ASL scenario J41: On Our Own

Robert Zinselmeyer and I played ASL scenario Journal 41: On Our Own back in July (yup, I'm behind on the logs again, shocking!).  Fun all infantry scenario.  The Norwegians have to take 16 building locations on board 22 while sustaining less then 10 CVP.

Situation at start, board 22 is the lower one.  German reinforcements enter on turn 3. 

Only damage done on first half of turn 1 is Defending German MG squad on left is broken.  Not looking good for the Wehrmacht!  If the Norwegians blast a hole in the line this quickly they can force the Germans to counter attack in order to win.

End of Allied turn 1.  We both forgot that German MMGs are rout portable, no harm since the Leader did not manage to find it although I most likely would have broke and routed him too in that case (he was pinned).

End of German turn 2.  The dice are swinging to German favor this half of the turn by putting a hurting on the Norwegian kill stack.  The German MTR in the center is saved by the fire from himself and the squad to the right - they manage to pin and DM two adjacent units.  The German MMG squad rallied and retook their position in the line as well.

End of Allied turn 2.  Not a whole lot happened.  Steady push up to attack.

The Allies manage to break the MMG nest to the left again.  Blowing a hole in the German line

The Allies pour through the left edge and the middle - the German LMG between them holding on valiantly for dear life...

German turn 3 reinforcements start to arrive.  A lucky roll by the Norwegian HS might have spelled big trouble but the LOS is blocked and the resulting Little Sniper wounds the Norwegian 9-2 leader.

End of German turn 3.  Other reinforcements enter without being shot at and take up positions and everyone advances into position.  The LMG squad in the center fell back to the building. 

End of Allied turn 4.  Norwegians still pushing for the VC buildings.  In the center the LMG squad eliminates a Norwegian squad for FTR when it is broken by fire from the 9-1 stack.  On the right the German MTR HS is taken out by ambush.

End of German turn 4, a 467 fires on a broken HS rolling snakes - killing the HS.  Every CVP counts.  In the middle the LMG squad falls back again while the 9-1 stack loses one squad to fire from the left.

The Germans cause the 10th CVP on the Norwegians and it is all wrapped up.  The CVP cap make this a tough one for the Norwegians.

A fun scenario easily played in one sitting.  Not sure of the balance though both sides had lucky and unlucky times - the LMG in the center caused a major headache for the Norwegians having broken his kill stack up and then holding on till the end of the game.  I'd happily play it again as either side.

ASL 86: Fighting Back

Early war scenario showing the Pols counterattacking the Germans.  I played poorly and had some lousy luck.  But mostly I played poorly and gave up too soon.

Game setup, Poles have to take the buildings marked with a V to win.  Reinforcements enter on the left side where the line is on turn 4.

First turn charge onto the board.  I wasted the tanks moving them forward to quickly.

End of game on turn 4, again moving the tanks too quickly down below - losing all of them to a German AT gun.  Over half the game left and I threw in the towel.  WHINE!!!

Columbia Games East Front

Quick notes from a game of East Front by Columbia games.  Played this on June 10th.

June, 1941, Operation Barbarossa begins.

End of June, Not as much progress as I had hoped.  Probably should have started more battles than I had.  Well, it is a learning game.  We were fumbling through the rules a good bit - they are not complex but it was a first game.

Another picture of the end of the first turn.

End of July.

A solid front?  Something is not right...

End of August.

Russians pull back a bit - attacking river lines is a PITA!  A 1 or 2 repulses a unit and you can only get one unit across per hexside.  We did manage to surround some Russians this turn.

End of September, just before possible mud.

Russian line was shattered BUT checking the victory conditions the Germans are just barely getting by - and that due only to the extensive number of Russian units currently eliminated.  First count through I forgot to subtract 40 and it seemed like blowout.  It would really depend on the weather rolls for the next month, mud and it would be a long slog for the Germans, clear and it would very likely be game over for the Russians.

We are set to restart the game this coming Saturday.  We will see how are play progresses.

ASL 175: Hunters at Ylimaa

Played this one on June 3rd, just a little late with the writeup (perhaps I should make that my tag line).

Finns vs Germans in October of 44, Germans trying to delay the Finns from getting off board long enough for a win.

The setup, At to the top of the board is the Panzerfaust availability stacks, Fausts for Germans and ATR's for the Finn's fausts (since there is no Finn colored faust counter).  Finns come in on the right side and have to make it to the left between the dots in 8 turns).

And the first shot of the game!

I take this game too seriously...

Second shot of the game...  Finns returned fire and this is what happens to me...  Whine, bitch, moan...

End of Finnish turn one.

End of German turn 1.  The German arty does a number to the Finns but the Finnish sniper is on a rampage.

Just before Finn turn 2 route phase.  German Arty is doing some harm, at the bottom the fighting starts up.  I was hoping for a better result from the 8-1 shot when the Finns walked right up to my Concealed guy.

End of Finnish turn 2. 

End of German turn 2.  I don't think the Finnish fire did a thing this turn.

End of Finnish turn 3.  Captions sum it up, looked for a faust three times and nobody knew what they were.  (maybe four times).  So now I have guys in CC with a tank (and they couldn't find an AT mine for CC either!)

End of German turn 3.  A German squad finds TWO! Fausts and toasts two tanks with them.  For their heroism the Finns blast them good and manage to DM them.  Down below a German squad went Berserk and charged, managed to get into the hex with the Finns too.

End of Game, with the two destroyed tanks and the mud the Finns do not have enough time to get the required CVP off the left edge of the map.  The Germans never even revealed the two AT Guns. 

This scenario is kind of like a race to the edge, the Finns have overwhelming firepower but don't get a good chance to use it since they have to hustle, giving the Germans a good chance to cause casualties and slow them down.  Perhaps pinning the Germans with one group and swinging around with another might have worked, hard to say.

Panzer intro games

Played two rounds of Panzer.  First game was basic rules only while the second one we added in the advanced game combat results.

Setup for first game.  VC are for killing enemy units and taking the bridges and crossing point on the river.

End of first turn.  Russian made the mistake of splitting forces while the German made the mistake of only having one unit with LOS to an enemy platoon.

End of second turn.  German tank is destroyed by Russian platoon.  In the basic game the first his is damaged result and the second is a kill.  It could be an instant kill or brew up with a first hit but these opponents were too closely matched.

End of third turn.  An entire German platoon is firing at the Russian Platoon now - the other platoon was on overwatch with the assumption that the Russians would move up to the bridge, but the Russians stayed put and fired instead.

End of fourth turn.  Germans move forward (did not fire - can't move and then fire, can fire and then move).  In the exchange of fire both sides lose a vehicle or two.

End of fifth turn.  First Russian platoon is destroyed by Germans getting first shot.  Other Russians move into position last turn and open fire.

End of Sixth turn.  Russians move forward (blue arrow) and Germans OpFire on them.  The single Russian tank on the hill fires back.

End of eigth turn.  Russians move forward down the valley while other units exchange fire with Germans.

End of Final Turn.  All but Russian tank destroyed.  Part of this is the Germans won the initiative so got to fire first and only surviving Russians would be able to return fire - and there were none..  

That was the end of the first game so we cleared the board and started over.

Setup for second game.  Germans concentrate again while Russians split up again.

End of second turn (first turn was just movement).  Long range exchange of fire for Russians while Medium range for Germans.  Second German stack was not in LOS due to the Orchard since hexsides block LOS.

End of turn three.  More fire exchanged while second German stack moves forward.  Other Russians move to capture bridges.

End of turn four.  Fire exchanged and both sides take hits but Russians take more.

End of turn five.  Germans get initiative again and kill off Russians before Russians can return fire.  Other Russians take the midpoint crossing.  Can they hold it?

End of turn six.  One German group exchanges fire with a Russian at the crossing.  No hits on either side.

End of turn seven.  Exchange of fire, no hits.

End of turn 8.  Russian on the Bridge destroyed.

End of turn 9.  Front German group moves forward one hex to get in medium range while Russians are still at their long range.

End of game.  Germans get Initiative again and destroy the Russians before they can fire.

Overall a good game with the only problem being the standard fire sequence, winning the Initiative roll is THE most important thing in the game and it is nothing but a roll off.  An optional rule is rolling per a subsection of the force each time - what we will probably end up going with is allowing the winner to fire at ONE target, then the other player firing at one, etc...  This gives the winner the advantage without being overwhelming.  The game itself is easy to play but hard to read, combat moves along quickly and figuring things out is easy once you have done it once or twice.