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...

ASL Scenario FT60: Bloody Brothers

Played this two weeks ago With Tycho.  I was the Partisans and I STUNK!  BAD!

Notes - don't charge into the open with Partisans, they will never rally.

I had to take two of the circles buildings to win and thought I would try a bum rush.  Bad idea.

The American Civil War (From Strategy and Tactics 310)

Played the American Civil War today.  Or rather Lawrence and I POURED over the deceptively short but frustrating rules to the game...

The setup for the game.  The bottom of the picture is the North.  The blue counter near the bottom left is Washington DC.  Florida is at the top left.

At the end of 5(!) hours we completed game turn 1 and the first activation of game turn 2.  While trying to figure out how naval invasion worked we saw a line covering the bridge to DC...

I really really wanted to find a good one map game on the Civil War that was hex based.  This game might be it but it has issues.  First up is the map itself.  It looks fine, really nice actually but there are usability problems.  First off Kentucky should be outlined more prominently since violating Kentucky neutrality is a big deal and the state border lines really blend in to the background.  Second is the Resource spaces, it would be much more useful to have them labelled in some way on the map instead of a handout.  The first thing we did was put colored stickers on each reinforcement grouping to show where the different ones were.  That alone (and finding the listing) took us an hour.  Second up was the very first activation - which was to cross the bridge and attack Washington.  Fine, but we did not see any rule saying how to handle it.  Since the Bridge blocked ZOC it was possible for the CSA (who won initiative) to gather forces and march right in.  So our next rules dive was looking for something to say that was not right.  We looked and looked and looked but found nothing so the attack goes in and whammo DC is taken first thing.  We played out some more of the game, the reaction and costs for entering/exiting ZOC are kinda interesting and add good flavor.  Finally we get to turn two when the US can do a naval invasion (having Naval Transport Builds available).  We read the rules for a naval assault and THERE is the rule that states attacking across a bridge is treated as an amphibious assault!  Is my opponent and I the only ones who would not even dream of thinking to look at the amphibious assault rules to cover how a bridge is handled?  Between that and figuring out the US had two more reinforcement points to bring on the first turn (and that I freely admit was my reading the rules wrong - not any kind of complaint) we called the game a learning game and stopped play.

There really is some interesting bits to this game but the flaws made it a frustrating experience.  Things I think would have REALLY helped.
1 - Bridges being an Amphibious assault should be noted on the TEC.

2 - ANY time division is done how to handle fractions should be explicitly stated.  As an example, the US losses each turn are replaced at a ratio of 1 replacement per three losses.  It is not stated how fractions are handled so I assume they were ignored.

3 - Kentucky needs to be outlines more boldly.

4 - CSA resource groups need to be shown graphically, not just the resource symbol.

5 - EXAMPLES (D*mn it).  The combat system could really use a worked example.