Tuomo
Keeper of the Funk
Played J193 Raff's Rules this weekend in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Rumble, against the erstwhile Dr. Marty ("if it's Tuesday, I'm in Baluchistan") Snow. The map can be found here.
Since Marty was delayed getting to the venue (and who doesn't want to rush to Greeley, Colorado?), I set up the German defense. I'd played a few turns of this with Jazz, putting my at-start AA guns right up front where they could maximize the goodness of hitting the Americans as they came across the open ground of board u, but I'd learned a thing or two. Yes, it's a ton of fun to smack paratroopers in open ground, but no, you're not necessarily winning the game, because if the American player passes his PMC and just keeps pushing forward, the Guns and their crews are eventually going down, at the cost of 2 CVP apiece. That's 8 CVP, which is probably more than they're going to rack up before they go down. Breaking those Paras isn't enough; you have to score lots of CVP. Meanwhile, they're shooting back.
With this in mind, I thought to spread out the German Guns while offering some level of mutual support with the rest of the team. The 105's went in sY1 and Y2, where they could fire down the all-important Y hexrow, pivot to cover the GG hexrow if the US tried to exit that way, support the stone building in sW4 if necessary, and even throw a shot out toward sR5 in a pinch. The AA guns (both of them) went in sGG7, where they could protect the GG hexrow and influence the center of the map. I bought 2 Mines and 2 Wire and put them all in the area around sFF7, just to protect the AA guns.
The idea here was to stuff a US push down the GG hexrow while forcing them to split their force adequately should they want to take out the AA guns for their CVP, and use the Mines and Wire to best effect in protecting those Guns with the aid of the board edge. Meanwhile, the German infantry could fall back to the stone buildings in sW5 and sR3, maximizing their TEM and skulking potential. I hoped this would keep the US from exiting units and make them spread out their attacks while forcing them to spend time moving to contact, preferably over Open Ground.
All of which sounds lovely, but just wasn't enough. Things looked good through 3.5 turns, with the Germans losing only 2 CVP while racking up 7.5 CVP of their own, including a beautiful Sniper shot that kacked the US 10-2. I honestly thought I had it in the bag. At that point, though, a combination of bad luck and bad play did me in - I'd retreated both German leaders, three squads, and two MGs into the sW4 building, leaving sR3 empty. (SHOULD HAVE STUCK TO THE PLAN AND PUT SOMEBODY IN R3!). In the MPh of German turn 4, I foolishly non-assault moved the 8-0, 447/LMG up to the upper level of sX4, eating a 15+1 shot from the nearby US troopers and breaking in the process. SHOULD HAVE SKULKED, but I wanted to get over to W4 level 1 to nail a 747 sitting out in the open in S5, and I forgot that the Orchards were not in season so the LOS to Level 1 was clear. To top it off, that same 747 in S5 rolled snakes in its DFPh shot against the 9-1, 467/MMG in W4, causing the squad to break. Suddenly that stronghold turned into a honeypot of potential CVP, and the game was essentially over. I had some fun getting a 105L Intensive Fire Critical Hit against a squad, but that was a mere sideshow - Marty had his choice of winning by Exit VP or plain old CVP, once the W4 building went down with its 9 CVP occupants.
So, sure, in a smallish tournament game like this, there's a razor's edge to be walked, and Bad Luck + Bad Play = Bad Juju, but dang - I'm just not seeing what the Germans can do here. If they spread out to cover exit avenues and make the Americans chase CVP all over the board, they can't do a good job of mutually supporting each other. (Yes, my little AA Gun nest in sGG7 remained untouched throughout the game, but they scored zero CVP themselves, so was that on balance a waste?) If they concentrate their forces around the stone buildings in R3 and W4, they leave the GG hexrow open for exit and, IMO, are still vulnerable to the firepower advantage that the US can bring to bear.
I saw some cagey German players hide the 105's back around sT1/U1, figuring they'd just generate VP by firing on the US beaches all day. True that, but they're also not doing much to help the German defense.
For his part, Marty hadn't played the scenario before, and reacted to the defense by doing what good players do - press forward, relying on firepower and position while taking what the defense gave him. That did the trick. My Double AA Gun Hex Of Death did draw a bead on the US reinforcements as they came down the uFF hexrow, but once the 20L revealed himself, Marty simply veered his guys left over to the center of the map, losing a bit of time but ultimately adding to the US firepower dominance in the attack against the German center. By the start of American turn 6, the score was Germans 11.5, US 8, but the defense was shattered and the US could have easily racked up 10+ points on that last turn, so I swallowed the bitter taste of defeat and conceded. However, I hope to prevail in the post-game Whining Phase, which starts now.
Since Marty was delayed getting to the venue (and who doesn't want to rush to Greeley, Colorado?), I set up the German defense. I'd played a few turns of this with Jazz, putting my at-start AA guns right up front where they could maximize the goodness of hitting the Americans as they came across the open ground of board u, but I'd learned a thing or two. Yes, it's a ton of fun to smack paratroopers in open ground, but no, you're not necessarily winning the game, because if the American player passes his PMC and just keeps pushing forward, the Guns and their crews are eventually going down, at the cost of 2 CVP apiece. That's 8 CVP, which is probably more than they're going to rack up before they go down. Breaking those Paras isn't enough; you have to score lots of CVP. Meanwhile, they're shooting back.
With this in mind, I thought to spread out the German Guns while offering some level of mutual support with the rest of the team. The 105's went in sY1 and Y2, where they could fire down the all-important Y hexrow, pivot to cover the GG hexrow if the US tried to exit that way, support the stone building in sW4 if necessary, and even throw a shot out toward sR5 in a pinch. The AA guns (both of them) went in sGG7, where they could protect the GG hexrow and influence the center of the map. I bought 2 Mines and 2 Wire and put them all in the area around sFF7, just to protect the AA guns.
The idea here was to stuff a US push down the GG hexrow while forcing them to split their force adequately should they want to take out the AA guns for their CVP, and use the Mines and Wire to best effect in protecting those Guns with the aid of the board edge. Meanwhile, the German infantry could fall back to the stone buildings in sW5 and sR3, maximizing their TEM and skulking potential. I hoped this would keep the US from exiting units and make them spread out their attacks while forcing them to spend time moving to contact, preferably over Open Ground.
All of which sounds lovely, but just wasn't enough. Things looked good through 3.5 turns, with the Germans losing only 2 CVP while racking up 7.5 CVP of their own, including a beautiful Sniper shot that kacked the US 10-2. I honestly thought I had it in the bag. At that point, though, a combination of bad luck and bad play did me in - I'd retreated both German leaders, three squads, and two MGs into the sW4 building, leaving sR3 empty. (SHOULD HAVE STUCK TO THE PLAN AND PUT SOMEBODY IN R3!). In the MPh of German turn 4, I foolishly non-assault moved the 8-0, 447/LMG up to the upper level of sX4, eating a 15+1 shot from the nearby US troopers and breaking in the process. SHOULD HAVE SKULKED, but I wanted to get over to W4 level 1 to nail a 747 sitting out in the open in S5, and I forgot that the Orchards were not in season so the LOS to Level 1 was clear. To top it off, that same 747 in S5 rolled snakes in its DFPh shot against the 9-1, 467/MMG in W4, causing the squad to break. Suddenly that stronghold turned into a honeypot of potential CVP, and the game was essentially over. I had some fun getting a 105L Intensive Fire Critical Hit against a squad, but that was a mere sideshow - Marty had his choice of winning by Exit VP or plain old CVP, once the W4 building went down with its 9 CVP occupants.
So, sure, in a smallish tournament game like this, there's a razor's edge to be walked, and Bad Luck + Bad Play = Bad Juju, but dang - I'm just not seeing what the Germans can do here. If they spread out to cover exit avenues and make the Americans chase CVP all over the board, they can't do a good job of mutually supporting each other. (Yes, my little AA Gun nest in sGG7 remained untouched throughout the game, but they scored zero CVP themselves, so was that on balance a waste?) If they concentrate their forces around the stone buildings in R3 and W4, they leave the GG hexrow open for exit and, IMO, are still vulnerable to the firepower advantage that the US can bring to bear.
I saw some cagey German players hide the 105's back around sT1/U1, figuring they'd just generate VP by firing on the US beaches all day. True that, but they're also not doing much to help the German defense.
For his part, Marty hadn't played the scenario before, and reacted to the defense by doing what good players do - press forward, relying on firepower and position while taking what the defense gave him. That did the trick. My Double AA Gun Hex Of Death did draw a bead on the US reinforcements as they came down the uFF hexrow, but once the 20L revealed himself, Marty simply veered his guys left over to the center of the map, losing a bit of time but ultimately adding to the US firepower dominance in the attack against the German center. By the start of American turn 6, the score was Germans 11.5, US 8, but the defense was shattered and the US could have easily racked up 10+ points on that last turn, so I swallowed the bitter taste of defeat and conceded. However, I hope to prevail in the post-game Whining Phase, which starts now.
I got whomped as the Germans in this one too. It looked like I was doing well, but then he just walked CVP off the map.
