No Retreat: The Russian Front game end

Finished up the No Retreat: The Russian Front game Lawrence and I have been playing.  Made it to turn 12 (March-April of 43) with a resounding Russian victory.

The circles say it all, Russians needed 16 VP in order to win and had 17. 

I was unable to shift to a defensive mindset, kept trying to setup hedgehogs and should have setup a linear defense.  Lesson for next game!  In particular I gave up the two hexes that are circled and could have fought for them, they were just the latest in a line of VP spaces however.  Up at Smolensk is an example, the Russians had overwhelming strength but a couple of cards and the brittle nature of Russian units kept them out. 

I'm really hooked on this game, and ready to play it again.  We have played it four times now with three German wins to one Russian.  Now that the Russian early strategy is more or less ingrained in our brains the German strategy for when and how to switch to a more conservative game is next to master. 

The game is medium complexity, with 20 or so units on each side - but that means placement for each unit is crucial.  Card play adds a nice bit of chaos to the game, enough so that it usually cancels out but means you can't just count up odds and feel safe with any line of attack or defense.  This is not a card driven game, it is what some call card enhanced, the cards are "extra" things you can do and are not directly needed to activate units to move or fight.  Some cards allow an extra movement points, others allow units to be brought on as replacements for free, others allow combat bonuses, and finally there are some that cancel the last card played.  You may have the "Auto-victory" combat card but your opponent may have a card to cancel that one...

J148: Last Minute War

Played this scenario with Tycho on November 5th,  Just a quick couple of notes on a QUICK game...

The situation, the Slovakian army enters from the bottom of the map.  In 6 turns they must clear all Hungarians out of the area between the two lines OR take 11 of the buildings within 3 hexes of P5.  Slovaks come in from off board.  My Slovaks enter the map bunched together to make use of cover and leadership and...

Hungarian Artillery falls upon them with deadly accuracy and effect.

Hungarian machine guns mow them down...

Situation at end of Slovak turn 1.  It is getting ugly fast.  A 70mm harassing barrage put a hurting on those green troops - who promptly disrupted.

And the end of turn 3 where I conceded.  Three turns left to take all the buildings are clean out the Hungarians, just wasn't going to happen. I should not have bunched up but without the leaders these guys have 3mp and would take 3 turns just to REACH the top board.  So I'm calling this one an un-balanced dog but since there are a number of Slovak wins in this one I must be missing something...

And thus endeth my tale of woe...

ASL 184 Death at Carentan

Played ASL 184: Death at Carentan with Robert on the 21st and 28th of October this year - yup, a little late on the replay!  This is an excellent scenario and I plan on playing it again some time.  Both sides get a chance to attack and defend with the main US force entering on turn 2 and the Germans on turn 3.  Our game was full of back and forth fighting.  The US wins if they hold 5 points worth of buildings at scenario end.  One building is worth 3vp and the others listed are worth 1vp.

Situation at start, the US get a smoke mission to start the game, the VP buildings are the 2 hex one (3vp) the one above the German Sniper (1vp), and the ones closest to the 2 hex building (1vp each).  The smoke goes off without a hitch (pre-reg and SSR says it has to be smoke).  The US 9-2 moves next to the O6vp building and since the smoke is too thick to see through nobody loses concealment.  Stepping in for CC the building is taken.

Next the 9-2 and a squad move to Q6 by jumping over the Hedgerow to take the R5vp space.  I suspect there is a squad there but instead...

A German MMG in R5 has a field day with point blank fire...

Turn 2 Ooops!  Things are not off to a good start as the 9-2 and squad jump over the hedgerow adjacent to a previously hidden MMG (thought that was in the middle building).  9-2 is wounded and squad broken.

End of US Turn 3.  The defenders in the 3vp building are nearly done, German rout phase next turn will finish them off.  The 9-2 and squad rout to O6 and the reinforcements head for the vp building up north.

End of German turn 3.  German reinforcements stream on board causing havoc in the US lines (I remember failing LOTS of MCs and Rally attempts and and inordinate number of casualty reductions on boxcars). 

End of German turn 4.  During the US turn they managed to take the R5vp building after being repulsed in the north.  The US now has 5vp but has to keep it till game end.

End of US turn 5.  The Germans are repulsed and the 92 (now effectively an 8-1) hold the R5vp building.

End of German turn 5.  The Germans move to r6 and are shot at with a 12+1 shot, NE!  They fire back 8+2 and break the squad and leader in R5 who are eliminated for FTR...   Germans are winning again.

End of German turn 6.  The US managed to get a half squad and leader into P2 and the Melee is ongoing still.

End of US turn 7.  Germans are once again blasted away from being adjacent to O6 - this happened multiple times during the game...  Arty also falls just where it is needed but the Germans managed to make every MC it caused...  (100mm too)  Can't whine too much since the leader directing it may a rally attempt while broken and it fell on the DM stack at the top right and kept them out of action till now.  Taking the P2 building means the US is winning...

German movement phase turn 7.  Germans move to retake the P2vp space, US fires and causes a juicy MC, German MC is a 2, hero creation and battle hardening...

Building P2 is retaken!  Germans once again winning!

End of US turn 8. The US move to retake R5 and manage to take the building.  Last half turn of the game is coming up and the US has 5vp.  Germans have to take any one building back to win.  Also note that a German MC in N4 results in ANOTHER battle hardening and hero creation...

German half of turn 8 and end of game.  The Germans shrug off multiple 2-2, 4-2, and 1-2 shots to get adjacent to R5 and O6.  They jump into CC in both.  O6 results in an ambush for the Germans but they do not kill off the US troops there.  R5 results in no ambush but the US troops are eliminated and the Germans win the game...

In reality the Germans did the R5 CC first but I then went and rolled the other CC just to see how it would go - so the game would have ended being decided by the last CC DR if it had been done the other way round.  Despite my whining the dice were average, the Germans could not keep a guy near O6 till the last turn - up till then every attempt ended up with Broken Germans being forced to route away.  The arty landed JUST where it was needed to the last turn of the game and I only drew one red chit early on. 

Final verdict, this scenario is a gem, it features a lot of tough decisions for each player and appears balanced - though if I had not done that bonehead move with the 9-2 early on it might have gone differently since the extra -1 would really have come in handy.

No Retreat: The Russian Front

Played No Retreat: The Russian Front yesterday, two blowouts and then a third game started that is more balanced - took that many tries to figure out the Russian strategy (or get good cards...).

Start of Game.

End of German turn 1, Two VPs captured.

End of German turn 1.  VP hexes are the greyish ones with German armor on them at the top of the map.

End of Russian turn 1.

Russians send reinforcements to Odessa and Kiev.  Pull back in the north.

End of German turn 2.

A strong push on Leningrad, Kiev defenders are caught off and put OOS and Odessa is surrounded but has sea supply.  Smolensk also falls.

End of Russian turn 2.

Kiev falls since it is OOS the defender dies.  The Russians did put up a strong fight to free the city but it was rebuffed.

End of German turn 3.  One VP away from sudden victory.

Moscow and Leningrad both taken.  The Russians had to burn through cards to get their units back and so concede the game.  Germany was in an excellent position to get to the win through VPs or taking another objective hex (Stalingrad, Sevastopol, or the Caucasus oil field).

Game reset (takes all of 5 minutes, very nice!)

End of German turn 1.  Things very much like last game (almost always turns out the same).

Looking familiar.

End of Russian Turn 1.

Odessa was forced by card play to attack the adjacent stack - EX result leaves Odessa open.  Lesson learned - rail the unit out of Odessa and back in at end of turn.

End of German turn 2.

Odessa being open creates a huge hole that the Germans exploit.  Kiev is taken and two Russian armies are put OOS.  If they can not be freed they die at the end of the turn and are worth 1VP each.

End of Russian turn 2.

Ack - forgot the end game photo - this is the NEARLY the end game photo.  The two arrows pointing at each other symbol near Smolensk is a spoiler attack marker - meaning the Russians have to attack.  The Germans play a CA result card (automatically allows the opponent to Counter Attack ignoring terrain) and take the city.  In addition to the losses for the OOS units it becomes a 20 point VP win.  We reset the board once again for round 3.

Map is reset and game restarted for our third playing in one day.  End of German turn 1 looks familiar...

Yup, seen this before...

End of Russian turn 1 and things start getting interesting.

Odessa defenders rail in and out - no way to force them to attack to their doom.  Kiev is also left undefended so it cannot be forced to counterattack to death either.

End of German turn 2.  Things are not going well.

Odessa is still holding out.  Kiev is taken but Smolensk is holding still too.  Two Russian armies are put OOS and the Germans are salivating at those much needed VPs!

End of Russian turn 2.

The Russian plays an Emergency Withdrawal card that allows the OOS units to get away, the German pincers have encircled nothing...  Odessa still holds out and Smolensk is still under Russian control.

End of German turn 3.  The mud has put a damper on operations.  Movement reduced to 3 or less and no extended advances.

Smolensk and Odessa have fallen and the Germans are outside Moscow!  Can they take it?

End of Russian turn 3.

A Russian counterattack pushing the panzers away from Moscow, another attack north of the city destroys a German Infantry army while in the south the Russian attack ends up a counterblow (two arrows on top of the unit near the center).  The snow starts to fall and the Germans have to decide on pushing their luck or hunkering down for the winter.  Not much of a choice really - they would need a miracle to win by turn 6 (end of winter) and so will have to regroup for a win by turn 9 (end of Summer) or 12 (end of winter 43).  Either of those are still within reach but not if losses are great during the winter.  If those fail the only German chance is to ride out the Russian counteroffensive.

Next playing for this is set for the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.