AAR: ITR6 The Ceramic Factory - Response to the Response

Nick Drinkwater

Chris, Matt, Zeb.

Agreed with everything you've all said. With these equal split victory objective games, as the defender, its perhaps a little easier as you really do get to fight the ultimate battle on a battleground and force balance of your own choosing (try AP20 Victory is Life as another example of this where the Russian attackers have to choose force balance quite accurately from the start). Looking at the two factories, I opted to defend the smaller of the two, primarily as it sits up against a board edge and hence the Russian has only three main approach routes - the big factory can easily be surrounded from all four sides by the Russians.

The key decision that the German has to make is how to split his force and yet make it look to the Russians like he has really divided his units in half. I did this by approximately splitting my force numbers 60:40 but in terms of concealed stacks made it look more 50:50. As well as this numbers balance, I also went for a force quality imbalance as all my crappy 447s, 237s etc went in the big factory with only a couple of 4-6-8s to stiffen the line. The small factory was jammed up with all the 548s and 468s so basically in FP terms and morale quality of troops it was more like 70:30. All the heavy SW (HMGs and MMGs) went in the small factory and six of the seven FBL were all placed in the small - all of course unknown to Chris at the start of the game where everything looked about equal under their concealment counters. Finally, all of the mines, wires and roadblocks, a HIP squad, MMG and leader and one of the two AT-Guns were placed to help make the small factory a really tough festung for Chris to take out, but still with the intent of leaving enough initial doubt in Chris's mind on the way things were resolved. Chris would only get to see the wires, and find the mines, and bounce out from the FBLs when he really got upfront and personal - by then I was hoping he was committed to the big factory attack with enough numbers that they might just be too late to come and hurt me in the endgame in the small factory.

And so it proved. Chris did a good job at bottling up the big factory and by G Turn 6 I was down to a squad, two leaders and a crew. I then had the inspired idea of using the sewer to pop up concealed with two units across the other side, but of course I rolled the six to get lost in the sewers, and ended up placed outside the factory by Chris. Very typical. However, the small factory defence of 4-6-8s and 5-4-8s in multiple FBLS with tons of support weapons and good leadership was just too tough for Chris to overcome, especially after one of his FTs choked on its last shot in the last turn (after at least 14-15 shots with no Xs prior to then). Chris tried to bust a hole into one of the FBLs in the last turn with an IS-2 but I calmly revealed my last hidden AT Gun and DI'ed the crap out of the beast to stop that one in its tracks. I was also successful in finding ATMM and fausts when needed (one particular 237 hs first un-HIPed to pop a faust through a IS-2m, got sniped and broke, rallied, popped out to slap a mine and burn a ISU 152 only to go down in a hail of gunfire as it charged up an open road to try and rejoin the fight for the big factory. Posthumous iron crosses with Oak leaves and diamonds for those boys). Luckily I didn't get to bounce a faust of a IS-2m.

The only real downside I could see to the small factory is that there were no internal walls to shield me from Russian 10-2 killstacks once they had entered the perimeter, and also help provide places to rout to safely. This was an issue in the last couple of turns as Chris was able to 'touch' me with a brutal 10-2 monster a couple of times, but the extra FBLs really helped offset this allied to a couple of lousy high rolled shots. A timely berserker also helped me here as that soaked up some more FP desperately needed elsewhere, after also going on a rate spree with a MMG and breaking Chris' other FT squad who then routed back and got hurt by some mines. But at the end, Chris had unluckily ran out of options to bust units into the forts and he was faced by a wall of pinned defenders to get through before he could even try. We had a couple of fun things - the sewer game winner / game loser moment of course, an Improbable Critical by an SU152 on a JgPzIV, another improbable critical from a manhandled 76L Art gun on my only decent squad in the big factory, stupendous runs with both flamethrowers, and the "little 237 that could".

It was a lot of fun, but with the setup advantages of the Germans allied to the toughness of SS in forts at the death, I'd probably rate this 60:40 German. Or I would, if the low ammo rule wasn't there as Zeb described - Chris didn't do a lot of cheap 2+5 shots to try and trigger this and so LA only applied to me on T5. However, as Zeb pointed out, if he'd gone hell for leather for it as the rule encourages, I'd have been there a lot earlier and that would have made a difference - still a bit pro german but the loss of the HMGs early especially would be huge. Zeb's change with maybe a couple less FBLs would be good things to try.

Cheers
Nick

AAR: ITR6 The Ceramic Factory - Response

Zeb Doyle

Totally agree with Chris: The Ceramic Factory is a big fun scenario that might favor the SS a bit. I played it as the Soviets against Eric's SS. He opted not to defend the smaller factory with anything other than dummies, and that allowed me to really focus my entire force on just one objective. In hindsight, we both agreed that made my job quite a bit easier. It was still tough going for my troops and it came down to the last turn before I could clear the large factory for the win. One major problem for me was the German assault guns: Eric parked them all in the festung factory and as I killed them off with IS-2s and FTs, they caught on fire and really hampered my attack. This led to a bit of a stressful end game for me when my approach to the last SS stack was narrowed down by the burning factory to just two ground locations and the roof.

The only thing I didn't like about the scenario was the SSR about the German ammo shortage: after 12 German sniper activation attempts, the SS suffer from Low Ammo. As the Soviets, I set up to make it impossible for a painful German sniper attack to occur, and started taking every single AFPh 2+3 and 4+4 I could find. With a 5 German SAN, Eric was faced with Low Ammo by turn two, and that really hurt him with a lot of Wehrmacht MGs X'd out by game end. It felt pretty cheesy and seemed weird that the German ammo expenditure was up to the judgement of the Soviets...seems like it would have been better to give the SS Low Ammo after X amount of Soviet sniper activation attempts. That would have felt (at least to me) the Germans would be saving their shots, waiting for the 'whites of the eyes,' etc, and fit the mood a little better.

Still a fun scenario if you are in the mood for a close-in urban slug-fest. Another fun one that has a slightly similar feel, albeit less claustrophobic and with more maneuver, is FT106 Counterattack Along the Danube. This one is 2/0 in favor of the Soviets though, and might be tilted towards them balance-wise just as much as The Ceramic Factory feels tilted towards the SS (either side can win but the favored side does have an edge IMHO). I'm pretty sure I saw FT106 being played at the Austin Team Tournament.. .anyone have any comments on this one?

Zeb

AAR: ITR6 The Ceramic Factory

Chris Buehler

It took us about 9 to 10 hours to play the Ceramic Factory. We started at Tom’s on September 24 and finished at Nick’s last night.

It’s a great scenario with quality troops, large forces, and very tough decisions for both sides. Particularly, how to split your assets between the two factories for both the Russian attacker and SS defender. Even with Nick’s SS troops walking away from the large victory location factory on the final turn (actually, they got lost in the sewer and wandered away from the factory), I could not dig the SS out of their fortified holes in the smaller factory. In retrospect, Nick played the set-up shell game to perfection and had me believe his force was more concentrated in the larger factory. I fell for it sent more troops that way, falling a bit short on the firepower necessary to take the smaller factory. Well played Nick!

With respect to balance, ROAR currently shows 13 to 6 in favor of the SS. While I feel both sides can win the scenario, it really comes down to whether the Russian player splits his force in an appropriate manner to assault both take both factories. You do not have time to deal with them one at a time.

Chris

AAR: DB76 Out of the Shadows

Scott Bell

Americans: Scott Bell
Germans: Hondo Nelson

Yesterday (Saturday) at San Antonio ASL day, Hondo and I had a chance to square off in a "new" scenario from "Dispatches from the Bunker." It was the first time we have had a chance to play against each other, and it was nice to play something that few if any players have played yet. This scenario just came out.

"Out of the Shadows" is a scenario set in Allan, France (August 27th) 1944. The Americans are composed of the 3rd Infantry Division along with support of Company B (Tank and Tank Destroyer Battalions). The Germans have the 11th "Ghost" Panzer Division along with Grenadier Regiment 757 and Grenadier Division 338.

This battle takes place on board 53, where the Americans are defending large buildings in a congested town. The Americans can also win by exiting > or = to 16 VP's off the north edge of the building. Absent poor planning on the part of the Germans, the American exit strategy is probably unlikely, so the battle comes down to control of victory buildings or the Germans earning > or = to 35 CVP by games end.

In this battle, the Americans, who initially control the town, strategically engage in a fighting withdrawal that is timed in order for them to maintain control of the majority of the buildings within the town at games end. I was the Americans in this scenario. I started out the battle with a 9-2 leader in a 2nd story building, a 6-6-7 squad, along with a MMG. Unfortunately for me, one of Hondo's Marder tanks quickly and improbably locked onto the building I was in (long distance), and broke me after the 1st turn. This prevented me from whittling down Hondo's forces as they approached the town. I was able to strategically organize my forces to where I gradually fell back into what might be described as a "slice of pie" defensive line. The long lines of the pie slice that met at a point, were roads, which I controlled effectively with MG fire. I controlled one major line with a squad and a MMG (fire lane). The other I controlled with MMG fire from my 9-2 leader and a 6-6-7, who had previously broken but were now rallied, along with tank support.

At the mid point of the game, I appeared to be in control. Hondo was unable to breach my defensive line which was quite strong. At turn 5, I had broken much of the German infantry, and had seized the initiative to where I was somewhat on the offensive. One could probably make an argument that I should have stayed put, but my defensive attack against Hondo's infantry had gone well, and I did not want to let him regroup; therefore I went after the wounded prey. THEN IT HAPPENED TO ME.......

This game "in the form of some critical dice rolls" had one of the most spectacular reversals in fortune that I have ever been a part of. The reversal involved the battle of our tanks. In the armor engagement, I had one (1) Sherman tank and three (3) M-10 TD. Hondo had one (1) Panther and two (2) Marders.

During the key tank engagement, I had managed to gang up with my Sherman and two (2) of my M-10's against the Panther tank. That was the good news (for me). The bad news was that due to the congested terrain of buildings and fire that had spread, along with his PF equipped infantry, I was only able to get front shots on his "in motion" Panther. I kept getting hits on the Panther with APCR (which I amazingly kept), but could not knock it out. I then switched my strategy to an effort to immobilize it, but could not get the required rolls to do that either. Hondo was feeling the heat, and realizing that I would eventually be successful, brought a Marder into the battle, in an attempt to draw fire away from the Panther. My Sherman tank pivoted, missing during Defensive Fire, and destroyed the tank on my next PFPh. Now I was really feeling good. I felt like I was in complete control of the infantry battle, and appeared to be improving my situation with my tanks as well.

Quite suddenly, my fortunes changed. It began when Hondo "killed" my 9-2 leader with a sniper shot. He followed this with an unlikely 4 hex away AFPh shot by a German Squad with a Panzerschreck, against my Sherman tank. Hondo needed a "snake eyes" to hit, and that is what he got. One Sherman destroyed. Next, the "in-motion" Panther took a shot at my M-10. Hondo rolled 3 dice, and got "triple snakes." One M-10 destroyed. Hondo smiled at his fortune, and said he was "going for it." He was "feelin" it, and he was on fiyaaa. The Panther took an "Intensive Fire" shot with 3 dice. The dice came up as 1, 1, & 3. A second M-10 destroyed. In the course of one turn, I had lost 3 tanks and my 9-2 leader. My misfortune was not over.

Now we switch to the infantry battle, where I had previously seemed to be in complete control. Earlier, I had advanced several American squads into the hex with the Panther as part of my combined arms attack which was designed to ensure that I would get the Panther. I forgot about the Sn, which I now call the "Fritz." I have only faced this defensive tank weapon probably on 2 other occasions, and I should have remembered it since it was devastatingly effective both times. I got "fritzed." The weapon broke my entire stack, and Hondo effectively closed in with nearby German infantry to finish the job.

I was in trouble now. I had complete control of the victory buildings, but my losses of tanks had now put me in a position to where Hondo could win by CVP's. Hondo had secured 21 CVP's in that one turn with just the 3 tanks kills, alone! I immediately began to retreat towards my defensive lines to try and stem further losses. This scenario would now clearly come down to CVP's. Hondo became the hunter, and I became the hunted. The Panther ruled the battlefield, and I was in full retreat with no answer for that tank. The "only" friend I had at this point was time. I had a remaining strong stack of troops which had stayed with one of my leaders in the course of falling back. I made an unintentional error of leaving them stacked (I forgot to spread out during the Advance Phase) and Hondo moved his Panther into my hex to freeze me, while his weakened but still viable German troops closed in for support. I managed to "immobilize" the Panther and knock it out in close combat (finally), and barely held on in close combat against the German infantry as the game ended. We were still engaged in CC when the game ended.

I had just managed to squeak out a "win" by only 3 CVPs. That was an amazing turnaround for a game that prior to turn 5; I had seemed to be in control.

This scenario was a lot of fun, and I would recommend it to those who are looking for something interesting to play. It is found in the newest "Dispatches from the Bunker" (No. 29, I believe). It is Scenario # DBO76. It was a good match-up for Hondo and I; who have styles of play that are somewhat similar with regards to aggressive play. Hondo played a very good game, especially at the end when it mattered most. He was aggressive when he needed to be, and just "barely" came up short. The Panther tank was amazing in this scenario. I delayed engagement with it as long as possible, and when I did finally engage with it, I did so with numerical superiority that included a 3-1 advantage in tanks, with engineers and a hero with a bazooka in support. The Panther tank fought back with defiance and determination, and it was amazing for both of us to watch. The Panther fought heroically, and its story would seem to be consistent with some of the great individual heroic actions of WWII that we have all read about. It was a pleasure to watch, even though I was on the wrong end of that "beatin' stick."

I would like to thank Hondo for the excellent game, and I look forward to playing him again, soon. I hope you enjoyed reading this, just as I enjoyed reliving it via this review. This game is one that I will not soon forget.

On a final note, I am eligible to "retire" from SAPD in 4 days. I will not be leaving immediately, though I do expect to "wrap up" my career in the next couple of years, which I'll work in order to supplement my annual pension payout during retirement. I mention this, because I look forward to playing a lot more ASL in retirement. I am planning upon doing a lot of traveling in retirement, which will include traveling to play ASL across the country, and across the world. I am very excited about that, and I feel very fortunate to be able to participate in a hobby (ASL) that I enjoy so thoroughly. I thank "all of you" for being a part of that.

Regards,

Scott

AAR: RPT14 Keitel & Cox

Nick Drinkwater

German (SS) Player [ELR 5, SAN 2]: Mark Carter
American Player [ELR 4, SAN 2]: Nick Drinkwater

Mark and myself hooked up with this one as a last minute substitution for our original all-infantry choice as Mark wanted to practice more both as the defender and get some more practice in using AFVs. This 4.5 turn scenario out of the second Rally Point pack appealed as it had a Tiger(!) and a couple of Shermans stiffening an attack by 10 x 6-6-6s to eject a bunch of 7 x 5-4-8s from a stone Italian town in mid 1944. The scenario is set width-wise on one of the new SK boards and for victory, the US have to ensure that they control three multi-hex buildings that span the middle third of the board AND prevent the Tiger (with functioning MA) from being within four hexes of a central crossroads (hex Q5). These are pretty tough VC for the US, as they have a lot to do to dig out tough defenders in ideal terrain and also be successful in a game of cat and mouse with the Tiger - ROAR currently has this as 4:17 US to German, probably reflecting the problems of playing with Shermans against a markedly superior tank AND clearing three stone buildings in 4.5 turns.

To help Mark, we had a thorough discussion on all aspects of the units that has been provided, particularly with respect to the merits of the armour assets and also the importance on understanding the key issue of timing and the pace of the defense vs the required victory conditions. As it stressed in the VC that the US will lose if the Tiger is in the correct area with a functioning MA at game end, Mark quickly grasped the huge potential of the game winning aspect of this one piece and its need to be preserved. This was reinforced when he saw the problems of having M4A1 Shermans with their 75s - base To Kill of 14 will be bouncing off the 14/11 frontal armour on almost every shot and even side shots would need a six. Of course, the reverse was not true as any shot from the 88L was going to blowtorch through my tanks. Hence the Tiger was going to pose a problem for me, compounded by the better Tiger morale and the presence of the sN to throw out smoke when needed to get out of a sticky position. Mark swiftly picked up the nuances of all these aspects in the pre-game chat, but we also took time to make sure that the one saving grace of the Shermans was noted: the white square nature of the ROF of 1 which offered the potential for both improved gun duel chances and the chance for multiple hits, particularly threatening if the Shermans could be manoeuvred successfully to do the "dance of death" on the solo Tiger. More on this anon!

Mark swiftly set up a forward defense with the bulk of his troops stiffened by a line of LMGs and MMGs at the rear, covering the main lateral road I was going to need to cross. Setup meant that I was also setting up onboard and in this case, I had the advantage of setting up second - with Mark's forward defense I was able to deny concealment to 70% of his force at the cost of two revealed half-squads myself, and was able to place a menacing "?" stack within two hexes of the most forward of his troops. I also tasked my Bazooka squad to run forward on my left flank to start to threaten his Tiger and get him moving from its rear area position.

Turn 1 was completely ugly for me as Mark's first shots of the game were 2, 5 and 4, and of course being 6-6-6s I went rolling backwards on both my left flank and centres and I swiftly had 3.5 squads broken on Turn 1, including my only MMG and bazooka squads. Luckily my right flank concealed 'creep' stayed intact and the two Shermans were still healthy as it otherwise it could all have been over very quickly. By the end of Turn 2, I had been able to crush the two squads and leader Mark had on my right flank through concealed ambush and CC so things had started to even up a bit, even though I couldn't rally a unit for squat (including and especially annoying the Bazooka squad). A key move also happened in Turn 2 when a 7-0 went berserk on a rally - this was looking disastrous for me, but actually turned out really well as he charged Mark's MMG team tasked with solely holding out in his left rear defense line. Just before he went on his mad dash, I was able to dump a Sherman WP shell on top of the MG nest and this was meant my 7-0 survived his dash for glory and completely locked up his MG unit. I was thus able to get a 6-6-6 into the berserk CC location unscathed and the first victory house was mine. However, I still had two to go and the problem of the Tiger to solve and time was running out and still all of my first turn morale check failures stubbornly refused to rally.

Mark kept the pressure on by keeping my Baz team DM through movement of the Tiger (but wisely not using his MA on a wasteful shot after a discussion) and then pushed him back to a position where he could support the defense of his rear right house, the most difficult for the US to attack. Turn 3 saw him start to fold the defense backwards to the far side of the lateral road, but I was able to pin then destroy a half-squad while he was doing that - he had now lost 3.5 squads but I only about 5 squads in positions to effect the outcome of the game and the Tiger was still alive. In my Turn 4, I was able to eliminate another SS squad in CC (gotta love that 6 to 5 CC odds) and most importantly I saw an opportunity to threaten the Tiger from opposite sides with some cautious lateral manoeuvring of a Sherman. This was a bit risky as it meant I had to unbutton for some road bonus points and also I needed to risk an ESB for an extra half MP to get me in the perfect position, but this left me with a snakey 9 hex LOS through two orchards to the back hull of the now motion and sN smokey Tiger. At the same time, I pushed the other Sherman against the direct opposite facing of the Tiger to snap shut both sides of the vice.

In German Turn 4, Mark's last outboard infantry units were shot down when trying to retreat and he was left with a solo concealed 548 in the last victory building and the Tiger vs approximately 5 of my squads and the two encircling Shermans. We had a long discussion about the options open to the Tiger from here. If it could survive the two incoming Sherman shots it would probably mean victory for Mark as I would be left doing the chasing and needing bounding fire shots in my last turn for the win. If it stayed, however, I would still need to pull out some good shooting as Mark had smartly rotated the TCA opposite to the Tiger's VCA, meaning that both of my Shermans could still yet hit one part of the superior 11/14 armour rather than the 8 rear armour facing. If he wanted to escape there was also a chance he would fall victim to a 9-1 led streetfighting attempt (5 to Immobolize, 4 To Kill assuming PAATC was passed), but this was unlikely. As he was in Motion, shooting first at a Sherman was a possible but not great option, as I was always able to out gun-duel him first, so another sN attempt and then move was deemed to be the best bet. Mark was able to get the Smoke down so my sneaky Sherman was looking for a 5 To Hit and hopefully a 2,2 would come up as that would be a multiple hit in the Tiger's rear, as opposed to a single shot on its frontal turret. Roll the dice....and yes, you guessed it right, I called it correctly - a 2,2 was smiling back at me! Needing a 7 To Kill from the two attempts, I rolled two 3,3s in succession and Mr Tiger and his crew were very dead.

The concealed 548 was the last hope for victory but these went down to the first shot they took when Mark's dice hurt him some more and they failed a 1MC. Game over and a win for the good guys.

Mark played this scenario well and I hope he picked up some useful ideas and thoughts on how to defend, particularly during short scenarios when the need to really thick tactically about the opponents VC and his timing is critical. This scenario with its low AFV numbers also demonstrated the importance with vehicles to always try and keep in mind that its not necessarily what your opponent is doing with his tank this turn that you need to worry about - its where and how he'll be placed next turn to impact you which is the key thing. This takes some thought and I'm still on the learning curve on that one myself - I think it is this ability that makes the difference in armoured play (for example and this is a long list) that the Matts, Mikes, Jeffs and Zebs of this world possess.

So a fun ans small learning scenario played on the scarily 'open' SK boards with no hedges and walls to duck behind. I think ROAR's number of 4:17 is a poor reflection of this scenario and I do wander if that is more a reflection of the inexperience new players have when trying to use Shermans against a big cat. The Germans can be quite brittle, and Mark agreed that they may be better set up in a rear defense next time, as once one or two units succumb early to the US, there are a lot of opportunities for them infiltrate and surround outlying SS defenders who won't be able to get back and hang tough for the final turn defense. Mark's enthusiasm for the game is infectious and he's a willing learner and I would encourage anyone to play him as they will have fun! Also, thanks Mark for acting as host - wonderful to come and visit you and great burgers and beer man!

2009 Texas Team Tourney AAR

Zeb Doyle

Every year, the Texas Team Tournament is my favorite ASL event by far, and Rick has never disappointed yet. This year was one of the best in recent memory for me, and I want to say thanks to everyone that managed to come and turn it into such a fantastic event. Congratulations to Mike Seningen and Chris Buehler for taking home the serious trophies, and to Jim Ferrell as well. Making it to the finals four straight years is an amazing feat. Most of all though, thanks so much to Mr. Rick Reinesch, the man who makes it all happen and even manages to make it look easy. I hope everyone knows just how lucky they are to have such a premier tournament right in our own backyard!

One of the best parts this year was just showing up and getting the swag bag. David Longstreet once again delivered some very cool ASL gear, this time in the form of a very cool LOS checker that will be the envy of everyone who missed out. Other highlights for me were seeing (and playing) lots of out-of-staters. Of my six games, four were against fresh faces, something that always adds a bit to the excitement. Another cool occurrence was looking at the leader board late Saturday and seeing a number of new names up there. Congratulations to people like Ed Beekman, Mike Denson, Rob Burton, and especially Hond Nelson! It's a real testament to the strength of our club that we have so many players capable of tearing off multi-win streaks against some tough competition. I could go on all day talking about tournament highlights, but instead let me just say that the unfortunate few who couldn't attend, like Nick Drinkwater and Tom Gillis, were conspicuous by their absence. We really missed you guys. Now, on to a quick account of some of the action:

Going into the tournament, I had harbored some illusions of competing for the Major Johnson, but I got stuck at work Thursday and ended up not making it to Round Rock until Friday morning. There, Rick quickly and efficiently paired me up with Chris Buehler. I felt a shiver run down my spine when I first saw my opponent, but I didn't realize I was actually in the presence of greatness. In fact, we ended up playing the rather smallish scenario A69 Broich Bash. Weighing in at six turns, fourteen total squads and seven vehicles, I can't claim to have been much help to Chris in his quest for the Major Johnson. The dice gave me the defending Germans, and my troops hunkered down to defend the stone buildings as per the VC. Chris brought his Americans in on the west side, which wasn't much of a surprise, and by turn two bullets were flying back and forth. Chris played a good game, but despite numerous attempts, didn't manage to get any smoke down through the first three turns of the game. Given that I had 7ML units in stone buildings and he had 6ML units coming across open ground, that made things very tough. The two big opportunities Chris gave me both involved stacks of Americans moving in the open, and the resulting 6-2 and 8-1 shots were both snake-eyes. That amazing display of skill took a lot of suspense out of the game, and although some late-game smoke finally made an appearance, I managed to comfortably hold enough buildings for the win. Fun tournament scenario, but not a lot of depth to it, so I likely won't play it again.

Next up was Ed Beekman in FrF20 Adolf's Amateurs. This scenario represents an interesting situation, with some early-war SS fighting Russians in far northern Finland. The SS are Green, poorly led, and have only the advantage of numbers, ELR, and increased broken ML over their Soviet counterparts. The Germans are trying to cross a stream and capture buildings and bridges all while killing Russians. Both sides get some tincan tanks, which also feature in the VC and give you a strong incentive to keep them alive. Dicing for sides, I got the Russians and promptly set up a defense along the stream to stuff the Germans. There are some pregame blazes I got to place, and the SSR-induced mild breeze allowed me to drift smoke along the level-zero front lines. This would give me plenty of cover while allowing for point-blank unhindered fire on any SS foolish enough to move into the level -1 stream.

This probably would have worked well, but Ed decided to be aggressive with his tanks. This really caught me off-guard, as the two German vehicles have at best 1AF, and represent two of the eight points they need to win the game. It ended up being a great move though; I had multiple opportunities to take them out with MTR and machine-gun fire, as well as CC, but never managed to make the required TK roll in the 4-6 range, and the panzers ended up completely unhinging my defense. This turned the 'stuff 'em at the riverline' idea into a 'quick, Boris, the commissar's not looking...RUN!' defense. I then compounded my problems by being overly aggressive with two of my squads and trying to make something happen. The odds were probably 60%-75% in my favor, but just falling back would likely have worked just as well, and they ended up dying uselessly. The end result was that on the second to last turn, I had almost nothing left to stop an SS rush.

Ed played it well and only some very good dice (including an IF CH) kept him from winning it instantly. A very timely 1:4 -2 attack killed two of his squads that tried to jump a VBM-frozen Soviet, and in my turn I managed to finally kill off one of his cursed panzers. It burned, and drifted out a wall of smoke, turning the movement cost of a key open ground location from 1MF to 2MF, thereby rendering one of Ed's few remaining squads from reaching a vital VC building! Suddenly things were looking good, and I was in fantastic shape to steal an undeserved win. That lasted until Ed's last turn: he rolled up Gusts to make the smoke vanish, self-rallied another key squad with a 3, and broke an absolutely essential Soviet unit with a 4+2. It was a highly frustrating finish, but Ed did a great job of outplaying me and I had no one to blame but myself. Fun scenario, and one I wouldn't mind taking another crack at. Recommended.

More to come later,

Zeb

The Best of Tourney 2009

Matt Shostak

The Best of the 2009 Texas Team Tourney
======================
Best Bandana: Pete Shelling's Monopoly railroad themed doo-rag. Awesome.

Best Slam: Eric Gerstenberg, while looking through the scrapbook of old tourney photos, says, "Hey Matt, you really looked different way back then, huh?" as he points at a picture of Russell Mueller from 1992, thus insulting both of us with one beer-fueled quip. (I know, Russell is a handsome devil with a certain je ne sais quoi, but it's the principle of the thing.)

Best Facial Hair: Paul Chamberland, with an impressive and intimidating full beard.
Runner Up: Ed Beekman's mustache.

Best Blast from the Past: (Tie) Gary Fortenberry, back at the tourney for the first time in 16 years, and David Hailey, renowned ASL author, player, and past tourney director for this very tourney, back for the first time in many years.

Best Rules Question: Jeff DeBraal and Pete Shelling, trying to decide if you have two broken opposing leaders (only) in melee, can an MMC from one side perform an SMC overrun?

Best Accent: Tim Kelly from Boston, hands down. Hearing him made me feel back at home. It was wicked awesome.

Mr. Distance: We'll have to check the official scorecards with Rick, so this is unofficial, but I think Tim Kelly also came the farthest to play in the tourney.

Best t-shirt: (Tie) John Farris' classic Peace Through Superior Firepower shirt, Sam Tyson's G.I. Joe shirt, and the Tiger I tourney shirt Rick had for each of us.

Best dice tower: (Tie) Bud Garding and Mike Denson. Each had smooth action, quiet, felt-lined dice towers with low walls so that you could actually read the dice too.

Best Dice Cup: David Longstreet's homemade 10-3 stencil.

Best Boxing Speculation: How would Bill Dorre have fared as a junior welterweight?

Best Cameo: Roy Casagranda, with an impressive now-you-see-him-now-you-don't brief appearance. I hope he at least got a game in somewhere.

Best sugar rush: Rick brought in several dozen Round Rock donuts on Saturday morning. Yum.

Best trophies: Rob Burton's snazzy dioramas. Nicely done, sir.

Good Gaming In Austin

Walter Eardley

Howdy Folks,

I must say the annual Austin Team Tournament sure was a lot of fun. A BIG thank you goes out to Rick and the rest of his team for putting on a great event. A+ top notch all the way!

I played two games because of a late start on Friday and having to head back to HotAndHumidston on Saturday night. I finished 0-2 but both games I played went down to the very last CC DR on the very last turn. You can't really ask for much more then that.

The first game was against Austin's David Longstreet. I offered up 5 scenarios and we agreed on FrF2 Maczek Fire Brigade from the good folks at Friendly Fire. This one came highly recommended by Zeb and did not disappoint. Dice gave me the attacking Germans while David defended with the Poles. When people would come and ask who was winning we would point at each other and really mean it. During the entire game, I had no idea how I was going to win while David had no idea how he was going to keep me from winning. In the end, I could not kill one squad in CC to claim the 12th building hex and victory. If you like early war pillow fights, this one should go to the top of your list.

Saturday, I hit up Roy from Kansas for a game. I again offered up 5 scenarios and we settled on DB067 Lets Dance. This scenario features a strong British foce lead by a 10-2 and 9-2 with a mix of 648s and 458s supported by an Achilles and a Sherman trying to dig a mixed force of SS an 838, two 658s, some 468s and some various HSs lead by a 10-2 and supported by a Tiger I and a nifty Flak Pz with the 20 IFE and a 105 Art piece. There is an immediate victory building plus an end of game victory building. In the end, Roy was able to get a 9-2 with a Hero in the end of game building and I could not kill him with a DC, shots by the Tiger and shots by the Flak Pz. My various CC attacks did not do enough damage giving Roy the win. The real turning point was missing Roy's 9-2 and 248 HS on a 4-1 down one CC roll. I rolled 11 or something. The next turn he piled on and killed my stack. This opened up the way to the end of game victory building. I think this one is probably a lot more fun to play as the Germans then the Brits. Trying to dig SS out of stone buildings is never any fun. They have the tools including a flame thrower and two minus 2 leaders but it really seemed tense for Roy and if bad things happen to the 10-2 or 9-2 things will fall apart quickly.

Walter

My 2009 Texas Team Tourney AAR

Mark Carter

Congratulations to all champs!

Well done to Rick for a great event which was a lot of fun. Also thanks to the guys for welcoming a newbie and being so encouraging. Even though I’ve only played since February everyone was friendly and those who played me were very patient and all took the time to give me pointers. A great experience.

After my last game against Mike Seningen, who had taken me apart in Norman "D" a month ago like a thanksgiving turkey, I hoped maybe I’d have a chance against a guy at the tournament. Right. By luck of the draw, my first game was against Gary Fortenberry. Gulp.

Nothing like jumping into the deep end, but let’s add some sharks for interest! Just kidding though, he is a great guy and was helpful showing me some ropes. I had the Americans in First Crack from AP4 and my first shot was for smoke – boxcars. That set the stage as Gary’s defenses took the offensive and chased me around. Later we figured we should have just been driving over bocage for points! Ha!

Then there was Bosq Barbeque against John Farris. A very long game because I was trying to work the crocs as the British, which I finally conceded after all my AFVs got blasted by his 88 and the 20mm guns and my last croc got his trailer stuck in a bunch of high bushes/trees. John was very patient running me through all the to hit tables and later showing me tips on how to improve my play. Being so discouraged from my smoke boxcars against Gary, I guess I just forgot about that tactic against John and so used no smoke trying to cover my advances. Oh well, I promise to remember that lesson.

My third game was with Gregg Parker, another nice guy from OKC. We played Why at Urp (SP111) and Gregg took the attacking Americans while my Germans had to hold a circle of buildings in the center of the map. Unfortunately for Gregg, his FT gacked on its first use and that it made it much easier for me to hold the middle cluster of buildings. It was a mad rush at the end, but I managed to get a few rolls my way and got my one and only win.

Fourth game was with Jeff DeBraal in Village of the Damned from AP3. I was the defending group of walking wounded Italians with a few German helpers against the Russian onslaught complete with tank in a snowy little village kept warm by two burning buildings. It was a close scenario (from my point of view at least), in which my highlight was I managed to kill his tank with streetfighting Italians. However Jeff was unstoppable and wiped me out. He was very helpful in discussing strategy and especially showing me the value of taking prisoners.

Fifth game was against Gregg Parker again and we played A Handful of Howdy, RPT13, to the great amusement of passers by. I took the attacking Americans trying to clear some hills and buildings of Germans. I resolved to use my lessons over the past few days and set up my mortar to place WP to cover my advancing infantry (John Farris would have been pleased to see I had been listening). But I rolled my depletion number! However the first shot taken in the game had WP and it got placed in a good spot. It wasn’t on top of one of his squads, but it hindered line of sight enough for my charge up to the first hill. I brought my guys around and all set to take my first batch of prisoners (on top of that one this time, Jeff!), but not to be - one of the SSRs was No Quarter was in effect. So once again some guys I’d managed to break got away and later rallied and threatened to grab a hill back at the end. I had a guy go Berserk and charge into his DMed guys but they routed away before CC, passed an interdiction roll and then made it into the woods – drat.

The play of the game was really Gregg’s rolling. I had the mortar pounding one of his positions and he kept passing his checks. Then I had my Berserk squad rush him – bloody spot on the road. Then I had a couple of squads maneuver for position drawing fire, and then three of four half squads and squads rush that position – he passed four straight FPF morale checks and killed them all in point blank fire.

We are convinced this string of skill was due to Gregg's little shrine set up to Po3a (Roza Shanina the Russian sniper – a beauty with 54 confirmed kills including 12 enemy snipers at the Battle of Vilnius, killed in 1945 at age 21. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roza_Yegorovna_Shanina ).

During this time I had hoped to circle around behind his guys and force them forward into my set up with two MMGs, but in the end, my efforts to break that one position virtually destroyed my encircling troops. My MMG squads then had to make an attack across the open ground I had hoped to make him take, to no avail. In the end he simply ran back into the VC buildings and there was not enough turns left to chase him down. A very exiting little scenario and a lot of fun. There were three heat of battle results between the two of us, two berserks and one 6+1 leader. Great game, Gregg.

It was also a blast watching Chris and Bill slugging it out in Destroy All Monsters! Incredible, and they were obviously in ASL Nirvana.

I finished 1-2 in the Fri-Sun tourney, and 1-4 overall including the Thursday mini and had a great time meeting some fine folks. Thanks again everyone and once again, great job, Rick!

AAR: FF10 Blackjack Is Back

Matt Schwoebel

Attacker: Matt Schwoebel (Americans)
Defender: Scott Bell (Germans)

The June Austin game day at Brian Roundhill’s house was at maximum capacity. Almost everyone was warming up for the much anticipated June CTASL tournament. Knowing I could not attend this august event due to family commitments, I wanted to play a fun scenario against a challenging opponent. Scott Bell came all the way from San Antonio to answer the call to arms. As he pulled out pages of notes and an already determined defender’s set-up, I had flashbacks to playing another hyper-organized member of the San Antonio group, one Carl Kusch. We had picked in advance a good game day sized combined arms scenario – the revamped version of FF-10 Blackjack Is Back.

This scenario is played during the winter of 1945 on the Western Front with ground snow and overcast conditions (plus an SSR treating rain as falling snow and Winter Camouflage for all). The German SS defenders have a mixed quality force with 3 x 6-5-8 squads, 8 x 4-4-7 squads, 3 leaders (2 x 8-1 and a 7-0) and 6 concealment counters. Their support weapons include 2 x MMG, 2 x LMG and a PSK. The combined arms factor is dominated by 2 Panthers (PzVG), plus a StuG IIIG (L). The American elite attacking force has 10 x 6-6-7 squads, 3 leaders (9-2, 8-1, 7-0), 2 x MMG, 2 x 60mm mortars, 3 x BAZ45 and a DC. American armor is impressive with a M26 Pershing, 2 x M4A3(76)W Shermans, and 2 x M4A3 Shermans (misprinted on the scenario card with 13 movement factors – not the correct 15). Most importantly, the Americans have a 9-1 armor leader and 2 gyrostabilizers with one in the Pershing! Add in elite status giving one better APCR rating and then the 90L and 2 x 76L guns become quite deadly even to the frontal armor of the Panthers. The
Germans are ELR 2 (underlined by SSR) with SAN 3 and the Americans are ELR 4 with SAN 2.

Scott Bell whipped out his laptop and began setting up. I read the victory conditions three times to make sure I got them straight in my brain – at this point just beginning to be caffeinated. Blackjack Is Back has VP earned by casualties (both sides) and exiting from 4 possible east edge road hexes (Americans only). The American attacker has two options to win – gaining 30 VP at ANY point in the game (automatic condition) or having at least 12 VP more than the SS at the end of the 6 turn game. Exit VP do not include
crew units (i.e. crews not in a vehicle).

Boards 21 and 22 with hexrows A-P are in play. From the attacker perspective, Board 22 is on the left and Board 21 is on the right with row A on the western edge closest for both boards. The German SS player sets up units on or east of hexrow F. The American player sets up on or west of hexrow C, but has the option of bringing AFVs onboard from the West edge on any turn (though all on the same turn). All multi-hex, non-factory buildings have 2 levels and inherent stairwells in every hex.

From my attacker perspective, the terrain is quite mixed with plenty of buildings along the roads for Panzerfaust wielding infantry to create blazing wrecks. On the left flank Board 22 significant terrain includes a 7-hex factory (by SSR) on the left front, a roadless village cluster in the center-right and an area in the left back cut-off by a frozen stream with one bridge & a few buildings behind the stream. Two exit road hexes are behind this stream. Board 21 on the right flank is best known for its large cemetery. Several large buildings dominate the front half of the board with the back half including the cemetery in the center with a road exit hex on either side of it.

The German defender must defend a fairly broad front. Scott positioned most of his infantry just forward of center in a roughly even skirmish line across the two board widths. Few gaps were more than one hex away from Panzerfaust toting infantry and most of the squads were not in line-of-sight of the American set-up area (deftly avoiding potential kill stack shots). A couple of squads were posted in the far back corners near exit hexes. All three tanks (concealed) were positioned near exit hexes at the back of the board (within 2 hexes of the board edge). Wisely done, I believe the easiest way for the German player to lose this scenario would be to set-up the Panthers too far forward allowing stabilized American tanks to flank them. I positioned the Americans more left of center primarily on Board 22 and decided to push straight up the middle of the German defense come what may. All tanks were onboard. My strategy was more-or-less to see how Scott reacted, take advantage if I could and then try to exit my armor for the immediate 30 total VP win (Pershing 10 EVP with leader, 2 x 76L Shermans 7 EVP each, 2 x 75 Shermans 6 EVP each for 36 EVP total).

Because of the nature of the terrain, potential exit victory conditions and resulting spread out defense, 3 German squads took the brunt of the American attack on turns 1 and 2. My squads moved ahead of the armor, pushed into the 22G4 factory and occupied a front only 8 hexes wide from the seam between boards to the factory. I took some breaks from German fire, while Scott slowly fell back in the center. My right flank was threatened as German infantry units were shifting towards my left-of-center attack. The Germans in the left rear stayed in position to keep me away from the two exit hexes behind the stream/bridge. SS armor stayed ominously quiet near the exit hexes and did not get lured towards the American schwerpunkt. Victory points at the start of Turn 3 were few and even. I had lost a half squad attempting to rally and Scott a squad for failure to rout.

Turn 3 turned out to be important for one vital help to the attacker – snow started to fall and continued to fall for the rest of the game. This LV hindrance made moving in the open and dashing across streets much easier on the American. For my half turn, I pushed a couple of squads onto Board 21 and consolidated my hold on the center-right village of Board 22. In Scott’s half turn he ran units from the far back right of the game area into the graveyard to protect his tank just right of center near the road exit hex.

The situation at the start of Turn 4 included was thus. Scott had a strong position guarding the stream bridge with 2 squads backed up by a tank. The center for him had been pushed back with 2 squads hiding out at the edges and another crossing the frozen stream to assist them. Along the road closest to the board seams on Board 21, Scott had strengthened his position with 4 squads adjacent to the road in a large building and the cemetery. Two tanks blocked both road exits on Board 21. One remaining half-squad was annoyingly behind my lines towards the front of Board 21. My American attackers were positioned in force in the center of the play area. All five tanks were as yet unscathed. A few squads were across the board seem road and contending with German defenders.

The start of Turn 4 I decided to make a rapid shift to the right, mainly with AFVs, towards the far right exit hex on Board 21 now guarded by a lone German tank. I calculated in two turns I could exit all five tanks (or any 4 if the probable Panther took out one) for the win. In response Scott would have only one defender turn to reposition. This was the new plan… The shift was fairly successful with squads following the armor into position. Both sides took losses this turn including in infantry melee. I tried to keep a tank and squad on the board seam road to fire down it and prevent German squads from crossing back over. With American armor being aggressively used and pushed to the fore, the Germans failed to successfully gain or accurately shoot Panzerfausts. My armor was now largely just in front of the cemetery and the large building dominating it especially around the traffic circle. Scott moved infantry closer to blocking positions in the cemetery, but could not completely strip defenders from the board seam exit hex for fear of another shift.

And then I decided to be careful.

Scott had moved too much infantry into PF range and I feared losing more tanks than I could afford. If the 30 VP immediate win failed, I still needed to maintain a 12 VP advantage to win at game end. Turn 5 saw me put WP round in front of the German tank blocking my targeted exit hex. I consolidated my armor around the traffic circle with both 75 Shermans in motion, both 76L Shermans guarding against a German armored attack from the front and the Pershing in motion with a 3-4-7 half squad toting a bazooka as riders as the rearward most tank. I ran infantry at Scott’s infantry in the graveyard. A bazooka wielding squad attempted to get in position behind the center German AFV, but was broken by German fire. The battle was now getting bloody. All 8 AFVs remained on the board in mint condition, but the infantry had taken losses on both sides. VP total (all CVP) was something like 7 for the Germans and 9 for the American – a slim margin for me.

It was now the fateful German Turn 5. Americans were in position to run AFVs off the board for the win on Turn 6. A few American squads lingered in the center and within exit striking distance. Scott had some powerful assets to repulse my exit attempt, but lady luck would need to be on his side. A half-squad, the pesky one, had positioned itself two hexes behind my Pershing. Looking hungrily at this prized target, they first got a PF and missed the shot and then failed on their second attempt to find one. The German infantry in the cemetery was chewed up and German infantry in the center could not get into position in one turn. Looking at the odds of a Panther behind smoke attempting to stop 5 American tanks from exiting, Scott decided it was time for both of his Panthers to come out and play.

ASL can be a stressful experience. This was one such occasion. The Panther formerly blocking the far right road exit hex drove straight at the American armor. My first 76L Sherman attempted APCR and failed, then attempted a regular shot at its frontal armor and failed. Scott’s first Panther then curved down the road and stopped in front of my second 76L Sherman. Both shot at each other without success (again no APCR), but a stopped Panther would likely result in a dead Sherman on my Turn 6.

Next the center of the board Panther rumbled towards the rear of my position. Scott’s second Panther drove right up behind my Pershing. It would be a gun duel. Fortunately at this point Mike Seningen was watching the end game with delight and encyclopedic rules knowledge at hand (or perhaps mind). The Pershing turned its turret (the poor BAZ half-squad successfully jumped off the in motion tank) and the Panther stopped adjacent on its last MF. The modifiers for the gun duel were even. Lowest roll shoots first. Finding the first round, the Panther missed its bounding fire shot by one (ominously maintaining rate of fire), but successfully broke the unfortunate BAZ infantry with machineguns. A miss by one, the falling snow had saved me. The in-motion Pershing then missed with its first fire shot. In defensive final fire I decided to intensive fire before Scott could advancing fire. The Pershing with an armored leader, stabilized gun and APCR (base 27 to kill, 30 adjacent) is an awesome, dreadful thing. The second shot with APCR found its mark and obliterated the Panther.

At this point, Scott graciously conceded. I had about 18 VP. Driving two tanks off the board against no opposition would win the game for me immediately. The likelihood his other Panther would survive with two American tanks (both with stabilized guns) capable of maneuvering behind it were remote (meaning one exited tank would win). Of course if the Panther-Pershing duel or the PF shots had gone the other way, I would have been in a hurtful position. Scott would have had two Panthers in position against 4 Shermans (neither of the 76L armed ones having APCR) and the VP lead.

It was a great, close game against a skilled opponent during a crowded Austin game day. What more could one ask for (strippers basking in attendance of our supreme intellects aside)? Thanks for reading.

Matt Schwoebel

Walter and the Unwashed Newbie

Walter Eardley

(... or this is what I get for throwing a newbie a bone.)

The only way to grow our game is to bring in new players. New blood! The future of our hobby! With these new players come new “ideas”. That is the problem with newbies … They think … therefore they are …

Case in point, over the last several weeks, I have been looking forward to the May HHS gathering at Nick’s Super Groovy ITL Pub and Gentleman’s Club. I am scheduled to play Mark “The Newbie” Carter in The Fugitives. The Newbie sends me some email about ROAR and some statistics about the number of Russian wins when played during the month of May in an odd number year when the German player brings three tables to the game day. He seemed to be begging to play the Russians so he would “Have a chance” against my greatness so I figured what the hell, throw him a bone. Sure … You can have the Russians.

The night before the game day, I have some dim recollection that I have to do something before the start of play as the Germans. I scan the scenario card looking for what I remember about the German setup. What strikes me is what I don’t remember about this scenario. Crap … ELR 2 … Conscripts! … Low Ammo? Geez …Whose idea was it to pull this Alsatian Wolf Hound out from under the years of dust. Oh well … If it makes the newbie happy we will continue.

Since he is a “SK Newbie”, I sent him a few notes covering some of the “Newbie Traps” I knew he would fall into. I had hoped this would help eliminate the “Explain to the Newbie Why His Setup Was Not Valid Phase”. A few minutes later, I receive back a dissertation about how the setup he had worked on for the last three weeks needed to be completely changed and a four page write up about the effectiveness of the Russian 57LL shell against late war German steel and something about studying Thermodynamics. I told him he should kick back and drink a beer or twelve. I like my opponents hung over and jet lagged if at all possible even if they are newbies.

The morning of the game day, I pack up my 3 tables and 6 chairs and head to Nick’s Place. In the back of my mind, there is something about 3 tables which I just can’t seem to shake. Oh well … It must just be my brain acting funny. I shake of the thought and hop in my car. About half way to Nick’s a sudden horror washes over me. While thinking about those stupid three tables I have forgotten my backpack! My backpack! My rules … My charts … My dice … My dice cup … My super cool SAN cards from the Austin tournament! Everything left sitting in my study because I could not stop thinking about the significance of three tables! Not a good start …

Taking a few deep breaths, I steady my heart rate and slowly calm down. How bad could it be? Certainly Nick has a glass I can barrow. Certainly someone has dice they will share … Certainly …

Arriving at Nick’s, The Newbie is waiting for me. He has all the eagerness of an 18 year old boy taking “The Friendliest Girl in School” to the Prom. He is hopping from one foot to the other babbling on about studying for the last month and something about Thermodynamics this and statistical equivalencies that and the German player bringing three tables to games days in May … Before I can even shake hands with the Austin guys and welcome them to our fair city even if it is ITL he is dragging me to the table and handing me a tray with my counters already pull. Trying not to get flustered, I take another deep breath and note with thankfulness the Newbie actually seems to have remember to shower before going out into public. Knowing Newbies are … well … Newbies, I start to check the counters. Hmm … “Hey Newbie … You shorted me an LMG and a half tack … WTF?” Knowing newbies are too naïve to try to win a game by “Slight of Counter”, I pass if off as … well … just being a newbie.

With an innocent look on his face he hands me his counter storage boxes. I pull the half track and am actually impressed with the nice grid printed out on the box top making it easy to find the piece I am missing. Then I open the “German Infantry Box” …

My eyes go crossed. My hands start to shake. My left eye began to twitch … There are Grey counters mixed in with the German Blue counters. Not just Grey counters in their own compartment but actually sharing the compartment with the blue counters. Of all the counter storage faux pas a person can make, mixing counters of different colors is one of the greatest! Completely frazzled, all I can think is … Newbies … “Good God Newbie … Have you mixed your Italians with your Germans? WTF?”

With much delight The Newbie exclaimed, “Those are Finns! I was reading this article on the internet …”

Obviously, The Newbie had fallen for one of the oldest pranks in the book … “The Counter Storage Hoax of 1994”. Back in the day when Finns were their rightful color of blue, it almost seemed logical to store them at least in the same tray as the Germans but never … ever should they mix. You might end up with Swedes or Danes or something if you don’t watch out! I carefully flick the counters around and pull my missing LMG while taking deep breaths into a paper sack.

Befuddled, I excuse my self. I need to wash my hands and search of a suitable dice cup. Nick offers me three choices. The first makes … well … a fruity sound very fitting of the Montrose area every time I drop the dice. The second is too flat and the dice do not roll. The third is too textured to read the pips on the dice. I guess I was too hard on Nick in the recent ITL v OTL debate and he is paying me back. I decide to go old school and roll in a box top.

Did I mention where I go the dice? Another fatal mistake … I had to ask The Newbie to barrow a pair. I ignored the speech about precision ratios and degrees of randomness and just grabbed a white and a black die.

After three to five hours of trying to decide where to put 6 rubble counters, The Newbie was ready to roll.

During the game, despite being a complete Neanderthal when it comes to Counter Storage, The Newbie plays fairly well. I point to a hex and comment, “That would be a good HIP spot” and where does his stack show up? Right where I pointed … Thinking he would not HIP two stacks close together, I make a move and only some hot dice on my part lets me survive the 8 down 2 shot. I begin to think this newbie is a little salty. With his reinforcing armor, he puts the tank in an excellent spot to interdict both bridges I am trying to cross. He does leave it vulnerable to a Fuast shot and I make him pay. He even giggled at me when I called my sN9 a Shnuggiewoofer. I ignored the three different dialects he pronounced THAT word in.

In the end, I came up about 11 points short which gave The Newbie the victory. Newbies are so cute when they win. You see hope glint in their eyes. They risk a smile. On the inside they are jumping for joy while on the outside they are trying to keep from giggling like a little girl.

Leaning back from the table, I can only think for all his newbieness, this newbie really knows what he is doing. He fooled me several times with dummy counters and making things look like something they were not. He put his HIP units in very nice positions. His AT gun placement was flawless. Even his tank was in a place where I needed a 4 to hit it with a faust. I bet he puts it one hex further away next time. He even bought my slice of pizza for lunch. So much for some easy victories in the future. Next time we play, I guess I will have to take him to that kegger and make sure he spends some quality time with the beer bong if I want a chance to win.

Walter

AAR: ASL8 The Fugitives

... or A Very Long AAR for a Quite Long Game, complete with Pink Floyd allusion

Mark Carter

Russians: Mark Carter
Germans: Walter Eardley

At the beginning let me thank Nick for hosting a great day of gaming. The turn out from Austin was welcome as well so thanks for coming to town Eric, Matt and Zeb. It was a great time.

My opponent and mentor once again was Walter. Walter is a blast to play with and has been a terrific teacher in the games he has played with me. It takes a great deal of patience and I certainly thank him for it. In spite of the time this game took, we had a good time playing it and hope some of that fun comes through in the text of this AAR.

We played The Fugitives (ASL 8 from BV) and at nine turns it was indeed a long time.

The gist of the scenario is that it's the last few days of the war in Europe and the Russians are surrounding Berlin. Some of the German army is trying to breakout to the west to reach the Americans and British so that they don't fall into the arms of Ivan.

Their breakout is made difficult by more than the Russian fighters: they have to cross a canal by bridges that are on the roads to the west, and to make matters more dire, the streets are choked with building debris and humanity fleeing the war. According to the scenario, in the end, their armor rode up and over the bridges, running over the civilians cramming the roads. In terms of the game, this is reflected in reduced road movement rate which made for slow going. To make matters worse for the Germans, they are suffering from ammo shortage. The conditions are the Germans need to exit 33 VP off the west end of the game board by the end of their ninth turn. ROAR shows the game favored the Russians so Walter kindly gave them to me.

The length of time it took to play this is probably due to several reasons besides the number of turns. One of them, and not the least, was Walter teaching me about my options and DRMs and assisting me with some of my tactical options, however I did make my own calls. Other reasons for the time were the scenario is basically a fighting withdrawal delaying action for the Russians, followed by a stand off at the bridges on the canal. Coupled with the reduced road movement and the Germans dealing with concealed Russians with dummies in the eastern edge of the board added up to a game in this case of ten hours. (ROAR estimated time is 9.2 hours so we did ok)

The Russian 2nd Guards Tank Army set up on both sides of the canal with the eastern group consisting of five first line squads, one 8-1 leader, a medium and a light and six ? counters. Two groups can be HIP. On the western side of the canal, the Russians set up with three box-E squads, and four first line squads, a 8-0, a 7-0, a heavy and a light. To be set also is a 57LL with squad which of course can be emplaced and HIPed. Reinforcements with elites, a 9-1 leader a LMG, and happily a T-34 arrive on the west edge on turn five.

The German remnants of the Muencheberg Panzer Division come in during the first three turns along a choice of three road locations coming from the east. There are a total of 18 squads of first line, second line and conscript squads. They also have two halftracks, a StuGIII, a Pz IVJ, an armored car and three trucks. They also get three light MGs, two medium MGs and a lot of leaders. There were a 9-2, a 9-1, 2x 8-1, 3x 8-0 and 7-0.

At set up, the Russian player rubbles at the ground level six non-adjacent, buildings with second levels. Then at the beginning of play get to add two more rubble counters at ground level adjacent to those first six by die roll. This gives an amount of variety to the board and allows the Russian to try to block key road hexes with rubble.

In the first four turns it is pre-twilight and no FFMO is in effect with 1 TEM. Also for the first two turns, the Russian troops west of the bridge cannot move unless it is to rout.

Trying to climb all the way into the ASL full rules boat I must admit that I studied for this game over many days. I wanted to use this scenario as an opportunity understand the terrain I would see and how to deal with rubble, street fighting, firelanes, LOS with hedges and bridges and tank movement, and review of how to use concealment. I also worked hard to remember the lessons had by playing with Rick and John over the last few games to remember how to fight a withdrawal and maximize my use of concealment and then to set up a last line of defense at the bridges.

After all that time I felt that I knew were the Germans might go, and working on my defensive strategy, had worked out where to put the rubble to channel the Germans into my set up. A lot of work went into that. Guess what: I didn't know what I was doing; surprised?

Walter was kind enough to send me a note the night before the game asking if I had used my time wisely preparing and to remind me that rubble in a building location with a second level meant one with a stairwell and, oh, by the way, don't forget the orchard hexes have roads so the Gun can't be emplaced there.

DOH!! Ok, so all that work went down the drain at about 9pm the night before the game. `Second level building' equals three story building newbie! My rubble plans had to be totally changed. My selected Gun location was down the tubes as well. I told Walter I hadn't studied so much for anything since my college thermodynamics II class final and he suggested I go find a kegger instead. At the time, I totally agreed with him. I decided to just take one look at it in the morning, make the call and just go with it.

Ok, so finally we get to game day, Nick's, and the set up. I worked on shutting down the northern-most road as I felt the best approach for the Germans was the southern road anyway due to covering terrain and buildings with two bridges relatively close to each other. With a little encouragement I hoped he would stick with that plan and not venture to my poorly defended northern flank. I set up the LMG HIP in 20K2 wooden building, and the medium with 8-1 in 20G1 stone house. I spread out some dummies and my squads around while favoring real squads on the southern approach.

West of the canal I used what I hoped would be a bit more misdirection. On the second level of a church under concealment I had three counters which I hoped would look like a MG nest for my heavy due to the commanding LOS it had from that location. What I actually had there was a weak leader, a first line squad and the light. Just to be sure I put an elite in a house across the street next to the northern bridge exit hex figuring that once I could see the Germans commit to the southern route I could hustle him back to the fight.

Meanwhile I put my heavy with an 8-0 leader in 23 N9 to both watch out for a rush to the middle bridge and also to be able to lay down a firelane to one of the southern bridge exit hexes. The 57LL and its squad I emplaced and HIPed in the stone building in M8 pointing O8, which had a commanding LOS to the entrance hex of that same bridge which was directly lined up with the southern road.

The most effective strategy I did was totally unintended. Following the Plano storage label file on the Texas ASL site, my box of Germans was co-habitating with the gray Finns from BV3. "GAH! What are these, Italians??" Also one of my `Russian' leaders was a Partisan graphic (what do _I_ know?). This neophyte sloppiness turned out to be something Walter just could not bear to behold. To be fair, he was nice about it, but he was actually quite disgusted.

Fine teachers can be so long suffering and are worthy of our deepest respect.

The Germans entered with the first group first and so on through the first three turns. They came in the middle road and the southernmost road. The going was slow as they felt their way along, suspicious of the HIP units as my ? markers moved around in a spectral way skulking and shifting. (Thanks for the skulking lessons Johnny) My objective was to delay the Germans as long as possible. No need to fire until it was necessary.

A careless maneuver and a Russian squad was sighted and lost ? momentarily only to duck into the gloom of the trees behind another building in the twilight and regain ? at the end of the turn. The Germans saw a real Russian! – or was it? The cardboard squares actually looked and moved what looked like scared, furtively looking left, then right, then inching across the street as the ? just faded back into a new position like a mirage. This was a lot of fun I have to admit.

The AFVs hung back entering into these streets filled with panicked civilians and lined with dark stone houses – I had dropped the suggestion that I had been reading up on street fighting `accidentally' in an email the night before. Heh. The German crew in the StuG dug around for smoke and found none. A handmade counter with `no smoke' handwritten on a blank gray Finn counter was handed over as Walter set his jaw, but said nothing as he placed the abomination on the StuG. The turn counter moved on.

The Germans rightly surmised where a HIP unit `should' be and moved in closer. Fire waited until it was bumped by a HS. The LMG nest was discovered along with PBF. Resid on the road. Another group came across the road, SFF, and resid on the road. Stacks built adjacent preparing for the rush. FPF and resid on the road, and again. The piled up resid on all the road hexes at the bottleneck of the roads stopped all the trucks and a road jam formed. In the AFPh the squad was broken by a massive FG which placed encirclement on our brave comrades who routed through a small escape path to a last hideout in the trees. They were chased by a half track or two and some capturing squads bent upon harsh interrogation techniques. Defensives were compromised, but the brave men told no tales (due to distance and lack of LOS).

In the meantime, perhaps thinking the best fortifications were now on the northern road, a big juicy stack complete with squads, leaders, MGs jaunted down the southern road trying to make up some time. Too much to resist.

The MMG HIP hideout with the 8-1 opened up on the group FFNAM two hexes away on their side. One squad pinned. The rest escaped! "Nyet!" These poor Russian soldiers ran for the southern most bridge between the houses but a miraculous, snakey LOS nailed them in the back as they ran for their friends across the canal. They found their way into a building and were forced to rout upstairs as the enemy filled the ground floor. During this interchange a HOB leader came forward but was not able to prevent these brave men from going berserk and charging the fiends downstairs to a pitiful end.

Another marooned Russian squad had been expertly chased down to the woods in 23FF2 and was being surrounded by German conscripts.

Ok, now the sun is up so FFMO is back on, it's turn five and the men in gray, oops I mean blue, are intent in getting across the canal as they holed up behind the hedge in 20X1 eyeing the stone building directly across the bridge.

By now the Germans were fairly committed to the southern pair of bridges and the Russian troops manning the northern bridge were being hustled south to join the impeding fight carrying their LMG with them.

Also the T-34 entered the game and swung up the Russian right side and parked on the road at 23FF6 looking at 23EE5. This gave it LOS to the bridge entry hex BB4 as well as the enemy squads surrounding his comrades in the woods across the canal.

A massive mistake was made by the Russians then. A skulk maneuver was forgotten about for the defenders of the bridge in the stone building and wow did the Germans open up with a massive firepower shot on their DFPh. BOX CARS! Ammo shortage! Ouch. That was the most devastating blow to the Germans all game to that point. Random MG breakage and squad replacements. I seem to remember a yatzee in there somewhere, too.

German dice were exchanged for new ones as potential candidates were put through an elaborate and well thought through interview and audition process. The dice rolling box top from SK1 (another jinx) was moved to the other side of the board to change the luck for the Germans.

Turn Six: things get exciting.

On the southernmost bridge the armored car made a dash for it, crossing the BB5 bridge and racing for the west. A squad with a LMG in CC9 opened up with AP rounds and destroyed the car with a couple of well-timed low rolls. Scratch one AFV.

In preparation for an assault, the PzIVJ, which still had the potential for smoke was in 23W2 eyeing the potential for LOS from a Gun emplaced somewhere. Maybe the road along the canal was a risk? He looked around for smoke, and he found none either. Another handwritten `no smoke' on a gray counter was handed over for the PzIV.

The StuGIII with its own shameful Finn counter for `no smoke' had enough by this time and charged across the X3 bridge ignoring the LOS potential from the north and moved forward to the stone building and its defenders.

He was moving to X6: the famous sleaze freeze! "Walter, your not going to freeze my guys are you?" Reply: "You think??". The StuG did a bypass in the hex and stopped.

I revealed two Russian elite squads with a 9-1 "Partisan" (grrr) leader who helped one pass his PAATC. Reaction fire!

(Cue Pink Floyd:)

"Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream: Yeeah..hahahaha!!" More even better-timed low rolls. Scratch one StuG.

The PzIVJ said "that's about enough of that" and popped over the hedge onto W3 and turned and moved to enter the bridge moving to X2 and turned to X3 preparing to move to the bridge. Just then, out of building straight down the road in M8, a 57LL opened up into the side of the Panzer, blowing its turret 30 feet into the air as flames burst forth on the entrance to the X3 bridge, scattering soldiers and civilians alike into pandemonium.

Scratch the third AFV in the turn. Wow.

Having mowed down the brave Russian squad in FF2, a German conscript made some faust attempts and couldn't get them. Rather than focusing on him, my tank which had focused in turn five on a tasty stack in BB3 now turned to gain acquisition on the bridge entry hex BB4 and laying down resid.

In turn seven the German found the faust he needed and nailed my T-34 returning the favor to the Russians for their maltreatment of his vehicles the turn before. By this time however the LMG squad which had been up in the church at set up had made its way all the way down to a building in AA10 guarding the exit off the board.

Emboldened by the flaming T-34, drum beats were heard across the canal from the stone buildings where the well known Eardley/German rallying cry of "WOO-HOO!" was heard over and over as guns were reloaded and uniforms straightened.

German squads tried moving across the bridges now, desperate to get moving with few turns left. The 57LL continued to lay down resid on the X2 entry hex, the elites in the stone building X6 laid down firepower on the bridge itself and then, for some German guys who made it across all that to X4, finally the HIP HMG nest opened up a firelane on them from N9. One of the squads was driven berserk. He charged the nest the next turn and fell where he was as the firelane reopened in turn 9.

After the tank on the southern bridge had been flamed by the faust, a truck and two halftracks with some battle worn troops made a dash across the BB5 bridge and the halftracks ran a hooking end-around some buildings and eventually off the board for 22 points. The truck simply ran straight down the road trying to draw fire but it only represented one point, so firepower was withheld for the squads on foot.

The German squads at X3 were mostly broken and back in the woods by X0 and mathematically out of game.

The squads on the BB5 bridge charged and ran into 24 down 2 firepower from PBP in CC7 on the exit hex on BB6 laying down 12 resid. Unfortunately for the Germans, the Russian roll on the 24 down 2 shot was not good enough to KIA enough squads leaving a bunch of broken guys laying around. Therefore the remaining Germans squads dashing across with leaders would have to pay an extra point due to overstacking in BB6 and did not have enough movement points to get off the board. 22, still less than the 33 needed.

Game over. WHEW! 10 Hours.

The scenario in ROAR favors the Russians and no balance was used so Walter had a tough task. At the end of the day, the most difficult thing for the Germans was probably the ammo shortage. It almost didn't pay for the Germans to fire.

Walter advised me all through this thing especially on how to best utilize firepower from the Gun and using smart Acquisition strategy he showed me. He also helped through all the AFV burn ups. The armored car was dispatched because he said, `you know the LMG can take that thing out if you roll right'. He also helped me through the Reaction Fire sequence on the StuG and of course which ammo type to use to blow up his PzIV, etc. He's the one who counted up the 22 points he had and pointed out the unlikelihood of getting 33 off (meaning let the halftracks go, prevent the other squads from moving). I'm under no illusion who the real player is. Gloves off, I'm toast.

He certainly succeeded in giving a new guy a more in depth run through an interesting scenario and I thank him for it.

Concerning a scenario analysis, I think I'll just leave that to Walter. He has some interesting comments to make about this BV game related to newer releases but it would sound silly for me to repeat them since he's the one who understands it.

At the time, and for 24 hours afterwards, I felt drained and a bit exhausted but it was a great time. Thanks Walter.

Mark

AAR: SP17 Cross of Lorraine

John Hyler

Americans: Chris Buehler
Germans: John Hyler

Last Saturday, at Nick's Super-Cool ASL Pub Party, I had the pleasure of playing against the always affable Chris Buehler. We played SP17 - Cross Of Lorraine, a rather violent firefight set in Alsace, France, in January 1945. The Americans are on defense with a well-armed but armor weak force against a brittle (ELR2) German infantry force that is bulked out with a very strong armor force consisting of two Panthers, two PzIVJs, two PzIII(FL), and two SPW251/1 HTs. Both sides receive a module of 150mm OBA. In spite of the armor superiority, ROAR has the Americans with a 2-1 edge. Therefore, Chris received the German balance. The VC stipulate that the side that controls a majority of building rubble hexes (25+) in a segment of board 20 wins.

Not knowing where Chris would focus his attack, I had to set up a perimeter defense yet attempt to channel his attack. With no ? counters in the force pool mix, I would only be able to gain concealment by setting up out of his LOS. My kill stack went to L2 of hex 20T3 with the 9-2, two squads, 50cal, and MMG. Below it on L1 was the 8-0 and radio, with another squad protecting the ground floor. A second kill stack with the 9-1, two squads and HMG went to U8. The 81 and 60 mtrs went to rear areas with HS spotters in adjacent L2 hexes. The 57L was placed in 20Z10 (CA Y10-21Y1). I placed 6F AP mines in 20R8 and 20Q9 to hamper an assault in the center. The rest of the units were spread around the perimeter, two BAZ units in woods hexes covering the northern road approaches and another BAZ covering one of the middle roads, and the two M10s were placed in 20AA9 and 20W6, out of range of the Panthers, but able to move to reinforce threatened areas.

The last question centered around where to place the fortifications. After reading Zeb's AAR on the same scenario, I decided for my own reasons to place most of my fortifications visible to hopefully channel his AFVs. Therefore, Wire plus a 1ATM were placed in 20Q1 and Q3, and Wire in 20T1 with a 1ATM in 20U1. The roadblocks went in 20T9 and 20S5, both facing the east. The only fortifications that were not placed on board were Wire in 21Y1 with a 1ATM in 21Z1. After Chris set-up, the wire followed soon after by the ATM were revealed.

Having to set-up within four hexes of 21N5, Chris set-up his forces along the 4-hex perimeter, prepared to rush forward. After concealment counters were placed for qualifying units, we were ready to go.

Chris's turn 1 started off well, with his PzIVs remembering to bring smoke with them and succeeding in firing smoke in hexes that severely hampered my 9-2 kill stack from seeing anything. However after that success, things started to unravel for him. During his MPh, Chris lead off with his PzIII(FL)s, moving them within range of BAZ fire. Two BAZ shots and two Ks later, he was minus his two most potent AFVs. Undaunted, Chris started moving his Panthers west on board 21 to threaten my left flank. The German infantry started to advance in covered avenues of approach. The only combat effect was when one of his HSs advanced into the 20Q9 minefield and broke. My MTR fire was ineffective all through the game, as spotted fire is a difficult TH unless the target stays in one place, which was not the case. My radio established radio contact and received battery access with the spotting round drifting from 21U2 to 20U9.

My turn 1 started with harassing OBA falling, after accuracy drift, to 21U3. The overall effect was negligable. I moved one of my M10s to S5, behind one of the roadblocks, since Chris had placed his Leader with Radio in one of his HTs and had positioned them at 20L9. Hopefully, I would be able to gain Acq and dispose of them in my next DF. However, Chris gained radio contact, battery access and an accurate SR in S5 (ruh-roh!). I moved my other M10 to 20FF10, hoping to lure one of his marauding Panthers into the sights of my 57L. My infantry moved a little, but not much. An attempt to assault move a concealed 6-6-7 with the FT and DC adjacent to one of his Panthers met with abject failure after CRing in a MC. The squad in T3 assault moved into S4, and given the German SR in S5, advanced into the cellar in S4.

In German 2, Chris dropped the hammer with his OBA (150mm)on S5. The unfortunate, open-topped M10 was reduced to a pile of burning slag. Five of the six surrounding hexes escaped harm. However, Chris got a CH on building hex S4! The subsequent doubling on the IFT placed the results well into the heavy payload zone, resulting in a 36 down 7 attack on the building. (Chris, we made a slight error in resolving everything on the 30FP column. It made no difference in the final results, though.) The result was an auto-rubble creation that rubbled L1 and above. The building did not collapse nor was falling rubble created. The poor squad huddling in the cellar did not know what hit them after receiving the 36 down 9 attack.

Chris then took the bait I had laid, moving a Panther to 20DD10 (CA 20EE10 - 21EE1). The M10 shot and missed. A reinforcing HT with a leader and squad drove up to 21GG1. I bided my time until he moved his second Panther into 21Y1, bogging down in the wire. In my DF, I revealed my 57L in 20Z10. They found an APDS round and scored a CH on the adjacent Panther, turning it into a burning wreck. They then swung the gun around and took a ROF shot at the second Panther, missed, but hit with an IF shot in the rear, killing it too. Chris's infantry was having a similarly difficult time, gradually getting frittered away due more to ELR reduction than actual casualties.

In my turn 2, the M10 in FF10 shot and killed the HT in 21GG1, killing all of the passengers. With Chris's attack weakening, I made adjustments to my infantry positions to both protect them and prevent easy advances. With another German FFE centered on 20T2 looming, I moved the 9-2 kill stack down to street level in T3 and kept them their to weather the explosive storm. My radio stayed in contact with a new access, with the SR ending up in Y9

German 3 saw more attempts to pierce the infantry cordon. These were largely rebuffed. His remaining PzIVs started up to try to assist the assault. The leader with radio declined to keep radio contact, letting the FFE in 20T2 die a natural death. His HT moved to a different location to prepare for the next OBA request.

American 3 saw the reinforcing M4s arrive, with one of them stopping two hexes away from Chris's HT with Leader and radio, and the other moving in the direction of the PzIVs to lend support. The infantry stayed put in their defensive positions.

By this time, we were out of time, as both of us needed to take off. With most of his AFVs either destroyed, or in "clear and present danger", and his infantry reduced to largely a conscript rabble, Chris resigned.

In spite of the fact that this scenario is decidedly pro-American, I would not mind trying it again with the Germans, with the balance. Although brittle due to their low ELR, they have some very potent toys at their disposal. Chris started fine with his smoke-generators doing their job. However, I think that the PzIII(FL)s needed to be held back until the American BAZ squads were levered out of their initial defensive positions. Their destruction in G1 was a huge relief. I liked the mobile radio that Chris used. That is something that I might try in this or a different scenario.

Chris, I hope to have the pleasure of gaming against you again soon. It was a decided pleasure, win or lose.

John

AAR: DB066 WN63

Zeb Doyle

Americans: Zeb Doyle
Germans: Bryan Register

Wednesday was a good day for me. I got in a super-rare Bryan Register sighting and played some fun ASL with him too. The scenario was from the Dispatches from the Bunker boys, DB066 WN63, and features a company of GIs just off Omaha Beach storming a German strongpoint nestled down in a small French village. Given the years of time and conscripted labor available it's not much of an fortress, with only a few mines, trenches, and wire to work with, but there might be just enough there to keep the Americans out. Bryan wanted the challenge and swiftly put together a solid-looking set-up with no obvious weak spots. It was now up to my 90-day wonders to storm the village and render Europe once again safe for democracy.

The battle takes place on the SK board Y, which I feel offers quite a challenge for any attacker, as there aren't many high-speed approaches to the village that also offer any cover. Since I was also working with 6ML, ELR 3 Americans, the first phase of the game consisted of me throwing lots of smoke grenades, pushing forward a bit, having a lot of my troops break, and then trying to punish Bryan's landsers with Assault Fire. This didn't go as well as I would have liked, with two 4-6-7s shrugging off a 30+4 attack and then returning fire at a 6-6-7/MMG and getting a KIA. Still, I had the advantage of numbers, firepower, and lots of good smoke grenade rolls, and ended up slowly pushing back the first line of defense.

That gave me access to the tree-line next to the village, but Bryan was ready for that too, with a 50mm MTR and a 50L ATG both in great spots. A CH from the MTR and a great boresighted hex for the gun cost me some more time and troops in the middle, and I was forced to try and work around the flanks instead. I made some progress there, but then disaster struck: I rolled snakes for the WC and created a Mild Breeze. Not so bad, but in Bryan's RPh he also rolled snakes and shifted the wind so it was blowing directly into the face of my GIs. Since you can't throw smoke grenades upwind, that neutralized about 95% of my smoke capability and left me baffled on how to cross the bit of open ground between my men and the village.

At this point, I decided to reinforce my success on the flanks since nothing else was working. I'd captured a few German squads and killed a few more in CC, but Bryan's stubborn defense (especially that nasty MTR!) had caused me more losses than I'd inflicted and the clock was ticking. You can imagine my joy and excitement when both of my lead flanking squads ran into minefields and broke. Hmmm...apparently that Atlantic Wall actually was a bit more than a propaganda exercise. To make things even more interesting and annoying, Bryan had suckered me on the right flank by leaving a real squad in the minefield. When my 6-6-6 advanced in for CC, he ended up as a broken unit in Melee and now I was faced with losing yet another unit with nothing to show for it.

I caught a break in the CC phase when Bryan's 4-4-7 only managed to CR my squad. That saved some adjacent Americans from eating 8+0 shots and allowed Mother Green and her killing machine to get to work. A 30+3 was fired into the Melee and my broken HS rolled snakes to rally and become a 3-4-7. What a big break! At least until Bryan also rolled snakes and created a hero. What was it with these linked snake-eyes that kept hosing me? Bryan, ever the sportsman, stopped his celebration just long enough to remind me that I got a sniper out of his snakes. Well, in one of those 'only in ASL' twists of fate, the sniper drilled a bullet right between the eyes of Bryan's best leader. The 9-1 died instantly, and the 4-6-7/HMG he was stacked with broke on the LLMC. That left one of the two VC areas devoid of good order Germans, took Bryan's best weapon out of the game, and instantly swung things completely around in my favor.

There was still the 50L covering that right flank and keeping me out of the village VC area, but when my first 6-6-6 made a run for it and survived a 1MC, Bryan was suddenly in real trouble. He managed to get another leader back to try and rally the HMG squad, but I was able to keep the brokie constantly under DM and move even more GIs into the area. With the defense now unhinged, Bryan needed a good roll or two to get back in it and it just didn't happen. We packed it in on turn six with a solid American win, but also with the realization that if the sniper didn't get the 9-1 like he did and the 6-6-6 didn't pass the 1MC, the Americans probably lose. That seemed reasonable enough, given how badly Bryan had punished me in the first few turns and how helpless those 6-6-6s are without smoke.

Overall, I liked the scenario quite a bit for what it was: a small, all-infantry fight with a gun and a few fortifications thrown in for spice. As we found out, it's small enough that a few bad rolls can make it very hard for a given side, but that's the nature of the beast. I'd certainly play it again in a tournament setting and not worry too much about it. Other things I liked about it: it's a great training venue for learning how to use Americans. The terrain really lets you use smoke grenades and assault fire to good effect, and the 6ML and 3 ELR will punish mistakes. It also did a nice job of simulating a bunch of Americans just off the boat and fresh to fighting. There were enough fortifications there to play a role in the fighting, and Bryan did a great job with those, but not so many that you'd feel like it was an assault on the Maginot line.

The only other comment I'll make is regarding the VC, which read that the Germans must keep a good order MMC within two hexes of Y-J4 and Y-N6. It seems quite clear that the Germans have to have two good order MMC out there at game end, but I've read at least one other AAR saying "the Germans can win it at game end with a single HS!" My gut feeling is that forcing the Americans to clear both VC areas makes it pretty tough on them, so play it right and don't misinterpret the quite clear VC!

Thanks for reading, thanks to Bryan for a very fun game (I'm glad the statutes of limitations finally expired and you're allowed back within the Texas state borders), and thanks to the Bunker guys for all their work,

Zeb

Initial Review: Part 2 - BFP2 Operation Cobra

Nick Drinkwater

Instant Out of the Wrapper Review: Part 2 - BFP2 Operation Cobra

Making up the second half of the last week's ASL party pack was Bounding Fire Productions 2: Operation Cobra, another excellent contribution by Chas and the BFP team. Unlike BtB2, with the two loose leaf covers, this is full-on magazine style format, with unsurprisingly, a full on focus on aspects of Operation Cobra, the main US breakout operation in western Normandy in late July 1944. The pack has four principal components: the magazine itself with four main subsections, a collection of 12 scenarios on separate cards, a single overlay designed to specifically reinvigorate Board 6, and 88 new 5/8th" counters.

First up for me was the magazine, and this is black with a touched-up cartoon-cum-photo look of a Stuart passing a burning German half-track, about to drive straight into the path of a faust-wielding panzergrenadier - poor old tank crew! The magazine is 56 pages long and starts with a quick editorial from Chas Smith on the genesis of this pack and how some other scenario designers (including George Kelln and Steve Swann) have also contributed. Interestingly, whilst the inside cover is and advert for Into the Rubble, the inside back cover gives tantalising details of BFP 3 "Blood & Jungle" - a PTO-focused mega-scenario pack including 40 scenarios, a new board, a custom map and counters and rules for rare and new vehicles. Looks AWESOME!

Bocage Article
The main highlight for me in the entire pack is the outstanding full colour, lavishly illustrated 23 page long article on bocage. This starts with the basis of all bocage rules: gaining, losing, using and abusing wall advantage and then walks you through the whole bocage-thang hand in hand. Due to space restrictions in some other magazines, the reader is often asked to imagine or assume that "unit X isn't there", or that the "terrain feature in hex Y2 doesn't exist", or that the "three units that were in the road in Figure 3 have now moved to hexes X, Y and Z". In a refreshing change, in this article, each new example or new movement phase typically has its own small colour illustration dedicated to it, and even better, it is almost invariably on the same page and adjacent to the piece of text being referred to. This sounds like a small thing but I really liked the lavish illustrations as it meant I could focus on what the text is trying to say rather than doing that AND trying to do the mental tricks of remembering which unit has changed status, or which has moved, or which building isn't in play, all the while flipping the pages to find the correct picture. As I said, it might only look like a small thing, but it makes the learning and reading process so much smoother and that is to be commended strongly.

In the article itself, all aspects of bocage are covered, including the one or two issues still open to debate about how to treat hidden guns in bocage with boresighting or aspects of the recent Perry Sez on bocage and SCW. Sensible recommendations are given on both of these issues. The article shows in numerous examples, small tactical illustrations of the advantages and rare disadvantages of defending and attacking in bocage country, and finishes with two great fully worked tactical examples where many of these lessons are applied. Also, included are rules for BFP's light bocage terrain, together with fully illustrated examples of how Light Bocage LOS effects impact elevation and other aspects. A good read of this article allied to a quick review of the recent new examples and rules clarifications that came with Action Pack 4 and you are well placed to play all of the 30 or more bocage-related scenarios that have been produced in the last 12 months! Normandy fans have never had it so good...an excellent overall contribution to the hobby with the near definitive article on the subject.

New Weapon - the Pueppchen
Next up in the magazine is a short overview of the history and ASL genesis of the Pueppchen, a wheeled Panzerschreck-like Gun (its a 5/8" counter, not a 1/2") one. The design philosophy of this is explained in detail and in response to this, a very powerful beast indeed has been created. The Pueppchen acts like a PF except that every three hexes of range for the Pueppchen acts as one-hex of Panzerfaust range so that a moving Sherman in the open 6 hexes away would be hit on a 6: well, that's OK you may say, but its the scary ROF 3 that concerns me more as a beleaguered US armour leader.

The fact that in real life it could fire 10 rounds a minute (and so warrant the 3 ROF) doesn't necessarily mean that it did. That's a huge thing and I wonder if its been a little overcooked here. Note that the Pueppchen was operated all over the European fighting theatres, so whereas I may only expect to lose a single tank in bocage country to this ROF of 3 and then be able to bypass it or get infantry to cope with it, elsewhere in places like Italy or Russia, I may well scrag a couple more.

There is no backblast with this weapon and it has a manhandle of 12. Again, (indeed as one of the examples makes clear), moving this beast up hills in bocage is really hard work - moving it around in grain-fields however, probably much less so. I know its listed as super-maneuverable, but I was wondering if trying to lug the ammo around for this thing may be tougher than an M12 would imply too - maybe the ROF could have been dropped by one if you'd manhandled the gun out of its original defensive position. The TK number of the Pueppchen is a healthy 26 and it breaks down normally but it has no gunshield - even so, with a ROF of 3, I may start treating it like a 12IFT FP plasma machine gun on people in stone buildings! As noted by the rules, I may indeed not get the acquisition, but then with the ROF and an B of 12, I may not care. As the authors themselves list, "this is a PsK on steroids". Indeed.

There are examples of its use included in the scenarios of the pack - I'd really be interested to see how this works for people! I haven't played with this yet so all these comments should be viewed in that light, but the basic details above are essentially correct and I was just musing on how they would apply in game terms - in practise, maybe the beast is not as deadly as it sounds. However, as Zeb Doyle remarked to me, if they were really this good, why didn't the Germans have them everywhere?!!! Just wondering...

Scenario Notes Article
The third big piece of the Magazine are design notes for all of the new scenarios plus all of the scenarios included in BtB2 (this magazine really should be considered as an extension piece for the BtB2 pack as many of the new scenarios use boards and overlays from the BtB2 pack). These are really quite interesting and briefly try to put each scenario back into its historical context as well as the reasoning behind the use of a particular weapons system in that scenario, but they are mainly short advice notes on how the scenario may play out. These feel like very truncated mini-versions of the Schwerpunkt notes for those who are familiar. I like this stuff so this was all great for me, but again other's mileage may vary.

Historical Article: Operation Cobra
The final big article of the magazine addresses Operation Cobra at a strategic and divisional level in 15 pages. Regiment and combat unit listings are provided for all the US forces involved. There is a brief summary of the battle readiness of the various German divisional level units provided, with several interesting historical nuggets thrown in, removing one or two misconceptions that are held about the battle in other literature. As well as these detailed unit listings, there are short historical notes on the US use of tactical airpower, use of NW Europe camo uniforms, the carpet bombing which started the op and a full genesis of the Culin hedge-cutter and equivalent equipment that assisted in the breakout.

The article ends with a very high-level historical review of the operation at the corps and divisional level ending at the point where 3rd Army was activated. These kinds of articles tend to split the ASL-playing crowd and I see this will be no different: for those who love this stuff, this may keep them amused for a while trying to pick holes in it for points where they disagree. For those who know little of the battle, this is a good place to start to get involved, especially with the selected bibliography that Chas has thoughtfully provided. For many however, including myself, this is all a little bit "so-what"? If I want to read a good general review of Cobra and some of the subsequent exploitation, I'll probably go read the relevant copy from Osprey and be happy in life, even if they are incorrect on one or two details about e.g. the 9th Infantry Division's tank support. Overall, these articles are not really my personal cup of tea, but again your mileage may vary...

Overlay:
The pack also comes with only a single overlay, but what a hugely valuable contribution it is - this one is a good little wood-building-hedge hamlet to cover up the monster stone chateau on Board 6. It is designed solely to work on Board 6 as the road net only matches that board, but this will make a huge change to this old familiar, with or without bocage being in play. A couple of the new BFP2 scenarios already use this overlay in bocage format - great idea and great job on this one!

Counters:
88 counters are provided in this - excellent quality, very slightly glossy with a very good match in terms of color to your existing ASL sets - they are differentiated by having BFP printed in small yellow type but otherwise look and match your existing counters well. These counters show various iterations of US tanks with Culin or other hedge-cutter devices attached, the Pueppchens, some more versions of US armour with bow mounted Flame-Throwers included, and various Firepower combinations of P36 Thunderbolt or equivalent rocket-mounted fighter-bombers included. These are just variants from the base air support rules and just extend the burgeoning collection of variant allied air support systems I have in my counter collection, which includes Typhoons from King of the Hill and Sturmoviks from Onslaught to Orsha. Just looking forward to seeing the Me 262 in its ground support role one day too! A single page of rules is included to cover the details of this, and some simple application to the hedge-cutting rules are added too.

Scenarios:
BFP14: Opening Phase
6.5 Turns on 3/4 of BFP D and 17. An all-infantry fight with largely German 5-4-8 para conducting a small retreat to from the BFP D bocage-lined roads back to the Board 17 hamlet. A CVP cap on the fourteen 6-6-6s allied to some OBA for both sides will keep the US honest.

BFP15: Cobra's Venom
Big scenario, big scenario! 7.5 turns of mayhem on three boards (BFP D, E and 42) as the US drive south immediately after a carpet bomb attack on the Lehr. There is big replay value on this one as random dr dictate the status of guns and tanks (and yes they can be destroyed) and random DR dictate the quality of the 14 possible German infantry units (and yes they too can be destoyed too). The Lehr could receive a Pueppchen, four Panthers and four quality AT Guns, but the American force is strong men armed indeed, with ten AFV (including Culin tanks and FT M4), assault engineers and 21 squads overall, plus some OBA. However, the German VC of building control looks like the US have a lot of work to do here, even if they are very unsettled at start. Wow!

BFP16: Snake Charmed
Over 7.5 turns, a very strong US battle group (8 tanks with a dozer and Culins) and 21 1st and 2nd line squads) have to blast 37 VP off the south edge of the road-bocage board BFP D. The immovable object they need to overcome is a tough SS battlegroup of 11 full SS squads, two tough AT Guns, another Pueppchen (and black SS versions are provided as counters for those who care) and two MkIVs as reinforcements. This is a great looking 5-6 hours of bocage fun.

BFP17: Seize that Crossroad
7.5 turns for another typical US battlegroup to wrest a crossroads on Board 18 from an infantry force of the Lehr. The 10 5-4-8s and 4-6-8s and 4-6-7s are stiffened with a couple of dug-in Panthers but they need to hold off 15 Elite, 1st and 2nd line squads with Culins, and M10s driving across the light bocage of BFP D. This looks to be another very solid 5-6 hour long scenario. The US task is stiffened by the presence of a CVP cap.

BFP18: Necklace of Pearls
The US has a tough job here with enforcement of keep the N-S road free of German units and stay under a generous looking CVP cap. They have 7.5 turns to achieve this over boards BFP E and 24, and rarest of rare, the Board 24 valley is still in play! The Germans are 14 mixed elites, 1st and 2nd lines with mines, wire, roadblock and three Panthers. After setup the Germans are subject to the results of shellholes and rubble creation and also a morale breaking TC. The US entering from the north and in Turn 4 the west, consists of 21 mixed quality squads and 12 Shermans including 4 Culins. A very solid combined arms attack, another mid-sized 5-6 hour long scenario.

BFP19: Russian Style
7 turns on BFP D and C. The US must take all multi-hex buildings on BFP C and send 30 VP of US units off the south edge after entering 12 tanks with 12 squads (elite and 1st liners) as riders - the 'Russian style' of the title. These two boards have a lot of choking bocage terrain to hack through, much of which is oriented perpendicular to the US axis of advance, but the US can secretly designate eight Culins, 4 Gyros and a bow FT to attain some leverage. Two turns of rocket armed FBs will assist this as seven 2nd line, four MkIVs and a Stug try to stop them. Yet another mid-sized scenario but this one has a couple more funky toys in it too.

BFP20: Bypassed Lehr
6 turns, all-infantry tournament special set on BFP E and 6 with the special new overlay applied. The Germans are numerous but brittle (5 x 5-4-8 and 10 x 4-4-7) and well stuffed with MG, but they are facing twenty elites and 1st lines with a 9-2 and MMG in light bocage - they need to hold onto four or more Board 6 buildings at game end. Simple, quick and fun.

BFP21: Ripe for the Picking
Another big scenario set on three boards (BFP E and C and 17) over 9 turns. A mixed Wehrmacht and Das Reich Turn 4 reinforcement battlegroup must stop the 3rd Armored Division from accumulating 100VP from either CVP or exit VP. The initial Werhmacht force of 5.5 1st line squads, roadblocks and a couple of 50L AT guns is merely a speedbump to a mighty US task force: 13 half-track mounted elites will burn a hole in this light bocage protected bandaid, especially when the two bomb AND rocket FB and the 6 Shermans and 3 honeys get working. The bad guy cavalry consists of six 6-5-8s in half-tracks added to four MkIVs. No Panthers or Tigers here - just average late-war tanks duelling in the hedges. The softp-skin nature to bith forces will make this a really interesting combined arms challenge. Great-looking scenario!

BFP22: Speed Over Caution
5.5 Turns, Light Bocage is in effect on board 6 with the sweet little chateau covering overlay in place. Six US Shermans of differing flavours (including Gyros and two with Culins) and 11 6-6-6s, have to fight their way down board 6 lengthwise and take all the buildings within 5 hexes of a central crossroads or exit 20VP from a rear road exit after before game end. Timing means that its only realistic to get the armour off (unless you load up with riders and leaders) as the Germans have an HMG, seven second line squads, a couple of (probably hidden) Panzershreks to stop you. Oh, yes. And two Panthers. Rally points and recycling with your smoke are the order of the day here.

BFP23: Prelim to Death Night
A rarity in these packs - a genuine German attack! Tourney quickie as 13 SS mixed units try to desperately grab a vital crossroads in light bocage on BFP C and 46 from a company of elite US (and H2H combat is in effect). The US are well equipped with MGs but the Germans get a rarely seen PzA III/IV assault gun. Though small, I really like the look of this one - it smacks of the desperation of the SS as they try to force a way out of the tightening trap.

BFP24: Death Ride of Das Reich
This is different to everything else in the pack and another with much replay value. The action is set on three separate boards and three SS Battlegroups must each force their way across their respective boards - to win the SS can get 44VP off any one board or 110 VP collectively from the three boards together. The US has to divide its infantry forces into four parts with one group acting as a reinforcement to any one board of the US' choice on Turn 4. Lots of choice then for both players over these three separate 7.5 turn scenarios. Careful decisions will need to be made but both sides force pools are tasty: the US gets 10 squads, a 57L AT Gun and 5 M4s to play with, whilst the SS receive 12 mixed quality SS squads and a huge (30) number of odd vehicles ranging from Armoured Cars, Flak HTs, Marders and Mark IVs. A great number of iterations available in this one and this looks a real chess like struggle in many ways. A cerebral scenario - excellent job.

BFP25: From Villebaudon to Valhalla
And finally, another German attack in another big scenario, this time nine turns long and set on BFP C and E. The German wins by accumulating VP for hex control and for multiples of 10CVP inflicted on the US. The US are tough in this - 11 1st lines, lots of MGs, and 100mm OBA stiffened by two rocket and bomb FB, and six M4 versions, a Stuart, a Meat Chopper (!!) and three M10s and two Priests. Awesome. The Greyhound Division has its own punch too though - 5 x 5-4-8s and 15 x 4-6-7s with 100mm OBA and 6 Panthers and Flak Trucks, reinforced by five more 5-4-8s and four more Panthers and another Flakpanzer. Another monster combined arms scenarios.

Summary
So there you have it - 12 excellent scenarios but like the BtB pack, no real oddities in the rules. Again, most of the scenarios are on moderate, no wind days and there is no night or odd stuff in here. The majority of the scenarios are US attacks but the last three all give some German attack variety. These scenarios are mainly on the medium to large size but all should be completed in a long day's play at most. Players will definitely need to exploit all their combined arms skills in these scenarios to the fullest, but the random factor to BFP-24 and BFP-15 definitely take these scenarios to new heights in terms of replayability. Quality is just what you'd expect from BFP now, being glossy card with lots of colour printing on the cards and a clear and simple layout which is easy to understand. Awesome job on these guys - brilliant stuff.

So overall, another excellent production from BFP - where will it end? Hopefully it won't. The magazine is generally really good and the article on bocage elevates it above many other of this type of publication. My small questions about the representation of the Pueppchen aside, there is plenty here for everyone, and even if the historical articles aren't your thing, the rest of the production is stuffed to the gills with great stuff. And rejuvenating Board 6 is brilliant! A-- overall - another great piece of work guys! Many thanks for reading to the end of this...

Nick