frontline was down to a single leader and about 3 Squad Equivalents.  If either of the infantry reinforcement groups had gotten there earlier it may have made a load of difference (each one had a leader for one thing).

ASL, Lone Canuck, The Steelwork, Knock Them Down! (game day 2)

 Finished up a turn and a half.  Big game.  Germans are hard pressed.

ASL, Lone Canuck, The Steelwork, Knock Them Down!

 Started the big scenario from Lone Canuck's The Steelworks scenario pack.  Instead of a campaign game this pack includes a large scenario as the main draw for the pack.  A 12 turn slugfest with a lot of tanks and toys.

The UK have 12 turns to demolish the two smoke stacks shown on the map.  We finished up two complete turns in two hours and stopped for the UK to put some thought into reinforcement placement for turn 3.  German reinforcements (on the left) come in if they roll less then or equal to the reinforcement number starting on turn 4.
So far the UK have rolled a bunch of boxcars disabling the MA on a number of tanks while the Germans managed to Malf (and lose) an 81mm mortar.  The German sniper has also been going gangbusters, activating a whole BUNCH of times (lost track but at least 5 times in two turns).

ASL scenario Quick Six 02: Baron's Counterattack

 Played this one quick today, lots going on so I did not have time to play the second Quick six scenario we had planned.  Quick Six scenarios are small scenarios that play quickly.

The setup.  The Germans have to capture the two buildings with circles around part of them by the end of turn 6.

End of German turn 1 fire phase.  The rolls of 4 in a row.  The US squad in the target hex was reduced to a half squad and the leader with it died of wound check...

End of German Advancing fire on turn 1.  US has not passed a single MC yet.

End of the game on US turn 3 (less then half the turn allotment).  The US couldn't make an MC to save their lives (pretty much literally) except for the HS with the Mortar which gets MVP status.  They took out a German squad in a single fire phase - but otherwise the US was on the backfoot the entire game.  If the opening shots had gone differently the whole thing would have been different - but that is a risk with a small scenario like this.  An interesting scenario I would play again. 

Next up on the play list is Lone Canuk's SteelWorks.  From Tiny to Huge scenarios!

ASL scenario To Battle By Air 5: Bob's Farm

 Got in a short round of ASL today (one hour game time, not much more setup time).

The setup.  UK comes in on turn 1 and have to hold the circled building at the end of the game.

The exchange of fire on the first half of turn 1 goes nearly completely to the UK.  Couldn't ask for better.  We both agreed it would have been better for the HMG to setup in the building.

The situation at the midpoint of turn 2.  The German reinforcements come on next.  The 9-1 had been pinned and the squad above it went into CC with a CX half squad and eliminated it in Ambush.

The Germans pushed in, managed to get another CC in CC5 going but the UK reinforced with the leader and another squad killing the German squad.  Another German squad in BB4 was DMd and forced to rout.  German player called it here.  We "rolled" some dice the squads in 8-1 were pinned but return fire still DMd the squad with the German 8-1.  

A good tiny scenario.  If the Half Squad and 8-1 had not died in the first turn it would have gone differently, hard to say though.  Both sides had spurts of good and bad luck.  A heroic 9-1 UK leader followed by both squads with him breaking while that same turn Germans were passing MCs left and right.  Very next turn the Germans could not pass an MC for nothing.

ASL Scenario To Battle by Air 4.

 Played this one and it took a bit longer than expected.  Two hours instead of one and a half or so.  A good little scenario.

The Germans win if they have 5fp they can hit the red circled hex with at game end.

Not a good opening.  DMd only a couple and had my Leader and Squad DMd in return.

Should have had that guy skulk away.  Instead I tried firing and go zippo.  Return fire broke him and he surrenders.  Not a good situation.

My big surprise (opponent thought it was a dummy, so did I) turns into a dud.  Only got a pin out of it.

The 8-1 and the squad with him do not manage to hold off the US long and end up in CC.  With the US having 3 squads around to my single squad things are not looking good.  I didn't notice it at the time but my luck was crappy.  The US 7ML troops made a whole LOT of morale checks and my rolls were generally high.  There were enough low rolls mixed in to not make it seem so but the US always made the MCs those rolls caused.   WHINE!

And then it happens.  The US rolls boxcars on a CC roll at the end of a US turn.  The Germans take the chance to scoot.  German prep is snakes and all of a sudden it is up in the air.

Final US movement phase.  They HAVE to get both of the German squads near the VC hex broken or stuck in CC.  The tanks makes an overrun attempt.  The Shrek I was hoarding up to this point misses but the Squad finds a faust and flames the tank.  US attempts to read the Germans for CC (or point blank return fire) don't work out and it ends with a German win.

A good short scenario.  The Germans can't make the stand fast mistake I made but the US HAS to move fast to break or eliminate the Germans - taking ground is not enough in itself the US has to keep the Germans from having 5FP able to reach the VC hex at the end.

ASL, Lone Canuck, To Battle By Air Scenario 6. Flames on the Borders.

 Played this one with Tycho.  Got whipped.  Could have been worse, the Tropical Storm that was off the coast could have hit this area...

The setup.  The Germans had 5 turns to get 15+ CVP off the far edge.  FT tanks are nice but they are slow and red MPs.  At least FTs can be deadly in motion.

End of German turn 4 and I conceeded.  The Piat at the top of the board broke when firing the first time so I did not fire on it and took out a nearby squad instead.  Of course the thing was repaired and smoked my in motion FT tank.  Not a good start.  WORSE is the trail of the pesky 8-1 leader I show.  He managed to stay concealed when jumped by CC, manage to survive the CC, broke when leaving the CC hex, routed, self rallied first chance, broken again leading a squad, routed to the wood building, rallied right away (I think), survived a 30 flat FT attack, picked up the PIAT the DM HS in his hex was carrying and picked off the other FT tank.  I tried a few more IFT shots to try and clear the last enemy defenses but they all came up bad and I conceded the game.  

I probably should have kept some guys on the tanks and did an end run off the map using the other squads to pin down the defenders.  At any rate I played poorly and Tycho played well.  A fun scenario that we manage to play in 90 minutes (not including setup time).

ASL scenario Race for the Meuse

 Under the "They can't all be winners" label will have to go Race for the Meuse.  The map is a work of art and the situation is interesting.  The German attack through the Ardennes in 1940 instead of the Bulge battle in 44.  The problem is the forces are too small in ASL terms to be interesting considering the map size.  Basically two platoons on each side facing off on a single campaign map.  Way too much ground to cover.

Tycho had the Germans and I had the defending Belgians.  Most of the forces for the entire first CG day are on the board, each of us had lost about 3 squads.  All of the Belgian units are Half Squads and many of the German ones are as well.  The Germans at the top got the worst of it, losing their leader early to a MTR shot (I think) while down below the Belgians got the worst of it overall.  This is turn 6 and the Germans had just broken the 10-2 Belgian leader and HS with him (with a lousy 6+2 shot no less) and the 10-2 has nowhere to rout I think.  

By this point we were both bored of it anyway and called it.  ASL was meant to handle slightly larger forces then a platoon vs a platoon in concrete buildings.  Or maybe just not our thing.

ASL scenario To Battle By Air 7

 The second of two small ASL scenarios played today.  This one took roughly 45 minutes to play through once setup was done.

The setup.  The Dutch have to have a single MMC (not DM) with LOS to the circled hex within 2 hexes as well.  It does not have to be Good Order, simply unbroken (so in CC or pinned is fine).

The different color lines roughly show how far the Dutch moved each turn.  The Germans DRs were crap for the most part with the exception causing a big Dutch sniper to DM a squad in the spot were the sniper currently is.  Top it off with a CC going to the Dutch on turn 3 leaving a Dutch squad in position to fire on the bridge bound German reinforcements and the game is over.  This one I might play again someday since it has the Dutch setting up in a defensive spot with reinforcements coming on then German reinforcements coming on.  I'm guessing that even without bad dice it is pro Dutch.

ASL Scenario Race for the Meuse 1

The first of two ASL games played via VASL today.  Once setup was done this only took an hour to play.

To win the Germans have to exit more VP off the left edge by the end of game turn six than the Belgians.  The two big stacks (in the middle and at the bottom) are dummies.

The German motorcycles come roaring on, into deadly fire for the scouts who are killed with K results.  The Belgians (me) press their luck with FPF and and earlier sustained fire.  Breaking the squad and the MMG.  The picture here is the end of German turn three of a six turn game.  A 9-1 German leader at the top was attacked with a big sniper leaving nobody to rally the broken Germans.  To make it worse their attacks on the 2 half squads in a small wooden building did squat for 3 turns.  In the main part of town Belgians gacked another MMG but the Germans were down to 2 Good Order squads versus 3.5 Belgian Good Order squads.  So game one of the day goes to the Belgians.  

Hard to say if this one is balanced.  The sniper killing the prime German leader early in such a small scenario is one of those things that make or break something this large.  Not on my list to play a second time though.

PHD Game 3 TM 2

Reusing the picture from the end of the first TM.  This is third (and final) playing of this campaign.  The first two ended up as one US blowout and one German blowout.  This one ended pretty much where this first TM ended.  The US managed to get three squads across the bridge when a gap appeared in their smoke screen (two OBA modules being used to create smoke and WP to cover the bridge).  The German OBA was accurately placed in the gap between the Bridge and The building to the left when just about anywhere else would have been out of LOS (I think, would have to review - the WP might not have been enough to block LOS).  The Germans then placed a Harrasing OBA so the entire route to the bridge and the bridge itself (and one hex beyond onto the German side of the draw) was covered by the OBA.  Excellent OBA rolls and lousy MC rolls broke all the US troops on the German side of the draw and most of those in the OBA pattern on the US side including those in the stone buildings.  With that the campaign game was called as a German win.  If playing as the US don't go through the draw, take the gap around to the left instead. 

PHD Game 3 end of TM1

A boring update.  Tycho and I started up our 3rd run of Purple Heart Draw by Lone Canuck Publishing.  The US made a push through the town for the bridge over the draw.  An early game end kept them from taking all of the bank on that side of the draw but they came very close.  Losses are on the right and amounted to a single US squad and two German squads and a busted gun.

ASL Scenario by Lone Canuk. To Battle By Air 8: Weakest Link

After having to miss last year Tycho and I started off the New Year and New Decade (I hope it will be known as the snoring twenties) right!  With a game of ASL of course.

We picked Lone Canuk's To Battle by Air 8.  Featuring US Paras vs SS in Normandy.  I took the US and Tycho the Germans.  The Germans have 6 turns to get 19 exit VP off the top of the map OR has to control the four stone buildings.

The VC buildings are circled.  German forces enter turn 1, US tanks on Turn 4.  In the middle of the board is my squad with the bazooka.  The Germans stopped two hexes away and sent the infantry in on turn 2.  The German squad broke and ran but the Baz shot missed leaving me with no ranged AT capability till turn 4.  The Germans would have to get more then the 3 stugs off the board to win though so driving through was not an option.

End of game.  Not quite down to the last shot and last MC but darn close.  I thought for sure I had lost when my Sherman broke it's MA Intesive Firing on the Stug (that burning marker top left is my Sherman - the other one parked in a bad spot and was taken out by defensive fire).  First the Germans would have needed to use ESB to get the one Stug off the board, he rolled an 8 which was just enough to Immobilize it.  This left 21 exit VP possible.  A squad and leader go across the street and the US MMG and squad fire.  The roll a 9 -1 after the mods so an NMC.  The 9-2 leader fails it.  With that the game is over since that only leaves a maximum of 18VP that could make it off the board.  

This was a fun quick playing scenario (we completed it in just over 2 hours).  the US have to spread out to keep the Germans from doing a quick drive off the board and only have a single Bazooka till the tanks show up.  The Germans have to hustle to make it off the board so can't duke it out with the US forces for more then a turn or 2.

ASL: Purple Heart Draw

Played this scenario on January 27th.  We had played it last year and the US player called it after the second Tactical Mission (out of five possible) when they were stopped cold from crossing the Draw in the middle of the map.

The setup at the start of the game.  The US forces come on at the top of the map and by the end of the fifth tactical mission have to gain control of all the intersections of the road at the bottom of the map.  The dark green color stream in the middle of the map is the Draw, a level below the terrain around it and with a stream or gully so really 2 levels below.  My plan for the first TM was to hurt the US a bit and fall back if they hit on my left flank, which they did.

End of US turn 1, not a whole lot of action, they move up and both sides take a couple shots with no appreciable effects. 

End of German turn 1.  A US squad was broken and a German squad as well, probably should have fallen back after this but I did not.  The troops off to the right start moving in to shore up the left flank however.

End of US turn 2.  The exchange of fire was pretty much a wash, the shrek (foxhole counter in middle) just missed a Sherman and other fire from both sides was ineffective.  The US then advanced to their current locations - winning the one CC with an Ambush.

I had a choice to fall back down the hill and out of site or fire and I choose fire.

The end result was a Pinned US squad and a single broken US squad AND a big hole in my line when return fire breaks my left flank units.  The US can poor through the hole now.

End of US turn 3 and the breakthrough begins.  On the plus side for my Germans is a US squad was beaten in CC by a half squad and a leader but the leader ended up wounded (I forget exactly how, I think it was from PB shooting).  The Shrek guy had another shot at the Sherman and just missed again.  Those big stacks are half dummies so the German line is in worse shape than it looks too.

End of German turn 3.  Shuffled guys along to try and form a line of defense.  Left flank is still wide open.  All the shooting once again comes to naught.

End of US turn 4.  The German forces north of the Draw are now cutoff.  And an attack with a 20+ firepower rolled boxcars for NE and breaking the MMG... 

End of German turn 4.  The blue arrows show the path the US forces would take next turn.  This puts them a good halfway across the map by the end of the first Tactical Mission AND the Germans could only reinforce the area with 4 squads and a couple of MGs while the US could put 9 squads and MGs into the same area.  So the second Tactical Mission would have been a blowout.

So there you have it, how to lose a five session Campaign Game in one session.  Setup badly, roll poorly, make some bad decisions, and voila!  This does put the campaign game at one US blowout and one German blowout for us.  So perfectly balanced so far.  We plan to give it another try in a month or so.