ASL Journal 108: Danica Air

Played this ASL scenario with Tycho, I was the Partisans and Tycho the Croatians.  Partisans have to control 2 of 4 buildings AND control or destroy three of the Ammo Supply counters on the board.

The Croatians are defending an airfield, there are HIP units and fortifications in addition to what is seen.  The Black line is the board edge and the Partisans come on from three sides.

End of first Partisan turn.  Moving into position with no effective firing.

Opening shots of the game...  (that should say starts concealed)

Croatian Mortar goes on a rate tear with a CH to start of the festivities.  HEY, I didn't need to stack in order to create a Partisan firegroup - where did I get that idea in my head from?

End of first Croatian turn.  The Partisan MG stack (2MMGs under the 9-1) make short work of that offensive Croatian MTR.  Perhaps VASL doesn't have it in for me today after all.

Partisan turn 2 Prep Fire, no I can not whine about the VASL dice roller this game.  The MMG and MTR stacks make short work of the visible (ominous music time!) Croatian defenses on the Right side of the board.

Partisan Movement turn 2 part 1.  A 247 pops up and rolls boxcars on a 4-2 shot...

You lucky Bastards!  (my lucky bastards that is)

Picture caption says it all.  My leader and squad are toast if I have to rout (no quarter is in effect) with that Croation Half Squad there still...

And a second boxcars from that Half Squad seals their fate...

End of Partisan turn 2.  Croatian right flank in serious trouble with no Visible defenders (Ominous music) left and the Partisan MG stack keeping them from reinforcing.

End of Croatian turn 2.  Down at the bottom the squad he had send to grab my unitless LMGs got Dmd by MY MTR.  Those things are on a roll today.

End of Partisan turn 3.  Another HS pops up and takes a 1-2 shot, no luck there either.  A squad with an MMG is in that bunker too but they could not see out to shoot at my squad that entered their hex.  CC ended up with neither one getting hurt.

Croatian turn 3 ends up a disaster for them.  A shot from the Croatian 9-1 leader and MMG results in said leader getting killed and the squads with him DM...

At the end of the Croatian turn the Partisan Squad in the hex with the Bunker manage to kill off the Bunker squad while being Casualty Reduced in return.  At this point the Croatian player called it.  He had suffered a bad run of luck in this one.  Two critical rolls from the right side HS resulting in an NE when firing and then boxcars on the MC allowing his targets to rout.  Finally that big Sniper whacking his kill stack.

After months of losing I break out the Champagne (or in my case Diet Doctor Pepper) and celebrate.  After that early MTR rof tear I thought for sure it was game over but even with some sloppy (but aggressive) play the dice just rolled in my favor.  Maybe I like this game after all...

ASL scenario Pegasus Bridge 02

Started playing this one with Bob Z on February 23rd and finished it up by email on March 7th.  It was the second in our night game scenarios, the third was Classic H "Escape for Velikye Luki" which we just played on Friday.  In this one the Germans have to have a Good Order MMC within 3 hexes of the bridge at game end OR keep the UK from having a Good Order MMC within 3 hexes of the bridge at the end of any Game Turn.  UK are defenders but do not start with No Move markers while the Germans are NOT scenario attackers so do not start cloaked.

The map for the scenario, all that was really needed was the little town down to the bridge.  All of the actual game fighting took place within a 6 hex by 6 hex area.

End of German turn 1.  the tanks move out to Freeze Sleaze the UK, moving and Small Target cause the PIAT to miss when fired.  One UK squad got an Ambush and skulked away, the other one was killed in CC.  Just thought, the tank moved in during Movement, perhaps there should have been no Ambush roll.

End of UK turn 1.  Previously hidden guy with MG (bottom right) whacks a couple of squads and a UK stack moves up from the bridge to a building.  The German broken pile is mighty large and the UK line is a solid mass of troops.

End of German turn 2.  The 9-1 rallied all but a squad and a leader with him - and they were all DM to start.  A run of good rolls breaks the UK line just about everywhere (and some Freeze Sleaze).  The UK line went from solid to a giant gaping hole in one Player Turn.

The UK prep fire goes well except for the top right where the MC causes the broken 7-0 to BH to and 8-0 and the 10-2 leader sends his guys out to CC adjacent stacks.  As is typical for CC neither does any damage to either side which is bad news for the UK.  

End of German turn 3.  The UK squad at the top is still being a nuisance, giving worse then he gets.  The UK hero is taken out in CC - and he never managed to hit a tank with the PIAT.  Night LV, smoke, and target size always making JUST enough difference to getting a hit (missed by one a couple times).  The German 9-1 moved a couple squads next to the 10-2 lead attack on my tank and broke the UK squads.  9-1 and friends advance in and clean up the mess.  

End of UK turn 3.  The 9-1 blasts all the adjacent UK troops and the UK has no reserves left.

End of German turn 4.  UK troops were broken either by prep or already were broken.  9-1 moves in and they run away.  The other Melee that had been ongoing is finished when two more German squads move in and roll a 3 for CC.   The UK NEEDS a good rally phase to have a chance.

End of UK turn 4 and the game.  The UK does not get that good rally phase and concedes the game.  It ended up a slaughter for the UK but could easily have gone the other way, the lucky rally phase where the 9-1 rallied a platoon of DM squads and those squads blasting the UK line was very lucky.  A fun scenario and it makes me think more of playing the PB campaign game.  Yeah yeah, along with all the other ASL campaigns and scenarios I'm wanting to play...

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.

ASL scenari oDftB 120: Start Fall Gelb

Continuing on my losing streak this New Years Day...

Scenario is Dispatches from the Bunker 120.  The Germans have to clear the Belgians out of the lined off area on the map below.

Germans enter from the right and have 6 turns to clear out the Belgians from the lined off area.

End of game.  Things went very well the first 2 turns and then went sour.  The Belgian line managed to hold and push the Germans back a hex at one point.  The armor battle did not go as hoped either when the Belgians managed to move behind one tank and kill it after the tank missed twice.  Luckily the Belgian vehicles died when one got hit by an MMG and the other was taken out by the remaining German Tank.  Too little too late however and since the German tank was immobilized it could not interdict route paths or do a freeze sleaze...

ASL WO008: Silent Night Deadly Night.

Decided on trying a night scenario for the first time after 20+ years of ASL. Started this one on December 1st and only finished it up (lots of rules lookups) on February 2nd.

The Germans have to clear the nearby hill of US MMCs and then the winner is decided by who has the most MMCs in the buildings on the other board.  US units count double to the right of the road while Germans count double to the left.

The Germans made steady progress.  The HIP guy I had down at the bottom of the hill had to reveal himself when a German tried to rout there - otherwise the Germans were going to sweep past and he could have popped out and ran up the hill for a win - at this point I'll take any kind of win I could get...
Not to be however.  Very often the Starshells ended up in a terrible spot, keeping my units from seeing the enemy movement and the German sniper only struck once but that was all it took to put my MMG out of commission by taking out the leader in the hex.  On the last turn I had my two squads (just near the battle markers) charge the buildings - they had to get the Germans out in order to have any chance of winning and it was my last movement phase so just blasting them would not do - had to route them or capture them.  One squad made it through everything and managed to break the squad in the adjacent building - the other one did not but managed to make it into CC, and died for the effort.
A very fun scenario and a good intro to night rules.  We are going to another night scenario to try and make the rules stick a little better.  I still have trouble remembering parts of it - like straying and exactly when the night DRM applies or not.

ASL Scenario Berlin Red Vengeance 10: Mohnke Business

Played this scenario on November 18th and 25th with Tycho.  Oh the pain, the pain...

I first played a scenario from Red Vengeance back in the nineties when my FTF opponent (no VASL then!) had a copy.  When I saw Ritterkrieg had some in stock at a reasonable (great actually) price I had to get it - even though it had no counters and the rules and scenarios where photocopies, I play on VASL for the most part anyway.

 The scenario is the largest one in the pack other than the Campaign game.  The Russians are attacking across the Spree River to gain a foothold on the other side.  Perhaps trying to put the flag on the Reichstag or gaining terrain on the other side of the map.  I choose the second option.

Russian Forces on the left Germans spread around a bit not knowing what target the Russians would go after.  A couple Russian units on the right to harass any reinforcements sent from the German Right.

Prep Fire goes well enough, breaking some Germans but no Radio contact (need that smoke!) and the first shot from the OT-34 is an 11, no FT with that guy.

End of Russian Turn 1.  German defenses are shot up, one squad made it to the end of the bridge (under tank) but another is pinned and another 1 or 2 DM making the trip.

End of German turn 1.  They fall back - Russian Firepower is too strong to stay in the front line.

Russian movement phase.  OT-34 starts up and gets whacked by a Shreck...

Russians try to get a 447 across the bridge.  An IS2M made a breach in the barricade (special kind of roadblock) and the German kill stack makes its first roll of the game.

Wrong Army, not a bridge but...

End of Russian turn 2.  I advanced a bunch of squads across the bridge - maybe not a good idea.  That German ACQ is on a Berserk Russian squad.  We would mis-remember the rule for zerkers and send him after the nearest enemy in MF instead of hexes.  The Kill Stack had an Opp Fire marker on it - not sure why it did not fire at the Zerker, perhaps it did and I forgot to log it since nothing happened.  That would not be a common occurrence...

End of German turn 2.  (Here is where the Opp Fire maker went on, same comment as before).  There was no shot at the guys on the bridge, perhaps they would not have lived otherwise.

And the Kill Stack fires a second time...

And a third time (yup, looks similar but it was two different 447 squads trying to cross the bridge).

Besides the MG kill stack Tycho's luck was nothing to write home about.  First show with the Pantherturm is boxcars.  A Half Squad shooting a Faust managed to DM itself.

Here is where that oops with the Berserk squad comes in.  My T-34 moved to take on the other Pantherturm since the Zerker was in its hex.  The Kill Stack (with only the HMG and squad firing) managed to kill the Zerker that was unharmed till then.  I would not have moved the T34 in range if I knew the Turm would be free to fire next phase...  On the other hand an 88L AT gun fired and missed and no longer had LOS due to the wall.

Slightly before the Russian Advancing Fire Phase.  German player had to go due to family business.  Even with the three squads exterminated by the Kill Stack things are looking up, Russians are across the Bridge in some force and losses have been reasonably light considering.

On our next game day I forgot to turn on logging.  Here is a pretty good overview.

I had three stacks (granted, should NOT stack but,,,) attacked and the rolls are as listed.  At this point (turn 5) I threw in the towel.  Not exactly a rage quit, more like an exasperated quite.  Tycho deserves the win since he played well and I made some mistakes - but I don't think I'm exagerating when I say that I was diced too.

For all the shots on the critical Bridge hex that I had to cross all the attack rolls averaged out at 5 (12 rolls total).  Taking just the FIRST roll each time it was fired upon the average DR was 3.5.  Here is where taking just the Average DR does not help - the average would have been higher including other rolls besides these (kinda crappy really, two boxcars on Pantherturm shots for instance, out of 3 rolls total).  As I whined about before though, this was a spot I had to get past and I gambled on average luck...

Anyway, this is a great batch of scenarios and I'll be digging it up again (maybe even this exact scenario) to play again.  The ROAR has this one as 60/40 German favor so we played with the Russian balance of adding an extra turn - I don't think that balance is actually useful since time was not the enemy for the Russians, the extra turn can even be a hindrance since losses only count for the Russians and not the Germans in the VP calculations, Russians get VP for units Infantry across the Spree and holding specific objectives.

And the final whine...  Here are the DRs from the Kill Stack by turn or ROF tear.

1,2

1,2

1,2

2,2

1,4 -- 1,2 -- 6,2

1,1 -- 6,5

1,4 -- 6,2

So every time it had a target at the bridge (2mp to enter due to Roadblock) it got at least a 5 result and almost always a 2 or 3...

Whine Mode off.