Vrosso
Member
Just got done playing this one Thur night in the VASL league vs. Rich D where I won the coin toss and choose to play the defender on this one.
In terms of choices, I went for the HMG (3 points out of 8) plus 1 point to HIP it. This was mostly a waste for a couple of reasons. First I HIP'd it in the obvious place (V0) where it could firelane down the road. Rich was lined up to move his kill stack (10-2, hero, couple squads...) into uT3, so I tried a non-lane shot at a squad moving in woods/road, hoping for rate, and rolled a 4-?, no rate. The kill stack would then obliterate this unit, getting a k and leaving a ELR'd broken leader behind. For the game I only got this first shot off with the HMG. Worse, the MTR, if set up in the right spot could pretty easily nail the HIP unit with WP if set up with LOS to that hex, concealed would be much better for me. Also, choosing the HMG means if the unit breaks, it can't rout away with the weapon.
So this one started out in a special way, snakes on the WP shot, and kept going that way. By turn 3, I've lost 3 squads and my 20L AA gun will be getting overrun soon (as it is sitting in smoke). All of the MC's that I was causing were being passed by rolls below my sniper number. It was so bad, I was apologizing for not providing a good game, but the dice give and before long the dice would take back.
The first american HS broke upon entering WP. My pinned 20L gun was ambushed, but boxcars showed up on the American CC roll, twice in a row, allowing the crew to slink away, but they wouldn't get far.
The other choice I agonized over was the 88L position. I choose sDD8, deep woods, with two wires covering it, CC9 and DD9. The artillery pieces were in R4/S3, so the 88 and a gun could shoot at eachother, mostly down the road, but with one hindrance. The 88's CA was in the direction of EE9/DD9 and would fire upon an 8-0/747 combination around T4 breaking them. While this was going down, the kill stack moved into Z8 where it could fire on the 88.
In my turn, the art piece smoked CC8 providing cover for the 88.
Although this game started looking like it was going to be a blow out, it came down to the last turn, with luck now on my side as opposed to against me. The 9-1\447 fired 4 flat on the 10-2/747 scoring a TC (and both pinned!). A lone hero then fired on an exiting 9-1 (1 down 3) scoring a TC and another pin!. A bum rush into the smoke hex by a squad and two heroes, resulted in first the 88L needing to change CA (as it's first shot) and getting rate, a k/3 result ended up in CR the squad, eliminating both hereos (high WC) rolls and utlimately survival of the 88.
If I had to play this again, would have likely not spent on the HMG, but gone for ? counters and mines, even VP. The ability of the two guns to fire at each other seemed to help, I was reluctant with this set up but it seemed to do well. It is very important for the defenders to survive the initial turns and get back to block the way for american exits.
First off many thanks for Rich for the excellent game and sportsmanship, these are always amazing when they go into the last half turn for resolution.
In terms of choices, I went for the HMG (3 points out of 8) plus 1 point to HIP it. This was mostly a waste for a couple of reasons. First I HIP'd it in the obvious place (V0) where it could firelane down the road. Rich was lined up to move his kill stack (10-2, hero, couple squads...) into uT3, so I tried a non-lane shot at a squad moving in woods/road, hoping for rate, and rolled a 4-?, no rate. The kill stack would then obliterate this unit, getting a k and leaving a ELR'd broken leader behind. For the game I only got this first shot off with the HMG. Worse, the MTR, if set up in the right spot could pretty easily nail the HIP unit with WP if set up with LOS to that hex, concealed would be much better for me. Also, choosing the HMG means if the unit breaks, it can't rout away with the weapon.
So this one started out in a special way, snakes on the WP shot, and kept going that way. By turn 3, I've lost 3 squads and my 20L AA gun will be getting overrun soon (as it is sitting in smoke). All of the MC's that I was causing were being passed by rolls below my sniper number. It was so bad, I was apologizing for not providing a good game, but the dice give and before long the dice would take back.
The first american HS broke upon entering WP. My pinned 20L gun was ambushed, but boxcars showed up on the American CC roll, twice in a row, allowing the crew to slink away, but they wouldn't get far.
The other choice I agonized over was the 88L position. I choose sDD8, deep woods, with two wires covering it, CC9 and DD9. The artillery pieces were in R4/S3, so the 88 and a gun could shoot at eachother, mostly down the road, but with one hindrance. The 88's CA was in the direction of EE9/DD9 and would fire upon an 8-0/747 combination around T4 breaking them. While this was going down, the kill stack moved into Z8 where it could fire on the 88.
In my turn, the art piece smoked CC8 providing cover for the 88.
Although this game started looking like it was going to be a blow out, it came down to the last turn, with luck now on my side as opposed to against me. The 9-1\447 fired 4 flat on the 10-2/747 scoring a TC (and both pinned!). A lone hero then fired on an exiting 9-1 (1 down 3) scoring a TC and another pin!. A bum rush into the smoke hex by a squad and two heroes, resulted in first the 88L needing to change CA (as it's first shot) and getting rate, a k/3 result ended up in CR the squad, eliminating both hereos (high WC) rolls and utlimately survival of the 88.
If I had to play this again, would have likely not spent on the HMG, but gone for ? counters and mines, even VP. The ability of the two guns to fire at each other seemed to help, I was reluctant with this set up but it seemed to do well. It is very important for the defenders to survive the initial turns and get back to block the way for american exits.
First off many thanks for Rich for the excellent game and sportsmanship, these are always amazing when they go into the last half turn for resolution.