J167 Hart Attack

ScottRomanowski

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Tunisia 1942: I am the Allied attacker leading a force of 5 American Lees and 14 Canadian squad-equivalents against 9.5 German squads and a 40LL AT Gun. The Germans will get three PzIIIHs on turn 3. I win at game end by amassing ≥ 7 VP: 1 VP for each building I control, 1 for each PzIIIH I eliminate or capture, and 1 for every 2 (FRU) Lees I exit off the east edge. Orchards are olive groves and hedges are cactus hedges. We reset the hedge transformation when we found that disabled VASL's smart LOS checking.

My opponent's setup:
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I plan to attack in the north, take those four buildings, and exit all five Lees either via bypass along the north edge, or by spending all MP to enter a woods hex, making a trailbreak at minimum risk.
I sent 4.5 squads to the center to slow down his units in the south as they try to reinforce the north. I see some units are unsupported, so I will swarm what I assume is a HS in C8, then the unit in E7. I don't think the Gun would be this far forward; it's too much of a gamble.

It was a squad in C8, which I VBM froze, reinforced by three squads. My CX stack on the hill is a concealed stack of 9-2, HMG/458, MMG/458. I've acquired a mortar in the north and his concealed unit on the central hill. After turn 1a:
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In turn 1b my opponent AM's the concealed unit on the north hill ADJACENT to a Lee and a 457. I eliminate it in DFPh -- it was a ATR/238 coming to try and DI the Lee -- but his other units pass multiple NMCs and 1MCs. After turn 1b:
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I continue the attack, using my turns of unopposed armor as agressively as I can. I eliminate his unit on the hill in a lucky CC. I was prepared to fire the 9-2 stack on it if became a Melee. I move two Lees with infantry to try to isolate his units around H7/H8, a 9-1, MMH/548 stack and what might be a DC-toting HS. One of those Lees overruns a squad in the brush north of the wall. In the center I broke the first squad trying to reinforce. I am sending a HS south, to both prevent him from flanking me and threatening the B6 building, and to threaten to flank him and capture some of the southern buildings. After turn 2a:
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I pin the MMG/548 and break the 9-1 as they try to fall back, the HS manning the mortar in the north. My opponent shifted his southern forces east, probably to avoid my blocking force in the center. After turn 2b:
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I'm fairly certain the 40LL isn't in the eastern woods; I think my opponent would have shot rather than allow the overrun, so in turn 3a I move three Lees to counter his PzIIIHs if he enters them in the north. I rushed two Lees forward, fearing the AT Gun if it were in M9. If he tries to go through the woods, or wiggle through the northern bypass route, I hope to be able to hit them first. In the center I overrun the MMG/548 that was pinned trying to fall back. One squad drawing fire goes berserk and is eliminated charging into J9. I've moved the 9-2 MG stack further south and pushed my blocking force a hex forward as I start pushing for buildings J8 and K9. I was surprised to find the concealed unit in L7 was DC/8-0. I DTed a 8-0 & squad to F14 to DM a broken 548 in J14; it's now moving back north. After turn 3a:
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In 3b my opponent splits his tanks. His southern force has deployed to guard the buildings, with a MTR/HS on the hill in N12. My Motion Lee in I8 hopes to be able to duck out of LOS. After 3b:
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In 4a I VBM freeze and break the 548 in K9. I DT a 9-1, ATR/457 to P7, behind the O8 PzIIIH, which goes into Motion. I then start moving Lees to M8, stopping, firing after a short delay, and moving away. The third Lee misses but get ROF with its 37LL, malfs its B75, then hits and eliminates the PzIIIH with the 37LL.
M10 was interesting -- it had a broken 548, 9-1 and DC/8-0. In the AFPh a 457 in M9 fired on M10, and my opponent rolled my SAN, which wounded the DC/8-0. In the center I try to swarm the I12 PzIIIH but it repels my infantry. In the RtPh the 548 had to rout to K10, the closest, as the Lee bypassing K9 was unknown to it. But the DC/wnd8-0 couldn't rout with it. The 9-1 and broken 548 could rout to K10 for 3 MF, and continue on to J10 for 5, but an unbroken leader can only rout with a broken unit if it remains with the broken unit throughout the RtPh. If the wnd8-0 accompanied the broken unit, they'd have to stop after 3MF, in K10, the 548 would be eliminated to failure to rout as it ended the RtPh ADJACENT to a KEU. So the wnd8-0 stayed behind and I advanced in for 4-1 CC, and failed to eliminate the 8-0. After 4a:
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In 4b my opponent pulls back in the south, and pushes his central PzIIIH further north. The 8-0 and 457 both survive another round of melee and mortar fire from the German mortar in N12. After 4b:
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In 5a I exit one Lee and move two others to exit. I had labeled the hexes in the north near the bypass gap with how many MP it would take a Motion Lee to exit from there. It is easy to lose because you forget or miscounted details like MP. I advanced a concealed force led by the 9-2 against the Motion PzIIIH in I9. With a gammon bomb and ambush, I turn it into a burning wreck. I sent a unit to the east board edge to make sure the 40LL wasn't in Q4. In M10 the German mortar broke both my 457 and his wnd8-0. I've withdrawn but he hasn't moved his unit yet. After 5a:
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Continued in next post.
 
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ScottRomanowski

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In 5b my opponent starts a counterattack to try to take back J8 and K9. He revealed his Gun in M13 when it changed CA to cover the O8 exit path. He has two HS guarding the south buildings; my own HS was getting close. After 5b:
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In 6a I exit two more Lees. While the 9-2 hadn't been able to rejoin his MG kill stack, by themselves HMG/458 + MMG/458 break the German units in J9 with a 36FP+1 4MC. My opponent only breaks one squad in K9 in the DFPh and concedes. He only has one squad near enough and it would have to control two occupied buildings to win. In the AFPh I would have had two Lees firing at his last PzIIIH. I had control of four buildings, eliminated two PzIIIHs, and exited three Lees for 8VP.

This was a tense game, and if I hadn't been able to eliminate PzIIIHs, my opponent would have been in a good position to take back one building for a win. I would have had to exit all five Lees (3VP) to give me 7VP with the 4 from the buildings, and he would have had a chance to run over me with unopposed armor.
 

A_T_Great

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I like this scenario! My opponent was the Allies, and the only reason he didn't win, was because at the last moment a couple of my squads became immortals, and defied all attempts to eject them from the victory building. I used the desert colors for the map though, as it was in Tunisia.
 

jimfer

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Very nice ARR. I like the initial thought of grabbing 4 buildings and exiting the Lees. The thought of 3 unopposed Pz. IIIs ravaging my troops at the end could cause some anxious moments. Well played.
 

The Purist

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This is a fun scenario I played against Roy J in the Ersatz VASL League in January. Plenty of options for both sides but the US player does need to guard against a late game German counter move with the Pz IIIs so they don't scupper his plans.
 
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ScottRomanowski

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a late game German counter move with the Pz IIIs doesn't scupper his plans.
If I played as the Germans that's what I'd do. Give up the northern four buildings, hunker everything in the SE with the 40LL covering the PzIIIHs. Unless the Allied player wants to risk running through O8 on turn 6, he'll have to withdraw his armor on turn 5 at the latest.

It takes 13MP for a Motion Lee in N1 (CA N0/O1) to exit, less in M1 or N0/N1. Getting five Lees requires tight packing and maybe overstacking.

It's possible to create a TB in the hexrow P woods; spending ALL MPs to enter means only a +1 DRM, so only a 1 in 12 chance of bogging. If you try to move through the woods with one Lee on turn 4 (beginning adjacent and spending "ALL" MP), there's a 91.67% it doesn't bog, a 5.56% chance it bogs but frees itself on turn 5, and a 0.54% it bogs but frees itself on turn 6 and has 2 MP left to exit, leaving only a 2.24% chance that it can't exit. A TB takes half a unit's MP allotment. One to start and two more to exit the board means the other four Lees must be within 3.5 MP of the trailbreak on turn 6.

In any case, the German turn 5 would begin with all the Lees in the northeast corner. There's no margin, the Allied player has 4VP for buildings + 3VP for exiting five tanks.

For a real twist, use this strategy, but have the 40LL in the NE corner, maybe H0 CA J0. Hold fire until DFPh5a, when, all the Lees will be in the NE corner, if all goes to plan, and the Gun will probably have side or rear shots. If you stop one Lee from exiting the Allies suddenly have to gain one more VP and only two German and one Allied Player Turns to do it. I never thought about this possibility; now that I've thought about it, I realize I should have run HS through all the concealment terrain in the NE!
 
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