It's all over! It's all over!!

Well, I guess I've put this off long enough.

In the German half of turn four, Joe's HMG kill stack (under 10-3 Col Yelin) which had just moved into position, opened up my radio dudes, and broke them both. The OBA was the most important thing I still had going. Their loss was critical.

A sober assessment pretty much required calling a halt to the campaign at that point. Outnumbered about 2-1 in squads on map, and unable to purchase another rifle company for two more CG days, there was just no way to see a German victory.

The "wedge" being driven along the southern edge was still working along, but losses meant that even if a breakthrough was found there would be no effective way to exploit it. Joe had also been able to stabilize his line in the north, bringing that German counter attack in that area to a stalemate.

Lessons learned? WAY too aggressive. If I had it to do over again, I would be more aggressive on day one, and much less aggressive on subsequent days. I

I had read a post by Tom Morin over at the Gamesquad forums stating that a German Breakthrough was expected on the first day. When I didn't achieve one, I thought I was hopelessly behind, and overreacted. (Of course, I somehow missed this more cautious post by Tom. )

And...I probably was behind! But not to the point of desperately needing to catchup. Joe's pal Gary "The Cat" Mei stopped by as we were wrapping up, and pointed out that this is the huge difference between scenario play and campaign play: In a scenario, it's usually important to keep moving as the attacker; in a campaign, it's usually more important to preserve your force.

It's also tempting to get too aggressive with your StuGs, as I demonstrated repeatedly. They really have to stand off and fire, and not be subjected to CC (especially street fighting!).

The Stukas are great against the Russian armor, but in a scenario faced with little or no expected Russian armor, I would rather spend the 6 points on something else. One of the few things I did right.

So, Joe and I are in negotiations over what campaign to play next. We might end up with one of the KGP's, or possibly Onslaught to Orsha. (likely to get started after ASLOK)

In the meantime, ASL goes on. I plan to keep posting AAR's and other ASL related items. I also hope to bring in a few guest ASL-bloggers and maybe turn them into regulars - stay tuned!!

The victorious Joe (right) with his rules attorney Gary: