ASL 139: The Weigh In

 Played this one today up to turn 3.  Germans were cautious moving into position.  Three turns done.

ASL 138: Battle of Sabers (finish)

 Finished this one up (started on January 28).  MUCH more fun in the last two turns.

Turn 6 was fairly standard except for the fact that Heavy Rain started.  Shots were doing mostly nothing.  Only a single HS was broken and ran (Polish guy at the bottom)

Overview of turn 7.  Germans at the top probably should have tried to get into CC with a couple of the Poles but that would have required moving in the open (even with the rain that would be risky) and the Poles could break and run from CC...

Down to the wire.  The Germans (with the help and hindrance of the rain) manage to get three stacks into CC.  The 9-2 and squad with it were attacked in C9 and B8 and bad rolls meant no damage.  Return fire pinned the squad shooting at them.  In CC they got it down to a HS.  The 548 killed the squad it jumped into CC with.  The LMG toting squads (D6) managed to get ambush by the ATR toting Pole and the Poles decided to run away.  If the final CC phase (Polish) goes as expected the final Tally would be +7cvp for the Germans and they lose by 1.  I concede the game at this point since the Poles will not move into combat range otherwise.  A great ending to an otherwise kinda boring game.

Already have ASL 139 setup for next week.  LOTS of tanks versus lots of guns and a couple of tanks for the defenders.

ASL 138: Battle of Sabers

 Have to admit.  This one was pretty boring up till the end of this game day, it was much more fun when we finished it up in February.  This part consisted of the Poles retreating and the Germans advancing.  Perhaps I should have pushed more and risked more defensive fire shots.  The cavalry aspect played almost no part in this game, the woods kept them from moving fast and charging was not really an option.

The setup.  A squad or two of Poles are setup HIP (they have the option to come on from the West instead).  Germans have to get 12CVP off the West edge or get 8 CVP higher then the Poles at game end.

End of German turn 1.  Lost a half squad but so will the Poles.

End of Polish turn 1.  The backpedaling starts...

End of German turn 2.  The other Polish HIPster was found and dealt with (bottom).  In the next turn the Germans would finish it off for the CVP.

End of Polish turn 5.  Two turns left to go.  Very little shooting so far and mostly ineffective.  Rain started somewhere around turn 3 or 4.

Fireball Forward: The Crossroads. From Panzer Lehr at Saint Lo

Reffed this one with a new friend and my son.  Jeff (new guy) took the US and Jordan (My son) took the Germans.  A six turn fight over a crossroads in Normandy.

The Germans enter from the bottom and the US setup behind the line.  I made a mistake and the US roll of a 1 on the setup only allowed a single unit to setup south of the topmost hedgerow.  It would make a big difference.  Also forgetting that moving off a road required a bog check.

The Germans throw in the towel on turn 3.  The first US shot at a PZIV is a crit and kills the tank.  The unit morale makes the survivor run off the board.  The next shot is another crit and kills another German tank.  The remaining German tank managed to kill that Sherman (the exchange of shots shown) but then failed it's unit morale check for having lost a tank.  The US passed their check so at this point the Germans were down 4 tanks (one broken tank left) while the US were down a single tank with 9 left.  Points wise it was over.  If the hits had not been crits or if they had missed it may have ended differently but the odds are with the US in this one.  It also does not help that the stats on the PZIV are different between the 2nd edition rules, this module, and the latest unit charts.  The latest unit charts probably would have given the PZIV an edge since they had more armor and might have stopped another hit.  The M4s also had another point of armor too though.

ASL 262: Showdown at Tug Argan Pass. conclusion

 Finished up this scenario today  (another New Years Day game!  Woohoo!).

The Axis through in the towel after 5.5 turns.  Though I think they still had a decent chance to win it had to be no fun at all.  They have to take beating after beating after beating to get up on the hill.  When his FT tank immobolized I think all the fun was drained out of it.  For the Commonwealth it is basically a game of sitting tight and spread out to keep the Italian 100+mm arty from smashing them flat OR getting smoked out and not being able to punish the Italians on the way up to the hill.

Image from the end of the game.  The only notable item I could remember was an ATR immoblizing the FT tank.  The Italian arty did not help much either, he drew a bunch of red chits (using the red chit goes back in plus one rule or otherwise the Italian arty would have done nothing) so it did not land often.  The Italians did start causing MCs on the Commonwealth troops the last turn and the UK could not pass one to save his life.  Other turns they did not seem to fail any so it evened out.

ASL 262: Showdown at Tug Argan Pass

 Finally got back to ASL, first game since September!  It is my first foray into the desert in a long time as well.  OK for a change of pace but not a theater I'm really fond of.

The setup.  The Italians have to take the circled locations in 9 turns.  The Italians get 100mm OBA and the Brits get an 80mm battery.

First Toe Stub goes to the Commonwealth - a 51mm mtr immobolized an Italian tank and the crew bailed.

Start of Commonwealth turn 4.  The game is still up in the air.  Italian arty was sparse (drawing a bunch of Red chits - using Pleva rule so 2 reds do not end the Arty but go back in the cup) while the UK arty basically stopped the center Italian group cold (no black chit but lost radio contact once).  Next game day is New Years day where we should be able to finish this one up.

Fireball Forward: Operation Crusader scenario 1

 Played the Counter Recon Encounter scenario from the Operation Crusader scenario book with my son today.  It was partly a test of using Tabletop Simulator to play Fireball Forward.  The test worked great.  Hidden units work as well as measuring and dice rolls.  Going to start playing it more and hope to get more involved in it as well.

The Brits won this one handily due to very effective Arty (Germans had to spread out more!).  I will be giving it another go sometime but there are many other scenarios to try first.