MajorDomo
DM? Chuck H2O in his face
[FONT=&]Played J167 -Hart Attack versus Jon Cole in Enrico's VASL League. Random Selection gave me the attacking Brits versus Jon's defending Germans. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]Thirteen Brit squads, supported by five Grant tanks must gain 7 VP against 9.5 German squads supported by three turn three PZIIH tanks. There are seven buildings worth 1 point each to the Allies; additionally the Allies gain 1 VP for the first AFV exited off the East (German defended) side of the board and and additional 1 VP for every two tanks also exited (max 3 VP for all 5 tanks exited). The Germans also gain a point for each of the three PZIIIH tanks eliminated.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I like Gary Fortenberry's scenarios and this would be no exception.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Attached is Jon's setup (with support weapons shown as best as I remember after they unconcealed). Hindsight shows a well-balanced defense, with a few speed bumps to slow down my rush forward. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]The central hedges are Cactus hedges, which require Infantry minimum move to cross, no effect on AFV movement. The orchards are olive groves, +1 Tem and +1 MP/MF. Since this this took place in Djedeida, Tunisa all surrenders had to be accepted.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Setup
[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My thoughts when I first saw Jon's defense were:[/FONT]
[FONT=&]A. The defense intended to fall back to the three wooden hexes and keep them in German hands with the addition of the three PZIIIHs. I suspected that all five 238s (one obviously deployed) were up north and five 548s were south. The Achilles heal of this defensive scheme is that the Brits can take the four Northern buildings and exit all five tanks for 7 VP and a win. So I figured the 40LL Brit gun (APCR only) must be up North to pop up, kill a Grant tank and force the Germans, to get at least one point in the wooden complex.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]B. I could easily eliminate the central two "pickets". Also threatened the southern 548 by running an AFV along the curved red arrow, getting behind the southern 548 and blasting him with both the AFV and the 9-1 stack which doubletimed/Advanced along the smaller red arrows. Additionally the Grant could follow the red arrows to M19 and threaten the village by the end of Brit turn three by passing two "11" Bog checks. The 9-1 led platoon would move along the same route and reach the outskirts of the village by my turn three. Unfortunately, I could not break the southern 548, eventually pinning him and forcing a self break escape. A 457 broke in the process (he failed 4 self rallies) and the net result was a +2 squad pickup for the Jerries.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]C. I thought that the Gun was on the northern hill and sent some deployed scouts with an 8-1 to check out the scene, with a couple of 458/Lmgs for fire support should the gun emerge and secondarily, to deal with the 548 on the hill. This all ended when the Gun emerged as shown and destroyed my AFV as shown on turn two.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Jon moved his Northern units south as shown on his initial turns. A synopsis of turns two and three follows.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]With the 40LL gun revealed, my remaining three northern Grants had free reign and the southern Grant passed his two Bog checks and threatened the town.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Mr. 9-2 (with his 8-0 sidekick) led a few squads, the HMG and MMG through the central woods and broke/Elr'd a few Germans retreating to the wooden village.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I trapped a 548/Mtr in the central olive grove and he obliged by failing his first MC badly. I paralyzed the J3 hill 548 with fire and a motion Grant.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Life was good, Jon's "8" morale guys had obviously been out whoring and drinking, failing a bunch of morale checks.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The law of averages is a nasty reality. The paralyzed, pinned and CX, 548 on hill hex J3 rolled CC snakes against the motion Grant, generated an 8-1 leader, thus destroying the Grant without a subsequent dr. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]I saw a golden opportunity and ran the southern 9-1/457/457/248/Atr past the marsh hex in a stack, thus cleverly avoiding a Lmg firelane while taking an 8+1 548/Lmg shot. They all broke, save one brave 457 who then pinned at the sight of his sniveling commander.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Jon coalesced his defense nicely in the northern stone buildings, with 2.5 548s, a 9-1 the 238/Mtr (in the road between the two buildings) and the 40LL guarding their backdoor. A 238/Mmg stood over-watch on the large central Olive Grove hill and his three PzIIIHs entered as shown on the following picture (start of Brit turn 4).[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of that little bastard "defeat is an orphan" smiling from one of the wooden village buildings. My southern Grant took revenge on the 548/Lmg that tormented my 9-1 and Cr'd/broke and Eld'd him.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I knew that I would eventually take the three stone central buildings, and probably protect the single northern stone building after dispatching a much needed 8-0/447 to help the 247 custodian. My southern Grant would be able to exit if he made an "11" Bog check in O20 with all MP on turn five.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]That would total 5 VP of the seven needed. So I needed to kill some PZIIIHs and/or take some wooden buildings after rallying the 9-1.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I swarmed the central buildings as the infantry up there was expendable and if things went my way, some could CX down to help the wooden village assault- no time to dally.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My I8 tank with two broken MGs, survived a placed DC, moved to I10 to duel the PZIIIH in L11, didn't survive that as Jon's PZIIIH smoked him with APCR.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Below is the result of the Brit turn 4.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The central buildings were devoid of Germans, save the 9-1 who ambushed a 247 and found himself encircled in an upper floor location. Most of the other German infantry failed morale checks, those that didn't died in CC.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My southern good order 457 and 248 headed to the wooden town and my Grant moved to B20 to use all his MP in O20 on turn 5, made his Bog check in turn 5 and exited on turn 6 for a VP.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Brit Turn 4[/FONT]
[FONT=&]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Turn 5 saw the German forces stream back to the wooden buildings leaving a 238/Mmg in an over-watch position. My stone build Brits skipped their tea break and ran towards the wooden buildings.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The southern 9-1 rallied himself, a 457 and the 248/Atr and also sprinted for town, Jon's AFVs eliminated the former southern 247 Mtr halfsquad in D'fire.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The most significant turn 5 event was a running tank battle between the northern Grant and PZIIIH. Each side missed shots, the Grant malf'd its 37L on an IF shot. The duel ended when the Grant's B75 rolled a bounding fire snakes from M8 at the motion PZIIIH in O8, luckily blazing his prey.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]That gave my Brits 6 of the required 7 VP points (4 for stone buildings, 1 for Grant exit and 1 for the blazing PZIIIH).[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Brit turn 6 (after prep and some movement)
[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The following is the battle after my turn 6 Prep fire and successful smoke grenade placement/assault move by 9-1/457. The 9-2/458/Lmg stack would survive DFire, overrun the 8-0/Atr, eliminating him and grabbing his Atr with its last MP for style points.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The southern 248/Atr assault moved for a better side shot on a PZIIIH, but broke as would the O17 Prep fired 457 to a series of shots from the PZIIIHs. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]Everyone not breaking moved in for CC.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]German turn 6 before advance[/FONT]
[FONT=&]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The CC/melee results were that I captured building N15 with a 228/228/CX237.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]That group withstood a hellacious amount of German turn 6 Prep/Bounding fire with only the CX 237 and one 228 pinning.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My 9-2/457/Lmg broke his 8-1/548 in D'fire and two German 238s advanced into N15 for CC.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]They ambushed but rolled a "6" on their 1-2 CC attack and I maintained my 7th point to win by the skin of my chinny, chin, chin.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Denouement[/FONT]
[FONT=&]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Well played by both sides, really a tense scenario. You should play it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Rich[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Thirteen Brit squads, supported by five Grant tanks must gain 7 VP against 9.5 German squads supported by three turn three PZIIH tanks. There are seven buildings worth 1 point each to the Allies; additionally the Allies gain 1 VP for the first AFV exited off the East (German defended) side of the board and and additional 1 VP for every two tanks also exited (max 3 VP for all 5 tanks exited). The Germans also gain a point for each of the three PZIIIH tanks eliminated.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I like Gary Fortenberry's scenarios and this would be no exception.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Attached is Jon's setup (with support weapons shown as best as I remember after they unconcealed). Hindsight shows a well-balanced defense, with a few speed bumps to slow down my rush forward. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]The central hedges are Cactus hedges, which require Infantry minimum move to cross, no effect on AFV movement. The orchards are olive groves, +1 Tem and +1 MP/MF. Since this this took place in Djedeida, Tunisa all surrenders had to be accepted.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Setup
[/FONT][FONT=&]My thoughts when I first saw Jon's defense were:[/FONT]
[FONT=&]A. The defense intended to fall back to the three wooden hexes and keep them in German hands with the addition of the three PZIIIHs. I suspected that all five 238s (one obviously deployed) were up north and five 548s were south. The Achilles heal of this defensive scheme is that the Brits can take the four Northern buildings and exit all five tanks for 7 VP and a win. So I figured the 40LL Brit gun (APCR only) must be up North to pop up, kill a Grant tank and force the Germans, to get at least one point in the wooden complex.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]B. I could easily eliminate the central two "pickets". Also threatened the southern 548 by running an AFV along the curved red arrow, getting behind the southern 548 and blasting him with both the AFV and the 9-1 stack which doubletimed/Advanced along the smaller red arrows. Additionally the Grant could follow the red arrows to M19 and threaten the village by the end of Brit turn three by passing two "11" Bog checks. The 9-1 led platoon would move along the same route and reach the outskirts of the village by my turn three. Unfortunately, I could not break the southern 548, eventually pinning him and forcing a self break escape. A 457 broke in the process (he failed 4 self rallies) and the net result was a +2 squad pickup for the Jerries.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]C. I thought that the Gun was on the northern hill and sent some deployed scouts with an 8-1 to check out the scene, with a couple of 458/Lmgs for fire support should the gun emerge and secondarily, to deal with the 548 on the hill. This all ended when the Gun emerged as shown and destroyed my AFV as shown on turn two.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Jon moved his Northern units south as shown on his initial turns. A synopsis of turns two and three follows.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]With the 40LL gun revealed, my remaining three northern Grants had free reign and the southern Grant passed his two Bog checks and threatened the town.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Mr. 9-2 (with his 8-0 sidekick) led a few squads, the HMG and MMG through the central woods and broke/Elr'd a few Germans retreating to the wooden village.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I trapped a 548/Mtr in the central olive grove and he obliged by failing his first MC badly. I paralyzed the J3 hill 548 with fire and a motion Grant.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Life was good, Jon's "8" morale guys had obviously been out whoring and drinking, failing a bunch of morale checks.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The law of averages is a nasty reality. The paralyzed, pinned and CX, 548 on hill hex J3 rolled CC snakes against the motion Grant, generated an 8-1 leader, thus destroying the Grant without a subsequent dr. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]I saw a golden opportunity and ran the southern 9-1/457/457/248/Atr past the marsh hex in a stack, thus cleverly avoiding a Lmg firelane while taking an 8+1 548/Lmg shot. They all broke, save one brave 457 who then pinned at the sight of his sniveling commander.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Jon coalesced his defense nicely in the northern stone buildings, with 2.5 548s, a 9-1 the 238/Mtr (in the road between the two buildings) and the 40LL guarding their backdoor. A 238/Mmg stood over-watch on the large central Olive Grove hill and his three PzIIIHs entered as shown on the following picture (start of Brit turn 4).[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of that little bastard "defeat is an orphan" smiling from one of the wooden village buildings. My southern Grant took revenge on the 548/Lmg that tormented my 9-1 and Cr'd/broke and Eld'd him.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I knew that I would eventually take the three stone central buildings, and probably protect the single northern stone building after dispatching a much needed 8-0/447 to help the 247 custodian. My southern Grant would be able to exit if he made an "11" Bog check in O20 with all MP on turn five.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]That would total 5 VP of the seven needed. So I needed to kill some PZIIIHs and/or take some wooden buildings after rallying the 9-1.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I swarmed the central buildings as the infantry up there was expendable and if things went my way, some could CX down to help the wooden village assault- no time to dally.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My I8 tank with two broken MGs, survived a placed DC, moved to I10 to duel the PZIIIH in L11, didn't survive that as Jon's PZIIIH smoked him with APCR.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Below is the result of the Brit turn 4.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The central buildings were devoid of Germans, save the 9-1 who ambushed a 247 and found himself encircled in an upper floor location. Most of the other German infantry failed morale checks, those that didn't died in CC.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My southern good order 457 and 248 headed to the wooden town and my Grant moved to B20 to use all his MP in O20 on turn 5, made his Bog check in turn 5 and exited on turn 6 for a VP.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Brit Turn 4[/FONT]
[FONT=&]
[/FONT][FONT=&]Turn 5 saw the German forces stream back to the wooden buildings leaving a 238/Mmg in an over-watch position. My stone build Brits skipped their tea break and ran towards the wooden buildings.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The southern 9-1 rallied himself, a 457 and the 248/Atr and also sprinted for town, Jon's AFVs eliminated the former southern 247 Mtr halfsquad in D'fire.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The most significant turn 5 event was a running tank battle between the northern Grant and PZIIIH. Each side missed shots, the Grant malf'd its 37L on an IF shot. The duel ended when the Grant's B75 rolled a bounding fire snakes from M8 at the motion PZIIIH in O8, luckily blazing his prey.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]That gave my Brits 6 of the required 7 VP points (4 for stone buildings, 1 for Grant exit and 1 for the blazing PZIIIH).[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Brit turn 6 (after prep and some movement)
[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The following is the battle after my turn 6 Prep fire and successful smoke grenade placement/assault move by 9-1/457. The 9-2/458/Lmg stack would survive DFire, overrun the 8-0/Atr, eliminating him and grabbing his Atr with its last MP for style points.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The southern 248/Atr assault moved for a better side shot on a PZIIIH, but broke as would the O17 Prep fired 457 to a series of shots from the PZIIIHs. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]Everyone not breaking moved in for CC.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]German turn 6 before advance[/FONT]
[FONT=&]
[/FONT][FONT=&]The CC/melee results were that I captured building N15 with a 228/228/CX237.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]That group withstood a hellacious amount of German turn 6 Prep/Bounding fire with only the CX 237 and one 228 pinning.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My 9-2/457/Lmg broke his 8-1/548 in D'fire and two German 238s advanced into N15 for CC.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]They ambushed but rolled a "6" on their 1-2 CC attack and I maintained my 7th point to win by the skin of my chinny, chin, chin.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Denouement[/FONT]
[FONT=&]
[/FONT][FONT=&]Well played by both sides, really a tense scenario. You should play it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Rich[/FONT]
Last edited:
