ASL AAR for scenario WO17

Played WO17, Poteau Party in March, just getting round to writing it up...

The eye catching bit for this scenario are M36 jacksons vs Panthers.

Game at start.  The Germans win by having no US units in the buildings next to the RR and suffering less then 33cvp at the end of the game.  There is also snow hindrance to deal with so long range shots are iffy.

End of German turn 1.  Germans enter the board and exchange fire, more effective than expected.

End of US turn 1.  Heroic leader dies right away along with 1.5 squads worth of troops.

End of German turn 2.  Panthers come on board and get a lucky shot against a Sherman after moving.

Lights up every time...

End of US turn 2.  Some skedaddling and the Jacksons take up position.

End of Germans turn 3.  German tanks surge forward, there is no time to waste, but perhaps fewer Panthers to waste.  Down near the bottom I did a really dumb move, exposing a Panther to CC and not having Infantry move up to take a shot.  A STUG is also destroyed by being next to two buildings on a road STUPID!

To the right a Panther moves up to an M36 for a one on one fight, aim for the Turret!

Good shot!

I was not even this composed...

End of US turn 3.  A half turn later the Panther is still there and the US troops in the hex are eliminated by two MCs caused by the two stacks nearby (both actually fired at the troops with the Panther).  The Panther now being free to shoot takes a shot at the Sherman - I think I later messed up the rules of bypass by keeping the turret pointing toward the Sherman.  Near the top a Panther breaks a pesky US squad trying to Zook him.

End of German turn 4.  The Sherman is toasted by the Panther, the other stug totally destroys it's MA and leaves the board.

End of US Turn 4.  The burning Sherman spreads to the woods. US units nears the bottom are broken and forced to surrender with nowhere to route.

German turn 5 just before route phase.  A SWARM of Germans take out a single US Half Squad, poor guy never stood a chance...  Panthers move to cover the path forward.  Two turns left to clear out the buildings and make sure they can not be re-occupied.

End of German turn 5 after advance phase.

End of US turn 5. 

Firing through smoke at a moving tank 80 meters away and snow to top it off...

Another Panther down.

End of the Game (German turn 6).  Have to roll all the dice now, Panthers move up to cover the two Jacksons and one of them scores a hit, the losses now top 33CVP and the US win.

Solid play on Tycho's part as the US and sheer stupidity on mine as the Germans sealed the fate on this one.  Looking back I should have put the Jacksons in a spot where they would have had to come at my Panthers - or at least sent all of them after one at a time if possible (and it was).  I sent in the Panthers in Penny packets hoping for the Jacksons to hit the Hull and paid the price for it twice.  Getting the one stuck between a Jackson and a Bazooka was bad too, but I shall whine a little and say that getting hit by a Bazooka at two hex range while in motion in the snow and with smoke in the hex...  (WHINE!!! - and NO EXCUSE for bad play on my part).  A good scenario and worth another try someday.

Stonewall Jackson's Way 2

Played this one back on March 11, really late on blog entries...

I think this is scenario 2, Jackson leads an attack to capture a single hex before Union troops block him.

Game setup, sorry for the fuzzy picture.  Jackson's troops are at the bottom, the circled hex is the objective with Union troops holding the river line.  To the top left and further north are Union troops that can arrive by rail on the second day.

End of first turn near the river crossing, I should have moved further and ignored a chance for disorganization - Jackson could have taken the hex most likely.  He did manage to cross the river and push the Union away.

To the North and West (upper left in first picture) the Union troops move to the RR track.

End of Turn 2.

Jackson fights a battle and routes the US forces, really should have tried attacking Culpeper directly even from the hoof.  A brilliant tactical victory but not a strategic one.  The CSA cavalry hold up the USA troops on the rail line.

End of turn 3 and the game.

Jackson attacked the Culpeper hex and was justtttt shy of taking the space,  as it was he would be unable to attack again so even though it was a major USA victory a single DR could have meant a major CSA victory.

ASL Winter Offensive 13 AAR

Played this ASL scenario back in February (still behind but catching up).  As the Russian player I loved it... 
The eye catching bits for this scenario are the Sherman tanks the Russian gets and the "rolling" barrage.  It automatically lands each turn and gets pushed back 3-6 hexes (Russian choice) as well.  Once it lands offboard it is gone.  The Random Direction is a maximum of two hexes away as well.  It is harrasing fire at 70mm so not TOOO deadly unless the target is in the woods but it made for a very effective shield down the middle.

Board setup.  The Russians need to earn 12vp to win.  They get exit VP for getting of the South edge (2VP per tank, prisoners don't count, normal for others).  They also get VP for the 3 stone buildings, 3vp each if captured on turn 5, 2 on turn 6, and 1 on turn 7.  

End of Russian turn 1.  Things go pretty well for the Russians in their half of turn 1, 2 squads broken but German skirmish line pushed hard.

End of German turn 1.  German front line retreats and two squads left with nowhere to go are captured.

End of Russian turn 2 Fire phase.  The Russians press forward quickly, breaking apart the second German line.

End of Russian turn 2.  The Germans lost the CC up north and the Russians advance forward.

End of German turn 2.  Germans stacks are broken by the Arty and Russian squads.  Down near the bottom is a German 82mm MTR.  The middle of the board is clear of resistance but the Russian's own arty will keep them from just swarming right through.

End of Russian turn 3.  The remainder of the German front line is eliminated when no quarter is declared.  The German MTR is overrun and the crew scattered.  A Russian squad rolls boxcars when chancing a trip into the barrage...  Finally a German sniper breaks the HMG crew which had only just rallied after breaking earlier.

Maybe I didn't give the arty it's proper due in the opening comments...

End of German turn 3.  The German AFV reinforcements come on board while the HT up north Bogs itself trying to go over the hedge. 

End of Russian turn 4.  The tanks take the top of the map and kill the HT in advancing fire, the Germans did not hit the Sherman moving across their front.  The German 8-1 stack fired causing NE on the CX unit when it was in the woods. 

End of German turn 4.  The 8-1 squad breaks one group of Russians but Berserks the other.  Meanwhile the Sherman fired and got Acquisition.  Near the bottom the HS broke the stack next to it.

The situation after the first Russian shot of turn 5.  The Sherman broke the 8-1 and the squad and we called the game.  Barring something very strange (a sniper attack is all I can think of) the Russians would capture the 3vp buildings for a total of 9vp, the Sherman up top would get off the map for 2vp, and that would leave just 1vp for a Russian win.  The Stugs would not be able to get into position to stop the remaining Shermans from getting off the board the next turn for 4 more VP.

This scenario was one of a series where things seemed to go easy for one side over the other (in this case it was me it was easy for, in others it was Tycho).  Perhaps a slightly different setup may help the Germans or slightly different dice results, I don't remember especially good luck in this one but it almost always seemed to go my way - so I'd rate it as my being the lucky one in this scenario.  A one turn holdup early on would have made all the difference between a blowout and a much tighter game and that is where the Russian luck comes in, the German front line never got a hit on the Russians that could slow them down.  At any rate this is a good medium sized scenario with a nice force mixture.

Bounding Fire Productions ASL scenario 23: Prelim to Death Night

Played ASL scenario BFP023 on January Seventh (?!) and am just getting round to writing it up.  Getting that kind of beating puts one off of blogging...

The setup.  The Germans have to catch 12 building locations in 6 turns to win.  The US have 1 50 cal, 1 heavy, 2 mediums, and 2 Bazookas while the Germans have 2MMG and 4LMG.  The US plan is to blast the first line if they dare to get to PB range and fall back to the buildings.

End of first German turn and a pattern starts to develop.  The first shot (from the Recalled SPG hex - though not the gun itself which missed) breaks the MMG position and they make a run for it.  The Germans then surge forward into three 12-2 shots and two 6-2 shot2.  Over half of those end up as no effect.  In return fire with 8+2 shots another US squad breaks and runs.  The topmost shot is a 12 straight shot for NE as well.  Only real positive thing is the US sniper recalls the German AFV.

Yeah, I'm a whiner - bite me...

End of US turn 1.  The HMG fires along with crew and gets NE (breaking the HMG too) and return fire breaks the crew.  The other HMG fires for NE as well.

German turn 2.  Picture says it all...

End of US turn 2.  The game would go on a couple more turns but it was all over at this point.  (that Opfire MMG was actually the HMG).  The US squads have to re-position to the town to have any chance of stopping the Germans, surely two squads trying for smoke would have one of them make it - NOPE they both roll sixes.

I had a bad setup but I didn't realize just how totally CRAPPY my roll of dice was till I went back over the log today.

Yeah, I'm whining again...

Probably a good scenario - the AFV is what we both called scenario bait, it catches the eye having a 150mm armed AFV but with the firepower floating around it would not have lasted long even without that sniper (well, considering the US rolling...)

ASL Scenario BFP 14: Opening Phase

Another quick writeup.  Played this on January 2nd and it has been a lousy time since then for getting things written down. 

Start of game.  The US has to capture all the buildings in the red area with 13 or fewer CVP.

End of Turn 2.  The US forces come in on the right and other than a couple of half squads (one of which was eliminated in CC with no US loss) there is no German resistance.

End of turn 3.  The US move up to the village.  The German units in the W3 building were dummies.

End of Turn 6.  The US moves more slowly but manage to keep on track with losses well within the safe zone.  German arty managed to rubble a building with a US squad and leader in it - never had that happen before...

Me Too!  But it requires math and keeping track of the enemy OOB!

End of game.  The unit at the bottom went first, the other one went second, why did I do that???  I could route into the building for the win I thought...  I could have had units in P4 (at least one) go to O5 to take that building (and the German leader I should have known was hiding there).  German win though he felt like he was getting smacked around the entire game other than that Arty rubbling a building...