Played this on Saturday against Bob Miller at his request. He said he was interested in trying out this Hollow Legions monster designed by He Who Must Not Be Named however long ago that would have been. Since I was hosting I took defense and had a set-up ready to go when he arrived. After looking at the board he said: "you know, I've played this twice before as the attacker." So, feeling like I was about to get sharked we commenced play. ;-)
This scenario pits the defending Italians against Greek cavalry on boards 2, 17, and 43 for ten turns. The Greeks have to capture more buildings and clear the board 43 road along the Q hexrow of any GO unit. There's ground snow and all the buildings are single story.
The Italians have 16 squads- half elite and half the better first line, four leaders (8-1, 8-0, 7-0, 6+1), a hmg, 2 mmgs, four lmgs, a mtr, a 20L atr, and a 65* INF gun, and some dummies. All topped off with an ELR of 2, and a SAN of 2. The Greeks enter 24 squads (elites and 1st), I forget how many leaders, a variety of SWs, a platoon of Inexperienced tankettes, and three 75* guns towed by the slow side wagons. ELR of 3 and a SAN of 4(!), and Ammuntion Shortage. Italians have 8 346 squads entering on turn five with a little more firepower and two more leaders.
I set up fairly light on the entry board (2) since I figured on not holding out too long against any amount of firepower and wanted to hang on to as many guys as possible until turn five. So one squad on either end of the board on level two in foxholes w/lmgs, and two squads in the center, one on the small hill and one in the building by the center road. Dummy stacks were placed in the woods on the centeral hill area with one real 347 just to try for a surprise. On board 17 I set up the 65 on my right in the front of the orchards with two covering squads a couple hexes away on either side. The hmg went into a central stone building with the 8-1, a mmg forward and to his left, and the other mmg on my far left holding down that side, along with the atr forward in some woods.
Bob came on with several mounted HSs doing a little probing, slowed somewhat by the snow, but I maintained pretty good fire discipline until he'd begun moving in the full squads. I managed to sting him a bit, by taking out a full squad and another HS with my forward hill lmgs. That -2 mod for cavalry is nasty, and proved to be my only good shots versus the infantry. Once they dismounted I couldn't seem to touch them. The wagons moved really slowly up the hill on my left. His tank platoon decided to come after my left side lmg-er and rolled up with one guy adjacent. His first AFPh shot was a 12 which x'd out the MA and sent him home. My end of the turn resulted in a couple more breaks of horsemen and some shellgames with dummies. All in all a good turn for the Italians, except for his sniper which zeroed right onto the HMG and broke the manning squad. The sniper would remain right in that hex, eventually killing the leader-- the SAN of four really made taking shots with my 347s tense!
His next turn involved a little more dismounting and some more probing. The remaining two tankettes decided to neutralize the lmg-er and moved into his hex w/o overrun. My TK roll was a crit which was located on the rear facing and that tankette went no further. This proved to be a devastating loss for the Greeks, since the tankettes are desperately needed to help interdict the reinforcing Italians and keep the bd43 road clear. Bob made a little more headway down both board edges and began assembling some stacks to put down fire on my concealed folks. My turn saw me keep his attack uncoordinated by burning a few more mounted guys and revealing the 65 to take a few shots at the guys in the woods to my right. The hmg crew didn't come back and the leader got popped causing another break.
Turn three saw the Greek dice get hot, and half of my front line went down. He got his mmgs up onto level three and began to try to strip concealment on my backfield. His left flank moved aggressively against the gun's protecting squad and managed to get into a brief cc with him, while only getting one break. He also started to get behind my position on that flank while staying out of sight in the woods. I held up the assault down the opposite side with some pretty good shots from my middle area, but I was still sweating the fact that I was breaking a number of guys, and was without my hmg for the forseeable future.
Turn four continued to be filled with good shooting from the Greeks and I began to get even thinner. His last tankette managed to get non-platoon movement and started to head on down the hill into my left. Here he met up with the 20L atr and once again there was a stillness in the air as the treads ground to a halt. He also bean to assault the Koresh Compound, and did prety good at it with another CC tying up my squad and 8-0. My turn saw me get a squad back toward the hmg and do some skulking and shifting back away from the 75s up on the hills. (One tip: if you're towing a gun with a wagon, don't try to gallop to get into position faster).
Next turn saw more pushing on my left from a bunch of Greek cavalry. He'd figured that the concealed stack on that side probably had a mmg so he smoked the hexes in front of it. He moved in adjacent and even with woods and smoke the -2 for the cav came through when rolled snakes on the 16 column. The now active hmg was in the same building as the other mmg and those two provided enough of a threat to keep him cautious as he began moving through the middle of bd17. He reinforced the melee in the KC and took out the defenders handily. My turn brought on the reinforcements easily, and I parked two squads, an 8-0, a mmg,and an lmg in a stone building adjacent to the road, while the others moved further forward to shore up my left and into the woods and brush outside the KC.
Turns six and seven saw more attempts to crack my center area and a number of nasty CCs. At one point I shot at a squad making a quick run to a building past two of my 346s and 7-0. I figured it was bait to keep the squads from firing at th better guys about to head the same way. Took the shot anyway and got a 2MC which caused him to go Berserk and head back to my guys. Kept my head and didn't SFF so he decided to reinforce the resulting melee. He also got into it with my mmg on the left side. However my dice were hot and I came out of both melees the winner. One or two missed LOS's also ended badly for some mounted Greeks, and by the time we'd finished turn seven he conceded. The Greeks just didn't have enough left to make a serious challenge on the building next to the road and I still had all my main SWs fuctioning and manned to restrict his manuever.
All in all a pretty fun scenario, but I don't envy the Italians trying to hold on for as long as that if they can't take out the tankettes, not that the Greeks have an easy task. ROAR shows this to be even though, so perhaps it was just my new dice that made the difference. But I'll take my first victory against Bob in three years however I can get it.
This scenario pits the defending Italians against Greek cavalry on boards 2, 17, and 43 for ten turns. The Greeks have to capture more buildings and clear the board 43 road along the Q hexrow of any GO unit. There's ground snow and all the buildings are single story.
The Italians have 16 squads- half elite and half the better first line, four leaders (8-1, 8-0, 7-0, 6+1), a hmg, 2 mmgs, four lmgs, a mtr, a 20L atr, and a 65* INF gun, and some dummies. All topped off with an ELR of 2, and a SAN of 2. The Greeks enter 24 squads (elites and 1st), I forget how many leaders, a variety of SWs, a platoon of Inexperienced tankettes, and three 75* guns towed by the slow side wagons. ELR of 3 and a SAN of 4(!), and Ammuntion Shortage. Italians have 8 346 squads entering on turn five with a little more firepower and two more leaders.
I set up fairly light on the entry board (2) since I figured on not holding out too long against any amount of firepower and wanted to hang on to as many guys as possible until turn five. So one squad on either end of the board on level two in foxholes w/lmgs, and two squads in the center, one on the small hill and one in the building by the center road. Dummy stacks were placed in the woods on the centeral hill area with one real 347 just to try for a surprise. On board 17 I set up the 65 on my right in the front of the orchards with two covering squads a couple hexes away on either side. The hmg went into a central stone building with the 8-1, a mmg forward and to his left, and the other mmg on my far left holding down that side, along with the atr forward in some woods.
Bob came on with several mounted HSs doing a little probing, slowed somewhat by the snow, but I maintained pretty good fire discipline until he'd begun moving in the full squads. I managed to sting him a bit, by taking out a full squad and another HS with my forward hill lmgs. That -2 mod for cavalry is nasty, and proved to be my only good shots versus the infantry. Once they dismounted I couldn't seem to touch them. The wagons moved really slowly up the hill on my left. His tank platoon decided to come after my left side lmg-er and rolled up with one guy adjacent. His first AFPh shot was a 12 which x'd out the MA and sent him home. My end of the turn resulted in a couple more breaks of horsemen and some shellgames with dummies. All in all a good turn for the Italians, except for his sniper which zeroed right onto the HMG and broke the manning squad. The sniper would remain right in that hex, eventually killing the leader-- the SAN of four really made taking shots with my 347s tense!
His next turn involved a little more dismounting and some more probing. The remaining two tankettes decided to neutralize the lmg-er and moved into his hex w/o overrun. My TK roll was a crit which was located on the rear facing and that tankette went no further. This proved to be a devastating loss for the Greeks, since the tankettes are desperately needed to help interdict the reinforcing Italians and keep the bd43 road clear. Bob made a little more headway down both board edges and began assembling some stacks to put down fire on my concealed folks. My turn saw me keep his attack uncoordinated by burning a few more mounted guys and revealing the 65 to take a few shots at the guys in the woods to my right. The hmg crew didn't come back and the leader got popped causing another break.
Turn three saw the Greek dice get hot, and half of my front line went down. He got his mmgs up onto level three and began to try to strip concealment on my backfield. His left flank moved aggressively against the gun's protecting squad and managed to get into a brief cc with him, while only getting one break. He also started to get behind my position on that flank while staying out of sight in the woods. I held up the assault down the opposite side with some pretty good shots from my middle area, but I was still sweating the fact that I was breaking a number of guys, and was without my hmg for the forseeable future.
Turn four continued to be filled with good shooting from the Greeks and I began to get even thinner. His last tankette managed to get non-platoon movement and started to head on down the hill into my left. Here he met up with the 20L atr and once again there was a stillness in the air as the treads ground to a halt. He also bean to assault the Koresh Compound, and did prety good at it with another CC tying up my squad and 8-0. My turn saw me get a squad back toward the hmg and do some skulking and shifting back away from the 75s up on the hills. (One tip: if you're towing a gun with a wagon, don't try to gallop to get into position faster).
Next turn saw more pushing on my left from a bunch of Greek cavalry. He'd figured that the concealed stack on that side probably had a mmg so he smoked the hexes in front of it. He moved in adjacent and even with woods and smoke the -2 for the cav came through when rolled snakes on the 16 column. The now active hmg was in the same building as the other mmg and those two provided enough of a threat to keep him cautious as he began moving through the middle of bd17. He reinforced the melee in the KC and took out the defenders handily. My turn brought on the reinforcements easily, and I parked two squads, an 8-0, a mmg,and an lmg in a stone building adjacent to the road, while the others moved further forward to shore up my left and into the woods and brush outside the KC.
Turns six and seven saw more attempts to crack my center area and a number of nasty CCs. At one point I shot at a squad making a quick run to a building past two of my 346s and 7-0. I figured it was bait to keep the squads from firing at th better guys about to head the same way. Took the shot anyway and got a 2MC which caused him to go Berserk and head back to my guys. Kept my head and didn't SFF so he decided to reinforce the resulting melee. He also got into it with my mmg on the left side. However my dice were hot and I came out of both melees the winner. One or two missed LOS's also ended badly for some mounted Greeks, and by the time we'd finished turn seven he conceded. The Greeks just didn't have enough left to make a serious challenge on the building next to the road and I still had all my main SWs fuctioning and manned to restrict his manuever.
All in all a pretty fun scenario, but I don't envy the Italians trying to hold on for as long as that if they can't take out the tankettes, not that the Greeks have an easy task. ROAR shows this to be even though, so perhaps it was just my new dice that made the difference. But I'll take my first victory against Bob in three years however I can get it.
