ASl AP43: Escape from Encirclement

Played AP43: Escape from Encirclement on February 13 and am just getting round to writing it up (with this and the ASL111 writeup I have two done in a day however!)

The scenario uses three maps the long way around - but two of them are only half in use so the effect is two maps.  The Germans setup on the left and right leaving a gap in the middle board which the Russians have to exit 32VP off.

Here is the map setup in VASL - the UHD monitor I bought myself for Christmas came in real handy for this game!  The Red lines are where the map ends (could not get the cropping to work properly).  The sets of Blue lines at the top are where the Russians can enter (one set on the left and one on the right - for this game my opponent swarmed in on the left).

The Germans go first, giving them some time to prepare for the Russian onslaught. 

First Blood!  Russian Turn 1 and the 75* gun gets a kill. 

End of Russian Turn 1.  After the fun of an early kill things settle down into nothing special going on.

End of German turn 2, a couple pins and a squad jumps into CC with two enemy squads hoping for good luck - well he at least survived the encounter has a half squad and thus holding up the Russians during their next move.

End of Allied turn 2 and the HS in Melee is still alive.  The ATR pinged a shot off a tank, so did the MG nest.  Otherwise the Russians continue their advance.

End of German turn 3.  Hustle up Franz!  Battle is over there!  My 75* took a shot and broke a Russian leader, since he had rate I took another shot and broke the gun...  More ping, ping, ping, ricochet ATR action!  The Heroic (OK, Not a technical hero in ASL) succumbs to Russian CC rolls.

Russian Fire phase of Turn 3 and the lousy Russian MTR gets a crit on my MG position, that breaks the leader while a follow on shot breaks the crew too.  On the left a lone German squad plays havoc on the advancing Russians.

End of Russian Turn 3.  The MG outpost to the right was swarmed and the troops slaughtered by no quarter.  the middle of the board is a big open mess for my Germans now!

German turn 4, another one of those ASL moments where the game turns on a couple of DR.  The first is the ATR firing at the tank and scoring an Immob, no more points for moving that off the board.  The MG follows up by first Blasting the stack in BB3 (two Squads, an lmg, and a leader) and then proceeds to kill the other Russian tank.

Start of Russian turn 4, if the tanks had still been on the board and mobile things would be different but now the Cavalry have to get to the south (and more troops are needed to get the required 32VP off to boot).

Charge!  (Ooops, SSR states not charging on turn of entry, TROT!!!)

In a bad start to things the Immobed Russian tank Breaks its MA, the Russian Cavalry come onboard and Half of the break or die. 

At this point the game was called since the Russians did not have enough left on board to get the required exit VP.

Very interesting scenario, the Germans have to choose which side to defend and the Russians have to pre-designate where their units will enter and then rush off the board in 6 turns to win.


Next up, BFP-26 Armored Samurai.  (played it last week actually, and playing BFP 27 Chapei Chockblock on the 2nd)

ASL 111 Balkan Sideshow Finale

Tycho and I finished up our game of Balkan Sideshow (Nearly 2 months ago...) on February 6th.  I can safely say this scenario would be a stacking disaster if played on a real board.

Things at the top of Turn 6.  Allies hold the bridge still but the Hungarians have armor ready to stream on.

End of Allied Turn 6.  Not much different yet.

Hungarians storm the bridge, and 3 tanks are dead - the last one going up in flames!  (And thus hindering the heck out of the MG bunker sighted down the bridge)

The Hungarian Flamethrower leader, AKA Bringer of Death.  Strolls across the bridge and only suffers a ping.

He later fires onto the MG bunker and breaks/ELRs them into a quivering mass of jello.  To make it worse he strolls out into the open street and survives a 4-1 shot...  Plus the 8-1 leader can't take the MG from the Brokies who refuse to give it up.

And the stupid move that ends the game for me.  I put the 2 squads and leader in range of the FT (long range) and they squads break. 

On the ending half of the final player turn I played better but it was too late.  A zerker (only a half squad left here) locked my left flank in CC/Melee, the last squad upstairs broke trying to keep the enemy out of CC with him (FPF shots, made a couple but the enemy laughed off the Resid so he had to try and try again).  Finally the crew off to the right survived AFV assault but did was stuck in CC.  In order to win I had to have a good order MMC within the red lined area. 

A fun scenario but the stacking is incredible!  It compare to RB in that respect. 

The US Civil War turns 1 and 2

Lawrence and I played turns 1 and 2 of the US Civil War today, it took us roughly 4 hours to get through the two turns.  None of the game subsystems are complicated but being a strategic game it has a lot of moving parts to keep track of.

Situation at the start of the game.

End of Turn 1

In the TransMississippi the opponents danced around each other with no combat taking place.  In the West nothing of note happened either.  In the East the Confederates pushed the Federals back to one of the northern VP hexes but could not go further after getting only a tie for a couple of the fights.  McClellan earns himself a reputation in what will become West Virginia.  Meanwhile in Florida a Union invasion takes a northern Florida port space.

End of Turn 2 (despite the marker placement)

Situation in the East.  A confederate army of 7 strength should have been in position to take Harrisburg  but the Confederate commander made a mistake and did not try to retreat from a Federal advance against part of the army (two other SP were a hex away).  The result was a 2 strength point loss keeping any chance of making a 7+ strength army out of reach (at 7 strength a second general can add his values to the combat).  Meanwhile General Peterson heeds the cry of "On to Richmond!" and makes lunge with 3sp.  He beats the 1sp unit in Fredericksburg.  The now undemoralized force under Johnston moves next to Peterson to try and bring him to battle or intercept him if he makes another drive on Richmond.  The Federals win the next initiative roll and Peterson skedaddles back to DC.  Finally, in what will be West Virgina Longstreet holds the final resource space to keep the Feds at bay.

In the West and TransMississippi a battle is fought in the Trans which the Rebs win but are unable to followup.  So the Reb commander moves back to his base.  East of the Mississippi both sides wait for Kentucky to join the war before moving.

Both my opponent and I are pleased with the game so far, we are playing with the basic rules so amphibious assaults can only be done with a special action card hence the limited amount of amphibious combat.  DC is far easier to hold than in For the People and basically it would take a Federal mistake for it to fall *BUT* keeping it so well garrisoned that it is totally safe makes it hard for the US to keep up with the progress of war requirements.  At the end of turn 2 they are supposed to have a 4 VP lead but are only at 1 so far.

Looking forward to continuing the game in a few weeks.

First batch of painted minis for the New Year

Finished up these 6mm tanks, paper buildings, and paper bridges a couple days back.  Not going to be as much painting this year as last year but I hope there is more gaming with them!  The games I hope to play are FFT3, IABNM, IABSM, and Sabre Squadron (and heck, anything else that fits!)

The tally is

10 T54
10 JS3  (not sure I would ever need that many for WWII but just in case)
5 Bishop
5 Panther G

All of the above are GHQ

2 Paper Terrain buildings (with a damaged inner building)
2 Paper terrain bridges.  One with 3 ridges, one with 2

T54

Bishops and Panther Gs

Panther Gs

JS3s

Buildings

Bridges

Happy New Year! Otherwise known as ASL 111: Balkan Sideshow

I had a choice of watching this...

the annual New Years Day Mummers parade in Philadelphia.

INSTEAD, for the second year in a row (the start of a GREAT tradition!) Tycho and I played ASL with VASL.  This year's game was the first half of Scenario 111 Balkan Sideshow.  The scenario features Yugoslavians holding a bridge with 8 squads while a bunch more come on from the North edge quickly followed by Hungarians.  There are a LOT of Hungarians and they have lots of tanks, 7 of them to be precise.  Indeed, the first few turns makes the Yugoslavian player feel like the cat on the right...

Start of Game.  Pillboxes are hidden as is Wire and Mines on the bridge.  Hungarian player knows they have to be on the bridge though.

In a twist the defender moves first.  I move on the sacrificial lambs for the slaughter.  I have not figured a way to save them, the Hungarian armor VBM freeze sleezes them and it is all over...

End of Hungarian turn 1, the ACs hold three Yugoslavian squads in Melee.  Stacking was a bad idea too...

End of Yugoslavian turn 2, one squad broke but my leader and squad jumped on the AC and killed it, BAD idea.  Should have left them to their fate and run for the (away from the) hills.  Well perhaps to that spot on the far side with the woods but I digress.

End of Hungarian turn 2.  My AT gun opens fire (I thought this would keep Hungarians honest and extract some kills for his VBM sleeze).  It misses twice but gets ACQ.  As you can see, this game would have HUGE piles of counters if played on a real board.  Prisoners abound!  Captured when fired on while in CC with the armor.

End of Yugoslavian turn 3.  The gun takes a risky IF shot (especially since I NEED the threat of this gun kept alive) and just after I said "this is a bad idea but...", I roll snakes and fry the Hungarian tank.

Scratch one tank!  (Picture courtesy of the History Channel who swears it is an early war Hungarian tank)

Hungarian turn 3, the gun takes a regular shot to gain ACQ and rolls boxcars...  Up near the top left a CC breaks out, the Hungarian shoots for capturing my squads (what?  Not enough prisoners yet?) and with ambush captures one squad, my return attack turned him into a half squad though.

End of Yugoslavian turn 4.  The Melee ends in the squads favor while the Hungarians start setting up the big guns (105s).  Gonna be some hurtin when they score a hit!

End of Hungarian turn 4, back into CC goes my squad up at the top right (the unarmed guy was eliminated but the squad held on).  In my turn he will be outgunned 4 to 7.  The Pillbox lights up a squad retrieving an MG in the woods and in return is fired on by the 105 and a tank main gun using AP. 

End of Yugoslavian turn 5, the squad in CC survives AND rolls snakes!  Killing the 447 and creating a leader and allowing him to skeedadle.  The pillbox actually fired at the leader and squads in the woods breaking them (that is shown in the next pic, I got confused...)

End of Hungarian turn 5, half time.  Somehow my squad at the top left survived and is in position to be a pain in the rump for the Hungarians.  In order to win the Hungarians have to clear my Yugoslavians away from within 3 hexes of the bridge.  With five turns left to go it is still up in the air, with the punching bad portion of the game done it will boil down to the Hungarians getting across the bridge.  Which two wire counters and a 4 factor AT mine that will hopefully take more time then he has left.  We will find out on the 16th!