So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[ecz]

Played once again the nice scenario FrF 44 Anhalt Pandemomium this time as German and I got the closest victory of my career.

Russians and SS ended at 28 VPs each, and so the German won. Very fun game where PFs and PSKs failed all four shots they tried at TH 6 or 7 (!) and the Russians at the end found a breach in the German's wall in the bottom of the board 21, hexrows 1,2,3. The Reds crossed the victory line - thanks to a long list of events - in many but not so many to win, including three tanks on four. The only German casualties were two HSs and a malfunctioning gun, but a new leader arose from the battle during a CC so, in the end it was a draw at 28 that means German Victory.
In the last turn too many things could have gone one way or another, so it's pointless try to analyze in depth the final part and try to find a mistake or a decisive winning move.

FrF 44 it's one of the "elite" scenarios where, after multiple playings, I do not have still decided which side should be preferred.

highlights:
a 6,6 on the TH roll of a PF meaning CR of a SS squad (first time ever it happens to me :-( )
a SS squad and a Leader running along the road in a straight line from 23 P6 to 23 Y2. Nine hexes, the longest possible infantry move according the rules. Tactically, probably, it was not the best possible move in that moment but it was a lifetime that I was waiting for this... and it was so fun.

and in turns 4,5 and 5 only:
a berserk 447 attacked in CC successfully ambushing the attackers, killing a HS, reverting to normal, withdrawing form CC, then again becoming berserk in the following firePH and creating problems for the ideal fire line arrangement of the last German turn;
a 1FP FL breaking the Russian leader + Squad that were about to cross the victory line
a 1 MC for the Russian CE in the last turn just passed allowing the last IS 2m to continue toward the goal line ( +/- 4 VPs depending on a 1MC at 8)

 

[Blackcloud6]

I finished J38 Bitter Defense at Otta last night against one of my long time opponents. Surprisingly I won as the Brits in the last turn on the very last stack when I got a K/2 result on his last stack trying to get off the board. The K knocked out the one VP he needed to get 14 off the board. I thought through the whole game I was going to lose as the pressure on the Brits is high. But I think I got out of the main defense and back to the Alamo just at the right time to force him into a run the gauntlet situation. Getting to play some of the longer turn scenarios is interesting as they give opportunity for maneuver and such.

 

[Mister T]

Played FB12 The Black Ravens are Flying
A simultaneous setup scenario with overlapping areas. Unfortunately this type of scenario rarely delivers what it is supposed to as each player has an incentive to "play it safe" (as both players do not know whether they'll prep first) and therefore not venture into the other's lair (it reminded me of Pot of Stew which was equally disappointing from that perspective). So what could have been a swirling melee became a vanilla layout (it's the players' fault one may argue). The rubble generation ensures replayability but may provide jumping points to either side. This is what happened as a building collapsed on the central avenue separating the warring parties. The rubble helped a lot my Soviets as they repeatedly assaulted the VC building on the other side using it as a stepping stone to get across the street, something that would be fairly difficult otherwise. Of course the defender would not let this happen and time and again the soviet assault parties were repulsed. Only on the last turn would the Soviet side gain a firm foothold on that building and benefit from a local morale collapse in another one to claim victory. The OB additions available to both players however provides a welcome spicy touch, as it may be possible to get an potentially seizable advantage if one chooses the "right" options. Ok scenario but i expected a bit more.

 

[buser333]

Played FB12 The Black Ravens are Flying
A simultaneous setup scenario with overlapping areas. Unfortunately this type of scenario rarely delivers what it is supposed to as each player has an incentive to "play it safe" (as both players do not know whether they'll prep first) and therefore not venture into the other's lair (it reminded me of Pot of Stew which was equally disappointing from that perspective). So what could have been a swirling melee became a vanilla layout (it's the players' fault one may argue). The rubble generation ensures replayability but may provide jumping points to either side. This is what happened as a building collapsed on the central avenue separating the warring parties. The rubble helped a lot my Soviets as they repeatedly assaulted the VC building on the other side using it as a stepping stone to get across the street, something that would be fairly difficult otherwise. Of course the defender would not let this happen and time and again the soviet assault parties were repulsed. Only on the last turn would the Soviet side gain a firm foothold on that building and benefit from a local morale collapse in another one to claim victory. The OB additions available to both players however provides a welcome spicy touch, as it may be possible to get an potentially seizable advantage if one chooses the "right" options. Ok scenario but i expected a bit more.

I agree that this one looks much better on paper than it plays.

 

[JRKrejsa]

A Hard Rains Gona Fall DB 139 Nice little PTO action. Aussies came up the East side, where the only decent cover is. Took some damage there, but got around the pillbox. The rest of the IJA then scrambled to intercept, including the 13.2mm HMG. I couldn't kill it, but was able to flank it, exiting the 9-2, and 2.5 squads.

 

[Khill]

Played FB12 The Black Ravens are Flying
A simultaneous setup scenario with overlapping areas. Unfortunately this type of scenario rarely delivers what it is supposed to as each player has an incentive to "play it safe" (as both players do not know whether they'll prep first) and therefore not venture into the other's lair (it reminded me of Pot of Stew which was equally disappointing from that perspective). So what could have been a swirling melee became a vanilla layout (it's the players' fault one may argue). The rubble generation ensures replayability but may provide jumping points to either side. This is what happened as a building collapsed on the central avenue separating the warring parties. The rubble helped a lot my Soviets as they repeatedly assaulted the VC building on the other side using it as a stepping stone to get across the street, something that would be fairly difficult otherwise. Of course the defender would not let this happen and time and again the soviet assault parties were repulsed. Only on the last turn would the Soviet side gain a firm foothold on that building and benefit from a local morale collapse in another one to claim victory. The OB additions available to both players however provides a welcome spicy touch, as it may be possible to get an potentially seizable advantage if one chooses the "right" options. Ok scenario but i expected a bit more.

sorry you were disappointed by these two scenarios. I have played both a couple times and loved them. I thought these scenarios were specifically designed to incentivize players to be aggressive or at least that is how they all played out for me. in fact, I recall one playing of Pot of Stew where there were several at start CC's and by end turn one numerous burning wrecks. each playing of Black Ravens saw setups in the other's lair for sure with a stiff fight from the very start

 

[HansK]

Played 'S51 Enter the young' against Hennie. Turned out to be my first ASL game since November 2016...

(this is what you get when writing for wargame magazines, proofreading, and editing stuff)

Had a great time with this interesting scenario. I played the Americans and lost. But that's not important, I played the game, and that's what mattered to me. Despite being really rusty on the rules, I also noticed that I had stopped making some of my previous mistakes. So it seems like a little progress has been made.

 

[Mister T]

sorry you were disappointed by these two scenarios.

I would prefer a feature that forces each side to allocate a portion of his OB to go in harm's way, so to speak. Since you don't know who's gonna prep first, i don't see why you should leave your forces at the mercy of a succesful enemy prep. But maybe that's me.

 

[Jude]

Played AP45 Reaping Rewards losing as the Romanians. I think I had a sound defense but my first two turns of DRs could be summed up in one word - AWFUL. Both MMGs and three LMGs malfunctioned. Both 60mm MTRs never gained rate vs units in woods. The DRs never truly got better for me as both the 81mm MTR and the HMG malfunctioned when the Russians were making their final push. All those beautiful fire lanes I set up didn't amount to squat when all my MGs malfunctioned. Having said that, it took until the AFPh on the last Russian game turn for my buddy to get the win. His FT KV fried the last guys in my last building. It was a 1KIA but just for fun I rolled to see who bit it and, of course, I rolled doubles! Truly awful. I almost called it after turn three but since we had no back up scenario planned, I sucked it up and kept going. Had I won by some miracle, I still would say I had absolutely no fun playing this scenario - it was that miserable. Taking my friend to the last turn says more about how tough the Russians have it in this scenario (lots of open ground) than how well I played. My friend, on the other hand, played a solid game and used his forces well; applying steady, methodical pressure to reach his objectives. Since it did go to the last turn, I'll always wonder what would have happened had my DRs been at least average the first few turns. Die rolls notwithstanding, I'd still recommend it for both sides. In fact, I feel the Romanians have a slight advantage - just not today.

 

[TopT]

A Hard Rains Gona Fall DB 139 Nice little PTO action. Aussies came up the East side, where the only decent cover is. Took some damage there, but got around the pillbox. The rest of the IJA then scrambled to intercept, including the 13.2mm HMG. I couldn't kill it, but was able to flank it, exiting the 9-2, and 2.5 squads.

That is exactly how my opponent played this too. I scrambled to stop him and had him but on his last move to exit I rolled 6,6 and that was that...

 

[Jeffrey D Myers]

That is exactly how my opponent played this too. I scrambled to stop him and had him but on his last move to exit I rolled 6,6 and that was that...

My solo play played out similarly. IJA really needs to watch that flank....

 

[WuWei]

ASL145 Shanghai in Flames. I was the Chinese defender and rolled quite good in the beginning. But a few bad decisions and gambles that didn't pay off later, I was down to three squads and the 9-1 in the factory two turns before the end (one squad in a fortified position, the 9-1 with the other two squads, one of them broken, on the other end), and the Japanese were already swarming it, too. I managed to rally my third squad, but then the whole stack got killed by a 3KIA. So I was down to one squad for the last turn. And they didn't break! And didn't even pin, so the four Japanese MMCs and two leaders standing around them couldn't advance into CC to finish them off. A win for me, but it was very close. And we ran out of flame/blaze counters...

 

[Blackcloud6]

ASL145 Shanghai in Flames. I was the Chinese defender and rolled quite good in the beginning. But a few bad decisions and gambles that didn't pay off later, I was down to three squads and the 9-1 in the factory two turns before the end (one squad in a fortified position, the 9-1 with the other two squads, one of them broken, on the other end), and the Japanese were already swarming it, too. I managed to rally my third squad, but then the whole stack got killed by a 3KIA. So I was down to one squad for the last turn. And they didn't break! And didn't even pin, so the four Japanese MMCs and two leaders standing around them couldn't advance into CC to finish them off. A win for me, but it was very close. And we ran out of flame/blaze counters...

That's a good scenario.

 

[JRKrejsa]

Dew of Death ASL WO 24 So, the mustard gas landed exactly on the hilltop building. I had an 8-1, MMG, and 2 squads there. One died almost immediately. The 8-1 and other squad tried to get out of the gas, but only the leader made it. The Japanese had to go around the gas too, which took up time and channeled them into my remaining Chinese. A well done banzai overran the second Chinese line by G3. But, the central position held out in HtH cc. The IJA then did not have enough EVP to win. Unique, and a nice medium sized scenario.

 

[JRKrejsa]

Drive 'Em Out BFP OS-14 Our first outing on the Vossenack map. This features the new US Not-Assault Engineer Squads. The US attack went up both sides of the road, right into the village. However, I made little progress to begin with. In the end, US took the church, but could not get to T47, or the house just south of the church. German win. Liked it.

 

[ecz]

Played AP 100 Coal in Their Stockings for VASLeague winning as American. My attackers must capture the five stone buildings in the German setup area, amassing two VPs per turn they hold them. The German gets 3 VPs for each stone building still in their hands at game end PLUS exit VPs.

The German decided a total back defense that did not work since the Americans captured as expected the first building in turn 2 and then had four turns to capture another building and automatically win. (2VPs X 4 turns =8VPs gained for the first building, plus 2 VPs for the second building in the last turn =10 VPs in total, while German can amass for the three stone buildings remaining only 9VPs. It is supposed that the German could gain VPs exiting units from the opposite board edge but this, given the back setup, cannot happen if the American pays attention.

Dice were hot for the attacker but the difficult for the Germans stands. So I think that Germans can improve their chances with a more agressive setup that slows the American advance literally from the first hex and leaves most of the defending forces in the position to try to escape the board at any time if they can breach the American security belt. The Americans by SSR can also decide to enter a part of the OB as Turn 2 reinforcements from behid the German lines, flanking the Village, but few German units can defend from that direction long enough.

I'm curious to see if is doable because the all-back -defense seems rather ineffective.

 

[Steve E7]

RPT140 Warwickshire at Wormhouldt - my fourth scenario now from Rally Point 14. Germans were dominating the battlefield versus my too up front setup, until the 40L situated near 17L7 knocked out or immobilized all the German tanks. It was still touch and go on the last turn though, as plenty of prisoner VP had the Germans in a position to exit .. but their dash was denied with some well placed rifle file. Both Carriers simply came on board and parked in the exit area - I was not able to utilize them in any other way, they were desperately needed there. German SS morale level is their advantage .. move move move ..

 

[Jude]

Played a double header today starting with G38 Castello Fatato. My friend and I saw how unbalanced this one was on ROAR so we planned for two scenarios. I won as the Italians and I figured out how to do it - luck! My Italians brushed off -1 shots left and right as they charged towards the victory building. The Russians helped the cause by missing a lot as well. 1MCs, 2MCs, no problem. I think I ended up with just three broken squads with the initial human wave. Things stagnated after that as the Russians and Italians went back and forth in the victory building. I had reduced the Russians to two good order 6-2-8s and a half squad but I still thought I was going to lose. Even though I was rolling ridiculously well, enough of my guys broke to make my forces lean - and at night, broken guys are hard to get back. Whenever I broke one of his guys, however, his commissar sent them right back. I got the break I needed when one of the AT Guns CH the commissar and eliminated him. After the half squad and one of the engineers broke, it was over. I wouldn't recommend this one for the Italians. Pure luck (good rolls for me, bad for my friend) kept me in it. I'd recommend it for the Russians, on the other hand, because it should be a turkey shoot.

So that scenario went fast and we set up AP18 Village of the Damned. Meh. I would say I survived this one. It went down to the last turn with my friend needing to win two CCs to win. He failed on the first so that was that. Even though it went down to the end, it just wasn't much fun playing as the Italians/Germans. They can't duke it out with the Russians and are a mess in CC due to the combo of lax and walking wounded. Skulking is tough as well since the village is cut in two by a road. Should make for a tense scenario but it just didn't do it for me. I basically took pot shots as the Russians advanced over the open ground and hoped that and the resid would slow them down. One thing that helped my cause was a lone walking wounded conscript that was ignored early (I guess my friend thought it was a stack of concealments) and he had to rush back there on the last two turns once he realized it wasn't. Timely good rolls saved his hide and tied up some of the Russians' resources. I wouldn't say this was a bad scenario for the Axis, it just was not exciting to me. I'd recommend it for the Russians, though, as they have plenty of options on how to achieve a victory.

 

[Blackcloud6]

Today I played ASL with PJ Norton. We played ASL 213 It's So Easy from the recently released Forgotten War module on the Korean War. This was not your usual attack/defend scenario but was a night raid by the 1st Ranger Company at Chipyong-Ni at night to capture Chinese prisoners and probe the Chinese line. It was a level scenario and ended up being quite intense. I got points for bringing captured Chinese back off the board and for exposing Chinese units. But I could not suffer too many losses and the Chines had lots of dummy units.

The challenge for the Chinese was in using deception and then when and where to open fire. I really enjoyed this one and I was able to capture a an enemy squad and get it off the board and expose enough positions, then disengage without losing anyone, for the win. it was close thous as almost lost too many men.

 

[von Marwitz]

Played AP 100 Coal in Their Stockings for VASLeague winning as American. My attackers must capture the five stone buildings in the German setup area, amassing two VPs per turn they hold them. The German gets 3 VPs for each stone building still in their hands at game end PLUS exit VPs.

The German decided a total back defense that did not work since the Americans captured as expected the first building in turn 2 and then had four turns to capture another building and automatically win. (2VPs X 4 turns =8VPs gained for the first building, plus 2 VPs for the second building in the last turn =10 VPs in total, while German can amass for the three stone buildings remaining only 9VPs. It is supposed that the German could gain VPs exiting units from the opposite board edge but this, given the back setup, cannot happen if the American pays attention.

Dice were hot for the attacker but the difficult for the Germans stands. So I think that Germans can improve their chances with a more agressive setup that slows the American advance literally from the first hex and leaves most of the defending forces in the position to try to escape the board at any time if they can breach the American security belt. The Americans by SSR can also decide to enter a part of the OB as Turn 2 reinforcements from behid the German lines, flanking the Village, but few German units can defend from that direction long enough.

I'm curious to see if is doable because the all-back -defense seems rather ineffective.

I think I have written an AAR on this scenario where I lost as the attacking US.

Edit - here it is:
http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/ap100-coal-in-their-stockings.131635/

Turns out I even won this by the barest of margins in the last CC-Phase.

von Marwitz