Ersatz VASLeague 2020

Gunner Scott

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I just do not understand why people can not get their games done in the time given. You are given 3 months to finish a game, what is so hard about that?
 

Danny Peeters

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Hello folks,

my brave Russian soldiers will defend St. Polten in the Vienna Woods (AP52) against the attacking German forces from Joe Arthur!

Looking forward to our battle!
The Germans assaulted my trench line in the alpine hilltops with great determination.
They attacked from the West and South and took trench after trench.
My defenders fought bravely but couldn’t stop the SS’ers. In turn 3 the Germans broke my last units in the trenches and they had to rout to the woods in the East. All trenches but the 2 most Northern were in German hands.

But I had a relatively safe path for my reinforcements to get to these trenches…. I thought…
There was only 1 SS-squad at long range who had a LOS to my advance path.
But the SS’ers demonstrated their firing accuracy… they fired and decimated my advance group…
A 1,1 shot with 3 FP -2 drm can be devestating when you roll 3 6’s on 4 random selection die rolls… my leader and 2 elite squads KIA!
His next shot on my routed units was as devestating… 17 FP +1 drm and again a 1,3 result with my resulting 3 3MC’s giving him 3 Sniper checks! His ROF attack was very accurate again, another 1,1 killed any survivors and resulted again in a SAN for the Germans!
I could only reply with my AFV’s… but as they had just moved into position they needed very good shots and I missed but it gave the Germans a Sniper check again and another 1 activated his sniper to attack my sniper.
At this point we drew statistics and Joe had rolled an average of 1,12 on his first die and 2,88 on his second die on 8 dice rolls!
My second stack ran up the hills and just managed to get into the most Northern trench.
By now my 2 AFV’s were giving accurate fire too and broke his first attack line in the trenches.
But they came back… in their next rally phase the SS’ers rallied and how… on a total of 11 consecutive die’s Joe managed to roll 10 1’s and 1 3!!! Never saw something like that and will probably never see that again! I think the chances of winning at the Lottery are bigger!
This says something about the fighting spirit of the SS soldiers!

14390

So with renewed strength the Germans advanced again. They formed a killer stack which broke all my guys in the most Northern trench and his other forces positioned themselfes to advance into CC in my last trench with an unbroken squad.
My sniper got some of them but nevertheless he could advance into CC. Overwhelmed by SS’ers my guys prooved to have steel nerves too and held out and kept control over the trench which resulted in a Victory for my Russian forces!!!

What a rollercoaster this game was!

Thanks again Joe for the fun game, you are a fine ASL’er!!
 
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JoeArthur

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What a rollercoaster this game was!
The other side of the coin was unfortunatley 14 morale checks and an average of 8.5 :( At one point I had one and a half good order SS squads on the board. It was a game of extremes.

Well played Danny, it was extreme fun :). Good luck in the next round.

As Danny suggested after the game I should buy a lottery ticket.?
 

WuWei

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Here are the pairings for the 4th and final round of the ErsatzVASLeague 2020. The deadline for this round is 31 October!

TOP League:
Craig Houliston vs. Paul Lauger
Lionel Colin vs. Stewart King
Rich Domovic vs. Boudrenghien
Martin Vicca vs. Paul Chamberland
Koestler vs. Jack Boyle
Tinture vs. Brian Routh
Jeff Wasserman vs. Charles Henry Hammond

East League:
Jason Wert vs. Scott Holst
James Taylor vs. Jay Dragonetti
Andy Beaton vs. Kevin Russell
Patrick Palma vs. David Langer
Jim Fardette vs. Rob Arrieta
DUMMY vs. Andy Goldin

West League:
Larry Rohlfing vs. Eben Johnson
David Haasl vs. David Rosner
Donald Holland vs. Tom Repetti
Jason Burnette vs. Steffen Knippel
Rick Galli vs. John Bock
John Lehman vs. Mark Watson

Euro/Oceanic League:
Sandro Coriasco vs. Kåre Jacobsen
Juan Santacruz vs. Sam Prior
Björn Lorenzen vs. Tobias Deißler
Joe Moro vs. Magnus Rimvall
Sebastiano Caltabiano vs. Luca Martini
Toze Santos vs. DUMMY

Second Line League:
Felipe Zavala vs. Danny Peeters
Jonathan Kapleau vs. Joe Arthur
Maurizio vs. Kris Koch
Chuck Tewksbury vs. Simon Staniforth
Ernie Cameron vs. Michael Klautky
Stefano Piccardo vs. Fabio Mazzucchelli
Marti Cabre vs. Lee Hyde-Sellars
Euan Denniston vs. Joe Vennarucci
Steve Anderson vs. Michal Sedlacko
Todd Rezack vs. Frank J Costanzo
Jim Bellini vs. Andy Riemer

Have fun!
 

Gunner Scott

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Jason and I will be squaring off by playing U33 Bukrin Bridgehead with Jason taking the Russians and attacking. This was an old scenario that was revised in the U series for the turning the tide pack. It looks pretty interesting with a alot of Russians trying to make sure there are no GO germans on a victory hex. The Germans do not know which victory hexes are in play until game start. So there is some fog of war here. I have never played this one so I am looking forward to the game.
 

WuWei

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if this is the final round, perhaps a more liberal deadline might be called for.
I need some time to implement changes and fix some bugs in the underlying system that came to light in the last months, and I don't dare to do it while the league is still going on. Two months between the end of the Ersatz VASLeague 2020 and the start of the Ersatz VASLeague 2021 (hopefully January 1st) might seem generous, but I don't know what my schedule will look like then, and I'm not an expert, either. This is a duct tape production, and I'd like to have a margin of error in case something doesn't go according to plan.
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi all-

Jason and I did finish U33 Bukrin Bridgehead today with my Germans gaining victory on turn 6 of a 9 turn game. Results were entered. Super fun scenario where the Germans have to maneuver around to harasse the Russian attack but also have to be leary of the lone T-34, unfortunately for Jason, he rolled boxcars on all of his weapons on the T-34 and thus it was venerable to infantry attacks. All in all great game and great opponent.
 

boylermaker

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I wrapped up my 2020 VASLeague with Fuller's Folly against Alex Koestler. In this scenario, Alex needed to defend a hill in bocage country with eight squads of Fallschrimjaeger, a couple of 81 mm mortars, and a DIY menu of fortifications. I had the attacking Americans, a motley crew of 16 546s who lacked Assault Fire by SSR thanks to their commanding officer giving away all their Garands. No toys for the Americans except for an MMG, a bazooka, and some "light" molotovs that I never found myself actually using. But a 2:1 advantage in squads is a toy all to itself, and five leaders mean they can break an awful lot and be back in the fight quick. The winner is the side with more EVP on the hilltop at the end of the game. For once, prisoners aren't excepted-out of the victory conditions, which I appreciated.

Alex decided to go for a reverse slope defense, heavily fortifying the front side of the hill with wire and mines, positioning the mortars to guard the flanks, and laying one diabolically clever minefield to defend the rear. Rather than oppose the American entry, Alex fell back quickly to the hilltop. Bocage and orchards everywhere meant that hardly anybody had LOS to an enemy the first three turns. I was able to swing about half my force around his flanks and started moving onto the plateau from all sides on Turn 4. Turns 4-6 turned into a sort of shootout at the OK corral, with the Americans popping up, getting shot at it, breaking because of their 6 morale, routing back downhill, rallying, rinse, repeat. Eventually I managed to break enough of the Germans along the way to establish a foothold on the right side of the hill, and my being behind Alex meant that I was racking up the prisoners.

I was in the lead going into the last half of Turn 6, but Alex managed to capture a couple of leaders; going into the final CC of the game, he needed to roll an 8 or less for the win, and did so in style: Snake-eyes! Very fun game against an excellent opponent, thanks for the game, Alex!

A big learning experience for me:
1) My first bocage scenario in a long time! The last time I played it, it was against an opponent who was really confused about how bocage works but was also absolutely certain that he knew how bocage works. So that wasn't very fun. But this game took the bad taste out of my mouth; I'll have to play some more bocage scenarios.

2) Alex taught me that you can freely move through your own wire while it is still HIP. He used this to great effect in this scenario; I hope to pay this one forward someday soon.

3) Looking back on it, I think I could have won if I had voluntarily broken the last couple of leaders rather than let them be captured. I think they both would have then died for failure to rout, but it was the prisoner VP that made the difference. I wasn't alert to the danger until it was too late, but I won't make that mistake again!

This was a great season of the VASLeague, many thanks to @WuWei for stepping into the breach and making sure that it continued! This has been quite a successful tournament, so you may need to take the "Ersatz" off next year!
 

boylermaker

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Wow, I didn't know this. Can you direct me to the rule #?
Is this true for roadblocks and vehicles too?
A12.33: A unit entering/exiting a hidden Fortification (including wire but not panjis) pays no MF/MP to do so, provided that Fortification remains hidden including Infantry/Cavalry (only) crossing a roadblock hexside.
 

Koestler

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I wrapped up my 2020 VASLeague with Fuller's Folly against Alex Koestler. In this scenario, Alex needed to defend a hill in bocage country with eight squads of Fallschrimjaeger, a couple of 81 mm mortars, and a DIY menu of fortifications. I had the attacking Americans, a motley crew of 16 546s who lacked Assault Fire by SSR thanks to their commanding officer giving away all their Garands. No toys for the Americans except for an MMG, a bazooka, and some "light" molotovs that I never found myself actually using. But a 2:1 advantage in squads is a toy all to itself, and five leaders mean they can break an awful lot and be back in the fight quick. The winner is the side with more EVP on the hilltop at the end of the game. For once, prisoners aren't excepted-out of the victory conditions, which I appreciated.

Alex decided to go for a reverse slope defense, heavily fortifying the front side of the hill with wire and mines, positioning the mortars to guard the flanks, and laying one diabolically clever minefield to defend the rear. Rather than oppose the American entry, Alex fell back quickly to the hilltop. Bocage and orchards everywhere meant that hardly anybody had LOS to an enemy the first three turns. I was able to swing about half my force around his flanks and started moving onto the plateau from all sides on Turn 4. Turns 4-6 turned into a sort of shootout at the OK corral, with the Americans popping up, getting shot at it, breaking because of their 6 morale, routing back downhill, rallying, rinse, repeat. Eventually I managed to break enough of the Germans along the way to establish a foothold on the right side of the hill, and my being behind Alex meant that I was racking up the prisoners.

I was in the lead going into the last half of Turn 6, but Alex managed to capture a couple of leaders; going into the final CC of the game, he needed to roll an 8 or less for the win, and did so in style: Snake-eyes! Very fun game against an excellent opponent, thanks for the game, Alex!

A big learning experience for me:
1) My first bocage scenario in a long time! The last time I played it, it was against an opponent who was really confused about how bocage works but was also absolutely certain that he knew how bocage works. So that wasn't very fun. But this game took the bad taste out of my mouth; I'll have to play some more bocage scenarios.

2) Alex taught me that you can freely move through your own wire while it is still HIP. He used this to great effect in this scenario; I hope to pay this one forward someday soon.

3) Looking back on it, I think I could have won if I had voluntarily broken the last couple of leaders rather than let them be captured. I think they both would have then died for failure to rout, but it was the prisoner VP that made the difference. I wasn't alert to the danger until it was too late, but I won't make that mistake again!

This was a great season of the VASLeague, many thanks to @WuWei for stepping into the breach and making sure that it continued! This has been quite a successful tournament, so you may need to take the "Ersatz" off next year!
An epic game indeed, decided on the very last DR and lots of fun.

Not sure if it was a mistake not to voluntarily break those leaders. I had (foolishly) declared NQ, so I think voluntary breaking them would cause their "immediate Reduction or elimination" and would thus not be allowed (A10.41).

Preparing the scenario, the reverse slope defence looked enticing, but as soon as something goes wrong the German is in deep trouble in a surrounded position without depth. Maybe the German should try defending the lip hexes for one turn instead of allowing the US player 3 turns to get on the hill top.

The scenario is highly recommended as so is the opponent.

AK
 

DaveH

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David Haasl defeated David Rosner in the battle of the US/CAN West David supremacy. We played WO32 Corps Values. I took the outmatched but stubborn NorKs and David R took the USMC. Great scenario with a lot of decisions to make as you proceed. The USMC with their uber squads backed by 4 Pershings, 1 Sherman Dozer, and a 105 Flame tank seem unstoppable. But The KPA defenders do have some tricks up their sleeve such as a quirky VC menu and purchasable fortifications/suicide heroes.

In the early going - the USMC carried before them. They discovered by AT mines to no effect and only lost a few halfsquads to botched to MC rolls and the like. Things were looking bleak for the KPA made worse by the fact that my pillbox was ill placed and I had to eliminate a few of my fortifications that I realized were illegally placed. Fortunately, I realized this in the first game turn and they had no impact on the game. As I said - the USMC were making great progress and I prepared to retire to the far on end of the village. I had only managed to take out the Sherman Dozer with a side shot from my AA gun. But then, I had a really hot half player turn that helped turned the tide. A humble halfsquad of the people managed to bake a Pershing with a MOL. The 45mm ATG finally made a successful DI shot against another Pershing. Back to back hot SANs eliminated the Pershing crew and a hapless hs. Things were looking up for Pyongyang.

The USMC still had a shot and then unleashed my last suicide hero. It wasn't ideal target but this was my last game turn and there would be no other opportunity. It made for a USMC stack of 2 squads and 2 ldrs (including his 9-2). The DC toting hero made it to the hex against all odds but failed to place the DC when he rolled boxcars on a NMC. However, he still succeeded. The NMC was produced by a FPF shot that broke the American stack.

Great game against a worthy opponent. I do recommend the scenario but the NorK player needs a high personal ML when facing the marines.

David H.
 

Danny Peeters

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WO1: French Toast and Bacon
On the second day of the Battle of the Bulge my American troops have to defend a bridge across the Our against Felipe Zavala's panzer force!
A nice sidenote is that I spend holidays for years in Ouren with my family and I know the place and the 2 bridges well!
 

MajorDomo

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Rich Domovic defeated Francois Boudrenghien in BFP84 - Kreida Station.

Nice scenario and opponent. Francois' German attackers took four of the five victory factories. My Russians held out in the fifth rear stone factory.

The key event probably was a turn 5 duel between an upper level German 9-1 led stack of two 467s with a HMG and a MMG and a Russian 9-1/458/HMG in the last victory factory. My Russians broke both 467s, costing the Germans a turn.
 
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