So what scenarios have you played Recently?

Mister T

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WO30 As Luck Would Have It My opponent and I played this one today, and even before we started my opponent was saying it looks impossible for the Brits.
I agree, it is not a good scenario, balance-wise.

We might try Corps Values Saturday, but from what I have heard thus far it too is a four legged dog but I am a glutton for punishment, so we will see.
After a cursory look, this one has more potential, you should give it a chance.
 

Jacometti

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I think we can send WO 30 As Luck Would Have it to the recycle bin of scenario designs.

It could have worked, but the German exit area is just extended far too wide. If for exit you would need to get much closer to the village, it could well have worked.

I guess someone wanted us to enjoy the full width, depth and glory of the new double wide board.
 

Gunner Scott

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Ya, Like I never thought of that either. How about a little less Snark Perry and a little bit more playtesting.

Mmmm. Setting up heavy in woods/grain/brush with no way to get to the village, and sticking your only hidden asset, the AT gun way upfront......that had never come to my mind.

But then I am a newbie at this game.....
 

Houlie

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I also played this scenario (WO30 As Luck Would Have It) last Saturday -- seemed to be the thing to do this D-Day anniversary weekend -- and it played out pretty much as described here. My opponent set up strong in the village; the AT gun, a leader, 6-4-8 and mortar were in the British back left to guard the board edge. I pushed strongly along the German right board edge with 6 squads, two leaders, the PzIV J and one of the 75mm assault guns. An interdiction stack with both MMGs and both LMGs covered the gap between the village and the grain field. The 105mm assault gun joined them but malf'd it's first shot, so it's turn 2 orders were to reverse and back off the board edge. He tried redeploying strongly to his left, but by German turn 3, my squads and leaders were positioned for an unscathed final rush to Q17 and off.
Huh, when this scenario was suggested for our game day, it was dead even at 11-11. Our game was very close where a DR here or there would have easily turned it to a Brit win.

I would agree with Peter that shortening the exit area slightly might be helpful. Back to the sentence above, though, someone was able to win consistenly as the Brits. Just sayin'.
 

Jacometti

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I would agree with Peter that shortening the exit area slightly might be helpful. Back to the sentence above, though, someone was able to win consistenly as the Brits. Just sayin'.
I would think that the Brits have a fair, maybe above average, chance of winning if the Germans attack the village in force. The terrain favours the defenders and routing back is difficult for the Germans.

Obviously the German response is to attack on the wide right for the furthest exit hex with his full force. The only British response to that is to set up a larger part of his force near that exit. But since there are almost no dummies and HIP, this is obvious to the German player. If the German feels that the British have overcommitted to defend the far exit area, with just a few squads left in the village, he can go for the village.

The real problem of the scenario is not balance, I think - it is the fact that the Brits commit to a certain defense and are basically unable to adjust to the German attack decision, since they cannot relocate.

So, as Toby said, this is Rock-Paper-Scissors. Unfortunately you have already seen half the British hand before committing as the Germans.
 

jrv

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I would think that the Brits have a fair, maybe above average, chance of winning if the Germans attack the village in force. The terrain favours the defenders and routing back is difficult for the Germans.

Obviously the German response is to attack on the wide right for the furthest exit hex with his full force. The only British response to that is to set up a larger part of his force near that exit. But since there are almost no dummies and HIP, this is obvious to the German player. If the German feels that the British have overcommitted to defend the far exit area, with just a few squads left in the village, he can go for the village.

The real problem of the scenario is not balance, I think - it is the fact that the Brits commit to a certain defense and are basically unable to adjust to the German attack decision, since they cannot relocate.

So, as Toby said, this is Rock-Paper-Scissors. Unfortunately you have already seen half the British hand before committing as the Germans.
I have not played this so I can't claim any superior knowledge, but from what I can see the British need to set up to cover both eventualities. The N15 woods is the final position for the defense of the exit area. The foxholes are set to allow continuous rout (k18, l17, l7) in places where the terrain does not, with one near N15 (o15?) for some final rally. The defense on the N15 side sets up pretty far forward with the idea of falling back quickly towards N15.

The AT-Gun goes in the middle grain somewhere, where it can cover both directions. It will not have ideal LOS, but with ROF it should be able to pick off a tank or two and force the others to take less-than-ideal positions. A "reserve" squad and leader might set up in Q7, ready to shift to the side with the main attack.

These are just some thoughts. It looks challenging for the British to me, but it's hard to judge how it will actually play out. The one concern I have is that two of the German vehicles have Smoke, and a good day with Smoke might make all the British efforts for naught.

JR
 
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Cult.44

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I have not played this so I can't claim any superior knowledge, but from what I can see the British need to set up to cover both eventualities. The N15 woods is the final position for the defense of the exit area. The foxholes are set to allow continuous rout (k18, l17, l7) in places where the terrain does not, with one near N15 (o15?) for some final rally. The defense on the N15 side sets up pretty far forward with the idea of falling back quickly towards N15.

The AT-Gun goes in the middle grain somewhere, where it can cover both directions. It will not have ideal LOS, but with ROF it should be able to pick off a tank or two and force the others to take less-than-ideal positions. A "reserve" squad and leader might set up in Q7, ready to shift to the side with the main attack.

These are just some thoughts. It looks challenging for the British to me, but it's hard to judge how it will actually play out. The one concern I have is that two of the German vehicles have Smoke, and a good day with Smoke might make all the British efforts for naught.

JR
If I had put the 57L in a central location at the back like I was considering, my chances of winning would have improved quite a bit. Houlie's tanks would have been severely restricted and he would have had to take more chances with them. But, with the gun in the middle, I didn't think I could stop a heavy push on the non-village side. In any case, I do think it's easier for the British to shift from the woods side to the village side than the other way around. In our game, my squad with the light mtr, while shifting toward the village, succumbed to a 2+1 shot that kept him from getting to a decent position to harass the Germans. That might have made a difference. As it was, the squad never really got into the fight. If I were to play the British again, I'd still tend to favor setting up strong on the woods side.
 

jrv

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If I had put the 57L in a central location at the back like I was considering, my chances of winning would have improved quite a bit.
I don't know how far back you mean, but I was thinking something like m11 or m12. That gives the gun LOS into the k7 area as well as toward L17. All of its shots would be hindered, but with ROF I expect the gun to hit pretty soon. Only the PzIV J front can survive a hit, and it's near 50%.

JR
 

Cult.44

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I don't know how far back you mean, but I was thinking something like m11 or m12. That gives the gun LOS into the k7 area as well as toward L17. All of its shots would be hindered, but with ROF I expect the gun to hit pretty soon. Only the PzIV J front can survive a hit, and it's near 50%.

JR
I was thinking the woods at Q7. In our game, M11 or M12 would not have bothered Houlie's village-side attack much. Q7 seems to have the greatest field of fire. Oh woulda, shoulda, coulda.
 

jrv

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I was thinking the woods at Q7. In our game, M11 or M12 would not have bothered Houlie's village-side attack much. Q7 seems to have the greatest field of fire. Oh woulda, shoulda, coulda.
The problem with q7 is it doesn't help if the Germans decide to attack up the east edge. If all you want to defend is the village stick the gun in k7 and be done with it. With the center grain even if the tanks stay out of LOS in the west most of the game, they are likely to have to pop around N hexrow eventually.

JR
 

Cult.44

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The problem with q7 is it doesn't help if the Germans decide to attack up the east edge. If all you want to defend is the village stick the gun in k7 and be done with it. With the center grain even if the tanks stay out of LOS in the west most of the game, they are likely to have to pop around N hexrow eventually.

JR
Sure. But I'm definitely more worried about the non-village side which is why I ultimately chose one of the woods hexes over there - o16 or n15. I did end up with a sneaky shot through the buildings and got one tank.
 

jrv

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Sure. But I'm definitely more worried about the non-village side which is why I ultimately chose one of the woods hexes over there - o16 or n15. I did end up with a sneaky shot through the buildings and got one tank.
I'm confused. If you are more concerned about the east side, then q7 is almost the worst place you could put the gun. It would have to fire through a large amount of grain for most shots.

JR
 

Cult.44

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Q7 would have been a good place for the gun given Houlie's attack but not a good place against an east side attack. I thought I made that pretty clear. (Actually, I think it was P7 that I was really thinking about when setting up.) You mentioned K7. Did you mean K8 (wooden building)? That would have been even better against the attack now that I look at it, and it would have offered better shooting possibilities to the east than Q7 or P7.
 

jrv

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Q7 would have been a good place for the gun given Houlie's attack but not a good place against an east side attack. I thought I made that pretty clear. (Actually, I think it was P7 that I was really thinking about when setting up.) You mentioned K7. Did you mean K8 (wooden building)? That would have been even better against the attack now that I look at it, and it would have offered better shooting possibilities to the east than Q7 or P7.
Sorry, I meant K6. If the attack goes into the village the infantry is likely to go through H8 and on to K8, so K8 is bad for me. If you like k8 you might also consider m8. But I prefer it in the fields. It has LOS into k7, l7 & possibly j6, depending on exactly where you site it. It also has LOS over to the east. Nearly all of the shots will have +2 or more hindrance, but then you get that same hindrance when the Germans fire at the crew.

JR
 

Cult.44

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Sorry, I meant K6. If the attack goes into the village the infantry is likely to go through H8 and on to K8, so K8 is bad for me. If you like k8 you might also consider m8. But I prefer it in the fields. It has LOS into k7, l7 & possibly j6, depending on exactly where you site it. It also has LOS over to the east. Nearly all of the shots will have +2 or more hindrance, but then you get that same hindrance when the Germans fire at the crew.

JR
You mention K6. I wonder about the bocage. NRBH - Could a gun set up there HIP and have WA? We were wondering at our session if a gun & crew could pull the prep-fire-bocage-sleaze where, having WA, you fire in prep fire then immediately give up WA to avoid defensive fire.
 

jrv

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You mention K6. I wonder about the bocage. NRBH - Could a gun set up there HIP and have WA? We were wondering at our session if a gun & crew could pull the prep-fire-bocage-sleaze where, having WA, you fire in prep fire then immediately give up WA to avoid defensive fire.
Yes the gun could set up there HIP with WA per J8 errata. Since it is bocage you can drop out of LOS after firing, assuming the enemy has no LOS that avoids bocage. In that particular hex it is not a gimmie.

JR
 

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The Spearhead BFP 130 - The 25th scenario in our dive into the PiF scenarios. I knew as soon as I looked at this scenario it was going to take a lot of luck to even get to the last turn. This is certainly the German's Scenario to loose and Tom almost pulled it off for me. To win, the Pole must drive a portion of his initial armor allotment, hell bent for leather, through the German defense and drive to interdict the German reinforcements; while simultaneously using the infantry and remaining armor to roll up the German infantry ensconced in stone buildings. Hopefully, if all goes as planned your infantry an can then cross either the bridge or the deep creek under little opposition to take two more (the only one that count) stone buildings all in 6.5 turns. It will happen, but not often and the German player is going to have to help you out.

I drove my itty little bitty tankettes like I was playing Grand Theft Auto. The first platoon thundered into the stream, Tom's 75 Inf missed, then malf'd, one of my little guys bog, but his platoon mate thundered on, overran the beach'as gun, ignored a hail of ATR and MG fire and kept on a going. He would eventually overrun a 47mm AT still be towed and get credit for that kill, then dodge two 88 shots and overrun it, malfing its MA in the process. Survive more fire from the reinforcing enemy infantry, overrun the second 47mm going up in a ball of flames, in its hex effective blinding it! AND it did this all alone because while Tom struggled to kill my armor, I had absolutely no problem in bogging it! By the time the remainder of the hell bent for leather charge reached the battle field, they were the rode hard and put up wet. Tom's infantry was in the VC and although the AT guns were in no position to offer any assistance to their bruder's on the far side of the creek, it really didn't matter. There was no way the Poles could root them all out. Tom's great tactic here is from advanced chapter of ASL sleeze, but its great, and I need to remember it. Deploy into a half squad and put one on every level and every hex. It would take the poles 3 or 4 turns to clear those buildings.

While the armor attempted its envelopment, the polish infantry and the remainder of the armor attempted to steam roll the Germans. They did succeed in eliminating every German starting MMC leaving them with only a heroic leader and hero. While Tom's dice struggled offensively, he generated more sniper attacks then me. These two heroes certainly gave him a much need boost. Throughout the struggle in village I kept my armor at point blank range and just blasted away or VBM sleezed him and late, to late, in the game some infantry did make it across the bridge join up with the late arriving tankettes and succeed in taking a victory building hex or two.

Overall this was a tense and exciting scenario. The bogs and a failed non-plt movement roll or two and maybe I pull it out but, like I said its up to the German to loose this one. FYI the balance gives the poles all of there armor up front on turn 1. This may or may not make the Polish case better. May because they can simply overwhelm the available defenses and push both AoA to succeed in getting more than one tankette in the German backfield early. May not, because the narrow board and AoA can get clogged quickly and make maneuvering very difficult for the Pole.

Up next Zboiska Heights!
 

asloser

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Today I got in the first game of the new Winter Offensive pack, I played WO31 Ma Deuce Delivers against my brother Teemu Lukkari.

We had an intensive three turns after which the dice took over completely: two of the King Tiger MAs were malfunctioned on advancing fire acquisition shots on turn 3 - I swarmed the last one with my M10s and he missed all of them and I got in a bounding fire shot at hull which killed the third King Tiger. One of the malfunctioned 88LL MAs was permanently disabled while the other recovered -but the King Tiger with good MA was killed with 4 hex range BAZ shot on the side as it started to move- the BAZ 346 had just killed two 237 half squads in Melee. After this Teemus firebase with the MMG and HMG rolled another 12 and he Yahtzee'd both MG at this same shot. Although one of my M10s was recalled by a sniper Teemu gave up after German turn 4 as I had both of the 24FP .50 cals and 3 M10 TDs and he did not have any tanks or heavy MGs, all of this was ready to defend the buildings and I had couple of half squads in the right side woods to make sure I did not concede the road VC.

This is in my opinion a good one with a lot of action packed into a compact package. I think I want to give it another go to get a proper playing of this later.
 
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