Jude
Senior Member
Moved on to a six scenario Spanish Civil War/Blitzkrieg mini campaign. First up was Far From home. Before going any further, please read Tuomo’s excellent AAR first at:
http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?94155-AP53-Far-From-Home
It’s OK, I’ll wait…
Back? Good. As you can see as he so eloquently put it, the scenario boils down to the points. Without pictures, it’s hard to discuss the ebb and flow of my particular game, but as I often do, I’ll point out the highlights and what I think are the keys.
I played as the Nationalists. I did what I’m sure most people who take this side do and rushed up the road to take 2aP4. This is a must. I wasn’t feeing bold enough to run for 2aO5 so I could advance into it the APh. Building 2aM10 has a perfect line of sight to hex 2aP4 (open ground and no falling snow hindrance). With only two leaders to start, losing one on a good shot would hurt.
My major push was to the P4/O5 building cluster with six squads and all but one LMG. I sent the 9-1 with the group. Once this was secure, I would leave some forces behind and push towards M10.
The secondary push was to secure 1aC15 and then continue towards M15.
My opponent overcommitted and placed a good portion of his forces in the Board 2a valley and 2M2 woods cluster. He wanted to claim the P4/O5 buildings for himself.
Of course, I got there first and heavily reinforced it. Once my tanks arrived, I swarmed M10 and pushed a few squads up (a full and two half squads). As a side note, I find it interesting that Minors can deploy while Russians, throughout the entire war, never can. Anyway, I moved those guys up to the 2aN9 woods and broke the half squad he had in there. I don’t remember if it was my tanks or squads who did it. At any rate, I denied him his Turn 3 point, by breaking and KIAing it for failure to route.
The western group made little progress towards M15 until the tanks arrived. Once my tanks came on board, I froze the squad and LMG in there and was finally able to make some headway.
I split my infantry reinforcements into two groups. Three squads, an 8-1, and the MMG headed towards P4/O5. The remainder went towards C15/M10.
Because he was so heavily committed – four of his six squads, his 8-1, and a LMG in the north – I stood pat with my 9-1, three squad, MMG combo in the P4/O5 cluster. We sort of established a détente, with neither of us pushing towards each other.
He moved his two tank reinforcements onto Hill 523 to blast my tanks. He did manage to kill one, but when the snow intensity increased, he was forced to move down from this position to better engage my tanks.
By the time his second set of reinforcements came in, I had overrun the bridge with a half squad and sent a second all the way down to 2aG9. I didn’t care if I lost him or not as long as he tied up his reinforcements. As it turned out, he did. He survived a point blank 30 +5 shot (+3 building, +1 snow, +1 CX) in the DFPh. During my opponent’s half of the turn, he bypassed him and left only a couple of squads to deal with him in CC. I ended up breaking a squad running by and even tried a FPF shot and survived. To add insult to injury, when my opponent advanced in, I got ambush and withdrew forward to 2aG8.
My half squad sitting on the bridge survived two overruns and then locked the advancing squad into melee. At the top of Turn 5 I suggested we add up the points to see how things were progressing. I had 30 points. He had 17 with the bridge still in dispute. His western flank had collapsed with just one half squad left in hex 2aK5 facing two point blank tanks, six squads, and two leaders. I had the eastern flank too heavily reinforced with at least seven squads, two MMGs, two leaders, and two tanks for him to make any headway there. The middle would have cracked and he would have retaken the bridge and M10. That would have given him 23 to my 29. I’m not sure he would have gained any more. We both agreed to call it at that point.
It was an interesting scenario because of the point system. Here are some final thoughts I gleaned from this one:
1) As the Republican, don’t bother with buildings P4/O5. They’re gone and there is not much you can do about it. Instead, I would put the 8-1, two squads, and the LMG in M10. That way if the Nationalist does decide to rush O5 you’ll have a 6 -3 shot on him (maybe even better if the snow lets up).
2) M10 is too important to let go of. It’s the springboard to the Republican interior. As the Republican I would even put the MTR in 2aL8 to prevent a rush through the 2aN7/M7 wall, the 2aL6 gully, or the 2aP6/Q7 woods.
3) 2aM15 is also hard to crack if properly defended. Two squads and an LMG should hold off the Nationalists for a while. Maybe even put a half squad in 2aM14 for good measure to deny wall advantage.
4) I would use the T-26s very aggressively to take out those PzIs. Sitting on the hill gives very little chance of hitting due to the snow, red to hit numbers, and small target status.
5) The Nationalists have an interesting choice early besides whether or not to make a run for O5. Do they go CE and use the roads to swarm the Russians? With a 6 morale that’s a risky move. I did and it worked. Mostly because the bulk of his forces were out of place, but if M10 were reinforced as I suggested above, two tanks could be recalled from MC failures and with some luck and rate, one might even be destroyed by the LMG or nearby MTR.
6) Last, I think using one of the Nationalist squads to entrench in 1aJ8 is a given. They are reinforced with 10 squads and three leaders. That leaves one odd squad out. I’m sure that was no coincidence.
Anyway, you may or may not agree with all my suggestions, but that's part of the fun, right? Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll ever be able to test them out, anyway. With so many scenarios available, my opponent and I are kind of one and done sort of players. However, before I play a scenario I always like to look online to see if there are any AARs about it to glean some information. Perhaps my suggestions may give you food for thought…
http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?94155-AP53-Far-From-Home
It’s OK, I’ll wait…
Back? Good. As you can see as he so eloquently put it, the scenario boils down to the points. Without pictures, it’s hard to discuss the ebb and flow of my particular game, but as I often do, I’ll point out the highlights and what I think are the keys.
I played as the Nationalists. I did what I’m sure most people who take this side do and rushed up the road to take 2aP4. This is a must. I wasn’t feeing bold enough to run for 2aO5 so I could advance into it the APh. Building 2aM10 has a perfect line of sight to hex 2aP4 (open ground and no falling snow hindrance). With only two leaders to start, losing one on a good shot would hurt.
My major push was to the P4/O5 building cluster with six squads and all but one LMG. I sent the 9-1 with the group. Once this was secure, I would leave some forces behind and push towards M10.
The secondary push was to secure 1aC15 and then continue towards M15.
My opponent overcommitted and placed a good portion of his forces in the Board 2a valley and 2M2 woods cluster. He wanted to claim the P4/O5 buildings for himself.
Of course, I got there first and heavily reinforced it. Once my tanks arrived, I swarmed M10 and pushed a few squads up (a full and two half squads). As a side note, I find it interesting that Minors can deploy while Russians, throughout the entire war, never can. Anyway, I moved those guys up to the 2aN9 woods and broke the half squad he had in there. I don’t remember if it was my tanks or squads who did it. At any rate, I denied him his Turn 3 point, by breaking and KIAing it for failure to route.
The western group made little progress towards M15 until the tanks arrived. Once my tanks came on board, I froze the squad and LMG in there and was finally able to make some headway.
I split my infantry reinforcements into two groups. Three squads, an 8-1, and the MMG headed towards P4/O5. The remainder went towards C15/M10.
Because he was so heavily committed – four of his six squads, his 8-1, and a LMG in the north – I stood pat with my 9-1, three squad, MMG combo in the P4/O5 cluster. We sort of established a détente, with neither of us pushing towards each other.
He moved his two tank reinforcements onto Hill 523 to blast my tanks. He did manage to kill one, but when the snow intensity increased, he was forced to move down from this position to better engage my tanks.
By the time his second set of reinforcements came in, I had overrun the bridge with a half squad and sent a second all the way down to 2aG9. I didn’t care if I lost him or not as long as he tied up his reinforcements. As it turned out, he did. He survived a point blank 30 +5 shot (+3 building, +1 snow, +1 CX) in the DFPh. During my opponent’s half of the turn, he bypassed him and left only a couple of squads to deal with him in CC. I ended up breaking a squad running by and even tried a FPF shot and survived. To add insult to injury, when my opponent advanced in, I got ambush and withdrew forward to 2aG8.
My half squad sitting on the bridge survived two overruns and then locked the advancing squad into melee. At the top of Turn 5 I suggested we add up the points to see how things were progressing. I had 30 points. He had 17 with the bridge still in dispute. His western flank had collapsed with just one half squad left in hex 2aK5 facing two point blank tanks, six squads, and two leaders. I had the eastern flank too heavily reinforced with at least seven squads, two MMGs, two leaders, and two tanks for him to make any headway there. The middle would have cracked and he would have retaken the bridge and M10. That would have given him 23 to my 29. I’m not sure he would have gained any more. We both agreed to call it at that point.
It was an interesting scenario because of the point system. Here are some final thoughts I gleaned from this one:
1) As the Republican, don’t bother with buildings P4/O5. They’re gone and there is not much you can do about it. Instead, I would put the 8-1, two squads, and the LMG in M10. That way if the Nationalist does decide to rush O5 you’ll have a 6 -3 shot on him (maybe even better if the snow lets up).
2) M10 is too important to let go of. It’s the springboard to the Republican interior. As the Republican I would even put the MTR in 2aL8 to prevent a rush through the 2aN7/M7 wall, the 2aL6 gully, or the 2aP6/Q7 woods.
3) 2aM15 is also hard to crack if properly defended. Two squads and an LMG should hold off the Nationalists for a while. Maybe even put a half squad in 2aM14 for good measure to deny wall advantage.
4) I would use the T-26s very aggressively to take out those PzIs. Sitting on the hill gives very little chance of hitting due to the snow, red to hit numbers, and small target status.
5) The Nationalists have an interesting choice early besides whether or not to make a run for O5. Do they go CE and use the roads to swarm the Russians? With a 6 morale that’s a risky move. I did and it worked. Mostly because the bulk of his forces were out of place, but if M10 were reinforced as I suggested above, two tanks could be recalled from MC failures and with some luck and rate, one might even be destroyed by the LMG or nearby MTR.
6) Last, I think using one of the Nationalist squads to entrench in 1aJ8 is a given. They are reinforced with 10 squads and three leaders. That leaves one odd squad out. I’m sure that was no coincidence.
Anyway, you may or may not agree with all my suggestions, but that's part of the fun, right? Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll ever be able to test them out, anyway. With so many scenarios available, my opponent and I are kind of one and done sort of players. However, before I play a scenario I always like to look online to see if there are any AARs about it to glean some information. Perhaps my suggestions may give you food for thought…
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