AAR - Gloster Hill - 217

Major Issues

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I have been reading some WWII books. The current one is a fascinating autobiography - 'Feldgrau and Fellatio - My Life As A Call Girl In Occupied Rotterdam', by Dita von Sleaze. But I managed to put it down long enough to get in a game with Walt.

We have this FW series going on, with me as the Red Chinese. This week was Gloster Hill.


The British have to defend a hill or hills. They can also win by exiting 6 VPs off the north edge, but not until turn 4. To make it interesting, they have a Bugler, who makes everyone within 4 hexes Fanatic. Man, but that hep cat sure can blow a mean horn!

8080

You have probably heard of him.
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The Chinese also have their own Bugler.
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So this one was shaping up to be Dueling Bugles. It's like Dueling Banjos, but with more teeth.

The Reds have 16 627s that enter on the south, east and west edges. They have another squad and three HSs that enter on the north edge.

Walt put everyone on the NW hill. Rally 'round the flag, boys!!! Or, in this case, the bugler, which is a good idea due to the Fanaticism benefits. He had several units on or close to the north edge, threatening to exit. Most of my force entered on the south edge, but I brought the MMGs and some troops in on the west edge, and a couple squads on the east edge. I only brought in the 627/ LMG on the north edge on turn 1.

Due to the terrain, most of my troops couldn't be seen on turn 1. Also, Steep Hills are in effect. This makes hill hexes concealment terrain. So all of my troops were still concealed after my Advance, even those that advanced into open ground.

Walt opened up with his 9-2/ MMG to stripe my northern 627. He fired his puny mortar at me, but missed. A good shot from a squad with a LMG striped my MMG crews. The rest of his force maintained concealment.

C2, my MMGs opened up, and broke his mortar crew. My captured light mortar did nothing. Return fire eliminated one MMG crew. My troops continued to sneak forward, maintaining concealment. My remaining HSs and 7-0 crept on the north edge, adjacent to multiple British locations. One dummy stack drew some fire, one HS was broken, and the 7-0 was killed. But I was able to advance two HSs, one of whom was concealed, into a crag hex with a 447.

Crags are Ambush terrain in FW. I had a -3 on my Ambush roll. Which I won. So HtH, ambush and Chinese modifiers, I needed a 10 to have an effect. This ended badly for the British. And I withdrew forward to remain adjacent to a couple units.

B2, Walt really needs to do something about my puny northern HSs, as there are encirclement and rout problem looming. But his fire just pins one HS. By now, I have multiple giant stacks in range of the hill. A shot on his bugler results in a fatal wound. The squad stacked with him passes his MC with snakes, and generates a Hero. So he still has a Hero in the same hex, but I shot the bugle full of holes. Apparently, the Red Chinese are not music lovers. The British no longer being Fanatic is an awesome benefit for me. I break one other squad, who dies for failure to rout.

Can things get any worse for the British??? Of course they can! Starting on Turn 3, they have Ammo Shortage. And, I decide that the time is right to blow my bugle. Blow that horn, Gabriel, blow! And the charge begins!

Most of my troops were in giant stacks with leaders. I needed the extra MFs to move uphill, so I am mostly moving stacks with two and three squads in open ground. I didn't say it was a GOOD plan. I pay for it when the 9-2/ MMG gets a 3 KIA on my Commissar and two squads, but this does allow me to get two squads adjacent to him. I get three squads up into the middle of his troops on the left. They all stripe, but I don't care! His 8-1 breaks his LMG due to Ammo Shortage. Two other units roll 12s while shooting, and get ELRed, one to a Conscript. Ammo shortage has only just started, and is already paying off big for me.

Advance phase - my two northern lurking HSs jump his 8-1 and squad. Two squads and an 8-0 jump his 9-2. A striped squad goes after a 447 on my right. Other striped squads jump his hero, a HS, and a CXed squad. With HtH, not a good time to be a Gloster.

Walt loses his 9-2 and I lose my two squads in MAD. His hero and my squad also go MAD, leaving hex E4 empty. In the CC on my right, we both reduce. My HSs take out his 8-1, and I take out a HS, both with no losses. Walt has lost 4 squad equivalents and 3 SMCs in one CC phase.

Walt concedes. He is down to 2 unbroken squads and an 8-0. He would have to rally his broken crew and have no losses in the next turn to be able to exit 6 VPs. I don't have E4 yet, but it is empty, with three squads and a 9-1 adjacent.


Two of my northern HSs ended up taking out two squads and a 8-1 in CC. They were epic!!!

This seems tough on the British. Recommend giving them the balance, which is another squad.
 

jrv

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The Reds have 16 627s that enter on the south, east and west edges. They have another squad and three HSs that enter on the north edge.
The CPVA enter on the south, east & west edges on/between A6 & P6. When I played it both I and my opponent missed the additional limit, which meant that CPVA were entering near the top of the hill. That did not help the British at all.

Due to the terrain, most of my troops couldn't be seen on turn 1. Also, Steep Hills are in effect. This makes hill hexes concealment terrain. So all of my troops were still concealed after my Advance, even those that advanced into open ground.
You get this weird situation where a unit can assault move & not lose concealment even though the attack is -1 for FFMO. That happens at night too, but I still find it troubling.

I can't find my setup for this but I remember as the British spending a lot of effort first dealing with the setup restrictions (MMC may not set up adjacent to each other; foxholes may not combine) and then with prioritizing the defense. I set up with a fair number of units near the south edge so the CPVA could not cut me off trivially. But I couldn't set up adjacent to the south edge because then the CPVA could just advance on, using a bump scout with a halfsquad to strip concealment. Next I worried about the east edge, which is the closest to the British position.

JR
 
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xenovin

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I played this as the Chinese and they didn’t like all the -2,-3,&-4 shots against them. It ended in a big CC attack on the British victory hex and the Brits were victorious
 

JoeArthur

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"I have been reading some WWII books. The current one is a fascinating autobiography - 'Feldgrau and Fellatio - My Life As A Call Girl In Occupied Rotterdam', by Dita von Sleaze."

Interesting fact - the German Army were banned from the Red Light district in Amsterdam and set up their own brothels.


One of the chits used at these brothels was on display at a military museum. The woman had to put her name on it and sign it.
 
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Major Issues

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The CPVA enter on the south, east & west edges on/between A6 & P6. When I played it both I and my opponent missed the additional limit, which meant that CPVA were entering near the top of the hill. That did not help the British at all.



You get this weird situation where a unit can assault move & not lose concealment even though the attack is -1 for FFMO. That happens at night too, but I still find it troubling.

I can't find my setup for this but I remember as the British spending a lot of effort first dealing with the setup restrictions (MMC may not set up adjacent to each other; foxholes may not combine) and then with prioritizing the defense. I set up with a fair number of units near the south edge so the CPVA could not cut me off trivially. But I couldn't set up adjacent to the south edge because then the CPVA could just advance on, using a bump scout with a halfsquad to strip concealment. Next I worried about the east edge, which is the closest to the British position.

JR
I did do the entry areas correctly. Walt did have some MMCs set up adjacent to each other. We played it with his set up, partly because with dummies and concealment, I didn't know they were incorrect. I don't think it hurt me. There's so many Chinese.

Walt only had the 9-2 and his squad adjacent to the north edge, and I didn't want to deal with them with HSs. He had several units two hexes away.

I brought 3 squads and a 8-0 on from the east edge, and they headed NW toward the 9-2. This gave me four squads to charge him on turn 3. Two pinned, two made it through.
 

Ray Woloszyn

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"I have been reading some WWII books. The current one is a fascinating autobiography - 'Feldgrau and Fellatio - My Life As A Call Girl In Occupied Rotterdam', by Dita von Sleaze."

Interesting fact - the German Army were banned from the Red Light district in Amsterdam and set up their own brothels.


One of the chits used at these brothels was on display at a military museum. The woman had to put her name on it and sign it.
Sort of like at the German Grenadier tournament when you have to sign your scenario chit win or lose. Maybe only the loser should sign to correspond with Wehrmacht practices. :)
 

Major Issues

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Sort of like at the German Grenadier tournament when you have to sign your scenario chit win or lose. Maybe only the loser should sign to correspond with Wehrmacht practices. :)
I may have to include the words 'brothel', 'call girl', 'prostitute' and 'fellatio' in future AARs. I gotta give my public what they want...
 

Major Issues

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Sort of like at the German Grenadier tournament when you have to sign your scenario chit win or lose. Maybe only the loser should sign to correspond with Wehrmacht practices.
Visiting a brothel. How could you possibly lose???
:D:D:D
 

JRKrejsa

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I remember struggling mightily to keep the north edge open, so the Brits could withdraw. Plenty of hs vs. hs fighting in a sub-battle.
 

Jacometti

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I may have to include the words 'brothel', 'call girl', 'prostitute' and 'fellatio' in future AARs. I gotta give my public what they want...
i think using the word "erect" only would greatly excite most ageing readers, man. Don't overdo it, not all pacemakers are state of the art self-regulating.
 
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