- Joined
- Feb 4, 2003
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- 4,651
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- Location
- La Belle Province
- First name
- Michael
- Country
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ROUND 1
I looked at the list of players before the round started. I know that David Goldman seeds the tournament by the final rankings of the players in the previous year. This year, however, is my first time here, so I have no idea what he used to place me sixth in a field of 38 players.
My opponent, Corey Edwards (I believe he is a Chicago player), placed fifth in the previous year. When we sat down together, he tells me he hasn’t played since the 2017 Chicago Open. I thought to myself, this will be embarrassing if I lose, since I average two sessions of ASL every week. This round was the only round for which I had prepared.
We chose the scenario RPT107 MEET ME AT THE STATION by discussion. As recommended by the TD, we gave the Russians the balance and diced for side. I received the Russian attacker. In my one previous playing, I had the German defender.
The Russians have a force mix of elite and first-line infantry and nine T34 tanks, three of which start off board on turn one with a platoon of infantry. The Germans have a mix of infantry, some SW, two 50L ATG and a Marder. They are reinforced by three Tiger tanks (with red MP) on turn two. The Russians need six buildings within a certain area, but one building in particular, the "railway station", the Russians must take.
Corey set up his first line of defence in the woods facing the Russian setup area. I saw four HS in that line, as well as two squads, so I knew that Corey knew enough to deploy some squads. I had enough T34 tanks to VBM lock every unit in his first line of defence from the center to the Russian right, so my turn one plan was to do that and then launch a human wave on the Russian right to close on that line, and the key VC building quickly. I had to gamble that there was no ATG up front. There wasn’t. Corey did not lay down residual fire against my tanks, so my infantry was able to move adjacent and shoot up some of the Germans. I ended the turn with several prisoners, which I liked, since I could then deploy some Russian squads. My reinforcements carried riders onto the board to handle things on the Russian left. The downside of all that VBM locking was the loss of one T34 in the CC phase to a DR of three.
Some Germans managed to fall back, some went down doing so. A T34 was able to kill the Marder, but it unfortunately burned. It was in an orchard hex next to the the important VC building. One ATG appeared on the Russian left, but pointing in the wrong direction for the enemy units adjacent to it. That ATG later killed a T34 on the right side, but the crew broke soon after. The Tigers came on and the T34 tanks tried to stay out of sight or stay in motion after that. Over several turns, I was able to obtain several rear shots on Tigers, but I kept rolling too high on the TK. I eventually shocked one Tiger. The infantry kept pressing forward with few losses. As we approached the end game, I was running out of T34 tanks and Corey was running out of infantry. The burning Marder had spread to the orchard hex, blocking part of my access to the key VC building. On the left side, I eventually took the other buildings that I needed. The shocked Tiger went down to a CC attack.
The fire later spread to the key VC building in which there were two German squads, which was two thirds of the remaining German infantry. When the flame turned to a blaze, they were forced to break and rout. I surrounded the burning building with Russian infantry to claim it during the second to last Russian turn. The Russians had one more turn than the Germans, so the Germans had only one turn to take back and hold those hexes using two Tigers and one squad with a leader. It may have been possible, but it was one thirty AM by now and Corey couldn’t figure out a solution, so he conceded.
ROUND 2
David paired me with Rob Banozic. By discussion, we chose FrF87 MORMAL FOREST. We diced for sides. I received the German attacker. I had played this once before as the French defender.
Rob set up what looked like a size-able force in the stone buildings village with units in the steeple. I dedicated the two guns and one 37L HT to try to keep them from reaching the woods while I focussed my attack on the VC buildings on that side. My mistake was putting the guns where the French HMG in the steeple could see and reach them.
There were only two French squads to the French right of the woods; everyone else, and the two tanks were in the woods. My attack had some difficulty at start, with bounding firing loaded halftracks having no success against revealed French infantry. I used a 37L HT to VBM lock on French HS and ended up losing it in CC for no immediate gain. That HS died a turn later. I thought I pushed my troops forward, using HS to strip concealment and then following up with advancing fire. Rob moved the French tanks up the road to slow me down. On turn two, I sent the two loaded halftracks down the German left side of the woods and learned the hard way the grain was NOT in effect; a stupid error on my part. The 75 ART piece came on board and destroyed one, but the second was able to get away and unload into the woods. On the other side, the 105 gun had no smoke on its first shot. The French HMG killed that crew soon after.
Things got hot and heavy in the woods. The German FT was able to destroy the two French tanks, but one of them caught fire and eventually spread to the woods and blocked the road. CC losses occurred for both sides.The reinforcing French tanks were attacked by the Stuka and one went down. Three squads of the stone village garrison made for the woods. The 37L ATG took one or two shots; same for the 37L HT. One squad made it, one pinned and one broke (eventually routed to woods anyway). The HMG broke the crew on the 37L ATG and the sniper finished them off. The sniper also recalled one 37L HT.
When I reached the stone building in the woods, I was feeling I might not have enough infantry. The remaining French tank and the 60mm mortar were supporting the units in this area. Things started to go more against me when a CC went to the French and generated an additional leader. I took a couple of decent FP shots at the squad in the stone building and only succeeded in making it fanatic. The 75 ART gun was also making it difficult to get by that building. Rob added another squad to the building and then advanced into my nearby troops to tie them up in CC. Soon after that, I conceded because there was not enough time to succeed.
ROUND 3
I went against Mike Ziementz (a Chicago area player) in this round. For whatever reason, I was matched up with a two win opponent. I had noticed earlier that Mike’s name was on the perpetual trophy for 2013. Mike told me that he wasn’t playing ASL that often anymore; he was more into an online first person shooter and Magic:The Gathering. So I had another potential embarrassment looming. Mike really wanted to play WO25 THE REPLACEMENTS. David Goldman listed this scenario with advice to give the Russians the balance. I gave in to his choice. Thanks to Jeff DeYoung lending us the boards and the Italians, we were able to play. Dice gave the attacking Italians to me, luckily, because our playing showed this to be very tough on a normal Russian defence. Mike had four or five squads up front defending with ATRs guarding the center road. More were in the middle and on the flanks. The best leader and the HMG (manned by a crew) were in a level two location. To avoid the Italian infantry being slaughtered I sent them up their left flank with two tanks (one would make a trail break in turn two). The other four tanks went right up the middle. Thus began a dicing by me on Mike and by Mike on himself. The Italian tanks VBM lock any infantry that might shoot at Italian infantry. Italian infantry move up and break Russian infantry. Rinse and repeat. I rolled more three’s during this game than in the entire rest of the weekend. What about the MOL, you ask. MOL have a TK of six, reduced to four if the AFV is moving. Mike could never roll a four despite many opportunities. Mike also did not chose to fire at the tanks to leave residual when he could have. This happened over and over until the Italians took the last VC building on the last turn. I think the best Russian defence in this scenario might be to go all in the village upper level locations. This would force the tanks to be CE to lock any fire, which would improve the MOL TK by one (or two if tossed from level two). They also need to spread residual around.
ROUND 4
This was my worst round in terms of not even coming close. I played against David Ramirez (a Chicago area player), who was three and zero at this point. David had prepared for the tournament by playing all of his choices, usually both sides. We played SP267 DEATH HEAD’S DEBUT. He told me that he had won with both sides in this scenario. We bid for sides. I bid German (to have the better morale) and he bid Russian. The scenario card listed two objectives for the Germans. Since the multi-hex buildings are spread out in two groups, however, the situation is more akin to three objectives. I split the on-board Germans to focus on the nearest multi-hex buildings. I sent on platoon of infantry along with the two HT carrying the 5PP mortars and HS to work on the hill hexes. The nearest Russian units in the stone buildings were two 426 with ATRs. My off-board force set up to enter in and near the frozen stream, which was also covered by a 426. There were many Russians in the larger group of buildings. They covered well the hexes near the stream and could also throw some long range MG fire towards the on-board Germans. There were four or five squads protecting the VC hill hexes with a 50mm mortar.
The attack started poorly. None of my tanks could break the 426s with bounding fire and David chose to use the 426s to leave residual after they had fired the ATRs. One Panzer 4 just tried to get by them in a rush to support the off-board entering infantry group. A 426 got a CH with an ATR on its side to kill it. In the first Russian turn, a 45L ATG appeared on the VC hill hex and killed the other Panzer 4 with a side shot. There went my two smoke assets. An 81mm mortar appeared on the rear hill. It pivoted to fire at a leader, squad and concealed unit that I had in a woods hex on the right. David rolled a two for a CH against one of the three units. Results roll: another two! Even the non-CH units are KIA. In the next turn, one of the surviving 426 units with an ATR immobilized an adjacent Panzer 3. The units that had come in near the frozen stream were shot up although the ones in the frozen stream were okay. After a few more fire phases, based on losses and incorrect allocation of forces, I decided to concede.
ROUND 5
Jeff DeYoung (of Grand Rapids, MI) and I had equal records when we were paired in this round. We discussed the scenarios and decided upon RPT135 OUTPOST LINE, because we felt like a break from vehicles. By dice, I received the Dutch defender. An interesting feature in this scenario is four Dutch pillboxes that are known to the German, but not their CA, nor their contents; at least one must be empty. Both sides have 100mm OBA. The Germans needed to take five particular buildings.
In the center frontmost pillbox, I had a sacrificial green squad. In the left pillbox I put a 457 with LMG. It had two trenches for repositioning and later escape. Two pillboxes are near the board seam with a trench to connect them. I left the rear one empty and I put the MMG with a 457 and 8-1 in the front pillbox. I placed a first line HS and a green squad in the forward stone buildings on the Dutch left. The occupied pillboxes pointed frontwards; the empty pillbox pointed to the right. On the right flank where the Germans have a covered approach, I put a 436 and a 237 in the wooden building at the end of the road. The HMG with a 457 and the 9-1 were in a central stone building on level one.
Jeff attacked on a broad front, but his best assets drifted towards the covered approach. His OBA observer was on the Dutch left. His OBA got working quickly, but luckily could not hit much and only disrupted one squad. Jeff used a decent number of HS in his attack. A high percentage of the units that were in front of the HMG and pillboxes became broken or KIA. My OBA came into action against the covered approach, but drifted badly on its first mission. My MMG malfunctioned, but I was able to replace it with an LMG. Jeff decided he needed to shift his observer to the Dutch right and quickly, to support that attack. He exposed the observer to the Dutch HMG fire and the observer was broken. At that point, it was about 11 PM and Jeff decided he probably would not win, so we should get to bed at a reasonable hour.
ROUND 6
I was matched with Stan Jackson of Cincinnati, who had the same won-loss record as me. He expressed a strong desire to play BFP51 KWAJALEIN CRUSH. I played this scenario a couple of years ago at ASLOK as the Japanese against Bill Hayward. He had defeated me before the Japanese reinforcements arrived on turn five (i.e., I conceded because I could see they would not help my situation). Trying to compromise, I offered to play it as the Americans. Stan wanted the Americans. After a bit of discussion, I played the Americans and the Japanese received the balance (exchange the 9-2 for an 8-1).
After seeing the Japanese setup, I placed the Americans to attack on their right half, except for one platoon of infantry that went just left of center. I thought I was being aggressive with my infantry, but Stan said post-game that the thought I was too conservative with them. I know I was conservative with the tanks for the first two turns, keeping them in motion behind the infantry, because I was worried about HIP THH. After the match, Stan told me he hadn’t thought of HIPing his THH. During the first two turns, Stan kept the Japanese concealment as much as possible. The 12.7 AA appeared on board near the bend in the central road. The 75 AA appeared just in front of it. One flame tank had a couple of decent shots before being destroyed by the 75. The other flame tank lost its FT on the first shot. I remembered to use canister and got a decent result with it. After four turns, both sides had taken some casualties, but I was just adjacent to the buildings that I needed to take with two tanks and a few squads. It was 3:30 PM, we were the last game still going, and I thought I could not take the required number of buildings in the remaining turns, so I conceded.
This left me with three wins and three defeats, which is an average tournament performance for me. I was happy to add another city’s tournament to my experiences. I played four opponents new to me (bringing my total to 282), and three scenarios new to me.
I looked at the list of players before the round started. I know that David Goldman seeds the tournament by the final rankings of the players in the previous year. This year, however, is my first time here, so I have no idea what he used to place me sixth in a field of 38 players.
My opponent, Corey Edwards (I believe he is a Chicago player), placed fifth in the previous year. When we sat down together, he tells me he hasn’t played since the 2017 Chicago Open. I thought to myself, this will be embarrassing if I lose, since I average two sessions of ASL every week. This round was the only round for which I had prepared.
We chose the scenario RPT107 MEET ME AT THE STATION by discussion. As recommended by the TD, we gave the Russians the balance and diced for side. I received the Russian attacker. In my one previous playing, I had the German defender.
The Russians have a force mix of elite and first-line infantry and nine T34 tanks, three of which start off board on turn one with a platoon of infantry. The Germans have a mix of infantry, some SW, two 50L ATG and a Marder. They are reinforced by three Tiger tanks (with red MP) on turn two. The Russians need six buildings within a certain area, but one building in particular, the "railway station", the Russians must take.
Corey set up his first line of defence in the woods facing the Russian setup area. I saw four HS in that line, as well as two squads, so I knew that Corey knew enough to deploy some squads. I had enough T34 tanks to VBM lock every unit in his first line of defence from the center to the Russian right, so my turn one plan was to do that and then launch a human wave on the Russian right to close on that line, and the key VC building quickly. I had to gamble that there was no ATG up front. There wasn’t. Corey did not lay down residual fire against my tanks, so my infantry was able to move adjacent and shoot up some of the Germans. I ended the turn with several prisoners, which I liked, since I could then deploy some Russian squads. My reinforcements carried riders onto the board to handle things on the Russian left. The downside of all that VBM locking was the loss of one T34 in the CC phase to a DR of three.
Some Germans managed to fall back, some went down doing so. A T34 was able to kill the Marder, but it unfortunately burned. It was in an orchard hex next to the the important VC building. One ATG appeared on the Russian left, but pointing in the wrong direction for the enemy units adjacent to it. That ATG later killed a T34 on the right side, but the crew broke soon after. The Tigers came on and the T34 tanks tried to stay out of sight or stay in motion after that. Over several turns, I was able to obtain several rear shots on Tigers, but I kept rolling too high on the TK. I eventually shocked one Tiger. The infantry kept pressing forward with few losses. As we approached the end game, I was running out of T34 tanks and Corey was running out of infantry. The burning Marder had spread to the orchard hex, blocking part of my access to the key VC building. On the left side, I eventually took the other buildings that I needed. The shocked Tiger went down to a CC attack.
The fire later spread to the key VC building in which there were two German squads, which was two thirds of the remaining German infantry. When the flame turned to a blaze, they were forced to break and rout. I surrounded the burning building with Russian infantry to claim it during the second to last Russian turn. The Russians had one more turn than the Germans, so the Germans had only one turn to take back and hold those hexes using two Tigers and one squad with a leader. It may have been possible, but it was one thirty AM by now and Corey couldn’t figure out a solution, so he conceded.
ROUND 2
David paired me with Rob Banozic. By discussion, we chose FrF87 MORMAL FOREST. We diced for sides. I received the German attacker. I had played this once before as the French defender.
Rob set up what looked like a size-able force in the stone buildings village with units in the steeple. I dedicated the two guns and one 37L HT to try to keep them from reaching the woods while I focussed my attack on the VC buildings on that side. My mistake was putting the guns where the French HMG in the steeple could see and reach them.
There were only two French squads to the French right of the woods; everyone else, and the two tanks were in the woods. My attack had some difficulty at start, with bounding firing loaded halftracks having no success against revealed French infantry. I used a 37L HT to VBM lock on French HS and ended up losing it in CC for no immediate gain. That HS died a turn later. I thought I pushed my troops forward, using HS to strip concealment and then following up with advancing fire. Rob moved the French tanks up the road to slow me down. On turn two, I sent the two loaded halftracks down the German left side of the woods and learned the hard way the grain was NOT in effect; a stupid error on my part. The 75 ART piece came on board and destroyed one, but the second was able to get away and unload into the woods. On the other side, the 105 gun had no smoke on its first shot. The French HMG killed that crew soon after.
Things got hot and heavy in the woods. The German FT was able to destroy the two French tanks, but one of them caught fire and eventually spread to the woods and blocked the road. CC losses occurred for both sides.The reinforcing French tanks were attacked by the Stuka and one went down. Three squads of the stone village garrison made for the woods. The 37L ATG took one or two shots; same for the 37L HT. One squad made it, one pinned and one broke (eventually routed to woods anyway). The HMG broke the crew on the 37L ATG and the sniper finished them off. The sniper also recalled one 37L HT.
When I reached the stone building in the woods, I was feeling I might not have enough infantry. The remaining French tank and the 60mm mortar were supporting the units in this area. Things started to go more against me when a CC went to the French and generated an additional leader. I took a couple of decent FP shots at the squad in the stone building and only succeeded in making it fanatic. The 75 ART gun was also making it difficult to get by that building. Rob added another squad to the building and then advanced into my nearby troops to tie them up in CC. Soon after that, I conceded because there was not enough time to succeed.
ROUND 3
I went against Mike Ziementz (a Chicago area player) in this round. For whatever reason, I was matched up with a two win opponent. I had noticed earlier that Mike’s name was on the perpetual trophy for 2013. Mike told me that he wasn’t playing ASL that often anymore; he was more into an online first person shooter and Magic:The Gathering. So I had another potential embarrassment looming. Mike really wanted to play WO25 THE REPLACEMENTS. David Goldman listed this scenario with advice to give the Russians the balance. I gave in to his choice. Thanks to Jeff DeYoung lending us the boards and the Italians, we were able to play. Dice gave the attacking Italians to me, luckily, because our playing showed this to be very tough on a normal Russian defence. Mike had four or five squads up front defending with ATRs guarding the center road. More were in the middle and on the flanks. The best leader and the HMG (manned by a crew) were in a level two location. To avoid the Italian infantry being slaughtered I sent them up their left flank with two tanks (one would make a trail break in turn two). The other four tanks went right up the middle. Thus began a dicing by me on Mike and by Mike on himself. The Italian tanks VBM lock any infantry that might shoot at Italian infantry. Italian infantry move up and break Russian infantry. Rinse and repeat. I rolled more three’s during this game than in the entire rest of the weekend. What about the MOL, you ask. MOL have a TK of six, reduced to four if the AFV is moving. Mike could never roll a four despite many opportunities. Mike also did not chose to fire at the tanks to leave residual when he could have. This happened over and over until the Italians took the last VC building on the last turn. I think the best Russian defence in this scenario might be to go all in the village upper level locations. This would force the tanks to be CE to lock any fire, which would improve the MOL TK by one (or two if tossed from level two). They also need to spread residual around.
ROUND 4
This was my worst round in terms of not even coming close. I played against David Ramirez (a Chicago area player), who was three and zero at this point. David had prepared for the tournament by playing all of his choices, usually both sides. We played SP267 DEATH HEAD’S DEBUT. He told me that he had won with both sides in this scenario. We bid for sides. I bid German (to have the better morale) and he bid Russian. The scenario card listed two objectives for the Germans. Since the multi-hex buildings are spread out in two groups, however, the situation is more akin to three objectives. I split the on-board Germans to focus on the nearest multi-hex buildings. I sent on platoon of infantry along with the two HT carrying the 5PP mortars and HS to work on the hill hexes. The nearest Russian units in the stone buildings were two 426 with ATRs. My off-board force set up to enter in and near the frozen stream, which was also covered by a 426. There were many Russians in the larger group of buildings. They covered well the hexes near the stream and could also throw some long range MG fire towards the on-board Germans. There were four or five squads protecting the VC hill hexes with a 50mm mortar.
The attack started poorly. None of my tanks could break the 426s with bounding fire and David chose to use the 426s to leave residual after they had fired the ATRs. One Panzer 4 just tried to get by them in a rush to support the off-board entering infantry group. A 426 got a CH with an ATR on its side to kill it. In the first Russian turn, a 45L ATG appeared on the VC hill hex and killed the other Panzer 4 with a side shot. There went my two smoke assets. An 81mm mortar appeared on the rear hill. It pivoted to fire at a leader, squad and concealed unit that I had in a woods hex on the right. David rolled a two for a CH against one of the three units. Results roll: another two! Even the non-CH units are KIA. In the next turn, one of the surviving 426 units with an ATR immobilized an adjacent Panzer 3. The units that had come in near the frozen stream were shot up although the ones in the frozen stream were okay. After a few more fire phases, based on losses and incorrect allocation of forces, I decided to concede.
ROUND 5
Jeff DeYoung (of Grand Rapids, MI) and I had equal records when we were paired in this round. We discussed the scenarios and decided upon RPT135 OUTPOST LINE, because we felt like a break from vehicles. By dice, I received the Dutch defender. An interesting feature in this scenario is four Dutch pillboxes that are known to the German, but not their CA, nor their contents; at least one must be empty. Both sides have 100mm OBA. The Germans needed to take five particular buildings.
In the center frontmost pillbox, I had a sacrificial green squad. In the left pillbox I put a 457 with LMG. It had two trenches for repositioning and later escape. Two pillboxes are near the board seam with a trench to connect them. I left the rear one empty and I put the MMG with a 457 and 8-1 in the front pillbox. I placed a first line HS and a green squad in the forward stone buildings on the Dutch left. The occupied pillboxes pointed frontwards; the empty pillbox pointed to the right. On the right flank where the Germans have a covered approach, I put a 436 and a 237 in the wooden building at the end of the road. The HMG with a 457 and the 9-1 were in a central stone building on level one.
Jeff attacked on a broad front, but his best assets drifted towards the covered approach. His OBA observer was on the Dutch left. His OBA got working quickly, but luckily could not hit much and only disrupted one squad. Jeff used a decent number of HS in his attack. A high percentage of the units that were in front of the HMG and pillboxes became broken or KIA. My OBA came into action against the covered approach, but drifted badly on its first mission. My MMG malfunctioned, but I was able to replace it with an LMG. Jeff decided he needed to shift his observer to the Dutch right and quickly, to support that attack. He exposed the observer to the Dutch HMG fire and the observer was broken. At that point, it was about 11 PM and Jeff decided he probably would not win, so we should get to bed at a reasonable hour.
ROUND 6
I was matched with Stan Jackson of Cincinnati, who had the same won-loss record as me. He expressed a strong desire to play BFP51 KWAJALEIN CRUSH. I played this scenario a couple of years ago at ASLOK as the Japanese against Bill Hayward. He had defeated me before the Japanese reinforcements arrived on turn five (i.e., I conceded because I could see they would not help my situation). Trying to compromise, I offered to play it as the Americans. Stan wanted the Americans. After a bit of discussion, I played the Americans and the Japanese received the balance (exchange the 9-2 for an 8-1).
After seeing the Japanese setup, I placed the Americans to attack on their right half, except for one platoon of infantry that went just left of center. I thought I was being aggressive with my infantry, but Stan said post-game that the thought I was too conservative with them. I know I was conservative with the tanks for the first two turns, keeping them in motion behind the infantry, because I was worried about HIP THH. After the match, Stan told me he hadn’t thought of HIPing his THH. During the first two turns, Stan kept the Japanese concealment as much as possible. The 12.7 AA appeared on board near the bend in the central road. The 75 AA appeared just in front of it. One flame tank had a couple of decent shots before being destroyed by the 75. The other flame tank lost its FT on the first shot. I remembered to use canister and got a decent result with it. After four turns, both sides had taken some casualties, but I was just adjacent to the buildings that I needed to take with two tanks and a few squads. It was 3:30 PM, we were the last game still going, and I thought I could not take the required number of buildings in the remaining turns, so I conceded.
This left me with three wins and three defeats, which is an average tournament performance for me. I was happy to add another city’s tournament to my experiences. I played four opponents new to me (bringing my total to 282), and three scenarios new to me.