Tuesday, April 18, 2006

AAR: ASL 114 - Cautious Crusaders

Nick Drinkwater

Before I got my head handed to me in Dash To Mt. Croce at the last game day, I managed to get in a slighter meatier scenario against Allen 'It's good to be the' King. Earlier in the week, we'd settled on ASL 114 Cautious Crusaders, which looked to have a fun mix of zany early war Axis Minor Action. It had been far far too long since I'd last played Allen, so I was really looking forward to our game.

Cautious Crusaders is a pretty interesting scenario for a number of reasons. From a purely historical standpoint, it's one of the very few battles featuring the Slovakian army in Russia. From an ASL standpoint, both sides have 4-4-7 as their majority squad type, but the attacking Slovaks are actually outnumbered throughout the entire game, and both sides have a number of important decisions to make about when and where to give battle.

The Slovakians appear to be the more challenging side to play. Their twenty squads trickle in over the first third of the nine turn game, and crossing board 48 under fire and capturing a railway station (represented by a Factory) and six other multi-hex buildings from the Russians is no easy task. They do get five nice Czech tanks to help them, along with some truly terrible armored cars, and skillful use of these assets is the key to a Slovakian victory. They also receive some 70mm OBA, which, thanks to a mild breeze, is likely to be used as smoke to cover the advance.

The Soviets, meanwhile, get some 80mm OBA of their own and have the traditional Russian advantage of plenty of bodies to work with. Eleven 4-4-7s and six 4-2-6s start on map, with another eight 4-4-7s joining the fun on turn three. That gives the Soviets 25 squads in stone and wooden buildings against the 20 Slovakian squads coming through the open. The Russians also have an edge in that they start with a nice assortment of on-map SW, including a HMG and Lt. MTR, while the Slovaks have minimal non-inherent firepower, having to wait until turn three for a single MMG.

Despite all those advantages, the Soviets still have challenges of their own. Their first and worst problem is the set up restrictions. Two-thirds of their force is locked into setting up in buildings or foxholes on the forward map. This places the bulk of the Soviet force squarely clustered around the board 48 'crossroads of death,' which is impossible to defend, especially when you are facing superior armor.

This brings us to the second Soviet challenge, which is facing the Slovakian AFVs. Although the five Czech tanks aren't exactly Panthers, they do have 3/1 armor and 8 machine gun factors. The Slovaks also have three armored cars, which are a bit of a joke with 18 MP, red B11, no reverse movement or radios, but which still serve well for cutting rout paths or VBM freeze. Against these eight AFVs, the Soviets have two ATRs, an on-map 37L AT gun, and another 37L that gets towed onmap on turn two. Overall, the Slovakian can't go completely wild with his armor, but the tanks will certainly dominate large areas of the battlefield.

Along with the interesting match-ups between the opposing sides, there are also plenty of tough decisions to be made. The Soviets, with their numerical superiority, can try a very aggressive defense and take advantage of the Slovak staggered entries. Conversely, a quick retreat to board 49 is very hard to stop and has the advantage of preserving the Russian force for the end game. A choice must be made between defending the factory to the death and dispersing forces throughout the multi-hex buildings as well. Meanwhile, the Slovakian has to decide how hard to push with his initial six squads that enter on turn one, how aggressive to be with the tanks, and decide if it's better to go for capturing buildings or killing Russians during the early and mid-game.

Obviously, there's lots to think about in this scenario, and Allen and I had a pretty decent discussion about it ahead of time, even probing into minutia like the advantage the Slovakians have because their 4-4-7s ELR to 3-4-7s, not 4-2-6 conscripts. When it was all said and done, Allen decided to play the Communist hordes, and set up a fairly dispersed defense on board 48, with several units clustered around a level two hill overlay. Back on board 49, the key railway station was devoid of troops, but a large upper level stack with good LOS threatened HMG fire over a large section of the map.

Faced with this display of force, my first challenge was how to get my initial wave of troops onto the map. I had to enter two tanks, three armored cars, and six bicycle squads. After some thought, I abandoned the bicycles off-map as being impossible to use, and send my entire force in on the extreme left side, with lots of vehicular smoke being used. The advantage of this attack was that it let my six squads face just two of Allen's, and it threatened both the level two hill and the railway station.

This attack saw lots of my infantry break from hilltop MTR fire, but my tanks were able to clear out the opposition pretty quickly. The Slovak armor really paid off by not just breaking the Soviet squads, but also cutting their rout paths and forcing surrender. Killing off units for failure to rout is obviously an important ASL tactic, but it's even more vital in a scenario like this. As I pulled out the prisoner counters, I joked to Allen that since the scenario card describes the two sides as Slavic brothers, I was going to try and capture his entire force without killing a single Russian.

That approach actually worked well over the next few turns as the remainder of my troops entered the field of battle and engaged the Russian pickets. In several cases, Allen's conscripts failed MCs and Disrupted, and the few scattered 4-4-7s I ran into were quickly broken and captured as well. Even better, my initial push down the left side was able to capture the lightly defended railway station with relative ease, bagging me another platoon of Russian prisoners. The combination of point-blank machine gun fire from the tanks and the rout-cutting and VBM freezing of the armored cars was vital in accomplishing this, although one funny moment arose when a bypassing armored car had to spend several turns blocked in by Allen's OBA. You'd think someone would have figured out that driving in reverse could be a handy feature...

Despite my early success and my peaceful 'take prisoners' policy, Allen was still doing a great job of making my attack a slow, bloody process and his Slavs showed no compunction at killing my Slavs. Although the Soviets had taken heavier losses, they still outnumbered me, especially considering how many of my troops were tied down guarding prisoners. Worse, I'd lost three tanks to ATRs and OBA. Amusingly, Allen wasn't just satisfied with doing damage to my men; his artillery was tearing up the town too, with multiple buildings on fire and partially rubbled. This traditional Soviet scorched earth tactic was a lot of fun to watch, but didn't really help me with my next task: capturing the remaining six multi-hex buildings against a numerically superior force.

Once again, it was the AFVs that would have to carry me to victory. At this point I caught a big break when my infantry stumbled over the Soviet AT gun. It was in a spot with decent LOS and I'd luckily never moved a tank near it. Now it was caught without infantry support and quickly overrun. That left Allen with a single AT gun, but I knew where it was, and could afford to be very aggressive with my remaining armor. Over the next few turns, I repeated my earlier tactics, using the tanks as hammers to break up the Soviet infantry, while the armored cars cut rout paths and (more importantly at this stage) made it really tough for Allen to shift his troops from building to building.

It had been a close game throughout, and things only got more intense as we moved towards the final turn. I think board 49 really does a nice job of capturing the transition from rural to urban terrain, and that transition was captured in the fighting, with the fray devolving into a series of point-blank attacks and close combats. The same basic challenges we'd faced in the early game still applied, with the Soviet struggling to bring his numbers to bear, and the Slovakian working hard to obtain a series of local superiorities, but every unit and every move took on an increasing importance.

It ended up being an extremely chaotic and tense end-game, with both sides leaving victory buildings empty while enemy squads lurked just across the street. The difference was that Allen just couldn't get his troops where he needed them; I was forced to leave my buildings empty because I just didn't have the manpower to both garrison them and attack. In the end, I was able to slip some squads around a flank to grab some more buildings, and ambushed and killed a very pesky 10-0, 4-4-7, HMG combo that had survived four or five 16+3 attacks. That lucky CC got me another building and freed up my tanks to interdict the roads even further.

Allen still had a very good chance at a turn eight counter-attack, but played a bit too conservatively and instead massed his troops for a huge turn nine onslaught. By that point, I was able to use my superior maneuverability to establish at least a tenuous garrison in each of my captured buildings, and that made the last-ditch Russian offensive a very long shot indeed. It's amazing how much more difficult a multi-hex building becomes to capture when even a 7-0 is in it! Allen made a good try of it, and I was forced to actually kill a good deal of the Soviets, but in the end I had the win with a building or two to spare.

It was a really great game, and I want to thank Allen for a fantastic time. There's very little that's more satisfying than discussing a scenario, playing it out, and having it go down to the last turn with good play on both sides. As far as the scenario goes, Cautious Crusaders offers an interesting situation where both sides have tough decisions and lots of options throughout, and the feel really changes as you shift from board 48 to board 49. I'm pretty terrible at judging balance, especially after a single playing, but I'm sure some people will give the edge to the Russians since they have the edge in numbers and terrain and that may be the case.

Ultimately, though, I think that as long as the Slovakian player is very comfortable with armor, it's gonna be a fun fight for both sides and that's all that really matters. In the end, Cautious Crusaders is a meaty scenario that really lets both sides try different things (build a factory festung, backed by the AT guns and OBA, or disperse?), and things like that are more important to me than ensuring it's exactly balanced 50/50. I'd rate the scenario pretty high. Thanks to Allen for another great ASL experience, congratulations to the designer, and thanks to you for reading,

Zeb

Friday, April 07, 2006

AAR: DB051 - Dash For Mt. Croce

Zeb Doyle

Towards the end of the April game day, Eric and I found ourselves looking around for a quick playing scenario and found the perfect solution in the latest edition of the excellent Dispatches From the Bunker. The scenario that jumped out at us, DB051 Dash For Mount Croce, has four German 4-6-8s and two 2-4-8s, with 4 dummies, a 9-2, 8-1, Lt. MTR, MMG, and LMG, positioned in the board 12 village, trying to keep fourteen American 6-6-6s and 4 assorted leaders from entering on one side and exiting 17 EVP off the other side. Sounds easy for the Americans, but there's a slight catch in that the game is only 3.5 turns long. The scenario title is pretty apt, as the Americans have to treat this more as a race than a fight.

Eric thought that would be a cool challenge, and took the attackers. I set up an uninspired defence, with a screen of four half squads mixed with dummies across the front and the 9-2/4-6-8/MMG and 4-6-8/LMG in level two locations with good LOS further back. The last 4-6-8 was given the MTR and sent to cover the left flank, which was somewhat more wooded than the rest of the map.

The game started with a swarm of American halfsquads entering on my right flank and pushing hard through the graveyard there. I tried for a judicious use of fire, with an eye towards leaving residual in key hexes. The Americans didn't like being shot at, with one HS falling to a K/ attack, another boxcarring his MC, and the rest ELRing when hit. When a few full squads ventured on the map, they were treated in similar rough fashion and sent packing to the rear. The poor start caused Eric to move rather more cautiously with the main body of the force, and several large stacks of Americans assault moved onto the board, maintaining concealment. The only advancing fire shot was an 8+2 NMC on my 4-6-8/LMG which broke him, opening up my right flank to the advancing waves of Americans.

My turn consisted of skulking, and so the first turn played out in very speedy fashion. Turn two dawned for Eric, and he commenced by rallying the troops I'd broken the previous turn. During this phase, two heroes were generated and the spawning squads battle hardened, going some way towards offsetting the ELR failures earlier. The rest of turn two was devoted to clearing out my forward screen of halfsquads. Since Eric hadn't been very agressive overall in the first turn, my dummies were still around and did a good job distracting the 6-6-6s from completely wrecking my real troops. Despite that, two of my halfsquads were surrounded, shot up, and destroyed. Even worse was an 8+3 AFPH shot that broke my 9-2 on an NMC, forcing him to rout away from the key level two machine gun nest.

Again, my turn flew past in a matter of a minute or two, although it did last long enough for me to self rally the 4-6-8/LMG and boxcar the 9-2 self-rally attempt thereby killing him. The dice gods giveth and the dice gods taketh away. The whole thing left me a little sad, but not as sad as Eric when turn three started and he realized he had but two movement phases left to win the game. This epiphany precipitated a mad dash towards the far board edge, allowing me multiple -2 shots with my remaining troops. Although I lost another HS on an FPF shot, I was able to do lots of damage to the American force, with the 6ML really taking its toll on Eric's troops. Importantly, I was able to break every American that ventured ADJACENT to my units except for the two newly-minted heroes. Engaging in CC was not something I had any interest in!

At this point, we stopped for a quick tally of the VP. With one German and one American turn left, Eric had 21 EVP in range of the board edge and needed to get off 17 for a win. To stop all those 6-6-6s running though the open, I still had my MMG squad, my MTR squad, my LMG squad, and a HS. It was obviously going to be tough for Eric, so he decided to gamble and advanced his heroes into my adjacent units for some CC. The first hero killed my HS without even dying himself, and although the second hero perished in the attempt, he also managed to annilate his target, my 4-6-8/LMG, which really hurt.

Now I was down to my 4-6-8/MMG and the 4-6-8/MTR, who was slightly out of position. I prep fired the MMG at a stack of Americans, and managed to break a 7-0 and a HS. That left Eric with just 18 possible EVP left. Luckily for me, all the big American kill stacks were out of LOS of my MMG, so the only unit that had to worry about taking fire was the MTR squad. I opted to be cautious and AM him into position to shut down the last ditch American dash on turn four. The move brought him into LOS of a single 6-6-6/BAZ, who fired through an orchard into a stone building and scored a CH with the BAZ on my squad. The 16-3 left a broken 2-4-7 behind, and a single good order German squad on the entire map!

The end game now came into focus with something of a ruthless simplicity. No American squad could afford to prep fire, risk throwing smoke, or do anything else other than run for the map edge and hope for the best. As for my part, I simply had to hit one of the many targets running through the open and hope the 6ML unit would break or even pin. Eric started the exodus with a lone 6-6-6. I opted to fire the MMG only at him. The 4-2 would likely suffice, and if there was a fluke HOB MC or a high roll on my part, I wanted another shot...just in case. The remaining American hero would have been more than happy to run adjacent and block off any German chances at SFF if I did fire everything and the target somehow survived. With all that running through my head, I rolled the 4-2, commenting "This is for the game!" The roll was a double five: cower, no effect, and the game really was over, as the Americans marched off the map in peace.

Congratulations to Eric for the win. After a tough string of dice at the start, he did all the little things he needed to do for victory, using the American advantages of Assault Fire and CC to clear out my troops in rapid fashion. The scenario, while tiny in size, was actually more fun than I had anticipated. Both sides get just enough to work with that there are meaningful decisions being made each turn. I'd place it in the same category as J98 Lendlease Attack: it's actually a lot of fun for its size and a good learning scenario, but I don't plan to play it again. Incidently, Dash For Mt. Croce is likely a good scenario as well for anyone looking to work on their end game. Every turn I played, I felt like I was making the decisions I normally make at the end of a close but larger scenario. I have to tip my hat both to Eric for the thrills and chills of the game and to the Bunker guys for putting out such consistantly interesting scenarios.

Thanks for reading,

Zeb