Blind Hex

Happy End of Daylight Savings Time

2011-11-11T07:32:00.001-05:00

160 Rounds Per Minute

2011-11-04T10:56:00.003-04:00

    This is a Russian 37mm AA gun of the type used in BFP 96, Hotly Contested Town. Played this one last weekend. It was tense and exciting, and I will be posting an AAR sometime soon.

    Here's a spoiler: Don't stand next to one of these if you are wearing the wrong uniform. That might not work out so well.

   Here are the specs:

Russian 37mm AA Gun Wiki

AAR BtB16 Battle Group Nor-Mons

2011-11-01T22:41:00.002-04:00

....or "Maybe Try Having a Plan Next Time"

   Jim and I went back into the bocage a few weeks ago for this BFP Beyond the Beachhead 2 offering. The VC in this one require the Germans to acquire more VP than the British. The Germans accumulate VP at the rate of 10 pts per building controlled. The Brits get VP = twice the CVP of Good Order units they have on level one hill hexes at game end. (The Germans must also control all level two hexes, but that should be the easy part.)

    My initial thought was that if the Germans kill all six British Shermans, they could conceivably win with as few as three buildings. I should have kept thinking. I had two Tigers, two StuGs, five Panzer IVs, and some pretty badass SS troops, to try to get it done.

    The Germans get a turn one Rocket OBA blast with a pre-reg hex. The level two hill is right in the Germans face, but would be very hard to hold. I couldn't imagine Jim would waste troops by putting them on that hill, so I targeted the building in BFP-F S2. It didn't have the impact I'd hoped for, breaking only one squad. It did immobilize a Sherman, ensuring it would not be on a hill at game end. Unfortunately, it was in a pretty good location, and caused me problems throughout the game.

      At first glance, it seems like the level two hill would be a good place for the Tigers. You could move up there, try to go Hull Down, and a get a pretty commanding view of the battlefield. The problem with that is that the Brits have a 120+ OBA module directed by an offboard observer. Chances are the Tigers wouldn't last long under that kind of fire.

     I divided my attack into three groups and set off to go Sherman hunting. First I had to deal with the units on the hill. I approached with needless caution as they all turned out to be dummies. I sent a strong infantry group up the right. and a Tiger, a StuG and some more infantry up the left.

    On the left, I managed to kill one Sherman but got my Tiger immob'd. Bad trade. The other Sherman slipped away and took up a new position. Then I malf'd the main armament on the Stug. Not. Going.Well.

On the right, I had a little too much confidence in my 8 morale supermen, and ran into a wall. I sent some help in the form of the other Tiger and the rest of the tanks from the center group. It wasn't enough. The Tiger got Immob'd by OBA, and it wasn't until late in the game that I finally broke through and was able to head for the building in the rear.

Infantry with a schrek made a move on the building in the middle, but made no headway.

         There really isn't much more to say about this one. I really thought my infantry would burst through on the right, and open up some good positions for my tanks. When that didn't happen, my immobilized Tigers were unable to help out with a plan B. Jim also conceded that the dice were crazy bad for me in this game (both his and mine.)

    It's hard to rate a scenario under these conditions, but there are certainly much better ones in that BtB pack. There's also the possibility of a gamey tactic where the Brits could try to just hide their tanks and run them up to the hills on the last turn. Not sure if that's a workable strategy, but it might be.

   What's the old saying? A bad day playing ASL is still better than....

Sad Story and A.2

2011-10-28T13:08:00.001-04:00

In my recent playing of Shenam Pass, we see here my Type 2 Ho-I Gun Tank innocently cruising up the gully, keeping out of trouble when suddenly a British artillery piece appears on the horizon.

Fortunately, it's facing in the wrong direction. Turning and firing in the jungle will be an almost impossible shot, so my tank crew wasn't too worried just yet.

Sure enough, the gun turns, fires, and misses. Now, in a fit of pique, the tank crew attempts to drive right past the gun, daring it to use intensive fire.

As we can see from this fuzzy aerial photography, the gun crew did use intensive fire, and did not miss. I felt like there was something wrong here, but couldn't quite call it at the time, so we played on. It was only the following day that I realized this shot was illegal per C2.6:

A Gun may fire-at/affect a different level target only if the range is >= the elevation difference between them

With the Gun at level 1, the tank at level -1, and the range equal to 1, this shot is not allowed.

In any case, I had misplaced this tank and had it well away from the main part of the battle. This was really just a sideshow that probably had zero impact on the outcome. At least that's what I told the families of the crew in the letters of condolence I wrote to them.

Crucible of Steel

2011-10-21T17:12:00.000-04:00

Got Crucible of Steel, the new BFP release in my hands this week. The Historical module is focused entirely on Kursk. It's not cheap, but it is jam packed.

It contains:

3 regular boards
3 double wide boards
32(!) scenarios
A booklet with detailed rules explanations/examples
A ton of counters (some of which are reprints)
New historical rules and "chapter H" pages.

   That's a lot of stuff.

   The boards are mostly open farmland and light village types, and include slopes.

   There are new counters as well as reprinted counters from previous releases Blood and Jungle, and Operation Cobra. There was some legitimate criticism about the original counters because they were printed on white core. Seems like not a very big deal, except that the white core really stands out in a stack. When you see the white among the standard counters, you know where the machine guns are, and you know they aren't dummies. The reprinted standard core counters are a real selling point to me.

       The new counters include lots of lend-lease Churchills, Valentines, and Lees printed in Russian brown. Also a few dozen standard T-34s. Why those? Well, you'll need them if you want to play Flying Turrets which includes FORTY OF THEM in the Russian OB. Forty. FOUR-ZERO.

       The historical rules include special Russian AT crews, which have enhanced Molotov capability, and Russian "Anti-Mobility" MMC. These crews are special in that they can lay minefields during play. Not sure about how that will play. I am curious to find out.

      There are some rules for new types of aircraft, and two (sort of) new terrain types - the European Hillock and Sparse Orchards.

      The scenarios are plentiful. Obviously with such a narrow historical focus, only so much variety is possible. However, there certainly are plenty to choose from, with a range of sizes. From an east front BFP pack you might expect a lot of fixed position assaults, big firepower hitting heavy fortifications (and there is certainly some of that.) However, there are also more than a few "tourney size" type offerings that look pretty interesting. An interesting looking all infantry scenario like Ivanovski seems like it could be easily played in a few hours, as does the combined arms scenario Early Morning Action.

    I like a scenario with a bit more to chew on when time allows, and so BFP-96, Hotly Contested Town is at the top of my play list. 20+ mostly elite German squads backed up by 10 AFVs (Panthers, Tigers, etc), trying to take control of a town from well equipped and dug-in Russians? I'm in.

There are few true monsters as well.

   Bounding Fire's CoS product page.

EDIT: Ian at Wall Advantage is posting a more detailed description.

AAR BFP-54 Shenam Pass

2011-10-14T23:12:00.000-04:00

Jim and I gave this one a go a few weeks back. This one has a significant Japanese force with armor (including a captured American Stuart) and backed up by about a company of infantry from the INA. The IJA is attacking a well dug in force of mostly 2nd line Indian troops. The defenders get five badass Gurkha squads as turn four reinforcements. The Japanese have to take four level two hexes in the southwest corner of the map, and all seven level four hexes on the main board 50 hill mass.

My main force would come up the Indian left using the jungle on the Northern slope for cover. Despite the level four hill, the jungle blocks A LOT of sight lines from the hill making for interesting choices for the defender. I did not know what to expect. Meanwhile, the INA troops would attack in the south, supported by two AFVs and two Japanese MMG crews.

A few turns in, and not a lot has happened. The radioless HA-GOs and the bulk of the infantry are approaching the hill. Jim still hasn't shown me much. I moved my radio man onto the level two hill of EE2, one of the few places from you can see a hilltop hex or two.

In the south, still moving into position. Because the Brits get to set up two squads hip, plus five guns, it's difficult to say how heavily defended this section is.

    The Japanese got held up at the base of the hill. To break the jam we made a successful but costly small Banzai up the front of the hill. The HA-GOs, Type 97s and the rest of the infantry started moving through the northern slope jungle and around the rear. In the south, we were discovering only light defenses. Jim obviously wanting to decide things on the big hill.

   I also discovered his surprising but very effective trench strategy. The trenches ran in an east-west line from the road at the western edge, draping across only one victory hex. This gave his reinforcements an easy path up the hill, and also gave him good positions for covering the mostly bare rear slope.

   Meanwhile, my radio man was killed by sniper (2nd game in row that happened.) This time, there was no one to carry the radio forward, and the Japanese would receive no artillery support on this day.

       Pushing through the jungle and up the slope, we discovered an AT gun in the light jungle counter hex in L6 quite by accident when a Berzerk squad charged the infantry holding up there. Two 'zerkers played a big part in getting to the endgame here.

    Finally in came down to trying to dig the infantry out of the trench line. Unable to break the squads with fire, I moved some AFV's up into the area under British artillery fire. The Stuart and a HA-GO formed an ad-hoc platoon and dove into the trench line. In the top of the 7th, I was finally able to break the HMG manning infantry in the last victory hex with the Stuart's machine guns! Away they routed, and now I had to hold on.

   Naturally, bottom seven, a British leader and 2nd line pass their paatc and advance safely through the trench line surviving their own artillery fire, which was raining down directly on the position. They killed the Stuart, recovered the HMG, and were ready to take on all comers for the final turn.

   They AGAIN survived their own arty. My fire was all ineffective. I threw DC heroes at them. I threw a single man Banzai leader with a demo charge at them. Nothing gets through the artillery, machine gun, and and small arms fire they are throwing out.

At the start of the advance phase, I had two and a half squads to advance in to CC. The artillery mauled those troops down to just a single striped squad. When I rolled a 9 for my CC attack, the game was over.

What a game! This was a draining 10+ hour roller coaster ride that came down to a really exciting finish. Can't get any closer. Highly recommended.

Heavy question for a Monday

2011-09-19T13:31:00.001-04:00

I'll have an AAR to post later this week of the Blood and Jungle scenario Shenam Pass, but in the meantime, this has been bugging me.

In ASL, a squad has an Inherent Portage Capacity of 3PP. A half squad ALSO has an IPC of 3PP. In my experience, ten guys can usually carry more than five guys. What the hell gives, ASL?

AAR FT159 Tangled at Tsangkou

2011-09-15T12:06:00.001-04:00

Had a chance on Labor Day to play JR in this 10 turn beast from LFT. This one takes place in Nov 1945, as hostilities are heating back up between the Chinese Nationalists and the Reds. The GMD has a total of (including reinforcements) 38 squads and two armored trucks with which to dislodge 24 Communist squads from proximity to a rail line that runs across the width of three boards. The GMD also have to remove at least one of the two roadblocks that block the rails.

We had some doubts about the VC which state:

"The GMD wins at game end if at least one Roadblock has been removed and there is no Good Order non-HIP Red Chinese MMC <=2 hexes of any railroad hex. "

As JR pointed out, the term "non-HIP" is really meaningless, as a HIP unit could simply drop HIP in the last CCPh. So, we checked their site which lists an erratum for the VC. The erratum uses the phrase "non-HIP/non-crew MMC." The only HIP the Reds get is their three HIP gun crews, so the phrase "non-HIP" could really be deleted. Otherwise, the erratum makes perfect sense (although the assertion on that page that "This is not really an errata" is a little silly.)

Anyway, it was easy enough to sort out, and away we went.

JR had his forward units set up mostly in and around the woods and grain (in-season by SSR) in the center of board V. There were a few units out protecting the flanks which turned out to be mostly dummies. My first objective was to grab the two 2-level buildings on board V to get a platform for my radio man and my MGs.

The Communist 82mm Mtr was set up on the northern heights of board 18, as was the 50mm LtMtr. They had a commanding view of the area and were causing big trouble until my LtMtr scored a CH on the 82, knocking it and it's crew out of the war.

We spotted the first roadblock in a likely location: the woods cluster at the northern edge of board V. A great spot to bring down the artillery! So, my radio man got into position and.....failed contact. Then was killed by a sniper shortly thereafter. Great. Just great.

JR, meanwhile, was busy digging foxholes and building his last stand location at the very northern edge of the map near the rail hexes. As his reinforcements entered, they mainly took up position in the same area and did some some digging of their own.

The GMD kept pressing forward and soon were taking a lot of prisoners. Mid-game I got my Mtr/armored truck reinforcement group. The AFVs moved straight up the main road while the trucks bearing the mortars moved up either flank looking for a spot to set up. I was able to recover the radio and carry it forward with the attack.

Now however, a crisis was developing. The Red sniper managed to break one of my Guard half squads, giving the prisoners an opportunity to attack. They killed the guard, and before I knew it they were gaining concealment in a building in the rear, close enough to the tracks to win the game. Fortunately, there was still a lot of time left. But it forced me to divert my 9-1 plus a truckload of follow on infantry reinforcements to deal with it.

The other three truckloads moved up the main road to get into position for the final assault. JR got his Taczanka reinforcements and moved them into position to backstop his fallback defense.

After the woods cluster fell, the two Red ART guns appeared and opened fire. They were both west of the tracks, in position to rake any troops moving across the open ground and bare hilltops. I had a fair number of troops on my left flank which I would use to bring the guns under threat. Meanwhile a stck in the center cleared a roadblock, fulfilling the easier of the two victory conditions.

As the game end neared, the ART guns had been dealt with, and my main thrust was coming across the eastern hill. I FINALLY got one of my large mortars in position and set up, so naturally I rolled a 12 on it's first attempt. I had the radio in position to do something as well.

I had lost one of my AFVs to LtMtr fire, but the other was still rolling about.

There were three potential game winners for the Reds, and I needed to get them all at least into melee. (one of the circled foxholes contains a crew, and so was not a potential game winner. Not thinking, I attacked there anyway. ) The radio man went to work and dropped smoke all around the Red Alamo. We charged.

The surviving AFV passed all it's checks and drove into the northernmost foxhole hex. The troops attacked and destroyed it, but obviously lost concealment in the process. The rest of my troops moved up through the smoke and bump-scouted any remaining concealments to eliminate the possibility of Ambush. We moved into CC with advantage in each location, and the GMD pull out a final turn victory.

It's a long hard slog of a scenario, but still interesting and entertaining. The early loss of the 82* really hurt the Communists. The terrain to be crossed doesn't give much cover from that commanding position. My own humble estimate is that it's probably a little pro-GMD, but not too far off.

In preparing for this scenario, I envisioned that having 38 Chinese squads would bring about the opportunity for at least one if not 3-4 Human Waves. But the wide open spread-out nature of the battle made that ability moot.

I also dutifully noted where my Dare-Death squads were, but did not voluntarily Berzerk any of them, and was able to use their H-T-H CC feature only one time.

You know what they say about plans and first contact and all that.....

_________________________________________________________________________________

On a side note, it seems that in ASL terms, a Taczanka has an inherent crew, and also a Passenger crew which fires the MG. We decided that these vehicles must be the result of some old-timey college pranks, because.........uh......

....getting ten men into that thing doesn't seem likely.........

The Ravine

2011-09-08T11:51:00.000-04:00

Got in two good, tense games this past weekend. On Saturday I played Jim in Operation Watchtower's The Ravine, a scenario that's been on my list for quite a while. Monday, I played JR in a large LFT scenario he chose titled Tangled at Tsangkou. More on that in a future post.

The Ravine takes place on Guadalcanal in November 1942. 24 Marine squads (including reinforcements) are tasked with taking at least 6 level 2 hill hexes from half as many well-fortified Japanese squads, without suffering 20CVP or more. The Americans also have a 100+ artillery module that uses a subset of the NOBA rules.

There are two level two hill hexes on the eastern side of the battlefield, and a large hill mass on the western side with fourteen of them. The first tactical decision for each side happens before the first die roll: What do you do with the two hexes in the east? As a Japanese defender, I was tempted to abandon them, and concentrate my forces on holding the bigger prize. In the end, I decided to put a token on-board force plus a few HIP squads on that side to try to cause a few casualties should Jim decide that it looked too easy to pass up.

Jim decided not to tempt fate on that side. He concentrated his entire force on the big hill. I would pull 2 squads off the western hill to help defend the east, but keep my HIP squads in place until his turn three reinforcements entered, just in case. I think that little poker game worked to Jim's advantage.

Turn two, the Marines have dropped smoke on the hill, and are pushing through the jungle.

     The western approach to the hill, where the path cuts the jungle, appeared to me the most logical approach. That's where I put three of my six Panji hex sides, and the MMG crew (with an escape tunnel back the pillbox on the rear of the hill.) This was fairly a effective defense, as the troops trying move up this side made only a little progress.

   I also made a blunder here. I had one of my large mortars set up in the bamboo of R1, just waiting for some Americans to move into X1. When I revealed it and went fire Jim objected, pointing out that Bamboo is treated like Dense Jungle, and you can not fire a mortar from Dense Jungle. ARRG! So, I packed it up and moved it one hex. It would get a lucky rate run and kill a USMC squad, but otherwise had no impact on the game.

    What I didn't count on was a large force squeezing through from the other side. I had one Panji trap in the jungle on the board edge which served only to slow down the attack. Pretty soon, I had a large force pushing up the eastern slope, and a squad or two getting all the way around to the rear.

   By this point the Marines had lost about 8CVP, mostly to long range mortar fire and close combat. It was starting to look like the Japanese would have to get the CVP cap if they were going to win.

Soon, I was rolling up a mild breeze which caused some major smoke density on the hill top. Now, there were almost no shots to be taken, as the lines of sight became few in the drifting smoke. I attempted a half-hearted and somewhat pathetic Banzai charge with a leader and a half squad up the rear slope. It was short lived.

Late in the game, I managed to kill the 2nd radio man with long range mortar fire, and the smoke eventually cleared. Now the marines were consolidating their position, with little to no cover. My mortar on the opposite hill was now able to bring fire on the marines on the hill top and the CVP was getting very close. Jim chose to voluntarily break some of the troops on the western approach, rather that risk a CC that might win me the game.

As the last half of the final turn came, the Marines held 7 victory hexes. One of those was undefended, and would be taken back easily. The others were stacked waist deep with Leathernecks. However, the Marines stood at 19CVP. Just one more would wrap it up. When a rally attempt came up boxcars, it would give the game to the Japanese. An anti-climactic ending to be sure, but I'll take it.

Jim and I both agreed that is a very strong scenario. Both sides face tough choices. Also: Panjis!. We both gave it a '7' on the ROAR 1-9 scale.

Interlude -Go See Ted Leo.

2011-09-04T11:33:00.002-04:00

This song always makes me think of ASL: Even Heroes Have To Die.

Brackin Bash

2011-09-02T12:59:00.000-04:00

Got to attend the annual Brackin Bash ASL event a few weeks back, always a fun time. There were eight in attendance including our host. I got in two close games, and lost them both.

Under Murderous Fire

For my first match I played "Under Murderous Fire" from VotG against Rob Schoenen. I had the Russians, and thought I might try to surprise Rob with a little sewer movement. I sent two squads and the 7-0 underground in turn two, planning to come up in the cellar of the building just east of the Milchaus on turn four, and really give the Germans a headache.

Naturally, they got lost at the start of turn three. Rob moved them right back where they started. I was able to get them out of the sewer in the APh, and called it quits on that idea. I couldn't afford to risk having them out of the game entirely.

My main thrust up the southern side made some progress, but ran into a brick wall just before the Milchaus. Rob had mined the southern approached and (obviously) used one of his Fortified locations there.

Meanwhile my smaller feint on the north side made good progress. Fire from the Russian HMG helped three squads take apart the token German resistance there. Finally, with the last rush in the top of the final turn, I was able to take a 7th vp location. This forced the game to the bottom of the turn for the German counterattack.

When one of my vp holding squads was broken by snake eyes on a shot from the German HMG, the game was all but over. He would be forced to rout, and the Germans would advance in to take the location back for the win.

Top-notch scenario. Would play either side.

Easy Day at Volupai

   Later, I got to play Andy "Cholm" Hershey who made the long trip from Virginia for the event. We played FT141, Easy Day at Volupai. This is a PTO scenario set on New Britain. Andy's Marines would basically have to annihilate my defending Japanese. This is your basic bug-hunt scenario.

    I HIPped my .50-cal/9-1 in some bamboo and set up a forward line of concealed units, trying to slow the Marine advance. Andy moved forward methodically searching for the concealed Japanese units.

   As the advance moved on my .50cal popped up and fired, then advanced behind the bamboo into a waiting foxhole, setting up a reverse slope position.

In the end however, Andy's USMC just had too much firepower and wore the Japanese down before finally breaking the half squad I needed with a large Fire Group in the Advancing Fire phase of the final turn.

It's a fun enough little PTO scenario that plays pretty quickly, but the bug-hunt nature of it plus the tilted early ROAR results (7-1 pro-American) means I would likely not play it again.

It's a little heartbreaking to lose two close ones, but the good beer and hoagies help to ease my pain.

AAR AP69 Uncommon Misery

2011-08-06T19:51:00.002-04:00

When I played a JR a few weeks in back in AP 66 Cat's Cradle, I was able to pull off an admittedly lucky victory. JR double red-carded his OBA without a single mission and had generally poor dice through most of the game. (He wrote up an AAR here.) So when I took him on this past weekend in AP69 Uncommon Misery, I knew he would be bringing his 'A' game to avenge that loss.

For my Japanese defense, I put HIP Tank Hunter Heroes in 57N2, R4, and T2. I put a full HIP squad in the bamboo of T5. I deployed another 1st liner and put a half squad in 62H6, and another in 57J3. I was hoping the Brits would bypass these units, and they might retake some VP locations late. The AT guns were in V2 and a Fortified stone location X3. The other Fortified Building Location was with the MMG in U4.

Basically my strategy was to keep concealment as long as possible, and keep Japanese casualties to a minimum. I had two squads forward in 62J9 and J10. They took a few early shots at the entering Brits and then fell back through the jungle. Getting one of them into the building at 57O1 helped slow down the assault.

The Brits came on and swept up the gimme buildings and huts on the west side of the map. The Lees and most of the squads advanced down and around the main road. The turn two reinforcements came on the south edge and moved directly toward the village.

Things really got going in the CCPh of Japanese turn three. With the British getting close to my HIP units, I couldn't wait any longer. The THH in the Kunai of N2 popped up and advanced in on the Adjacent Lee. The Lee had infantry cover but I rolled well enough to kill it. Ditto the Lee in S5, smacked by the THH in R4.

In the previous turn, JR tried a little recon by fire on the T5 bamboo hex where my HIP full squad was hiding, but he did not get a result. That would prove unfortunate when that squad advanced still concealed into U6 where two 458s were hanging out with a Stuart. The Japanese gained ambush, declined to try a THH, dispatched the two 458s and withdrew to U5.

Over the next few turns, the Japanese AT guns would knock out three of the Stuarts, one of which had circled around to the extreme eastern end of the village. But I lost a 9-1 when he went berserk and ran right into a 16-down-2. The British finally started getting some larger fire groups together and generally tightened the noose from the west and south. The remaining Stuart was working over the squads in Q2-R2-S3 buildings with seemingly limitless canister.

As the British pressed in, they left a half squad behind in G7 to counter my late game takeback attempt in that area (in fact my HIP half squad in H6 was killed in turn 6 CC and netted no VP.) However, the HIPster in J3 was able to take back the H3-I3-J2 locations under some fire from up the road. A result of the funky mine laying SSR put a minefield in J1 helping discourage a move against him. It seems a little odd to have a minefield suddenly pop up in a place a whole company has just gone through, but I wasn't complaining.

When the Brits moved in for CC on turn 6, they were too far behind. They won a few, but had no effect on a few others. In the end they racked up 17 CVP and 14 LVP, leaving them 7 points short of a victory.

JR and I both like the scenario a lot. Our playing was tense throughout. The minefield SSR adds an interesting and different wrinkle. If one or two more of the Stuarts had survived long enough to start really cranking out the canister, this outcome could have very easily been reversed. As it was, the British suffered a misery of the not very common sort.

La Gleize Wrap

2011-07-30T09:41:00.001-04:00

This picture tell the basic story of the 21 AM date.

I bought my last platoon of Shermans, planning to try a push up the southern edge of the map. The first order of business was to take out the PzIV threatening my right flank from K34. I thought I'd swarm it with Shermans, turn it over, and move on. That plan.....uh....didn't go...well.

Between the Panzer IV, the 'schrek squad lurking nearby, and a panther standing overwatch from a few hexes back, the attempt cost me four shermans and left the Panzer standing. I would eventually knock it out with a bazooka shot later in the game. Even calling that a "moral victory" seems like an overstatement.

In the north, the pre-game bombardment rubbled the Oustalou, killing the infantry therein, and allowing the US infantry to move up and take the VP location. That was the extent of progress in the north.

So, when the main thrust in the south floundered, there wasn't much more to do. I conceded the campaign on turn five. This is where it stood:

     So, after all that we more or less came to the conclusion that this analysis was basically correct. The real problem at this point was that outside of jeeps and artillery, I simply didn't have anything more to buy until the morning of the 23rd.

Prior to 23rd AM, the Americans get to buy five infantry platoons (plus one armored infantry platoon), and four platoons of shermans. The Germans get eight SS inf platoon (6-5-8), and four engineer platoons (8-3-8.) They also get seven panther sections and three tiger sections.

In fairness, the German infantry is more expensive. The armor is not only more expensive, but a section is only two vehicles (one if depleted.) Still the Americans through the first several dates are attacking eight morale troops with six morale troops. Oh. And those eight morale troops are backed up by AFVs that the US can not hurt on a front shot with anything in their OB. Pretty tough.

    So the attack was out of steam. If we had played it out, I think the US strategy would have been to keep using attack chits for the next several dates, but not actually attacking. By generating a scenario you can conduct bombardments and use artillery. More importantly, you make the Germans keep rolling for ammo shortage. They may also try to move a vehicle or two and fail an "out of gas" roll. That didn't sound like a lot of fun.

   Then, on 23 AM massive US reinforcements can enter from the west and we have a new game. It might have been interesting to see if the US would have had a chance to sweep the map in two dates with all that firepower, air support and clear weather. I doubt it, but it might have been fun. In any case, getting there would have been tedious and dull.

In the end, if you actually get to 23AM, you must be left to wonder why you bothered playing the previous eleven dates.

   The Germans take this one.

Kampfgruppe Scherer : The Shield of Cholm from LFT

2011-07-11T12:36:00.008-04:00

   LFT has announced that this product is in production, and is available for order from their site here. LFT products are also eventually available from Gamer's Armory and Bounding Fire Productions.

   I've been keeping this under my hat for a few years, as I've been lucky to contribute in some small way to play testing this module. I'm biased, but I think the ASL world will be pretty happy with KGS. Andy and his crew put a lot of work into this. The results are 2 campaign games and 15 scenarios ranging from very large to "tourney sized." All of them are meticulously researched and vigorously play tested.

The winter campaign and scenarios are compelling. They really have the feel of a German army not only trying to fight off the Russian horde, but also desperately trying to cope with "General Winter." The Extreme Winter / Deep Snow rules don't see a lot of play these days, and they really do present interesting choices for both attacker and defender, especially over the course of the winter campaign game.

   I hope people will take a look and consider it. It's good stuff.

...adding...Chris at Battleschool has posted a more detailed look at the product and the battle of Cholm itself here.

...oh. And also, this:

La Gleize 20 PM AAR

2011-06-17T22:43:00.000-04:00

This date was completed several weeks ago.

Again, this date was broken into two separate battles. In the north, the American gained no ground. In the south, things went a little better as a desperate fight for a ridge line developed.

First of all, the north. My plan was to bring on the armored infantry platoon, and throw a left hook around the woods, putting pressure on Oustalou from two sides. Several successful bog checks later, my half tracks had arrived in position.

The problem was that by that time, they had managed to activate two reserve panthers which moved down the road and took up positions along the crest line. That was all it took to nullify that move. The infantry and crews largely dismounted successfully and took their weapons, but they were held corralled in the woods, with no way forward.
   Stalemate in the north.

Meanwhile, further south:

   Following a fairly effective bombardment, the Germans began withdrawing up the hill. The Americans pressed forward with 5 shermans and 6-8 squads,squeezing up the southern edge of the map.

By this point in the game,
  it was only turn 2 or 3. The smart thing to do might have been to consolidate a gain made with little cost. But, that would mean sitting on my hands for another three turns, taking (and receiving) pot shots. What fun is that? I pressed for the ridge!

    A few shermans moved up adjacent to the woods around A38/B38. A 'schrek toting crew got very aggressive here hoping to get lucky and survive the shermans' assorted weaponry. They did not.

   That opened the door for some American infantry to move into the area.

       We pushed a sherman into the woods adjacent to a German foxhole position. Some more infantry climbed the hill and got into close combat, luckily avoiding ambush despite becoming CX on the advance.

   The sherman that got aggressive in the woods was lost, but it had drawn a German panther forward, where a bazooka squad was able to position for a side shot and take it out.

   In the melees that ensued, the Germans lost a 2-1/2squads, the American 1-1/2. But the Germans lost a 9-1 leader. On a subsequent turn a 9-2 would break and surrender.

   The Americans held the ridge.

Catching Up

2011-06-17T11:23:00.000-04:00

Will have more to post on the now concluded La Gleize campaign in the next few days. I've been a bad blogger.

La Gleize 20th AM AAR

2011-04-15T21:30:00.002-04:00

We both went idle overnight.

   For the morning attack, I bought another 5-pack of Shermans, and got ANOTHER flamethrower tank. I also bought two infantry platoons, the heavy MG platoon and a bombardment. The shermans and the infantry would attack into Bourgemont. The MGs would truck into the area in the south around the mill.

   We started off with a bombardment in the north. It didn't do too much damage. It did break a squad or two, and get a fire going that would eventually burn down a great deal of the town.

   Interesting note: using the historical weather, the heaviest mist level is in effect for this scenario. Because Very Heavy and Extremely Heavy Mist are LOS hindrances (not LV), there is no FFMO or interdiction. It makes this date a must attack for the US.

The first move in the Bourgemont area was to try to clear the German infantry lurking near the map edge.  Since shermans are like nickles in this thing, I felt like I could take some risk. I entered the first tank and drove straight at the squad and leader who were hanging around a few hexes east of the woods. That tank got all blowed up by a faust. Now that they were fired out, I entered the flametank and made the overrun. I 12'd out the FT on the first roll, but the squad and leader did break and scurry off in to the woods.

   A few tuns later, they would re-emerge to kill that same tank with another 'faust. Flame tanks are not like nickles.

The infantry moved in and broke a German FT squad who routed away, and got another DC toting squad to disrupt and surrender. The town of Bougemont itself was defended mostly by dummies and minefields, which did cause some casualties.

       The attack soon bogged down to a stalemate as the main German line proved tough to crack.The defense was anchored by a panther hull down behind a roadblock, and infantry who could fire from the tree line, then disappear into the woods when broken.

       In the south, I hadn't planned to do much attacking. With most of the fresh assets in use in the north, I thought that the mill would just be too tough to take.

     I brought my MG's on by truck mostly to try to guard against a counterattack on the bridge. Otherwise, my plan here was to lob some mortar rounds across the stream and hope to get lucky with a Critical Hit.

    I sent out a half squad of volunteers to retrieve a bazooka that had been dropped in the stream during the previous scenario. When they did so without incident, I decided to go knock on the door of the mill, and see if anyone was home.

    Dummies, and another minefield. Took the mill without a shot. Over the course of the next few turns we found out that three more German stacks in that area were dummies. I starting pushing more infantry across the stream.

    Mid game the Germans made a half hearted counterattack towards a foxhole location north of the mill, sending a squad and a panther forward by armored assault. Just then, the good guys caught a break when the mist lightened up, bringing the panther's side armor into view of a sherman moving up the right flank of my bridgehead. Boom.

   Soon, that situation would roughly play out in reverse. I sent a squad forward with the other flame tank (also burned out) to try to take a foxhole location a little deeper into enemy territory. The tank was killed as the squad pushed forward into melee. When the Germans fired into the melee, the 6ML Americans broke, and the fanatic SS squad was unharmed.

   All in all, it was probably about a push. we both lost 3 squads of infantry. I lost two shermans, the Germans lost a panther. The attack in the north bogged down, but the mill fell into my hands unexpectedly. Still anybodies game.

Google Earth Detective

2011-04-01T10:58:00.003-04:00

According to Charles MacDonald, on the night of December 23rd, Peiper received permission to break out from La Gleize. Abandoning (and destroying) their vehicles, the column of 800 men set out on foot. Peiper conscripted two locals to serve as guides.

"They led the Germans to a small wooden bridge spanning the Ambleve underneath the remains of a demolished railroad bridge."

This photo was placed on Google earth at point roughly due south of the Werimont farm area. No hard evidence here, but it seems likely to be the bridge described.

La Gleize from the west

2011-03-24T12:22:00.003-04:00

This photo of a wintry "light mist" sunrise appears to have been taken from the north side of the La Gleize - Stoumont Rd, looking south and east. The high point in the center may be the Notre Dame l'Assomption church.

During the CG scenarios of Dec 23rd, massive American forces will be pouring into town from this direction.

La Gleize - Day Two

2011-03-20T12:12:00.000-04:00

We played three turns of the 20AM CG date on Saturday. I didn't have my camera, and my phone pictures don't look very good. The short story is that most of the fighting has shifted north to Borgoumont and the road leading SW towards La Gleize.

More to come.....

La Gleize - Day One

2011-03-18T22:30:00.013-04:00

I love ASL campaign games. But other than TOP SECRET playtests, I hadn't played a CG in quite a while. So when Jim asked if I wanted to take the American side in La Gleize, I accepted.

La Gleize wouldn't have been my first choice. Although "broken" is a bit strong, I think this is a generally fair criticism.

The first 10-11 scenario dates the Ami is dancing around the German perimeter. The German can out buy the Ami for infantry for those first 11 dates and the Ami doesn't really get enough stuff to make a decent attempt at assaulting the German positions. Then on the last 2 dates the Amies get around 350 CPP to assault the German. Probably enough to do the deal.

In short, nothing much happens for 11 scenarios...then the last 2 scenarios the Germans are just a punching bag.
-- Tater

    That said, the ROAR results show a 6-3 advantage in favor of the Germans. The KGP campaigns cover a fascinating chapter of the war. And, it's ASL. How bad could it be?

   The opening battle is more like a tournament scenario than a campaign date. The Americans get five Shermans, an infantry platoon, and enough CPP for two more. The Germans get a few SS platoons, and 30 CPP. However, the German purchases must set up as reserves.

    My initial platoon entered and almost immediately started taking fire from a German LMG squad in a good up slope position in X51. Throughout the game the Americans in this area would exchange fire that squad, with the Germans mostly maintaining the upper hand.

    In Jim's early game, he moved a few squads across the bridge to try to take up positions east of the stream. I got a good turn 2 reinforcement roll bringing on my five Shermans. Seeing them roll up made the Germans think better of their move, and they high tailed it back across the bridge. Up north, Jim sent a few squads to run around Borgoumont and gobble up strategic locations.

Soon my two purchased infantry platoons came on. I sent one platoon into the woods east of the stream, the other moved to capture the stone LVP bridge.

   Four shermans moved in to woods passing all bog rolls and creating some trail breaks. We managed to break a few of the main armaments, and also x-out the fuel on the flame tank. Still, there was enough firepower to break and rout a panzerschrek toting half squad down into the stream .

   Jim got a successful release roll and activated a panther reserve that had been lurking nearby. The panther moved up and burned a sherman in the treeline with an advancing fire shot.

   My "bridge platoon" massed their firepower and broke the German squad guarding the bridge. A sherman
moved down into the stream to challenge the now rallied panzerschrek squad (and to duck out of the panther's LOS). The schrek didn't miss. Another sherman burning. The US mortars started laying white phos which allowed the flame tank to escape the panther's sights.

With the cover of the smoke, two US squads crossed the stream and moved up adjacent to the Mill.  One was broken by the panther's machine guns, the other moved into close combat. The US achieved ambush, and killed the German squad and leader, taking control of the LVP location. Huh. That went well!

   Then.

In the bottom of the turn, the panther moved up adjacent to the mill building, got an improbable hit with snakes on the adv. fire shot, and the GIs would have to rout out of there, giving the building back.

   The German counter attack on the bridge did not go as well. A reserve-released halftrack and squad tried
a bold armored assault move, challenging the bazooka team who had crossed the bridge. The bazooka killed the halftrack, and the squad's fire broke the infantry.

The Americans achieved the CG victory conditions with 10CVP. Would have preferred to have held the mill, but all in all, an acceptable opening.

La Gleize

2011-03-17T11:08:00.000-04:00

Jim and I started a KGP III (La Gleize) campaign last weekend. There was heavy fighting around this place. This a Google Earth image. You can make out the small bridge leading to the narrow passage between the buildings.

The buildings on the east side of the stream are not represented on the KGP map, and are likely post-war construction.

Raid on Rodimtsev AAR Part 2

2011-03-15T22:24:00.002-04:00

As we edged towards dawn, the attack in the north had been cut to ribbons. There was just enough German strength to hold off a half hearted Russian counter attack.

In the center, my attackers had found some defenders skulking around just south of the Voentorg. We broke one Russian squad and killed another in CC. The main trouble in this area was the wire and mines which slowed down the attack by a few turns.

By now, stacks of mostly concealed Russian reinforcements had spilled into the area around NKVD/GPU house. I had no real hope of crossing Penzenskaya street now. My new, more modest goal, was to use Mr 10-2 to silence the .50cal in X9 that was causing me problems further down the street.

    A concealed stack moved out into the shellholes across from my 10-2 stack. I thought it was a decoy, there to draw my fire away from X9. I didn't take the bait.

   Turns out, it wasn't actually bait. The Russian flamethrower flipped and routed the whole 10-2 stack. Then he took everything we could throw back at him with 10 gallons of combustibles on his back and nothing but a shellhole to hide in. What a creep.

   This game would be decided in the south.

   As turn six began, we were in position to make the big final push. The Russians got their final reinforcement group.

    Mr 10-3 was commanding a stack with two HMGs in it. A squad and a half (with the one remaining flamethrower) had gained a toehold in a fortified location in the Waterworks.

    I would need some effective fire to break a hole in the Russian wall. HMG stack: boxcars. Random selection: yahtzee. Flamethrower: boxcars. That. Hurt.

   We pushed on getting across the street in turn 7, and winning a close combat. The Y17 building was in big trouble, but the Russians in the Waterworks had survived the worst and were hanging on.

In the top of the 8th I tried to sprint a squad and Mr 10-3 off the east edge. Getting them off would have been worth three stone hexes. The squad pinned, and the leader broke. Ball game.

In the end the Germans had 21 stone hexes of the needed 26. Had that infantry managed to run off map, I still would have been two hexes short. And to be fair, had we played the bottom of the 8th, the Russian would have taken back one hex unopposed, and as many as 2-3 more with some effort.

Great scenario. Tense and close. But for a very bad dice streak, it may have been VERY close. It's very large and takes some time, but it's well worth it.

Raid on Rodimtsev AAR Part 1

2011-03-14T13:21:00.002-04:00

We finished Raid on Rodimtsev from the new journal a few weekends ago. The Russians held off the German onslaught with 4+ stone hexes to spare.

Jim posted an AAR on Gamesquad here.

   For my German attack, I decided that my concentration should be in the south. The southern edge is the only place on the map where the Germans can attack from two sides. It's also the furthest point from the majority of Russian reinforcements. Logic=Awesome.

   The caveat is this: setup restrictions for this scenario force you to be widely spread out at start. The real decisions are about where to place your big weapons. I place both my HMGs, and two of my three flamethrowers in the southern third of the map area.

My thought in the north was just make some effort, and hope to get lucky. A successful attack along the north edge (i.e., capturing building W1) could be a spectacular development, as it would greatly threaten the Russian reinforcements. Losing ground there would be devastating for the Russians.

  Trouble is, I knew from experience that attacking in the shadow of Pavlov's house was more than a little difficult. Jim had the proper precautions taken, with wire, mines, a MMG, and a 45L covering the German axis of advance. I managed early on to breach a fortified location of the flour mill, and get a squad in the building.

That would be the high water mark of the attack in the north. Eventually, the well placed Russian weapons and relative lack of cover would wear the German force down.

In the middle, I wanted to have just enough of a threat to make the Russians play an honest defense. As the game moved along, I hedged on this strategy. I kept the middle elements largely in place, when I would have been better off moving 2-3 squads further south to participate in the main thrust.

More to come.....

Raid on Rodimtsev photos

2011-02-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

Jim and I made through 5 grueling turns on the banks of the Volga on Saturday. This, so far, is a top notch scenario that could still go either way. Jim is writing up an AAR here. Since we aren't finished yet, I don't want to say too much and possibly provide valuable intel to my opponent.

Here's the math: I currently have 17 stone hexes. There is one Russian reinforcement group still to enter as we begin turn six. This means the number I am shooting for will be at least 26 and as many as 28 stone hexes. I can reduce that number by one for every 2 CVP I can exit off the east edge.

Hope to finish this weekend. Here are some photos.

Back to the Volga

2011-02-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

I've been talked into a monster.

Raid on Rodimtsev, from the new journal, is an old fashioned all infantry Stalingrad brawl. Including reinforcement groups there are roughly 50 squads on a side. There are some -2 and -3 leaders, and enough flamethrowers and DC's that the Germans troops could have sold their extras on eBay.

The VC are complicated. The Germans need to capture 20 stone hexes, but that number will change up or down depending on in game events and circumstance. Not sure we will be able to finish it in one day.

The Number of That Truck

2011-02-09T12:06:00.003-05:00

I got together with JRV last weekend to play WO5 Astride Hell's Highway. Despite our relative proximity, JR and I don't play each other very often. Playing JR is a double edged knife: I always learn something (good) / I rarely win (bad).  I had intended to do the full AAR, but I forgot my camera, and anyway, it's just too painful. This one was a very one sided affair.

Astride Hell's Highway is a very interesting, complicated scenario. The Germans have two ways to win, and fifty ways to lose. (I'm not sure what I mean by 'fifty ways to lose', but it seemed like a nice turn of phrase. I'm keeping it. ) The Germans (my side) start out attacking American paratroopers in a village, but the Americans get big reinforcement groups on turns three and four, turning the tables on the Germans.

Now, as previously stated, JR is a decidedly better player then me. When he also has hot dice, it can be a bit overwhelming. Late in the game, around turn five or six, an American half squad was eliminated on a double break. To my horror, JR sheepishly announced it was "the first American casualties of the game."

So, I've decided to focus on the positive. There are two important lessons of this game I will endeavor not to forget.

1: Effective SMOKE usage.

    The Germans have to cross some open ground to get into the village, and are equipped with two Smoke Monster StuGs to help. Sure, I smoked in his MG team in the steeple, and his bazooka crew, but that ground was still open to other units. The lesson here is that you don't necessarily have to fire the smoke into the enemy hexes, but into a location where it will it hinder LOS. In this case, simply firing Smoke IN/ADJACENT to the open ground hex that needs to be crossed would effectively hinder LOS from all American units.

2: Setting up a defense.

   The Germans in this one must set up in a fairly limited area. Knowing that the biggest wave of American reinforcements would be coming in from the north, I set up a defense to around my 88s and MGs to get ready for an attack from that direction.
   As JR pointed out after the game, that was too limiting. The American reinforcement group does not come on until turn three. You don't have to be in position at the start of the game.The Germans have two turns to move out of their setup area and into better position to cover open ground, etc. Seems so obvious, and yet never occurred to me.

So, given the way this went, it's hard for me to say whether the scenario is good, bad or indifferent. It certainly is complicated and interesting, and that's probably reason enough to recommend it.

AAR DB077 Speed, Shock and Surprise.

2011-01-28T14:05:00.002-05:00

Trying to prepare for an air drop scenario is a little like planning how you're going to spend your lottery winnings. You can plan all you like, but the chances that you'll ever get to carry it out are slim to none.

The Drop

And so, the troops of SS Fallschirmjager Bataillon 500 jumped from low altitude, hoping to land on or near their assigned drop point. A few did, most did not.

The drop was not horribly bad. The wings that missed their drop points, generally all fell in a decent concentration around the east and southeast part of the map. More importantly, none(!) drifted off the map. (My greatest fear going in was that one or more wings might drift far off map and be essentially out of the war).

The one piece of bad luck on the drop was that three sticks fell onto occupied building locations. Between taking -2 ground fire and the 1MC required for landing in a building hex, two of the three sticks were broken before they hit ground. Unfortunately, these sticks contained, respectively the 10-2 and a 9-2. They, and the squads that accompanied them were easily dispatched during close combat.

The Fight

As expected, several squads failed their landing 1TC and deployed. Turn two was spent mostly gathering up the LMGs and trying to recombine squads while moving east into the town. One wing had landed north of the town and was moving south with the cover of the blazing buildings. On turn two I lost the other 9-2(!) on a 2 flat residual shot that resulted in a wound, followed by another snakes on a 3 flat Final fire shot and a failed wound severity dr. The Germans have a lot of good leaders in this scenario, but my three best were gone, and at this rate Sgt Schultz would soon be leading the assault.

The factory (overlay) on the south edge was firmly in German hands.

Through turns three and four, progress continued. The German troops kept pushing in from two directions. The commissar and his squads were holding onto the buildings in row P. The partisans in the partially rubbles row R factory were falling back. The partisans' tank platoons came rolling up from behind the assault.

By turn five things were on the edge. On the plus side, the commissar and two squads were broken trying to pull back across the row Q street. Even better, when the leader in the factory location they routed to tried to rally them the commissar went Berserk! He soon took everyone out on a mad charge where they would be vaporized by a 30-3 shot.
Two of the little Italian tanks had been flipped (one by a LMG shot, the other in CC), but two were still roaming about.
On the downside, my first attempt to cross the street into the buildings in Q4-Q5 had been beaten back, and now would come the wave of partisan reinforcements.

Through five and six the partisan reinforcements entered from the logical point on the south edge and attacked up both sides of the row Q road. Those on the east side were stopped, but those on the west side were easily able to reinforce the three stone locations in Q3, Q5, and R4.

Meanwhile I absent-mindedly walked a half squad into bypass directly in front of one of the remaining tanks.

A lone partisan squad on the southern edge of the row P factory overlay heroically overcame the odds to kill one of the two SS squads facing him in CC, and keep the other tied up. In my impatience and with a morale advantage, I decided to fire into the melee. Want to guess how that went? It was unraveling.

There was a futile last ditch charge on turn seven, that never really had much chance.

Although I certainly could have used a few -2 leaders in the endgame, I really can't complain about the drop, which really left me in as good a position as could be expected. The reinforcements that the partisans get on turn five is a seriously strong force, and the SS really have to have almost all of their work done before they enter. I fell behind schedule at some point.

Definitely a fun scenario with high reply value. Jim enjoyed it as well. I hope to play the next in Tom Morin's Operation Rosselsprung series, the somewhat smaller Demolition Men, sometime soon.

Imagine A Jump

2011-01-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

Might As Well Jump.

2011-01-20T10:40:00.006-05:00

Brushing up on the chapter E Airdrop rules for DB077 Speed, Shock & Surprise, has brought to light a few things I either forgot or never knew in the first place.

First off, until they land, parachute sticks are Aerial targets. (Not Ariel targets. Relax. No one is shooting at The Little Mermaid.) Range is always doubled for Aerial targets, and PBF/TPBF do not apply. Though the partisans will still get some -2 shots, this will help the Germans considerably in DB077, as the partisans have a pretty limited range to begin with. That one's easy.

Hurting the Germans a bit, is the fact that Aerial parachute sticks always check morale as a 7 morale unit, regardless of the morale of the elite SS Fallschirmjagers they represent.

Ground units always have LOS to an Aerial stick unless they are in a blind hex formed by an Adjacent obstacle.

The only possible LOS hindrance affecting fire at an Aerial target is SMOKE. (LV Hindrances may still apply) However, level 2 Smoke (the kind we will have from the Blazing Rubble in DB077), only affects the shot if ground level firer is IN the hex with the Smoke. Even if the parachute ITSELF is in the Smoke hex, fire is unaffected if the firer is not IN Smoke.

In the example, (after all drift has been resolved and during Defensive First Fire) the 337 w/LMG in J6 can fire on stick A with 2FP -2. The Aerial range is six hexes, making it long range for both the inherit firepower and the LMG. (E.5) There is a -2 mod for Hazardous Movement. The level 2 Smoke does not affect the shot, because it is not In the same hex as the ground level unit.(E.6)

In addition, if the squad was concealed, they would remain so after firing, because the stick is treated as "Broken" for LOS purposes. (9.6) Even if the LMG should get ROF, it could not fire again at this time, because "No Aerial target can be attacked twice in the same hex by the same firer." (9.3)

The 337 in J8 can not fire on stick A because the Aerial range is 10 (5x2). It does have a LOS to stick A. The obstacle in K7 creates only one Blind Hex (7.25). This squad can fire on stick 'B' with 1FP (3 / 2 for long range) -2.

The 337 in G8 can fire on stick 'B' with 3FP -2. TPBF/PBF is NA vs Aerial targets (.5). After Defensive First Fire, stick 'B' will take a NMC as it's landing DR, because it has landed in a building hex. The squad then MUST fire TPBF at the stick (9.43). Assuming the squad is already marked First Fire, this attack is 4FP +2. If the squad is already marked Final Fire due to Cowering in First Fire, this would be a Final Protective Fire shot.

At the end of First Fire all German parachutes land in their current hex. Non-German paratroops would would be able to move one hex just prior to landing. (9.4). All must take a landing DR. If landing in a building or woods hex (plus many other terrain types listed in E9.42), this is a NMC, still using the 7 morale printed on the parachute counter. Otherwise, it a NTC, failure of which results in any squad deploying, and one HS drifting one hex downwind. (9.42) During a Mild Breeze, as we have in this scenario, these become 1TC and 1MC. Could be ugly.

Hello UPS!

2011-01-19T14:50:00.002-05:00

The map pack arrived today.

Haven't looked too closely yet, but the maps look pretty good! They have a slightly different feel then the 20-30 year old originals, but "different" is not a bad thing. In addition, the consistent colors, and -MOST OF ALL FOR GOD'S SAKE- the fact that the hexes where the boards meet actually meet up correctly make this a huge win.

At the risk of acting like a four year old who likes playing with the box better than playing with the present, the box looks very useful for storage and travel.

It's the first time I've had something to put maps in that they actually fit in! The pack comes with boards 1-52 plus seven letter-id starter kit boards, with room for plenty more. I'm going to reinforce the corners and keep everything in there. Boxes are exciting and awesome!! (Easy, easy now, I'm going to be okay.)

I just hope they don't start to dissolve or rebel when I mix in my HOB and Bounding Fire boards.

It Never Snows In May Either.

2011-01-18T11:15:00.004-05:00

Getting back into the ASL swing this weekend. Jim and I are taking on Speed, Shock & Surprise from Dispatches from the Bunker (DB077).

The scenario represents the airborne portion of attempt by the Germans to eliminate Tito and his partisan headquarters near Drvar Yugoslavia.

I've only played an airdrop scenario once before (as part of the Primosole Bridge campaign game). The airdrop is very dicey, especially when there is a breeze of undetermined direction (the wind direction in this scenario is determined just prior to beginning play). You assign your sticks, pick your drop points and hope for the best. Bad luck on turn one might put you hopelessly behind.

My Germans have 25(!) SS Fallschirmjager squads. The German leadership is an embarrassment of riches, with 10 leaders including three -2s and 4 -1s. Some of these units will likely be lost in the airdrop when they are very vulnerable to enemy fire (hazardous movement). Others will drift way off target or be broken by terrain, and be quite delayed entering the fight. Whatever force gets down will have 7 turns to capture all of the stone building locations.

The partisan onboard force is comparatively weak, though in a good defensive position. By set-up instructions they can not concentrate. *But* they are stealthy, concealed, and allowed to use H-T-H. They also get four L3 Italian light tanks on turn three, and a turn five infantry reinforcement that is no joke.

A pregame quasi-bombardment is conducted in which some buildings are rubbled (and possibly set ablaze), and some road hexes get hit with shell holes. Having completed the pre game rolls, here is the terrain we will be dropping into:

Tito: We are coming for you.

Happy Everything.

2010-12-29T11:36:00.002-05:00

In the spirit of the season, here's my buddy Paul being silly with Aimee Mann.

AAR BFP60 Thrilla in Manila

2010-09-06T11:51:00.009-04:00

My opponent and I played "Thrilla in Manila" from BFP's Blood & Jungle pack. This one features the high powered American forces trying to root out every Japanese soldier holed up in the Agricultural building in 1945. The Americans have a big hammer, but the Japanese are hard to kill.

Jim set up on a broad front. He had two kill stacks of .50 cal /MMG on the first level of buildings near the center. He would send a few squads up the middle while the larger attack would come from the flanks.

My defense featured the a pillbox /HMG covering the row I road, and the other with a MMG cover hexrow F. I fortified four ground level hexes of the victory building, and the two northernmost 1st levels. I swapped the remaining two fortified locations for tunnels; one from E5 to G4, the other K4 to H3. Both pillboxes also get tunnels, which lead into the victory building.

My AA guns were covering the back of the building from the brush patch. The INF gun was in G4. I considered putting the gun on a fortified upper building level, bu decided I didn't want to expose it the big American guns so early.

Each of the northernmost hexes of the victory building have 6FP AP mines. To try to keep the fire spewing sherman at bay, I put all 4 AT mine factors in F5, and a set DC in I7 to be detonated by a HIP T-H hero in J5.

Jim's first WP shot was effective on G5, stripping concealment of all the units and revealing a HIP rooftop squad. So much for that surprise. That was the only WP round the Americans brought with them, however. The didn't bring any regular smoke either.

The early battle had the American guns and kill stacks pounding the front of the building as the Japanese skulked and tried to hold off two bazooka squads creeping up through the debris. The squads were turned back, but the Japanese 10-1 leader died early, failing a MC and the ensuing wound severity dr.

One of the M18s came rolling down the main street hoping to clear some wire (which it did), but ran into the set A-T DC as well. Leaving a burning wreck.

There was a fairly intense fight for the buildings on the Japanese right. The Americans took some beating in there. I had hoped to get most of my troops back to the building through the E5 tunnel, but the flametank parked in F6 made the tunnel hex one of the more dangerous on the map. In the end, only 2 half squads were able to get back.

The American of the Japanese left moved without much opposition. A HIP Japanese half squad did manage to scare a big American stack moving in the open, but gacked the roll. 2.5 of the 3.5 squads I had on that side were able to get across the street with out much trouble. The HMG crew in the pillbox got back as well, although they had to cross open ground to do it (can't carry the HMG through a tunnel.) By turn 5 the main battle was on.

The Americans initially gained a toehold in the building on the north side. The troops on the flanks were beaten back by point blank fire a few times.

As the Americans moved in, there was no longer any place to hide in that building.

The Japanese continued to attrit under the massive firepower pounding away at them. Insult to injury came when the last full strength elite Japanese squad went berserk, charging out of the victory building to their death.

The flame tank finally tried to move in closer and hit the AT mines. Burn. The next turn we got wind, and the smoke drifted into the building.

The Japanese on the south end finally gave way to fire from a sherman with armor leader, and now Americans were getting in from both ends.

As turn 7 started, the issue was still very much in doubt. The known Japanese consisted of only only a wounded 9-1 leader, one half squad, one full squad, and 3 reduced strength gun crews. There was still a HIP half squad at large somewhere. An American squad would bump into it, hiding in the cellar.

The drifting smoke made the American's job harder, as it made the FP less effective. The Japanese full squad won a CC killing an American squad, and a Japanese gun crew was hanging on in melee against the odds. Still on the edge.

Turn 8 saw Jim's shermans going CE and driving into bypass of the two remaining Japanese MMCs, freezing them. A squad and leader executed an infantry overrun on the wounded leader who was trying to bottle up the stairwell, and pushed him into the location of the Japanese squad.

CC came and the Americans, with advantages in both, prevailed.

Jim's attacking strategy was sound. I think my defensive set-up was as well. One thing I did not do well during play, was take full advantage of the O6 cellar locations. I was only able to generate one T-H hero during the game, who was cut down by the MG's of the sherman he was desperately charging.

This is a very intense scenario. Both of us were pretty well drained at the end. I was feeling pretty good about my position in the odd numbered turns, and certain all was lost on the evens. That's the kind of roller coaster that defines an exciting scenario. More like this, please.

I would highly recommend downloading the enlarged map section from Bounding Fire . Otherwise, the map becomes cluttered and tedious late in the game.

New Business

2010-09-04T10:00:00.003-04:00

Jim and I will later be taking on Thrilla in Manila , from BFP's Blood and Jungle pack.

As the title indicates, this one has the Japanese and American troops in a city battle as the U.S. fights to retake the Phillipines in 1945. The American are tasked with taking a five hex three story building, which has RB-style cellars to boot.

"Slugfest" doesn't quite do this one justice. The two sides set up right on top of each other and start hammering away. The US has a flame tank, two 155 arty pieces being used as direct fire, flamethrowers, dcs, the whole kit.

The Japanese counter with two AA guns, an INF gun, a few pillboxes, and multiple fortified building locations. In addition, they have all the usual Japanese defensive tricks.

This will likley be a bloodbath.

Old Business

2010-09-04T09:40:00.004-04:00

It's been a few weeks since the Despbry Defiant playing. I didn't have my camera and all I got were a few iPhone shots that aren't very good.

Suffice to say that Desobry was not defiant. In fact, he was downrigtht compliant.

I set up the .50 cal, & -2 leader in the steeple location. Even thought ahead enough to have a spare half-squad on level one to man the MG if needed. In the opening prep phase, with German infantry in the open (except for the mist), the .50 cal whiffed. No effect. No Rate. in the ensuing DF phase, Jim needed a three to hit the steeple with his halftrack mounted 75*. Rolled a three. Broken squad, wounded leader.

So we rout the squuad out of there, and let the spare squad advance up and take over. Jim rolls a two on his next shot. Critical. The .50 would end the day having taken only one shot. It was that kind of day.

Jim moved his armor up and the roads to avoid bogging in the mud. The infantry mostly moved up the middle between the roads. I gave Jim a few anxious moments with my artillery, but his casualties remained light. When at last he had significant infantry near my pre-registered hex, I pulled a red card.

I was careless with my armor reinforcements, using them to engage a panther tank that would have been a very difficult kill. I should have held them back behind the village in a reverse slop defense. Jim obliged my carelessness by blowing the reinforcements away.

Soon, he was killing the HIP tank on my left flank and mopp-ing up the infantry in that area.

The German path almost entirley clear, we called this in turn 6.

A combination of bad dice and careless play made this a reasonably easy German victory. Jim's slow and steady approach capitalized on my errors.

It's an interesting enough scenario, and certainly should have been closer. Jim and I both gave it the "slight recommend" rating on ROAR. We agreed that it is not as fun and interesting as it's AP6 sister scenario, Nishe Nyet.

AP61 Desobry Defiant

2010-07-03T07:36:00.004-04:00

Jim and I will be taking a crack at this one later this morning.

Jim will take the German attacker, and I'll defend muddy and misty Noville with a mixed bag of American troops.

The Germans have a big and tough force with 12(!) AFVs, not counting the 6 halftracks. Three of those are Panthers. They also have a half dozen elite squads to go with 12 1st & 2nd liners.

Pre-game sense is that the Germans have a lot of tools and firepower, but a big task ahead. The VC basically require total annihilation of the American infantry, and the Americanshave a few tricks at their disposal as well (e.g. daisy chain, gyros, etc.)

We played AP60, Nishe Nyet, from this pack a few weeks ago, and it was pretty strong. My Russians were able to push Jim's Germans over the CVP cap for the win. Hoping this scenario is as much fun as that one.

World Cups

2010-06-13T19:30:00.001-04:00

Steel Inferno

2010-05-28T22:18:00.009-04:00

Well, it's been so long since we played this one, that I may have a hard time remembering what happened. Notes? HAHAHAHA. Ah. No. No notes. I DO have photographs to jog the memory.

Jim chose to use his rubbled building allotment to knock down some outlying buildings on the British approach. A logical move to eliminate some of the easier victory locations.

My pregame bombardment came down near the church. It rubbled the rear hex (both levels) and revealed the German AT gun in the forward hex.

There were basically two approaches I considered for the attack. The British left has the most cover. There are a lot of blind hexes created by the woods and bocage that deny LOS to even the steeple location. The down side is that it would be slow going.

I decided to forgo the cover, because I felt like by the time I got to the town via that path, it would likely be about turn 5, and German defense would have plenty of time to shift and meet me. So, I chose the faster, riskier up the middle route.

By the bottom of the second, things were not going well for the attackers.

Jim set up a skirmish line on my left to protect the covered approach. I saw an opportunity to cut those troops off and prevent their retreat. Jim saw an opportunity to burn two Shermans with panzerfausts.

Meanwhile my quick coup-de-main up the middle was being slowed down to a crawl by harassing fire called in by the German radio man. Though still concealed, he was obviously in the building in BFP C N8.

Top of third, things started to turn. A sniper took out the German 8-1. Then , the biggest shot of the game: an area fire Critical Hit on the radio man. The barrage lifted and the gates were open.

The bulk of my infantry moved through and around the now rubbled buildings in P2 and O3. Some more moved around now open German left. There was just too much infantry there for the Germans to check.

A Sherman with a malfed MA charged into the building in R3 and overran the German MG, breaking the crew. Then he slammed into the church, tying up the troops there.

The German reinforcements came on and put up a fight, but it was too late. The British just had too much bearing down on the Germans by that point. In the final turn, the multitude of British squads poured into the village capturing more than enough buildings for the win.

It should be said that I scored a few criticals in this game, and Jim had terrible luck with boxcars at all the wrong times. I feel like my strategy was pretty sound, and yet it was a dicing as well.

Because of the dice and the early exit of the German artillery, this didn;t feel as close as it might have. I think it is an interesting scenario and well worth playing.

Steel Inferno

2010-04-09T22:14:00.004-04:00

Getting ready to take on Jim tomorrow in the Chas Smith neo-clasic BtB 8 Steel Inferno. Have only heard great things about this one, and am glad to finally be getting a chance to play it.

I'll have the large British force trying to capture the village of Fontenay from a small but very tough group of SS troops. Both sides have artillery and armor support. Looks like a great one.

One question we had was regarding the pre-game bombardment. HBR 2 states "The British player may place a Bombardment per KGP US RG Note b [EXC: Blast Radius is only 3 hexes].

The KGP rule is that everything within 7 hexes of the Pre-Registered hex undergoes Bombardment as per chapter C. The problem is that the term "Blast Radius" used in the SSR is not a term defined in ASL, so we're not entirely certain how many hexes get caught. We are assuing that we are just supposed to follow the KGP rule, substituing the number '3' for the number '7', but I wish it was more explicit.

My troops have to capture 8 buildings. Of course, rubbled buildings don't count, and the Germans get to rubble three of them by SSR. It's also possible more could get rubbled as a result of the bombardment, or even during during play.

Should be a quite the blast.

AAR BFP 29 Hueishan Docks, or Gone With the Wind.

2010-03-19T20:35:00.001-04:00

GUSTS. Sonofa...

After a marathon ASL session with JRBrackin, I will never again think of the wind change DR as a perfunctory ritual.

Jim has been unable to play for the last several weeks, and like a starving man at a buffet, he wasn't in the mood for anything light. So he suggested BFP-29 Hueishan Docks and asked for the defending Japanese. I cleared my schedule.

The Chinese start out with 20 squads on map and get another 13 SE on/after turn one. They also have a whopping 13 AFVs and 3 trucks to haul men and equipment. The Japanese start with only about 17 SE on map, but get a very tough turn four reinforcement group of 10 1st line & elite troops with 3(!) flamethrowers and 6 tanks.

The Chinese have to control 6 of the 10 multi-hex buildings north of the river on board BFP G. My strategy was to attack mainly via the shortest route, on the Chinese left. I would push south and then turn west, and hopefully approach the last victory building before the Japanese wets edge reinforcements could get there.

The initial street crossing was a bit hairy as Jim set a little HIP trap in the DW-1a C5 building. A hip squad popped up and smacked an assault mover. Then another squad was turned back by fire. I was able to force the crossing by firing three Dare-Death squads (the Chinese get 6 by SSR). All three made it across and the C5 and F5 buildings would soon fall.

The Japanese INF piece in G-F9 flipped one of the lightly armored Chinese tanks, and kept some infantry pinned down for a turn and a half. In the bottom of the 2nd the Japanese right was going down, and the crew tried to push it out, thinking they were out of range of Chinese pouring through the C5 and H3 buildings. They were not. The crew was vaporized.

The Japanese start clearing out and crossing the I1-I8 street. Many did not make it. Through turns three and four the Chinese turned west and got firmly established across the I1-I8 road. Four victory buildings were in their hands and the fifth was close to falling. On the downside, the Chinese artillery had pulled two red cards without getting off even a single mission.

As the Japanese reinforcements entered, a bit of a stalemate had developed around the open ground between hexrows L and N. Feeling the urgency of the approaching combat engineers I pushed five tanks around the corner and start up the road along the river bank. I was aware that the big Japanese 75* ART gun was in a sanger in R8 staring straight up that road, but thought I might be able to give him more of these small targets than he could hit.

In defensive fire, he immob'd one tank. In the following prep fire he burned two more. Another had a malf''d MA, the fifth thought it best to stand off and try to shoot it out with all the traffic problems now arising from burning wrecks. It was costly, but the tank assault did dislodge the Japanese HMG in the J9 building, and give the Japanese infantry in the southern buildings and woods some trouble.

Meanwhile, I decided to try to break the infantry stalemate like any good Chinese commander, with the bold stroke of a human wave.

Eleven and a half squads started on their way, across largely open ground. Only 5 made it across in good order. To complicate matters more, the wave was slowed down by an accidental overstacking. ( I made this mistake at least two other times). In my defense, there were a huge number of squads in a very small area, and this was an easy mistake to make. With the counter density around the final victory building in P9, it was starting to look more like Pavlov's House.

Turn seven came and the Japanese reinforcements were firmly established in the P9 building and the buildings just north. I still had many squads and all my DCs left. The two burning wrecks on the river road had created overlapping drifting smoke in N9 and O10. It was one of those ASL situations where the smoke is so thick you can't see the next location. I was able to move a big stack into N9 unmolested. More troops were moving into the N10 woods without too much trouble. After 10+ hours, the stage was set for an epic last turn slugging match. And then.......

I didn't even watch as my opponent dropped the dice for the wind change die roll. It's just a rote exercise. Nearly meaningless in a daytime scenario. Why, there isn't even a chance of rain or snow. Not even civilian interrogation. I was intently surveying the destruction when Jim calmly declared “gusts.”

It took a minute for the meaning of this to truly sink in. I sat in abject horror as Jim began removing the smoke counters from the board. The previously blind massive Japanese kill stack in O10 was suddenly sitting with a clear field of vision. During prep fire, the two big Chinese stacks were systematically destroyed by flamethower and small arms fire. Game.

Perhaps I should have made it to the building sooner. I lost track of my Dare-Death squads after the initial crossing, an obvious blunder. I was never really able to get the Chinese heavy mortars into play, as the battle kept moving away from. The OBA problem was just an unlucky deck.

The sheer number of counters in play made for an at times tedious going, and with all their AFV's the Chinese really have to manage traffic flow.

But those are trivial criticisms of an otherwise terrific scenario. Though the ending was disappointing, the stage was set for a hugely entertaining final turn before “boxcars Jim” made that roll. Jim and I both gave it very high rating on ROAR. If you and your opponent have a dozen hours or so someday, I recommend.

Holy S**t !

2010-02-10T20:48:00.004-05:00

It's bad.

Anyone for a Winter War scenario?

Time Off

2010-01-18T16:18:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been a few months since a post here. Just haven't had a lot of ASL to blog about. I missed Winter Offensive this year for the first time in awhile. I have been playing some, but mostly TOP SECRET non-bloggable playtests.

With all the new releases, hopefully I'll have something to post soon.

In the meantime, here's a video of my old buddy Paul, doing his job at Sketchfest in San Francisco last week. His job, as it happens, is being one of the funniest people alive:

ASLOK Saturday

2009-11-10T20:02:00.006-05:00

My week wrapped up Saturday with the "Chinese Fire Drill" mini. I was matched up in round one with Sweden's Robert Maglica. We chose Schwerpunkt's "Seizing the Sittang" bridge. I had the attacking Japanese.

Robert dug in two stacks in foxoles at the foot of the bridge, and sent everyone else forward to slow down the Japanese advance. My main force and one of my armored cars moved up on or around the main road.

The other car went left over the open ground and kunai to try to find a way to cut off the fallback of some of the Chinese units. This was a mistake. Although it did manage to KIA a squad with a point blank shot, with it's "truck-type" movement it was essentially out of the fight afterward.

Robert did a good job of shooting and falling back. Eventually he took out an armored car with an MG kill shot. My desperation turn five banzai went poorly, and I conceded.

2-6

Since Robert made quick work of me, and my lack of sleep was starting to catch up, I decided to head down to my room for a quick hour long nap. That turned out to be a 4 hour nap, and thus ended my ASL for the week.

I just did some hanging out with a few beers and got the gear together on Saturday night. There just wasn't any more ASL in me. Although I was disappointed in my 2-6 record (worse than my first ASLOK last year), it was a great time once again. Already looking forward to next year.

ASLOK Friday

2009-10-24T16:34:00.012-04:00

Friday morning brought the Schwerpunkt mini. I drew a first round match up against Bostonian Tim Kelly. We chose the curiously named SP179 Brittany Speared.

This may have been another case of gaining an advantage on the pre-game "dice for sides" roll. I drew the attacking Americans, who are tasked with clearing the Germans from two of the three low hills.

Tim quite properly conceded the near hill (with the exception of lone squad left behind to be a nuisance).

After that, I lost a Sherman to the AT gun on turn 3, and my infantry (particularly the flanking force) basically got their butts kicked by the German mortar for four turns. Still, a good rally phase gave me enough to sweep the German positions from the hill on the American right.

2-3

In round two I drew the gracious Anthony Flanagan, who had just eeked out a round one victory. We chose the east front scenario Tisza Tease. I again drew the attacker, the Germans.

My task was to cross board 57/44 the long way, and get 24 VP exited from the far edge. I should have known where this one was heading when I broke the main armaments on two of my 3 PzIVs in the advancing fire phase of turn one. Fortunately, both Panthers remained functional. Anthony malfed the gun on his T-34 on his first shot a turn later.

On Panther got into a game long shooting match with a SU-85 hull down behind a wall. The SU has a hard time penetrating the panther armor, and the panther conversely kept putting rounds into the wall. A comedy of errors.

Afraid of the ticking clock I tried to get an infantry laden halftrack past the SU. That ended badly. With Anthony's MG position in the center of town mauling my infantry, we called this one on turn four.

2-4

It was a bit after eight o'clock when Kevin Meyer talked me into one more. Not wanting to take on anything too large at that hour we chose SP173 Der Letzte Geburtstag.

Kevin's attacking Russians passed all of their turn one morale checks, even getting two Battle Hardening results, with a hero to boot. I conversely failed every MC I took. With only five squads in the German OB, it soon became a rout. Well, I did say "it has to be something small".

2-5

Time to hit the bar.

ASLOK Thursday

2009-10-15T22:36:00.004-04:00

Thursday kicked off the night minis. (There were two this year). In the first round I drew Cliff Smith who I had played before and lost to (at Winter Offensive).

We selected A Midnight Clear, a new Pete Shelling scenario introduced at ASLOK. Dice gave me the Americans.

The scenario is an all infantry nighttime meeting engagement in the densely wooded terrain of board 37 (Pine Woods by SSR). Neither side starts onboard. The two sides grappled in the dark for four turns or so before Cliff conceded, his SS troops having a hard time getting across the stream in sufficient force. .

Cliff didn't do anything really wrong, and I certainly didn't play a stellar game. I had feeling I may have won this one when we diced for sides. That's okay. I'll take it. Movin on.

1-2

Round two of the night mini had me squared off against my old nemesis JR van Mechelen. JR is certainly responsible more than any other single person for my involvement in ASL. I may never forgive him for it.

The round two selections all looked a bit large, so we chose U29 Night Battle at Noromaryevka. This one from the Turning the Tide pack features a tough Russian force attacking the Germans on the board 3 village. JR had the defenders.

This one went my Russians' way in the early turns, as JR's PzIVs bounced several shots against my radio free T-34s rolling nines and tens. JR had terrible luck with starshells on turn three, blinding almost his entire force, and allowing the Russian to move pretty freely into the village. At one point around turn four, JR was making noises about conceding. I've played JR enough times to know that's not really going to happen.

Sure enough, the bad guys turned it around. JR bagged a few T-34s and got their platoon mates de facto immobilized as they failed nearly every task check required to separate from their platoons.

The NVR was bouncing all around, at one point dropping to zero, before recovering to one.

We played into the last turn, but it would have taken a miracle for a Russian victory at that point. I did get to pull off an SMC overrun, which was a small moral victory.

1-3

ASLOK Wednesday

2009-10-13T21:45:00.005-04:00

After getting in on Tuesday night, I decided to have a beer and get some sleep in preparation for the days ahead.

Started the Jungle mini early on Wednesday against Rich Domovic. I had the Japanese attacker vs Rich's Gurkha's in J9 A Stiff Fight.

Rich played a smooth fall back defense. He fell back very quickly and voiced concern about making to easy for me to gobble up ground. However, he also fell back almost entirely in tact. In the end, he had too much left for me to clear from the road.

0-1

Knocked out of the mini, I found a pickup afternoon game against Guy Chaney in Romania Mare from the latest Friendly Fire pack.

Again I drew the attacker (Romanians). After my morning frustration I was more aggressive about trying to prevent the defender's escape. I went for a 1st turn 1 MP ESB to get one of my Panzer IV's into position and of course, that didn't go well.

My attack had built some pretty fair momentum when the Russian reinforcements appeared in the form of two ISU-22s which totally outgun the Romanian armor. I got a critical hit from a TACAM T-60 to burn one ISU, and a miracle immobilization result against the other. I thought my dice were going to pull this one out for me.

The VC's require the Romanians to capture buildings and keep two of their AFV's alive. I had planned to use my remaining PzIV to drive into the final victory building either to overrun or bypass, but when Guy took out a lightly armored TACAM with a MG to kill shot, I couldn't take the risk.

Guy had the final victory building well defended, and his fire broke or pinned each unit that made an approach to get in. Terrific scenario. Great game.

0-2

Sunday Travel.

2009-10-11T18:02:00.004-04:00

Will post some personal ASLOK recaps at some point.

Meanwhile, it was nice day for a long drive home. Pennsylvania looks spectacular. Seriously, Ohio, you have some catching up to do.

For me, the war is over.

2009-10-11T07:23:00.001-04:00

So long, Clevelend. Maybe next year I'll get out of the hotel once or twice. Nah, probably not.

ASLOK

2009-10-10T00:26:00.001-04:00

If you're getting more than five hours sleep; YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

Arrival

2009-10-06T20:21:00.001-04:00

Packing

2009-10-04T23:26:00.002-04:00

Leaving for ASLOK on Tuesday. Whatever happens, don't let me forget to bring my reading glasses and the chargers for the phone and the iPod. Come on people, I'm counting on you.

VotG18 In Sight of the Volga AAR

2009-09-18T21:49:00.011-04:00

The reworking of this classic Beyond Valor scenario for the VotG map owes much to the original, maybe too much.

For sure the addition of NKVD squads, and the possibility of an NKVD strongpoint add welcome VotG flavor. The one criticism both Jim and I had is that the random Russian reinforcement procedure is overly complicated and can lead to the Russians getting VERY strong with a little luck.

Still, we came down to the last turn, so not much to complain about.

The VASL map shows my roadblock and HIP MMG locations. Harder to see on this map is the HIP INF gun on the ground floor of CC21. There were two other hip squads toting ATRs out in the field.

The two northernmost ground floor locations of the Brewery were fortified, along with all ground floor locations of the state bank, which I declared an NKVD strongpoint.

It seemed to me that an upfront defense is needed in this 10 turn monster to delay the Germans at least a little bit. However, one way this update is harder on the Russians is that 9 of the Russians 15 at start squads are conscript (the original had no conscripts). Falling back in order through the rubble strewn city with 3MF troops would be tricky.

The first line of resistance was along the hexrow R road. There were six squads up front backstopped by two of the four commissars. After taking a few pot-shots at the Germans crossing, everybody voluntarily breaks, and routs to the commissar.

This is more or less how it worked for the first three turns. On the fallback, I lost two conscript squads, with a third cut off in an upper building level. That was a loss rate I could live with. I was not able to cause many German casualties on the way back, causing only a few breaks. However.

Maybe the most important event of the game occurred in turn three when the Russian sniper found the German 10-2 and ended his war early. Later, when the German kill stacks would start hammering away at the fortified stone locations, he would be missed.

After the fall back, we settled into a midgame static slugging match, as the German StuGs took up positions, and the infantry formed kill stacks. My MMG's and my gun didn't last long. All were lost early to the Russian ammo shortage.

Jim made the tactical decision to get his MG victory conditions fulfilled by exiting the 17FP, rather than getting into 2nd level building locations. With the Russian gun and MMG covering the southern flank out of the way, the exit was more or less wide open. That left just the other part of the VC for him to worry about: getting control of all ground level locations in the Brewery and State Bank. (beer and money, it's all he ever thinks about)

In the end, Jim seemed to be second guessing that decision. I'm not sure which way I would have gone. Getting those MGs into firing position would be pretty useful when the Russian reinforcements start rolling in, but I can certainly see the appeal of not having to fight your way upstairs.

After six, it was still a standoff by the bank, while a German platoon or so began to close in on the Brewery

Killing off NKVD squads in a strongpoint is not easy. By rule, when in or ADJACENT to a location with a commissar OR NKVD MMC, they must try to self rally. AND that rally occurs as if being rallied by a commissar (i.e., DM is N/A, if they fail to rally they are subject ELR). NKVD have broken side morale of 9. In the strongpoint they are fanatic making it 10. Put a commissar in the location and it's 11. They do not stay broken long.

(Edit: As pointed out in the comments, morale can not actually go above 10. Oops)

Conversely, the militia (conscript) squads tend to get whittled down by this rule over time, as failing to rally, which they do with much greater frequency, results in casualty reduction (again, the commissar effect).

Through turn 7-9 as the Russian reinforcements began coming on The Germans broke into the north end of the Bank by breaking the squads at that end and making it across the street. At the south side of the bank they finally breached the fortification by driving a StuG through the wall and moving MMCs in behind.

At the Brewery the Germans breached a fortified location with a DC and broke in there.

At the start of turn 10, with Russian reinforcements now pouring up from the Volga docks, the Germans controlled all the needed locations in the Bank, but there was still a H-T-H melee in the ground of CC20. The Germans also controlled 2 of the 3 ground level locations of the Brewery, and held a substantial advantage in the H-T-H melee going in the third.

In CC20 the Germans had 3-1/2 overstacked squads against 1 NKVD squad and the now wounded 8+1 commissar. When Jim rolled a 4 eliminating the Russians, it was looking bad for the good guys. But when they answered back with a 4 of their own, taking out the entire German stack with them(!), there was suddenly a hole in the German line.

In the bottom of the 10th Russian reinforcements moved forward under fire getting ready to move into the now vacant CC20 and retake control. When Jim had fired his last defensive fire shot, and there were still Russians ADJACENT to the now empty CC20, the game was over.

All in, we gave the scenario an *okay* rating. The Valor of the Guards map and chrome are always fun to play with. On the downside, it did bog down into a static shooting match through the midgame.

As noted before the random Russian reinforcement system is a bit silly in it's complexity. Can't really blame the Bunker guys for that, as it was pretty much brought over wholesale from the original scenario. It also allowed the Russians though some lucky dice to get three HMG's. That fact made my opponent um... a bit grumpy ...to put it mildly. However, they really didn't help much.

At that point in the game there is +2 dusk LV in effect, making shots into the stone buildings +5 (+6 into fortified locations.) In the end, my boys left the MGs behind to get on the move towards the goal line.

In fairness, the biggest factors in the Russian victory were the early death of Mr 10-2, and the NKVD miracle CC roll clearing out that location. Not the strength of the reinforcements.

If you really like VotG (which most or all of us do), you probably want to give this one a shot at some point. Wouldn't really call it a "must play" though.

Back to Stalingrad

2009-09-05T17:53:00.004-04:00

The plan is to head back to the Valor of the Guards map on Monday have a go at VotG18, In Sight of the Volga. Jim will be on the attack with the Germans, I'll have the defenders.

This reworking of the Beyond Valor scenario for the historical map appeared in last summer's Operation Special Edition #1. The scenario is all about the Germans trying to get machine guns into the upper building levels overlooking the Volga. However, it's also a bit more than that.

The Russians get five ground level fortified buildings, and SSR 1 also states that NKVD strongpoints are in play. In practical terms, this means that the Russian may turn either the State Bank or the Brewery into an NKVD strongpoint, but not both.

The Germans need to control all ground level locations of the State Bank and the Brewery, and also get 17FP worth of functioning machine guns into their upper levels. The wrinkle here is that the Germans can also exit MG's off the east edge to count towards that total. So, the Russians can not just hunker down in the fortress and play "come and get me". They have to spread out a bit, and be concerned about a German exit.

German troops exited off the east edge also reduce the number of reinforcing troops the Russians will receive starting on turn 7.

More to come....

What he said.

2009-08-30T20:15:00.006-04:00

I was going to post a detailed AAR of The Bloody Torokina Perimeter. But since I am still fried from yesterday's long and tense playing of that Dispatches From the Bunker scenario, I am glad that my opponent, JR, saved me the trouble.

There were other players and games at the Brackin Bash, but I'm not sure what they played or what the outcomes were, as this 12+ hour slugging match was nearly all consuming.

Bloody Torokina Perimeter

2009-08-24T21:29:00.009-04:00

This Saturday will be a return to for-real ASL action at the roughly semi-annual "Brackin Basement Bash". One of my regular opponents, Jim Brackin hosts these ASL days at his house from time to time. I've been to four or five by now, and none has ever been in the basement. I think a new name is in order for the event.

Anyway, I've drawn JRV for an opponent and we've agreed on Dispatches From the Bunker's "The Bloody Torokina Perimeter" (DB057).

I dropped a die to randomly determine sides and got the Japanese. When JR said he preferred the Japanese if it was all the same to me, I gladly handed them over. Not that I think the Americans have any real advantage, but giving a player like JR a week to set up a fixed defense is not a strategy endorsed by Sun Tzu.

I have the American defenders behind the fixed fortifications.

BTW, JR, This is not my set-up. :)

The Japanese have two reinforced companies moving down from the jungle to fling themselves at the dug-in Americans. The VC require them to exit infantry or capture pillboxes. Each wire hex in this map also contains a 6FP AP minefield.

The Japanese get 8(!) DC's and a flamethrower among other toys. Some of the DC's will surely be used to send DC heroes rushing in to attempt to blow a gap in the wire. The setup restrictions force most of the Japanese troops to setup on the road in the north, so they will take a turn or two to get to their line of departure, giving my Americans a chance to react and shift.

The American on board forces counter with 4MMG's, a 40mm AA gun, and a 37LL AT gun which hopefully have a few rounds of canister ammo. The good guys also get some high quality reinforcements on turns 3 and 5 including a 10-2, a .50 cal, and a flamethrower of their own.

Both sides have small OBA modules. The Japanese will most likely fire smoke or WP with their first mission.

There promise to be banzai charges through minefields, firelanes and all the rest. Looks like a real brawl.

Is it ASLOK yet?

2009-08-16T12:44:00.007-04:00

Another ASL free weekend and I'm wishing that ASLOK started yesterday.

Last year was my first Ohio trip. I wasn't really sure what to expect, and so my anticipation wasn't all that high. This year it's in overdrive. Can. Not. Wait. to get in the car, crank up the iPod, and make that long highway drive through the scenic Pennsylvania countryside, to that bleak, flat, gray Ohio-scape.

The hotel is just about perfect. The games are in the top floor meeting room. The space last year was a little tight, but not terribly so. Just outside the room is a lounge with a few sofas, a bigscreen TV, and a cash bar! ASLOK is the only group on the floor. No wedding bands or trade shows to compete with.

So, I'm spending some lazy Sunday time trying to decide what scenarios to print out and bring, making sure my kit is travel ready, etc. I know it's seven weeks away, but come on!

Will be spending four full days this year. I'm signed up for a mini- tournament each day. You might think that won't leave any time for any relaxed "open" games. But the thing is, when you're not very good, you get knocked out of the mini's early, and have the rest of the day free!

2008 Recap

Recalling last year, I was fortunate to win the first two rounds of the night mini. As per ASLOK rules, when you win the first two rounds of a Thursday mini, you are automatically 2-0 for the Grofaz, regardless of the mini final match outcome.

I lost the final round of that mini to the gracious and affable Philly native Randy Rossi, when I conceded at about 2:45 AM. An appropriate ending for the "night" event.

Problem was that I was to play Bill Cirillo the next morning at 8:00 AM in the "Grofaz" mini. MC Bret was herding all 2-0 players into these. Now, Bill is about 20 times better at this game than me on my best day. Maybe 21. However, on 3-4 hours sleep, it's like a prize fight between Evander Holyfield and Renee Zellwegger.

Bill made very quick work of me in Rocket's Red Glare, and my Grofaz dream was over. But I was in contention! For like 5 minutes, sure. But still!

Come on, October.

Long March

2009-08-10T20:37:00.005-04:00

Another ASL free weekend for me, but I at least I had a new product to pour over.

HOB's The Long March showed up my mailbox last week. It's a 17 scenario pack from the iconic period of the Chinese civil war, as Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists chase Mao's Red Army all over China.

$32 is a bit high for just a scenario pack, but it's ASL, and Heat of Battle has a well deserved reputation for quality products, so....what else are you going to spend your $32 on?

With one exception, the scenarios are all infantry. Standard Chinese counters are used for the Nationals and partisan counters represent Red Army troops. Scenario size runs the gamut. There are rules for linking the scenarios at a quasi-campaign game. The folder features a historical summary.

Many of the scenarios have unique SSR's to add historical flavor (and frankly, to give the all infantry scenarios each something distinctive.) For example, LM 11 ,Medieval Warfare, is played on DASL boards and depicts the Red Army scaling city walls and being attacked by cauldrons of boiling rice porridge. A Porridge Cauldron apparently attacks with 12FP (duh!), and is not penalized for use as advancing fire. Yeah. I guess not!

Looking forward to trying one of these.

I'm signed up for the Chinese mini at ASLOK this year, so maybe Bret will pull something from this pack.

Rules Dive #1: Molotov Cocktails.

2009-08-04T22:29:00.011-04:00

On the Two Half Squads podcast this past week, they covered the rules involving Molotov cocktails. I realized that this is one of those rules I never take full advantage of. Usually when my side has Molotov ability, either I forget about it, or I'm hesitant because I don't want to do the rules dive and figure it isn't worth it.

I'm typing this post as a quick exercise in committing to memory the basics of Mol rules once and for all.

A) When does your unit have one?

On a Mol check dr 1-3. Mods are: CX +1, HS +1, SMC +2, vs, non-AFV +1.
There is no penalty for rolling a '6' on your Mol check dr.
A Mol check counts as use of a SW

B) What happens vs infantry?

A unit with a Mol adds 4FP to it's IFT attack.

c) What happens vs an AVF?

A unit with a Mol attacks an AFV on the HE & Flame TK table.

D) What's the funky part?

It's all about the colored dr. Again, the chrome on the mol rules are all about
the colored dr.

If the colored dr of the IFT attack is '6', the unit possessing the mol is
broken, and if in burnable terrain, a flame is placed in it's location.

If the colored dr of the IFT attack is a '1', a flame is place in the target
location.

And the rule I never knew until T2HS mentioned it: You can not use a mol across a woods or orchard hexside.

Now I just have to re-read this post 400 times, and maybe I'll remember it all when it matters.

...adding. Trying to come up with a mnemonic device for this. Something like "Roll a one, burn the hun, roll a six, ...uh...flick your bics.."? Guess it needs work.

The Two Half Squads

2009-08-01T18:14:00.011-04:00

For those who may not be aware, there is a podcast devoted to ASL! The 2 Half-Squads are Dave and Jeff, two Chicago area ASL players who host the lighthearted discussion of all things ASL.

They sometimes have a third voice in in the mix (Joe), and have even done interviews with ASL luminaries like Keith Dalton and Lars Thuring. They've already produced 20+ episodes.

This past week, they took another step on the technology ladder by doing a live show broadcast on the internet. There were some technical bugs with the call-in feature, but still it was fun interact with the hosts and the other listeners in the chat room.

You can find about about their various goings on at their site. They usually announce their upcoming shows on the Gamesquad forums, or you can follow them on twitter!
http://twitter.com/the2halfsquads

Catching Up

2009-07-29T20:48:00.006-04:00

Well, it's been a while.

A combination of real life workload and general blog-laziness have conspired to keep Blind Hex dark for the last few months, but I'll try to breath some life back in.

First of all, The ABTF CG is over, ending in the British concession predicted by absolutely everyone.

At the end of the second CG date my British were holding only block H. We had about 27 squads (nearly half of which were walking wounded), ELR had dropped and the ammo shortage had gotten worse. The worst blow was the attrition in the leadership ranks.

The Germans on the other hand had lost the vast majority of their AVF's, and also had about 27 or so squads. However, the majority of them were elite. Most importantly there were a lot more of them available for CPP purchase, while the Brits of course can not get ANY additional infantry at all.

As I considered my strategy for the next CG date, the only thing to do would be to max-out on fortifications and dummies, and bump up the sniper. I would try to keep him shooting at ghosts and try to get some open ground shots.

As my scheduling problem drew on, and I considered the travel time between Joe's place and mine, I decided that I had to call it. I would have loved to have played one more CG date to see how it would go. As I told Joe, if we lived 10 minutes apart I would certainly not concede yet.

In the end, it just seemed like the chance for victory was so slight, that calling it a day was best the course.

I also left the SP101 Jura Juggernaut AAR hanging.

I've been unable to find my notes, but the Russians won. Here is the endgame photo:

Jim got his exit points pretty easily by the appointed time, and the game continued. My Russians were able to work the shrinking perimeter defense around the southern bridge as the Germans pressed in.

In the last turn, Russian squads at either end of the bridge were in place as roadblocks to prevent any German infantry from getting on the bridge (without some kind of miracle). However, Jim still had some vehicles that could drive through get onto the bridge.

He tried to get there from both directions. As a tank from the eastern bank was rushing through, it was engaged in CC reaction fire which eliminated it.

Another vehicle from the west rolled right through the squad guarding on that side. I thought I had lost as the tank would easily move through both bridge hexes and gain control, right? Wrong.

As Jim correctly pointed out, a vehicle can only control the location it is in. Once it leaves, control reverts to it's previous status: enemy or uncontrolled (A 26.12). Woo-hoo, Russians win!!

I'm certainly not the first to say that this is a terrific scenario. It's very spread out, there are lots of options for both sides, and there is a lot going on. I would take either side.

SP101 Jura Juggernaut gets the Blind Hex stamp of approval.

Will be posting a bunch more often hopefully in the near future as my schedule starts to settle back down.

knock knock....... Is this thing on?

2009-07-29T20:37:00.001-04:00

AAR of SP101 Jura Juggernaut Part 1

2009-03-11T21:12:00.012-04:00

It was my turn to suggest scenarios for a game with Jim, one of my regular opponents. From my short list he chose this one, saying he had wanted to play it since it was released by Schwerepunkt a few years ago. I agreed that it looked pretty cool.

This is not a the sort of small, quick and dirty scenario Schwerepunkt has a reputation for producing. This Brian Williams design pits 20 elite German squads with 7 halftracks, supported by 9 tanks of the 1st Panzer Division, againt 20 Russian squads reinforced by 7 tanks of their own. It takes place during the opening hours of Barbarossa.

The German task is to enter from the west and exit 49 CVP off the east edge by the end of turn 4, and capture all three of the bridges over the Jura River by game's end (turn 8). Jim chose the German side, leaving me to come up with a defense.

Most of the Russian force is restricted to setting up in buildings on board 49, west of the river. Furthermore, the Russians are permitted no more than one MMC per building (exclusive of gun crews).

I decided fairly quickly that preventing the German exit would be very a difficult gamble, requiring my defense to spread out. The more viable strategy for victory seemed to be concentrating on holding a bridge. Just one would do. I chose the southernmost bridge, in the shadow of hill 520.

Given the setup restrictions, there really aren't many obviously good places to put the two Russian 37mm guns. I chose to put them both in the area of the southern bridge. One in F8 with a long line of sight down the board 49 road, the other in K10. K10 itself is not a good place for the gun, but the little m12 could be pushed with relative ease into the woods of 40L0, for a good look at two of the bridges and much of the western bank.

I was pretty thin in the north, with just a few squads and somne dummies to try to slow down the German onslaught.

Jim entered all of his turn one force in the north, in a "hit 'em where they ain't attack." I opted to let him maintain concealment rather than reveal by default which units might be dummies.

Meanwhile in the South, the 9-1 and a squad with an HMG high-tailed it across the bridge to set up on the western side. They would eventually dig foxholes at the foot of the bridge, with two other squads sliding down from hill 520 and to doing the same in the grain.

More to come soon..............

Where's the Love?

2009-03-08T11:47:00.002-04:00

Not much blog-love going on lately. Blind Hex has been dormant since December. Hopefully that will change somewhat in the near future.

I had a case of post-Winter Offensive ASL burnout, which has now thankfully passed. I've Also been involved with helping to playtest some Top Secret projects, which don't make the blog for obivous reasons.

I did get in a game of (SP98) Jura Juggernaut with Jim, one of my regular opponents, which I'll posting an AAR for sometime soon. Also hope to pick up the ABTF game in the not too distant future.

He who hesitates.....

2008-12-29T22:35:00.003-05:00

....pays full price. Registered for Winter Offensive today. After hemming and hawing for several weeks, finally just decided to get off the fence and do it.

Apparently it's too late to get the group rate at the hotel. For that you had to book by December 20th. So, instead of $125 /night, the price is $140 /night. Even $125 / night is pretty high considering that the VASTLY superior ASLOK hotel was only $75. AND the restuarant next door had "All You Can Eat Perch"! Perch!!!

Still, if you want to mingle with us east coast elites, you've got to get out the wallet.

(*sigh*) I am such an ASL whore.

ABTF CG II. Sept. 19th - Afternoon, Part 1

2008-12-21T21:21:00.010-05:00

We got through the 3rd turn of the 2nd CG date a weeks back. So far, the Brits are holding their own.

The British ammo shortage worsened to level three in the refit phase. However, the Brit ELR held at 3, while the German ELR dropped to 2.

The German panzer forces continue to sustain big losses. So far, just in this scenario, we've taken out two StuGs (one in CC, the other to a Piat CH), and a King Tiger with a 10-2 armor leader! The Tiger went down to a side piat shot. We also immob'd another StuG with a piat.

Joe bought no new armor for this scenario. The only mobile vehicle the Germans have in the fight right now is an armored car with a busted CMG. They also have just one PzIV and a halftrack parked out of the way in the quiet north.

The feared German artillery has not appeared. Becasue of the British movement withdrawing from Block L back through block J to block I, Joe decided that his offboard observers were not well placed and he has packed up both modules to save them for the next scenario.

All the while the German infantry moved through from the east attacking the withdrawing British troops. Joe's idea was to have the eastern hammer squeeze the Brits against the western anvil. The eastern attack has caused some casualties. The problem he's having is that the anvil is not holding up so well.

The Germans had a 10-2 MG kill stack in block G. Joe fortified the building they were in, hoping to use it as a springboard for attacks throughout the CG. However, he left the buildings at the eastern edge of the block unoccupied, and gave my Brits a chance to counter-attack. He allowed me to get some concealed squads up close, believing that they were too brave not to be dummies. They. Were. Not. Dummies.

The flamethrower broke the whole stack and sent them scurrying out the back door.

Sending those squads across the street was a big gamble in a campaign like this where they can not be replaced. But, with the German troops in the west falling back, it seems to have paid off. If the 10-2 and his buds do not rally back soon, there's a chance that the Brits will be able to become the aggressor in that area. Taking out a 10-2 is always a big deal in a CG.

There's another leader and broken squads just to the south in block I. It would be nice to take a run at eliminating them, but the good guys down there may have their hands full keeping the Germans in the east from crossing the block I/J street.

I'm really torn here. The best overall British strategy is surely to stay concealed as much as possible, stay low and try to survive. However, these targets of opportunity are very hard to ignore.

Meanwhile in the North......nothing is happening. Joe is content to wait it out up there, and running the clock is fine by me.

The ammo shortage has caused me to be much more careful about which shots to choose. A few squads have already been ELR replaced by on rolls of '11'. When the elite squads replace, they fall all the way to 2nd line. That hurts. A few MG's have been broken on 11's, while one MMG was destroyed by 12.

More to come soon.........

Warning: Non-ASL

2008-12-20T22:35:00.001-05:00

Just because it's that time of year.....

Aimee Mann: Calling on Mary

...and we're back

2008-12-08T22:21:00.010-05:00

Been a while. Joe and I have had some scheduling problems, but finished the first CG date of ABTF CG II a few weeks ago. (We actually finished the first 3 turns of the second day this past weekend, more on that in a near future post).

Joe and his Germans took several blocks on the morning of the 19th. Most of them expected, one not expected. Here's the block control situation at the end of the day.

The Germans moved through the Eastern part of block R with no real opposition, but took some shots from squads in the foxhole line at the western edge. Several of those squads were wiped out by artillery while trying to get back to block L. They hung in one turn too long (a common mistake for troops under my command).

the Germans eliminated all opposition remaining in block K. I was able to get a few walking wounded squads out, along with a flamethrower toting half squad.

I expected to lose a few squads doing damage in and around the schoolhouse (we did take out a Pz IV and a Tiger(!), but was disappointed to lose two quality leaders in there. Should have gotten at least one out.

The Germans attacking from the West were hitting block I hard. The Brits mostly fell back before the onslaught into the SE corner of the block, huddling in the ground floor and cellar locations to protect from the 120+ artillery that was pounding away.

The arty is a double edged sword. The elite troops in the buildings mostly shrugged it off, and even got a few HOB results creating heroes and fanatic squads. At the same time, the falling shells actually helped protect them, with German troops unable to get too close.

Realizing that the block I attack was bogged down, Joe saw a target of opportunity in the lightly defended block G. He turned his 10-2 stack to the north and wiped out the two British squads who thought they were going to have to wait for the afternoon to see action. The Brits certainly did not want to lose block G. Ouch.

In the end, the Germans lost quite bit in the way of armor, but did their job in causing casualties.

The Germans won the casualty count by a slight margin 83-81. The Brits lost 21 -1/2 elite squads (7 coming back as walking wounded. Another 7 1/2 walking wounded squads were lost. The worst of it though, were the losses among the Brit leadership. We lost 3(!) 9-2s, 3 9-1s, and 4 8-1s.

When the afternoon comes, we'll have a smaller force, but less ground to defend. Just starting to get interesting.

Quick AAR: Assault on Wielki Dzial

2008-11-12T15:18:00.002-05:00

Played this scenario from the second Friendly Fire pack.

I took the Germans. Jim took the Russians.

The Russians get a .50 cal machine gun with an approximate ROF of .......infinity.

Russians win.

THE END

....more on the ABTF CG soon.

ABTF CGII AAR 19AM Part 1

2008-10-21T21:11:00.008-04:00

Joe and I finally got our ABTF game going this past weekend. In the pre-game rolls both the Germans and the British dropped to ELR 3, and the Brits dropped to ammo shortage level two.

We got a late start and so only got through two turns, but they were eventful.

Through two I've lost an 8-1 leader, and 4 1/2 squads.
(1 1/2 of those will be returning as walking wounded). Not a disaster, but not a pace I can keep up if I'm to have any infantry to fight by 19 Eve.

In exchange however, we have already bagged 2 German squads, and five(!) vehicles. Joe has been uncharacteristically aggressive with the tanks, and has so far lost a Tiger aus E(L), a Panther, 2 PzIV's and a halftrack. Another German halftrack is in bad shape having been immob'd and put under a shock counter by artillery.

Thanks to the German coordination rule, the German attack is splintered into essentially four different attacks.

1. The Northwest

German infantry creeped along through the undefended buildings. However, due to armor losses, they may have a hard time getting across the street.

A panzer IV turned the corner and found himself in the sights of a British AT gun. The crew got out and slipped into the buildings. A halftrack surprisingly followed and met the same fate. Just up the road, another halftrack is in bad shape having been smacked around by British ARTY.

2. The Southwest.

An armored car platoon, volksgrenadier pltn, and a MG kill stack are working their way east and having much more success. They have already captured a 458 squad (grr), killed an 8-1 leader and another squad or two.

The Brits are moving reinforcements from blocks L and J to try to stabilize. Not happy with my sloppy play in here. Joe took advantage nicely.

3 The Northeast.

This is obviously the main mass of the German attack. After dispatching some some dummies in the northern edge of the block, the Germans began moving in on the schoolhouse.

Finding that the engineer squad and the 9-2 were in a fortified location, Joe tried to feeze them with AFVs. First a PzIV came charging into bypass to be flipped by a thrown DC. Moments later, in the same turn, a Tiger E tried to slide into a different bypass hexside, and went down to the engineers reaction fire, ending up ablaze! What else you got Gerry?!!! Huh??

Well, turns out Gerry had more. Two German squads moved into the rubble south of the school and were broken by a hidden flamethrower half squad tucked away in the back hex. But, the original squad and leader were broken by a massive defensive final fire shot and routed upstairs and to the back.

It's a real win the battle / lose the war situation. Those engineers and 9-2's can do a lot of damage to German attack, but if I can't get most of them out of there (looking be getting much harder), it's a strategic loss.

4 The Southeast

This is where the German heavy mortar OBA has been doing the most damage. Two walking wounded squads were caught in the open and KIA'd trying to pull back to block L. One of the foxhole squads is broken. The 7-0 and two squads in Y18 just had a successful close combat killing a German SS squad (and generating the 7-0). However, they now find themselves in a bad spot, with a the 9-2 and MG stack staring back at them. A 34+2 from that stack, and an 18+4 from the squad/lmg in factory next door. Another two precious squads on the brink.

On the bright side, the AT gun in the orchard could not believe his luck when the (now upside down) Panther pulled up the road far enough to show his side armor. One shot, one kill.

Again the crew got out, this time with a 9-1 armor leader.

So. So far, I have no idea how it's going. If I can save some of the squads that are in jeopardy, I'll feel pretty good about the game so far. Lose a few more, and I'll be very nervous.

...and we're back

2008-10-17T15:00:00.003-04:00

With a total blast of an ASLOK behind us, at long last it looks like we'll be getting the ABTF CGII underway tomorrow.

As I've been telling people that I'm about to start on this CG with the Brits (by my choice), I've received a few incredulous looks. "YOU chose the Brits?" "That's a total dog!"

Well, it may be. I know that CGIII is largely considered a dog (something like 16-2 on ROAR). But, there are no recorded playings of CGII on ROAR, and I can not find an AAR or mention of CGII anywhere on the web.

CGII, obviously, is the second half of CGIII, at the start of the German counter attack. The Brits will have fifty-some high quality squads on map. The units are a mix of paras, glider troops, engineers, and commandos. They will have very good leadership from Col Frost and his staff. They are equipped with Gammon Bombs (similar to ATMM) for combating the German tanks and SPGs.

The drawbacks are many. Some of the British squads and a few of their leaders start the campaign as "walking wounded". The British will suffer from an ammo shortage which will increase in severity as the CG dates go by. There is no British Armor to speak of. And the biggest drawback of all: no infantry reinforcements.

All this means that taking the British side will require VERY disciplined play (not my strong suit). It will be all about force preservation, and making every shot count. I'll try to use dummies to play a 'three card monty' and keep Joe guessing. With some big German ARTY likely to be falling It will even more important than usual to maintain concealment, and keep our heads down in the stone buildings.

If this is a dog, then we probably won't stay at it very long. But the idea of this CG really appeals to me. There's something about the desperate barely-hanging-on defense that I find dramatic and intense.

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Delay

2008-09-24T08:36:00.004-04:00

Joe and I have been unable to get our schedules to match. It looks like the ABTF CGII won't be starting until after ASLOK.

Here is an interesting ASL blog. This guy is currently blogging his Primosole Bridge CG. As a (losing) veteran of that one, I find it particularly interesting:

The Grognerd

Coming soon.......

2008-09-08T19:40:00.002-04:00

Joe and I have decided on the next campaign, to commence within a few weeks. It will be the battle that takes place right after this happens.......

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

2008-09-02T20:17:00.007-04:00

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:

More Stalingrad this weekend

2008-08-14T12:13:00.002-04:00

We'll be slugging it out again this weekend. we may or may not be able to finish the 9/17 CG day....in either case, continuing AAR to follow early next week.

VotG CGII Drive to the Volga AAR Sept 17th part II

2008-08-12T21:34:00.003-04:00

We plowed on through the end of turn 3 this weekend. Things are reaching critical mass.

The most interesting and savage fighting continues to be in the south, where the smoke has now cleared. The Russians have started to form a new line in the U46 building. The Germans have moved forward and are driving a wedge along the southern edge of the map, but at a very high cost.

The Germans have a few kill stacks, StuGs hammering away, but it has been a slow grind as the Russians give ground grudgingly. The Germans have already lost nearly 60 CVP of infantry in three turns.

During a H-T-H melee in the theatre, the Russians slipped a few squads in behind the Germans after a German boxcar infiltration roll. They don't pose a very large threat, but they will have to be dealt with, damaging the already desperate German schedule.

The Germans lost radio contact on the module in the above photo, or else the spotting round would be a FFE. It is critical to get contact and convert it in the next turn.

The 467 at the left of the photo is in a hex with a burning StuG killed by a MOL-P. I think that is the first result the Russians have had with one in the campaign.

A few blocks up the Russians are retaking ground in and around the Nail Factory. Although you can't see them in the photo, there are good order German squads in each ground level location of the K40 building. They have to stand up!!!

The Russians have collapsed "the knob" where the Germans had a major MG position. More captured MG's. I've lost count of how many German MG's have been captured.

Further north, the Germans are pulling back across Communisticheskya St, as the Russians have them locally over matched.

In the extreme north, the German reinforcements are taking back some ground. We got a StuG in behind the Russian infantry in an attempt to encircle and block rout paths. Unsupported however, the Russians were able to isolate and kill it in CC. (Joe never fails a PAATC. Never!!)

Things are getting to a point where the Germans have to make a breakthrough and drink from the Volga very soon, or give it up. If we can drive the wedge through in south, we have hope to continue. If the Russians hold, we may have to give it up, as the losses have been staggering.

Hoping to get back at it this weekend.

More VotG this weekend....

2008-08-06T11:11:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, it'll be back to smokey Stalingrad for more of the 9/17 CG day.

Week Off

2008-08-02T21:54:00.005-04:00

No ASL this week, as Joe had family stuff to attend. So, I spent my empty Saturday signing up for LibraryThing. It's an interesting social networking site which centers around the books that you own.

You catalog your books (very easy to do), then you can see who else owns many of the same books you do. You can use it contact other people who are as bizarre and obsessive as you are (er....maybe not such a good idea), or you can just see what else they have in their book collections. Once you find some people with similar interests in reading materials, the book recommendations are actually pretty valuable.

They also have this neat blog widget I've added on the right below the links. It'll show you some of the books I've put into my library. It's clickable, and will take you to the librarything or Amazon page for that book (depending on where you click).

So, I cataloged a few dozen books, and in so doing came to the horrible realization that I own a LOT of books that I have not read. Guess maybe I better go crack one....

VotG AAR CGII Drive to the Volga Sept 17th Part I

2008-07-20T19:42:00.012-04:00

After a fairly large setup, we squeezed in the first turn of the 9/17 CG Day this weekend.

My infantry having been decimated on 9/15, I went idle on 9/16, and fortunately so did Joe. Desperately in need of manpower I purchased three "code blue" rifle coys in reserve, plus a Stosstruppe pltn.

For 9/17 I purchased my last "code green" rifle coy to enter in the north. I purchased a heavy weapons platoon to replace a few of the dozens of German MG's captured or destroyed so far. I purchased a pltn of StuG B's, which along with two other StuGs and a FlaK halftrack platoon returning from redeployment would actually give me some decent AFV capability for the first time since the opening day.

With my six "support cpp" I eschewed the rotating stukas in favor of two Bltn Mtr modules with pre-reg'd hexes. My plan was to bury the southern edge in smoke and rush forward, trying to achieve a breakthrough.

Joe (Russian side) had cleverly anticipated that I would be attacking on 9/17, and drew an attack chit himself to make it a duel attack. The dice gave me the first setup, which forced me to give away my planned "big push" up the southern edge. A little free intel for the Russians, nice move.

Jump Street

The dice also gave the Russians first move. With the first WC DR Joe rolled up civilian interrogation revealing my HIP stack on the second level of K45. (Two 8-0's with radios). Already things .....well you get the idea.

In the Russian half of the turn there was sporadic prep fire and some cautious forward movement. The Russians broke a squad in the center and got him to die for FTR. They also got a few melees going, but nothing too dramatic.

Sporadic light skirmishing through the center

In the German half of the turn, we maintained contact on both modules and let fly the smoke. We also got four smoke rounds from a Mtr on the south edge. There is a lot of smoke. When it drifted northwest in the advance fire phase the counter density became -- spectacular.

Stalingrad in the artificial fog

When my concealed 2 x HMG + 9-2 stack assault moved out of the Nail Factory into N39, Joe revealed a set DC. Although he did not rubble the building, it did break all three units. I was just thinking that I had cheated death and was starting to breath again. when Joe opened up with a stack of three 4-5-8 manned HMG's and a 10-3(!) leader from across the street. 3 KIA.

A broken HMG is all that remains

I brought my reinforcement rifle coy on in the north to find very few Russians in the area. I had planned to mostly just play defense in the north as all my major resources were diverted to the southern assault. Ironically, the real opportunity for this day may lie in the north, where the Russians are looking suddenly a bit overextended.

Northern Exposure?

Hope to be back at it within a few weeks.

VotG AAR CG II Drive to the Volga Sept 15th Part III

2008-07-15T20:39:00.009-04:00

German perimeter after Russians recapture ground on Sept 15th.

Well, we finished the German attack of Sept 15th. Unfortunately, I brilliantly left my camera at Joe's place, so there is no photographic evidence...probably for the best.

The best that happened during our last session was Joe's end of game roll on turn five was a '1'. That was awesome. As picked up the die to make the roll, I began to chant "End it Joe! End it Joe! End it Joe!". When the '1' came up I did what could best be described as a "touchdown dance" around Joe's living room.

The Russians beat the daylights out of the Germans for four turns. All of the savagery is chronicled in other posts on this blog.

The Germans pulled a second red card on our 150mm OBA, scoring that module a big disappointment. But we did have a few moral victories in the last turn and a half.

For one, all members of a 247 half squad earned an Iron Cross at the northern end for single handedly holding up that flank against a strong Russian advance. They advanced into CC with a Russian 527 squad which had reached as far West as hex H2 (!). They then won ambush and cut the Ruskies down in HtH CC.

Then, the Russians boldly moved two MMG toting squads and a leader up into the ADJACENT building. The 247 got a 1MC effect with their 2+1 SFF shot, getting all the Russians to break amd rout away, leaving their MMG's behind.

Secondly, down towards the center of the map, a 467 and 9-1 German leader were in HTH melee with a Russian halfie. During Russian 5, they broke the German leader by firing a 76L ART piece into the melee. Then, they advanced in another two and a half squads and a leader , while surrounding the melee hex to make sure the leader couldn't withdraw. There was no way to survive that mess, but when I rolled a three for change (that's right! my turn to roll a three! It's Rockford's turn now ! ), I took an entire Russian platoon and their leader down with me! That. Felt. Good.

What didn't feel so good was surveying the carnage afterward. The Russians recaptured a lot of ground. But more importantly, they are leading the Germans by 33 squads: 55 to 22. Think about that. Three scenarios and the Germans have lost in the neighborhood of 100 squads! The Russians while obviously better off, have still lost a huge number as well.

There was no Russian counter attack on the 15th, and the 16th turned into an idle day. I might have attacked if I had the Russian just to press the advantage, but then again they are likely trying to run out the clock now.

One good thing about the Russians winning the first three scenarios is that the Campaign Balance kicks in giving the German a better modifier for some of the refit rolls.

There will be another German attack on Sept 17th. Looking for a bold stroke to regain the initiative.

Hey Baby!

2008-07-03T23:31:00.004-04:00

Guess what day it is?

Music Video:4TH OF JULY (by X)

...something completely different.....

2008-06-19T20:04:00.005-04:00

On a bit of an ASL hiatus as I am dealing with a move. In between AARs, please enjoy this awesome Steven Cragg video. He is NOT Mark Twain.

AAR VotG CG II Drive to the Volga Sept 15th Part II

2008-06-09T16:22:00.021-04:00

Joe and I got through the end of turn three on Saturday as the wonders of central air protected us from the sweltering New Jersey heat.

It was bad.

Everything is coming up Russian. Joe ONLY rolls threes. I ONLY roll nines. Turn three saw the loss of a StuG IIIB ,at least 9 German squads, an 8-1, and a 9-2 leader. It was truly one of the most incredible two way dice runs I've ever seen.

It all started in the CC phase of turn three. There was a H-T-H melee near the center of the map where two German 467 squads were grappling with two Russian 527s. I reinforced the melee with another 467 and an 8-1 leader to improve my odds.

Joe rolled a three. I rolled a nine. It's what we do.

Not far away, two German squads were broken by piddling small arms fire, then eliminated for FTR as the Russians moved in to cut off their retreat. Anger.

(Above) Here is the center of the map being held down by a lonely German crew after after massive casualties were inflicted in turn three.

(Above) Hex S25 was the scene of the melee that wiped out an entire German platoon and their 8-1 Lt. After we win the war, we'll have to build some kind of memorial here. It'll be very tasteful.

A little farther south, a major German MG position is in danger of being encircled, while a Russian AE squad waits for his chance to street fight a Stug.

Meanwhile, the big trouble is again on the northern flank. The heavy artillery I tried to bring down on the Voentorg was slightly off target, and caught a couple of my squads, breaking one of them. Of course, it also caught some Russian squads, but when I rolled 9s on the IFT DRs, I got mostly simple MC results. Since Joe rolls threes, he passed them all easily. (bitter? me ? Nah.)

The Russians launched another push up the extreme Northern edge with good success. There are a lot more German casualties waiting to happen unless i can make something happn quickly up there.

(Above) The Russians apply pressure with a strong local counter attack. The trench holds a broken German 75* INF gun. (When I said I roll nothing but nines, that wasn't really true. Sometime, I roll twelves!)

I bought an INF gun battery during the refit phase because I wanted some ordnance to fire on the fortifed buildings on the east end of the square, especially the 150mm. Unfortunately I rolled up a depleted battery. Instead of a 150mm and three 75s, I get two only 75s and NO 150. That's hard to swallow. Grrr!

(Above) The German push to flank the Voentorg is cut off and beaten back as the Russians cross back over Smolenskaya St.

Only in the deep south are the Germans holding their own, as they push the Russian line back. In the photo below, a German 7-0 stands atop a burning StuG flamed by a critical hit advancing fire shot form the KV-1, standing like a colossus. ( When I said that Joe only rolls threes, that wasn't really true. Sometimes he rolls twos!)

More Soon

2008-06-06T15:16:00.004-04:00

Will be heading up I-95 to Joe's central New Jersey house again tomorrow to continue the Sept 15th CG date. Getting very interesting.........

AAR VotG CGII Drive to the Volga Sept 15th day Part One

2008-06-01T13:58:00.021-04:00

Joe and I plowed through a turn and a half of our VotG campaign on Saturday. While it's still far too early to make judgements, my Germans have generated some momentum (Germentum?)

The most personally satisfying moment of the campaign so far came in my first movement phase. After I had pulled two set DC attacks on Joe during the previous Russian night assault, I expected him to return the favor. My suspicions were only raised more when I saw that his setup left several front line hexes abandoned in the block south of the Nail Factory.

So...risking search casualties, a brave 2nd line half squad moved forward and revealed a set DC in M42. No search casualties resulted. Woo-hoo!

Next, a concealed unit advanced into the DC hex, and Joe announce that he would detonate. His boys passed the NTC and rubbled the building right down on top of my........wait for it........dummies! I think I then did something that could best be described as a "touchdown dance"

After a lot of slugging it out in that block, the Russians are finally on their heels and falling back to the east.

Pushing east as reinforcements cross Communisticheskya St.

At one point in turn two, I assault moved two concealed 548 squads into a building location in that block which had 12RFP sitting in it. Did you know that residual is NOT halved against concealed units? I didn't. I'm not sure how it's possible that I didn't know that, yet the fact remains.

So, here I was violating some the most fundamental rules of good ASL play (stacking, taking big resid), and the 12+3 attack resulted in no effect!

"Fortune favors the bold"
- Virgil, The Aeneid

Further south my reinforced strength Rifle Coy entered the battle and started pushing up the south edge. I decided that with pretty good local superiority of numbers, I would just push hard at him, and let him try to shoot everyone. When we left it, the strategy looked to be working. (The "German Wave", I call it)

German Wave

Across form the Univermag, the Russians went to work on an 8-1 and HMG squad. The Germans burned a KV-1 that was trying to sleaze-freeze them, but later broke under withering fire. Then things got worse. The German leader went berserk, took the now reduced half-squad with him, and charged off into oblivion.........

This. Is. Not. Going. To. Go. Well.

Up north....things are getting really interesting.....

A StuG G bogs in a bad spot, but has a chance thanks to his infantry support.

To make up for the failed set DC trap in the south, Joe took out two elite squads I had started out in the Voentorg building with a successful one. (Voentorg?? Is this Russian or Klingon?? ) I wasn't wary for it there, as he had a half squad in the cellar of that hex. Nice shot.

In my purchases for this scenario, I discarded the "rotating stukas" RG which had been only marginally effective on day one, in favor of some heavy artillery. I was tired of playing around with the fortified fanatics in Pavlovs house and the surrounding area, and wanted to grab the right tool for the job.

I got it down on the square, burning a KV-1 that was getting a bit aggressive. (PIC)

While Russians were having some success with a small counter-attack up the extreme northern edge, the Germans may be close to a real breakthrough near the Voentorg.

By pushing some squads up through the rubble and debris south of the building, I was able to get into CC with the Russians and take some ground that has almost no Russian troops between them and the Volga. Now, if we get that 150mm arty down on the Voentorg, we could do some serious damage. Come on black cards.....keep coming.......

Still lots of fun ahead. Hope to be back to it soon.

Hex and the City

2008-05-29T15:13:00.002-04:00

Joe and I will be starting the Sept 15th day scenario this weekend. More to come early next week....

Reading Rumble- Memorial Day

2008-05-24T23:13:00.005-04:00

Mike Daschbach hosted Reading Rumble on Saturday in his plush offices in Reading, PA.

Rob Schoenen's Vichy troops defeated Alan Bills' Indians in Showdown in Syria. JR van Mechelin and Kevin Meyer were deep into a playing of an old General desert scenario, Camp Nibeiwa.

I took on our host, Mike, in a playing of the Chas Smith classic Panzer Graveyard. Mike, with the defending Brits, played and up-front stuff 'em at the line defense.

Here is a snapshot from near the end of turn two:

By the time I was finally able to crack Mike's defense, it was too little too late. I ended up short by handful of buildings. Needed one more turn.

By the end of the scenario, Mike had dispatched all of my tanks. It was like a...uh...what's the phrase? A tank cemetery? No..uh, an AFV mortuary? uh-uh. ...ah... um ....nope. Can't think of it.

The real show stealer for this Memorial Day weekend though was Alan Bills. He brought along three medals awarded to his great uncle during WWII in Europe. His great uncle, Harry Foote, was a tanker in the 11th armored. He earned a Bronze Star, Silver Star, and Purple Heart, before being killed in action in 1945.

Very appropriate the occasion.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-21T22:53:00.007-04:00

Joe and I are on a bit of a VotG hiatus at the moment. We'll probably get back at it within the next few weeks.

Meanwhile for Memorial Day weekend, a few of us will be taking the trip to historic Reading, PA, for Mike Daschbach's semi-annual Reading Rumble.

You can visit the Reading homepage here. Gosh they are proud of their Ambulance, aren't they? She is a beaut!

Mike graciously opens up his office conference room to the ASLers of southeastern PA (and a select few New Jerseyans) a few times a year for a gameday. I'll be taking on our host himself in J32: Panzer Graveyard. It's a tourney classic that both of us have managed to avoid ever playings.

His building has a rich history of its own. Apparently in the winter of 1778, while standing at that very spot, George Washington tried to borrow three dollars from General Daniel Morgan claiming that he had left his billfold "at home in his other coat."

Morgan was having none of it, as Washington was already into him for more than thirty bucks.

It's sure to be a good time as always.

AAR VotG CGII Drive to the Volga Sept 14th Night Part II

2008-05-11T14:50:00.013-04:00

We finished up the Russian night counter attack of Sept 14th this weekend. There were a few more surprises for Russians, a total German collapse in the North, followed by an unexpected reprieve.

The first surprise was unveiling the HIP flamethrower squad the Germans had lurking in the cellar of M41. They assault move up to the ground level in German turn 2, maintaining concealment, then advanced into M42. They regained control of both hexes, and were ready to hose down the Russian MMG's firing from the upper level of M43. (Note: M43 does not actually have an upper level. Joe made an error and I did not catch it.)

Before they were able to, the MMG stack got a K/2 result, followed by a failed morale check. Then with ROF, they finished him off. The Russians moved a squad into the hex, and picked up the FT. That should have worked. It's so bitter.....

Situation in the block south of the Nail Factory, end of turn three.

Meanwhile......up by the 9th January Square..........

My other surprise for Joe was the two assault eng. squads I had HIP in the cellar of the Q10 building. In German turn three, one squad advanced concealed up to the ground level location of R9 which was full of CX Russians. It was the first time in the scenario that the Germans had an ambush advantage.

So, of course the Russian won the ambush. Went H-T-H and dispatched the invader.

The other squad moved from the cellar of Q10 to Q11 during movement phase, and fired upstairs in AFPh, breaking the two conscript squads in that location. They then advanced upstairs to gain control of the hex.

Even further north........the rout was on.

The Russians had two guards companies coming on the north edge where I was thinnest. Inside of three turns my left flank was wide open, when something very surprising happened: Joe asked me if I wanted to agree to end the scenario early. (!)

I think I said something like: "Yes".

My northern flank had been blown wide open and the door to Berlin laid out before the advancing Russian hordes....and they want to call it a day? Where do I sign?

Joe said that he felt he had reached a point of diminishing returns in that area (there weren't many Germans left to kill). He had already wrapped up the scenario victory being +14 on stone hexes. He thought in the south the momentum had swung my way.

Well.....that's all true, but the opportunity to shove two companies into the German backfield would not have been something I'd turn down.

Russians win the first two scenarios. German losses for the night:

467 x 12 548 x 1-1/2 838 x 2

8-1 x 1 7-0 x 1 8-0 x 2

Looking forward to sunrise, and getting back on the attack.

Stalingrad in the Dark

2008-05-09T19:50:00.002-04:00

We'll be continuing the 9/14 Russian night attack this weekend. Not sure if we'll get it finished or not. AAR to follow early next week.

AAR VotG CG II Drive to the Volga Sept 14th Night Part 1

2008-05-04T12:45:00.018-04:00

After more than two hours of setting up, we got through the first 1-1/2 turns of the Russian night counter attack of 9/14

In preparing for the counterattack, I was overwhelmed at the number of dummies I would receive as the scenario defender. With all those dummies (and all those real troops!) I thought I was going to present a very solid and deep line to the hated Russian. And then, I started putting them on the map, and realized I was much thinner than expected.

Like any good ASL, this scenario forced me to make decisions. Can't be strong everywhere. So I decided to bulk up in the area that had seen some of the heaviest fighting in the daytime: the block south of the Nail Factory, and east of the Children's Home.

I bought one Rifle Coy as reinforcements. Being unsure how long my on board forces would be stuck on No Move counters, I thought it would be good to have troops with immediate freedom of movement. They too would come on in the south.

So, of course, Joe appears to have bought two infantry companies (at least one guards coy), and they are all coming on .....you guessed it, in the north. Trying to hold them back with a handful of squads, a few 50mm mtrs, and a single StuG does not seem to be going well.

Look at all those cloaked counters brazenly crossing the square. They have to be dummies! I mean, don't they??? (Gulp)

The Russians have all but ignored the center of the map, where my strategy of controlling street crossings with a few well placed machine gun nests for laying fire lanes has gone unchallenged

" No Move for you!!!" - The Move Nazi

Near the Univermag strongpoint, I took a gamble and got burned. I tried for the 'perfect placement' of my OBA when correcting and converting. I was trying to get both a KV-1 that was prancing around the square, and the .50 cal stack in the same drop.

The fire was off target, drifted towards my HIP Observer, and revealed him by forcing a 1MC. At least he passed it. The shot was also possibly effective as it got a Shock result on the heavily armored KV.

The radio man is revealed as a KV-1 is Shocked, SHOCKED! to find artillery raining down on him.

Further towards the SW corner we've had a success with a Set DC, and a fiasco with another.

In turn 1, we brought the center hex of building K44 down killing a Russian squad. Had hoped for a "chain reaction" of falling rubble, but no luck. Still pretty happy.

When it came time to blow up my other Set DC in hex M42, I gleefully announced that his Commissar and 2 squads were in big trouble there, and then proceeded to fail the NTC that would allow the detonating squad to complete the Big Boom.

Not sure what the convention here is, but pretty sure I didn't have to tell him where the DC was until after the NTC had been passed.(?) Couldn't contain my joy. Stupid. The Russians suddenly, strangely, began to vacate that hex.

Set DC hex : Hey! Where'd everybody go?

Further south, my Rifle Coy came on and helped to stabilize the map edge against a Russian push up the gully.

Overall, casualties for both sides have been a bit lighter than expected. Most of the casualties have been in CC situations, unsurprisingly. The cloaked and mostly Stealthy Russians have huge ambush advantage over the Lax Germans. Joe has yet to decline a H-T-H CC opportunity. The Russians have been burned a few times by that strategy, but it has been mostly successful.

So, after 1/-1/2 turns the situation in the North is approaching dire. Further south, the Russians have crossed Ostrowskaya St with mostly cloaked units and encountered very light resistance. They will probably gobble up stone locations by the bucket fulls there.

Only in the extreme south is it more or less an even fight right now.

Nevertheless, with lots of time left, I may still have a surprise or two in store for Joe. Should be fun.

Whodini on the Russian night counter-attack

2008-05-01T22:39:00.005-04:00

We'll be starting the Russian counter attack of Sept 14th night this weekend.
I am reminded of the grim words of warning that Whodini gave us so long ago.....

The freaks come out at night(the freaks come out)
The freaks come out at night

Discos don't open till after dark
And it ain't till twelve till the party really starts
And I always had to be home by ten
Right before the fun was about to begin
Crowds of people lined up inside and out
Just one reason, to rock the house
But in the day time the streets was clear
You couldn't find a good freak anywhere, 'cause

The freaks come out at night(the freaks come out)
The freaks come out at night

...and as the wind changed direction.....

2008-04-25T21:24:00.004-04:00

We rolled up the wind change and NVR for the Russian night counter-attack, which we hope to start next weekend. We're using the historical moon phase. Just seemed like like it wouldn't make much sense to roll up a full moon for this scenario, no moon for the next, etc.

There is no cloud cover, which combined with the historical half moon gives an NVR of four hexes. The wind has spun around to blow towards the southwest.......

AAR VotG CGII Drive to the Volga Sept 14th Part III

2008-04-20T18:57:00.018-04:00

Perimeter, end of Sept 14th day.

The last three turns of the first CG date saw the Germans make a desperate dash for locations, mopping up of disrupted Russian militia, and more stack-slamming close quarter fighting.

In the north, we pushed hard to the north of Pavlov's crib in an effort to roll up the map edge. The push was stuffed at Penzenskaya St by fire from the ART piece in Pavlov's house. One squad was vaporized while approaching the road, another was broken and beaten back. Those behind them thought better of the effort.

We got a break in the final turn when that gun malf'd. It was later removed in the refit phase.We're really gonna miss that thing. Not.

North side.

Stuffed.

Another Russian ART gun popped up on the top floor of the BB 25 building with some long lines of sight. It put a scare into a StuG, but nothing more.

In the center, more light skirmishing. We were able to cut off 3 or 4 disrupted conscript squads and kill them for Failure to Rout. We didn't get all the locations I wanted, but still made pretty good headway against light opposition.

The heaviest fighting continued in the south. The Russian reinforcements which arrived on turn 5 stabilized their line. The StuG that had been caught too far east by the Russian arrivals went down to a KV1 as a little armor battle developed. A StuG G took out a KV-1 on a shoot 'n' scoot APCR shot, and another went down to a Stuka attack via the shock/UK route

The south side of Stalingrad is the baddest part of town.

KV's and StuGs play hide and seek.

More Russian troops pulled back to the strong point at the Univermag. The Germans were able to take control of most of the buildings in the block west and northwest of the Univermag which was not being defended.

Both of the AA halftracks were recalled by sniper fire. The Russian sniper was otherwise thankfully pretty quiet.

German reinforcements in the south finally arrive on turn 8. Too late to pitch in on the fight,but they did recapture a few of the buildings on the SW corner and square off the lines.

The Germans lost 86 CVP, the Russians 101. For the Germans, losses included 7(!) StuGs, about 18 squads, and only a few leaders (including an armor leader). The Russians lost 3 T-34s,2 KV-1s, an ART gun, an 82mm MTR, and about 60 points worth of infantry. They also had two T-34's recalled due to disabled MA's. The Russians win the first scenario.

The Russian night attack is coming. The Russians single biggest handicap, their lack of effective range, will be somewhat mitigated at night. Throw in the fact that the Germans are lax by SSR, and the fighting is all but guaranteed to be at close range.

Hope we get back to it soon.

More VotG to Come

2008-04-14T17:35:00.013-04:00

Looks like we'll get another session in on Saturday. Hopefully we'll be able to wrap up the last three turns of Sept 14th (day).

Pavlov's House

Pavlov's House (VotG)

AAR VotG CGII - Drive to the Volga - Day 1 - Part II

2008-04-13T12:56:00.006-04:00

Joe and I were able to plow through another 2-1/2 turns of CGII on Saturday. The battle began to take on more definition as the Germans moved to fully engage the Russians who had set up back from the west edge.

There formed up two distinct battles: one in the north around 9th Jan. square, and another in south in the block across the street form the children's home. There were scattered light skirmishes in between.

In the north, the attack ground forward as the Russians abandoned the L7 building, to fall back towards Pavlov's House, where there they are planning a barbecue (ha ha). I also discovered around turn four that Pavlov's house is an NKVD strong point.

The withdrawal from L7 is another interesting tough choice for the Russian. I understand fully that force preservation is Joe's strategy at this point. and in fact, he was able to get many of them out moving (or routing) along the "paths of shell holes". But at the same time, that building was becoming a real pain in the neck for me, and I was not unhappy to see the Russians heading out the back door. Kudos to Joe for sticking to his strategy. Joe revealed a mortar in the debris of S2 to lay smoke to facilitate the move.

Smoke on the square

I had a stack of 2 HMG's go on a rate tear rolling snakes twice in the same phase.(!) They broke the crew manning the 76L in the fortified upper floor of Pavlov's house despite firing through smoke, but not before it had taken out another StuG. The dug-in T34 in K5 was dealt with by a Stuka bomb. As we came to the end of turn 5, I was trying to figure out the best way to bypass the square to the north. I still would like to roll up that north edge to restrict his reinforcement options going forward.

There was sporadic light fighting in the center, including a local counterattack around the I16 building where the Russians had a numerical superiority. That did not go so well for them. Those conscript squads are frustrating for Joe, I'm sure. They break and disrupt so easily, then they just wait for someone to come and kill them.

After that little fiasco the Russians starting pulling back to the east in small groups. It looks like the next line of defense will be Smolenskaya St, where there are some reserve counters lined up. Doubtful there will be much more fighting in the center, as we are both fairly weak in that area.

A raging fire continued to spread through the rail yard, drawing even more ire from the Stalingrad Hobo Association

In the South, both sides have reason to cheer, and both sides have reason to fear.

The Germans were able to force a crossing of Communisticheskaya with the help of some kill stacks and cross-street flamethrower shots. The Russian revealed another dug-in tank, this one in the rubble of L40. The tank's fire was ineffective, and it was destroyed in close combat.

Forced crossing under fire

Just as it seemed we were making progress, the Russian got his reinforcement DR at the start of Russian turn 5. We were ill prepared for that. As infantry and KV1's started streaming up from the south edge, we found a few StuGs had been over extended in that area. One was killed by a bounding fire KV1 shot. Another is in a very er...delicate position. The only reason that one is still alive is that multiple Russian squads failed PAATC's during the advance phase of turn 5.

StuG in a tight spot

Some of the reinforcing infantry appears to be head for the Univermag, which has been activated as a historical strongpoint.

The CC phase of turn 5 capped off a more successful local counterattack for the Russians in the K43 building, as they killed off a flamethrower toting engineer squad in CC, and kicked all the Germans out of that building.

The Germans had a CC victory on the south edge, although it was more of a moral triumph than an strategic one. The Russians advanced a concealed squad into CC with a CX 248 half squad (who had been tasked with sweeping up the south edge before Russian reinforcements came rolling on). The Russian ~~got ambush~~*, and killed the German by rolling an eight but----- the Germans roll snakes, generating an 8-1 leader, changing the odds and reversing the outcome! The German troops live. The Russians......not so much.

One of the exciting and frustrating aspects of playing a fresh CG for the first time is that it is hard to know where you stand. My Germans currently have very little chance of satisfying the initial scenario VC, which I suppose means I am behind. But then --who the hell knows??.

Three turns remain. Soon I'll have to start figuring what locations to move through to best form my perimeter for the night attack I know is coming.

This has already been some of the most interesting and exciting ASL I've been involved with. Hopefully we'll be able to finish the first CG date soon. Stay tuned.

*Edit - Joe points out that the Russian did not get ambush, otherwise CC would have been sequential, meaning no attack back and more dead Germans. I must have been thinking of a different CC, in some other place....

There Will Be Blood

2008-04-11T12:14:00.000-04:00

Should have a nice long VotG session tomorrow (Saturday) to move the CG forward. AAR to follow early next week.

Time to Kill

2008-03-31T10:57:00.000-04:00

Not much ASL going on these days. Looks like my VotG campaign with Joe won't be continued until next weekend. Not sure if I'll find another game this week or not.

To kill time for now, lets all try an essay question: World War Two was an unbalanced dog. Explain.

ASL Photography

2008-03-25T21:03:00.001-04:00

Looking like an ASL - free weekend. I guess I'll continue work on my soon to be published photo-essay. Working under the name Asl Adams, it's titled: Board 9 and the Range of Light

Some samples:

AAR ITR-1 Debacle at Sung Kiang

2008-03-21T22:06:00.000-04:00

I haven't played a scenario with the Japanese involved in many months, and I think Shanghai in Flames is the only Sino-Japanese scenario I've tried. So, when Jim picked this one from my short list I was glad, if only for the novelty factor. Jim picked the attacker, leaving me to work out a Chinese defense.

Defensive Set Up

Here is how things look before the concealment counters go on and the guns disappear as we await the arrival of the IJA at the edge of Sung Kiang.

The first decision was where to put the guns. I chose S3 and CC1, both on BFP B (the rear board). S3 covers the left flank and the rear of the U1 factory, and most of the critical road. CC1 has a line of site to at least four important buildings on the Japanese route of advance, including the key looking corner property T7 (but no boresighting by SSR. Rats!)

Interestingly hexrow 'Q' is in play. I've given the ATR to a half squad in R6 to guard against a Japanese armored car flank attackup the road. Also countering a quick road move are the two funky Chinese armored cars in the road.

Deciding how far forward to set up was tough. I hate to give up all that ground so easily, but I can't count on any squads set up north of row 6 being around even to midgame, let alone crunch time. So, just a half squad in S4 and a dummy stack in V4 to slow down to the IJA . The obvious first line of defense is the R8-Y8-EE5 road. If all goes as planned we'll duke it out there for a few turns, before falling back into the factories.

Despite the fact that the guns can set up in non-fortified factories by ITR special rules, I decided to fortify those locations anyway to give the gun crews extra protection. Also fortifed are factory hexes V2 and EE3.

The Game

Turn one saw the Japanese attack attack across a wide front, moving the LtMtrs into position to lay smoke. The forward Chineses troops caused some light casualties, and lost only a half squad (the Japanese declaring no quarter already!), the rest withdrawing in good order to better posistion. The Chinese HMG got a KIA on a Mtr squad in prep and things were going well.

Jim's Japanese attack got more agressive on turn two. The HMG squad broke and routed with the 9-1 back to the U1 factory. I lost the Chinese 8-1 when I exposed him to a bypass LOS I did not see. He was trying to go rally a broken squad, instead he was KIA on the way.

A broken Japanese half squd routed into the vacated HMG hex, thinking the concealed squad in X9 were dummies. They were not. That squad advanced in and killed the brokies in CC. They would recover the HMG in the following rally phase. Front still holding. Here's the situation at the end of turn two:

Some bad stuff happened on turn three as the Chinese center started to give way. The two armored cars on the left flank went down. One to a MA ordnance shot from it's enemy counterpart, the other to CC. The ART gun holding up the left flank inthe rear went boxcars on it's first shot, and then the manning crew was broken by sniper fire. Uh-oh.

Still, the U1 factory was looking like a tough nut, and the Japanese attack on the right was not especially strong. Still a fight at the end of three.

The turned left flank proved catastrophic on turn four. The Japanese kill stacks (a MMGx2 stack, and another FT squad) did damage in and around the U1 factory prep and and an armored car scooted around stop in the street and to cut rout paths out of the factory after surviving two Atr shots.

Over on the right we were still holding...barely

Turn five was a total cave in. There were lots of "failure-to-rout" deaths in the U1 factory, there were two Japanese squads running loose in the rear. When the advance fire shot from the flamethrower vaporised the last good order unit in U1, we called it a day.

Debacle at Sung Jiang is an interesting scenario because of the situation (1937 Sino-Japanese), and the toys. The Chinese cars with the twin 2FP MG turrets are unusual.

In the end though, Jim and I both agreed that it is pretty tough on the Chinese. We felt like neither side had remarkable good or bad luck, and although my play was far from perfect, it wasn't all that bad. Yet, it was all over two turns early, turning the scenario title into an accurate assessment of the battle.

End game situation:

Blind Hex

Happy End of Daylight Savings Time

160 Rounds Per Minute

AAR BtB16 Battle Group Nor-Mons

Sad Story and A.2

Crucible of Steel

AAR BFP-54 Shenam Pass

Heavy question for a Monday

AAR FT159 Tangled at Tsangkou

The Ravine

Interlude -Go See Ted Leo.

Brackin Bash

Under Murderous Fire

Easy Day at Volupai

AAR AP69 Uncommon Misery

La Gleize Wrap

Kampfgruppe Scherer : The Shield of Cholm from LFT

La Gleize 20 PM AAR

Catching Up

La Gleize 20th AM AAR

Google Earth Detective

La Gleize from the west

La Gleize - Day Two

La Gleize - Day One

La Gleize

Raid on Rodimtsev AAR Part 2

Raid on Rodimtsev AAR Part 1

Raid on Rodimtsev photos

Back to the Volga

The Number of That Truck

AAR DB077 Speed, Shock and Surprise.

Imagine A Jump

Might As Well Jump.

Hello UPS!

It Never Snows In May Either.

Happy Everything.

AAR BFP60 Thrilla in Manila

New Business

Old Business

AP61 Desobry Defiant

World Cups

Steel Inferno

Steel Inferno

AAR BFP 29 Hueishan Docks, or Gone With the Wind.

Holy S**t !

Time Off

ASLOK Saturday

ASLOK Friday

ASLOK Thursday

ASLOK Wednesday

Sunday Travel.

For me, the war is over.

ASLOK

Arrival

Packing

VotG18 In Sight of the Volga AAR

Back to Stalingrad

What he said.

Bloody Torokina Perimeter

Is it ASLOK yet?

Long March

Rules Dive #1: Molotov Cocktails.

The Two Half Squads

Catching Up

*knock knock*....... Is this thing on?

AAR of SP101 Jura Juggernaut Part 1

Where's the Love?

He who hesitates.....

ABTF CG II. Sept. 19th - Afternoon, Part 1

Warning: Non-ASL

...and we're back

Quick AAR: Assault on Wielki Dzial

ABTF CGII AAR 19AM Part 1

...and we're back

Delay

Coming soon.......

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

More Stalingrad this weekend

VotG CGII Drive to the Volga AAR Sept 17th part II

More VotG this weekend....

knock knock....... Is this thing on?