ASL Action Pack scenario 127: The First Virtue

Played ASL Action Pack scenario 127 last Saturday (the 20th).  Since the VASL die roller was smiling upon me I had a blast.  I don't see how Tycho could stand it.

The Setup.  The Free French have to get 12VP to win.  They get normal exit VP in the shown area, 4VP if the take out the gun at the bottom of the map, and 1vp for each level 3 hill hex in the shown area.  With 7 turns to do it in it sounds plausible but the amount of open LOS in this scenario is misleading, the guys on the hill in the entrenchment have LOS to pretty much everywhere.

First Blood!  After letting half squad scouts go by unmolested the Germans open first on the first squad they see and break it.

Second Blood!  The VASL die roller grants me a 3 which kills this squad outright.

End of French Turn 1.  A couple more guys at the top of the map were DM'd by fire from the northern trench.

The French get a hit back on the Germans.  An MC of snakes and HOB causest the leader to lose a level from 80 to 70, ANOTHER snakes Battle Hardens the 468 squad.  

End of German turn 1.  Knowing that the FT has not been revealed yet the Germans fall back to not give him a shot without revealing himself next turn.

End of French Turn 2.  Only really notable thing was the Gun firing a single round and breaking a French Squad moving onto the hill.  And the 70 leader rolling snakes and rallying himself and the squad with him too - down for less then a turn. 

The "Machine" gun fires four times...

End of German turn 2.

French turn 3 and the "Machine" Gun blazes again.  Only stopped firing when it ran out of targets...

End of French turn 3.  The Fanatic MG squad has taken every shot the French fired at it without a scratch.  In return the Squad has managed to break a couple French squads and their fire groups.

End of German turn 3 and the game.  The Fanatic MG fired at the FT guy and broke him, the LMG got rate and fired at the squad next to them breaking those as well.  At this point the French called it.  Their casualties (off to the left) combined with German reinforcements entering next turn (right were the French need to exit) combined to make it near impossible to win this one.  Perhaps if the Germans started rolling all boxcars (instead of lower then 7 nearly always) they could get the exit VP off the board.

Next up will be AP 128 where I'll be the Germans once again, defending against Brits this time.  My first game of ASL in a couple of months and only my second in about a year but...

Midway!

Got in two games of Midway today. 

That is it for the pictures - the game moves quickly and I just forgot.

First game the US got pasted by a Japanese airstrike - second game the US got pasted, not as badly, by a Japanese airstrike.  How does the US win this game?

Lots of fun and it was interesting to see how game design has changed over the years (decades!).  The desire to "simplify" by using areas actually makes some things a little more opaque then it would be otherwise and the combat resolution using odds ratio is truly baffling if you try and make realistic sense out of it.  It works overall however and that is what matters.  Next time out will be the Coral Sea variant of the game.  Looking forward to that.

Panzer Scenario 3

Panzer scenario 3.  My first game in a while I had to relearn some things and learn about suppression if in a hex with a Brew Up for the first time (or perhaps I forgot...)

The scenario is a meeting engagement, basically the first scenario with infantry and guns added to the mix.  We played it with variable penetration and the turret facing rules.  Each side gets points for enemy kills and holding the VP hexes.

Both sides move into position on turn 1.  I should have moved my Panzers for the hills...

First Blood goes to the Germans and their superior optics!  At this range the German gunnery is superior to the Russian
armor.

End of turn 2.  Things are looking very good for the Germans.  They get two kills and a bail out result with no damage to them.

End of turn 3.  The first German casualty and it is a brew up too - causing the other units in the hex to be suppressed.  This will mess up their gunnery and being in the way of the other German stacks messes theirs up too.

End of turn 4.  The Germans move about and get another kill to no loss of their own.  Things still looking good.

Turn 5 and things go from good to bad.  The Russians kill two tanks for the loss of only one.

End of turn 6 and things go VERY bad.  The Germans lose three tanks, another one being a brew up.  The Russians lose nothing.

End of turn 7 and time to throw in the towel.  The loss of the command tank last turn caused all of the Germans within a hex to be broken and all of them failed to recover.  With only 2 runners still on the board vs 4 Russian runners who are not broken it is time to run (walk for the tank crews that have broken tranks) hills.

A fun game that plays quickly.  Gerardo and I have another game scheduled for the 23rd.  Scenario 5.  When I work my up through the rules we will be playing some of the big honking scenarios in the France 40 module and I'm looking at the Western Front module for some of the scenarios in that one.

Holland 44, End of the Road

Lawrence and I finished up the Holland 44 game we have been playing.  His Germans managed to hold the line against a poorly led XXX Corps.  One big mistake really cost me the game and I won't make that mistake again but will most likely make others.  Pushing the tanks too far forward while the 101 area was still threatened by German units.  The elite bonus does not help one whit on Defense so a turn or two needs to be spent attacking the Germans to knock them out of contention.  Not doing that allowed them to cut the road and knock the spearhead OOS.

End of Turn 13 and the game.  Seven more turns left in the game but it would not have been enough to counter the losses XXX Corps had suffered.  Another two turns might have been enough to throw units across the Rhine for a VP win.

XXX Corps still held up, for the most part, just beyond Eindhoven.  Another two turns would have cleared out the Germans but that was two turns 1st Para just didn't have.  The 82nd probably didn't have them either.

The other edge of XXX corps advance.  Next turn the bridge over the canal would have been started and the turn after would see it complete but once again too late.

Nijmegan is under strain.  The Germans are pushing the 82nd back steadily.

At Arnhem the Red Devils are holding their own for now but are being whittled away and every loss brings them closer to a catastrophic loss.

Next month we go from Holland to the Pacific with Avalon Hill's classic game Midway.

Holland 44

The continuation of the Holland 44 game, really late posting and few comments.  Such is the way of things when I suffer a stomping.

XXX Corps Supply is cut. 

82nd holding well at Nijmegan

Red Devils holding in Arnhem.

XXX Corps bridge still cut and Germans have pushed in more troops.

Nijmegan starting to feel pressure.

Arnhem still holding out.

XXX Corps spearhead still out of supply.

Nijmegan still holding.

Arnhem is still holding. 

XXX Corps supply line is even WORSE off after successful German advances.

Nijmegan still holding.

Arnhem is holding by a thread now.

XXX Corps supply is still cut and not looking better any time soon.

Nijmegan holding on.  I was darn near ready to concede so took no picture of Arnhem but it was much the same as before. 

XXX Corps supply cut and all bridges to top of map are blown by retreating Germans (a 1/3 chance you would think ONE of them wouldn't be blown).

Nijmegan.

Arnhem will fall soon.

Germans are finally falling back from the Supply road near Eindhoven, only a few days behind schedule now...  Other side of the canal is even more of a disaster then before.

Nijmegan - I made a mistake and should have stacked units!  Remember ZOC Bonds always!  Luckily the Germans did not get a retreat due to my stupidity.

Arnhem still holding - but it was the Allied turn so I was not going to attack...

XXX Corps area and the Germans are still holding between the canal and Eindhoven.

Nijmegan - Germans are moving in.  Should have ZOC blocked the entry from the bridge to leave only one space they could have reached - next game.

Arnhem Falls and the Germans start the advance to Eindhoven.