Rick Reinesch
Here are the results and rankings from the tournament. Where folks had the same score, I ranked first based off of W/L percentage and then the W/L percentage of their opponents. So folks who played stronger opponents would be ranked higher. Going from the basic criteria that you need four games to qualify for the individual awards, here are how folks finished.
1. James Ferrell
2. Randy Shurtz
3. Matt Shostak
4. Mike Seningen
5. Sam Tyson
6. James Martin
7. Zeb Doyle
8. Brain Roundhill
9. Jerry Simmons
10. Doyle Motes
11. Mike Denson
12. Scott Bell
13. Ed Beekman
14. Chas Argent
15. Chris Kubick
16. Mike Rose
17. Walter Eardley
18. Arlen Vanek
19. Eric Gerstenberg
20. Rick Reinesch
21. Gregg Parker
22. Roy Connelly
23. David Longstreet
24. John Hyler
25. Bill Dorre
26. Patrick Ireland
Counting everyone regardless of number of games played, here are the final rankings.
Player Scores
Player Score Wins Losses
------------------------- -------- ------ ------
1. James Ferrell 5.0 5 0
2. Randy Shurtz 3.0 4 1 * Runner-up in the Championship game
3. Matt Shostak 5.0 6 1
4. Mike Seningen 4.0 5 1
5. Sam Tyson 3.0 4 1
6. James Martin 3.0 4 1
7. Zeb Doyle 3.0 4 1
8. Brain Roundhill 3.0 4 1
9. Roy Casagranda 2.0 2 0
10. Jerry Simmons 2.0 3 1
11. Doyle Motes 2.0 3 1
12. Mike Denson 2.0 3 1
13. Scott Bell 2.0 3 1
14. Jeff Toreki 1.0 1 0
15. Nick Drinkwater 1.0 2 1
16. Ed Beekman 1.0 3 2
17. Chas Argent 1.0 4 3
18. Chris Kubick 0.0 2 2
19. Matt Schwoebel 0.0 1 1
20. Mike Rose 0.0 2 2
21. Walter Eardley 0.0 2 2
22. Robert Davila 0.0 2 2
23. Arlen Vanek -1.0 2 3
24. Allen King -1.0 1 2
25. Glenn Schools -1.0 1 2
26. Jack O'Quin -1.0 1 2
27. Buck Karpowicz -1.0 1 2
28. Dan Preston -1.0 1 2
29. John Farris -1.0 1 2
30. Kevin Klausmeyer -1.0 0 1
31. Kevin Kenneally -1.0 0 1
32. Rob Burton -1.0 0 1
33. Eric Gerstenberg -2.0 1 3
34. Rick Reinesch -2.0 1 3
35. Gregg Parker -2.0 1 3
36. Roy Connelly -3.0 1 4
37. Jeff Taylor -3.0 0 3
38. Bud Garding -3.0 0 3
39. David Longstreet -4.0 1 5
40. John Hyler -4.0 0 4
41. Bill Dorre -4.0 0 4
42. Patrick Ireland -6.0 0 6
Major Johnson Scores
Player MJ Total
------------------------- --------
Chas Argent 16670.25
Matt Shostak 16537.5
Chris Kubick 14068.25
John Hyler 13789.5
James Martin 11532.5
Jeff Taylor 9757.5
Brain Roundhill 9660.0
Arlen Vanek 9240.0
David Longstreet 8952.0
Mike Rose 8626.5
Ed Beekman 8418.9
James Ferrell 7845.0
Bud Garding 7704.25
Zeb Doyle 7614.9
Doyle Motes 7384.5
Roy Connelly 7348.25
Walter Eardley 6538.0
Sam Tyson 6387.0
Mike Seningen 5686.5
Gregg Parker 5657.5
Mike Denson 5310.0
Allen King 5215.0
Randy Shurtz 4787.5
Glenn Schools 4786.0
Nick Drinkwater 4302.45
Patrick Ireland 4235.0
Jerry Simmons 4226.0
Eric Gerstenberg 4058.75
Matt Schwoebel 4009.5
Rick Reinesch 3706.25
Buck Karpowicz 3408.0
Bill Dorre 3391.0
Jeff Toreki 2317.0
Dan Preston 2247.0
Scott Bell 2077.0
Robert Davila 2003.75
John Farris 1983.75
Jack O'Quin 1520.25
Roy Casagranda 288.0
Kevin Kenneally 282.0
Kevin Klausmeyer 227.25
Rob Burton 0.0
Team Scores
Team Score Wins Losses
----------------------------------------------- ----------------------- -------- --------
James Martin,Matt Shostak, 8.0 10 2
Mike Seningen,Ed Beekman, 5.0 8 3
Buck Karpowicz,James Ferrell, 4.0 6 2
Jerry Simmons,Scott Bell, 4.0 6 2
Sam Tyson,John Farris, 2.0 5 3
Glenn Schools,Zeb Doyle, 2.0 5 3
Brain Roundhill,Arlen Vanek, 2.0 6 4
CENTRAL TEXAS 1.2941176470588236 36 25
Jack O'Quin,Chas Argent, 1.0 5 4
Nick Drinkwater,Allen King, 0.0 3 3
Mike Rose,Norman Harman, 0.0 2 2
Doyle Motes,Rick Reinesch, 0.0 4 4
Mike Denson,Gregg Parker, 0.0 4 4
NORTH TEXAS -0.2222222222222222 18 19
Dan Preston,Robert Davila, -1.0 3 4
HOUSTON -2.0 7 12
Rob Burton,Kevin Klausmeyer, -2.0 0 2
FOREIGNERS -2.5714285714285716 9 18
Walter Eardley,Roy Connelly, -3.0 3 6
Jeff Toreki,Bill Dorre, -3.0 1 4
David Longstreet,Chris Kubick, -4.0 3 7
Matt Schwoebel,John Hyler, -4.0 1 5
Jeff Taylor,Bud Garding, -6.0 0 6
Eric Gerstenberg,Patrick Ireland, -8.0 1 9
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
AAR: TT12 Signal Hill
Zeb Doyle
Zeb Doyle : Japanese
Matt Schwoebel : Austrailians
In a rare but fun Tuesday night fight, Matt Schwoebel and I squared off in a game of TT12 Signal Hill. This scenario is from HoB's Tropic Thunder pack, which is a set of twelve scenarios featuring some very late war fighting between the Japanese and Australians in Balikpapan. The scenario pack itself has a fair amount of errata (easily accessible on the HoB site), scenarios that range from tiny to medium in size, and some cave fighting, so it's not likely to be a product high on the acquisition list for most people. However, there are some fun and interesting-looking PTO scenarios in the pack, so if that's your cup of tea, it's certainly worth checking it out.
TT12 Signal Hill caught my eye because it was a good size to play on a weeknight (25 total squads, 2 tanks, 6.5 turns) and offered some interesting options for both sides. Despite the scenario name, there isn't actually a hill involved and instead has a force of Australians trying to fight the long way across two deluxe city maps and exit at least 22 CVP off the other edge. Schwoebel decided to lead the attack and got a company of 4-5-8s equipped with LMGs and supported by two Matildas, one of which carries a 32FP FT as an MA. That put me in charge of the Japanese: a company of assorted first and second line squads, a 70mm INF gun, a DC, an HMG, and two MMGs. Overall, the two forces are pretty evenly matched numerically. The Aussies, with the FT and the Stealth, prefer to take the fight close-in while the Japanese are going to try and use their machine guns and ROF to do their damage from a distance. Finally, the Aussies have 49 total CVP in their force so the VC requirement of 22 doesn't seem too steep. It should be noted though that 14 CVP come from the two Matildas, and although they are almost invulnerable to the Japanese 70mm INF gun, a lucky THH or street-fighting attack can make the Australian task extremely difficult.
The scenario starts with a fun little pre-game sequence where both sides alternately place a bunch of shell-hole counters across the map and can then randomly reposition a few of them. It's amusing trying to alter the battlefield to your advantage and then redeploying your opponent's shell-holes to (hopefully) lame positions, almost like playing a small Euro game as a warm-up to ASL. I tried to erase a bunch of jungle to open up some LOS while Matt rubbled a bunch of buildings to constrict it, but in the end nothing too significant happened. I then set up my troops, over half of whom were HIP due to SSR. Everyone was pretty evenly distributed across the map with a lot of units far forward to try and slow the Aussie assault as soon as possible. The INF gun actually went way up front in a jungle hex where it would be tough to approach. I back-stopped it with a knee-mortar, figuring that if Matt did try to deal with the gun position, I'd get some air-burst shots on his troops. The only other real trap I came up with was to use the DC as a set AT mine. It was the first time I'd ever tried that, but given the constrictive Deluxe terrain and the vast amount of rubble we'd created pre-game to constrict things even more, it seemed like a worthwhile gambit.
The game opened with Matt charging out of his corner and unleashing a flurry of body blows. He trapped a forward 3-4-7 and eliminated it in CC. Elsewhere, my INF gun was also overrun after it gacked several shots at point-blank bore-sighted targets. That was pretty disappointing, and a stack of Aussies ended up in Melee with the gun crew. In my PFPh, things only became more irritating when my knee MTR opened up on the gun position. This was the exact situation I'd envisioned pregame, with shells dropping on my step-reducing emplaced crew and the air-burst exposed Australians, but the MTR team had left their WP at home and was just as inaccurate as the INF gun crew at hitting bore-sighted targets. In the ensuing CCPh, my gun was taken out and my first trap came up empty.
Over the next turn or so, the punching was fast and furious. My 10-1/HMG combo lived up to the pre-match hype and went on some nice rate tears, killing a few Aussie squads with repeated 6-1 shots as they attempted to cross the streets. Meanwhile, Matt landed a pair of close-in hay-makers with his flame-throwing Matilda. I lost a 4-4-7 and a 2-2-8/MMG on rolls that were so low they started fires. This was really the defining sequence of the fight because I couldn't continue to absorb punishment like that for long. However, the fires rapidly blazed up and started to spread, cutting off the middle of the board and sending smoke swirling everywhere. Things rapidly came to a head as the death-dealing Matilda rolled toward its next target and blundered into my set AT mine...
It was now my chance to land a punishing haymaker, but my second trap failed as miserably as the first when the THH botched his TC to trigger the mine. That bit of bad fate knocked me down for a ten-count and I was busy lamenting my fate when Matt reminded me what a crazy game this can be by rolling an 11 on his next FT attack. That ended the Waltzing Matilda threat by X-ing out the weapon, and also Recalled the tank since it was also the MA. Just like that, seven precious VP were eliminated and I was back in the fight. Even worse for Matt, the aftermath of the FT attacks lingered on for the rest of the game, with the spreading fires and smoke severely hampering his ability to maneuver on the already cramped Deluxe boards.
Thanks to the blazes, the Australians were now forced to largely channel their attack down just one map, with a width of five or six hexes. At this point, I had Matt trapped in a corner and was able to make the fight very conservative and really limit his ability to maneuver. The drifting smoke made it very easy to reposition my troops in depth, voluntarily break when he came adjacent, and then quickly rally and move back forward, limiting the Aussie attack to gains of only a hex or two per turn. Matt did a great job given the circumstances and took advantage of every mistake I made, but I got every roll I needed and in the end I was able to tie him up until the bell rang. If memory serves, he ended up getting eleven or so of the required 22 points in what was an interesting but not great game.
Interesting but not great also sums up my thoughts on the scenario as well. The Matildas are vital for the Aussies as exit points, but the tight terrain, the set AT mine, and the THHs are almost certain to claim at least one. Matt wasn't too aggressive with his non-FT Matilda and it still had to survive several THH/CC attempts to get off-map. Meanwhile, the auto-death attacks from the FT tank are also vital to clear out the step-reducing Japanese, but the X11 MA makes it very scary to use since a single poor roll effectively kills the tank. Although there's a lot to like about the scenario, like the pre-game shellhole placement and the PTO city-fight, too much depends on the Matildas, especially the FT one. If I were to play it again, I think a good fix would be to SSR that the loss of the FT doesn't cause Recall. That would have put Matt around 17 of the required 22 EVP and made for a much better game. The Aussie player will still have to be very careful with his armor, but should even things up a lot. The official balance is to lower the required EVP total to 19, which obviously helps but doesn't fix the current gaminess with the FT. At the moment, TT12 Signal Hill is 6 Australian wins to 12 Japanese wins on ROAR, so either way a bit of help probably isn't amiss.
Thanks to Matt for a very enjoyable Tuesday and for great sportsmanship even after getting stuck with the tougher side, and thanks to you for reading!
Zeb
Zeb Doyle : Japanese
Matt Schwoebel : Austrailians
In a rare but fun Tuesday night fight, Matt Schwoebel and I squared off in a game of TT12 Signal Hill. This scenario is from HoB's Tropic Thunder pack, which is a set of twelve scenarios featuring some very late war fighting between the Japanese and Australians in Balikpapan. The scenario pack itself has a fair amount of errata (easily accessible on the HoB site), scenarios that range from tiny to medium in size, and some cave fighting, so it's not likely to be a product high on the acquisition list for most people. However, there are some fun and interesting-looking PTO scenarios in the pack, so if that's your cup of tea, it's certainly worth checking it out.
TT12 Signal Hill caught my eye because it was a good size to play on a weeknight (25 total squads, 2 tanks, 6.5 turns) and offered some interesting options for both sides. Despite the scenario name, there isn't actually a hill involved and instead has a force of Australians trying to fight the long way across two deluxe city maps and exit at least 22 CVP off the other edge. Schwoebel decided to lead the attack and got a company of 4-5-8s equipped with LMGs and supported by two Matildas, one of which carries a 32FP FT as an MA. That put me in charge of the Japanese: a company of assorted first and second line squads, a 70mm INF gun, a DC, an HMG, and two MMGs. Overall, the two forces are pretty evenly matched numerically. The Aussies, with the FT and the Stealth, prefer to take the fight close-in while the Japanese are going to try and use their machine guns and ROF to do their damage from a distance. Finally, the Aussies have 49 total CVP in their force so the VC requirement of 22 doesn't seem too steep. It should be noted though that 14 CVP come from the two Matildas, and although they are almost invulnerable to the Japanese 70mm INF gun, a lucky THH or street-fighting attack can make the Australian task extremely difficult.
The scenario starts with a fun little pre-game sequence where both sides alternately place a bunch of shell-hole counters across the map and can then randomly reposition a few of them. It's amusing trying to alter the battlefield to your advantage and then redeploying your opponent's shell-holes to (hopefully) lame positions, almost like playing a small Euro game as a warm-up to ASL. I tried to erase a bunch of jungle to open up some LOS while Matt rubbled a bunch of buildings to constrict it, but in the end nothing too significant happened. I then set up my troops, over half of whom were HIP due to SSR. Everyone was pretty evenly distributed across the map with a lot of units far forward to try and slow the Aussie assault as soon as possible. The INF gun actually went way up front in a jungle hex where it would be tough to approach. I back-stopped it with a knee-mortar, figuring that if Matt did try to deal with the gun position, I'd get some air-burst shots on his troops. The only other real trap I came up with was to use the DC as a set AT mine. It was the first time I'd ever tried that, but given the constrictive Deluxe terrain and the vast amount of rubble we'd created pre-game to constrict things even more, it seemed like a worthwhile gambit.
The game opened with Matt charging out of his corner and unleashing a flurry of body blows. He trapped a forward 3-4-7 and eliminated it in CC. Elsewhere, my INF gun was also overrun after it gacked several shots at point-blank bore-sighted targets. That was pretty disappointing, and a stack of Aussies ended up in Melee with the gun crew. In my PFPh, things only became more irritating when my knee MTR opened up on the gun position. This was the exact situation I'd envisioned pregame, with shells dropping on my step-reducing emplaced crew and the air-burst exposed Australians, but the MTR team had left their WP at home and was just as inaccurate as the INF gun crew at hitting bore-sighted targets. In the ensuing CCPh, my gun was taken out and my first trap came up empty.
Over the next turn or so, the punching was fast and furious. My 10-1/HMG combo lived up to the pre-match hype and went on some nice rate tears, killing a few Aussie squads with repeated 6-1 shots as they attempted to cross the streets. Meanwhile, Matt landed a pair of close-in hay-makers with his flame-throwing Matilda. I lost a 4-4-7 and a 2-2-8/MMG on rolls that were so low they started fires. This was really the defining sequence of the fight because I couldn't continue to absorb punishment like that for long. However, the fires rapidly blazed up and started to spread, cutting off the middle of the board and sending smoke swirling everywhere. Things rapidly came to a head as the death-dealing Matilda rolled toward its next target and blundered into my set AT mine...
It was now my chance to land a punishing haymaker, but my second trap failed as miserably as the first when the THH botched his TC to trigger the mine. That bit of bad fate knocked me down for a ten-count and I was busy lamenting my fate when Matt reminded me what a crazy game this can be by rolling an 11 on his next FT attack. That ended the Waltzing Matilda threat by X-ing out the weapon, and also Recalled the tank since it was also the MA. Just like that, seven precious VP were eliminated and I was back in the fight. Even worse for Matt, the aftermath of the FT attacks lingered on for the rest of the game, with the spreading fires and smoke severely hampering his ability to maneuver on the already cramped Deluxe boards.
Thanks to the blazes, the Australians were now forced to largely channel their attack down just one map, with a width of five or six hexes. At this point, I had Matt trapped in a corner and was able to make the fight very conservative and really limit his ability to maneuver. The drifting smoke made it very easy to reposition my troops in depth, voluntarily break when he came adjacent, and then quickly rally and move back forward, limiting the Aussie attack to gains of only a hex or two per turn. Matt did a great job given the circumstances and took advantage of every mistake I made, but I got every roll I needed and in the end I was able to tie him up until the bell rang. If memory serves, he ended up getting eleven or so of the required 22 points in what was an interesting but not great game.
Interesting but not great also sums up my thoughts on the scenario as well. The Matildas are vital for the Aussies as exit points, but the tight terrain, the set AT mine, and the THHs are almost certain to claim at least one. Matt wasn't too aggressive with his non-FT Matilda and it still had to survive several THH/CC attempts to get off-map. Meanwhile, the auto-death attacks from the FT tank are also vital to clear out the step-reducing Japanese, but the X11 MA makes it very scary to use since a single poor roll effectively kills the tank. Although there's a lot to like about the scenario, like the pre-game shellhole placement and the PTO city-fight, too much depends on the Matildas, especially the FT one. If I were to play it again, I think a good fix would be to SSR that the loss of the FT doesn't cause Recall. That would have put Matt around 17 of the required 22 EVP and made for a much better game. The Aussie player will still have to be very careful with his armor, but should even things up a lot. The official balance is to lower the required EVP total to 19, which obviously helps but doesn't fix the current gaminess with the FT. At the moment, TT12 Signal Hill is 6 Australian wins to 12 Japanese wins on ROAR, so either way a bit of help probably isn't amiss.
Thanks to Matt for a very enjoyable Tuesday and for great sportsmanship even after getting stuck with the tougher side, and thanks to you for reading!
Zeb
Texas Tourney AAR: WCW10 Stand and Die
Nick Drinkwater
Chinese Player: Zeb Doyle [ELR 3, SAN 4]
Japanese Player: Nick Drinkwater [ELR 4, SAN 4]
A company of first line Japanese has to cause more CVP on a very well-armed company of 1st Line Chinese defending the Board 24 village, with every building location held at game end counting as extra VP. Simple eh? Well, yes and no. The huge rice paddy overlay is in play (drained, so they are nice and simple) and a long stream protects access to the village from the west - also the Japanese have only seven turns to achieve this and there is about a board width of approach to be made before they get to the village proper and there is a lot of ground for the Chinese to spread out. The Japanese, despite being the attackers, are numerically at a disadvantage in this (11 squads vs 12), but they do have the better armour with two Type 97A, two Type 95 Ha-Go and a Chi-Ro (with a 57* mm gun) competing against some rusting relic Axis cast-offs in the form of two 221 ACs, three Mark 1s and two L3s. These all have red MP numbers and are mainly hampered by Platoon Movement, but then, so are the Japanese! The Chinese also receive a 75mm field gun, two MMG and an all important 9-2 (over and above the 9-1 and 7-0). This is a very tough Chinese force and they are helped by having all huts and buildings treated as Level one wooden buildings. Light PTO is in effect so we will be hacking through the kunai at some point.
Looking at the board configurations, due to timing issues, it became clear that there were really only two approach routes into the village: the obvious frontal assault up the central 'corridor' lightly speckled with a bit of kunai and palms with some scattered buildings, or the eastern board-edge approach that by-passes the paddies but pushes you through the big jungle and bamboo thicket east of the village on Board 24. Zeb had outlier "?" on the central approach corridor and some more guarding the jungle/bamboo thicket. The SE quadrant of Board 35 is dominated by the huge rice plantation and it became clear that this was not a viable approach route due to the huge number of MP involved or the risk from hazardous movement when moving from Bank to Bank. Similarly, in the SW corner of the board, the two parallel belts of banzai backed by the stream were seriously going to impede all movement from there, so I decided to play it simple and go with a fairly large big push up the middle, supported by an engineer-led flank attack from the east.
Nice plan. Crap execution.
We were both pretty tired when we kicked this one off after some intense afternoon match-ups and it showed in our general ring-rustiness, and for me, less than optimum pre-game board analysis and setup. Of course, playing Zeb you really need to bring your "A" game along, but to be honest, I only really got into third gear at best in this one, and it showed from the beginning. I mis-balanced my start-up forces a little bit too much and a bit more time on setup could have easily worked this back into my favour. The hard part of the central assault is when you emerge from the "corridor" into an open ground turkey shoot on the Board 24 seam, due south of the village, covered by every matchlock and catapult muzzle the Chinese can dig up. Even Banzais get badly chopped up in open ground and so it is imperative that both knee mortars were ready in place to cover this assault with as much WP and Smoke as they can pump in as there are two or three nasty empty approach hexes that the Japs just have to cross, in the face of murderous withering fire from MGs and the field gun. Unfortunately one of my mortars was with my engineers and hence out of place and the other was destroyed by a KIA from Zebs' now revealed field gun which was in a really nice place with a great covered arc. All of my sudden my frontal Japanese tough boys were having to inch along in tortuous assault movement and they started to go down like flies. Some fairly average dice on my part didn't help my cause and things began to crumble quickly. I only managed to take a single building in this attack, and even this was quickly counter-attacked and my guys went down in a hail of bullets.
On the flank, things progressed pretty well before I ran into Zeb's 9-2 and hidden 8-1, both with MMGs. I got lucky and dodged any serious casualties here, (especially my FT guy who survived the -4 shot from the hidden 8-1 / MMG), but again poor initial setup and brainless moving meant by 10-1 had become detached from his accompanying squads, and hence was a little isolated with only a HS and crew for company with their SW. This was compounded by the orientation of the bamboo thicket which was a complete obstacle to progress, which funnelled the leader away from his platoon. The problems became even more compounded by the way I'd split my armour forces - the really threatening tank for the Japanese here is the big gunned 57*mm version, but this is also the slowest. I had stupidly assigned this behemoth to the flanking attack which had the longest distance to go, in a Platoon, and which also got sidetracked by the 9-2 on its way (dumb, dumb, dumb). This beast should have been with the central force where its FP was desperately needed and it had the least straight-line distance to travel, but of course it was stuck out on the flanks, toiling in the afternoon sun. Sigh.
Luckily, Zeb wasn't quite playing his "A" game either and, despite realising from the off the complete uselessness of his armour and their easy VP potential for me, insisted on sending his L3 platoon over to my flank on some kind of magical mystery tour (think Beatles), where they wandered directly into the path of my 37 and 57* mm armed tanks. Scenting the blood lust of easy VP, I fired off my acquisition shots (yes Zeb, I like them!), confident of breeding some Swiss cheesed, corned-beef cans in the next turn. At that point of course, I entered one of my notorious horror rolling streaks and missed with the tanks (ten), and then missed with a nine from the Flame Thrower needing an 8 to toast them, plus a batch of other grim shots which malfunction more support weapons. Sigh. Two tanks and 10VP that should have been mine, all gacked. Sigh.
To try and remedy the situation, the survivors of the central attack, re-directed eastward slightly and banzaied an outlying squad to death and a couple of other Chinese went down in MADCC (mutually assured destruction CC), but I was being attrited very hard, especially when I box-carred two 447s on simple 1MC. I kept pushing on and even managed to despatch a Mk 1 tin can and recalled another due to a broken MA, and my sniper shot a 7-0 and a dummy, but I was still on a losing curve for overall VP as 75% of the buildings were still in Zeb's Nationalistist hands. Also, I just could not damage his 9-2, who was making all my finest Imperialistic street-crossing assaults in the village perilous. I was still just about in the game, helped by collecting some prisoners who willingly wanted to become a full part of the Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, but I knew in the last two turns I was going to need to have about 70% of it go my way to have any chance of a very fortuitous win. Of course, the very next shot was a boxcars from my FT and a complete turn's worth of acquired defensive fire and other shots that did nothing whatsoever. In total desperation on my last turn, I lined up the tanks for a batch of VBM in a vain attempt to at least capture the big factory building and the two wood-yards, fully accepting the risks of CVP damage, but as was typical all game, Zeb pulls out snakes on his very first reaction fire and my hopes went up in smoke, much as my tank crew did.
Its not a bad scenario, but I definitely preferred its newer cousin in the "Into the Rubble" pack with which it shows some similarities, A more competently handled attack would have been a lot closer result, but the 9-2 was a massive force in this and I think the Japanese are a little undercooked to achieve their aim: their main tanks have no ROF so they are 4FP one-shot wonders or have 2FP MG's, but the Chinese are all going to be hunkered down in wooden buildings and so are tough to damage. Only some mutually assured destruction CC achieved any CVP for me in this game and Zeb failed his first MC in Turn 6 (who then promptly surrendered!) as I just couldn't get co-ordinated to inflict enough damage for him to worry about. I was even at risk of having a Chinese squad steal back into the backfield and regain the huts and so I was definitely going to come up short. We did wonder however if it was really the intent to have all the Chinese armour effectively hide in out of the way positions due to the risk of handing the Japanese 35VP off the bat?
Nick
Texas Team Tourney Report
Nick Drinkwater
Echoing Walter, I'd like to say thanks to Rick and also to his family for sacrificing him to us for the whole weekend - I was completely stunned when he said he'd been upto 4am on Friday, and yet at 12.45am on Saturday night was quite happy for Zeb and myself to go the extra half hour or so to finish off our last match. A total Trojan if ever there was one - and a great tournament again - awesome job dude!
For me, it was 2-1 this time around: got heavily drawn into two awesome games with Matt Schwoebel and Eric which both went the distance for me to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat from previously snatching defeat from the jaws of victory from pretty much the last die-rolls of the games. However from these exhausting highs, I was soon in a emotional low, eventually getting crushed by Mr. Doyle in the aforementioned late nighter. Unfortunately, I did live upto my mid game expectations Walter and it didn't end pretty! As always though, it was fun. It was a shame that the H-town contingent was down a bit on last year's impressive turnout and I think we all missed the "I HATE THIS GAME!!!" cries from Mr. Gillis. I do believe I tried to emulate him at one or two points in the big game with Matt, but imitation is a poor form of flattery - Tom, you were missed dude!
One instant memory - about 11.45pm on Saturday night, watching my flame thrower roll cars, after missing make an instant "boil in the bag meal" of one of Zeb's small Chinese tanks on it's only other shot...some 'foetal-position assuming' was observed by dispassionate observers!!
It was great to meet all the old faces and some new ones too! I hope the young man (Robert) who was playing a lot of SK stuff had a great weekend and will come again - nice to see! Very pleased that our visitors from the NE were able to make it down to us and I hope they took back good memories and experiences as well as some of the prizes - it was great to meet (briefly) Chas and see how normal he really is: oh my gosh, "MMP are not the antichrist and are actually human" shock echoes around the internet! What will all the naysayers do now? Really hope you are able to come and visit us again in the future.
I would also like to acknowledge the generosity of all the groups who tipped in for Door Prizes for the weekend. MMP (among many others) threw in a couple of hundred bucks worth of goodies that will help to fill in people's collections, and there were great prizes from (among others and apologies to any I have missed out), SoCal, Bounding Fire, HOB, LFT, Mark Pitcavage, Mike Dorosh, Paul Kenny, East Side Gamers and Osprey Publishing. Everyone went home with something and there was enough stuff left over for some people to get two. I was angling for any of the beautifully produced LFT magazines, but others had their eagle eyes on these, so I was really happy to pick up a history of one of the US infantry divisions experiences in Normandy. Very nice!
Chas had brought a few copies of AP4 and there were several games of that being played when I was there. Didn't get my hands on any at the time, but I'm confident that my pre-order will show up soon. Would be interested to see AARs or first impressions of tthese from anyone who did get to play them!
OK. Need to run and do gainful employment stuff for a while. AARs to follow over the next few days, and perhaps a scenario analysis in a future Banzai too...watch this space!!
Hope everyone got home safely and see you all in February in Houston if not sooner!
Cheers
Nick
For me, it was 2-1 this time around: got heavily drawn into two awesome games with Matt Schwoebel and Eric which both went the distance for me to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat from previously snatching defeat from the jaws of victory from pretty much the last die-rolls of the games. However from these exhausting highs, I was soon in a emotional low, eventually getting crushed by Mr. Doyle in the aforementioned late nighter. Unfortunately, I did live upto my mid game expectations Walter and it didn't end pretty! As always though, it was fun. It was a shame that the H-town contingent was down a bit on last year's impressive turnout and I think we all missed the "I HATE THIS GAME!!!" cries from Mr. Gillis. I do believe I tried to emulate him at one or two points in the big game with Matt, but imitation is a poor form of flattery - Tom, you were missed dude!
One instant memory - about 11.45pm on Saturday night, watching my flame thrower roll cars, after missing make an instant "boil in the bag meal" of one of Zeb's small Chinese tanks on it's only other shot...some 'foetal-position assuming' was observed by dispassionate observers!!
It was great to meet all the old faces and some new ones too! I hope the young man (Robert) who was playing a lot of SK stuff had a great weekend and will come again - nice to see! Very pleased that our visitors from the NE were able to make it down to us and I hope they took back good memories and experiences as well as some of the prizes - it was great to meet (briefly) Chas and see how normal he really is: oh my gosh, "MMP are not the antichrist and are actually human" shock echoes around the internet! What will all the naysayers do now? Really hope you are able to come and visit us again in the future.
I would also like to acknowledge the generosity of all the groups who tipped in for Door Prizes for the weekend. MMP (among many others) threw in a couple of hundred bucks worth of goodies that will help to fill in people's collections, and there were great prizes from (among others and apologies to any I have missed out), SoCal, Bounding Fire, HOB, LFT, Mark Pitcavage, Mike Dorosh, Paul Kenny, East Side Gamers and Osprey Publishing. Everyone went home with something and there was enough stuff left over for some people to get two. I was angling for any of the beautifully produced LFT magazines, but others had their eagle eyes on these, so I was really happy to pick up a history of one of the US infantry divisions experiences in Normandy. Very nice!
Chas had brought a few copies of AP4 and there were several games of that being played when I was there. Didn't get my hands on any at the time, but I'm confident that my pre-order will show up soon. Would be interested to see AARs or first impressions of tthese from anyone who did get to play them!
OK. Need to run and do gainful employment stuff for a while. AARs to follow over the next few days, and perhaps a scenario analysis in a future Banzai too...watch this space!!
Hope everyone got home safely and see you all in February in Houston if not sooner!
Cheers
Nick
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Texas Team Tourney Report - Houston Contingent
Walter Eardley
First of all, thanks to Rick Reinesch for putting this all together. I know it is a lot of work and is truly a labor of love. We salute you for your efforts!
I went 2-3 this year. I don’t really know how the rest of the contingent faired.
John Hyler was working on Major Johnson but was having trouble keeping up with folks who played 8 scenarios between Thursday and Saturday night. I think the worm has turned on size over quantity in the quest for the MJ.
Bill Dorre was having a blast. The great thing about Bill is he could be winning or he could be losing and you never really know because he is having so much fun. He provided some GREAT commemorative koozie to the Goodie Bag.
Doyle Motes was also cranking out the scenarios but I don’t know how he finished.
Nick Drinkwater and Zeb Doyle were locked in a heated matchup in Stand and Die when I left them about 1am on Sunday morning. While Nick thought he was behind, I think he was still in a very good position to win. I played this same scenario against Bud Garding from Kansas and had a lot of fun. It was interesting to see how Nick and Zeb played it.
Tom Gillis received numerous harassing text messages over the weekend.
Everyone else was missed as well.
I don’t know who won any of the awards since I left early this morning. I am sure Rick will post something. Thanks again Rick for putting this all together!
Zeb’s mini-tournament was a lot of fun. It featured a German Russian battle with some nice Fog of War. Very well done Zeb!
As mentioned above we had some really cool Scooby Snacks in our registration package. The koozie was very cool with the orange base matching the Squad Leader Orange VERY closely. The t-shirt was excellent this year as well. We also received a custom deck of playing cards which included some charts, OBA cards for the Allied and Axis sides and SAN number cards. Very cool stuff! The Prize Lottery featured a wide variety of items from MMP, various third party publishers, some books and gift certificates. I took home a GI Dozen which I did not previous own and a nifty book about the Code Talkers from WW II. Thanks to all the sponsors who donated.
I will do a write up of the scenarios I played a little later.
It was great seeing everyone and meeting all the new folks.
Walter
I went 2-3 this year. I don’t really know how the rest of the contingent faired.
John Hyler was working on Major Johnson but was having trouble keeping up with folks who played 8 scenarios between Thursday and Saturday night. I think the worm has turned on size over quantity in the quest for the MJ.
Bill Dorre was having a blast. The great thing about Bill is he could be winning or he could be losing and you never really know because he is having so much fun. He provided some GREAT commemorative koozie to the Goodie Bag.
Doyle Motes was also cranking out the scenarios but I don’t know how he finished.
Nick Drinkwater and Zeb Doyle were locked in a heated matchup in Stand and Die when I left them about 1am on Sunday morning. While Nick thought he was behind, I think he was still in a very good position to win. I played this same scenario against Bud Garding from Kansas and had a lot of fun. It was interesting to see how Nick and Zeb played it.
Tom Gillis received numerous harassing text messages over the weekend.
Everyone else was missed as well.
I don’t know who won any of the awards since I left early this morning. I am sure Rick will post something. Thanks again Rick for putting this all together!
Zeb’s mini-tournament was a lot of fun. It featured a German Russian battle with some nice Fog of War. Very well done Zeb!
As mentioned above we had some really cool Scooby Snacks in our registration package. The koozie was very cool with the orange base matching the Squad Leader Orange VERY closely. The t-shirt was excellent this year as well. We also received a custom deck of playing cards which included some charts, OBA cards for the Allied and Axis sides and SAN number cards. Very cool stuff! The Prize Lottery featured a wide variety of items from MMP, various third party publishers, some books and gift certificates. I took home a GI Dozen which I did not previous own and a nifty book about the Code Talkers from WW II. Thanks to all the sponsors who donated.
I will do a write up of the scenarios I played a little later.
It was great seeing everyone and meeting all the new folks.
Walter
Sunday, May 11, 2008
AAR: ASL 77 Le hérisson
Nick Drinkwater
German: Steve Miller [ELR 4; SAN 2]
French: Nick Drinkwater [ELR 3; SAN 4]
A desperate rearguard of French colonial troops is determined to give Hitler's finest one last bloody nose before the inevitable ignominious end comes to Mother France. A small company of poilus (nine 457 and three 237) has to deny the evil Boche from taking eleven of fourteen multi-hex buildings on Board 20 by game end or inflict at least 26 CVP on the invaders. Despite the carnage and chaos spreading through the rest of France, these guys are determined to make a go of it and they well armed with HMG, two MMGs and a LMG, have good-ish leadership (9-1, 8-0, 7-0). They are in (by SSR) an all stone building defense, with the option to make one Fortified Building location and create a single HIP squad with associated SW tools. Their biggest handicaps will be the Ammo Shortage they are suffering which will make the HMG and LMG very fragile, a lack of AT assets, and the need to spread out thinly to stop any German flanking maneuvers to sweep up easy victory buildings.
The Germans have a fairly straightforward task here and a goodly mix of thin-skinned but ballsy 150mm assault guns to keep the defenders on their toes, allied to a bitchin' 10-2 with associated HMG to blowtorch their way through any particularly tough defensive nuts. The assault guns are really fragile, being large targets, really bad open turreted armour, and lumbered with a pathetic low ammo B9 – the French will be particularly unlucky if one of these guys doesn't get recalled if the German opts to start flinging the big iron about. They are however given good smoke assets and ultimately could be used as sacrificial sleaze victims for any building assaults needed in the last couple of turns. Though this sounds attractive, the Germans should take a little care here as if the French destroy all three of these then they will already be 3/5ths of the way through the CVP cap: wary Germans however, should not need to worry about the CVP cap in this scenario. The guys who will really being doing the fighting will be the 12.5 landser squads – these are the blokes who will be required to beat the hard yards in this one.
I used my three half-squads to create an outward screen in the right, forward-most three buildings, while I spread the rest of the crew in an L-shaped angle across the left hand side and rear right positions. These three outer buildings were my collapsible screen and the job of the half squads was to hold and annoy the Germans as long as possible. My two most dependable weapons, the two MMG had the best leaders and were placed either side of the central defense splitting road, with support from the two roadblocks to act as shielding `walls' if I needed to conduct some retreats in safety – they could also act to block any creative deep penetrating thrusts by the Sig1 bis if necessary. In response, Steve set up across the half-board width equally, but had put the 10-2 blowtorch in a dominating 2nd level overwatch on his left center. For the first half of the scenario this guy was a right royal pain in the ass as he continued to project 16+1 shots right into the heart of the brittle French defenses. Nasty indeed.
Steve slowly ground forward before he walked into my first shot of the game – my very fragile HMG amazed us all and went on a rate spree and on its sixth shot managed to destroy the first Sig 1 that had waddled into view – 5 CVP for me with a gun with a B10! That was the high point for the next five turns – in return Steve rolled snakes with the blowtorch and my 7-0 and 457 were out of the game – the 7-0 became the ultimate persona non grata when he went to the 5+2 wounded status we all fear and dread! The survivors proceeded to disrupt, then surrendered, have their MG picked up, and the most dreadful result of all, compromised my defenses when they were taken prisoner – out popped by FBL, my hipster and a revealed squad. Nice move Steve as that hurt A LOT.
With all the setbacks, things were looking a bit grim, although I thought Steve was a little bit cautious in his attack. My half-squad screen ultimately failed in Turn 4 and the front right series of three buildings dropped comfortably into Steve's grasp. Despite the pain being received by the blowtorch, I had just managed to stop a first road-crossing assault with a series of lateral shots from my left front line – note that `stop' is a bit of an over exaggeration as from about five -1 and -2 shots I had ultimately only managed to pin three of Steve's squads, but it at least did delay them for a turn.
So Turn 4 was the critical one – Steve realizing the need to press on tried to reposition his 10-2 and death stack when I got the HUGE result of the game: my sniper in its only attack of the game nailed the 10-2 through the eyes (of course), and this also saw the end of the HMG for the rest of the game too. At this point Steve had only lost the single Sig 1 Bis and a measly half-squad so this was huge for me. However, he still had a lot of his infantry left and two of the three AGs, and he pressed on with grim determination. I continued to be my horrible rolling self when it came to Ambush and CC where overall I lost two ambushes, and came out the wrong side of five of the CC attempts made and with no wins of my own. Steve was also shrugging off numerous Residual Fire 1 and 2 -1 attacks with aplomb. All of a sudden, my front left defense had gone down in a welter of hand-grenades and rifle butts and it was looking grim again, but I was still just managing to keep Steve pinned back on my central right side.
In some careful Turn 6 maneuvering, I thought I had a safe place to run my 457, MMG and 8-1 back out of the LOS of Steve's last big 16FP stack – to my horror, I got snagged on a atom-thin LOS from another squad that actually nicked the shadow of a building and not the building itself (and Walter verified it – very tight) – of course I failed the 1MC for both of these from the lousy 4+1 shot from Steve's CX squad with a 10 and a 11 – disaster! To counter that and with a lot more thought, I saw a gap in Steve's lines and an opportunity to run a squad back to my old front line and reclaim a lost building. This was big as there was no in place to stop them and despite the nightmare of the thin LOS shot, I was a building back in credit. To really aid my last turn defense, I was able to rally a half-squad back for the only rally attempt I made in the entire game (and I managed to fate two of my own leaders and a half-squad!) – another big one as I was able to man one more of the backfield buildings to make Steve's job even harder.
The end game was looking to be very tense – I was looking at last turn CC fights in four buildings but in all of them I was likely to be outnumbered at least 2-1 against negative leadership, and as noted, my luck (ability?) in these situations is never good. Steve parked an AG on one of my guys, and tried the same trick on the diehards in the FBL. However, his luck failed him in other maneuvers where two squads got fatally pinned assault moving in the street – the odds in the final CCs were beginning to swing back a little.
He also hadn't realized the full implication of me still having a full squad MMC in my FBL – there was to be no advance in for a win here unless he could break me in Advancing Fire on a 16+3 attack and then force me to rout: unluckily he rolled and received PTC results which I passed. For the final CC round, Steve was in place to try and take three buildings from CC: I of course lost one completely (and this was the one in my favour where I had an immobilized Sig 1 Bis), but in the second, despite fluffing my 2-1 attack, I only received a CR result from the 1-2 in return (some luck!) and hence kept overall final building control of that one. The third one was a wash but even here I again failed with my attack, though I did survive the return.
So a French win in the last CC round of the last turn – the Germans came up shy by three buildings – the big game turners were the massive sniper attack, me sneaking the squad back to the front to reclaim a building and to put me back one building to credit, and Steve's misreading of the FBL entry requirements. We also had a situation in German move 7 where Steve missed declaring double time at the beginning of a squad's move, and hence was one hex short of claiming a building as he could only declare Late DT – during the rest of the game I would have let this go and let him re-take the move and claim the full double-time, but I felt I couldn't on this last turn game-making / breaking move as this was critical – ultimately, it didn't matter to the game result, but I hope this didn't sour it for you Steve and I really didn't mean to come across as a hard-ass on this one.
All in all, quite a good scenario and I can see why its borne so many playings on ROAR – its quite tight and will generally come down to the last turn in some desperate city fighting. Good use of the big guns is essential but with their fragile nature, restraint for use in the end-turn rush maybe a good plan.
French: Nick Drinkwater [ELR 3; SAN 4]
A desperate rearguard of French colonial troops is determined to give Hitler's finest one last bloody nose before the inevitable ignominious end comes to Mother France. A small company of poilus (nine 457 and three 237) has to deny the evil Boche from taking eleven of fourteen multi-hex buildings on Board 20 by game end or inflict at least 26 CVP on the invaders. Despite the carnage and chaos spreading through the rest of France, these guys are determined to make a go of it and they well armed with HMG, two MMGs and a LMG, have good-ish leadership (9-1, 8-0, 7-0). They are in (by SSR) an all stone building defense, with the option to make one Fortified Building location and create a single HIP squad with associated SW tools. Their biggest handicaps will be the Ammo Shortage they are suffering which will make the HMG and LMG very fragile, a lack of AT assets, and the need to spread out thinly to stop any German flanking maneuvers to sweep up easy victory buildings.
The Germans have a fairly straightforward task here and a goodly mix of thin-skinned but ballsy 150mm assault guns to keep the defenders on their toes, allied to a bitchin' 10-2 with associated HMG to blowtorch their way through any particularly tough defensive nuts. The assault guns are really fragile, being large targets, really bad open turreted armour, and lumbered with a pathetic low ammo B9 – the French will be particularly unlucky if one of these guys doesn't get recalled if the German opts to start flinging the big iron about. They are however given good smoke assets and ultimately could be used as sacrificial sleaze victims for any building assaults needed in the last couple of turns. Though this sounds attractive, the Germans should take a little care here as if the French destroy all three of these then they will already be 3/5ths of the way through the CVP cap: wary Germans however, should not need to worry about the CVP cap in this scenario. The guys who will really being doing the fighting will be the 12.5 landser squads – these are the blokes who will be required to beat the hard yards in this one.
I used my three half-squads to create an outward screen in the right, forward-most three buildings, while I spread the rest of the crew in an L-shaped angle across the left hand side and rear right positions. These three outer buildings were my collapsible screen and the job of the half squads was to hold and annoy the Germans as long as possible. My two most dependable weapons, the two MMG had the best leaders and were placed either side of the central defense splitting road, with support from the two roadblocks to act as shielding `walls' if I needed to conduct some retreats in safety – they could also act to block any creative deep penetrating thrusts by the Sig1 bis if necessary. In response, Steve set up across the half-board width equally, but had put the 10-2 blowtorch in a dominating 2nd level overwatch on his left center. For the first half of the scenario this guy was a right royal pain in the ass as he continued to project 16+1 shots right into the heart of the brittle French defenses. Nasty indeed.
Steve slowly ground forward before he walked into my first shot of the game – my very fragile HMG amazed us all and went on a rate spree and on its sixth shot managed to destroy the first Sig 1 that had waddled into view – 5 CVP for me with a gun with a B10! That was the high point for the next five turns – in return Steve rolled snakes with the blowtorch and my 7-0 and 457 were out of the game – the 7-0 became the ultimate persona non grata when he went to the 5+2 wounded status we all fear and dread! The survivors proceeded to disrupt, then surrendered, have their MG picked up, and the most dreadful result of all, compromised my defenses when they were taken prisoner – out popped by FBL, my hipster and a revealed squad. Nice move Steve as that hurt A LOT.
With all the setbacks, things were looking a bit grim, although I thought Steve was a little bit cautious in his attack. My half-squad screen ultimately failed in Turn 4 and the front right series of three buildings dropped comfortably into Steve's grasp. Despite the pain being received by the blowtorch, I had just managed to stop a first road-crossing assault with a series of lateral shots from my left front line – note that `stop' is a bit of an over exaggeration as from about five -1 and -2 shots I had ultimately only managed to pin three of Steve's squads, but it at least did delay them for a turn.
So Turn 4 was the critical one – Steve realizing the need to press on tried to reposition his 10-2 and death stack when I got the HUGE result of the game: my sniper in its only attack of the game nailed the 10-2 through the eyes (of course), and this also saw the end of the HMG for the rest of the game too. At this point Steve had only lost the single Sig 1 Bis and a measly half-squad so this was huge for me. However, he still had a lot of his infantry left and two of the three AGs, and he pressed on with grim determination. I continued to be my horrible rolling self when it came to Ambush and CC where overall I lost two ambushes, and came out the wrong side of five of the CC attempts made and with no wins of my own. Steve was also shrugging off numerous Residual Fire 1 and 2 -1 attacks with aplomb. All of a sudden, my front left defense had gone down in a welter of hand-grenades and rifle butts and it was looking grim again, but I was still just managing to keep Steve pinned back on my central right side.
In some careful Turn 6 maneuvering, I thought I had a safe place to run my 457, MMG and 8-1 back out of the LOS of Steve's last big 16FP stack – to my horror, I got snagged on a atom-thin LOS from another squad that actually nicked the shadow of a building and not the building itself (and Walter verified it – very tight) – of course I failed the 1MC for both of these from the lousy 4+1 shot from Steve's CX squad with a 10 and a 11 – disaster! To counter that and with a lot more thought, I saw a gap in Steve's lines and an opportunity to run a squad back to my old front line and reclaim a lost building. This was big as there was no in place to stop them and despite the nightmare of the thin LOS shot, I was a building back in credit. To really aid my last turn defense, I was able to rally a half-squad back for the only rally attempt I made in the entire game (and I managed to fate two of my own leaders and a half-squad!) – another big one as I was able to man one more of the backfield buildings to make Steve's job even harder.
The end game was looking to be very tense – I was looking at last turn CC fights in four buildings but in all of them I was likely to be outnumbered at least 2-1 against negative leadership, and as noted, my luck (ability?) in these situations is never good. Steve parked an AG on one of my guys, and tried the same trick on the diehards in the FBL. However, his luck failed him in other maneuvers where two squads got fatally pinned assault moving in the street – the odds in the final CCs were beginning to swing back a little.
He also hadn't realized the full implication of me still having a full squad MMC in my FBL – there was to be no advance in for a win here unless he could break me in Advancing Fire on a 16+3 attack and then force me to rout: unluckily he rolled and received PTC results which I passed. For the final CC round, Steve was in place to try and take three buildings from CC: I of course lost one completely (and this was the one in my favour where I had an immobilized Sig 1 Bis), but in the second, despite fluffing my 2-1 attack, I only received a CR result from the 1-2 in return (some luck!) and hence kept overall final building control of that one. The third one was a wash but even here I again failed with my attack, though I did survive the return.
So a French win in the last CC round of the last turn – the Germans came up shy by three buildings – the big game turners were the massive sniper attack, me sneaking the squad back to the front to reclaim a building and to put me back one building to credit, and Steve's misreading of the FBL entry requirements. We also had a situation in German move 7 where Steve missed declaring double time at the beginning of a squad's move, and hence was one hex short of claiming a building as he could only declare Late DT – during the rest of the game I would have let this go and let him re-take the move and claim the full double-time, but I felt I couldn't on this last turn game-making / breaking move as this was critical – ultimately, it didn't matter to the game result, but I hope this didn't sour it for you Steve and I really didn't mean to come across as a hard-ass on this one.
All in all, quite a good scenario and I can see why its borne so many playings on ROAR – its quite tight and will generally come down to the last turn in some desperate city fighting. Good use of the big guns is essential but with their fragile nature, restraint for use in the end-turn rush maybe a good plan.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
AAR: ESG25 Road Out Of Rangoon
Zeb Doyle
British: Zeb Doyle
Japanese: Matt Schwoebel
It's always rather amusing how some ASLers have strong preferences for certain styles of scenarios or for a particular nationality. Matt Schwoebel, for example, is the biggest fan of Gurkhas I've ever had the pleasure of playing against. So, I figured that ESG25 Road Out Of Rangoon would be a great scenario for our next match. It's a 1942 Burmese jungle scenario with some cut-off British forces trying to push through a thin screen of Japanese and escape. There's guns for both sides, armor for both sides, and oh yes, one of the most powerful Gurkha force ever seen in ASL. You can imagine my surprise when Matt agreed to play the scenario and then took the Japanese.
Road Out Of Rangoon is a good-looking scenario that takes place on boards 34 and 37. Both maps are have a lot of jungle, but while board 34 is almost completely covered, board 37 is more open with a fair amount of palm trees as well. The Japanese get one road-block, a 75mm ART piece, and roughly six squad-equivalents on each map as well as three reinforcing Ha-Gos on turn three. The British get six 4-5-7s and a 9-2 entering on board 37 and a great Gurkha force on board 34 of five 6-4-8s, three 4-5-8s, a 10-2, a 9-2, an 8-0, and a hero. Additionally, four Stuarts and two trucks towing 94mm guns enter on either board. All in all, it's a very interesting match-up of forces, with some great leadership for the Commonwealth. The stealthy Japanese are really in their element with all the jungle though, and their 75mm guns pack a 12TK which can be very painful for the 4AF Stuarts.
The longer I looked at the situation, the more I understood why Matt took the Japanese. The Commonwealth wins either by clearing two roadblocks or by clearing one roadblock and exiting 25CVP off the far edge. The scenario is only 6.5 turns long, and although the Japanese have to set up fairly far back, the overall math still wasn't too encouraging. To clear a well-placed roadblock on board 34, even after running forward as far as possible on the first turn, Gurkha Force would have to average three hexes per turn for the rest of the game down a dense-jungle road in order to have a single clearance roll. That didn't seem likely even for 10-2 led 6-4-8s, so I starting thinking about the other possible VC.
Over on the more open board 37, the terrain dictates a more forward placement for the roadblock. Here, the first turn rush is also easy enough, and leaves the British only six to eight hexes away from the fortification with six turns remaining. Of course, the EVP requirement still looms large, and although the Stuarts are worth 20 points, you still have to come up with another five points which will have to cover 18 hexes in six turns even after the first turn rush. That seems depressingly similar to the three hexes a turn the Gurkha force would have to average, but on board 37 the numerous palm trees offer the potential for faster movement, and the trucks can also try to load up some infantry and make a dash during the end-game. It still looked tricky, but I figured it was my best option. Just to try and be extra cunning, I decided that I'd also bring the board 34 Gurkha force over to board 37 as soon as possible to bolster the attack there. That had the disadvantage of signaling which VC I'd selected, but I could also avoid throwing those awesome 6-4-8s away on a useless objective.
Things started out well for me over the first two turns. Everyone ran forward as far as possible on turn one, just as planned, and then I shifted the Gurkhas onto board 37 while the British continued to push forward. Matt countered by trying to shift his board 34 troops over as well, but they'd been set up to defend, not to move, and so I was able to steal a march on them. Even better, all the Japanese HIP units were on board 34 and Matt popped them up as part of the shift. Fighting without fear of any Japanese traps was pretty nice. Finally, the ART piece on that side of the map was rendered useless as well, so I'd call the shift a success.
The mid-game consisted of my British force grinding down the original board 37 defenders. I had a 9-2/2xMMG/2x 4-5-7 stack that did great work dishing out 8+0 and 16+0 shots all game long, but Matt did a nice job keeping me from turning his flank and holding me back from the roadblock. Meanwhile, my Gurkhas were butting heads with the board 37 ART gun, which was in a very nice spot. Flanked by bamboo, with several hexes of palm tree hindrances in front, it had a pretty good LOS and was enough to keep my Stuarts at bay. I sent a 6-4-8 to hunt down a supporting Japanese squad nearby while the rest of my troops tried to whittle it down with prep and defensive fire while advancing ever closer.
This was easier said than done; the palm tree hindrances and dense jungle stacking and FG restrictions meant the best shot I could get at three hexes was a 16+2, not bad but not great against an 8ML step-reducing crew. As I tried to close the range by pushing through the palm trees, my fire got somewhat more effective, but now the return fire from the ART piece was just deadly, with acquisition and point-blank range offset by a meager hindrance. My dice ended up going crazy, with my 10-2 battle-hardening to a heroic 10-3, my 9-2 turning into a 10-2, and a 6-4-8 becoming fanatic and generating a hero. I also rolled a few boxcars on MCs for my squads, though, and ended up taking heavy losses before the gun finally went down on turn four, along with all the Japanese who had shifted over from board 34.
That opened things up a lot for my Stuarts, which had spent most of the game hiding from the gun's 12TK, but with only three turns left in the game and an intact roadblock in my way, things were still looking grim. I pushed forward as much as possible on turn five, taking advantage of the weakening Japanese defense, and managed to get a single 4-5-7 adjacent to the roadblock. Here, I caught a huge break by rolling the required 3 on the first clearance DR and actually managing to remove the key fortification in record time! In the Commonwealth rear area, preparations for a last turn dash commenced and the trucks were hastily loaded up with crews, leaders, and anything else with a high EVP value.
Matt was playing his usual great game, however, and had prudently dropped a 2-2-8 with an MMG back down the road for just such an eventuality. He also had his three HA-GO tanks parked in good blocking spots, and his stout defense earlier had put my infantry in positions where they were no threat to exit. Despite my stellar luck in clearing the roadblock, he was still in excellent position for the win. I ended up having to throw caution to the winds and use my Stuarts to aggressively seek out and challenge the Japanese armor. Meanwhile, my remaining infantry surged forward to push the few remaining Japanese squads away from the road. I ended up killing one of Matt's HA-GOs but also malfunctioned an MA and his 2-2-8/MMG goalie was just impossible to get to. This set up an anticlimactic turn seven in which my Stuarts engaged in some hapless and harmless BFF before driving off. The two trucks then sped down the road, but the MMG and Japanese tanks were too much for them and neither survived to exit. Matt ended up with a well-deserved win and I walked away having destroyed the roadblock and having exited 19 of the required 25VP.
Overall, it was a fun scenario that does a great job capturing the desperation the cut-off Commonwealth troops must have felt while trying to evacuate. As far as balance goes, I feel that it's rather more difficult for the Commonwealth. Most of the East Side Gamer scenarios seem designed to be played in a very set-piece patterned fashion, and Road Out Of Rangoon is no exception. I tried to break that pattern with the Gurkha board-shift and it's possible I tilted the scenario against me. I've also failed in this AAR to mention that both Commonwealth forces have two DCs, which of course can be used for clearing roadblocks and some may argue that also tips the balance away from the Japanese.
Because of these factors, the jury is still out for me concerning just how hard this is on the Commonwealth, but I was well aware of the DC clearance possibilities from the beginning, I really do think the Gurkha shift helped me a moderate amount, and I still feel that the attacker really has his work cut out for him in this one. The time-line is so demanding that just one or two bad rolls (especially clearing the roadblocks) can knock you right out of the game. In my playing, rolling that three on my clearance DR really kept me in it, and the ending still wasn't that close. Final verdict: fun scenario, I like the combined arms early PTO action, but I might give the Commonwealth the balance or even an extra turn.
Thanks to Matt for being a great opponent and thanks to you for reading.
Zeb
British: Zeb Doyle
Japanese: Matt Schwoebel
It's always rather amusing how some ASLers have strong preferences for certain styles of scenarios or for a particular nationality. Matt Schwoebel, for example, is the biggest fan of Gurkhas I've ever had the pleasure of playing against. So, I figured that ESG25 Road Out Of Rangoon would be a great scenario for our next match. It's a 1942 Burmese jungle scenario with some cut-off British forces trying to push through a thin screen of Japanese and escape. There's guns for both sides, armor for both sides, and oh yes, one of the most powerful Gurkha force ever seen in ASL. You can imagine my surprise when Matt agreed to play the scenario and then took the Japanese.
Road Out Of Rangoon is a good-looking scenario that takes place on boards 34 and 37. Both maps are have a lot of jungle, but while board 34 is almost completely covered, board 37 is more open with a fair amount of palm trees as well. The Japanese get one road-block, a 75mm ART piece, and roughly six squad-equivalents on each map as well as three reinforcing Ha-Gos on turn three. The British get six 4-5-7s and a 9-2 entering on board 37 and a great Gurkha force on board 34 of five 6-4-8s, three 4-5-8s, a 10-2, a 9-2, an 8-0, and a hero. Additionally, four Stuarts and two trucks towing 94mm guns enter on either board. All in all, it's a very interesting match-up of forces, with some great leadership for the Commonwealth. The stealthy Japanese are really in their element with all the jungle though, and their 75mm guns pack a 12TK which can be very painful for the 4AF Stuarts.
The longer I looked at the situation, the more I understood why Matt took the Japanese. The Commonwealth wins either by clearing two roadblocks or by clearing one roadblock and exiting 25CVP off the far edge. The scenario is only 6.5 turns long, and although the Japanese have to set up fairly far back, the overall math still wasn't too encouraging. To clear a well-placed roadblock on board 34, even after running forward as far as possible on the first turn, Gurkha Force would have to average three hexes per turn for the rest of the game down a dense-jungle road in order to have a single clearance roll. That didn't seem likely even for 10-2 led 6-4-8s, so I starting thinking about the other possible VC.
Over on the more open board 37, the terrain dictates a more forward placement for the roadblock. Here, the first turn rush is also easy enough, and leaves the British only six to eight hexes away from the fortification with six turns remaining. Of course, the EVP requirement still looms large, and although the Stuarts are worth 20 points, you still have to come up with another five points which will have to cover 18 hexes in six turns even after the first turn rush. That seems depressingly similar to the three hexes a turn the Gurkha force would have to average, but on board 37 the numerous palm trees offer the potential for faster movement, and the trucks can also try to load up some infantry and make a dash during the end-game. It still looked tricky, but I figured it was my best option. Just to try and be extra cunning, I decided that I'd also bring the board 34 Gurkha force over to board 37 as soon as possible to bolster the attack there. That had the disadvantage of signaling which VC I'd selected, but I could also avoid throwing those awesome 6-4-8s away on a useless objective.
Things started out well for me over the first two turns. Everyone ran forward as far as possible on turn one, just as planned, and then I shifted the Gurkhas onto board 37 while the British continued to push forward. Matt countered by trying to shift his board 34 troops over as well, but they'd been set up to defend, not to move, and so I was able to steal a march on them. Even better, all the Japanese HIP units were on board 34 and Matt popped them up as part of the shift. Fighting without fear of any Japanese traps was pretty nice. Finally, the ART piece on that side of the map was rendered useless as well, so I'd call the shift a success.
The mid-game consisted of my British force grinding down the original board 37 defenders. I had a 9-2/2xMMG/2x 4-5-7 stack that did great work dishing out 8+0 and 16+0 shots all game long, but Matt did a nice job keeping me from turning his flank and holding me back from the roadblock. Meanwhile, my Gurkhas were butting heads with the board 37 ART gun, which was in a very nice spot. Flanked by bamboo, with several hexes of palm tree hindrances in front, it had a pretty good LOS and was enough to keep my Stuarts at bay. I sent a 6-4-8 to hunt down a supporting Japanese squad nearby while the rest of my troops tried to whittle it down with prep and defensive fire while advancing ever closer.
This was easier said than done; the palm tree hindrances and dense jungle stacking and FG restrictions meant the best shot I could get at three hexes was a 16+2, not bad but not great against an 8ML step-reducing crew. As I tried to close the range by pushing through the palm trees, my fire got somewhat more effective, but now the return fire from the ART piece was just deadly, with acquisition and point-blank range offset by a meager hindrance. My dice ended up going crazy, with my 10-2 battle-hardening to a heroic 10-3, my 9-2 turning into a 10-2, and a 6-4-8 becoming fanatic and generating a hero. I also rolled a few boxcars on MCs for my squads, though, and ended up taking heavy losses before the gun finally went down on turn four, along with all the Japanese who had shifted over from board 34.
That opened things up a lot for my Stuarts, which had spent most of the game hiding from the gun's 12TK, but with only three turns left in the game and an intact roadblock in my way, things were still looking grim. I pushed forward as much as possible on turn five, taking advantage of the weakening Japanese defense, and managed to get a single 4-5-7 adjacent to the roadblock. Here, I caught a huge break by rolling the required 3 on the first clearance DR and actually managing to remove the key fortification in record time! In the Commonwealth rear area, preparations for a last turn dash commenced and the trucks were hastily loaded up with crews, leaders, and anything else with a high EVP value.
Matt was playing his usual great game, however, and had prudently dropped a 2-2-8 with an MMG back down the road for just such an eventuality. He also had his three HA-GO tanks parked in good blocking spots, and his stout defense earlier had put my infantry in positions where they were no threat to exit. Despite my stellar luck in clearing the roadblock, he was still in excellent position for the win. I ended up having to throw caution to the winds and use my Stuarts to aggressively seek out and challenge the Japanese armor. Meanwhile, my remaining infantry surged forward to push the few remaining Japanese squads away from the road. I ended up killing one of Matt's HA-GOs but also malfunctioned an MA and his 2-2-8/MMG goalie was just impossible to get to. This set up an anticlimactic turn seven in which my Stuarts engaged in some hapless and harmless BFF before driving off. The two trucks then sped down the road, but the MMG and Japanese tanks were too much for them and neither survived to exit. Matt ended up with a well-deserved win and I walked away having destroyed the roadblock and having exited 19 of the required 25VP.
Overall, it was a fun scenario that does a great job capturing the desperation the cut-off Commonwealth troops must have felt while trying to evacuate. As far as balance goes, I feel that it's rather more difficult for the Commonwealth. Most of the East Side Gamer scenarios seem designed to be played in a very set-piece patterned fashion, and Road Out Of Rangoon is no exception. I tried to break that pattern with the Gurkha board-shift and it's possible I tilted the scenario against me. I've also failed in this AAR to mention that both Commonwealth forces have two DCs, which of course can be used for clearing roadblocks and some may argue that also tips the balance away from the Japanese.
Because of these factors, the jury is still out for me concerning just how hard this is on the Commonwealth, but I was well aware of the DC clearance possibilities from the beginning, I really do think the Gurkha shift helped me a moderate amount, and I still feel that the attacker really has his work cut out for him in this one. The time-line is so demanding that just one or two bad rolls (especially clearing the roadblocks) can knock you right out of the game. In my playing, rolling that three on my clearance DR really kept me in it, and the ending still wasn't that close. Final verdict: fun scenario, I like the combined arms early PTO action, but I might give the Commonwealth the balance or even an extra turn.
Thanks to Matt for being a great opponent and thanks to you for reading.
Zeb
Sunday, April 20, 2008
AAR: NQNG6 One Eye To The West
Scott Bell
Russian: Scott Bell
German: Dan Preston
Dan and I decided to report this scenario together as each turn unfolds in order to provide a direct assessment as the scenario unfolds. In brief, this scenario takes place in Vienna very late in the war (1945). The Russians are moving North at full speed, and the German SS are attempting to halt their advance. The Germans defend two bridges over which the Russians must cross (at least one of the bridges).
Turn 1:
Russian: I have moved all of my units aggressively towards the river and am poised for a crossing over the Eastern most bridge. The Western bridge is gaurded by a Tiger II tank, so I have decided to stay away from that bridge and focus my efforts on the Eastern bridge. Dan had a 20L gun gaurding the road upon which the bridge lies (over which I must cross). I circled a Sherman tank around the Eastern edge of the board and managed to break the crew that was manning that gun. I also managed to break a half-squad that was directly adjacent to the bridge on the opposite side of the river. I am poised to cross the bridge in force. With the 20L gun silenced (at least temporarily), I have increased my chances for a successful crossing, however the Tiger II has a long shot across the road that runs west to east on the board. I must cross that road to get to the eastern bridge, so the dash will be perilous.
German: The Germans are perilously threadbare. The Russians have 18 squads with excellent leadership, and the Germans have a total of seven. I am outnumbered in tanks 5 to 2. I can maybe hold one bridge but not 2. I planned a gambit move to lay smoke with the Tiger on the far left bridge, plant the DC, then route away and hope my 9-1 can rally the engineer squad with a 7 in a safe building to the rear. However, the Tiger threw a track on startup, and is now defending his own bridge with a LOS to the other one. The infantry moved away to help defend the other bridge. With my quad 20 unmanned, it is only a matter of time before the Russians force their way across. After they're over the river in force, they can afford to ignore my armored pillbox. My scant reinforcements CXed up the road to provide a backstop, and the remaining infantry are fading away from the crossing point to avoid getting creamed in the upcoming Russian prep fire.
Turn 2:
Russian: Dan did a good job of laying resid fire on the one hex that I needed to get across the Eastern bridge. It proved to be costly in that I overloaded that hex with broken squads causing substantial movement (overstacking) penalties. Therefore, his resid fire effectively cost me a turn, which is what he wanted to do. I am however in position on the next turn to cross the bridge to the other side of the river. Once I accomplish this, I can fan out and get out of the narrow passageway that has me bottled up. I still face the imobilized King Tiger on the west bridge that has a good firelane across the road that I must cross to get to the bridge. I am not across yet, but I am hoping for the best (next turn). Dan has fallen back with the rest of his force to the third (victory point) board, where it is apparent he intends to make a stand. His intent will be to keep me from getting onto that 3rd (north most) board, in order to deprive me of victory points. One interesting final note, was that I made the mistake of trying a subsequent shot at a broken SS half-squad that battle-hardened it and created a leader. It has now remanned the 20L gun. This was a big mistake on my part. I can only hope that I can rectify it here shortly without costing too much time. I need to move past that area quickly, and now it appears that I will be held up somewhat. I am hoping to cover some ground on my next move, which will be very important.
German: The (miraculously) remanned quad 20 will soak up some prep fire from Scott's units, which means that they won't be moving over towards board 45. The immobile King Tiger on the other bridge remains an impediment to the victory parade waiting to cross over to the west bank. He will either have to try and slip past it, or destroy it. Once his units begin moving across that bridge, he can ignore it entirely. My surviving units have fallen back to board 45, and re-established a defensive line to wait for Herr Barkmann's arrival. Having another tank will hopefully swing the odds back in my favor. It will take his units at least another turn to reach the next line, and I hope to be ready. The German 9-1 and engineers who laid the residual fire on the bridge approach were broken and routed back, and should rally this turn. With any kind of luck, they should be in a position to resist the oncoming Red wave, or at least fall back to safety.
Turn 3:
Russian: I made decent progress with regards to getting close to the "victory point" board. This is where Dan has drawn his line in the sand. He has to stop me here, before I get to the buildings. I have to get to the buildings while controlling my losses in the process. During this turn, I killed a fanatic german half-squad in close combat (with overwhelming numbers of 6-2-8's). I also killed a hero. However, these units were revived due to my own error, so I just cleaned up my own mess. It cost me a small amount of time in the process, though I was not set back too much. I have now passed the Tiger II, and while it does still guard Dan's western flank, it has now been bypassed. The fact that it is immobilized helps me, but the positioning of the tank is quite good. It will significantly inhibit any efforts on my part to sweep with a left hook, costing me valuable time in the process. Dan (as always) has done a good job of falling back on defense. The presence of panzerfausts ('45) with German SS makes it impossible to get behind him. Dan is delaying for time, and has fallen back into good fire positions. Finally, the tank duel appears to be slightly in my favor at this point, due to his Panther being his only mobile tank. The tank duel may go a long ways towards determining the winner.
German: Not much has moved this turn. My 9-1 and engineer squad finally ran to safety on board 45 after rallying. They now guard my right flank, and are some of my best remaining units. My infantry has fanned out and concealed itself in the most forward buildings of board 45. My main intent is to put fire on any Russian infantry units trying to move past me in the open, that is, make them lose more time moving up. I will then attempt to fade back and deny them fire opportunities at me, while I remain concealed. Skulking helps. Sooner or later I will have to fight. Herr Barkmann finally arrived with his Panther, and guards the left flank. Sooner or later the Reds will have to come after him. My aim now is to run the Russians out of time.
Turn 4:
Russian: I made good progress in this turn. My atttack followed two strategies. First, I sucessfully used my squads in the middle of the board to impede Dan's SS squads (1/2 of his infantry force) from moving to the North edge of the board where he would try to get in front of me. Second, I have managed to get my squads into superior forward fire positions to where it will be costly for Dan to stay and fight, due to my substantial numerical superiority.
German: Not much moved this turn. I tried to shift some infantry over to my left flank, in order to put down some fire on Scott's encroaching infantry horde. I was only partly successful, due to his tanks having a bead on the streets I wanted to use to shift over. I managed to shift my 9-1 with engineer and charge into that direction, but they had to take the long way around. Meanwhile, I have only a small amount of fire to bring onto the Russian infantry when they try to come through into the open. I am also denied the use of the street in the center by Scott's super stack with his 10-2 and 3 458 squads. The tanks are already aquired on the buildings to the other side, so some of my best infantry is effectively pinned in place. The Panther remains the bulwark of defense on my left flank.
Turn 5:
Russian: Now I am in position for victory points. I am at a place where I can advance into the positions that I need to to win. The last line of defense for Dan is a Panther tank. While it is in a good position, I am close enough to where I can bring infantry heat upon it (street fighting), and the Panther won't have a lot of help from SS squads which are not in position. Dan is now (in my opinion) at a place where he almost needs to go on the offensive in order to root me out. He does not have the necessary force to do this. Therefore, I have backed off the gas (figuratively), and am taking less risk. I am where I need to be, and will be able to drop some serious firepower on the SS if they stay in their current positions.
German: I am now falling back from my front line positions to reinforce the wall-building festung on my left flank. Most of the rest of my infantry are already in position there, hindered by Scott's malf-gun IS-2 which audaciously parked in my midst. My Panther moved into its final hull-down position to fight it out with this reckless Russian beast, hits but does not kill it. Meanwhile, German infantry takes up residence underneath the Panther, and my MMG squad must fall back from its front line position. It assault moves into the orchard road adjacent to the Russian tank, and in the CCPh moves in and kills it with an ATMM. That threat dispatched, I now build up my defense around the wall and building complex. One lone SS squad holds the southern approach, and I fear that its contribution will be lacking. I am short of infantry, but I need to be strong somewhere.
Turn 6:
Russian: Dan surprised me somewhat with the speed in which he was able to swing around in front of me. It was a good move and he fortified his final line of defense in a very strong manner. Unfortunately for him, it was one turn too late. My strategy had delayed him just enough to get myself into my ideal positions before he could get into his. He needed to attack me as I approached the victory hexes. I had already moved (for the most part) into hexes adjacent to victory hexes, meaning that I only needed to sit pat and advance in at the end of the game. What was significant about this, was that Dan, who needed to be the defensive player, suddenly needed to become the offensive player to root me out, and he lacked the squads to do that. I was patient and was prepared to let him try to force me out of my strong positions, which was nearly impossible due to my superiority in numbers. Dan had succeeded in reducing my area of advance to a choke point. However, he needed for me to engage him, so that he could inflict losses and reduce my available victory points. I realized this, and rather than engaging him, I took at least half of my force and swung out left (West) and got myself into a position to be able to advance into victory hexes all along the front, especially further West (away from his choke point). I would equate the end game for the Germans, to trying to plug too many holes in the dam. I spread out, putting myself into a position to advance all along the front. Dan did not have the necessary forces to spread out, ensuring a Russian victory. On a final note, we had an interesting final engagement. Dan's Panther got into a good hull down position. I sacrificed a Sherman to get Dan to fire. He took it out, but flamed it causing smoke. He had no choice but to shoot at the Sherman, because it was going to get into a position to get a good side shot on him otherwise. As a result of the sacrifice, and with the help of the smoke, I was able to move my JS-II into a frontal hull down position, a nd took out the Panther during the advance fire phase. At this point, Dan conceded.
German:
Final Analysis:
German: This game became far more difficult when that King Tiger threw a track on startup. The key to the German victory is to delay the Russians as long as possible. They absolutely need to hold the Reds at the two chokepoints on the board, namely the crossing points. The Russians are too strong and too numerous to try to fight it out on board 45 for more than a couple of turns. Blowing one bridge is very important. The Germans have enough juice to hold one crossing, but not two. The key to victory in the end game is to make the Russians set up to assault or move up, then fade away while keeping the German force intact. The Germans only have 7 squads and one crew, and the Russians have 18 squads. The Germans simply cannot go head to head. Concerning the tank battle, the Tiger reigns supreme because it can kill anything the Russians have. The Panther is also useful, but cannot stand up for very long against the IS-2 tanks. The Shermans alone are no match for either one, but have superior machine guns and gunnery. Also Smoke capability and special ammo make them a threat if they work as a team. Overall, I would give the Russians a slim edge on this one, if only on sheer numbers and firepower.
Russian: This game became advantage Russian early on, in that I was able to cross the bridge with minimal losses. This combined with the Tiger II becoming imobilized and a panzerfaust being a dud (which should have been a sure kill on one of my Shermans), got me off to a good start. I malfed a JS-II later, but this loss was minimal compared to that Tiger II becoming imobilized. Finally, the game was determined in my favor due to the fact that Dan had to defend a long front as I proceeded towards the victory conditions. This caused him to have to spread out to defend the front's entire length. Combining this with the use of my tanks and infantry to cut off his shifting his forces to the point of my final attack by delaying the shift by one turn, enabled me to get get to the victory line before him. Dan made a good tactical effort of it at the end, but my getting to the ideal fire positions before him, sealed his fate. I ended up winning rather handily in victory points, however, had his Tiger II not immobilized, we both agree this could have come down to the wire. The rest of my tanks were able to effectively gang up on the Panther at the games end. I would agree with Dan's assessment of a slim edge to the Russians on this one, but I would be very interested to see the impact of a mobile Tiger II during the end game. It was a lot of fun.
Russian: Scott Bell
German: Dan Preston
Dan and I decided to report this scenario together as each turn unfolds in order to provide a direct assessment as the scenario unfolds. In brief, this scenario takes place in Vienna very late in the war (1945). The Russians are moving North at full speed, and the German SS are attempting to halt their advance. The Germans defend two bridges over which the Russians must cross (at least one of the bridges).
Turn 1:
Russian: I have moved all of my units aggressively towards the river and am poised for a crossing over the Eastern most bridge. The Western bridge is gaurded by a Tiger II tank, so I have decided to stay away from that bridge and focus my efforts on the Eastern bridge. Dan had a 20L gun gaurding the road upon which the bridge lies (over which I must cross). I circled a Sherman tank around the Eastern edge of the board and managed to break the crew that was manning that gun. I also managed to break a half-squad that was directly adjacent to the bridge on the opposite side of the river. I am poised to cross the bridge in force. With the 20L gun silenced (at least temporarily), I have increased my chances for a successful crossing, however the Tiger II has a long shot across the road that runs west to east on the board. I must cross that road to get to the eastern bridge, so the dash will be perilous.
German: The Germans are perilously threadbare. The Russians have 18 squads with excellent leadership, and the Germans have a total of seven. I am outnumbered in tanks 5 to 2. I can maybe hold one bridge but not 2. I planned a gambit move to lay smoke with the Tiger on the far left bridge, plant the DC, then route away and hope my 9-1 can rally the engineer squad with a 7 in a safe building to the rear. However, the Tiger threw a track on startup, and is now defending his own bridge with a LOS to the other one. The infantry moved away to help defend the other bridge. With my quad 20 unmanned, it is only a matter of time before the Russians force their way across. After they're over the river in force, they can afford to ignore my armored pillbox. My scant reinforcements CXed up the road to provide a backstop, and the remaining infantry are fading away from the crossing point to avoid getting creamed in the upcoming Russian prep fire.
Turn 2:
Russian: Dan did a good job of laying resid fire on the one hex that I needed to get across the Eastern bridge. It proved to be costly in that I overloaded that hex with broken squads causing substantial movement (overstacking) penalties. Therefore, his resid fire effectively cost me a turn, which is what he wanted to do. I am however in position on the next turn to cross the bridge to the other side of the river. Once I accomplish this, I can fan out and get out of the narrow passageway that has me bottled up. I still face the imobilized King Tiger on the west bridge that has a good firelane across the road that I must cross to get to the bridge. I am not across yet, but I am hoping for the best (next turn). Dan has fallen back with the rest of his force to the third (victory point) board, where it is apparent he intends to make a stand. His intent will be to keep me from getting onto that 3rd (north most) board, in order to deprive me of victory points. One interesting final note, was that I made the mistake of trying a subsequent shot at a broken SS half-squad that battle-hardened it and created a leader. It has now remanned the 20L gun. This was a big mistake on my part. I can only hope that I can rectify it here shortly without costing too much time. I need to move past that area quickly, and now it appears that I will be held up somewhat. I am hoping to cover some ground on my next move, which will be very important.
German: The (miraculously) remanned quad 20 will soak up some prep fire from Scott's units, which means that they won't be moving over towards board 45. The immobile King Tiger on the other bridge remains an impediment to the victory parade waiting to cross over to the west bank. He will either have to try and slip past it, or destroy it. Once his units begin moving across that bridge, he can ignore it entirely. My surviving units have fallen back to board 45, and re-established a defensive line to wait for Herr Barkmann's arrival. Having another tank will hopefully swing the odds back in my favor. It will take his units at least another turn to reach the next line, and I hope to be ready. The German 9-1 and engineers who laid the residual fire on the bridge approach were broken and routed back, and should rally this turn. With any kind of luck, they should be in a position to resist the oncoming Red wave, or at least fall back to safety.
Turn 3:
Russian: I made decent progress with regards to getting close to the "victory point" board. This is where Dan has drawn his line in the sand. He has to stop me here, before I get to the buildings. I have to get to the buildings while controlling my losses in the process. During this turn, I killed a fanatic german half-squad in close combat (with overwhelming numbers of 6-2-8's). I also killed a hero. However, these units were revived due to my own error, so I just cleaned up my own mess. It cost me a small amount of time in the process, though I was not set back too much. I have now passed the Tiger II, and while it does still guard Dan's western flank, it has now been bypassed. The fact that it is immobilized helps me, but the positioning of the tank is quite good. It will significantly inhibit any efforts on my part to sweep with a left hook, costing me valuable time in the process. Dan (as always) has done a good job of falling back on defense. The presence of panzerfausts ('45) with German SS makes it impossible to get behind him. Dan is delaying for time, and has fallen back into good fire positions. Finally, the tank duel appears to be slightly in my favor at this point, due to his Panther being his only mobile tank. The tank duel may go a long ways towards determining the winner.
German: Not much has moved this turn. My 9-1 and engineer squad finally ran to safety on board 45 after rallying. They now guard my right flank, and are some of my best remaining units. My infantry has fanned out and concealed itself in the most forward buildings of board 45. My main intent is to put fire on any Russian infantry units trying to move past me in the open, that is, make them lose more time moving up. I will then attempt to fade back and deny them fire opportunities at me, while I remain concealed. Skulking helps. Sooner or later I will have to fight. Herr Barkmann finally arrived with his Panther, and guards the left flank. Sooner or later the Reds will have to come after him. My aim now is to run the Russians out of time.
Turn 4:
Russian: I made good progress in this turn. My atttack followed two strategies. First, I sucessfully used my squads in the middle of the board to impede Dan's SS squads (1/2 of his infantry force) from moving to the North edge of the board where he would try to get in front of me. Second, I have managed to get my squads into superior forward fire positions to where it will be costly for Dan to stay and fight, due to my substantial numerical superiority.
German: Not much moved this turn. I tried to shift some infantry over to my left flank, in order to put down some fire on Scott's encroaching infantry horde. I was only partly successful, due to his tanks having a bead on the streets I wanted to use to shift over. I managed to shift my 9-1 with engineer and charge into that direction, but they had to take the long way around. Meanwhile, I have only a small amount of fire to bring onto the Russian infantry when they try to come through into the open. I am also denied the use of the street in the center by Scott's super stack with his 10-2 and 3 458 squads. The tanks are already aquired on the buildings to the other side, so some of my best infantry is effectively pinned in place. The Panther remains the bulwark of defense on my left flank.
Turn 5:
Russian: Now I am in position for victory points. I am at a place where I can advance into the positions that I need to to win. The last line of defense for Dan is a Panther tank. While it is in a good position, I am close enough to where I can bring infantry heat upon it (street fighting), and the Panther won't have a lot of help from SS squads which are not in position. Dan is now (in my opinion) at a place where he almost needs to go on the offensive in order to root me out. He does not have the necessary force to do this. Therefore, I have backed off the gas (figuratively), and am taking less risk. I am where I need to be, and will be able to drop some serious firepower on the SS if they stay in their current positions.
German: I am now falling back from my front line positions to reinforce the wall-building festung on my left flank. Most of the rest of my infantry are already in position there, hindered by Scott's malf-gun IS-2 which audaciously parked in my midst. My Panther moved into its final hull-down position to fight it out with this reckless Russian beast, hits but does not kill it. Meanwhile, German infantry takes up residence underneath the Panther, and my MMG squad must fall back from its front line position. It assault moves into the orchard road adjacent to the Russian tank, and in the CCPh moves in and kills it with an ATMM. That threat dispatched, I now build up my defense around the wall and building complex. One lone SS squad holds the southern approach, and I fear that its contribution will be lacking. I am short of infantry, but I need to be strong somewhere.
Turn 6:
Russian: Dan surprised me somewhat with the speed in which he was able to swing around in front of me. It was a good move and he fortified his final line of defense in a very strong manner. Unfortunately for him, it was one turn too late. My strategy had delayed him just enough to get myself into my ideal positions before he could get into his. He needed to attack me as I approached the victory hexes. I had already moved (for the most part) into hexes adjacent to victory hexes, meaning that I only needed to sit pat and advance in at the end of the game. What was significant about this, was that Dan, who needed to be the defensive player, suddenly needed to become the offensive player to root me out, and he lacked the squads to do that. I was patient and was prepared to let him try to force me out of my strong positions, which was nearly impossible due to my superiority in numbers. Dan had succeeded in reducing my area of advance to a choke point. However, he needed for me to engage him, so that he could inflict losses and reduce my available victory points. I realized this, and rather than engaging him, I took at least half of my force and swung out left (West) and got myself into a position to be able to advance into victory hexes all along the front, especially further West (away from his choke point). I would equate the end game for the Germans, to trying to plug too many holes in the dam. I spread out, putting myself into a position to advance all along the front. Dan did not have the necessary forces to spread out, ensuring a Russian victory. On a final note, we had an interesting final engagement. Dan's Panther got into a good hull down position. I sacrificed a Sherman to get Dan to fire. He took it out, but flamed it causing smoke. He had no choice but to shoot at the Sherman, because it was going to get into a position to get a good side shot on him otherwise. As a result of the sacrifice, and with the help of the smoke, I was able to move my JS-II into a frontal hull down position, a nd took out the Panther during the advance fire phase. At this point, Dan conceded.
German:
Final Analysis:
German: This game became far more difficult when that King Tiger threw a track on startup. The key to the German victory is to delay the Russians as long as possible. They absolutely need to hold the Reds at the two chokepoints on the board, namely the crossing points. The Russians are too strong and too numerous to try to fight it out on board 45 for more than a couple of turns. Blowing one bridge is very important. The Germans have enough juice to hold one crossing, but not two. The key to victory in the end game is to make the Russians set up to assault or move up, then fade away while keeping the German force intact. The Germans only have 7 squads and one crew, and the Russians have 18 squads. The Germans simply cannot go head to head. Concerning the tank battle, the Tiger reigns supreme because it can kill anything the Russians have. The Panther is also useful, but cannot stand up for very long against the IS-2 tanks. The Shermans alone are no match for either one, but have superior machine guns and gunnery. Also Smoke capability and special ammo make them a threat if they work as a team. Overall, I would give the Russians a slim edge on this one, if only on sheer numbers and firepower.
Russian: This game became advantage Russian early on, in that I was able to cross the bridge with minimal losses. This combined with the Tiger II becoming imobilized and a panzerfaust being a dud (which should have been a sure kill on one of my Shermans), got me off to a good start. I malfed a JS-II later, but this loss was minimal compared to that Tiger II becoming imobilized. Finally, the game was determined in my favor due to the fact that Dan had to defend a long front as I proceeded towards the victory conditions. This caused him to have to spread out to defend the front's entire length. Combining this with the use of my tanks and infantry to cut off his shifting his forces to the point of my final attack by delaying the shift by one turn, enabled me to get get to the victory line before him. Dan made a good tactical effort of it at the end, but my getting to the ideal fire positions before him, sealed his fate. I ended up winning rather handily in victory points, however, had his Tiger II not immobilized, we both agree this could have come down to the wire. The rest of my tanks were able to effectively gang up on the Panther at the games end. I would agree with Dan's assessment of a slim edge to the Russians on this one, but I would be very interested to see the impact of a mobile Tiger II during the end game. It was a lot of fun.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Review: Dispatches From The Bunker #26
Walter Eardley
The ASL Fairy left a prize in my mail box this afternoon. Dispatches #26 was waiting for me. This publication is rapidly becoming one of my most anticipated deliveries each year. This issue only confirmed my belief that they are one of the better TPP out there. My typical way of looking at a new ASL offering of this type is to go straight to the scenarios. When I pulled it out of the envelope, I happened to be looking at the back page. I spy an article titled “Welcome to the (Concrete) Jungle: City Fighting in Stalingrad”. Being a Stalingrad nut, I stopped and read. Nice little article talking about how nasty debris is. When I finished, I turned it over and took a look at the cover. Typical stuff on the front for this publication so I start turning pages. While working my way to the scenarios, I ran into a tasty article on The First Bid by Jim Torkelson. I stopped and read the entire article. There is some good stuff in this article without giving away too much. I was intrigued by The First Bid but now I want to play it. So before I ever even looked at the scenarios, I am two articles deep. Usually I do good to read the Historical information on the scenarios much less two articles before I even look at the scenarios.
All three scenarios have made my Wanna Play list. In order of my own personal interest:
1) Shock at Kamenewo – 7 T-34s (mixed M40 and M41s) and 3 KV-1s manned by a 9-2, 9-1 and 8-1 AL and supported by 18 squads with decent leaders and some motorcycles get to have some fun on boards 44, 11 and 4 with 5 PZIIIs and 2 PzIVs (with 10-2 AL) supported by a mix of 468s, 88L Flak guns and 105 artillery pieces. The Russians have to kill a bunch of Germans and cross a bridge. This looks like a Walter and Rob special (with have this bridge theme going). The Russians look pretty tough in this one. Better settle in for an all day match if you pick this one.
2) Commandos Hold Fast – A small force of 648 Brit Commandos is trying to hold of two waves of 9 467 Germans. The second wave is supported by two PzIVHs. At 6.5 turns, it looks a nice smaller scenario for a game day or an afternoon among fast players.
3) Murphy, Go Help the British – This one features 20 666 American squads with some supporting halftrack assault guns T30s attacking along the widths of boards 15 and 9 placed end to end. The Germans get a mix of 9 468 and 467 supported by an SPW 250/10. The objective for the Americans is to clear Level 4 hill hexes. With only 4.5 turns, they will need to move along. Again this looks like a good game day offering which some toys on each side.
If you do not receive Dispatches, I would highly recommend subscribing.
Walter
The ASL Fairy left a prize in my mail box this afternoon. Dispatches #26 was waiting for me. This publication is rapidly becoming one of my most anticipated deliveries each year. This issue only confirmed my belief that they are one of the better TPP out there. My typical way of looking at a new ASL offering of this type is to go straight to the scenarios. When I pulled it out of the envelope, I happened to be looking at the back page. I spy an article titled “Welcome to the (Concrete) Jungle: City Fighting in Stalingrad”. Being a Stalingrad nut, I stopped and read. Nice little article talking about how nasty debris is. When I finished, I turned it over and took a look at the cover. Typical stuff on the front for this publication so I start turning pages. While working my way to the scenarios, I ran into a tasty article on The First Bid by Jim Torkelson. I stopped and read the entire article. There is some good stuff in this article without giving away too much. I was intrigued by The First Bid but now I want to play it. So before I ever even looked at the scenarios, I am two articles deep. Usually I do good to read the Historical information on the scenarios much less two articles before I even look at the scenarios.
All three scenarios have made my Wanna Play list. In order of my own personal interest:
1) Shock at Kamenewo – 7 T-34s (mixed M40 and M41s) and 3 KV-1s manned by a 9-2, 9-1 and 8-1 AL and supported by 18 squads with decent leaders and some motorcycles get to have some fun on boards 44, 11 and 4 with 5 PZIIIs and 2 PzIVs (with 10-2 AL) supported by a mix of 468s, 88L Flak guns and 105 artillery pieces. The Russians have to kill a bunch of Germans and cross a bridge. This looks like a Walter and Rob special (with have this bridge theme going). The Russians look pretty tough in this one. Better settle in for an all day match if you pick this one.
2) Commandos Hold Fast – A small force of 648 Brit Commandos is trying to hold of two waves of 9 467 Germans. The second wave is supported by two PzIVHs. At 6.5 turns, it looks a nice smaller scenario for a game day or an afternoon among fast players.
3) Murphy, Go Help the British – This one features 20 666 American squads with some supporting halftrack assault guns T30s attacking along the widths of boards 15 and 9 placed end to end. The Germans get a mix of 9 468 and 467 supported by an SPW 250/10. The objective for the Americans is to clear Level 4 hill hexes. With only 4.5 turns, they will need to move along. Again this looks like a good game day offering which some toys on each side.
If you do not receive Dispatches, I would highly recommend subscribing.
Walter
Sunday, March 23, 2008
AAR: OM3 - Hill 107
German Fallschirmjaeger:
Nick Drinkwater [ELR4, SAN 2]
British & Commonwealth:
Victor Behar [ELR4, SAN 3]
A moment of history - Houston's highest rollers face off against each other for the first (and probably only) time! As many of you know, I can roll really bad in very grim sequences but by reputation, Victor is famous for being worse! Can't wait for this one to see how long these bad streaks continue.... As its a Saturday, we both want to try something a little bigger and the new ASL crack-product Kreta: Operation Mercur is just begging to be played. Of course, if you're going to do a HASL, you gotta try out the historical map rather than the geomorphic scenarios, right? There are seven scenarios set on the main map, two of them on the smaller side and the monster OM7, but there are 3-4 good sized ones somewhat in the middle which should be good for a day's play.
Victor was then being murdered as the German's in an ongoing CG of Cemetery Hill so he's not so keen on doing a paradrop, (evokes bad memories) but he's happy to try a Glider drop. The big "Get the Bridge & Get the Bofors" OM2 scenario looks like a perfect one for another day with three people, so we opt for the more manageable "Get the Hill" OM3 alternative instead. In this the Fallschirmjaeger have 7.5 turns to take a minimum of 18 hexes of level three terrain on Hill 107, and take the named summit hex itself. If they knock the clunking great 3" AA Guns emplaced openly on the hill, they need to take 2 hexes less of Level 3 real estate for each gun they capture or eliminate. In addition, for every squad actively ordered to move at the beginning of Turn 3 by the Brits from two dedicated "numbered" platoons, the Germans need to take three less Level three hexes from their required total.
All Allied units are unable to move and advance in the first two turns, and the two Allied dedicated platoons, start on "No Move" counters until their moment of decision comes along in Turn 3 (they are released from this restriction if any German unit or glider comes within 2 hexes). This is what makes ASL so cool - interesting decisions with no simple and obvious answers.
The Kreta module is full of fun stuff and some interesting Terrain issues. Most of this doesn't impact this game but there is an abundance of olive groves, vineyards, shell-holes, walls, hedges and small stone huts which make glider landings precarious. Victor is set hard to dominate both ends of the long Level 3 ridge and any gliders coming down in the slightly open area between these strong-points will be encircled and murdered in very short order, and will also be confronted by really tough approach routes for the gliders with big chances that the crashes will be unfavourable. The SW and NE flanks of the hill are more appealing and hill topography means that at least one of the AA Guns is likely to be nullified, as will a good chunk of the defending infantry.
I decide to put everything down on the SW Level 1 and Level 2 plateaus that offer good approach routes to the NW headland of the hill. I will be aided in this approach as the scenario designers have decided to give the attacking Germans a leg-up by making Moderate Dust in effect for Turn 1 and Light Dust for Turns 2-4. This is massive as it will really assist the Germans to get up-close and personal to the British foxholes and keep the damage limited...clearly scenarios aren't much fun for anyone if 1/3 or more of the attackers and their SW all get blasted out of the sky on Turn 1, so moderate dust it is. The other reason to try and take on the NW headland is that partially through set-up restrictions and partially through choice, Victor has split his force into two big groups with the line of the Level 3 hill relatively sparsely covered in between. The two dedicated 'numbered' platoons are separated by SSR, one on Level 2 immediately below the NW headland who will be needed to be reduced by the Paras, and one to the far SE corner - these guys may never even come into the game unless Victor chooses to activate them in Turn 3. His more mobile groups on the main part of the hill include five squads with LMG and a viscous 9-2 leader, and these guys could be damaging. By SSR, the AA Guns have to stay in AA mode until Turn 4, so the key on all this for the Germans is to move, move, move when all these defender restrictions are still in place: this will be where the game is lost or won, as if I'm not firmly entrenched on the far end of the headland when the Brits wake up, I'm going to be in real trouble trying to dig them out.
The Germans have 8 squads, 4 crews, 4 leaders (including a -2), an HMG, MMG, a batch of LMG, and interestingly, a 50mm and an 81mm Mortar and a 75mm RCL, all coming in by glider. If the German can get all that lot running and into position, then he packs a hell of a punch. Of course, it would be good to get all this lot dropped onto the victory objective directly so they can be running hard from Turn 2 onwards, but discretion is the better part of valour so I opt to reduce risk and land a short distance away and then walk in. This means my bigass SW are probably not going to be doing much until Turn 4 at the earliest as all this 5PP iron is difficult to lug around, but they could easily be the game-swinging punch I'm going to need after the casualties of the initial uphill assault.
The landing goes pretty well and I had no complaints at all as almost everything touched down untroubled. The hillside-flank landing meant that the bulk of Victor's Brits were out of position and I took only one AA shot from one of Victor's big guns...this caused an evasion and a crash and I lost a half squad from the get go, but I would have taken that at the start of the game. The rest of 'Team Hill' landed in one piece on the Level two plateau where Victor's long shots with dust modifiers pinned a lot of things but just couldn't really damage me too badly. We both had several 8+1(+dust) or 16+1(+dust) shots but for a couple of turns we couldn't scratch each other - pillow fight! I managed to get a squad adjacent to a hilltop foxhole but they broke on a FPF from Victor and then promptly surrendered, no-quartered to leave me down to 6.5 of my initial 8 squads.
In turn 3 we continued to trade blows but with a killer DC charge, with a mere NMC, I broke a squad and leader and then chased them off the hill a long, long way, Victor rolling a 10 on a self-rally when he needed a 9. Despite a nasty sniper whacking one of my squads in an exposed position, I managed to save them by breaking the advancing British 9-2 on a measly 2+0 Subsequent First Fire when Victor rolled a 10 - my guys quickly routed away to safety. By end of Turn 5, I had taken all the headland part of the hill, was gobbling up hexes in the main saddle area and all my principal support weapons were now firing (accompanied by much scrabbling through the rule book to check the rules on Recoiless Rifles) - one of the Big Guns was now destroyed and Victor kept rolling high on his better attacks (particularly a 6-2 shot against my 9-2 leader / HMG which I brushed off). When Victor's entrenched squad on the summit broke with nowhere to go but into the cage, Victor resigned. He was now going to start having to recover territory with only 2-3 squads left and the -2 leader against dug-in 8 morale troops with multiple heavy support weapons and strong leadership, and
that wasn't going to happen in a hurry.
This is not a bad scenario, in fact its quite fun, though a little dull for the defenders at the beginning. Any damage done to the gliders is going to help the Brits, and they probably need to concentrate together as much as possible in the set-up or they will be defeated in detail. This is very hard to do, especially under the various restrictions the Brits are under for the first two turns, but it does help to roll low on some of those big shots! The question of whether to activate the other platoon is a tough one: certainly the Germans will almost certainly activate one of your platoons as they roll on towards their objective but its a tough decision for you to give the Germans back 6 Victory hexes for a measly two squad addition to your attack force. Like Victor, I too would probably not have activated them either considering the tactical position of the game at that time.
So thank-you, farewell and good luck Victor in your move to SoCal...we wish you bon voyage, and hope the dice gods take a change for the better for you in the Sunshine State! But wait, that makes me officially the worst die-roller in Houston????
Oh crap.
Nick
Friday, March 21, 2008
2008 Texas ASL Team Tournament
(16th Annual!)
We're just three months out! Begin making those plans to attend, the pre-registrations are already coming in. We're lining up some great sponsors, from Bunker Hill Games to Osprey Publishing.
Texas ASL is proud to present:
The 16th Annual ASL Team Tournament
Austin, TX June 19-22, 2008
Thursday 9am - Sunday 8pm
The ASL Team Tournament returns to the La Quinta Round Rock located in north Austin.
2004 North I-35
Round Rock, TX 78681
Phone: (512)255-6666
Fax: (512)388-3635
AAA 3 Diamond Rating
4-Day Registration $36
3-Day (Fri-Sun) Registration $31
Saturday Only Registration $21
Room Rates (tax not incl): $62
Make sure to mention the "Central Texas ASL Club" to get the reduced room rate.
Texas' Largest and Longest running ASL Tournament brings you four full days of ASL nirvana kicking off with a Thursday start.
Thursday will be an open gaming day and will not count towards the tournament standings. As always, Thursday games count towards the coveted Major Johnson award. Games related to the official tournament standings start Friday morning at 9AM.
For those looking for a little different head-on-head action, The ASL Team Tournament is pleased to announce two mini-tournaments this year:
Remember to Pre-Register -- Besides you never know what goodies you might find in your pre-registration packet. In the past there has been sneak preview scenarios, local CTASL scenarios in color on card stock, personal leader counters, and usually a handful of other goodies from our sponsors.
All these details and more can be found at our Texas ASL website - Just follow the tournament links found here http://www.texas-asl.com.
Rick
Texas ASL is proud to present:
The 16th Annual ASL Team Tournament
Austin, TX June 19-22, 2008
Thursday 9am - Sunday 8pm
The ASL Team Tournament returns to the La Quinta Round Rock located in north Austin.
2004 North I-35
Round Rock, TX 78681
Phone: (512)255-6666
Fax: (512)388-3635
AAA 3 Diamond Rating
4-Day Registration $36
3-Day (Fri-Sun) Registration $31
Saturday Only Registration $21
Room Rates (tax not incl): $62
Make sure to mention the "Central Texas ASL Club" to get the reduced room rate.
Texas' Largest and Longest running ASL Tournament brings you four full days of ASL nirvana kicking off with a Thursday start.
Thursday will be an open gaming day and will not count towards the tournament standings. As always, Thursday games count towards the coveted Major Johnson award. Games related to the official tournament standings start Friday morning at 9AM.
For those looking for a little different head-on-head action, The ASL Team Tournament is pleased to announce two mini-tournaments this year:
- Opening Assault : A One Day Thursday Mini-Tournament
- TEXAS HEAT : A One Day Saturday Mini-Tournament
Remember to Pre-Register -- Besides you never know what goodies you might find in your pre-registration packet. In the past there has been sneak preview scenarios, local CTASL scenarios in color on card stock, personal leader counters, and usually a handful of other goodies from our sponsors.
All these details and more can be found at our Texas ASL website - Just follow the tournament links found here http://www.texas-asl.com.
Rick
Thursday, March 06, 2008
New Product Review: Kreta: Operation Merkur
Nick Drinkwater
Thought I'd try my hand at a brief product review for the newly released Kreta: Operation Merkur.
As some of you are aware, there has been a major stirring of angst on the Gamesquad Forums about this product, principally about the perceived thinness of the map and also a lack of very final, final, final editing on some of the text. I'll address those below. The short summary is that is another very strong output from the HOB boys again, which, though not their best, is certainly right up there in terms of overall quality and fairly high in terms of bang per buck. Personally I think the High Ground pack was their best to date, shading Onslaught to Orsha and the first two SS packs by a nose, but overall this is definitely a very good product. At $65, its not necessarily the absolute best value for money of all the recent splurge of ASL products we're received in the last three months, but it is still pretty good value all the same, and I don't think anyone will be disappointed if they add this to their collection.
So what do you get? The pack comes in a simple loose-leaf folder with a representation of Paratroopers falling out of Junkers 52 over Crete and a knocked out Matilda - direct and to the point. The inside of the loose leaf folder has a black and white representation of the map together with the disposition of the Anzac troops, and a simple table for tracking scenario CVP and CG victory point. All straightforward stuff.
The Map:
This is a map of fragile beauty and is a beautiful work of art - massive congratulations to all those involved in this. The map is large (56" x 40") and will need a big table to layout if you don't wish to cut yours up. However apart from scenario OM7, all the other six Operation Merkur scenarios all look like they will play out on sections of the map that are actually away from the main central fold, so the map could be folded (or sliced) to reduce the playable area needed. The hexes are a little on the small size but they will probably be OK as there won't be many super stacks developing in this. The scenarios set on the map (see below) focus on Maleme airfield and Tavronitis Bridge, Hill 107 or the small villages (Maleme and Pyrgos) dotted around the map. The map is dominated by four principal topographic features...Hill 107, rendered in the shades of brown we are all used to from standard boards, the airfield (a dirt field rendered in a tan shade),
the dried up Tavronitis river bed which is portrayed as sand-coloured hammada, (much like the stuff we are used to on Boards 25-31) and the northeast corner which is a mix of grain, vineyards, olive groves and villages split by a gully - there is even a small strip of beach in the very north (but no ocean). "Normal" level one ground away from all the hills is in the normal green colour we are used to from geomorphic boards - this is mainly covered by vineyards and olive groves and a few small Cretan hamlets of stone buildings. It is wonderful and I can't wait to play on it...under Plexiglass!
Yes, it is 'thin', but with all the hype from the online doom and gloom community, I was expecting something like finest tissue paper, and it is definitely thicker than that. Handled with care and it should be fine, though I could see concerns about colour permanency along the creases with repeated use (but then this is true of some of the older maps from MMP as well). I think personally that this issue is a bit of a storm in a teacup...with all the money we have invested in ASL over the years, getting this map laminated will not be too big a bugbear to carry, and I think it is a crying shame that this has deflected praise from an overall very good product. I see that from the Forum conversations, some of the principals of HOB have either decided to chuck in ASL for good (Klaus Fischer) or are pulling their hair out in frustration about these issues (Steve D), and there is a big part of me who think that it would be a massive loss to the hobby if they
did fold...please say it ain't so! If you want more on this debate, you can easily find it on the Forum archive and check it out yourself.
Terrain types:
Overall, a deft touch has been exercised here...just enough flavour to be juicy without being swamped in a sea of chrome. As remarked earlier, the Tavronitis river bed is treated as Hammada so you will need access to a simplified Chapter F ruleset for this, as you will also for many of the scenarios where light and moderate dust is in effect for the early turns. Due to the nature of the fighting, there are few scenarios with vehicles, so hammada immobilisation checks will be limited, though some seriously degraded British armour (matildas and mark VIs with lowered B numbers and red MP) are present, still suffering from a lack of spare parts after the "advance to the rear" from mainland Greece. In this map, the bridge is a two hex structure, and the hexes below the bridge are rally terrain to the Germans only. Irrigation ditches appear on the map, as do slopes, steeples and narrow streets (you'll need Pegasus Bridge rules at least, though some of this is
in ASLRBv2), and the Perimeter Fence at Maleme is treated as a barbed wire fence (KGP rules). During the brief stay in Crete, the RAF were busy and built aircraft revetments (walls) and gunpits (treated as small, 2-unit trenches) for their AA Guns and the runway will be difficult for all infantry to cross (runway rules). Vineyards have been printed directly onto the map, and their is also a Reedbed terrain type which acts as a lighter form of marsh. As this is Crete, olives play their part in this region and the Olive groves come in two flavours - normal (as per Chapter F rules) and olive groves lite, which are less difficult to move around and through.
The other thing that may come into play is the creation of Cretan flat roofs on single buildings in a single hex. This is interesting as this creates a separate location from the house itself and the opposition can move onto these exposed positions (+1 TEM) from an outside stairwell, even if the inside of the building is occupied by the enemy - though they face TPBF if they do so...ouch. At least one of the OM scenarios involves a fight for one of the villages so this may come into some use at some point.
Unit Variantism & Counters:
This has all been kept to a merciful absence. Your standard counters are all going to work fine in this pack. HOB have provided a small half-sheet of counters (all marked unobtrusively with HOB) which mainly consists of more gliders, Junkers 52 planes, some German leaders and unarmed German para counters together with some dm recoiless rifles etc...not quite HOB's best efforts (Fortress Cassino counters are fabulous) as the gloss on them is fairly heavy, but still very useable. There are also a few Brit leaders and some captured German guns. Overall though, in this whole module your Anzacs stay as standard Anzacs, your German paras stay as standard German paras and your Cretan irregulars are portrayed as partisans (but poorly armed and with few tricks apart from ability to declare H2H CC and No Straying bonus). If you do receive the Maori battalion in your OOB, you get some tough H2H -1 CC dudes who can kick some serious ass, but this is all very
straightforward and handled well. The Allies also get to salvage some crappy RAF weapons from the burnt out planes on the airfield which is a nice touch - these come as new counters. Note also that it is not only the Commonwealth who get punished with crap-ish weapons - the Germans get no elite bonus for their SW in this due to their entering by air assault, representing limited access to fresh ammo.
Airlanding:
For those who like Glider and Para assaults, this module is heaven for you. If you don't...well, there are still some options and several of the scenarios are set at post-airdrop phase, so they may be smoother for some of you. In the big monster scenario OM 7, "Too little, Too light", the Germans get to reinforce by Junkers 52 landing on the airfield...the rules for this are basically glider landing rules, but if the Junkers miss the airfield, they will be in trouble as the crash drms are nasty. These rules all look very straight forward to apply, being a variation of the already existing rule-set and should pose no problems. Note that in some of the scenarios and in the main additional rules, the Allies get the option to have more of their weapons in AA mode and for longer...this could hurt the attacking Germans somewhat, but it probably is mitigated by the dust modifiers that are usually in place for the first couple of turns in some of the scenarios.
Editing and Proofing:
A shame and a little frustrating, and for me this was more of a detraction from the whole product than the map thinness issue, but it is still not that bad. It would seem that the transfer of proofing files from Germany to the USA and back meant that the final product went out with some small but annoying typos due to configuration setup differences. As a result, parentheses (inverted commas) around certain words were transformed into weird zingbats symbols and occasional overprinting in the text blocks of the scenario cards in particular, which makes it a little harder to read. This seems to have applied throughout the layout process and so even Scenario Titles have this issue - so "Stentzler's Wary Reconnoitre" reads as "Stentzler~s Wary Reconnoiter", "Morning's Peril" reads as "Morning~s Peril" and the trusty British 3" AA Gun comes across as the 3$ AA Gun in the VC of OM-3, Hill 107.
Really frustrating for the guys at HOB and I can see why they are pulling hair out on these gremlins - it is this tiny miss in the final editing and the map thinness issue that has raised so much scorn and criticism online. Yes, it is very annoying, yes people will feel (rightly) aggrieved at something that could and should have been picked up, but I hope this does not cause the demise of HOB... I am sympathetic to some of the stronger criticism that has been raised on this issue as people are fronting up $65 for this product, but I hope patience and forbearance can rule the day. But note, HOB do need to get this right in the future. Teething troubles with paper stocks and intransigent printers is one thing (the map here, the back to front counters in RbF4)- a final edit of the printed product using US-based software is quite another and could have been caught.
Scenarios:
Similar to Onslaught to Orsha, the pack is divided into two parts - seven scenarios that are set exclusively on the new map, (identified by the OM terminology), and ten more that are played on geomorphic mapboards, labelled AoC (Assault on Crete) scenarios. This is very cool value for me and I think this contributes a lot of value to this pack. None of these scenarios are micro (smallest is 5.5 turns), a few are on the small size, several are on the medium tournament size (6-7 turns), and there are a couple of real biggies, including the pack monster OM-7 at 13 turns. As noted earlier, some, but not all, involve glider, airlanding and paratroop drops and due to the inherent uncertainty of these and the ability to shoot and kill the Germans before they even get started, some people understandably will shy away from these. Like the glider attack in Pegasus Bridge however, if the worse does happen and the Anzacs get lucky and shoot down a third of the
attacking force, then maybe just pull the counters and start again! Personally, I love all the esoterica of ASL so the more the merrier! Night scenarios are limited to one-quarter of OM-7 only and there is not much other oddness going on here, apart from limited SSRs adding flavour, not Chrome. Note also that if big combined arms assaults using King Tigers is what floats your boat, then this too is probably not for you either as only 5 of the scenarios feature vehicles (mainly bad British, tanks, carriers and one motorbike scenario...low level elite infantry fighting for their lives is what this pack is all about and I am really looking forward to trying these scenarios out.
OM-1: Morning's Peril.
Daylight glider assault with early dust.
This is a recreation of the old Annual 89 scenario "Bofors Bashing", but played on the historical map and set on the NW corner of the airfield. 13 glider's worth of paras need to capture all 3 AA Guns in 6.5 turns, with 4.5 squads of Kiwis in defense. A no-move on Turn 1 SSR means that the defense starts confused. Looks small and bloody!
OM-2: Glide Path to Hell.
Daylight glider assault with early dust.
Another reincarnation from the 89 Annual, this time its the old "Descent into Hell", where as well as destroying the AA Guns, the Paras need to capture Tavronitis Bridge, again in 6.5 turns. Set in both the river bed and the airfield, as well as achieving the VC of OM-1, they now also need to control the bridge and approaches. The paras receive another 9 gliders for the bridge assault while the Brits get boosted by 6 more squads. Again, lots of grenade and knife action.
OM-3: Hill 107
Daylight glider assault with early dust.
Eight para glider squads with tough leaders and good SW (including a dm RCL) need to take the level three heights of Hill 107, the number of hexes they need to take being reduced for each AA Gun they knock out. Nine squads of entrenched Kiwis and Royal Marines plus two big AA guns stand in their way. Seven and a half turns to do this, though the glider landings here look quite rough.
OM-4: The Umbrella Men.
Daylight parachute assault with early dust.
Eighteen para half-squads look like they are going to have a very tough landing on the olive groves, vineyards and stone hovels of Maleme and Pyrgos - to win in 8.5 turns, they need to control the majority of the buildings and eliminate the lone Bofors gun. The Kiwis are weak in this one (second line), but they have help from Cretan partisans and four (yep, count em, 4) MMGs and a captured Pak 37. If the paras don't get too knocked up in the air drop, they should have the quality to see this one through.
OM-5: Stentzler's Wary Reconnoitre.
Ground assault only.
Eight turns for a very strong force of paras (17 squads) to take a chunk of Hill 107 real estate from 17 Kiwi squads with light SW help. Movement restrictions on some of the Kiwi platoons give the Germans the early freedom of movement they will need to fulfil this one. Straight-up infantry fight with little complications.
OM-6: Waltzing the Matildas.
Combined arms ground assault only.
The clue's in the title I guess. Six and a alf turns for two Matildas with moderate infantry support to either go for a CVP win or take the bridge back from 8 para squads with mortar and AT Gun help. The tanks are critical here as the runways will be hard to cross. Their is a 22 CVP cap on the commonwealth (though the tanks don't count).
OM-7: Too Little, Too Light.
Combined arms ground assault, with OBA, air support and a brief night rules section.
The monster in the pack. Thirteen turns in total, the first four using night rules, where the advantage is with the Kiwis. They receive Maoris and some real bad tin can tanks (Mk VIs) in Turn 5, but the Germans can use the Bofors guns with no penalties. The Kiwis have to clear a batch of Level 3 hexes from Hill 107, and capture at least 3 Gun pits, and a batch of building hexes. The Kiwis start strongly with ~33 squads in the first two turns against 16.5 para squads, but the paras get to reinforce 9 more squads direct to the action through Ju 52 airlandings in the later turns. This has it all and looks like a must play...a swirling chaotic melee that is not for the feint-hearted!
AoC1: Rushing Hill A
Ground assault with air support against entrenched infantry with late arriving armour.
The first of the non-historical map scenarios, this has 15 very well supported paras trying to capture the heights of the Board 39 hill, with help from a RCL and the 105 mm MTR - tasty! This time its the Aussies in the fight and these guys are extremely tough and they get some 100 mm ART guns and good MG and Matilda support. Set on half boards 39, 38, 17 and 6. To make it even more interesting, some scattered survivors of earlier decimated airdrops are scattered amongst the Aussie positions on Hill 39. Seven turns. Another one of the more interesting scenarios in the group with some interesting setup questions.
AoC2: The Venetian Fort.
Ground assault in urban terrain.
Dual entry on to half boards 21 and 23, the six British squads and fifteen green Greek squads need to evict 11 para squads from a medieval castle with very thick, high battlements. The quirk in this one is the SSR representing height advantage and CC across the venerable castle walls. Seven turns and bloody looking, especially with a bunch of Greeks bent on revenge.
AoC3: The Olive Oil Factory
Ground assault in rural terrain.
One of the shorter scenarios in the pack at six turns. A mixed group of Aussies and Greeks need to evict a bunch of mixed quality and walking wounded paras, suffering from ammo shortage in a factory on Board 49 - half boards on 44 and 49 are in play. One of the simpler scenarios in the pack.
AoC4: Town and Country
Ground assault in rural terrain on Deluxe Boards.
The sole deluxe scenario in the pack set on Boards d, h and f. The Brits need to get 14 VP onto Board f by the game end (Turn 5.5) offset by the number of surviving para units. No H2H CC is allowed by SSR and this is really a very straightforward all-infantry assault, with two carriers to assist.
AoC5: At the Apex
Dash for victory ground assault - straight up infantry.
A desperate escape from encirclement back to a friendly perimeter held by the Black Watch is what the Australians need to achieve here and they need only 8VP back in safety to win over 5.5 turns. In their way is a motley group of 11 para squads, but the Australian's friends in the Black Watch have limited movement options at the beginning, so its not completely straightforward. Has the feel of a Schwerpunckt scenario in that the tactical challenge is going to be interesting to resolve here. Set on boards 46, 4, 44 and 12 and Cretan rooftops and light olive groves are in effect.
AoC6: 42nd Street
Infantry ground assault with a ton of hand-to-hand melees!
Wild swirling H2H CC melees inspired by the Maoris, amongst the olive groves surrounding the dusty road of "42nd street" is the name of the game here. Sixteen para squads face off against 27 Kiwi squads and the Kiwis need to inflict 20 CVP at game end (modified by the number of surviving para squads on boards 35 and 38) - you can just see these guys lining up to do the Rugby Haka war dance before they kick this one off! Carnage across boards 43, 35 and 38 in 5.5 turns - looks awesome!
AoC7: Their first and last.
Infantry ground assault.
Probably the smallest scenario in the pack, 8 welsh squads need to have suffered less than 14 CVP versus 10 para squads with SW support. A fairly straightforward scenario with few real surprises in this one. Seven turns long, set on boards 44 and my favourite, the drumlin board, 18!
AoC8: The Game's up Aussies.
Combined arms assault versus a tricky fighting withdrawal
This looks like a fun version of ASL 1 "Fighting withdrawal" with a twist, as the Australians conduct a last-stand defense with a small group of the rearguard, while some of the rest of the force try and hold on to key Board 38 buildings for as long as possible. At the same time they also have to try to get some of their force off the south edge for extra CVP. This one looks like a good tactical challenge with many choices on both sides on what to commit, where to commit it and when it gets a' movin'. The Aussies probably have the harder task here as they will need to be played with finesse to get their withdrawals just right. The Germans however get the fun toys - kettenfreds, motorcycles, light tanks and trucks. This could be my favourite in the pack due to the tough questions being asked and the fun toys involved. Oh yes...the Aussies get fun Italian guns to play with too! Eight turns on Boards 15, 50 and 38.
AoC9: Unsung Heroes
Infantry Ground Assault.
Straightforward infantry attack by sixteen para squads (including engineers) versus sixteen very lightly armed Greek 1st line squads. The Germans win by controlling all buildings on Board 17 and most on Board 43 and this is all very normal, apart from the fact that these are some desperate Greeks. VERY desperate Greeks as they can all declare Dare-Death status! Love it! Ten turns for the paras to cross Boards 44, 17 and most of 43.
AoC10: Glide Path to Invasion
Daylight Glider Assault.
Set on Board 30 with the escarpment overlay in play - groan, I hear you all say, but give this one a chance. The Gliders, with eight squads need to land on top of the escarpment and destroy three big nasty AA Guns, but the desperate gun crews receive infantry and carrier support in Turn 2. Interesting pin rules on the defenders govern the initial landing of the gliders - if a gun goes unpinned, it has a chance to shoot down one of the offending gliders - special SSR govern this process and this could leave a nasty hole in the attackers. This actually looks like a quite fun scenario and I like the Escarpment overlay and desert terrain. Set on Board 30, seven turns long, but clearly dominated by the escarpment. Carriers are fun too!
Campaign Game:
This is very different from your usual CG, being more similar to the linked theme Market Garden scenario set of the 91 Annual. No perimeters, RG teams, battle-hardening or anything like it. Instead, the CG consists of six OM scenarios played in order (OM2-7: OM1 is not played as that is already incorporated into OM2). Each scenario card has certain VP awarded to it and these are marked next to the title - the winner gets full VP, the loser gets half. In addition, an extra point can be won or lost depending upon the CVP inflicted in the scenario, according to the chart on the scenario pack inside cover. And that's it!!! All very simple, and perhaps not what everyone was expecting, but the designers explain this as being a result of the Allied lack of reinforcements. Basically, everyone was in place already when the air assault began and there was little opportunity to get reinforcements in during the time-frame of the battle.
For me, that works pretty well. I just rarely struggle to get time to play a full CG these days, but I can easily see me being able to play these six scenarios in order against someone over a few months. Again, this may not be for those who really want a RB style CG, but it is different and I applaud the designers for trying this.
Overall Summary:
B++ for me...if the final editing had been that little bit more tidy, would have definitely moved up into my A- or A category. Still, a really good, infantry-dominated slug-fest between the elites of the nations involved, set on a beautiful, outstanding map. What's not to like?
Thought I'd try my hand at a brief product review for the newly released Kreta: Operation Merkur.
As some of you are aware, there has been a major stirring of angst on the Gamesquad Forums about this product, principally about the perceived thinness of the map and also a lack of very final, final, final editing on some of the text. I'll address those below. The short summary is that is another very strong output from the HOB boys again, which, though not their best, is certainly right up there in terms of overall quality and fairly high in terms of bang per buck. Personally I think the High Ground pack was their best to date, shading Onslaught to Orsha and the first two SS packs by a nose, but overall this is definitely a very good product. At $65, its not necessarily the absolute best value for money of all the recent splurge of ASL products we're received in the last three months, but it is still pretty good value all the same, and I don't think anyone will be disappointed if they add this to their collection.
So what do you get? The pack comes in a simple loose-leaf folder with a representation of Paratroopers falling out of Junkers 52 over Crete and a knocked out Matilda - direct and to the point. The inside of the loose leaf folder has a black and white representation of the map together with the disposition of the Anzac troops, and a simple table for tracking scenario CVP and CG victory point. All straightforward stuff.
The Map:
This is a map of fragile beauty and is a beautiful work of art - massive congratulations to all those involved in this. The map is large (56" x 40") and will need a big table to layout if you don't wish to cut yours up. However apart from scenario OM7, all the other six Operation Merkur scenarios all look like they will play out on sections of the map that are actually away from the main central fold, so the map could be folded (or sliced) to reduce the playable area needed. The hexes are a little on the small size but they will probably be OK as there won't be many super stacks developing in this. The scenarios set on the map (see below) focus on Maleme airfield and Tavronitis Bridge, Hill 107 or the small villages (Maleme and Pyrgos) dotted around the map. The map is dominated by four principal topographic features...Hill 107, rendered in the shades of brown we are all used to from standard boards, the airfield (a dirt field rendered in a tan shade),
the dried up Tavronitis river bed which is portrayed as sand-coloured hammada, (much like the stuff we are used to on Boards 25-31) and the northeast corner which is a mix of grain, vineyards, olive groves and villages split by a gully - there is even a small strip of beach in the very north (but no ocean). "Normal" level one ground away from all the hills is in the normal green colour we are used to from geomorphic boards - this is mainly covered by vineyards and olive groves and a few small Cretan hamlets of stone buildings. It is wonderful and I can't wait to play on it...under Plexiglass!
Yes, it is 'thin', but with all the hype from the online doom and gloom community, I was expecting something like finest tissue paper, and it is definitely thicker than that. Handled with care and it should be fine, though I could see concerns about colour permanency along the creases with repeated use (but then this is true of some of the older maps from MMP as well). I think personally that this issue is a bit of a storm in a teacup...with all the money we have invested in ASL over the years, getting this map laminated will not be too big a bugbear to carry, and I think it is a crying shame that this has deflected praise from an overall very good product. I see that from the Forum conversations, some of the principals of HOB have either decided to chuck in ASL for good (Klaus Fischer) or are pulling their hair out in frustration about these issues (Steve D), and there is a big part of me who think that it would be a massive loss to the hobby if they
did fold...please say it ain't so! If you want more on this debate, you can easily find it on the Forum archive and check it out yourself.
Terrain types:
Overall, a deft touch has been exercised here...just enough flavour to be juicy without being swamped in a sea of chrome. As remarked earlier, the Tavronitis river bed is treated as Hammada so you will need access to a simplified Chapter F ruleset for this, as you will also for many of the scenarios where light and moderate dust is in effect for the early turns. Due to the nature of the fighting, there are few scenarios with vehicles, so hammada immobilisation checks will be limited, though some seriously degraded British armour (matildas and mark VIs with lowered B numbers and red MP) are present, still suffering from a lack of spare parts after the "advance to the rear" from mainland Greece. In this map, the bridge is a two hex structure, and the hexes below the bridge are rally terrain to the Germans only. Irrigation ditches appear on the map, as do slopes, steeples and narrow streets (you'll need Pegasus Bridge rules at least, though some of this is
in ASLRBv2), and the Perimeter Fence at Maleme is treated as a barbed wire fence (KGP rules). During the brief stay in Crete, the RAF were busy and built aircraft revetments (walls) and gunpits (treated as small, 2-unit trenches) for their AA Guns and the runway will be difficult for all infantry to cross (runway rules). Vineyards have been printed directly onto the map, and their is also a Reedbed terrain type which acts as a lighter form of marsh. As this is Crete, olives play their part in this region and the Olive groves come in two flavours - normal (as per Chapter F rules) and olive groves lite, which are less difficult to move around and through.
The other thing that may come into play is the creation of Cretan flat roofs on single buildings in a single hex. This is interesting as this creates a separate location from the house itself and the opposition can move onto these exposed positions (+1 TEM) from an outside stairwell, even if the inside of the building is occupied by the enemy - though they face TPBF if they do so...ouch. At least one of the OM scenarios involves a fight for one of the villages so this may come into some use at some point.
Unit Variantism & Counters:
This has all been kept to a merciful absence. Your standard counters are all going to work fine in this pack. HOB have provided a small half-sheet of counters (all marked unobtrusively with HOB) which mainly consists of more gliders, Junkers 52 planes, some German leaders and unarmed German para counters together with some dm recoiless rifles etc...not quite HOB's best efforts (Fortress Cassino counters are fabulous) as the gloss on them is fairly heavy, but still very useable. There are also a few Brit leaders and some captured German guns. Overall though, in this whole module your Anzacs stay as standard Anzacs, your German paras stay as standard German paras and your Cretan irregulars are portrayed as partisans (but poorly armed and with few tricks apart from ability to declare H2H CC and No Straying bonus). If you do receive the Maori battalion in your OOB, you get some tough H2H -1 CC dudes who can kick some serious ass, but this is all very
straightforward and handled well. The Allies also get to salvage some crappy RAF weapons from the burnt out planes on the airfield which is a nice touch - these come as new counters. Note also that it is not only the Commonwealth who get punished with crap-ish weapons - the Germans get no elite bonus for their SW in this due to their entering by air assault, representing limited access to fresh ammo.
Airlanding:
For those who like Glider and Para assaults, this module is heaven for you. If you don't...well, there are still some options and several of the scenarios are set at post-airdrop phase, so they may be smoother for some of you. In the big monster scenario OM 7, "Too little, Too light", the Germans get to reinforce by Junkers 52 landing on the airfield...the rules for this are basically glider landing rules, but if the Junkers miss the airfield, they will be in trouble as the crash drms are nasty. These rules all look very straight forward to apply, being a variation of the already existing rule-set and should pose no problems. Note that in some of the scenarios and in the main additional rules, the Allies get the option to have more of their weapons in AA mode and for longer...this could hurt the attacking Germans somewhat, but it probably is mitigated by the dust modifiers that are usually in place for the first couple of turns in some of the scenarios.
Editing and Proofing:
A shame and a little frustrating, and for me this was more of a detraction from the whole product than the map thinness issue, but it is still not that bad. It would seem that the transfer of proofing files from Germany to the USA and back meant that the final product went out with some small but annoying typos due to configuration setup differences. As a result, parentheses (inverted commas) around certain words were transformed into weird zingbats symbols and occasional overprinting in the text blocks of the scenario cards in particular, which makes it a little harder to read. This seems to have applied throughout the layout process and so even Scenario Titles have this issue - so "Stentzler's Wary Reconnoitre" reads as "Stentzler~s Wary Reconnoiter", "Morning's Peril" reads as "Morning~s Peril" and the trusty British 3" AA Gun comes across as the 3$ AA Gun in the VC of OM-3, Hill 107.
Really frustrating for the guys at HOB and I can see why they are pulling hair out on these gremlins - it is this tiny miss in the final editing and the map thinness issue that has raised so much scorn and criticism online. Yes, it is very annoying, yes people will feel (rightly) aggrieved at something that could and should have been picked up, but I hope this does not cause the demise of HOB... I am sympathetic to some of the stronger criticism that has been raised on this issue as people are fronting up $65 for this product, but I hope patience and forbearance can rule the day. But note, HOB do need to get this right in the future. Teething troubles with paper stocks and intransigent printers is one thing (the map here, the back to front counters in RbF4)- a final edit of the printed product using US-based software is quite another and could have been caught.
Scenarios:
Similar to Onslaught to Orsha, the pack is divided into two parts - seven scenarios that are set exclusively on the new map, (identified by the OM terminology), and ten more that are played on geomorphic mapboards, labelled AoC (Assault on Crete) scenarios. This is very cool value for me and I think this contributes a lot of value to this pack. None of these scenarios are micro (smallest is 5.5 turns), a few are on the small size, several are on the medium tournament size (6-7 turns), and there are a couple of real biggies, including the pack monster OM-7 at 13 turns. As noted earlier, some, but not all, involve glider, airlanding and paratroop drops and due to the inherent uncertainty of these and the ability to shoot and kill the Germans before they even get started, some people understandably will shy away from these. Like the glider attack in Pegasus Bridge however, if the worse does happen and the Anzacs get lucky and shoot down a third of the
attacking force, then maybe just pull the counters and start again! Personally, I love all the esoterica of ASL so the more the merrier! Night scenarios are limited to one-quarter of OM-7 only and there is not much other oddness going on here, apart from limited SSRs adding flavour, not Chrome. Note also that if big combined arms assaults using King Tigers is what floats your boat, then this too is probably not for you either as only 5 of the scenarios feature vehicles (mainly bad British, tanks, carriers and one motorbike scenario...low level elite infantry fighting for their lives is what this pack is all about and I am really looking forward to trying these scenarios out.
OM-1: Morning's Peril.
Daylight glider assault with early dust.
This is a recreation of the old Annual 89 scenario "Bofors Bashing", but played on the historical map and set on the NW corner of the airfield. 13 glider's worth of paras need to capture all 3 AA Guns in 6.5 turns, with 4.5 squads of Kiwis in defense. A no-move on Turn 1 SSR means that the defense starts confused. Looks small and bloody!
OM-2: Glide Path to Hell.
Daylight glider assault with early dust.
Another reincarnation from the 89 Annual, this time its the old "Descent into Hell", where as well as destroying the AA Guns, the Paras need to capture Tavronitis Bridge, again in 6.5 turns. Set in both the river bed and the airfield, as well as achieving the VC of OM-1, they now also need to control the bridge and approaches. The paras receive another 9 gliders for the bridge assault while the Brits get boosted by 6 more squads. Again, lots of grenade and knife action.
OM-3: Hill 107
Daylight glider assault with early dust.
Eight para glider squads with tough leaders and good SW (including a dm RCL) need to take the level three heights of Hill 107, the number of hexes they need to take being reduced for each AA Gun they knock out. Nine squads of entrenched Kiwis and Royal Marines plus two big AA guns stand in their way. Seven and a half turns to do this, though the glider landings here look quite rough.
OM-4: The Umbrella Men.
Daylight parachute assault with early dust.
Eighteen para half-squads look like they are going to have a very tough landing on the olive groves, vineyards and stone hovels of Maleme and Pyrgos - to win in 8.5 turns, they need to control the majority of the buildings and eliminate the lone Bofors gun. The Kiwis are weak in this one (second line), but they have help from Cretan partisans and four (yep, count em, 4) MMGs and a captured Pak 37. If the paras don't get too knocked up in the air drop, they should have the quality to see this one through.
OM-5: Stentzler's Wary Reconnoitre.
Ground assault only.
Eight turns for a very strong force of paras (17 squads) to take a chunk of Hill 107 real estate from 17 Kiwi squads with light SW help. Movement restrictions on some of the Kiwi platoons give the Germans the early freedom of movement they will need to fulfil this one. Straight-up infantry fight with little complications.
OM-6: Waltzing the Matildas.
Combined arms ground assault only.
The clue's in the title I guess. Six and a alf turns for two Matildas with moderate infantry support to either go for a CVP win or take the bridge back from 8 para squads with mortar and AT Gun help. The tanks are critical here as the runways will be hard to cross. Their is a 22 CVP cap on the commonwealth (though the tanks don't count).
OM-7: Too Little, Too Light.
Combined arms ground assault, with OBA, air support and a brief night rules section.
The monster in the pack. Thirteen turns in total, the first four using night rules, where the advantage is with the Kiwis. They receive Maoris and some real bad tin can tanks (Mk VIs) in Turn 5, but the Germans can use the Bofors guns with no penalties. The Kiwis have to clear a batch of Level 3 hexes from Hill 107, and capture at least 3 Gun pits, and a batch of building hexes. The Kiwis start strongly with ~33 squads in the first two turns against 16.5 para squads, but the paras get to reinforce 9 more squads direct to the action through Ju 52 airlandings in the later turns. This has it all and looks like a must play...a swirling chaotic melee that is not for the feint-hearted!
AoC1: Rushing Hill A
Ground assault with air support against entrenched infantry with late arriving armour.
The first of the non-historical map scenarios, this has 15 very well supported paras trying to capture the heights of the Board 39 hill, with help from a RCL and the 105 mm MTR - tasty! This time its the Aussies in the fight and these guys are extremely tough and they get some 100 mm ART guns and good MG and Matilda support. Set on half boards 39, 38, 17 and 6. To make it even more interesting, some scattered survivors of earlier decimated airdrops are scattered amongst the Aussie positions on Hill 39. Seven turns. Another one of the more interesting scenarios in the group with some interesting setup questions.
AoC2: The Venetian Fort.
Ground assault in urban terrain.
Dual entry on to half boards 21 and 23, the six British squads and fifteen green Greek squads need to evict 11 para squads from a medieval castle with very thick, high battlements. The quirk in this one is the SSR representing height advantage and CC across the venerable castle walls. Seven turns and bloody looking, especially with a bunch of Greeks bent on revenge.
AoC3: The Olive Oil Factory
Ground assault in rural terrain.
One of the shorter scenarios in the pack at six turns. A mixed group of Aussies and Greeks need to evict a bunch of mixed quality and walking wounded paras, suffering from ammo shortage in a factory on Board 49 - half boards on 44 and 49 are in play. One of the simpler scenarios in the pack.
AoC4: Town and Country
Ground assault in rural terrain on Deluxe Boards.
The sole deluxe scenario in the pack set on Boards d, h and f. The Brits need to get 14 VP onto Board f by the game end (Turn 5.5) offset by the number of surviving para units. No H2H CC is allowed by SSR and this is really a very straightforward all-infantry assault, with two carriers to assist.
AoC5: At the Apex
Dash for victory ground assault - straight up infantry.
A desperate escape from encirclement back to a friendly perimeter held by the Black Watch is what the Australians need to achieve here and they need only 8VP back in safety to win over 5.5 turns. In their way is a motley group of 11 para squads, but the Australian's friends in the Black Watch have limited movement options at the beginning, so its not completely straightforward. Has the feel of a Schwerpunckt scenario in that the tactical challenge is going to be interesting to resolve here. Set on boards 46, 4, 44 and 12 and Cretan rooftops and light olive groves are in effect.
AoC6: 42nd Street
Infantry ground assault with a ton of hand-to-hand melees!
Wild swirling H2H CC melees inspired by the Maoris, amongst the olive groves surrounding the dusty road of "42nd street" is the name of the game here. Sixteen para squads face off against 27 Kiwi squads and the Kiwis need to inflict 20 CVP at game end (modified by the number of surviving para squads on boards 35 and 38) - you can just see these guys lining up to do the Rugby Haka war dance before they kick this one off! Carnage across boards 43, 35 and 38 in 5.5 turns - looks awesome!
AoC7: Their first and last.
Infantry ground assault.
Probably the smallest scenario in the pack, 8 welsh squads need to have suffered less than 14 CVP versus 10 para squads with SW support. A fairly straightforward scenario with few real surprises in this one. Seven turns long, set on boards 44 and my favourite, the drumlin board, 18!
AoC8: The Game's up Aussies.
Combined arms assault versus a tricky fighting withdrawal
This looks like a fun version of ASL 1 "Fighting withdrawal" with a twist, as the Australians conduct a last-stand defense with a small group of the rearguard, while some of the rest of the force try and hold on to key Board 38 buildings for as long as possible. At the same time they also have to try to get some of their force off the south edge for extra CVP. This one looks like a good tactical challenge with many choices on both sides on what to commit, where to commit it and when it gets a' movin'. The Aussies probably have the harder task here as they will need to be played with finesse to get their withdrawals just right. The Germans however get the fun toys - kettenfreds, motorcycles, light tanks and trucks. This could be my favourite in the pack due to the tough questions being asked and the fun toys involved. Oh yes...the Aussies get fun Italian guns to play with too! Eight turns on Boards 15, 50 and 38.
AoC9: Unsung Heroes
Infantry Ground Assault.
Straightforward infantry attack by sixteen para squads (including engineers) versus sixteen very lightly armed Greek 1st line squads. The Germans win by controlling all buildings on Board 17 and most on Board 43 and this is all very normal, apart from the fact that these are some desperate Greeks. VERY desperate Greeks as they can all declare Dare-Death status! Love it! Ten turns for the paras to cross Boards 44, 17 and most of 43.
AoC10: Glide Path to Invasion
Daylight Glider Assault.
Set on Board 30 with the escarpment overlay in play - groan, I hear you all say, but give this one a chance. The Gliders, with eight squads need to land on top of the escarpment and destroy three big nasty AA Guns, but the desperate gun crews receive infantry and carrier support in Turn 2. Interesting pin rules on the defenders govern the initial landing of the gliders - if a gun goes unpinned, it has a chance to shoot down one of the offending gliders - special SSR govern this process and this could leave a nasty hole in the attackers. This actually looks like a quite fun scenario and I like the Escarpment overlay and desert terrain. Set on Board 30, seven turns long, but clearly dominated by the escarpment. Carriers are fun too!
Campaign Game:
This is very different from your usual CG, being more similar to the linked theme Market Garden scenario set of the 91 Annual. No perimeters, RG teams, battle-hardening or anything like it. Instead, the CG consists of six OM scenarios played in order (OM2-7: OM1 is not played as that is already incorporated into OM2). Each scenario card has certain VP awarded to it and these are marked next to the title - the winner gets full VP, the loser gets half. In addition, an extra point can be won or lost depending upon the CVP inflicted in the scenario, according to the chart on the scenario pack inside cover. And that's it!!! All very simple, and perhaps not what everyone was expecting, but the designers explain this as being a result of the Allied lack of reinforcements. Basically, everyone was in place already when the air assault began and there was little opportunity to get reinforcements in during the time-frame of the battle.
For me, that works pretty well. I just rarely struggle to get time to play a full CG these days, but I can easily see me being able to play these six scenarios in order against someone over a few months. Again, this may not be for those who really want a RB style CG, but it is different and I applaud the designers for trying this.
Overall Summary:
B++ for me...if the final editing had been that little bit more tidy, would have definitely moved up into my A- or A category. Still, a really good, infantry-dominated slug-fest between the elites of the nations involved, set on a beautiful, outstanding map. What's not to like?
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