So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[Elfego Baca]

In a little over a month, Jeff Buser & this "Oldbie" played 3 "intro" scenarios via Live VASL. About 2-3 turns per session. (Can't thank Jeff enough for tolerating my numerous questions & gaffes.)

In sequence, we've played Guards Counterattack, Gavin Take, and Commando Schenke. All pure infantry gigs. Each game could have gone either way .... meaning that I mostly comprehend the rules, but still have a long way to go in refining my play. Errors galore on my part!

Best is that (1) Jeff stills wants to continue, so I guess I'm not a complete arse and, more importantly, (2) I'm having a really REALLY great time! More fun than I've ever had with the system, which perhaps was initially too intimidating.

Now its on Guns/Ordnance! At least those things without wheels/treads.

 

[Philippe D.]

Mormal Forest FrF87 France '40. Germans must take 2 of 3 scattered buildings. The German SPW 251/10s and artillery were dominant to start with. The Panzermen went after the church on 63 and then skipped along the woods to go after the closest house there. But, the French infantry in the woods played hide and seek well, and held out. You would think the thick skinned R35s would stand up well to a 37L armed HT, but I had my usual luck with French armor... Narrow French win. Good scenario.

I played this one a few months ago, as the Germans. I went for the church and the building in the woods, sending most of the halftracks in the church area. My French opponent played a very good game of slow retreat in the woods, and held for a long time in the church hamlet. His R35 didn't manage to do much.

In the end I went for a very "dirty tricks" last two turns, sending halftracks into an extremely dangerous series of runs against both the French tanks and the French infantry, freezing much of his defense, and managed to steal a win. Nice scenario with lots of options.

 

[Jude]

Played ASL 60 On the Kokoda Trail. Didn't realize there was some errata until I recorded it into ROAR. I don't think it would have mattered, though, as the Australians just got overwhelmed. I don't think one more squad would have mattered. I played as the Japanese and entered on 34A5, 37Q10, and 37Y10. 34I1 just looked too easy to interdict. The Australians set up strong on Board 34 so it made my choice that much better. My goal was to have the required VP total on Overlay 1 by turn 5 thereby making the Australian reinforcements a moot point. For my friend and I, the scenario played like a game of chess. Move and countermove with minimal firing. There were a few CC here and there and most ended up with both sides dying. By the top of turn 5 I had 30+ VP on the overlay and that was that. There was no way the Australians were going to root out enough of my guys by the end of their half turn. I didn't feel the scenario was very exciting for the Japanese as all I pretty much did was move. I'd slightly recommend it for them, but it would be a good training scenario for a new Japanese player to learn PTO terrain. As far as the Australian side, it didn't look like much fun to play them. They are spread thin and tasked with stopping unbreakable squads super close to the instant (at game turn end) victory location.

 

[Eagle4ty]

Played ASL 60 On the Kokoda Trail. Didn't realize there was some errata until I recorded it into ROAR. I don't think it would have mattered, though, as the Australians just got overwhelmed. I don't think one more squad would have mattered. I played as the Japanese and entered on 34A5, 37Q10, and 37Y10. 34I1 just looked too easy to interdict. The Australians set up strong on Board 34 so it made my choice that much better. My goal was to have the required VP total on Overlay 1 by turn 5 thereby making the Australian reinforcements a moot point. For my friend and I, the scenario played like a game of chess. Move and countermove with minimal firing. There were a few CC here and there and most ended up with both sides dying. By the top of turn 5 I had 30+ VP on the overlay and that was that. There was no way the Australians were going to root out enough of my guys by the end of their half turn. I didn't feel the scenario was very exciting for the Japanese as all I pretty much did was move. I'd slightly recommend it for them, but it would be a good training scenario for a new Japanese player to learn PTO terrain. As far as the Australian side, it didn't look like much fun to play them. They are spread thin and tasked with stopping unbreakable squads super close to the instant (at game turn end) victory location.

Got whacked by the Aussies in that one a short while back. Got the columns caught in proverbial L-shaped ambushes & when the lead HS got broke and routed back, out popped the HIPpers to take a crack at the now over-stacked follow-on forces -- not a pretty sight. It was certainly a learning experience for me, especially since I should have known better.:captainobvious:

 

[Jude]

Got whacked by the Aussies in that one a short while back. Got the columns caught in proverbial L-shaped ambushes & when the lead HS got broke and routed back, out popped the HIPpers to take a crack at the now over-stacked follow-on forces -- not a pretty sight. It was certainly a learning experience for me, especially since I should have known better.:captainobvious:

I'm certainly not very good at playing the Japanese. I'm sure I would learn a lot from watching someone play them that is well versed in the PTO. I rarely deploy while playing them just because I think one of their major strengths is to stripe twice before breaking. That's what allowed me to keep pressing forward in Kokoda. A few guys striped but I was able to keep on moving. The HIP aspect of the PTO is one of the subtleties of jungle warfare and is something my friend and I are slowly learning whenever we revisit this theater. However, we only play short mini campaigns there so by the time we come back, we have to relearn things we've forgotten. Playing in this theater requires a whole different mindset. It's not like jumping back and forth between the Eastern and Western Fronts! I would have liked to have watched your game. I'm sure my friend and I would have picked up quite a few tips.

 

[Houlie]

I enjoyed a Poland in Flames scenario -- BFP129 A Bitter Day -- at our Twin Cities ASL meet-up against Mark "My Dice Will Harm You" Harms. This all-infantry battle required a gaggle of 21 mixed Polish squads to gain all buildings on board 7b -- launching from board BFP-R. It was a tall order with three distinct pockets of building (1 x one-hex, 1x 3-hex (easiest to get), and 1 x four hexer), but in the Poles favor was quantity and a brittle eight-squad equivalent at-start German line. If the Pole could really crack the German line, the potential for a jailbreak was a real threat. Adding to the mix was two German reinforcement groups arriving on T3 (3x447+) and T5 (6x447+!) which promised some late game tension.
The Poles did break through mid-game, but the German reinforcements had reinforced the VC buildings by that time and thus the Polish objectives got that much harder. In T6 (of 7), Polish command seeing the objectives were a turn too far away ordered Capt. Pulaski to fall back to regroup. All in all, a tense all-infantry scenario with reinforcements to make things interesting. Simple and straight-forward. Definitely recommended. It's always a fun time playing Mark!

 

[Cult.44]

I enjoyed a Poland in Flames scenario -- BFP129 A Bitter Day -- at our Twin Cities ASL meet-up against Mark "My Dice Will Harm You" Harms. This all-infantry battle required a gaggle of 21 mixed Polish squads to gain all buildings on board 7b -- launching from board BFP-R. It was a tall order with three distinct pockets of building (1 x one-hex, 1x 3-hex (easiest to get), and 1 x four hexer), but in the Poles favor was quantity and a brittle eight-squad equivalent at-start German line. If the Pole could really crack the German line, the potential for a jailbreak was a real threat. Adding to the mix was two German reinforcement groups arriving on T3 (3x447+) and T5 (6x447+!) which promised some late game tension.
The Poles did break through mid-game, but the German reinforcements had reinforced the VC buildings by that time and thus the Polish objectives got that much harder. In T6 (of 7), Polish command seeing the objectives were a turn too far away ordered Capt. Pulaski to fall back to regroup. All in all, a tense all-infantry scenario with reinforcements to make things interesting. Simple and straight-forward. Definitely recommended. It's always a fun time playing Mark!

My dice seemed to be doing as much harm to me as to the Germans, like the ill-advised LOS check shot where I rolled snake-eyes (naturally, no LOS) and activated the enemy sniper, killing my 9-1 and breaking the squad stacked with him. In any case, Houlie is a tough nut to crack, good dice or bad. Definitely a fun game.

 

[RevJJ]

AP78 Crossfire Americans in Italy 1943 trying to take buildings from Germans on two flanks. Interesting VC twist with the Amis winning if they have 5 x (or greater) the turn # in stone buildings at the end of any Player Turn. That makes an early American win really desirable so I went for a Turn 2 punchout attempting a Board 10 pincer but didn't make it. My 105 MTRs were ineffective. I broke one and only got one round of WP out of the other before the crews got eliminated. My 50 cal went down to in an HMG dual with the Steeple. I lost two of the Shermans but the Germans took a lot of casualties in return. My SAN was hot taking out some key positions including the 81MTR crew covering the Board 10/46 treeline and my infantry was doing really well including getting two DCs off on INF gun positions and eliminating a lot infantry. But this was costly in time and my opponent had a good defense and played well enough that I came up short in controlling the stone buildings I needed Turns 1-5 for the win. By Turn 6, the Germans still had enough D left and I just wasn't far enough north to make it. I was going to need at least one extra Turn to take all the stone buildings in the Germans setup area. Fun game nonetheless.

 

[Jude]

Played FrF90 Speed is the Essence of War. Interesting scenario in that the Japanese (who I played) have to take and hold a bridge for the first three turns and then hold a four building cluster at the end of the game. The Gurkhas start the first turn pinned so the Japanese player needs to decide on turn one if they should run for the bridge and village (the option I chose) or engage with the Gurkhas and hopefully knock out half of the total Gurkha force. I ended up freezing units that were close to the road and ran the gauntlet. Every vehicle made it to their destination unscathed. Lucky CC rolls with my tanks took out a full and two half squads as well. The two Bofors ran out of AP on their first shots and I was able to dispatch them relatively quickly. The rest of the game consisted of me fortifying my position and my friend maneuvering for a final push. I thought he waited too long. On the bottom of last turn he made a mad dash that would make the Japanese proud. Firepower and the accompanying resid took out everything except for his last leader squad combo. They survived two four -2 shots, one of which was FPF that striped my squad. They jumped into CC and KIAed my squad by one (he declined, smartly, to go H-to-H). My return roll was a CR which wasn't enough to hold the building. Had I not striped on the FPF roll, the odds would have been different and my squad would have only CRed. Such are the whims of ASL. So, the Gurkhas won by a hair. Lots of decisions for both sides make this one easy to recommend for either side.

 

[JRKrejsa]

Chou En-Lai's Promise HoB RBF-52 October '45, China. USMC V. Communist Chinese. Marine convoy drives into Chi-Com ambush. The aforementioned ambush did not occur until the sunken road on board g. And a very effective one at that, taking out 3 squads, and the Marine 8-1. Even so, the survivors got the .50 caliber MG off the jeep and went to town. On the last turn, the Marines had to break 3 Chi-Com MMC. 2/3 is a passing grade most days, but not here.... Nice little scenario.

 

[Michael R]

Magnus Rimvall and I had a surprisingly quick game of BtB11 BOSQ BARBEQUE. The scenario has 6.5 turns, but Magnus had lost all the British tanks before the end of British turn two, so he conceded. Seven Churchill type tanks (including two crocodiles) and 15 squads were attacking low quality SS troops with some SPA AFV, two flak guns and one 88. The British must cross a lot of open ground or take a longer route towards their objective. I think the British need to use their smoke assets to the max before trying to cross the open ground. Magnus did not. My 88 was on the German right with a pretty large field of fire. Four tanks came on board on turn 1. The 88 did not fire until they finished moving. The 88 killed one tank in the first British turn. It killed two more in the first German turn. In the second British turn, the Crocodiles came on far away from the 88, but they used the road CE for speed. The 88 could see two hexes of that road. Needing a five TH, I fired the 88 during the MPh and destroyed each Crocodile (had rate on the first shot). In the PFPh of the second German turn, there was one Churchill still in LOS of the 88, between 18 and 24 hexes away. The 88 eliminated it. The last Churchill was not in LOS of the 88, but it was four hexes away from a HIP PSK. The PSK destroyed the tank on the first attempt. I think I used up all my luck for the rest of the month.

 

[Jacometti]

Magnus Rimvall and I had a surprisingly quick game of BtB11 BOSQ BARBEQUE. The scenario has 6.5 turns, but Magnus had lost all the British tanks before the end of British turn two, so he conceded. Seven Churchill type tanks (including two crocodiles) and 15 squads were attacking low quality SS troops with some SPA AFV, two flak guns and one 88. The British must cross a lot of open ground or take a longer route towards their objective. I think the British need to use their smoke assets to the max before trying to cross the open ground. Magnus did not. My 88 was on the German right with a pretty large field of fire. Four tanks came on board on turn 1. The 88 did not fire until they finished moving. The 88 killed one tank in the first British turn. It killed two more in the first German turn. In the second British turn, the Crocodiles came on far away from the 88, but they used the road CE for speed. The 88 could see two hexes of that road. Needing a five TH, I fired the 88 during the MPh and destroyed each Crocodile (had rate on the first shot). In the PFPh of the second German turn, there was one Churchill still in LOS of the 88, between 18 and 24 hexes away. The 88 eliminated it. The last Churchill was not in LOS of the 88, but it was four hexes away from a HIP PSK. The PSK destroyed the tank on the first attempt. I think I used up all my luck for the rest of the month.

If you don't kill another AFV the rest of 2018, you know the reason why.

 

[PTY]

Played GWASL Scenario #4, Spare A Thousand, last night against Dave Lamb. i was the Brits and he the Jerries. It went down to the wire with Dave getting a win although I had tanks in the all the Objective hexes, i couldn't break everybody. This is the first FtF game of GWASL I've played and I found it to be a blast. (I did play two other solo prior to this and enjoyed them too.) There are not many rules changing ASL to GWASL. But it is fun having your Mk IV tanks lumber toward the enemy and trying to keep your infantry platoons intact and able to move. I'll play more GWASL for sure.

How do you like GWASL? I keep thinking about it, but I have enough to play. But I like unusual scenarios in "regular" ASL, so part of me thinks I would like GWASL. I could swear I saw counters for pigeons somewhere along the way.

 

[JRKrejsa]

Counterstroke in Connage TAC 32 A classic, and we could see why. The French attach came up and around the board 10 woods. Once the French emerged from the trees, the 88mm was waiting for them. But, after eliminating 2 squads, the gun broke, and was over run. The Pz3 had an epic stand on the board 11 hill, before going down in cc. Both sides clawed each other and kept going. Many Frenchmen and FCM 36s exited before the Pz4 showed up. This scenario is unique in that after the French racked up a lot of exit VP, the scenario continues, and the Germans have a chance to makeup lost points. The 25mm ATG, towed along very slowly by their tractors, then held off enough of the German counter attack to win the game. French win. A must play.

 

[Roy]

FB1 Uncles and Pups

Jason Wert and I recently finished this scenario, with Jason getting the victory as the Hungarians.

Full recap at my blog

https://cardboardwarrior.blog/

Thanks for reading

 

[JRKrejsa]

Fangs of the Tiger SP87 A force of Tiger Is and infantry must escape Soviet encirclement, outside Leningrad. The main German attack came along the 49EE5 to Q8 road. This was held up along hexrow V. A hulldown T-43 lasted for some time, delaying the German advance. The Tigers knocked out several T-43s, but lost 2 of their kind and another was immo'ed. In the end, the last Tiger did not have enough time to exit. Soviet victory.

 

[Michael R]

Bruno L'Archeveque and I finished a multi-session playing of TX5 RUSH HOUR. This is a truly unique ASL experience for its simultaneous turn one for both sides. That turn takes more time than your average turn. After that turn, the number of controlled intersections was slightly in favour of the Germans. My Americans slowly acquired a few more than they lost while also attritting the Germans forces and taking casualties. Things were close until the fifth turn when a lot of the German infantry broke and died for FTR. At the same time, one German 75HT went down while repositioning which would allow some American vehicles to exit on one flank for double VP in the last turn. I recommend this scenario.

 

[Roy]

Tom Lavan and I played J19 Merzenhauzen Zoo a while back. Tom eked out the win on a fortunate for him, unfortunate for me shot in the 7th.

AAR at my blog

https://cardboardwarrior.blog/

Thanks for reading
Roy

 

[ecz]

Played ITR8 - Beyond The Slaughterhouse this weekend as the Russians.

ROAR has it 15(R) 16(G)

Nice medium to long medium scenario (8 turns), featuring a bunch of toys for both sides. Germans also have several force choice options which helps fog of war.

Should be a nice candidate for long round tourney rounds, VASL league or a 6 hour FTF session.

Rich

My Russians prevailed after a Human Wave or two right up the middle.

The BF32 flamethrower was my friend as were two S8 smokes.

Rich

just played with Craig H. for VASLeague. I agree with all the above.

The Russian must be ready to make many HW if he want to reach the far side of the board. In this game my Russian prevailed and made three HW. There are many possible defensive tactis for the German, hence the scenario is interesting for both players.

 

[Gunner Scott]

Luv Mert Zoo, one of the all time greats.

Tom Lavan and I played J19 Merzenhauzen Zoo a while back. Tom eked out the win on a fortunate for him, unfortunate for me shot in the 7th.

AAR at my blog

https://cardboardwarrior.blog/

Thanks for reading
Roy