ASL scenario AP73 Happy Valley

I finished the month of January off with a game of ASL on Saturday the 31st.  A fitting way to end the month since I played ASL on the first as well!

I was the lucky Americans and Ken Dunn played the Germans and Italians.  LOTS of pics with this report!

Game Setup 

The Germans enter from the North and US reinforcements will enter from the South (Left and Right of map respectively)

J4 Shocks K1 with Defensive Fire.

Sniper Stuns HT in D3!

K1 is destroyed with an IF followup shot and Q6 (top left) is turned into a blazing wreck.

End of Axis Turn 1

Nothing else of note this turn other than the Malfed MA on the Stuart at the bottom of the map.

C8 Kills J4

C8 (prep fire marked) killed the Panzer in J4 (bottom of map)

Stuart at bottom left Killed by Panzer in N7

End of Allied Turn 1

End of Axis Turn 2

Most notable item from this turn is the CX guy in E7 (bottom of map).  He will deserve an Iron Cross soon.

J4 (Stuart on Top Hill) Immobs Panzer in K9 (just Below the blaze marker)

And then Kills it with IF!.

Ken mentioned I took more IF shots than he has ever seen before.  I got away with almost all of them (maybe all,I might have malfed once with them out of many times that I did it.)

End of Allied Turn 2

Nothing else really of note other than seeing all the shots that were taken at Iron Cross guy...  (No effect with any of them) and that J4 (Stuart on Hill kills and burns the HT in N7)

End of Axis Turn 3

Items of Note are Iron Cross guy got into CC with the HT it was two hexes away from (said HT malfed its MA on a regular shot) and burned it in CC.  The J4 Stuart did a lot of damage to the German squads coming after it but was engaged in CC and only managed to turn the attacker into a half squad.   

J4 Dies!  He fired AAMG at the HS and only managed to break it so he could not fire his MA outside the hex.  He then fell to Defensive fire from the Panzers.

The German FB starts an attack run!  (no bombs on this one - just MG)

I did not shoot at it and it manages to DM the Mortar Crew and a squad in the building)

End of Allied Turn 3

The Germans in the building in G1 (near map seem) break and the US guys fall back to rally.

German Leader goes Berzerk taking his squad with MG with him...  (G8)

US MG team in D1 fires at them again in D9 causing the leader to die.

P11 (squad in building in back) unconceals and fires at the zerk squad in C10 finishing it off.  This guts the German forces in the middle and bottom of the map.

C1 Tank fires at E10 and Rolls SNAKES!  Wahoo!
Then he rolls boxcars...

A second shot (still got rate on that last shot!) Immobs the Panzer.

C3 fires at E2 and kills him.  (C3 is the Stuart with the First Fire maker)

End of Axis Turn 4.

Notable items is the Axis Squad fired at the Gun in P7 (bottom of map) and caused them to route.  They then get in the hex with the gun and don't find it next turn...  Another German Squad got into hex D3 and killed the HT there (the one previously stunned by a sniper).

End of Game.

The Allied Prep Fire finished off the majority of the German armor and the game was called.

P14 killed the panzer in D5 (top of map)

C3 killed the panzer in F4 (next one down)

P14 also IF fired at the C6 (bottom of the map) and rolled snakes for a critical hit and killed him.

This left the Germans with one fully operational panzer (bottom of map), one immobilized (center) and 2 armored cars (top).  The US had 3 tanks and a 75* armed HT left - and the prep fire phase was not complete yet).  

Since the VC were the Axis had to take ALL the buildings in the area outlined in red and had 3 turns left to accomplish the task it was over barring extreme good luck.  The Stuka with 200lb bombs did not get to make an attack run (big relief for the US player!).

From the US side it was a fun scenario - there is a LOT of hindrance hexes on the map making almost every shot get some kind of hindrance penalty which helps the attackers a bit but the lucky my tanks had (Stuart on the hill got 4 tanks and then the last turn bloodletting) made up for that, not to mention the MG leader going berserk in terrible terrain (one of the few spots with open ground...).

Played Flying Colors, Minorca scenario. Admiral Byng is now a hero of the Realm!

Got together with Lawrence for a Game of "Flying Colors".  First thing we noted was that there were a LOT of changes between his version and mine, his being newer we used what his said.  (In actual rules it was pretty much the same but the combat results table is totally different).  The game itself took us 5 hours to setup and play 4 turns, this was with learning the rules included, by the end we were going through the phases pretty quickly but with 25 ships in play it takes a good bit to get through each turn.

End of Turn 1

The British had the initiative and forced the French to activate first.  The French turned toward the British line, we would find out that this was a mistake!  A few British ships fire trying to get a rake when possible but this requires a 4 or less and range is added to the role.  There might have been minor damage inflicted but I don't remember.

End of Turn 2

The French win initiative and force the British to activate first.  The British maneuvered so that they could fire off a broadside from port and starboard this turn.  More damage this turn but both sides are still in good shape.

Turn 3 Maneuvers

 Turn 3 and the British get the Initiative which ends up being Decisive.  The Lines show the movement paths that five of the British ships took - granting them each a Bow and Stern rake on two enemy ships.  I think the British player made every rake roll...

End of Turn 3

 The results were total carnage for the French fleet.  One ship sunk outright from the rakes (from minimal damage to sunk in one turn) and three others were severely damaged (flipped to their less effective side).   Two French ships went to take on the British ships at the top of the map (red) and ended up doing little damage but the British ship managed to finish off another one of the French ships...

End of Game

On turn 4 the French get the Initiative and try to rake another British vessel.  The rake succeeded but the damage is minimal.  The British then take their first activation and rake a French Commander's ship - sinking it!  At this point it was getting late so we called it a win for the British.  Three French ships sunk and all British ships still on their effective side - though they a couple were nearly ready to flip to their damaged side and two of them were 2 hits away from being dismasted.

The French mistake at the start of the game was the decisive one.  The French have a bonus for shooting at the rigging while the British have a bonus shooting at the hull.  At range this would have worked to the French advantage (and those rakes would have been impossible).  When the range closed the hull results became much more deadly.

At the start of the game I thought it was kinda dull (not this game, just age of sail in general) since there was a lot of rolling without a lot of decision making.  Boy was I wrong!  We will be giving the game another try sometime, but with so many games and so little time...

Finally a comment on the game itself.  If you are looking to do fleet actions than this is the game to get.  Individual ship handling is abstracted somewhat (all ships go the same speed based on the wind for example) to allow you to focus on commanding a squadron.  The most important decision is how to maneuver to fire while still staying in command the next turn.  That said there are rules for smaller numbers of ships that can be used.  The game plays quickly once you know the sequence of play and I would recommend using the optional rules - one of which is being able to defensive fire any time the active player uses a movement point rather than only being able to defensive fire when the active player fires.  That would have made a big difference in the turn 3 rake the British pulled off since the French would have been able to fire while the British were closing.

GHQ vs H&R size comparison pics.

A few size comparison pics between GHQ and H&R.

The infantry are harder to tell from the picture but the GHQ figs are roughly a head taller then the H&R.  The Shermans are Israeli Ishermans with the 105mm guns (Shermans and 105mm - Gotta love it!)

The scale difference between GHQ and H&R T80s are more pronounced but I did not have them available for a picture.

More Painted and based miniatures

Finished painting up and basing more 15mm troops yesterday.  Various tanks for Western Europe and Japanese for the Pacific.

Tanks and 6lber AT Guns

3 M10 Tank Destroyers
3 SU-85
5 PZIV H/J
5 Cromwell
6 6lber AT guns (4 deployed, 2 ready for towing)

Japanese

25 squad stands for Fireball Forward (75 troops)  good for IABSM and CoC too.
25 single mounted troops
5 LMG stands (10 troops total)
32 Command/Forward Observer/Flag Carriers
15 Single based LMG troops
(also in the back or the 6lber AT Guns with some crew figs added)

Close Up

Command Stand close up

Single Mounted LMG close up

Afrika2 Game Wrap up. AKA Rommel Triumphant!

Lawrence (the Triumphant Fox) and I (the rat deserting the sinking ship of the desert) finished our ongoing game of Afrika 2 on Saturday.  I'll add the appropriate whining after each photo...

End of Turn 19 Axis

Rommel Consolidates his forces after the earlier battles.  As things are he can claim a victory by holding what he has.

End of Turn 19 Allies

O'Connor rolls for reinforcements and gets a 5...  No replacements this turn.  The Allies hold position at Mursa Matruh to await next turn's reinforcements.

End of Turn 20 Axis

 The Axis further consolidate and re-arrange for the expected Allied attack.

End of Turn 20 Allies

A single allied replacement goes to rebuilding the LRDG.  Allies hold position again - moving out would allow the Axis to chop them up and return back to their supply.

End of Turn 21 Axis

More waiting for the Allies and dealing with the pesky LRDG supply bump (off to the mountains stage right)

End of Turn 21 Allies

 The Allies move O'Connor and exploit capable units with him up so that they can exploit attack the forces in Halfya Pass next turn.

End of Turn 22 Axis

 The Axis sit and wait.  (these game turns went by quickly - the only thing that took time was dealing with the LRDG and moving supply for the Germans - allied supply was easy since there was a ton of it in Mersa Matruh)

End of Turn 22 Allies

 Once again there are no replacements (another roll of 4 or 5) but O'Connor attacks!  And is bloodily repulsed!  The Exploit attack ended up on the 2-1 chart and I rolled a 2 so the Allies took 2 losses to no Axis losses.  A follow up attack in the combat phase ended up in a 1 to 1 loss.  O'Connor routs back behind the Mersa Matruh line in the exploit phase.  Without massively good replacement rolls or better then average combat at this point I figure the Allies have no chance.

End of Turn 23 Axis

 The Axis re-arrange and prepare for the next attack they know will come.

End of Turn 23 Allies

  Another batch of reinforcements (but no replacements yet again though I think the LRDG was rebuilt again this turn - so the replacements roll was a 6) but O'Connor is running out of time and attacks again, and is repulsed again (average attack roll being a 5 or 6 with a single 7 for an exchange).  The Allies REALLY needed to cause a retreat - the LRDG was positioned to cause step losses from retreating through ZOC at the time of the combats.  All the Allies can do now is hope the expected Axis counter attack fizzles.

End of Turn 24 Axis (and End of Game)

No such luck.  The Axis get nice odds in the attacks (the Allies using up their air power in their turn to try and force some kind of result).  The German 3-3-12 moved to where it would force any retreats to be through a ZOC.  Then an exploit attack was made on the stack with the 8-4-8 on top.  I can't remember if that went well, I think it was an exchange.  During regular combat though the stack was attacked and this time destroyed save that 4-2-8 by being forced to retreat through the enemy zoc.  The advance after combat allowed the units now in 49-19 to attack the stack in 48.18 and the Axis rolled a 12...  Combined with an exchange result on O'Connor's stack sealed the fate of the Desert Rats.

My replacement roll for turn 24 was a 9 (3 steps!) but it would not be enough to take back Bardia for a draw much less get me near Tobruk for a victory so I conceeded the game.

Post game whining / analysis.

1:  (the whine).  With an average roll of 7 the allies would get 2 replacement points each turn for a total of 48 replacements on average.  Granted that is not how averages work but it is a good benchmark.  I remember rolling a single 9 and about 5 sixes for a total of 8 replacements BUT I rolled the 4-5 result twice early in the game which is 8 replacements removed and then I rolled the 2-3 result 3 times for 6 more removed.  So instead of an average 48 replacement steps during the game I had a total of -6 replacements throughout the game.  Churchill had a lot of fires to put out elsewhere I suppose.

2: Supply is a pain the butt for the Germans but all it really does is force them to not go past Bardia - since supply is used just by existing there is no way to stockpile it by curtailing operations either.

3: Compared to the original things in the macro sense play much better, the Germans can no longer race from Bardia to an un-guarded Alexandria and win the game as long as the Allies stopped up the highway.  On the micro sense something seems lost.  As the Allies there was nothing I could do (save running away) to keep the Germans from getting in the rear and cutting off route paths - even having units in the hexes to be retreated through does not stop losses due to ZOCs.  While the Germans can't go too far past a port or be out of supply.  Between this and the Axis winning by holding Bardia the game ends up a battle between Bardia and Mersa Matruh - which is not very historical, there should be some imperative for the Axis to take Alexandria (not to win, but perhaps needing to get close once a year or lose).  That would be a different game though.

4: Exploit capable units.  The Axis get a lot of them and they are faster then the Allied ones.  The ability to attack three times a turn versus once for many Allied units is a major force multiplier.  Couple that with the high movement factors allowing route paths to be cut and it is a triple threat.  If the exploit and combat phases go badly the high speed unit zips back to where it started and is still in supply (never having entered a ZOC).  If they go well it can most likely be in supply right where it is.  The Allies can not stop this be forming a line - each hex of it could be exploit attack individually and there would be no column shifts for spread out units.

5: The Italians, they get no respect - they are slower than even the Allied units and eat up lots of supply.  They are very handy in defense though.