Major Issues
Elder Member
I recently changed jobs, and thought that I would share some job hunting advice with you. Let the managers know about your hobbies and interests, and try to get them involved. I told them that one of my passions was giving Brazilian wax jobs, and offered to do them for free. Natasha was interested. Jacob, much less so.
Latest scenario was Tropic Lightning. I believe that there is a Ben Stiller movie about this action.
I had tried to negotiate a peace so that no fighting would be necessary – #JapaneseLivesMatter. But Marines gotta be Marines.
Walt want to do this because his father had been an M7 crew member, and he had another relative who sold grenades to the local Philippinos, who used them to kill fish, and, occasionally, each other.
Japanese are defending a town that has actual stone buildings, though there are also wooden buildings and huts. Victory requires the Marines to control all stone buildings. A few reinforcing squads come on, plus 6 Japanese tanks, which are really good ones, considering. They start with two dug-in garbage tanks on board. The Japanese player has a choice with these between pointing the ineffective 37 mm gun forward, or pointing the 2 FP ineffective RMG forward.
The Gyrenes get all of the usual Awesome Marine Firepower toys. A 9-2!!! A FT!!! DCs!!! A .50 cal!!! 2 Shermans!!! An M7!!! 5 Stuarts!!! Reinforcements in HTs!!! The only thing they didn’t get was NOBA and FBs with napalm. Someone should tell MacArthur.
To make matters worse for the Japanese, the Marines set up on board, only 2 hexes from the Japanese line. I thought that the best chance for a Japanese victory was a sleazy, last minute victory. Since VC depend on stone building control, I had 2 HIP 347s in bamboo, ready to move into stone buildings on the last Japanese turn. I was foreseeing a sleazed out victory, and a brutal thrashing from Walt afterwards as a result.
A1, a successful Smoke round and WP round provide cover for the bulk of the Marine force moving forward. Ben Stiller, the 9-2 with the .50 cal and a squad with a MMG blow the crap out of an entire stack of upfront...dummy counters. A Stuart moves into LOS of my 47L AT, and I bounce a shot. Two Stuarts move up to engage a dug-in tank. A stack led by an 8-0 boldly runs into palm trees, where they get boldly shot by a 447 with a Nambu, who keeps rate. When the dust clears, the 8-0 is dead, along with one squad, and the other two squads are broken. Other infantry, presumably Bazooka Boyz, and the two Shermans move east to contest the Japanese tank reinforcements.
Not much happens J1. The Japanese tanks may enter on turn 1, 2 or 3, with an expanded east edge entry area for every turn delayed. With both Shermans and what I assumed were a couple HSs with bazookas on board 35 to stop them, I didn’t enter tanks on turn 1. My 347/ knee mortar was in a bad spot because of all of the smoke in front of him, so he dropped back into a building.
A2, Ben Stiller, the 9-2 and his Kill Stack fires and rolls an 11. This seems to be a theme with Walt, and possibly with Ben Stiller. Walt had a mostly ineffective Canadian 9-2 the week before. Anyway, I am happy, because it keeps Ben from moving up, and with 6-1/2 turns, the more time I can keep these murderers out of the action, the better for me.
I lose one dug-in tank, in a spectacular fuel tank explosion. Why a dug-in tank needed 100 gallons of gas is not explained. Another Stuart moves east to repel the expected Japanese tank attack. How did the Marines know one was coming??? As Walt explained to me, it was the native drums that sent the signal. The game starts to resemble a Tarzan movie. Me Tarzan. You Jap.
A Jap sniper pins a HS that was about to advance onto a concealed 447.
My 447 Nambu squad gets to shoot a 6+2 at the 9-1 who tried, unsuccessfully, to rally the two broken squads. Another good roll with rate, and the 9-1 fatally wounds. Early in the game, and Walt is down two leaders. The other officers are looking around nervously.
J2, my 47L AT immobilizes a Stuart, and gets rate. I don’t think that Walt realized when he moved a Stuart up to repel the expected Awesome Japanese Tank Invasion that he was giving me a side shot, albeit with +4 TH due to hindrances. Doesn’t matter. He dies.
My forward 447 jumps the 347 scout that had been pinned by the sniper. I kill him in CC, but I did not get ambush, so I am now stuck in a wooden building instead.
Turn 2, I lose the other dug-in POS useless tank to a CH – I would have been better served by a hull-down Ford Pinto. I had managed to hit a Stuart, then got the 3 I needed for a Possible Shock, but the crew easily passed their MC, all the while chortling with glee. The speed bump mortarmen on the wrong side of the street choose to remain concealed when a DC is placed on them, but several other Marine squads that move adjacent are shot up. I thought that placing the DC was a ballsy move, since it could have been a dummy stack. Anyway, it goes off with all the awesome destructive power of a Fourth of July sparkler. But two squads can still advance in. I lose the mortarmen in CC, and also the 447 who bayoneted Walt’s HS.
J2, I again delay the arrival of the Awesome Japanese Tank Assault. The longer I wait, the larger the entry area. It also ties up the Shermans and Joe Bazooka, as they sit around and smoke Lucky Stripes while waiting.
“Welcome to Flavor Country.”
My reinforcing infantry come in on the NE corner, which sucks for trying to get to town quickly, but I thought they could go after bazookamen, and maybe scare his reinforcing halftracks. Ben Stiller rolls a 12 and breaks his MMG. But I break my 47L AT.
Walt goes all cautious with his infantry, and some guys, including the FT, blast away at my guys across the street, some of which are concealed, or he moves up using assault move. The remaining Stuarts move to block roads in town, but they don’t take any shots.
My tanks enter on turn 3, with two in the north where the bazooka men are, two in the middle where the Shermans are, and two in the south where the Mississippi Delta Blues are. Poke Salad Annie. Gator got your grannie.
My northern tanks get by his bazookamen. My two squads boldly charge one of them through the kunai, only to find out that it was a 666 and not the HS I was expecting. Potential 12-1 and 6-1. Ouch. Still, his squad cowers. The only ill-effect on me is one squad striping, and I break his squad.
My middle tanks don’t want to engage the Shermans. Wouldn’t be prudent. I successfully run past them, and end up in Motion out of their LOS.
The southern tanks don’t risk getting shot at, but have to take a bunch of Bog checks while bypassing The Great Dismal Swamp. Fear of Rodents Of Unusual Size helps to spur them to safety.
A4, the FT and big firegroups take a toll on my guys in the center of town. I lose the crew of the broken AT gun and a 9-1 fatally wounds. The .50 cal, which Ben Stiller had left behind, breaks. Two Stuarts move south of town, and the two Shermans move to block progress west by two of my tanks. The M7 and reinforcing halftracks don’t go anywhere threatening.
J4, my northern tanks move to engage the immobilized Stuart, but the M7 takes out one and the Stuart Shocks the other. The middle two tanks try their best to rush past the Shermans. I drove into the hex with one, hoping his other Sherman would miss me by one, hit the Sherman in the hex with me, and cause an explosion that would be seen and heard for MILES.
It didn’t happen, and I lose both tanks. Too bad. It would have made a much, much better AAR if Walt shot the hell out of his own tank.
Plus, then there would be court martial proceedings. With the verdict a foregone conclusion, unless Alan Dershowitz is involved.
The southern tank and SP gun pass all of their Bog checks, and drive behind one Stuart. I nail it in Advancing Fire.
My northern reinforcements go after the other bazooka squad. My poor 9-0 takes a slug in the head, but my LMG squad breaks the bazookamen.
The end game has big Marine firegroups shooting at my troops in the stone buildings on the west side of town, while a tank battle rages south of town. I lose my two remaining AFVs, while Walt loses another Stuart. Gusts occur TWICE, which sets some unimportant terrain on fire. A Sherman VBFs my HMG position, and pretty much all my infantry in the center of town die in 4:1 CCs.
But, I still have a MMG crew bravely holding out in Z2, and I can unleash the awesome might of my two HIP 347s!!! My remaining LMG squad boldly charges forward, less in the chance of doing anything useful, but to draw fire that could be used against a 347. They bravely do their duty, but end up a pinned HS. The 347 that they sacrificed themselves for gets pinned outside a stone victory building.
The other side of the road, my other 347 jumps a HS, but doesn’t get ambush, and we end up in Melee.
Last Marine turn, the southern MMG gets rushed. They shoot valiantly, but there are too many Marines and they die a gruesome death. Ben Stiller, in true Hollywood end-of-the movie fashion, charges with his squad and eliminates the 347 in Melee in a bloody, gory, slow-motion carnage stabfest. I think it was a 6:1 minus 2. And Hand-to-Hand. Do the math.
So the Emperor’s Legions lose, but it came down to the last CC, which I think means a good game.
ROAR is fairly even, but my gut feeling is that this is pro-Marine. Walt never tried to use Canister – the M7 has 24 FP with its Canister, and there are 5 Stuarts with 12 FP Canister. The FT, .50 cal and Ben Stiller were not as decimating as they could have been. I’m wondering how many Japanese victories were due to HIP end-of-game sleazes like I tried. This may have worked, but part of the problem was that my troops held up TOO well. If they had fallen earlier, more Marines may well have been further south, and unable to rush back in time to deal with the HIP 347s. On the other hand, in our previous game, Walt had left behind units in victory buildings, which he did again this time. So there was no chance of me sneaking into a building while no one was home, like me and Jake did last Saturday night.
One HIP 347 had a 6-2 shot at an 8-0 and 3 squads on turn 1. I passed, thinking that I would be better served holding them back for the sleaze move than shooting, and probably breaking, guys that had plenty of time to come back.
The sad thing is, if I had put the HIP dudes in buildings at Level 1, I would have won. Walt never entered these hexes, searched, or mopped up, so he never would have found them. I just thought that being HIP in bamboo gave me more options, as I had the potential to occupy more than one building. I hoped I could get an empty one.
On the other hand, if I had won with a squad that remained HIP in the attic all game, Walt would have beaten me to death with a tire iron. ASL is all about choices.
Pic from end of game is below.
Latest scenario was Tropic Lightning. I believe that there is a Ben Stiller movie about this action.
I had tried to negotiate a peace so that no fighting would be necessary – #JapaneseLivesMatter. But Marines gotta be Marines.
Walt want to do this because his father had been an M7 crew member, and he had another relative who sold grenades to the local Philippinos, who used them to kill fish, and, occasionally, each other.
Japanese are defending a town that has actual stone buildings, though there are also wooden buildings and huts. Victory requires the Marines to control all stone buildings. A few reinforcing squads come on, plus 6 Japanese tanks, which are really good ones, considering. They start with two dug-in garbage tanks on board. The Japanese player has a choice with these between pointing the ineffective 37 mm gun forward, or pointing the 2 FP ineffective RMG forward.
The Gyrenes get all of the usual Awesome Marine Firepower toys. A 9-2!!! A FT!!! DCs!!! A .50 cal!!! 2 Shermans!!! An M7!!! 5 Stuarts!!! Reinforcements in HTs!!! The only thing they didn’t get was NOBA and FBs with napalm. Someone should tell MacArthur.
To make matters worse for the Japanese, the Marines set up on board, only 2 hexes from the Japanese line. I thought that the best chance for a Japanese victory was a sleazy, last minute victory. Since VC depend on stone building control, I had 2 HIP 347s in bamboo, ready to move into stone buildings on the last Japanese turn. I was foreseeing a sleazed out victory, and a brutal thrashing from Walt afterwards as a result.
A1, a successful Smoke round and WP round provide cover for the bulk of the Marine force moving forward. Ben Stiller, the 9-2 with the .50 cal and a squad with a MMG blow the crap out of an entire stack of upfront...dummy counters. A Stuart moves into LOS of my 47L AT, and I bounce a shot. Two Stuarts move up to engage a dug-in tank. A stack led by an 8-0 boldly runs into palm trees, where they get boldly shot by a 447 with a Nambu, who keeps rate. When the dust clears, the 8-0 is dead, along with one squad, and the other two squads are broken. Other infantry, presumably Bazooka Boyz, and the two Shermans move east to contest the Japanese tank reinforcements.
Not much happens J1. The Japanese tanks may enter on turn 1, 2 or 3, with an expanded east edge entry area for every turn delayed. With both Shermans and what I assumed were a couple HSs with bazookas on board 35 to stop them, I didn’t enter tanks on turn 1. My 347/ knee mortar was in a bad spot because of all of the smoke in front of him, so he dropped back into a building.
A2, Ben Stiller, the 9-2 and his Kill Stack fires and rolls an 11. This seems to be a theme with Walt, and possibly with Ben Stiller. Walt had a mostly ineffective Canadian 9-2 the week before. Anyway, I am happy, because it keeps Ben from moving up, and with 6-1/2 turns, the more time I can keep these murderers out of the action, the better for me.
I lose one dug-in tank, in a spectacular fuel tank explosion. Why a dug-in tank needed 100 gallons of gas is not explained. Another Stuart moves east to repel the expected Japanese tank attack. How did the Marines know one was coming??? As Walt explained to me, it was the native drums that sent the signal. The game starts to resemble a Tarzan movie. Me Tarzan. You Jap.
A Jap sniper pins a HS that was about to advance onto a concealed 447.
My 447 Nambu squad gets to shoot a 6+2 at the 9-1 who tried, unsuccessfully, to rally the two broken squads. Another good roll with rate, and the 9-1 fatally wounds. Early in the game, and Walt is down two leaders. The other officers are looking around nervously.
J2, my 47L AT immobilizes a Stuart, and gets rate. I don’t think that Walt realized when he moved a Stuart up to repel the expected Awesome Japanese Tank Invasion that he was giving me a side shot, albeit with +4 TH due to hindrances. Doesn’t matter. He dies.
My forward 447 jumps the 347 scout that had been pinned by the sniper. I kill him in CC, but I did not get ambush, so I am now stuck in a wooden building instead.
Turn 2, I lose the other dug-in POS useless tank to a CH – I would have been better served by a hull-down Ford Pinto. I had managed to hit a Stuart, then got the 3 I needed for a Possible Shock, but the crew easily passed their MC, all the while chortling with glee. The speed bump mortarmen on the wrong side of the street choose to remain concealed when a DC is placed on them, but several other Marine squads that move adjacent are shot up. I thought that placing the DC was a ballsy move, since it could have been a dummy stack. Anyway, it goes off with all the awesome destructive power of a Fourth of July sparkler. But two squads can still advance in. I lose the mortarmen in CC, and also the 447 who bayoneted Walt’s HS.
J2, I again delay the arrival of the Awesome Japanese Tank Assault. The longer I wait, the larger the entry area. It also ties up the Shermans and Joe Bazooka, as they sit around and smoke Lucky Stripes while waiting.
“Welcome to Flavor Country.”
My reinforcing infantry come in on the NE corner, which sucks for trying to get to town quickly, but I thought they could go after bazookamen, and maybe scare his reinforcing halftracks. Ben Stiller rolls a 12 and breaks his MMG. But I break my 47L AT.
Walt goes all cautious with his infantry, and some guys, including the FT, blast away at my guys across the street, some of which are concealed, or he moves up using assault move. The remaining Stuarts move to block roads in town, but they don’t take any shots.
My tanks enter on turn 3, with two in the north where the bazooka men are, two in the middle where the Shermans are, and two in the south where the Mississippi Delta Blues are. Poke Salad Annie. Gator got your grannie.
My northern tanks get by his bazookamen. My two squads boldly charge one of them through the kunai, only to find out that it was a 666 and not the HS I was expecting. Potential 12-1 and 6-1. Ouch. Still, his squad cowers. The only ill-effect on me is one squad striping, and I break his squad.
My middle tanks don’t want to engage the Shermans. Wouldn’t be prudent. I successfully run past them, and end up in Motion out of their LOS.
The southern tanks don’t risk getting shot at, but have to take a bunch of Bog checks while bypassing The Great Dismal Swamp. Fear of Rodents Of Unusual Size helps to spur them to safety.
A4, the FT and big firegroups take a toll on my guys in the center of town. I lose the crew of the broken AT gun and a 9-1 fatally wounds. The .50 cal, which Ben Stiller had left behind, breaks. Two Stuarts move south of town, and the two Shermans move to block progress west by two of my tanks. The M7 and reinforcing halftracks don’t go anywhere threatening.
J4, my northern tanks move to engage the immobilized Stuart, but the M7 takes out one and the Stuart Shocks the other. The middle two tanks try their best to rush past the Shermans. I drove into the hex with one, hoping his other Sherman would miss me by one, hit the Sherman in the hex with me, and cause an explosion that would be seen and heard for MILES.
It didn’t happen, and I lose both tanks. Too bad. It would have made a much, much better AAR if Walt shot the hell out of his own tank.
Plus, then there would be court martial proceedings. With the verdict a foregone conclusion, unless Alan Dershowitz is involved.
The southern tank and SP gun pass all of their Bog checks, and drive behind one Stuart. I nail it in Advancing Fire.
My northern reinforcements go after the other bazooka squad. My poor 9-0 takes a slug in the head, but my LMG squad breaks the bazookamen.
The end game has big Marine firegroups shooting at my troops in the stone buildings on the west side of town, while a tank battle rages south of town. I lose my two remaining AFVs, while Walt loses another Stuart. Gusts occur TWICE, which sets some unimportant terrain on fire. A Sherman VBFs my HMG position, and pretty much all my infantry in the center of town die in 4:1 CCs.
But, I still have a MMG crew bravely holding out in Z2, and I can unleash the awesome might of my two HIP 347s!!! My remaining LMG squad boldly charges forward, less in the chance of doing anything useful, but to draw fire that could be used against a 347. They bravely do their duty, but end up a pinned HS. The 347 that they sacrificed themselves for gets pinned outside a stone victory building.
The other side of the road, my other 347 jumps a HS, but doesn’t get ambush, and we end up in Melee.
Last Marine turn, the southern MMG gets rushed. They shoot valiantly, but there are too many Marines and they die a gruesome death. Ben Stiller, in true Hollywood end-of-the movie fashion, charges with his squad and eliminates the 347 in Melee in a bloody, gory, slow-motion carnage stabfest. I think it was a 6:1 minus 2. And Hand-to-Hand. Do the math.
So the Emperor’s Legions lose, but it came down to the last CC, which I think means a good game.
ROAR is fairly even, but my gut feeling is that this is pro-Marine. Walt never tried to use Canister – the M7 has 24 FP with its Canister, and there are 5 Stuarts with 12 FP Canister. The FT, .50 cal and Ben Stiller were not as decimating as they could have been. I’m wondering how many Japanese victories were due to HIP end-of-game sleazes like I tried. This may have worked, but part of the problem was that my troops held up TOO well. If they had fallen earlier, more Marines may well have been further south, and unable to rush back in time to deal with the HIP 347s. On the other hand, in our previous game, Walt had left behind units in victory buildings, which he did again this time. So there was no chance of me sneaking into a building while no one was home, like me and Jake did last Saturday night.
One HIP 347 had a 6-2 shot at an 8-0 and 3 squads on turn 1. I passed, thinking that I would be better served holding them back for the sleaze move than shooting, and probably breaking, guys that had plenty of time to come back.
The sad thing is, if I had put the HIP dudes in buildings at Level 1, I would have won. Walt never entered these hexes, searched, or mopped up, so he never would have found them. I just thought that being HIP in bamboo gave me more options, as I had the potential to occupy more than one building. I hoped I could get an empty one.
On the other hand, if I had won with a squad that remained HIP in the attic all game, Walt would have beaten me to death with a tire iron. ASL is all about choices.
Pic from end of game is below.
