Doug Kirk
Senior Member
I finally got around to writing an AAR for the St. Louis tourney a couple weeks ago. I hope to see more of you there next year.
Round 1: RPT141 Volunteers Became Scarce vs Dave Ginnard. Dave had the sides backwards in his AAR if you saw it, I had the South Koreans and he had the North Koreans via random DR. I was defending. I set up a token squad and a dummy in the board 48 village with the rest of my force concentrating on board 62 and the middle seam between boards 62/48. This is a very typical schwerepunkt style scenario, the attacker must go, go, go. The first couple turns it seems like there is no chance to reach the back victory buildings as the attacker and Dave voiced this opinion a few times. Dave was fighting the terrain as much as me as there are several choke points to navigate. I started hot with the dice and killed a couple tanks with Human Bullet Heroes as they tried to VBM freeze me. However as the game wore on, the North Korean infantry just keep rallying back and pressing forward. It looked like Dave might come up short in the end as time was against him, but either a HS or bailed out crew slipped thru my fire and got into my backfield and into the victory buildings as I didn’t have near enough bodies left to garrison every building in the back of board 62. He would have a chance, but the last turn dash/push left him one building short. A fun scenario I would play again. 1-0
Round 2: DtF4 Death to Fascism vs George Tournemire. We both bid Axis 1 and the dice game me the Russians with balance of an extra SWPP for each Russian group. This was a frustrating scenario. I had played it before and had a good plan. I knew George was a top notch player and I was looking forward to a fun, tight game. However, my dice had other ideas. I bought the 50 cal to put in the upper level and suppress the forward defenders. I sent a small token force down my left flank and sent the bulk of my forces up the middle and middle/right under the overwatch of the 50 cal. My first shot of the game was a 10 or 11 with 50 cal, so I didn’t even strip concealment from my target. My main force eased forward and took a lot of fire and a lot of casualties as George’s dice were hot early. He had a very forward defense, including his HIP guys with MMG. The MMG revealed itself and rolled snakes eyes to remove a full squad from the map. In his half of turn one I was salivating for a ROF run from the 50 cal, but…I rolled a twelve. Nothing much changed after that, I couldn’t get anything to go my way. The 50 cal stayed broke for a couple turns. When I finally fixed it was basically too late, and to add insult, the sniper promptly came over and killed the 9-1 leader. The game was basically over, but I played a little longer hoping I could win the tank battle and perhaps turn the tide late. I had to charge the Stugs with my tanks and hope for the best, but it was not to be, as George hit and killed everything he shot at. 1-1
Round 3: RPT160 Willie Und Fritz vs Jeff Ital. We agreed to level two balance of adding another Russian 4-5-8 squad and another ISU-122 and then rolled the dice and I got the German. I had played this one before and Jeff had not. This one requires a carefully planned Russian attack. I set up both Panthers in the victory buildings along the board 79 road. Jeff sent three tanks up onto the heights of the level two hills and a force of infantry down the board 2/79 seam. While the bulk of his forces skirted the back of the hill on board 2 and attacked the 3b village. My Panthers quickly popped a couple tanks on the level 2 hills and my infantry and HIP flak wagon halted the infantry on board 79. On the board 2/3b seam I suspected I should fall back nicely, but Jeff left several tanks in PF/Psk range. I thought if I could bag a couple more tanks I could end the game early. Oh the best laid plans…never go against your gut, I should fallen back. I stayed put and shot every PF and PSK I had, missing them all, but one, which rolled a dud. Jeff fired back and pounded me. He broke or killed everyone. Those 122s really leave a mark when they hit infantry. After that debacle, Jeff quickly cleared the board 3b village of any remaining scraps of Germans. However, my guys on board 79 with the 3rd reinforcing Panther were able to hold off the remaining Russians pretty easily. The Russians ran out of time and had to launch a pretty hasty attack onto board 79. A fun scenario for sure. I think the Russians need to send all the tanks onto the hills to kill the Panthers and stop the reinforcing Panther or they need to avoid the hills entirely and sweep the 3b village in force and then see if you can swing onto board 79 or perhaps across the bridge. 2-1
Round 4 vs Nathan Wegener in FrF98 Amerikanskaya Suka. I don’t recall if we bid or rolled dice, but I got the Germans straight up, no balance. I set up very strong in the board 71 village figuring I would conserve my forces and counterattack once I saw where Nathan would launch his main attack. This set up included both JgPz IV hull down in the walled compound (L4, K5) surrounded by German infantry. Nathan launched his main attack onto the board FrF village as it was only defended by a dummy and squad or so. He garrisoned the back board 71Y7 building as required. On board 71 he launched a modest attack of a few squads and three T-34/85s. I assumed it was more of pinning force to keep me busy, but the three tanks ran head long CE into my back field on turn 1. I had a HS with PSK in hex 71K7 which rolled an 11 or 12. All my IFT shots at the CE crews were ineffective. One T-34 rolled into J4, one onto bypass on J5 and one stayed out in the street at L8. My JgPz both missed and spun accordingly, but it didn’t matter. Nathen rolled some hot dice, include rolling the APCR 4. At the end of half of turn one, the JgPz in K5 was dead and the one in L4 was shocked. In my half of turn one I recovered from the shock and managed to kill one T-34, but my recovered JgPz was quickly killed by one of the other T-34s. At the end of turn 1, both my JgPz were dead in what I thought was a fine position. I was stunned and shocked at the turn of events. The rest of the game got no better. One of Panthers got DI’ed and the crew bailed out and subsequently killed. The other two created some havoc, but late game when it was time to counterattack on the board FrF village they both went down to APCR shots. That’s ASL, some games will not go your way. Nathan’s bold turn one attack caught me off guard and once he got the dice and the momentum, he played well and finished me off handily. 2-2
Round 5: DftB136 The Block on the Trail to Hell against Rich Spilky. He bid J0 and I bid A0 so we were off and playing pretty quickly as Rich had a set up already worked out. I had not played it before. I just spread out early so as not to stack and ground my way forward. Rich traded HSs and hexes for time as he fell back. The pillbox was set up as far in the back as possible. I was able to conserve my forces as I closed in on the pillbox. I still had the FT and the 9-1 led stack of two squads and two MMGs. Rich had a formidable force in the pillbox, I don’t recall exactly, a squad and crew/HMG perhaps and squad/LMG outside the pillbox. He shots were relatively ineffective and my FT and kill stack both rolled well on turn 5. Going into turn 6, Rich had only a rabble left. My FT and kill stack hammered them again and killed everyone except a pinned HS or a SMC, I forget which. I had three squads and 9-1 for CC. I, or course, killed him. Rich rolled a snake eyes, but it didn’t matter, I had rolled low enough to kill everyone which was all I needed. 3-2
Not my best showing at 3-2, but that is how it goes for me in St. Louis. It’s the tourney I have attended the most, but I usually struggle there. Thanks to all my opponents, I played a group of good guys and quality ASLers.
Round 1: RPT141 Volunteers Became Scarce vs Dave Ginnard. Dave had the sides backwards in his AAR if you saw it, I had the South Koreans and he had the North Koreans via random DR. I was defending. I set up a token squad and a dummy in the board 48 village with the rest of my force concentrating on board 62 and the middle seam between boards 62/48. This is a very typical schwerepunkt style scenario, the attacker must go, go, go. The first couple turns it seems like there is no chance to reach the back victory buildings as the attacker and Dave voiced this opinion a few times. Dave was fighting the terrain as much as me as there are several choke points to navigate. I started hot with the dice and killed a couple tanks with Human Bullet Heroes as they tried to VBM freeze me. However as the game wore on, the North Korean infantry just keep rallying back and pressing forward. It looked like Dave might come up short in the end as time was against him, but either a HS or bailed out crew slipped thru my fire and got into my backfield and into the victory buildings as I didn’t have near enough bodies left to garrison every building in the back of board 62. He would have a chance, but the last turn dash/push left him one building short. A fun scenario I would play again. 1-0
Round 2: DtF4 Death to Fascism vs George Tournemire. We both bid Axis 1 and the dice game me the Russians with balance of an extra SWPP for each Russian group. This was a frustrating scenario. I had played it before and had a good plan. I knew George was a top notch player and I was looking forward to a fun, tight game. However, my dice had other ideas. I bought the 50 cal to put in the upper level and suppress the forward defenders. I sent a small token force down my left flank and sent the bulk of my forces up the middle and middle/right under the overwatch of the 50 cal. My first shot of the game was a 10 or 11 with 50 cal, so I didn’t even strip concealment from my target. My main force eased forward and took a lot of fire and a lot of casualties as George’s dice were hot early. He had a very forward defense, including his HIP guys with MMG. The MMG revealed itself and rolled snakes eyes to remove a full squad from the map. In his half of turn one I was salivating for a ROF run from the 50 cal, but…I rolled a twelve. Nothing much changed after that, I couldn’t get anything to go my way. The 50 cal stayed broke for a couple turns. When I finally fixed it was basically too late, and to add insult, the sniper promptly came over and killed the 9-1 leader. The game was basically over, but I played a little longer hoping I could win the tank battle and perhaps turn the tide late. I had to charge the Stugs with my tanks and hope for the best, but it was not to be, as George hit and killed everything he shot at. 1-1
Round 3: RPT160 Willie Und Fritz vs Jeff Ital. We agreed to level two balance of adding another Russian 4-5-8 squad and another ISU-122 and then rolled the dice and I got the German. I had played this one before and Jeff had not. This one requires a carefully planned Russian attack. I set up both Panthers in the victory buildings along the board 79 road. Jeff sent three tanks up onto the heights of the level two hills and a force of infantry down the board 2/79 seam. While the bulk of his forces skirted the back of the hill on board 2 and attacked the 3b village. My Panthers quickly popped a couple tanks on the level 2 hills and my infantry and HIP flak wagon halted the infantry on board 79. On the board 2/3b seam I suspected I should fall back nicely, but Jeff left several tanks in PF/Psk range. I thought if I could bag a couple more tanks I could end the game early. Oh the best laid plans…never go against your gut, I should fallen back. I stayed put and shot every PF and PSK I had, missing them all, but one, which rolled a dud. Jeff fired back and pounded me. He broke or killed everyone. Those 122s really leave a mark when they hit infantry. After that debacle, Jeff quickly cleared the board 3b village of any remaining scraps of Germans. However, my guys on board 79 with the 3rd reinforcing Panther were able to hold off the remaining Russians pretty easily. The Russians ran out of time and had to launch a pretty hasty attack onto board 79. A fun scenario for sure. I think the Russians need to send all the tanks onto the hills to kill the Panthers and stop the reinforcing Panther or they need to avoid the hills entirely and sweep the 3b village in force and then see if you can swing onto board 79 or perhaps across the bridge. 2-1
Round 4 vs Nathan Wegener in FrF98 Amerikanskaya Suka. I don’t recall if we bid or rolled dice, but I got the Germans straight up, no balance. I set up very strong in the board 71 village figuring I would conserve my forces and counterattack once I saw where Nathan would launch his main attack. This set up included both JgPz IV hull down in the walled compound (L4, K5) surrounded by German infantry. Nathan launched his main attack onto the board FrF village as it was only defended by a dummy and squad or so. He garrisoned the back board 71Y7 building as required. On board 71 he launched a modest attack of a few squads and three T-34/85s. I assumed it was more of pinning force to keep me busy, but the three tanks ran head long CE into my back field on turn 1. I had a HS with PSK in hex 71K7 which rolled an 11 or 12. All my IFT shots at the CE crews were ineffective. One T-34 rolled into J4, one onto bypass on J5 and one stayed out in the street at L8. My JgPz both missed and spun accordingly, but it didn’t matter. Nathen rolled some hot dice, include rolling the APCR 4. At the end of half of turn one, the JgPz in K5 was dead and the one in L4 was shocked. In my half of turn one I recovered from the shock and managed to kill one T-34, but my recovered JgPz was quickly killed by one of the other T-34s. At the end of turn 1, both my JgPz were dead in what I thought was a fine position. I was stunned and shocked at the turn of events. The rest of the game got no better. One of Panthers got DI’ed and the crew bailed out and subsequently killed. The other two created some havoc, but late game when it was time to counterattack on the board FrF village they both went down to APCR shots. That’s ASL, some games will not go your way. Nathan’s bold turn one attack caught me off guard and once he got the dice and the momentum, he played well and finished me off handily. 2-2
Round 5: DftB136 The Block on the Trail to Hell against Rich Spilky. He bid J0 and I bid A0 so we were off and playing pretty quickly as Rich had a set up already worked out. I had not played it before. I just spread out early so as not to stack and ground my way forward. Rich traded HSs and hexes for time as he fell back. The pillbox was set up as far in the back as possible. I was able to conserve my forces as I closed in on the pillbox. I still had the FT and the 9-1 led stack of two squads and two MMGs. Rich had a formidable force in the pillbox, I don’t recall exactly, a squad and crew/HMG perhaps and squad/LMG outside the pillbox. He shots were relatively ineffective and my FT and kill stack both rolled well on turn 5. Going into turn 6, Rich had only a rabble left. My FT and kill stack hammered them again and killed everyone except a pinned HS or a SMC, I forget which. I had three squads and 9-1 for CC. I, or course, killed him. Rich rolled a snake eyes, but it didn’t matter, I had rolled low enough to kill everyone which was all I needed. 3-2
Not my best showing at 3-2, but that is how it goes for me in St. Louis. It’s the tourney I have attended the most, but I usually struggle there. Thanks to all my opponents, I played a group of good guys and quality ASLers.
