WO21 Bolder Than Before

Jude

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I played this with my long time opponent and just managed to eke out a win. This scenario is interesting because there are three possible victory conditions with a variable turn limit based on the VC chosen. Plus, the Ukrainian (OUN) player gets to choose it. Here they are:

The Russians win:
1) Immediately upon exiting 9 Exit VP between on the opposite board edge between V8 and V10 (7 1/2 turns)
2) Immediately upon amassing at least 16 CVP (6 turns)
3) By controlling four assigned buildings (5 1/2 turns)

Looking at the three choices, the last one seems the most difficult. The four buildings are right in the middle of the Russian set up area. They are guarded by four conscripts, two LMGs, and a 7-0 leader. The OUN can have a toe hold in one at start and pretty much surround the buildings. However, No Quarter is in effect so securing buildings is a bit more difficult. Plus, the Russians enter in two waves very close to the buildings. I quickly decided not to pick this one.

I almost went with the second choice because eliminating 16 points in six turns is a lot. When I looked at the board, though, I saw that this choice could be risky. The OUN has 15 VPs of units stuck near the Russian set up area. Setting up some squads as pickets to slow the Russian reinforcements is prudent. With no fallback locations except in the middle, though, those units should evaporate in a few turns. The remaining squads could be put in the open ground of row K or in the edge buildings in row J. This would allow them to make a run towards safety. Two things make this a bit risky. One, the Russian player moves first. Two, clever placement of squads and LMGs in Hexes I5 and I6 can interdict squads trying to make a run for it. I figured a couple of lucky rolls by my opponent and he'd be almost there.

Those reasons led me to choose Victory Condition 1. Having to go 3/4 of a city board vs HIP guys seemed daunting. I also liked that I could fire at units trying to cross the street in the open ground without worrying if my guys survived or not. Plus, I hate to exit units as I always seem to come up short. I didn't like that it added a whole turn and a half, but that's the trade off.

So having said all that, the scenario played out as expected. I don't know if we did this right, but we allowed the partisans to deploy. The index says partisans NA but references a rule in the Solitaire ASL system. Since we don't own that, we allowed deployment. My picket line slowed the Russians down for a couple of turns but as expected, they quickly expired. One squad on the south managed to hold out to the end because the battle had left him behind.

As I suspected, I wasn't able to pull back as I wanted, but I did slip one Elite and one 3-3-6 back into the city proper.

My opponent quickly realized that I wasn't going for the buildings but was forced to eliminate all my units in case I chose VC2. He armored assaulted a couple of turns and then left the infantry behind. I wondered why he did this, but soon found out. He was looking to see if I had a roadblock. He found it on V9.

Once he saw this, it was off to the races. He tied up squads using bypass but more guys were being broken than he had leaders for. He remounted his motorcycles and made a mad dash for the finish line. It came down to him needing to exit three more points on the last half turn. I desperately moved a squad to building U10 next to a mounted squad and an accompanying leader. The squad survived but so did the mounted units. I advanced in and this started a debate. Was the motorcycle a vehicle or not? After a (too long) rule search we compromised. I would advance in with no PAATC but had to go back (after the game I asked this forum what the proper call should have been which you can find under CC vs Motorcycle). The CC failed so I went back.

That left him with dismounting the leader and squad point blank for the attempt to exit. I rolled a three. With the -2 it was a 2KIA and sealed the victory.

In retrospect, I made a pretty glaring error that made the game closer than it should have been. I should have dropped some of my HIP units to move back towards protecting the exit locations. I didn't want to tip my hand too early, but it almost cost me the game since I had no one there blocking the locations. His tanks tied up the guys in the R8 building cluster that was supposed to block a final dash. I knew he would use VBM Freeze on me, but I didn't prepare for it well. Even though I wasn't counting on it, my MOL attempts never resulted in a kill vs them.

So, a dramatic win that doesn't happen as often as it should. I think the OUN should be favored in this one, but as of this writing, ROAR has only two recorded playing (including this one) and it is a split. Only time will tell. Recommended.
 
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jrv

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I don't know if we did this right, but we allowed the partisans to deploy. The index says partisans NA but references a rule in the Solitaire ASL system. Since we don't own that, we allowed deployment.
Per footnote 33, "As a general rule, partisan units should be prohibited by SSR from deploying freely, making multi-Location firegroups, and attempting to entrench." SASL rules are not applicable to ASL. If a SSR did not prohibit the partisans from deploying, they are allowed to do so.

JR
 
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