First To Strike

Bad Dice

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My erstwhile gaming opponent and good friend Sgt Schmutz is a DASL fan, so we decided to give SoF 4 First to Strike a whirl.

The scenario is one of those DASL slugfests where a bunch of somebody lays into a bunch of somebody else and there's carnage aplenty to be had. This one is set in Stalingrad and features 24 squads (4-6-7s, with a leavening of 4-6-8s) with their customary wealth of both leadership, and MG FP, a couple of DCs, and Field Phone which can call down 100mm unpleasantness on any unsuspecting Russian. The Germans also get 3 StuG IIIs. The Russians start with 25 squads about-evenly divided between 6-2-8s and 4-4-7s, and themselves sport an impressive array of MG firepower as well. They also get three 45LLs, which will have a hard time taking out a StuG from the front, but will do a lot better from the sides or the rear. Leadership, well...

VC state that the Germans must take 14 of 19 multihex stone buildings by the end of the game (which is 7.5 Turns). Germans move first, so no last-minute HW for the Russians as they try to take back captured real-estate.

SS took the Germans (appropriately) and I took the Russians. It being October 42, I opted to replace the OB-given 8-0 with a 9-0 Commissar. Two reasons for this. First, a unit is not DM if a Commissar attempts to Rally it, and also gets a +1 to that unit's Rally attempt. That makes any 7-Morale unit in a hex with a Commissar into an 8, and if in Rally Bonus terrain (of which there is a lot) brings it up to a 9. I can generally roll 9 or less if I have to. For an 8-Morale unit those numbers become 9 and 10 respectively. Second, I've never used a Commissar before. I've been playing ASL since it was SL, and I've never used a Commissar. Today, that changes.

Turn 1 started with a kill-stack led by the 9-2 opening up on my units in the board a factory. The attack generated an MC which my guys passed. SS then surged across the street and into Russian territory in a very aggressive charge which my First Fire didn't seem to do a lot about. Final
Fire, however...

The Germans who attacked the board a factory dealt with a 12 +3 return shot which generated a 1MC. The leader passed, but in doing so Activated my Sniper, which subsequently rolled a '1', and guess who's hex got singled out for the attack? RS selected the leader, and potted him. Meanwhile, the squads broke on the initial attack, then again on the subsequent LLMC. Net result, dead leader, dead squad, and important source of FP KOed before the game has properly begun.

The aggressive charge across the street and my failure to hurt anyone significantly leads to an Advance Phase where five CC are initiated. Bad news again for SS; he loses five squads in CC to three for me, putting him now at four squads down compared to three for me. You Stalingrad students will doubtless agree that in a numbers' game against the Russians, the Germans will lose.

Worse, one of the CC ends up with me Ambushing his squad, killing that squad (thank you, Ambush modifier), who just happens to also be carrying an LMG.

In my half of the turn the squad who killed the guys with the Light find it. Uncle Joe's Oppressed Bullet-Stoppers like it when the Germans make a gift of their SW. Other than that, the Russians satisfy themselves by rearranging themselves defensively; except for one 6-2-8 which takes advantage of what happened with the 9-2 kill-stack, rushes forward, and enters the building that the stack is still in.

That's right, the Russians take away a German-held building on Turn 1. I shall point out at this juncture that SS is an individual of remarkable equipoise. Not nearly the sturm und drang came from him that would have come from me, under the same circumstances. I think he said 'darn', once.

Elsewhere, German artillery breaks a squad, which scampers back to the warm embrace of the Commissar who is safely lodged in the wooden building behind the board a factory. The attached images give you something of an idea of what was what.

FTS EOT 1 Bb.jpg FTS EOT 1 Bd.jpg FTS EOT 1Ba.jpg
Next up, Turn 2.​


BD
 
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Bad Dice

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The fun continues.

SS' Germans are not deterred, despite punishing losses early in the game. He presses forward, and for my part I'm faced with something that I didn't countenance beforehand, namely that Uncle Joe's Oppressed Bullet-Stoppers (UJOBS) have a lot of real estate that they have to cover, and that it can't come down to the goal-line stand that I'd prefer. I have to defend effectively over a larger frontage than I'd envisioned, and I hadn't set up with that consideration in mind.

My assumptions regarding the Commissar pay off. The broken 6-2-8 does indeed find the will to fight on, rallying under the gentle ministrations of the Commissar. I can roll under 10, if I have to.

Fortunately, the bad guys continue to have the worst kind of luck. Another kill-stack moves into the LOS of my HIP 9-1, who is bossing a FG consisting of a 6-2-8 and the HMG. I hit him with a 6+1 shot, keeping rate. Not only does the entire stack succumb on a 1MC, my Sniper is again successfully activated; and since luck is apparently on a hot date with someone so far as SS is concerned, the Sniper targets the hex I've just hit on a '1' activation. Demonstrating how little regard luck has for my opponent, it's the leader with the stack who draws the result. LLMC for everyone, and everyone who was not an SMC now becomes a HS. NB, that's two firegroups who are now rendered combat-ineffective, mostly because of my Sniper.

Elsewhere, SS maneuvers a StuG to the south and places it in a spot which will overwatch a hex where I might want to move the intrepid 6-2-8 which chased away the other FG last turn. Providence has seen fit to park the StuG in LOS of one of my ATG, located in some Rubble. I had to change C/A to bring the gun to bear, and I missed with the first shot; but I kept rate and I had a flank-shot at his StuG and...you can guess the rest. Said ATG retained rate afterward and broke a squad in the street; ATGs which have non-depletable HE should be thought of as MMG with a ROF of 3, and that's how I treated this one regarding the German squad. Then I hit another hex full of Germans with the same gun, and sent them packing as well.

It's at this point that I should reinforce the notion that SS' luck, not his game-play, was the cause of his woes. SS simply could not keep up with my untoward good fortune, which by now has caused the whole of his southern flank to implode.

German artillery in the meantime places a Flame in a hex of the board a factory, which could work against the Germans if left untreated. I elect to leave it untreated.

The Germans continue to press forward, and enjoy more success to the north than they have been to the south. The squad which killed the German squad in CC is itself broken and is sent packing. The Germans for their part advance and are not checked by Russian DF, and once more I revisit my goal-line stratagem. It's not going to work, not in this scenario.

For their part, the Russians redress their lines and try to figure out what they're going to do about the still-sizable contingent of Germans who don't give a damn about Russian gunfire.

The session continues to the end of German Turn 3, which has a StuG taking up position so as to shell the 9-1 MG stack. I can't let that stack fall, I'll be needing them for when the Germans attempt to storm that building.

Attached imagery gives you an overall idea of what the situation looks like at the end of German Turn 3.FTs EOGT 3 Bd.jpg FTS EOGT 3 Bb.jpg FTS EOGT 3 Ba.jpg
 

Bad Dice

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Thanks. We're getting together tomorrow, and I have the results from our previous meeting to post.


BD
 

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Well, who doesn't? Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday. Stupid viruses...


BD
 

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The carnage continues as Sgt. Schmutz and I duke it out in the ruins of Stalingrad. BTW has it struck anyone else besides me that one of the bloodiest battles in WWII took place in a city named after someone who oversaw the murder of tens of millions of his subjects?
Anyway, SS presses the attack, and pushes a StuG nose-to-nose opposite a group of Uncle Joe's Bullet Stoppers. Elsewhere he also presses forward in an attempt to make good lost territory, and time. In the north, where he's doing best, he continues to drive the Russians like so many cattle, though the squad which appropriated the German LMG is still intact and able to rout such that -hopefully- it can turn the weapon on its former owners.
In the middle, the Germans attempt to place a DC in an attempt to dislodge some pesky Russians. The attempt fails when -on an 8+3 shot, I roll like a two or a three and break the placing unit. It's things like this that make the Germans wonder why they got out of bed...
In fact, it could have been a lot worse. I was seriously considering infiltrating a squad westward, to deal with some Germans who are trying to rally after suffering from the previous turns' lambasting at the hands of my 9-1 and the HMG he was directing. It was only the placement of Rubble that prevented me from making the try.
The Russians aren't having things all their way, however. The 6-2-8 which penetrated the German lines in the south is itself surrounded and eliminated in CC. No complaints, the squad kept the Germans -all of the Germans- in that area on their collective back foot for a couple of turns. That doesn't happen every day. Still, the Germans get their due vengeance, and now I have to contend with a resurgent contingent who can still take that big board a Factory from me.
SS does me a favor and fails to shoot the StuG at my 9-1 and the guys holding the HMG as they displace. No one wants to hang around and wait for an AFV to find the mark and turn my guys into headstones, so I displace and make it to the ground level, safe now behind the Rubble and now secured in the last hex the Germans need to take the building. The attached illustration should answer any questions. Not faulting SS' play, he certainly had good reason to do things the way he did, and if there's a constant in this game it's that how you see the situation is often nothing like how your opponent sees it.
For that matter, things are going his way on the whole. The StuG he's pushed forward not only forced me off the dot, it stayed in Motion and thereby made itself a more difficult target. He's also moved a leader and a squad with an HMG into a key location, one that forces the choice on me of either staying in the building and letting him hammer me with a 20 FP shot, or ceding the building and hoping that I can get it back later. Gonna have to do some fancy MPh footwork to keep that building.
And again, my lack of appreciation for what I need to do is paying off in the sort of dividend I really do not need. SS' bad luck has not left him in a particularly bad situation, not one that he can't recover from, and we all know how the luck thing can turn around.
The next turn will be interesting, regarding what I do in response to what the dice do to me. Stay tuned, folks. This isn't over, not by a long shot...


BD
 

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And we are again in Stalingrad as Sgt Schmutz and I continue with our playing of First to Strike.

Play ended last time at the end of the German Player Turn, and resumes this time with the Russian Player Turn with me as the Russians realizing that I'm in a precarious situation in the middle of Board b. If you look at the image of b included with the last entry, you'll note a single Russian 6-2-8 toting an ATR, facing off against an 8-1, and a 4-6-7 holding an MMG. You'll also note that there is a German squad in the same building the 6-2-8, and that if I leave the building I cede it to the Germans. I don't want to do that, since taking buildings is what the German player wants to do in this one. Plus, if I leave the building and give it to him, that means SS only needs to take one more to win this one, and that I have to go on the offensive if I want to score the 'W' for myself. Note also that there's a 4-4-7 who can step into another hex of that building and hopefully split German Defensive Fire, but it also means that I have to leave the 6-2-8 where he is if I want to hold onto the building. Thinking the matter through, it seems to me that the 4-4-7 is best served either falling back a hex in the building he's currently in, unless the 6-2-8 can at least Pin the German MMG stack, in which case he might be better served Advancing into that other hex while the 6-2-8 wades into CC with the stack. Elsewhere, I need to move.

So, my only Prep shots for Turn 4 are with the 6-2-8, who rolls a 10 on the 12+2 shot against the MMG stack. Good job, guys. They're holding an ATR, however. If I blow up the StuG, I can deprive SS of an important source of FP. It's in Motion, so that makes a hit a little more difficult, but on an 8 I'll still get it, and I have a flank shot at the iron monster so I have a half-way decent chance of killing it. So I roll another 10. BTW, for Wind Change, I roll cars. I blow a Rally attempt twice, rolling two back-to-back 10s as well. That's right, 12, 10, 10, 10, and 10, out of my first six DR of this Player Turn. Sigh...

But don't feel sorry for me. SS returns fire on the 6-2-8, gets the expected 2MC, and is rewarded with me rolling snakes and getting a Hero out of the deal. It sucks to be me sometimes, but other times it sucks to be my opponent. Elsewhere the Russians redeploy, and I realize that I have enough dudes for a Human Wave, if I can keep them all in GO until my next PT. The Germans for their part fail to do anything else, while the fire in the Factory on Board a continues to spread. That's both welcome and unwelcome news. If SS gets in there and I have to leave, that's another building he owns, but if I can hang on until all hexes but are engulfed in Flame, and if I'm the last person in the Factory when that happens, then he can't claim it, per the Control rules.

So, CC with the Germans, with my Hero and the 6-2-8 and SS wins the Ambush, dropping both units for no losses to themselves. Sigh...

Still, I've pulled back that 4-4-7, and I've brought forward another 6-2-8 so as to retain Control of the building in question. Said unit also retains his ?. Meanwhile, in the German half of Turn 5, the remaining Russians in bB4 Rally, and there's also a GO 7-0. That gives me the six squads and the single Leader I need for a Human Wave, if SS will be so kind as to leave me alone in that building. During his PT SS occupies himself mainly with moving forward and running up a couple of squads with LMG to threaten my concealed 6-2-8. He knows how important that building is, too. In the south, his rejuvenated forces enter the Factory on Board a, so now that's going to be a point of contention as well.

SS runs afoul of my kill-stack consisting of 2 6-2-8s, who are between them holding a .50 cal and a Russian MMG, who are also being directed by a 9-1 leader. That's a 24+2 shot to me, which I roll a sleek 10 on. Hooray, PTC. The good news is that SS does Pin with both units, which means that he won't be Advancing into the hex with the still-? 6-2-8. Even better, he is courteous enough to roll cars on the AFPh shot he takes with both of the Pinned units, with Random Selection taking down both weapons and leaving the targeted Russians untouched. German artillery has in the meantime fallen silent, for a lack of suitable targets, and some difficulties placing the SR where the guy with the 'phone can see the fall of shot.

This brings us to Russian Turn 5, and, you guessed it...

URRAH!!!

Here comes my Human Wave-

Which his StuG dutifully hammers with two shots at the hex containing the leader, both of which generate two 2MC. This ends the charge for those guys, who are reduced to a broken squad and a Wounded (and Broken) leader. Bummer.

Still, the other two hexes of the charge crash into the hex containing the StuG, and into a hex immediately north of the StuG. In the hex with the StuG, the vehicles MG Malfs on a TPBF shot with its MG and fails to hurt anyone. The two squads attacking the hex containing the 4-6-7 shrug off the 8+1 shot, which the 4-6-7 obligingly Cowers on as well. They enter the hex, and in the ensuring AFPh break the 4-6-7 with a 16+2 TPBF shot. The guys in the hex with the StuG are likewise in-place for CC.

In the south, the Board a Factory proceeds to go up like it's made of gasoline-soaked cardboard, but so far my guys retain a toehold in the NE corner. The MG kill-stack retreats a hex, wary of the other StuG and reasoning that it's better to wait for a good shot than make oneself StuG-bait. The two German squads with the LMG voluntarily Broke last PT, there is now another unit in the bE4 Rowhouse, and the Concealed 6-2-8 has Advanced into the hex with the 8-1 and the MMG-toting squad.

CC resolves as follows: the 6-2-8 in the hex with the StuG is treated as an Assault Engineer per SSR, and laughs off the -1 modifier to his CC roll by rolling snakes and generating a 7-0 leader. Oh, and incidentally burning the StuG. The Concealed 6-2-8 scores an Ambush against the stack with the 8-1 and selects the unit defending with the Leader. Both of us roll low, I roll low enough to CR the Leader/Squad combo, and RS selects the leader.

A word here about the CC undertaken; I've so far deliberately avoided going Hand-to-Hand just because it's at-least as important to me to hold an enemy unit in Melee as it is to kill it outright but offer myself as a more attractive target for the bonus that HTH offers both sides. Expect that to change, but only if I have the clear upper hand in CC and can afford to let the dice have their way with me.

As may be, another 1.5 turns in a fight that has -not surprisingly- turned into the kind of brawl that DASL scenarios seem to invite.

The next Turn will probably decide this one.


BD

Up next, Turn 6.
 

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Welcome back to Stalingrad, as Sgt. Schmutz and I finish our playing of First to Strike.

It was the end of Turn 5 when we left off last. The start of 6 has SS sending his now-redundant observer to Rally the two brokies who are holding each a malfed LMG. To my disappointment they both Rally; I was hoping to sprint westward, scare the non-hackers from their perch, and take that building from him.

Elsewhere SS attempts to knock over some Russians with Prep Fire, but my guys know what will happen if they should break and run. SS then moves, and ditches the by-now worthless (to him) Factory in the south as he makes a bid for the two other multi-hex buildings proximate to the Factory. Good idea there, the wind shifted either last Turn or the Turn before that, making it a lot more likely that the hexes he held would ignite than that those I held would do likewise. SS also has other plans, with regard to dislodging the Russians on board a. Meanwhile his last functional StuG maneuvers so as to take a shot at my kill-stack with the 9-1. Firing in the AFPh, the StuG doesn't just miss, it malfes its MA. I almost feel like I'm cheating, at this point.

SS disabuses of me of this notion as he proceeds to drop one of my HS in F5 on board b, in a CC that I was privately more or less self-assured that I would win. My 6-2-8 would go against his 2-4-7 holding the MMG, ignoring the 4-6-7 in the hope/assumption that a 3:1 against the HS would be good enough to drop the HS and hopefully net me the MMG, come what may. Silly me. Not only does the 3:1 miss (really? who misses a 3:1 CC, even if it's not HTH), he CRs the 6-2-8 in the process. I no longer feel like I'm cheating, at this point.

Then again...

The Germans, having ceded the board a Factory and having gone instead for the two buildings proximate, have found one my two remaining HIP ATG. The tuition for this particular bit of education is a HS created -on an IF shot- that also ELRed the squad it hit. To the north of the board a Factory, some Germans attempt to place a DC. They are met with a 24+1 shot from the 9-1 kill-stack who had waltzed out of LOS of the StuG. They are sent packing. The 8-0 and the two squads he Rallied make a bid for the building I took from him in Turn 5. In my half of Turn 6, I advanced two squads and a 7-0 into the killing field that is hex bF5, and I kill off the last of the Hun who were so bold as to make for themselves a home there. In my Rally Phase, I add insult to injury by finding the MMG the HS had been holding. The 8-0 and his two squads make a valiant effort, but...

Pin, for the leader and the squad as they make a bid to try to take back one of the buildings I've recaptured. Break, for the other squad. I subsequently advance and remain in GO as I move another squad into the building to the north of F5. It's not looking good for the Hun.

It looks even worse, as Turn 7 begins. The StuG with the Malfed MA rolls a 6 as it attempts to repair the MA. It's out of the fight, for good. Down south, the rest of the Factory is now ablaze, save for the lone hex I still hold. German infiltrators capture a building and overwhelm the crew of an ATG, but elsewhere miss against the ATG which lit up a StuG way back in Turn 2 or 3. The crew not only survives CC, but is in a position to abandon their ATG and go scampering off to reclaim another building or so from the Germans.

It's at this point that SS concedes, and I don't blame him.

The dice gods had not been particularly friendly to him for most of the game. SS made very few mistakes of any sort, and of the mistakes he made, he made none which should have cost him (either singly or otherwise) the game. He played smart, he played tough, he hung in there until it was clear how this one was going to go down.

I shall also reiterate that SS was a good sport about the whole thing. That's one of the reasons I seek to play him. Always affable, never takes the turns of fate personally. Knows how to win, when there's a win to be had. I don't feel that I've beaten him, whenever I win. I feel that he had a bad day. That's the case, here.

Kudos to him, for a match well-fought. He had the opportunity, if not the dice.

But stay tuned, we're going at it again. This time the venue will be Rostov, and a certain Factory on board a. What is it with the Germans and their desire to hold Russian factories?
 

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