So what scenarios have you played Recently?

ecz

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Played J183 A Real Barn Burner, from Journal #12, with Robin (Swiftandsure). (...)
So it's one of these scenarios where one force has to quickly overwhelm a small defense while trying to slow down a bigger attack on the same objective (...)
Actually you do not need as German to take the buildings.
It is enough stop the French coming from the South and avoid they can reach the farm. Imo this is the key to win easily without any risk.

As you said the French in the farm are tough. So use a large part of the German OB exchanging shots with a ML 9 force a short range is risky. It is much better avoid any discussion with those morale 9 guys in stone building and create a security belt around the farm to stop the French reinforcements . This way the scenario is less dicey (less ambushes, less CC, less short range combat) and the French cannot use at their best their besieged units. The German can instead use almost all of their force to prevent the French from reaching the farm, and the game is over since the forces suddenly become unbalanced in German's favor since the objective can remain under French control and no fight is necessary.

Of course the expert German player will set his security belt out of range or los from the "farm guys" using his long range weapons (gun and MMG) to force the French in the farm to stay down while a small concealed force (no more than two squads) will attempt to infiltrate the farm complex if an opportunity appears still mantaining a position useful to reinforce the "cage" around the French objective, the only thing the German must search.
 

RevJJ

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This scenario only is 7 hexes wide and the Germans have to take a fortified building across mostly open ground. Throw in mines, roadblocks, and A-T Ditches and it makes for a somewhat difficult approach. My DC was set in the one building adjacent to the victory building. So, sure, he knew where it was, but it's either that or getting blasted crossing the street. The trick is to keep your defenders alive long alive to do this against massive German firepower. Therein lies the rub.
O48 is the only place I'd set it too. Bummer there is no cellar there. It "works" with the terrain but it is an expensive and risky bomb with a lot of ways the dice can betray you from placement to staying good order to the TC to the effects roll. It's cool it worked for you (probably shocked your opponent) but I'd still take the Hero, HIP, and ATRs if I were to play it again as the Russians.
 

witchbottles

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Began a game of HoW 9 "A Perfect Match" tonight. Prep fire had an american mortar go nuts on ROF and get down 6 shots for a kill on a 75* Inf Gun armed HT. Americans up 5 CVP. MPh has the onboard company from the hilltop moving cautiously into the city, risking a few SCW shots but little else - the Greyhounds got canister and pumped out breaks on the few 247s up front that were there as a speed bump and to stop so much concealment pre-game.

next week we'll be rolling in with the M5A1s and the rest of the recon battalion mounted as PRC - lots of german gun tubes pointed that way - should be a chance to get even for the early HT loss :)

KRL, jon H
 

Mister T

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Played DftB129 Silencing Sinzig. Another bridge crossing scenario one may say, but i kinda like this one due to: (i) the dilemma for the defender which sets up on both sides of the river; (ii) the sizeable amount of US vehicles, but many of them are pretty vulnerable; (iii) asymetric forces; (iv) a CVP cap which seems well-calibrated. In the scenario, the attacker lost early two jeeps in a rather optimistic approach and got channelled by fortifications into deadly fire zones. Possibly doable but not easy for the attacker imo.

In passing, i recall that this thread is for short accounts of recently finished scenarios (and related comments). There are other receptacles for other contents. Thank you.
 

hongkongwargamer

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Played DftB129 Silencing Sinzig. Another bridge crossing scenario one may say, but i kinda like this one due to: (i) the dilemma for the defender which sets up on both sides of the river; (ii) the sizeable amount of US vehicles, but many of them are pretty vulnerable; (iii) asymetric forces; (iv) a CVP cap which seems well-calibrated. In the scenario, the attacker lost early two jeeps in a rather optimistic approach and got channelled by fortifications into deadly fire zones. Possibly doable but not easy for the attacker imo.

In passing, i recall that this thread is for short accounts of recently finished scenarios (and related comments). There are other receptacles for other contents. Thank you.

In passing, where do you recall this from? I just went to Page 1 of this thread and I couldn't find the rules there. I'd appreciate if you can direct me to the right place.

I apologize if I offend with my graphic & unfinished AARs. That was certainly not the intention.

Thank you.

Rgds Jack
 

esprcorn

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In passing, where do you recall this from? I just went to Page 1 of this thread and I couldn't find the rules there. I'd appreciate if you can direct me to the right place.

I apologize if I offend with my graphic & unfinished AARs. That was certainly not the intention.

Thank you.

Rgds Jack
Jack.. Keep doin' what you do.. I love it. Play by play is awesome and love the images.
 

Jeffrey D Myers

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@Mister T -- Thanks for your kind comments on Silencing Sinzig! It was a blast to design, and Vic's team did some nice tweaks.

It's possible that my wife's grandpa was in one of the U.S. halftracks, but I can't seem to find a way to figure out which company he was in of the relevant battalion.
 

Mister T

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In passing, where do you recall this from? I just went to Page 1 of this thread and I couldn't find the rules there. I'd appreciate if you can direct me to the right place.

I apologize if I offend with my graphic & unfinished AARs. That was certainly not the intention.

Thank you.

Rgds Jack
No need to apologise Jack, i've already said on this forum that i like these cartoon-like scenario snapshots and i am not going to change my mind. Simply i like this thread as i find there the most 'ASL bang for the buck' so to speak as it has become a tradition over time that real players express in concise terms their opinion over a given scenario they have played. And this without the 'noise' usually encountered in other segments of the forum ('noise' that can be entertaining from time to time it must be said). Opening a regular thread on the AAR section for a given scenario and updating it with blow by blow pictures would be a good alternative to ensure visibility. Not wishing to be prescriptive, merely constructive. And for the record, i did not target specific guys (it was more a cannister shot :cool:).
 

Mister T

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@Mister T -- Thanks for your kind comments on Silencing Sinzig! It was a blast to design, and Vic's team did some nice tweaks.

It's possible that my wife's grandpa was in one of the U.S. halftracks, but I can't seem to find a way to figure out which company he was in of the relevant battalion.
I hope the scenario gets the attention it deserves from other players who, of course, may or may not find it of their liking.
 

witchbottles

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In the bottom half of the 15 October Day scenario for VotG Cg IV. My germans have penetrated almost to the Volga across a wide swath of the center of the map, and have almost succeeded in isolating a large pocket of Russians at a fanatic strongpoint with a dug in T-34 and a KV tank right outside. Now we are at Turn 6b - a fire around the square covered by Pavlov's house and a mild breeze blowing across the square has made the North flank pretty much a non-starter for both sides this time around. The revolving stukas have been a godsend for handling KV tanks - the dug in T34s have all fallen so far to infantry assaults from the flanks and rear into CC.

The Russians used an attack chit on 14 October to generate a night attack - so I have little fear they will try that again before the 16th, and they have lost well over half of their on-map MMCs and almost all on map AFVs and Guns this scenario so far.

German losses are not light - we're at 80 CVP of germans dead (to a Russian 115 CVP dead)- but a lot of those are light skinned Ht AFVs and a captured and now dead T-70. But disturbingly, there is a 10-2 and a 9-2 in the dead pile for the Germans - all from an on target and deadly OBA stonk that started the fires.

Looking ahead at the 16th October - with a 50% chance this scenarios is going in to a seventh inning, I got basically a 50% chance of cutting the battlefield into fourths this time. If not, he can try to dig into the center, but it will cost him the south and a lot of Reinforcement entry areas, so I don't see it as likely - more likely , he will dig into two large pockets ,one north and one south, planning to use boats for the north.

There's not enough revolving stukas for every day scenario - so I am thinking of foregoing them again for 16 October, they will not likely be absolutely necessary , and just go with a single flight of them instead, in case of a nasty KV or T34 getting in my way of cutting the map firmly in the center on a 15-25 hex front along the riverbank.

Overall plan for the future is to cut the map firmly, screen in the North and turn south to seal off everything except what can come in by boat - then use revolving stukas to keep those to a minimum as I finish off the north. I was surprised at how useful the southern flank screen became this scenario however - once a platoon of 5-4-8s and a DC with a 8-1 reinforced it, they have been able to close right up to the now isolated strongpoint and tanks.

KRL, Jon H
 

ecz

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Today I have played J 183 a Real Barn Burner as German. I have deliberately ignored the VC buildings trying to avoid the French Reinforcements coming from south were able to reach the farm (where the VC buildings are). If fact in this scenario the attacking French to win must control one of two VC buildings AND have also at least one MMC (coming from the reinforcements) in any of the two VC buildings. The German plan was successful. A "security belt" around the farm complex stopped the French from joining their fanatic friends.
Simple in theory, but not that simple on the field, since a lucky and/or competent French could force the block and pass the lone MMC necessary to win and my opponent BTW was very close to reach his objective.
It's a good scenario where the best use of the Fire Lines is mandatory for the German.
After this playing I'm not sure anymore if the one I have adopted is the best possible plan. Possibly it's better try a more classical approach: seize the farm (with costs) and wait the French wave arrives...
 

klasmalmstrom

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After this playing I'm not sure anymore if the one I have adopted is the best possible plan. Possibly it's better try a more classical approach: seize the farm (with costs) and wait the French wave arrives...
When I play tested this one I went for that approach. I managed to seize one of the buildings. However, none of the French reinforcements came anywhere near the farm house, in large part due to my opponent rolling abysmal on the MC I manage to inflict on the French reinforcements. I think he missed 5 out of the first 6 and with 4 ELR failures to boot.
 

jrv

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In "A Real Barn Burner" I didn't see attacking the VC buildings as a good option. In fact I expected the French to attack out. The French that set up in those buildings are elite and fanatic, and can be sacrificed entirely. I focused on preventing the reinforcements from entering too, and it worked out pretty well.

JR
 

ecz

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JR that was my idea too, but it seems that a competent/brave French can force the block if:
1) deploys a lot;
2) makes good use of the 60mm mortar and of the MMG;
3) avoids the enemy FLs making a long range tour along the right wing of his front (i.e. avoiding the most direct and frontal approach)
4) calls for the help of the "farm" guys that can exit the farm making a sortie at the right moment
5) avoids too many bad rolls expecially when rolls for MC

My opponent failed points 1 and 5 losing the game.

I must add for sake of truth that A real Barn Burner is a small scenario where a short sequence of very bad rolls can make the difference
 

Jude

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Played J30 Nocturnal Attrition and eked out a win as the Italians. Came down to a 1-2 CC attack from a fanatic New Zealand 1/2 squad vs a squad and leader. If my opponent took them out, he would have won because of the instant victory conditions. He rolled too high and I breathed a sigh of relief. Very quick playing scenario. One hex visibility makes for a close range bloody battle. Although I think the Italians have it tough (I won some low odds CCs), I'd recommended it, especially if you're new to night scenarios. The small playing area, low unit density, and close in fighting negates some of the need to remember all the night rules - which I usually do!
 

Jude

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Since the first scenario of the day was so quick, my opponent and I were able to get another one under our belts and finish our foray into the desert. We played A90 Cutting Out a Strongpoint. SUPER low counter density and a small set up area for the defenders makes this scenario an extremely fast play. Accurate OBA and several rate tears from my Italian mortar doomed the South Africans. All infantry but one 1/2 squad was broken or dead before he even reached the stongpoint. The smokescreen he laid down hindered some of my LOS but there were still units I could see and that was enough. He called it before I even rolled for my reinforcements. While not very exciting, I can recommend this one if you have some time (an hour and a half) to kill after the main event of the day.
 
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gulliver62

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Continuing my lessons, I played 179 Ranger Stronghold as the Germans. Goal was to take the lessons learned last week with AFV and put them into play. This also added a number of terrain elements with the hills that I have not played. I setup with the possibility of attacking in any one or more of 3 directions with support from the PzIVs. Smoke helped me clear out one bazooka but the other Pz malfed the gun on the first smoke attempt and I decided to make it a mobile MG stronghold rather than risk recall. I learned last week that being timid gains you nothing so I wound up hard pressing up the middle on the attack. It was great fun and came down to the last turn.
Sniper took out my 1/2 squad guarding prisoners in the rear bringing the prisoners back into play and I had to send my functioning tank to break them in the end.
One SMC escaped a CC attempt with an ambush and I had to divert units to chase him down to get him in my last CC initiated phase
Lots of HOB, had 2 units go Bezerk and created 2 Heroes
I had all of his units broken and out of the victory hexes going into the last American rally phase and some good order units to attempt shots if they rallied but not enough to guarantee I could break them.
Lucky for me he had no leaders as a die roll had eliminated his -3 leader and with the DM even the Yanks couldn't self rally and attempt a move.
Another really fun game. Learned a lot more as we had all kinds of rules questions with leaders/heroes/LOS questions.
Looking forward to trying OBA and AFV against AFV next.
Thanks again to my playing partner who was really much more of a teacher than an opponent. That makes it a lot of fun.
 

Philippe D.

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In "A Real Barn Burner" I didn't see attacking the VC buildings as a good option. In fact I expected the French to attack out. The French that set up in those buildings are elite and fanatic, and can be sacrificed entirely. I focused on preventing the reinforcements from entering too, and it worked out pretty well.

JR
I think I started the discussion of this scenario. My own pre-game analysis was that not putting enough pressure on the French in the farm, so that I could concentrate most forces on preventing the reinforcements from reaching it, was very dangerous - it meant a high risk of having my troops stuck between hammer and anvil, with no possible routing paths. So I split my forces between a delaying and assault forces - my idea being that even 9ML guys can die in CC, and that any of them that happened to break would be tough to rally. Mostly, it was considerations of rout paths that carried the decision for me.

It ended pretty well for me, but then I got my share of lucky rolls - heroic defense from my delaying forces, and some bad rolls from the fanatics, meant I managed to put most of my assault force in the nice stone buildings, with battered reinforcements forced to cross lots of open ground to reach me.
 
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