So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[clubby]

You can consider that brush safe from future enemy AFV traffic.

 

[RZasl]

I had a blast at the Texas Team Tournament last weekend and went 4 & 3 over 3.5 days. Great games and even better opponents...

BoF8, Sting of the Italian Hornet, lost as the Canadians to Doyle Motes
J106, Marders not Martyrs, lost as the Russians to David Hailey
YASL7, Making a Break for It, won as the British vs Kevin Denner
MM40, Ochota Revenge, won as the Partisans vs Dan Best
DB119, Delay to the Agno, won as the Filipino vs Randy Strader
U12, Riposte, lost as the German to Matt Evans
FrF61, Make Way for the King, won as the German vs Dave Perham (who diced himself mercilessly)

 

[volgaG68]

LSSAH 17 "The Eleventh Commandment"..... A rare Lone Canuck Night scenario. NVR of 9, ground snow, drifts, and a s**tload of halftracks! Due to all SS having to enter mounted as PRC, no Cloaking (Infantry only); which also nullified nearly every reason the Russians might want to use starshells (as if the NVR of 9 wasn't "daylight" enough). Personally, I found this as virtually impossible for the SS to win. They have to clear a village grid of Reds in 6 Turns without losing 40 CVP. LOTS of VBM-freeze in this one as the SS simply don't have the boots to ferret everything out with manpower alone. This can cause the CVP to mount, but is not the reason I give the SS little to no chance for a win.

Ivan gets three squad's worth of HIP and they can all set up in the outlying, open ground hexes (or buildings/orchards) to the S/SW/SE of the village, still within the VC grid the SS must clear. HIP at Night is possible in OG, and is lost as if in Concealment Terrain; so don't make a peep and make the MiB come find you. Even with all of the halftracks, and extensive Searching, the time (Turn) constraints just aren't there for the SS to ferret out all of the dirty, long-haired HIPpies. Minus the HIPsters, they still have 9 squads, 2 HMG, 2 ATR, and 2 Guns to fight their way past. The SS will eventually take about 2/3 of the village, rout the visible Reds, and get shanked by one or more of the HIPsters when they think they have won. Eight Turns would have been more reasonable for the task at hand. Still fun, beyond challenging, but I'd put my money on Ivan every time.

 

[JRKrejsa]

Burning Down the House BFP-77 1st day of Kursk, large German armored attack on a fortified village. Huge OB to begin with, but don't worry, both sides take heavy instant losses. This scenario is like two guys hitting each other over the head with baseball bats. The Germans took a lot of casualties, but broke into the village on west end, through the grain. The east attack had plenty of smoke, but the smoke could not be every where. In the end, the Germans controlled everything west of the main road that bisects the village, but made it no further. If you like large, hard fought scenarios, this is a lot of fun.

 

[Yuri0352]

Burning Down the House BFP-77 1st day of Kursk, large German armored attack on a fortified village. Huge OB to begin with, but don't worry, both sides take heavy instant losses. This scenario is like two guys hitting each other over the head with baseball bats. The Germans took a lot of casualties, but broke into the village on west end, through the grain. The east attack had plenty of smoke, but the smoke could not be every where. In the end, the Germans controlled everything west of the main road that bisects the village, but made it no further. If you like large, hard fought scenarios, this is a lot of fun.

I played this last year...absolute slugfest! In the end, the AT ditches and the 122L arty was just too much for the Germans to overcome.

 

[JRKrejsa]

I played this last year...absolute slugfest! In the end, the AT ditches and the 122L arty was just too much for the Germans to overcome.

That gun is an absolute death ray in '43. Any German armor it touches....

On the other side of the coin, the mortars from both sides, 50mm Soviet, and the 81mm SPW, where killers for open top vehicles on both sides.

 

[Danno]

Played A81 They Fired on Odessa for the 4th. Won as the Romanian. Did not realize how hard this one is on the Russians. The Russians had three victory buildings and two guns...came down to the last CC phase.

 

[Rindis]

Played AP75 "Gabriel's Horn" from AP8 with Patch, and finished it a couple weeks ago, with Patch conceding the day after I conceded another game.

Overall, things went well for my defending Americans, despite being surrounded and surrendering (I think Patch had 3.5 of my squads at the end, and he should have had a bit more). A couple of stubborn leaders kept critical MMGs in action, which slowed things up, and crawling through cactus patches (glad I was just giving the orders on that one) unraveled the German east flank. Ironically, Patch lost the StuG over there despite some long odds, and the one he thought he'd lose survived (BAZ shot bounced off).

The Germans have a lot to do in the scenario, and Patch just couldn't get going and was well behind the curve.

Full details available on my blog.

 

[A Lost Canadian]

Finished last night Squad Bleeder 6 - Eviscerating Vienna. Russian player called it after 5 turns when I eliminated 2 628s, a 527 and his 9-2 in cc.

A fun, wild scenario, this was my second playing and I highly recommend. The Squad Bleeder format is fantastic and I think this is one of the best.

The board set up was the Russians on R-GG part of board 51 and the Germans on the R-GG part of 45. Top of board 20 was German side.

My purchases:

• 1st Inf Group (3x838 plus toys)
• 2nd Inf Group (4x658s)
• 6th Inf Group (4x468s)
• 1st Leadership Group (9-2, 8-0)
• PzKpfw VIE x2
• PzKpfw VIB x2
• FlaKPz IV/20
• ELR Increase
• 6 Purchase Point bid
• 3x9-1 Armour Leader
• Reinforcement Group 2 (9-1 3x658)

My plan was to use my rubble placement to stop Russian tanks from sneaking by buildings. I also wanted to move first and win the race to the factory. I put my MMGs with 838s and a 9-2 and ran as hard as I could get them to the middle factory. I put most of the 658s on the right with one Tiger. I put the FlaKPz IV/20 on the left with the second Tiger and a few squads to take as many buildings as I could before the Russians got to me.

My King Tigers I sent to the main middle squad beside the 838s with the MMGs. This combo proved very effective.

My opponent went OBA, infantry and OT-34 heavy. My King Tigers panzerfausts dealt quickly with the OT-34s quickly. Turn 4 saw my Tiger on the right go down with a broken main gun. This let the Russians start to break out.

Meanwhile my Flak panzer had dealt with the Russian push on the left. In the middle, the stack of 3 838s with MMGs and a 9-2 in the factory proved untouchable. Feeling desperate my opponent dropped smoke on the factory and then charged in for some mad cc. Losing that, and down on both cvp and building points he called it.

Having played this as both the Russians and the Germans my advice is to splurge on making sure you get the first move. Also use the rubble placement to try to gum up your opponent in their first move. Second, the OBA/Pre-reg hex/steeple combo is a false prophet – it is expensive and not very effective. Third, the Russians should splurge and get the IS-2s. They are the only thing that can really deal with the German armor. Fourth, both sides should go for quality infantry over quantity.

Overall, a great, fun match of a fantastic scenario.

 

[clubby]

Played a fantastic scenario A109 Scouts Out against @Richard Trippeer today with me taking the defending Germans and him the attacking Americans. We managed to get through 4.5 turns before we called it a German victory. Richard played a hell of a game for a guy that said he didn't have a lot of experience playing with AFVs. One of the reasons I picked this scenario was the large amount of American AFVs versus none in the initial wave of German defenders. This gave him a chance to get familiar with their usage without the constant fear of long range running gun battles against those German monsters. He even conducted a fairly successful overrun, something I don't think I accomplished until playing quite a few games with AFVs. All in all a very fun scenario that I highly recommend.

 

[Carln0130]

Played Things are........ a bit sticky, from Tom Morin's Operation Turnscrew tonight against Steve Pleva. DBOT1 is the scenario number. I had the Germans and Steve the erstwhile Tommies. The game had a little bit of everything. Level C booby traps going off, twice. The British talking to the locals and getting concealment off of a MG nest. A conscript squad rolling snakes in CC and generating, of all things, an 8-1 leader. The sniper counter rules in Turnscrew taking out a 10-2 Brit leader. Elite Germans running around in panic with shrieking high voices and their skirts up over their faces, while conscripts preformed as above and another went berserk after facing down a table 20+1, following having killed an elite Brit squad in the prior CC.

It was a pretty wild affair. A lot of fun to be sure. Steve ended up winning, but it was certainly a blast. I have to say, the sniper rules that Tom used in that module are an absolute hoot and do add a large degree of pucker factor for the British every-time they are in the cross-hairs.

 

[Ray Woloszyn]

I guess it happens from time to time but my last two ASL games over a span of seven days ended up interrupted by life events (none serious) for each of us. We had to call it a draw Just when the scenario was getting interesting with neither side having any distinct advantage. At least they were quality games through turns three or four. Life trumps games as it were.

 

[gulliver62]

Got in 4 turns of SP13 Stopped Cold yesterday. Unfortunately we ran out of time without being able to finish. I was the Americans and was blistered by 4 boxcar rolls on morale checks early. Those American 6-6-6 units are tough but I did have leaders to rally then if they didn't casualty reduce. My shooting got better and I broke the opponents right flank allowing me to push across the steam there. Unfortunately the MG on the PxIV reinforced that side. I think i had about a 20% chance of victory when we had to stop. Had 4 berserkers which was 2 berserk on berserk which led us through and through those rules and a lot of LOS checks with the hills and stream. Fun scenario and I would like to play it through sometime.

 

[Jude]

Played AP59 Taking Heads as the Japanese. Got seriously blistered throughout. My buddy must have rolled at least 20 fours. Had I not been the Japanese, I would have called it by turn two. The thing that saved me was not breaking and banzai charges. I knew crossing the Board 48 street would be a major hurdle so I set up for a banzai charge in the huts right next to it. The Americans (Filipinos) pulled back but I still had one squad in my LOS allowing me to call the banzai. After crossing the street I was still pinned down on the eastern side of the playing area. Snaking my way down the edge I was able to gain a foothold in the board 3a village. A couple more banzais and I broke the resistance. Somehow all three Japanese leaders survived to the end. It felt like I didn't even fire a shot the last three turns because all I did was move and engage in TPBF/CC. As per usual with PTO scenarios, there weren't many guys left at the end of this one. Had the game ended at the end of turn 6 I would have lost. However, having that extra half turn changed the end game dynamics. My opponent had to take a risk to protect some buildings I was in striking distance of. I was able to break two squads making a run for it and that was that. Having won as the Japanese, I still think it favors the Americans. Just getting to the village is a serous challenge. I wouldn't want to try it a second time.

 

[esprcorn]

Finished last night Squad Bleeder 6 - Eviscerating Vienna. Russian player called it after 5 turns when I eliminated 2 628s, a 527 and his 9-2 in cc.

A fun, wild scenario, this was my second playing and I highly recommend. The Squad Bleeder format is fantastic and I think this is one of the best.

The board set up was the Russians on R-GG part of board 51 and the Germans on the R-GG part of 45. Top of board 20 was German side.

My purchases:

• 1st Inf Group (3x838 plus toys)
• 2nd Inf Group (4x658s)
• 6th Inf Group (4x468s)
• 1st Leadership Group (9-2, 8-0)
• PzKpfw VIE x2
• PzKpfw VIB x2
• FlaKPz IV/20
• ELR Increase
• 6 Purchase Point bid
• 3x9-1 Armour Leader
• Reinforcement Group 2 (9-1 3x658)

My plan was to use my rubble placement to stop Russian tanks from sneaking by buildings. I also wanted to move first and win the race to the factory. I put my MMGs with 838s and a 9-2 and ran as hard as I could get them to the middle factory. I put most of the 658s on the right with one Tiger. I put the FlaKPz IV/20 on the left with the second Tiger and a few squads to take as many buildings as I could before the Russians got to me.

My King Tigers I sent to the main middle squad beside the 838s with the MMGs. This combo proved very effective.

My opponent went OBA, infantry and OT-34 heavy. My King Tigers panzerfausts dealt quickly with the OT-34s quickly. Turn 4 saw my Tiger on the right go down with a broken main gun. This let the Russians start to break out.

Meanwhile my Flak panzer had dealt with the Russian push on the left. In the middle, the stack of 3 838s with MMGs and a 9-2 in the factory proved untouchable. Feeling desperate my opponent dropped smoke on the factory and then charged in for some mad cc. Losing that, and down on both cvp and building points he called it.

Having played this as both the Russians and the Germans my advice is to splurge on making sure you get the first move. Also use the rubble placement to try to gum up your opponent in their first move. Second, the OBA/Pre-reg hex/steeple combo is a false prophet – it is expensive and not very effective. Third, the Russians should splurge and get the IS-2s. They are the only thing that can really deal with the German armor. Fourth, both sides should go for quality infantry over quantity.

Overall, a great, fun match of a fantastic scenario.

I played this one and the random rubble fell so perfectly it was nearly impossible for the Germans to get tanks into the city. For some reason we had selected our units before the rubble placement so it was a disaster.

 

[Jude]

Made it to turn 5 in AP58 Sat Sri Akal! as the Japanese and had to call it quits. As a general rule of thumb, I don't like splitting my forces. However, with two victory locations spread pretty far apart - made even worse by the restrictive terrain - I felt I had to. I divided up my forces into two relatively equal groups with two leaders pushing for the level 4 hills on board 50 and the other for the level 2 hills on board 2a. I put the two leaders on that side hoping that if I could take the hills quickly, they might help some squads make a run for the eastern level 2 hills. Poor LOS allowed them to move up relatively quickly. They made the best progress and I took all but one hilltop before ending it. They would have taken the last one on turn 5. However, 4 Gurkhas with serious leadership were pushing their way up the slopes so holding the hills would have been interesting.

The other group never could mount much pressure and ended being bogged down on the western portion of the playing area. I could have tried to split them as well, but figured my forces were diluted enough. I took the two westernmost level two hills but that was on turn 4. The British had only lost one half squad with two more LMG toting Gurkhas on the way. When my lone leader in that sector wound died, the writing was on the wall. No way I could have taken 18 (I think) more hilltops.

Balance says to add one more Japanese leader and I think they could certainly use it. With no leadership left on board 2a, no banzais. The dice were fair and the tactics were sound on both sides, I just think the Japanese have to do too much. I'd recommend it for the British but not for the Japanese.

 

[greuh]

Scenario 16, No Better Spot To Die.
With my opponent, it was our first time with Guns & AFVs (and, believe it or not, Snipers that actually do something). We manage to do two full turns in the evening. I think we had the rules right but, man, the things we did with our tanks & guns & setup was all wrong. I should not have used my tanks that way, he should not have setup that way... Heh. Learning

 

[chris_olden]

Finished playtesting a scenario for the next Journal(one of mine, actually). We called it early in Turn 5 due mostly to my dice being so amazingly bad, that they threw the game for my side.
I've had bad dice before, but not like this. Jim's DRs were pretty average, no wild hot streaks, only two sets of snakes, but my dice by comparison were completely ineffectual, or worse.
With an SAN of 5, I was expecting a fair amount of sniper activity; total sniper rolls, 4, with two "dumb sniper" activations.
Going to try a re-play and see how it goes.

By comparison, Dr.Dave and I playtested another scenario last Friday, that was one of the closest scenarios we've ever played against each other in 18 years.
Initially, there were some weird lucky streaks for both of us on turns 1-2, but the dice calmed down for the rest of the game, and played out to the last MPh when I CX'd a half-squad to capture a victory location for the win.

 

[clubby]

Played an old classic last night T1 Gavin Take with @c600g and really got it handed to me. The game ended when my opponent playing as the attacking Americans rolled five straight IFT shots of 5 or less and every one of my troops failed their MC.

 

[WuWei]

We started ASL135 Hill253.5, with me as the Russian defender. During the first PFPh, the Germans broke my 9-1 and the squad with the HMG stacked with him and KIA'd two other squads with two hits (one of them critical) from the tanks, AND then they got their air support in turn 2.
At least one of the SPWs drove on one of my AT mines, was immobilized and eliminated by my flamethrower afterwards, and I managed to withdraw my 45L by rolling it downhill. Life's little pleasures...

We stopped playing before my third turn, and I hope I get my air support now, too!