The Ravine

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.

AAR AP69 Uncommon Misery

  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

 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.

La Gleize 20 PM AAR

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. 





  

    

La Gleize 20th AM AAR

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

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 - Day Two

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

     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

  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

   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

 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.....

It Never Snows In May Either.

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.

AAR BFP60 Thrilla in Manila

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.

Old Business

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.

Steel Inferno

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

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.

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.

VotG18 In Sight of the Volga AAR

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.

What he said.

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.

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.