Major Issues
Elder Member
Played Task Force Faith Hill Breakout against Walt Harrar. This is the first FW scenario that either of us has played. We picked this one because nothing makes a player's heart beat faster with excitement than the chance to move a huge number of trucks. Forget about your Tigers and SS, bub, any hep cat knows that trucks is where the fun is at!!!
Walt had the Chinese. I had the American trucks.
Americans have to exit lots and lots of trucks. Ground snow, only one road, lots of open ground. Americans get 1 FM of 100mm OBA and FBs with napalm. Chinese have a lot of troops, but nothing with range other than two light mortars and one 82 mm mortar. Ammo Shortage and Extreme Winter are in effect for both sides.
Walt set up his forces on interior woods hexes of board 19. This meant that I could pretty much move up my infantry with impunity, as a lot of the open ground could only be interdicted by shooting through Light Woods. (Light Woods are like Olive Groves on steroids.) It also meant that a lot of the fighting was going to be at 1 hex range, which works to the Chinese advantage.
Push up my right flank was going pretty well. Americans have enough FP that even firing through multiple Light Woods is an option. (That's a 20 +4!!!) Then I ran into a hex where he had not one, not two, but THREE HIP squads. I started with a 9-1 and two 667s and ended up with a broken 8-1 and a broken 346. Walt does like to stack to make big FGs. My sole consolation was that I had uncovered most of his HIP guys. A FB shot with MGs with no effect, and the napalm missed, but infantry MG fire destroyed these guys.
On my left flank, infantry fire destroyed his Commissar stack. His Little Red Book was red with blood, now. I got a FB attack on another big stack, and hit with napalm, but he still came out of it with most of his troops, and the inherent napalm smoke made it so that shooting into the hex was going to be useless.
This was the first time that either of us had played with napalm. Sure, there was that one 4th of July picnic at Ronnie's, but we swore him to secrecy, even though we burned down his shed. I meant to say that this was the first time we have used napalm in ASL.
Mebbe it's just me, but I thought that the napalm rules were confusing and weird. We played it that the Chinese did not have to exit in the turn that it was called down, because even though there is a Blaze in the hex, it is not a Terrain Blaze. This did turn into a Terrain Blaze when the Smoke disappeared, so he moved out then. I don't like the Random SW destruction rule for this. You might lose a SW a turn AFTER the attack, but only if you have stayed in the hex? In the meantime, you can continue to shoot this soon-to-be destroyed SW. "Quick!!! Keep shooting before it melts!!!"
Walt had a lot of trouble with SW malfunctions - with Ammo Shortage and Extreme Winter, everything broke on a 9. He also had a lot of problems with 2nd line squads ELRing, which turns them into two Disrupted broken HSs. This happened a LOT.
I never broke a SW while firing it, though I did have two squads that downgraded themselves by rolling 12s when shooting.
With all the fighting taking place at close range in the woods, there were a lot of CCs. Which I won. All of them. Even those where I was Ambushed and Walt declared HtH. We never even had a Melee. I would jump in, stab him again and again and AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!!! and that would be it.
I never got a chance to use my OBA. As the game went on, ELR failure was an issue for the Americans, and most of my 667s had become 666s, which is a problem when you are attacking at 1 hex range. I held off bringing in the mighty mighty trucks until turn 5.
Like she said on our third date, "Here is where it starts to get weird." Walt had a 437 and crew left near the bridge - the Napalm survivors. He also had a light mortar, and his still hidden 82 mortar.
His infantry immobilized one truck just as it crossed the bridge. The HIP 82 mortar opened up, and got a CH on another truck in the same hex. It did not burn. He kept rate, and got another couple shots off with no effect, but then broke the mortar. And by the end of the turn, I had killed his light mortar crew in CC and reduced his 437 squad.
And it didn't matter. The game was over. I can't disband the Convoy until I have lost three trucks. Until it is disbanded, each truck entering the hex with the wreck and immobilized truck has to pay double for other vehicles/ wrecks, so each Convoy truck would have to pay 10 MPs to enter that hex. As long as Walt did not shoot another truck so I could disband, it was physically impossible for me to get the trucks off. Odd ending.
Walt's lone regret was that he could not use the Bugle rules.
An impromptu break dancing session breaks out among the victors!!!
Walt had the Chinese. I had the American trucks.
Americans have to exit lots and lots of trucks. Ground snow, only one road, lots of open ground. Americans get 1 FM of 100mm OBA and FBs with napalm. Chinese have a lot of troops, but nothing with range other than two light mortars and one 82 mm mortar. Ammo Shortage and Extreme Winter are in effect for both sides.
Walt set up his forces on interior woods hexes of board 19. This meant that I could pretty much move up my infantry with impunity, as a lot of the open ground could only be interdicted by shooting through Light Woods. (Light Woods are like Olive Groves on steroids.) It also meant that a lot of the fighting was going to be at 1 hex range, which works to the Chinese advantage.
Push up my right flank was going pretty well. Americans have enough FP that even firing through multiple Light Woods is an option. (That's a 20 +4!!!) Then I ran into a hex where he had not one, not two, but THREE HIP squads. I started with a 9-1 and two 667s and ended up with a broken 8-1 and a broken 346. Walt does like to stack to make big FGs. My sole consolation was that I had uncovered most of his HIP guys. A FB shot with MGs with no effect, and the napalm missed, but infantry MG fire destroyed these guys.
On my left flank, infantry fire destroyed his Commissar stack. His Little Red Book was red with blood, now. I got a FB attack on another big stack, and hit with napalm, but he still came out of it with most of his troops, and the inherent napalm smoke made it so that shooting into the hex was going to be useless.
This was the first time that either of us had played with napalm. Sure, there was that one 4th of July picnic at Ronnie's, but we swore him to secrecy, even though we burned down his shed. I meant to say that this was the first time we have used napalm in ASL.
Mebbe it's just me, but I thought that the napalm rules were confusing and weird. We played it that the Chinese did not have to exit in the turn that it was called down, because even though there is a Blaze in the hex, it is not a Terrain Blaze. This did turn into a Terrain Blaze when the Smoke disappeared, so he moved out then. I don't like the Random SW destruction rule for this. You might lose a SW a turn AFTER the attack, but only if you have stayed in the hex? In the meantime, you can continue to shoot this soon-to-be destroyed SW. "Quick!!! Keep shooting before it melts!!!"
Walt had a lot of trouble with SW malfunctions - with Ammo Shortage and Extreme Winter, everything broke on a 9. He also had a lot of problems with 2nd line squads ELRing, which turns them into two Disrupted broken HSs. This happened a LOT.
I never broke a SW while firing it, though I did have two squads that downgraded themselves by rolling 12s when shooting.
With all the fighting taking place at close range in the woods, there were a lot of CCs. Which I won. All of them. Even those where I was Ambushed and Walt declared HtH. We never even had a Melee. I would jump in, stab him again and again and AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!!! and that would be it.
I never got a chance to use my OBA. As the game went on, ELR failure was an issue for the Americans, and most of my 667s had become 666s, which is a problem when you are attacking at 1 hex range. I held off bringing in the mighty mighty trucks until turn 5.
Like she said on our third date, "Here is where it starts to get weird." Walt had a 437 and crew left near the bridge - the Napalm survivors. He also had a light mortar, and his still hidden 82 mortar.
His infantry immobilized one truck just as it crossed the bridge. The HIP 82 mortar opened up, and got a CH on another truck in the same hex. It did not burn. He kept rate, and got another couple shots off with no effect, but then broke the mortar. And by the end of the turn, I had killed his light mortar crew in CC and reduced his 437 squad.
And it didn't matter. The game was over. I can't disband the Convoy until I have lost three trucks. Until it is disbanded, each truck entering the hex with the wreck and immobilized truck has to pay double for other vehicles/ wrecks, so each Convoy truck would have to pay 10 MPs to enter that hex. As long as Walt did not shoot another truck so I could disband, it was physically impossible for me to get the trucks off. Odd ending.
Walt's lone regret was that he could not use the Bugle rules.
An impromptu break dancing session breaks out among the victors!!!
