- Joined
- Feb 4, 2003
- Messages
- 4,654
- Reaction score
- 4,203
- Location
- La Belle Province
- First name
- Michael
- Country
-
First match was with Joe Leoce. The scenario was J159 TROPIC LIGHTNING. I bid J0; Joe bid J2, so I received the Americans and Joe lost a 347 squad. Two highlights of this game for me: for the first time, I lost a tank to a Japanese set A-T DC. Cool. The second highlight was a Sherman firing WP at the Japanese ATG just to make the ATG firing worse; the crew rolled a 12 on the NMC! I managed to clear all the main village but I ran out of time before being able to take on the final two stone buildings. This is a fun scenario, but give the balance to the Americans.
Second match was with Keith Hill. The scenario was DTF-3 TRUE GRIT. I forget our bids; he got the Japanese and I might have had an extra LMG with the Dutch. My SW purchases were one light mortar and the rest were LMG. This was an average fall-back battle with interesting objectives spread in three possible areas. We had an exciting ending. On the last Japanese turn, Keith needed to take one more building. The only one his units reached had the Dutch 10-2 leader with a 347 squad. The Japanese unit that reached it was only a first line half squad. In the CC phase, the half squad ambushed the Dutch and eliminated them to get the eighth building! On the last Dutch turn, I was able to break that half squad and take back the building.
Third match was with Ron Duenski. The scenario was DTF-4 DEATH TO FASCISM. We each bid zero for opposite sides. Ron chose the defending Rumanians. My SW purchases were a light mortar, an ATR and several LMG. I saw another playing of this scenario were the Russian spent all 7 SWPP on a 50cal MG. I opened with style, using my two T34 tanks to throw infantry smoke in front of a Russian human wave coming from the Russian right. All the reinforcements also came in on the right (infantry on foot), except for one Valentine with a rider that came in on the left. Ron and I had some good laughs at our weapons. My light mortar’s first three shots were all tens. His ATG had a good shot at a Valentine, but did not kill it. The crew broke soon after and then rolled a twelve during rally. My left side Valentine bogged in the one ploughed field hex that it entered. Later, I rolled snake eyes to un-bog it; first time I rolled that for an un-bogging. That rider would take the only building for the Russians. Although my Russians got into the woods quickly, they ended up being bottled up there. I conceded when there was no longer enough time to achieve the VC. It feels to me that the Russian needs to split the reinforcements from the on-board troops at the beginning and perhaps use more riders early.
Fourth match was with Kedge Johnson. The scenario was FrF93 WIENER WALZER. I don’t remember our exact Pleva bids, but I played the Russian defence. I made the early going sort of easy for Kedge by rolling a 12 on the first shot for the Russian ATG. The Russian BT-7A took out the 251/10, but I got greedy when the towed 37 entered. I intensive fired with the BT-7A and rolled another 12! At least my light mortar destroyed a loaded halftrack. I made no attempt to defend the front bridge. Everything went for the back bridge. The German progress was a bit slow. A flanking move with two loaded halftracks did not have success. When Kedge moved a stack of two squads with a leader in the open accidentally where a T34 could shoot at it, I rolled a 1KIA. He conceded after that because it was too late in the game to recover and take the second objective.
Fifth match was with Keitil Hogenhaug from Norway. He would be the only new opponent for me during the weekend. The scenario was FrF98 AMERIKANSKAYA SUKA. We both bid G1 for this challenging scenario. Keitil won the dr, so I had the Russians with the balance of an extra LMG. The Russian must weigh the force allocation carefully to be able to defend the compulsory building and still take another multi-hex building. My decision was to put one T34 and one 628 at start near the compulsory building and the remaining on the right heading for the wooden side of town where there were no German defenders. Three of the reinforcing squads with the MMG went to the compulsory building. The other four zoomed to the wooden side of town and unloaded there. One M10 went to the compulsory area. Three M10 went to the right of that area to defend the shortest approach for the German reinforcements. Keitil sent the three Panthers to duel with the three M10. Then he took advantage of the gaps in my groups to drive the German trucks fairly close to the Russian compulsory building. The two JgPz 4 also attacked that building. We had a back and forth tank battle with PF and PSK also helping the German cause. My best moment was arranging a simultaneous type gun duel between a T34 and a Panther. I won the DR and destroyed it from the rear. In Russian turn five, I had a few setbacks that I thought would prevent me from winning, so I conceded.
Sixth match was with John Wood. He really wanted to play FrF98 from the previous round because he had started it with Tim Kelly the previous night. They were both so tired however, that they did not get very far with it and John told me they "did some things wrong". I agreed to play it if I could play the Germans. This match went quite differently from my previous playing. John set up the 628 group to attack up the Russian left. He had a couple of T34 tanks to give supporting fire on the same board and some on the right to do some flanking fire and movement. He sent three reinforcing squads up the Russian right and four squads to the compulsory building. Three M10 AFV went to the Russian right. I had only two squads defending the wooden buildings on the German left, but it was enough to force the Russians to unload outside of town. I used the German reinforcements to attack up the German right. I eliminated 3.5 of the 5 628 squads that had gotten too far away from their supporting AFV. My plan to attack the building that the Russians needed to keep changed as I started breaking gun tubes while trading shots with the Russian AFV. Both JgPz4 guns went out first. I did not try repairing them right away because my Panthers took up the cause. Then I broke one Panther gun. Time to start trying to repair the JgPz4 guns. Then I broke another Panther gun. Fortunately, the guns tubes had gotten some kills before breaking. I repaired one JgPz4 that killed another T34 before dying to an M10 side shot. I did not try to repair the two broken Panther guns. On the wooden side of town, the Russian infantry with three M10 overcame my infantry, so I shifted infantry to that area with the broken Panthers. I managed to break the two Russian squads that had taken a multi-hex building there. It was German turn five by then and John conceded.
I had a great four days of ASL thanks to Steve Pleva and Joe Leoce and my opponents.
Second match was with Keith Hill. The scenario was DTF-3 TRUE GRIT. I forget our bids; he got the Japanese and I might have had an extra LMG with the Dutch. My SW purchases were one light mortar and the rest were LMG. This was an average fall-back battle with interesting objectives spread in three possible areas. We had an exciting ending. On the last Japanese turn, Keith needed to take one more building. The only one his units reached had the Dutch 10-2 leader with a 347 squad. The Japanese unit that reached it was only a first line half squad. In the CC phase, the half squad ambushed the Dutch and eliminated them to get the eighth building! On the last Dutch turn, I was able to break that half squad and take back the building.
Third match was with Ron Duenski. The scenario was DTF-4 DEATH TO FASCISM. We each bid zero for opposite sides. Ron chose the defending Rumanians. My SW purchases were a light mortar, an ATR and several LMG. I saw another playing of this scenario were the Russian spent all 7 SWPP on a 50cal MG. I opened with style, using my two T34 tanks to throw infantry smoke in front of a Russian human wave coming from the Russian right. All the reinforcements also came in on the right (infantry on foot), except for one Valentine with a rider that came in on the left. Ron and I had some good laughs at our weapons. My light mortar’s first three shots were all tens. His ATG had a good shot at a Valentine, but did not kill it. The crew broke soon after and then rolled a twelve during rally. My left side Valentine bogged in the one ploughed field hex that it entered. Later, I rolled snake eyes to un-bog it; first time I rolled that for an un-bogging. That rider would take the only building for the Russians. Although my Russians got into the woods quickly, they ended up being bottled up there. I conceded when there was no longer enough time to achieve the VC. It feels to me that the Russian needs to split the reinforcements from the on-board troops at the beginning and perhaps use more riders early.
Fourth match was with Kedge Johnson. The scenario was FrF93 WIENER WALZER. I don’t remember our exact Pleva bids, but I played the Russian defence. I made the early going sort of easy for Kedge by rolling a 12 on the first shot for the Russian ATG. The Russian BT-7A took out the 251/10, but I got greedy when the towed 37 entered. I intensive fired with the BT-7A and rolled another 12! At least my light mortar destroyed a loaded halftrack. I made no attempt to defend the front bridge. Everything went for the back bridge. The German progress was a bit slow. A flanking move with two loaded halftracks did not have success. When Kedge moved a stack of two squads with a leader in the open accidentally where a T34 could shoot at it, I rolled a 1KIA. He conceded after that because it was too late in the game to recover and take the second objective.
Fifth match was with Keitil Hogenhaug from Norway. He would be the only new opponent for me during the weekend. The scenario was FrF98 AMERIKANSKAYA SUKA. We both bid G1 for this challenging scenario. Keitil won the dr, so I had the Russians with the balance of an extra LMG. The Russian must weigh the force allocation carefully to be able to defend the compulsory building and still take another multi-hex building. My decision was to put one T34 and one 628 at start near the compulsory building and the remaining on the right heading for the wooden side of town where there were no German defenders. Three of the reinforcing squads with the MMG went to the compulsory building. The other four zoomed to the wooden side of town and unloaded there. One M10 went to the compulsory area. Three M10 went to the right of that area to defend the shortest approach for the German reinforcements. Keitil sent the three Panthers to duel with the three M10. Then he took advantage of the gaps in my groups to drive the German trucks fairly close to the Russian compulsory building. The two JgPz 4 also attacked that building. We had a back and forth tank battle with PF and PSK also helping the German cause. My best moment was arranging a simultaneous type gun duel between a T34 and a Panther. I won the DR and destroyed it from the rear. In Russian turn five, I had a few setbacks that I thought would prevent me from winning, so I conceded.
Sixth match was with John Wood. He really wanted to play FrF98 from the previous round because he had started it with Tim Kelly the previous night. They were both so tired however, that they did not get very far with it and John told me they "did some things wrong". I agreed to play it if I could play the Germans. This match went quite differently from my previous playing. John set up the 628 group to attack up the Russian left. He had a couple of T34 tanks to give supporting fire on the same board and some on the right to do some flanking fire and movement. He sent three reinforcing squads up the Russian right and four squads to the compulsory building. Three M10 AFV went to the Russian right. I had only two squads defending the wooden buildings on the German left, but it was enough to force the Russians to unload outside of town. I used the German reinforcements to attack up the German right. I eliminated 3.5 of the 5 628 squads that had gotten too far away from their supporting AFV. My plan to attack the building that the Russians needed to keep changed as I started breaking gun tubes while trading shots with the Russian AFV. Both JgPz4 guns went out first. I did not try repairing them right away because my Panthers took up the cause. Then I broke one Panther gun. Time to start trying to repair the JgPz4 guns. Then I broke another Panther gun. Fortunately, the guns tubes had gotten some kills before breaking. I repaired one JgPz4 that killed another T34 before dying to an M10 side shot. I did not try to repair the two broken Panther guns. On the wooden side of town, the Russian infantry with three M10 overcame my infantry, so I shifted infantry to that area with the broken Panthers. I managed to break the two Russian squads that had taken a multi-hex building there. It was German turn five by then and John conceded.
I had a great four days of ASL thanks to Steve Pleva and Joe Leoce and my opponents.
