J166, Maximum Aggression

Tuomo

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<edited for bitchiness>

Dave Ramsey and I continued our Cross-Pond Best-of-Frenemies series with a game of J166, Maximum Aggression. Dave chose it for reasons unlikely to be fathomed by Modern Man, while I appreciated the chance to shorten the name to "Max Aggro". And off we went.

This 1941 Malayan tussle by Michael Koch features a small Malayan force surrounded in the village on board 67, with Brits coming to the rescue from the southern end of board 62. The Brits have 2.5 squads in the village and 9.5 squads in the Rescue Force, supported disinterestedly by a Marmon-Herrington Armored Car whose turreted ATR Main Armament has precious little to do here, since the Japanese have nothing armored to shoot at. Still, one accepts life's little frustrations and Carries On.

For their part, the Japanese have 7.5 squads and a Crew, with two leaders, an MMG, and a light mortar. They themselves are frustrated here, as SSR2 disallows their usual HIP and the creation of Tank Hunter Heroes. Perhaps "Shabby Ramshackle Armored Car Heroes" don't exist in the system, I dunno. One imagines such SRACHs would hurl coconuts instead of Demo Charges, possibly with the same effect.

For all that, this scenario plays out to be a pretty good IJA PTO Teaching Scenario, as it is short (5 turns), doesn't go Full PTO with the terrain (Light Jungle with Roads), and seems to give one side (the Japanese) more leeway to make mistakes. The combined ROAR-ASL Scenario Archive record here is 57-30 in favor of the IJA, and having played it, I can tell you that it really looks to be a good teaching scenario. Give the new player the IJA and let the experienced player take the Brits. Because I'm here to tell you, Brother, the Brits have about 500 ways things can go wrong here, and the Japanese, not so much.

This thing will come down to the CC in the last player turn because it's just gotta be that way - it's only 5 turns long, and the Brits have to go 12-16 hexes to reach the VC buildings. There simply isn't time for subtlety - note the scenario name!

None of this kvetching is to take away from Dave's play - he expertly won the dice-for-sides and gallantly offered to let the Brits have the balance, trading in an LMG for an MMG. As with most balances, this had little impact on the game; if you really want to balance the scenario, I suggest adding a turn.

Again, Full Marks, All Props, and Other British Gracious Sayings to Dave, because he played really well. Those of you who see him play Martin in the Illuminating Rounds series, take note - when Dave plays people he doesn't like (ie, Americans, Euros, other non-Martin entities), he's actually a pretty tough opponent. None of this "running up to the panzerfausts and stopping the tank" business here. Next time we play, I'm thinking of impersonating Martin just so I can get THAT version of Dave. THIS GUY, he's no pushover.

The setups are shown below. One suspects the British (Malayans) on board 67 should set up in some Special Clever Way so as to avoid their inevitable fate, but such cleverness eluded me. I was a little surprised by the IJA not completely surrounding the Malayans, but Dave probably didn't feel like he had enough units, and ultimately, it doesn't matter. I'd love to hear of any game where the Malayans survived unbroken past Turn 1. These guys' job is to cause as much damage as they can while dying, and the result is so fore-ordained that one wonders why they exist at all. Just stripe two Japanese squads to begin with and let them set up anywhere on board 67.

17041

The sole challenge to the Japanese setup is how to deploy a screening force on board 62 so as to slow down the Brit reinforcements. Because as I said, with only 5 turns in this one, any delay will seriously hurt the British chances. I had one squad and one HS who only moved 1-2 hexes onboard on turn 1 (the squad was there to throw infantry smoke and the HS had a light mortar) and those guys were in immediate danger of missing out on the entire scenario. The Brits have to MOVE MOVE MOVE. MAX AGGRO!

With that in mind, if I were the IJA, I'd defintely put something in 62P8, with the task of advancing into and bottling up 62P7, should the Brits send some forces that way. (The IJA can't set up on hexrows < 8 here). Even a HS would do the trick just fine, because as long as he doesn't evaporate entirely, he's gonna block that passage for a turn, and there goes another way the Brits can lose - they dearly would love to surround the town from the west side, because that's a faster route to some of the VC buildings.

With THAT in mind, let's start talking about what I did wrong. Because while it's not a huge long list, it's certainly more valid than griping about the scenario. Perhaps like most British players, I was more concerned about surviving turn 1 than getting to the right place for turns 2 and 3. Seeing the IJA setup, I worried about how I could CX my 9-1 and three squads up into 62I7 (hint: armored assault), but didn't change my pregame plan of sending the 8-0 with 2.5 squads up the left hand side while the 8-1 and 2.5 BETTER squads went up the British right, toward 62G7.

Oh, and a lonely HS tore along the 62A hexrow, looking to grab the VC building in 67D2. Gotta love the flankers.

All of this is not an awful plan in and of itself, but I completely failed to think about how to seriously, no foolin', assault the town. I had vague ideas, but this lack of forethought caused me to adjust on-the-fly on turn 2, resulting in an unbalanced and easily parried attack. Now, in a 6-turn game, there'd be time to recover from this, but that's not the case here. So Heed My Warning, British Players - look at the darn approaches to the village and Have A Plan

Here's where the scenario designer starts chuckling to himself, as Tom's Bitter Screed bashing the scenario is obviously the result of poor play on his part. Well, I won't deny it. But let's press on.

Turn 1 went about as well for the Brits on board 62, and about as well for the IJA on board 67, as one could hope. Dave's First Fire shots on board 62 were awful, and my boys reached their assigned positions with nary a scratch. On board 67, a British HS did escape the cordon, coming down from 67J4 to threaten the IJA MMG in 62J9, but got Ambushed in CC and died miserably. I'll still claim it was a good idea, but the "dying miserably" part could use some tweaking.

Oh by the way, the Brits move first here. Which Dave forgot, which is why his setup has a leader and two squads just sitting out in the road in 67K6. Didn't matter; I Prep'd at them to no effect. On the IJA turn 1, these guys Banzai'd into K5, where First Fire activated a Sniper that broke the Brit squad in K4, making it ever-so-easy to plunge into I4 and basically guarantee that squad's demise. He actually broke and routed away on turn 1, managed to self-rally and circle around to the top of the village and grab the VC building in L6 later on, but Dave correctly allowed this to happen because this guy just didn't matter.

Shown below is the situation at the end of turn 1. As I said, all the hugga-mugga on board 67 could just be removed, IMO, because I don't see how board 67 could look much different. Maybe stripe a squad, wound a leader, etc.
17042

It was interesting that Dave abandoned the IJA mortar in 62K9; I wanted to grab it and use its smoke to support the assault on the town, but the +2 PTO Recovery drm, combined with my lack of available units in the area, argued against this. Probably another mistake.

Still, at this stage, the game hadn't been lost yet, but storm clouds were brewing for the British. See that big stack in 62I8? That's my 9-1 with two 458 squads (and one nearby). Remember what I said about Not Having A Plan Once We Got To Turn 2? Yeah, that's about to happen.

Turn 2: the 8-0 and two squads on the left make it up to 62P2, although one squad broke. On the right, the Marmon-Herrington AC stared at the Japanese 238 across the way and determined to Do Something About It. And so he moved into the road adjacent, whereby the 238 promptly went for Street Fighting (Streets? In MALAYA?) and rolled snakeyes. After much scrambling and arguing about DRMs, it was decided that the Monkey Harry (because BY GOD that's a great nickname) had immobilized ignominiously, but at least the 238's First Fire had been taken up.

And here's where I went a long way toward losing the game. A little annoyed at the impertinence of the Japanese chaps in E8, my 8-1 led his two 458's (and MMG!) up to 62F10, where he could Encircle the 238 while still making token progress toward the town. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB. Didn't have to do this at all, and certainly not with both squads, the leader, and the MMG. Sure, you may charitably say, this wasn't a Ferociously Awful Move, but I will disagree with you here. This scenario does not give the British any leeway to make sub-optimal moves like this. The right move would have been to get to 67G1, advancing to H1, and thereby beginning the assault on the right side of the town.

That's why I say this is a good teaching scenario; the Brits have vanishingly little wiggle room to make mistakes here, and if the less-experienced player takes the IJA side, the Brits actually could garner a little room for, let's say, American Tuomo-type play.

Mistake #2 was the move by my 9-1's stack. As I said, this guy didn't really have a Plan for what to do here, and he looked up at the near side of the village and opted to go left (around 62L10) instead of straight up to 67J1. This diversion cost him a bit of time, ended up with him having nowhere better to go than advancing CX into 67L1, and basically sealed my fate. Yes, the VC Buildings on the left side of town were easier pickins than on the right, but the approach on the right has more cover, is easier to get to, and would be supported by the 8-1 with two 458's and an MMG; on the left, all there was was an 8-0 and 1.5 unbroken 457s. Good Choices Were Not Made Here.

Again, I should have thought about this before the game started. Because once I got to turn 2, it would have been better to stick to a plan rather than work with a couple of vague hunches that I should "hit 'em where they ain't" and assault the town from all angles. And really, that Panache For Encirclement that I have is beginning to negatively impact my Quality of Life. Even if the targets so richly deserved it as this 238 did, there was a far better move to be made here.

Below is the board at the end of turn 2. The British are quite happy to have made it to the outskirts of the town, but if you look under the cardboard ? counters, you'll see the IJA aren't really worried. Why should they be? They're concealed, sitting in the VC buildings, and can let the British continue to peck away at the outskirts all they want. I'm starting to wonder why Dave didn't ask for my resignation at that point.
17043
Turn 3 continued much the same as turn 2, only with fewer excuses, because while the British got slightly offtrack on turn 2, they failed to correct it on turn 3, with the result that you see below. The Brits continue to envelop the town and have actually pushed the Japanese out of the western side. Meanwhile, two British 458s have tentatively knocked on the front door of the town in J2 and L2, but were not prepared for the HtH reception they got. In both cases, Dave advanced a squad and leader in, but his dice turned cold and failed to achieve either Ambush or KIAs on the CC rolls, even though he needed something ridiculous like an 8. That was a great swing of luck for me, and should have gone better for the IJA.

Meanwhile, notice the continued Nattering About by the British 8-1, who could only summon the courage to advance to 67J3 while his brothers were dying on the west side of town. Amazing to think what must have been going through his mind. GET IN THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!
17044

Turn 4 saw the 8-1 emboldened to act, as the Light Mortar managed to place Smoke in 67I3 to provide some cover. With the rest of the Brits "hitting 'em where they ain't", the VC buildings in the north and west of town had fallen, leaving the Brits one short. Problem was, that's where Dave's Japanese WERE, and so turn 5 looked to feature more of the Close-In Knife Work that AARs of this scenario seem to feature most prominently.
17045

At the end of British turn 5 (below), we'd actually managed to take that last VC building, but had suffered plenty of broken units to do it (see below). Dave had one player turn left to retake one building, and even though he was out of leaders (cf: "Close-In Knife Work", above), it was a trivial matter to break everybody in K4 through Prep Fire, and the game was won.
17046

Congrats to Dave for a well-played game, and apologies for the ranting. Those who know me know that I can't lose a game without blaming the Dice Gods, the Designer, my opponent, and All My Enemies, anyone but me.

The Dice Gods? OHHH YES. They're PARTICULARLY to blame here. See, this game featured some of the strangest dice I've ever seen. Get this: we went all game without a single Japanese squad striping. And that's WITH me having RIDICULOUSLY good IFT rolls. HOW ridiculously good, you ask? Well, let's plot them in Excel!

Below is a chart showing my 21 IFT DRs that had an effect, with Dave's subsequent MC/TC DRs. Multiple pairs are noted, as are the net averages.
17047

My dice were RIDICULOUS. For the 21 DRs noted above, my average DR was 3.7!!! My SAN was 3 and I rolled it THIRTEEN times! And yet, Dave's dice were even HOTTER! Even if his average of those 21 DRs was "only" 5.3, it was still a passed MC/TC. 1-check, 2-check, DAVE DON'T CARE. That crappy 238 that nailed my Armored Car must've soaked up at least two of both. IT WAS INSANE. I could CR squads left and right, but actually STRIPE them? NOPE.

Somehow this caused me to lose. Just wait, I'll figure it out.

(Thanks Dave for a well-played and enjoyable game!)
 
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daveramsey

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Cheers Tom. You didn’t do much wrong despite wanting to give yourself a hard time on this one. True it could have been much worse had those two CC/HtH melees been resolved ‘as they should have gone’ and my MMG pulling the trigger twice yet averaging 11.5 on its rolls...

It’s just very tough on the Brits - in truth I felt I was being out-manoeuvred on every turn and was just left to hunker down and snatch the odd CC kill when I could. Although I did like that turn 1 banzai that sorted out the men from the boys...

The full log’s available on the archive for anyone who wants to play along. It’s worth it just for the spectacle of our combined dice rolling!

Tom didn’t mention he whacked my sniper down to a 2 and still activated it 3 times after those first 10 activations at a 3. Some people have all the luck...
 

MajorDomo

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Nice AAR!

Played and enjoyed this scenario three times. I would give the Brits the balance (extra MMG from memory).

Would also make the huts/ buildings immune to fire as it is easy for the Jpn. to fire point blank into empty huts and ignite the huts, making village very tough to move into. Fire is also possible on later turns in the village scrum.

The armored car can be effective driving right up the "I" road to I3. There it can fire into the village, provide a hindrance and in the worst case provide wreck smoke.
 

Tuomo

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Sorry, I see now that my pregame advice about starting an IJA unit in 62P8 is nonsense - the British can CX and advance into P7 (just like I did) at the start of the game without this unit doing anything to stop it.

Rather, I'd recommend a squad and LMG in 62K9, looking to nail some left flankers in 62P6 on British turn 1, then repositioning to 62 N10 on the IJA turn 1. Anything to block that flank.
 
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Tuomo

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Next Up For Dave and I: Possl's Posse, from the new Action Pack
 

M.Koch

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<edited for bitchiness>

Dave Ramsey and I continued our Cross-Pond Best-of-Frenemies series with a game of J166, Maximum Aggression. Dave chose it for reasons unlikely to be fathomed by Modern Man, while I appreciated the chance to shorten the name to "Max Aggro". And off we went.

This 1941 Malayan tussle by Michael Koch features a small Malayan force surrounded in the village on board 67, with Brits coming to the rescue from the southern end of board 62. The Brits have 2.5 squads in the village and 9.5 squads in the Rescue Force, supported disinterestedly by a Marmon-Herrington Armored Car whose turreted ATR Main Armament has precious little to do here, since the Japanese have nothing armored to shoot at. Still, one accepts life's little frustrations and Carries On.

For their part, the Japanese have 7.5 squads and a Crew, with two leaders, an MMG, and a light mortar. They themselves are frustrated here, as SSR2 disallows their usual HIP and the creation of Tank Hunter Heroes. Perhaps "Shabby Ramshackle Armored Car Heroes" don't exist in the system, I dunno. One imagines such SRACHs would hurl coconuts instead of Demo Charges, possibly with the same effect.

For all that, this scenario plays out to be a pretty good IJA PTO Teaching Scenario, as it is short (5 turns), doesn't go Full PTO with the terrain (Light Jungle with Roads), and seems to give one side (the Japanese) more leeway to make mistakes. The combined ROAR-ASL Scenario Archive record here is 57-30 in favor of the IJA, and having played it, I can tell you that it really looks to be a good teaching scenario. Give the new player the IJA and let the experienced player take the Brits. Because I'm here to tell you, Brother, the Brits have about 500 ways things can go wrong here, and the Japanese, not so much.

This thing will come down to the CC in the last player turn because it's just gotta be that way - it's only 5 turns long, and the Brits have to go 12-16 hexes to reach the VC buildings. There simply isn't time for subtlety - note the scenario name!

None of this kvetching is to take away from Dave's play - he expertly won the dice-for-sides and gallantly offered to let the Brits have the balance, trading in an LMG for an MMG. As with most balances, this had little impact on the game; if you really want to balance the scenario, I suggest adding a turn.

Again, Full Marks, All Props, and Other British Gracious Sayings to Dave, because he played really well. Those of you who see him play Martin in the Illuminating Rounds series, take note - when Dave plays people he doesn't like (ie, Americans, Euros, other non-Martin entities), he's actually a pretty tough opponent. None of this "running up to the panzerfausts and stopping the tank" business here. Next time we play, I'm thinking of impersonating Martin just so I can get THAT version of Dave. THIS GUY, he's no pushover.

The setups are shown below. One suspects the British (Malayans) on board 67 should set up in some Special Clever Way so as to avoid their inevitable fate, but such cleverness eluded me. I was a little surprised by the IJA not completely surrounding the Malayans, but Dave probably didn't feel like he had enough units, and ultimately, it doesn't matter. I'd love to hear of any game where the Malayans survived unbroken past Turn 1. These guys' job is to cause as much damage as they can while dying, and the result is so fore-ordained that one wonders why they exist at all. Just stripe two Japanese squads to begin with and let them set up anywhere on board 67.

View attachment 17041

The sole challenge to the Japanese setup is how to deploy a screening force on board 62 so as to slow down the Brit reinforcements. Because as I said, with only 5 turns in this one, any delay will seriously hurt the British chances. I had one squad and one HS who only moved 1-2 hexes onboard on turn 1 (the squad was there to throw infantry smoke and the HS had a light mortar) and those guys were in immediate danger of missing out on the entire scenario. The Brits have to MOVE MOVE MOVE. MAX AGGRO!

With that in mind, if I were the IJA, I'd defintely put something in 62P8, with the task of advancing into and bottling up 62P7, should the Brits send some forces that way. (The IJA can't set up on hexrows < 8 here). Even a HS would do the trick just fine, because as long as he doesn't evaporate entirely, he's gonna block that passage for a turn, and there goes another way the Brits can lose - they dearly would love to surround the town from the west side, because that's a faster route to some of the VC buildings.

With THAT in mind, let's start talking about what I did wrong. Because while it's not a huge long list, it's certainly more valid than griping about the scenario. Perhaps like most British players, I was more concerned about surviving turn 1 than getting to the right place for turns 2 and 3. Seeing the IJA setup, I worried about how I could CX my 9-1 and three squads up into 62I7 (hint: armored assault), but didn't change my pregame plan of sending the 8-0 with 2.5 squads up the left hand side while the 8-1 and 2.5 BETTER squads went up the British right, toward 62G7.

Oh, and a lonely HS tore along the 62A hexrow, looking to grab the VC building in 67D2. Gotta love the flankers.

All of this is not an awful plan in and of itself, but I completely failed to think about how to seriously, no foolin', assault the town. I had vague ideas, but this lack of forethought caused me to adjust on-the-fly on turn 2, resulting in an unbalanced and easily parried attack. Now, in a 6-turn game, there'd be time to recover from this, but that's not the case here. So Heed My Warning, British Players - look at the darn approaches to the village and Have A Plan

Here's where the scenario designer starts chuckling to himself, as Tom's Bitter Screed bashing the scenario is obviously the result of poor play on his part. Well, I won't deny it. But let's press on.

Turn 1 went about as well for the Brits on board 62, and about as well for the IJA on board 67, as one could hope. Dave's First Fire shots on board 62 were awful, and my boys reached their assigned positions with nary a scratch. On board 67, a British HS did escape the cordon, coming down from 67J4 to threaten the IJA MMG in 62J9, but got Ambushed in CC and died miserably. I'll still claim it was a good idea, but the "dying miserably" part could use some tweaking.

Oh by the way, the Brits move first here. Which Dave forgot, which is why his setup has a leader and two squads just sitting out in the road in 67K6. Didn't matter; I Prep'd at them to no effect. On the IJA turn 1, these guys Banzai'd into K5, where First Fire activated a Sniper that broke the Brit squad in K4, making it ever-so-easy to plunge into I4 and basically guarantee that squad's demise. He actually broke and routed away on turn 1, managed to self-rally and circle around to the top of the village and grab the VC building in L6 later on, but Dave correctly allowed this to happen because this guy just didn't matter.

Shown below is the situation at the end of turn 1. As I said, all the hugga-mugga on board 67 could just be removed, IMO, because I don't see how board 67 could look much different. Maybe stripe a squad, wound a leader, etc.
View attachment 17042

It was interesting that Dave abandoned the IJA mortar in 62K9; I wanted to grab it and use its smoke to support the assault on the town, but the +2 PTO Recovery drm, combined with my lack of available units in the area, argued against this. Probably another mistake.

Still, at this stage, the game hadn't been lost yet, but storm clouds were brewing for the British. See that big stack in 62I8? That's my 9-1 with two 458 squads (and one nearby). Remember what I said about Not Having A Plan Once We Got To Turn 2? Yeah, that's about to happen.

Turn 2: the 8-0 and two squads on the left make it up to 62P2, although one squad broke. On the right, the Marmon-Herrington AC stared at the Japanese 238 across the way and determined to Do Something About It. And so he moved into the road adjacent, whereby the 238 promptly went for Street Fighting (Streets? In MALAYA?) and rolled snakeyes. After much scrambling and arguing about DRMs, it was decided that the Monkey Harry (because BY GOD that's a great nickname) had immobilized ignominiously, but at least the 238's First Fire had been taken up.

And here's where I went a long way toward losing the game. A little annoyed at the impertinence of the Japanese chaps in E8, my 8-1 led his two 458's (and MMG!) up to 62F10, where he could Encircle the 238 while still making token progress toward the town. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB. Didn't have to do this at all, and certainly not with both squads, the leader, and the MMG. Sure, you may charitably say, this wasn't a Ferociously Awful Move, but I will disagree with you here. This scenario does not give the British any leeway to make sub-optimal moves like this. The right move would have been to get to 67G1, advancing to H1, and thereby beginning the assault on the right side of the town.

That's why I say this is a good teaching scenario; the Brits have vanishingly little wiggle room to make mistakes here, and if the less-experienced player takes the IJA side, the Brits actually could garner a little room for, let's say, American Tuomo-type play.

Mistake #2 was the move by my 9-1's stack. As I said, this guy didn't really have a Plan for what to do here, and he looked up at the near side of the village and opted to go left (around 62L10) instead of straight up to 67J1. This diversion cost him a bit of time, ended up with him having nowhere better to go than advancing CX into 67L1, and basically sealed my fate. Yes, the VC Buildings on the left side of town were easier pickins than on the right, but the approach on the right has more cover, is easier to get to, and would be supported by the 8-1 with two 458's and an MMG; on the left, all there was was an 8-0 and 1.5 unbroken 457s. Good Choices Were Not Made Here.

Again, I should have thought about this before the game started. Because once I got to turn 2, it would have been better to stick to a plan rather than work with a couple of vague hunches that I should "hit 'em where they ain't" and assault the town from all angles. And really, that Panache For Encirclement that I have is beginning to negatively impact my Quality of Life. Even if the targets so richly deserved it as this 238 did, there was a far better move to be made here.

Below is the board at the end of turn 2. The British are quite happy to have made it to the outskirts of the town, but if you look under the cardboard ? counters, you'll see the IJA aren't really worried. Why should they be? They're concealed, sitting in the VC buildings, and can let the British continue to peck away at the outskirts all they want. I'm starting to wonder why Dave didn't ask for my resignation at that point.
View attachment 17043
Turn 3 continued much the same as turn 2, only with fewer excuses, because while the British got slightly offtrack on turn 2, they failed to correct it on turn 3, with the result that you see below. The Brits continue to envelop the town and have actually pushed the Japanese out of the western side. Meanwhile, two British 458s have tentatively knocked on the front door of the town in J2 and L2, but were not prepared for the HtH reception they got. In both cases, Dave advanced a squad and leader in, but his dice turned cold and failed to achieve either Ambush or KIAs on the CC rolls, even though he needed something ridiculous like an 8. That was a great swing of luck for me, and should have gone better for the IJA.

Meanwhile, notice the continued Nattering About by the British 8-1, who could only summon the courage to advance to 67J3 while his brothers were dying on the west side of town. Amazing to think what must have been going through his mind. GET IN THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!
View attachment 17044

Turn 4 saw the 8-1 emboldened to act, as the Light Mortar managed to place Smoke in 67I3 to provide some cover. With the rest of the Brits "hitting 'em where they ain't", the VC buildings in the north and west of town had fallen, leaving the Brits one short. Problem was, that's where Dave's Japanese WERE, and so turn 5 looked to feature more of the Close-In Knife Work that AARs of this scenario seem to feature most prominently.
View attachment 17045

At the end of British turn 5 (below), we'd actually managed to take that last VC building, but had suffered plenty of broken units to do it (see below). Dave had one player turn left to retake one building, and even though he was out of leaders (cf: "Close-In Knife Work", above), it was a trivial matter to break everybody in K4 through Prep Fire, and the game was won.
View attachment 17046

Congrats to Dave for a well-played game, and apologies for the ranting. Those who know me know that I can't lose a game without blaming the Dice Gods, the Designer, my opponent, and All My Enemies, anyone but me.

The Dice Gods? OHHH YES. They're PARTICULARLY to blame here. See, this game featured some of the strangest dice I've ever seen. Get this: we went all game without a single Japanese squad striping. And that's WITH me having RIDICULOUSLY good IFT rolls. HOW ridiculously good, you ask? Well, let's plot them in Excel!

Below is a chart showing my 21 IFT DRs that had an effect, with Dave's subsequent MC/TC DRs. Multiple pairs are noted, as are the net averages.
View attachment 17047

My dice were RIDICULOUS. For the 21 DRs noted above, my average DR was 3.7!!! My SAN was 3 and I rolled it THIRTEEN times! And yet, Dave's dice were even HOTTER! Even if his average of those 21 DRs was "only" 5.3, it was still a passed MC/TC. 1-check, 2-check, DAVE DON'T CARE. That crappy 238 that nailed my Armored Car must've soaked up at least two of both. IT WAS INSANE. I could CR squads left and right, but actually STRIPE them? NOPE.

Somehow this caused me to lose. Just wait, I'll figure it out.

(Thanks Dave for a well-played and enjoyable game!)
Thank you, Sir. Magnificent AAR. So..... aggressive:p
 

FourDeuceMF

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I see the issue...Tuomo played 'Passive Aggressive' when the 'Max Aggro' was needed. ;-)

I played this in Tokyo in the last round of that tourney (2019?), won as the Brits (even had the guys in the village survive into T2, IIRC). Technically, it was an adjudicated win (due to a quick exit time necessary from our venue), however the outcome wasn't really in doubt. The key is definitely, as you say, maneuver...thankfully, the Japanese can't put too much forward, lest they get flanked/overwhelmed...and the Brits can afford (to a degree) to attrit/MAD when the inevitable CC occurs.

That said, it IS a tight one for the Brits, and not much room for error. IIRC, the advantage I got was that my opponent wasn't prepared for the speed of movement to get the reinforcing force into the village fight ASAP, and was out-of-position as a result. I could see the balance being given, though not necessary.

This is definitely a good 'mid-week evening' ASL scenario, all infantry (save the ridiculous AC, which IS good for Overrun/pinning), should be over in a couple hours, either way.
 

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I see the issue...Tuomo played 'Passive Aggressive' when the 'Max Aggro' was needed. ;-)

I played this in Tokyo in the last round of that tourney (2019?), won as the Brits (even had the guys in the village survive into T2, IIRC). Technically, it was an adjudicated win (due to a quick exit time necessary from our venue), however the outcome wasn't really in doubt...
Well, it was 2018, but other than that you have it about right. You certainly had the better of me from the Grok Phase.

17137
 

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Tuomo's observation that most balance provisions have little effect on the game seems generally true. Probably the balance that is the most significant, again generally, is adding another turn as he suggested.

IMO if you believe a scenario is unbalanced the most effective possible solution would be not to rely on the balance provision but alter your approach to the scenario. Too few turns, play more aggressively. Not enough firepower, try to use maneuver as a force multiplier.

This approach may not work but I doubt that trading a LMG for a MMG will either. I would be more inclined towards provisions that decrease the advantages of the side the scenario favored than trying to increase the capabilities of the underdog. YMMV
 

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Tuomo's observation that most balance provisions have little effect on the game seems generally true. Probably the balance that is the most significant, again generally, is adding another turn as he suggested.

IMO if you believe a scenario is unbalanced the most effective possible solution would be not to rely on the balance provision but alter your approach to the scenario. Too few turns, play more aggressively. Not enough firepower, try to use maneuver as a force multiplier.

This approach may not work but I doubt that trading a LMG for a MMG will either. I would be more inclined towards provisions that decrease the advantages of the side the scenario favored than trying to increase the capabilities of the underdog. YMMV
The problem with Balance is in the name itself. Balance, as stated in A 26.4, was meant to be a solution to be used when both players wanted the same side. It was not meant as a fix for a lopsided scenario. Balance infers an equalization whereas A 26.4 envisions it as an advantage for the player who lost the dr for choice of side.

Unfortunately it seems that Balance has taken on more of the former meaning than the latter. I haven't yet come up with a succinct term as a replacement for Balance that conveys what A 26.4 intended. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. It's not as if it will matter but it's the kind of thing Captain Bacchus, Colonel Cuervo, Brigadier Bacardi and I like to ponder.😉🤗🤗

Btw almost always used Balance as written in A 26.4.
 

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Interesting to see that perspective on A26.4; it's pretty clear what they intended. However, the players seem to have brought a more practical slant on the rule over the years, and I think most people use it that way - as a way to balance a scenario that has perceived weakness.

Frankly, screw the "consolation" bit. Giving me an MMG vs an LMG isn't gonna make me enjoy the scenario more if I didn't want to have that side in the first place.
 

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Interesting to see that perspective on A26.4; it's pretty clear what they intended. However, the players seem to have brought a more practical slant on the rule over the years, and I think most people use it that way - as a way to balance a scenario that has perceived weakness.

Frankly, screw the "consolation" bit. Giving me an MMG vs an LMG isn't gonna make me enjoy the scenario more if I didn't want to have that side in the first place.
Agree about how it's used now although I don't think that it is the ideal solution for fixing a skewed scenario. Never a great believer in balanced scenarios anyway.

As far as consolation goes how about two MMG and a bottle of tequila as balance? If that's acceptable you can have the side you wanted and Colonel Cuervo and I will take the balance!!😋😋🤗🤗
 
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