AAR - The Last Drive - FT251

Major Issues

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Vince
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I took some time off from drinking Coke with Pop-Rocks to get together with Jim Thompson for The Last Drive.
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This is a Justiciar scenario from the new LFT Italian Pack. Being contrary, Jim picked a scenario with no Italians. He took the Germans.

Americans have to capture a village in Italy, but they may get shot as soon as they enter the board. Mines and a HIP squad don't help. Both sides get to place rubble and shellholes before the game.

I placed my rubble to hinder his LOS, and the shellholes to help me cross streets. A better usage would have been to place the shellholes on the board edge for cover when entering. Bonus is that these are placed after the mines, and if shellholes are placed in a mine hex, it eliminates the mines. The psychology of ASL - "I want to place the mines on the board edge, but he is smart enough to know that I will do that, so I will put them somewhere else!!! But, wait!!! I know that he knows that I am crafty enough to put them somewhere else, so I WILL put them there!" Then he'll start rummaging for the iocane powder. We all have such devious minds, it's a wonder that someone in the ASL community hasn't emerged from their basement to take over the world. I think it would have happened by now, but we're all too busy clipping counters.

Having no respect for anyone with even a little bit of authority (which often got me into trouble in reform school), my first move was to use Cpl. Wilson as a scout and have him run in the open adjacent to a stone building. I believe that he was screaming "DON'T SHOOT!!! DON'T SHOOT!!!" as he did so. This apparently worked, as the 447 squad rolls a 12 and cowers. Cpl. Wilson keeps on running forward, and makes it safely to the middle of the street.

I use two 347s as more conventional scouts. Two squads with MMGs come up the center, three squads charge boldly across acres of open ground on the right, where no one can see them, and my 9-1 and three squads sneak into a board edge woods hex on my left. I have hit no mines.

In DF, Cpl. Wilson gets pinned in the street by a conscript squad. In AdvPh, I find his HIP squad with a CX 347, who gets ambushed and dies. I move lots of guys by his conscript, including a concealed stack with three squads. A MMG squad joins Cpl. Wilson in the street.

G1, and Cpl. Wilson is shot at and broken by the conscripts. His men turn away in disgust, as they are unfazed by the puny German firepower.

Jim AMs his front 447 into shellholes to bring him back into town. My 9-1 breaks him, then Subsequent Fires and rolls snakes. The 447 experiences The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Dead.
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My three squads that are concealed adjacent to the conscript squad line up and fire a volley.
7816

The conscripts can't stand up to fire on the 36 column. Go figger.

Cpl. Wilson routs back, and the conscripts are taken prisoner.

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"UP AGAINST THE WALL, MOTHERF**!!!!!!!"

A2, the DM'ed Cpl. Wilson does not rally, though he does down an entire bottle of fine Italian red to calm his rattled nerves. The 9-1 and his boys do nothing. Everyone else moves forward into stone buildings or rubble.

G2, Cpl. Wilson rallies, after fortifying himself with yet another bottle of fine Italian red.

German Prep, Jim takes a 28+3 shot on me. My HS pins, the squad passes and creates a hero. DF breaks both his squads.

A3, my hero boldly charges into open ground, and survives a terrible roll from Jim. This guarantees the capture of both of his broken LMG squads. Another squad of his breaks in advancing fire, and they, too will be headed into the bag.
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The 9-1 and his men charge forward and get into a stone building on the left. I found out afterwards that they went right between two minefields. Fortunes of war...

On the minus side, my 8-1 and a MMG squad are broken by his boresighted MMG. But, they can rout back to Cpl. Wilson, who they understand has just found a case of fine Italian red!

Jim throws in the towel. He has lost 5 squads out of 8 (4 squads are prisoners!), and his HSs with mortars are out of position behind the town. I will have giant stacks of squads in stone buildings and 3 turns to shoot at him. He said, "I knew it was over when you got into the buildings."

Cpl. Wilson sips some more fine Italian red, and makes plans to write a book on his harrowing experience after the war. He drinks another two bottles of fine Italian red, and, unfortunately for future historians, cannot remember anything the next morning.

https://youtu.be/NmkauELiMq4
 
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