FFS Smith's Ridge CG

[Den589]

Me and my brother have finally started our next CG. Went back and forth with playing either Smith's Ridge or the Seoul CG from FFS and settled on Smith's Ridge. I've got the Americans and Steve has the North Koreans. Here is the at start setups.

The southern sector of the American front (Red Sector) with the MG's that cant move by SSR up on the hill providing long range overwatch, the bulk of the force is hiding in the stream.



The northern sector of the American front (Yellow Sector) manned by South Korean troops to begin with. they must advance cautiously since the HIP Infiltrators are somewhere just in front of them. Some reserve counters in the backfield in Italian grey.



Here is the flank attack (Green Sector), with Steve's reserves in British beige.



and finally the North Korean MLR on the hills.



North Korean has fewer troops on the peak of the hills than I thought he would have, but advancing through these rice paddies is going to be torture. Steve placed most of his foxholes on after I setup to enter turn 1, just for ease of record keeping (and they have very limited setup restrictions anyways).

 

[Den589]

So here's the situation after completion of the American Turn 1. I did roll for planes, so he knows I purchased early arrival (a no brainer in my opinion since I get so many planes.)

This is the North Korean hills, I brought down a purchased OBA with a pre-reg into the JJ sunken road (which tells him where the offboard observer is since only 1 hex can see into that sunken road hex) as a WP barrage. It actually breaks several troops (4-2-6's, but still a break is a break with one disrupting.) It blinds a portion of his troops, although I thought there would be more up here. The other OBA (OB given at-start) in this sector comes down as a SR just in front of the barrage





The Red Sector, with the bulk of the forces slowly moving up the stream and a few running half-squads. Most of these guys have gotten concealment due to being 16+ away and or hiding from the North Koreans. He did bring down a SR that landed in P15 which is disconcerting to say the least. The overwatch MG's reach out at something like 23 hex range and wound and then kill the at start 7-0 that began with the outpost guys, so they will also have decisions as to if they are going to die in place or displace. There are now no leaders here, I brought down a SR for the OB given at-start 60mm OBA in the area of the outpost as well and I'm sure he doesn't want to have me capture the .50 caliber that sets up here.



The Yellow sector, our first casualty was here with a crew carrying a DC in NN11 dying to a K/2 and the accompanying 2-4-8 breaking and hiding in the stream. Everybody else cautiously moving forward. We do find a 5-2-7 of the HIP infiltrators in LL13 that shoots a half-squad that promptly goes Berzerk in LL12. The 5-2-7 has some decisions to make, I have an overwatch foxhole in OO7 with 3 MMG's that hopefully will take care of him shortly. We were lucky to run down the road in the BB hex row and get into the area around the AA17 building with a couple brave half-squads. Steve brought down another OBA in this sector, but it went off board so we will have a bit of time to hopefully prepare for that problem. (The Japanese control counters are subbing for North Korean.)




Green Sector, the flanking attack. He brings on a couple of mortars here, so he bought mortars on-board. The E43 pillbox has a heavy in it, which broke a guy running on the far left of the green entry zone, but he routs to a building and a leader. A follow on shot malfunctions the HMG, hopefully this is an opening for me here. The 82* mortars don't do much turn 1, but do scare me into an "amoeba like attack", spreading my guys out mainly in open ground to avoid the air-bursts. The Sparse Woods rules really are difficult to get your head around, the hill guys can see EVERYTHING. You can see the outpost where the 7-0 died on the far left of this photo.





Casualties are light so far:
American has lost 2 CVP (1xcrew)
North Korean has lost 1 CVP (a 7-0)

My purchases that he knows so far include an unknown caliber of OBA, a reserve something of South Korean troops, at least a company of green sector troops and early planes.
North Korean purchases are almost all known, he bought two OBA's one with an offboard observer (at least 4CPP and 5CPP), he bought I assume a company in reserve (at least 5 CPP) and on-board Mortar Squad (4 CPP). That's at least 18 CPP of his 22, and that's if the reserve company is Green and the OBA's are both 70mm, which I doubt they are.

 

[ibncalb]

Did he FH all of his at start positions? If not they're easy meat for pre reg VT.

The planes will take care of his MGS.

 

[Den589]

He's got about half in them, half not. I think he's planning on getting them forward into the buildings of Yonghijong village in the Yellow Sector and into the buildings to the west of the Smith's Ridge Extension HDP. I've got two OBA's in decent position that are ready to go in my D-Fire of his turn. Albeit one of them is the lowly 60mm you get at the start and its in the Red sector and can't help too much except with the outpost. I used a WP for the barrage hoping that it would let my guys get forward quicker and hopefully let me deal with the HIP guys. I can see that the rush guys into the building plan could have been catastrophic if I had gotten the planes on turn 1, but no luck for me.

 

[Tuomo]

All of those counters are clogging up people's view of the map.

 

[sdennis]

I honestly have no idea what the NK can do in this... I'm sort of siding with Roger's feedback that this might be a dog very quickly, sorry.

THe planes are going to be devastating and my prediction is by end of this first scenario I will have no long range weapons to put on the hill and kill the vulnerable paddy guys with...

 

[sdennis]

This is the most vulnerable the marines will be but to shoot you have to come on board and expose yourself to 3 OBAs, and 6-8 planes??? Really?

 

[ibncalb]

This is the most vulnerable the marines will be but to shoot you have to come on board and expose yourself to 3 OBAs, and 6-8 planes??? Really?

Its a long time since I played but the marine air is not invulnerable.

Flak alley, any extra AA guns, heavy AA and HMGS in AA mode have a good chance to challenge the corsairs.

Moving dummy stacks can trigger a mistaken attack and light AA.

The NK mortars, even if setup at the back line can hit the marines MGs.

You're right it can be a very good time to kill marines if they're using bank movement. The 45Ls should be repurposed to kill marine infantry with hazardous movement.

The elite NK squads are shooting out to ten hex range with negative mods.

The real trouble for the marines is when they start hitting the hills. The reverse slope positions are tough to deal with.

However it has been a long time since I played.

 

[sdennis]

The problems that I think I see (especially since I have done some of what you say)
Any guns purchased MUST be setup on the HDPs, which oh by the way, don't require extra OBA chit draws. Once they lose concealment on those limited setup positions the planes can start to kill one per turn IMHO.
Mortars are great except for the setup in HDP.

Some of my 45LLs are in pillboxes and will be used for hitting paddy guys BUT super long range, red numbers, < 57LL, etc. mean they start shooting with a 4 TH mostly? Again we are on turn 1. and once they are known... and 4(-) against 8 ML troops is not great even after the hit.

Again on turn 1 all the infantry has to start near the HDP so they are out of range of everything. THey have to run down the hill get even get those long range shots, lmg are only good to 12 also.

I think he's done fine on Turn 1, and now he's going to AM, advance while his OBA and planes either block my LOS or kill my hilltop guys. I'm hoping the 2 OBAs I have will at least keep him off the hills but 5:2 (now 4:2) even with the Pleva rule is going to mean I get 2 maybe 3 stonks from each? so 1 every other turn or so?

Just how it looks so far after setup/thinking and turn 1A... we shall see

 

[Den589]

Its a long time since I played but the marine air is not invulnerable.

Flak alley, any extra AA guns, heavy AA and HMGS in AA mode have a good chance to challenge the corsairs.

Moving dummy stacks can trigger a mistaken attack and light AA.

The NK mortars, even if setup at the back line can hit the marines MGs.

You're right it can be a very good time to kill marines if they're using bank movement. The 45Ls should be repurposed to kill marine infantry with hazardous movement.

The elite NK squads are shooting out to ten hex range with negative mods.

The real trouble for the marines is when they start hitting the hills. The reverse slope positions are tough to deal with.

However it has been a long time since I played.

Steve is a pessimist by nature. The planes do seem able to be mitigated with the 37L's and the Flak Alley. Before we picked sides, I played around with some counters and my mock setup tasked a 37L AA gun to setup close to each 82*MTR. With ROF, its a lot of rolls and eventually you're going to get a 4 or even a 5 to cause evasion is a win.

 

[=FC=Gorgon]

This one is on my list so big thanks to the Dennis brothers for playing this and posting!
Making use of Light and/or Heavy AA is something few of us do so it will be great to see how the AAA battle works out here.

On a side note: in my playing of CtR-17 (BFPs Corregidor - The Rock) I managed to shoot down a Havoc or 2 with the IJA 25LL AA guns. That was really fun!

MikeS

 

[Den589]

Got thru the North Korean Turn 2 this weekend.

Yellow/South Korean sector.
The WP OBA that was blinding the hill, has now drawn two reds in a row, thank God for the Pleva rule, although the draw pile is now 10B/5R. My other OBA is playing the dancing SR game, but he is keeping concealment mostly so its hard to bring down. He brought down his OBA, luckily its the 70mm variety and it is slowing the advance in front of the Yonhijong Village. I broke & half'd his 5-2-7 and he is routing across the paddies pursued diligently by my berserk half-squad that refuses to die. The rest of the South Korean Army is slowly advancing towards the hill, nothing major except there are still a couple infiltrators out there and the Pillbox with 2 HMG's in it are going to hurt now with no WP in his face.




Red Sector:

Here Steve is dancing his SR around the bridge area, but I've kept concealment or hid in the stream so therefore playing the same game he is in the yellow sector. He sees two 81MTR's have joined the heavy MG platoon in the foxholes on the hill in the backfield. Both are now non-CX and ready to go, they are now hopefully gonna drop some WP in good locations to limit his LOS.




Green Sector:

The flanking attack has been going very slowly, with us now squared off in the sparse woods just a few hexes on board. I did drop a WP OBA on board near the 105 Outpost, this allowed my half squad group to capture the buildings in the F26-F29 area. After losing the leader in the outpost, he dismantled the American 50 caliber and is moving him easterly towards friendlier environs. I'm very disappointed in how this attack is going, he has got a ton of troops and I can't really purchase too much more from the Green sector.

​

North Korean MLR.
Here's the hill, it is absolutely crawling with North Koreans. The 80mm in Yonhi-Jong may need to move up here and just start going off to limit any movement of his guys. He's hiding some in the tunnel anticipating just that.




Casualties so far are 3 squads and a crew for the US, (almost all South Koreans and almost all from 12's on MC or Rally rolls.)
For the North Koreans he has lost a half squad, a 45LL gun and a 7-0 leader. So it stands at 8 to 4 CVP.

Enjoyable so far, and the first two flights of American Fighter bombers have now arrived. So any further mass movement by the North Koreans may be severely limited. We will be back at it Sunday.

 

[rdw5150]

I honestly have no idea what the NK can do in this... I'm sort of siding with Roger's feedback that this might be a dog very quickly, sorry.

THe planes are going to be devastating and my prediction is by end of this first scenario I will have no long range weapons to put on the hill and kill the vulnerable paddy guys with...

Its just a matter of time. The marines can use planes and OBA to take out the "toys" and then just move up, stay of out range and blast away. It was fun for two scenarios then it all went south (excuse the pun) very quickly. Heck the north actually won the first scenario.

The map is freaking amazing, which is why we picked it.

Roger

 

[rdw5150]

Steve is a pessimist by nature. The planes do seem able to be mitigated with the 37L's and the Flak Alley. Before we picked sides, I played around with some counters and my mock setup tasked a 37L AA gun to setup close to each 82*MTR. With ROF, its a lot of rolls and eventually you're going to get a 4 or even a 5 to cause evasion is a win.

I was able to force a couple of evasions and even shot down one plane. There were plenty to go around. I also used the 37L close to more valuable assets but, once it loses rate (or has to change CA) its effectiveness was lessened.

We won't even talk about the Allied OBA being zeroed in on the North's setup areas requiring no extra card draw.

Again, it was cool for two scenarios and I even won the first scenario (though the allies did not push very hard, concentrating on eliminating the toys of the north).

Thanks for posting the AAR

Roger

 

[sdennis]

We won't even talk about the Allied OBA being zeroed in on the North's setup areas requiring no extra card draw.

While I agree that this makes sense from a reality standpoint, from a gaming aspect it might be too powerful.

Oh you've played the OBA concealment game perfectly? Too bad!! HDPs are known!!! Bye Bye (or be blinded)

 

[rdw5150]

While I agree that this makes sense from a reality standpoint, from a gaming aspect it might be too powerful.

Oh you've played the OBA concealment game perfectly? Too bad!! HDPs are known!!! Bye Bye (or be blinded)

Agreed. I get it from a reality standpoint, but design for effect is what a lot of ASL is all about........... that would be interesting CG balance.

I think what was frustrating was just not doing much at the North as if you blew concealment, there were gonna be issues.

Maybe I did not map out the CG and figure out what allied troops leave, and when, but when I threw in the towel, I had one MG left, no guns, and Burnie was just staying 6 hexes back and blasting away.

 

[ibncalb]

Burnie was just staying 6 hexes back and blasting away.

I had the opposite experience. The KPA sat in reverse slope and blasted away at 2 hexes.

 

[rdw5150]

By the end, he had way more squads than I could shoot at, so even after I pulled back over the hill, he'd prep some squads and then move a bunch (too many to shoot), assault fire with whoever did not break, and do a leap frog thing turn after turn. Its not like 426's can stand up to a lot of fire.

Maybe I will re-visit it some day, but not at this point.

Roger

 

[Den589]

So we got another turn and a half in on Sunday. And you will notice a lot less American troops on the board.........Steve had some hot dice, including I believe 4 or 5 4's in a row. I went a full turn without passing a morale check, so hence what we have below. The planes did arrive on turn three and the other flight on turn 4. So they are starting to make there presence felt.

This is the South Korean sector, it was hit very hard especially on the left. I've had at least three units, two half squads and now a full squad go berzerk and charge to their deaths. A lucky sniper also moved to my overwatch position and took out the leader, crushing that stack. The South Koreans are not putting in such a good performance so far, especially on the left. I've found all of the infiltrators except for a single half squad.



In the red sector, not much is going on except I'm assault moving and advancing forward slowly. In the top of the red sector and/or the left flank of the green sector, I have pushed the North Koreans back from the buildings in front of the outpost and have a guy in the first foxhole. All he has in the original outpost is a broken squad in the adjacent foxhole behind the WP OBA. I've taken almost no casualties here, maybe a half squad to a 12 rally attempt and that is it.



In the green sector, tragedy. His 45LL went on a rate tear of the ages, with somewhere around 5 or 6 consecutive rolls of 4, killing two squads and a leader. I've almost exclusively used the planes over here and they broke the crew of the 45LL (a little late!!!) and killed the crew of one of the big mortars. He's advancing along the board edge with a concealed squad to try to divert the two GO squads from advancing further.




Here's his MLR on the hill, still mainly intact. I did break a mortar crew and make him run away from it on "Smiths Ridge Extension" and also WP smoked the 2 HMG pillbox on "The Knoll." He also revealed a second 9-2 that's lurking in Yonhijong Village. So he officially has much better leadership than me.



I barely passed my PMC, but will soldier on. We have had a discussion though, without having played this before. What is to stop the American from getting into the streams and the few scattered buildings and then stop advancing and hide. Draw your perimeter and on the next day buy some foxholes in the rice paddies and begin shooting up the hill to get you into the VP areas on day 2? Seems this would help avoid the horrendous casualties that are starting to mount? The only drawback I can see really is that you are wasting an entire day of the CG, so is time a factor as to why you can't do this?

Casualties are as follows:
American Dead: 5 squads, 2 crews, 2 leaders (9-1,8-0) for a total of at least 17CVP (I don't remember how many 7-6-8's are in the bin, which counts as more VP.)

North Korean Dead: 3.5 squads, 1 crew, 2 guns, 2 leaders (2x7-0's) for a total of 15 CVP.

 

[sdennis]

I will admit to a dozen or more 4s.... And he is rolling more 1,1 than me but as I've tried to get him to realize for years sometimes 1,1 hurts