Catching Up

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?

AAR of SP101 Jura Juggernaut Part 1

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?

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.....

....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

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

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

Aimee Mann: Calling on Mary