MP 2 CURTAIN KALL--a 2nd AAR

Markdv5208

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BTW, I played this one on a topo correct map courtesy of Jeff DY
IT ROCKS--it's a great way to play, and we used Mikes copy of the map for LOS purposes...


After action review, CURTAIN KALL
Melee Pack 2 from the SOCAL ASL folks…

Ok, I’ve finally gotten to replay this scenario.
I was the Germans this time, and it truly is a good scenario.

NOTE: not great ie in the Hedgehog of Piepsk or Hill 621 genre.
But not a barker either such as, Barkmans Corner….
I would rate it around a 7.5 on a scale of 10….
Of the first pack this folks put out, HOLY GROUND is a classic, whilst this one, ie MP 2 CURTAIN KALL took a second playing for me to feel comfy with it…

My opponent for it was the esteemed Mike Owens, recently of the US Army and now thankfully a civilian..
We got in a 9pm playing on Saturday night March 19…life is good when you have a spouse tolerant of your hobby.

I took the Germans this time. My previous review was as the US player…so I had an idea what NOT to do…also, in defense of Jeff DY, he and I screwed up the aerial observer rules, which made a real difference this time round for my playing with Mike

GERMAN BUYS
Entrenchment x5 10 pts
Trench x3 21 pts
AP mines, known, x12 24pts
HIP (4 halfsquads, 2SMCs) 20 pts
Wire x2 10 pts


85 pts total

HIPs
81mm J11 ca K11/J10 NOTE—it meets the LOS requirement for the road
AND it covers the other level 2/3 locations around J7

8-0 w/radio, 237 w/HMG J11 in 1+3+5 bunker. BS into L7 ca K11/J10
I like the SR that allows the use of the boresight vs. non moving targets.

8-1, 237 w/MMG, 237 w/MMG F11 in 2+3+5 bunker CA F10/E11
BS both into E11
NOTE also wire in location. Chas Smith gave me the evil idea of putting the fortications and wire together. Makes it really nasty to try to CC the location…..

237 E10 ALSO NOTE—wire in hex.

MINES
6ap F10 6ap in H10

TRENCHES G12, H12, I12
ENT x3 K8
ENT J11 (note—placed the 81mm MTR in this ENT)
ENT F11

I started all of my fortifications HIP. Once he finished his placements, I put the minefields on board, b/c he had LOS to them with his tanks in F1 and F2

Scheme of Manuever. To repel the enemys assault by fire and close combat.
I placed the 8-0 and all 3 squads entrenched in K8. They had a die in place mission ie delay the US as long as possible.
On my far west I had two 447s with LMGs and a 7-0 leader in B10. Their mission was to again hamper the US advance as long as possible. Of course, they had a better covered retreat route……..
All of the rest of my troops were set up reverse slope ie in the trenches in G12, H12, I12
With a few squads in G13 to entrench.
I’ll note I put NOTHING in G11…..I thought a reverse slope defense was best b/c of the nasty firepower of that 150mm OBA that the US has….my plan was to be set up for the end game ie when he is occupying the hill, to have the trenches to move up thru to use to counterattack and retake the ground.
Doing it this way ceded a lot of ground, and didn’t put enough firepower to do anything more than annoy him as he took the J7 hill mass for a base of fire position, BUT it did preserve forces for me…

General overview
Turn 1
He rolls his radio.
Gets it. Draws a card
RED—PRAISE THE LORD……
Otherwise, he did the same as me ie half his troops one side of the treeline, and the other half on the other side.
His 60mm MTRs prep fire in the hope of gacking my minefields.
He rolls a 4 ie my SAN. I roll a 1 ie a KIA….it drifts and hits this big stack…and what do you know, it has the 9-1, and 2 squad equivalents carrying disassembled MGs…
He rolls YAHTZEE in the random selection ie 6,6, 5, 6….so, I KIA the SMC, and take two more SNIPES, and get another KIA…..when it’s over, he has a GO HS, and everyone else is broken or KIA in that hex…..
Both Shermans also fired WP—one never had it, and the other fired his last WP round into G11
Other than the SAN, nothing happens. He moves his troops up but there are no LOS b/w our forces….
I have no movement, and I have NO OBA targets….

TURN 2
He moves so that he can advance ADJACENT to the K8 position.
Both M4s ie Shermans move forward. The one moves 2 hexes from the K8 position, and the other 3 hexes, both with LOS
He stops plunking mortar rounds at the minefields, b/c I got another SAN kill, this time breaking a 666. He’s just giving me SANs w/o getting to clear the mines.
HIS ARTY, meanwhiles, has failed a sighting TC, then this turn, passes the TC, draws a black, and then drifts over to the B row after putting a AR on I10…..

I smoke one Sherman in the prep with my 81mm MTR, then…
I spray fire from my K8 position
I have two targets that are both ? to me, so, with my three 447s and LMG, I’m halved, halved, and doubled or net 7 shot (we use the IIFT)
I roll a 3—net 2MCs on both units, to which both failed and one ELRed to boot.
I then try fausting him with each squad that hadn’t used a SW from my spray fire shot…
2 attempts, 2 failures…I wish that I had not used the SMC to prevent cowering…

On my east flank, my position in B9 caps some Amis (I reduced a squad to a HS) so he
Decides to keep ? and take that position out via keeping ? and CC rather than bum rushing it so as he can more easily turn my flank.

In the center, his 150mm stonk (who invented that word?) just can’t seem to work.
It gets corrected to I11, but then drifts to I13 ie NO LOS for the aerial observer

He then DFpH gacks my squads in K8 position, the SMC breaking, then wounding b/c of fires from his tank 2 hexes away and ALL three squads breaking (and one ELRing) such that they are screwed….

TURN 3
He STILL can’t get the ARTY to land in his prep fire, SO, he moves the both tanks two hexes away from my J11 position, one in the CA of the bunker, the other not.

He also gets ONE squad into CC with my B9 troops and in general starts to get ready to move up the hill for his base of fire.

He does this with impunity b/c my observer rolled a 12 on a contact roll…damn Japanese radios….seriously, so the radio is KAPUT this turn

And in my rally phase I break the radio (on the first stinking repair attempt….erghhhhhh)

My player turn this turn was one of those ‘thrill of victory, agony of defeat moments’

PREP
The former observer reaches into his coat pocket, and finds a FAUST. (he had advanced turn 2 out of the bunker into the fighting hole
He hits and burns the tank in I9.
So, I now have a ? 447 with a 7-0smc also in that hex NOT in the ENT…
They find a FAUST and hit and burn the other Sherman in L9
SIEG HEIL FUR DEN PANZERFAUST!!! (sorry, can’t do the umlaut for FUR-don’t know the key)


HOWEVER, the agony of defeat moment comes…
His arty FINALLY comes down centered on H11
Despite being in trenches, EVERY unit in the blast radius breaks b/c of this fire—and one unit a 436 ELRs, so he’s sitting around waiting to surrender

Then to add insult to injury, or in this case injury to injury, one of his 60mm MTRs fires into J11.
MOD against him—dispersed smoke, burning wreck. NET PLUS 4
He needs a base 3 TH
He rolls a SNAKES on the area table CH

I then roll random selection…
6, 5,6,6
OR in other words in this hex, the 81mm, and the squad and 7-0 eat CHs while the former observer eats a 4+3 shot……
He then rolls a 4 on the effect….
At then end of the fire phase, I’m left with a wounded SMC, and the 237 in the bunker that was NOT effect by any of this fire…..

OUCH….

The turn then ends sweet for me.
The units in B9, held down in melee with one 546, roll a SNAKES in CC…
I KIA the US squad, then leave the hex, and to add injury to injury, roll a 2 on the leader creation table, giving me a 8-1 SMC…..

TURN 4.
He adjusts the 150mm onto the bunker in J11….OUCH….even with a +5, he gets a 2MC, which I promptly break from.

He unfortunately had taken some losses….by this time the CVP cap was up to 17 (he loses automatically at 25). So, the hill doesn’t have a lot of GO Germans on it, but he really isn’t in position to take advantage of it….

So, he moves up troops, getting a HS with MGs on the J7 hill mass, anticipating being able to assault up the hill…

My player turn, he draws for ARTY, and I say both aloud and to myself, it’s 18% chance to fail this draw (the deck had 11 cards—9 black, 2 red)
He draws a RED….in my book, that’s fair, b/c now neither of us has ARTY…..
I also think that is next to last brick in the wall for my victory….

Turn 5
The M10s enter….and he gets two HS to I11 and H11 with the half tracks.
But he can’t get any more troops up to the hill in time….
My troops that had created the 8-1smc are by this time in the trench in H12, so though I don’t have that many GO units on the map, I easily still control the level 3

So, despite most of my OB being broken from his evil 150mm OBA, he concedes.

GERMAN TANKS never fired a shot, but were part of his concession.
The one I had moved thru the gully, then all MPs to F14, then to F12…that was by turn 5.
The other hung out around the L12 trailbreak.

I guess I shouldn’t complain. Their presence was a force in being…..

I intend to try and play this one ONE MORE TIME….it’s a tough scenario for both sides b/c although the Americans have scads of firepower, their morale sucks eggs, whilst the germans have that crummy ELR and lots of 436s to enjoy ELRing…….

Part of Mikes concession was time driven—it was 12:15am by this time ie we had taken 3 hours to play. He didn’t think he could get enough legs on the VC area by game end.

The one thing I question about my setup is maybe placing the 1+3+5 bunker in G11
The joy of placing it there would be it would be a pain in the ass to take for the US.
The curse of placing it there would be that it isn’t dispersed enough and it’s just begging for a 150MM stonk (who made up that word?) so maybe I did the right thing….

Good scenario. Fun to write about.

Mark De Vries
 
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