So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[Philippe D.]

Played AP143 Late for Chow, from the latest Action Pack.

This scenario has strange setup conditions. It uses two boards (4 and 54), and the attacking Germans have to cross the two boards, or close to it (they get Exit VP for either, well, exiting, or occupying some buildings close to the edge with Good Order units). The strange bit is that the defending Americans have to setup somehow close to the entry edge of the Germans, in two predefined groups on the sides, with a 15-hex-wide strip in the center that has to contain no defenders.

So the Germans can choose between several rather different options: attack on the side, and initially have to face only half of the enemy OB (there are some reinforcements coming on turn 3 of 6.5); or try to go in the middle, where there is better cover and no defenders, but then the Americans will be on both flanks.

As the Germans, I picked the latter option. Things went pretty well initially, and I reached the second board quickly enough - that's where the bocage becomes the dominant terrain. And that's where my attacked started to bog down, as my opponent managed to position his forces so that I had difficulty advancing. I the end I managed to put enough units in the buildings to grab a win, but this involved a lot of running in open ground (or along roads bordered by Bocage with Americans on the other side, which is close to the same thing) -- so it could really have ended up very different. The Morale differential (ML8 German paratroops vs ML6 1st-2nd line Americans) definitely helped here.

A nice scenario, at least for those who like the tactical challenge of Bocage.

 

[Michael R]

My round one match was with Seth Semenza. The scenario was 203 HARD ROK. We had both bid for the North Koreans with one point of handicap. The TD, Steve Pleva, diced it for us; I received the North Korean side. When looking over the scenario before making my bid, I suspected that the large number of NK wins so far was attributable to players not utilizing well the 7 Human Bullet Heroes that the South Korean can use. Seth would prove me right. For the first time in awhile, I learned something at a tournament. When Seth sent a HBH in to street fighting with a passing AFV, I was surprised, because I had forgotten that street fighting during the MPh is a type of CC Reaction Fire.

We had a wild dice first turn. One T34 broke its MA on its first shot. The SK light mortar broke on its first shot. One SU-75 obtained a bounding fire critical hit to break a SK leader and LMG team. My NK troops needed to fight pretty hard to get through the SK troops. Seth had left no uncovered openings. By the time my troops were getting across the board seam, I was down two tanks and a third one was shocked. A highlight came when a SK DC hero went for my kill stack across open ground in front of an SU-76. The AFV scored back to back critical hits to remove the threat. I conducted a rare massacre to relieve my troops of 2.5 squad equivalents of prisoners. A good number of my squads were gone after six turns, as well as most of the on-board SK troops. I still had not seen the HIP ATG, nor the two squad equivalents of HIP SK which included the HMG and MMG. After six turns, I felt I did not have enough force to get across the canal; I conceded. Seth told me afterwards, that all the SK HIP assets were near the canal bridge.

 

[jrv]

@Michael R , what turn is the picture from?

JR

 

[Ed Donoghue]

We just finished SP247 THE GOLDEN ARROW a short and sweet German defense of a central stream bridge & the heights beyond.

Germans begin concealed South of the stream, with 5 MMCs, 1 SMC, 2 LMGs, 1 PSK and a StuPz IV (150). On turn 2, 2 add'l MMCs, 1 SMC & an LMG arrive to help. Americans set up just inside the North edge with 7 MMCs, 2 SMCs, 2 MMGs, 2 Baz45, 1 M4A3(105) & 1 M10 GMC. Americans win by having more MMCs in level 1 hills North of the stream than the Germans.

The terrain adjacent to both sides of the stream makes it most unlikely for the Americans to get up on the hills in a 4.5 turn game unless they take the bridge. No bridge means two turns to get through the defenders & adjacent to the stream, 1 turn over the walls/hedges into the stream, and 1 more turn to make a 4+MP move out of the stream & adjacent to the level 1 hill for an advance up.

Germans killed the M10 & let the 105 chase 1 Sq &1 HS & the leader across the bridge, then moved the Brummbaer in front of the bridge. With front armor of 14/11, the odds were against the US BAZ 45s. Not enough low DRs in the final turn to give the US a win. A fun fast game, probably ideal for an evening FTF.

 

[Michael R]

Chris Meyer and I were paired in the second round. We chose FT266 A FINE MESS. I bid for the Germans and Chris bid for the French. The scenario has interesting VC. The French earn VC for prisoners, for buildings and for eliminating AFV. The can lose immediately, however, by losing three of their own AFV. I thought that event was unlikey, but one German win happened that way during the tournament. Chris has returned to the ASL hobby since two years. His attack was a bit too cautious. By the last turn, he had taken one half squad prisoner, and three buildings for four points of the seven he needed to win.

 

[Michael R]

@Michael R , what turn is the picture from?

JR

Not sure; could be after two turns, could be after three turns.

 

[Michael R]

In round three, I played against Jonathan Kapleau. He let me choose the scenario. Even though I usually do not play "hypothetical scenarios", I wanted to play FT245 CIAO CINA! A bunch of second line Japanese with AFV and artillery support try to push most of the elite and first line Italians out of several defined strategic buildings. I forget how I obtained the Italian defenders, but after Jonathan set up, he said he was not too well versed on using Japanese. That, however, is no excuse to forget to use smoke. He set up all the Japanese troops to attack from the north side. We played three turns. The Japanese did a lot of striping and some breaking and were just getting into two of the buildings. The LC did not land, but I had two and a half squads following it up and down the shore line. Around midnight, Jonathan conceded.

 

[jrv]

In round three, I played against Jonathan Kapleau. He let me choose the scenario. Even though I usually do not play "hypothetical scenarios", I wanted to play FT245 CIAO CINA!

Ciao Cina! is not hypothetical (or no more than most other ASL scenarios, e.g. looking past Hill 621). However, Jonathan Kapleau is.

JR

 

[Michael R]

Paul Chamberland was my opponent for round four. Our 1-2-3 choices arrived at HS30 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I forget how I obtained the Canadian attacker. Eleven elite squads with three Shermans and a Wasp try to take four multihex buildings on deluxe boards. My game started well. The light mortar gave me two smoke rounds and Sherman smoke dischargers gave me some more. Paul had set up three apparent killer stacks in level two locations. One of them turned out to be mostly dummies. I was able to use the Shermans' ordnance smoke to keep the two real killer stacks less effective, but the other Germans did not go down easy. My attack was mostly on the Canadian left, save for one platoon on the Canadian right. I managed to take three buildings in five turns, but I did not have enough forces left to take a fourth.

 

[semenza]

Not sure; could be after two turns, could be after three turns.

I don't remember what turn it was either.

Seth

 

[Michael R]

I thought I was on time for the fifth round, but somehow almost everyone was matched up without Steve doing anything that I saw. I grabbed the first person who I found unmatched, which was Chris Meyer for my second time. Our choices came to AP139 EMERGENCY SURGERY. I suggested he might find the defense easier and he agreed. An American recce group must find its way through the German defences and across a river that has two vehicle bridges and one foot bridge. There are also six FFI squads that start onboard to help the Americans. I chose to enter five American AFV on the first turn, including two loaded halftracks for some serious BFF. The American right had less visible units, so I decided to try there. I set up the FFI squads to gather intel by bump before the Americans entered. They found an MMG squad with the best leader near the road that I wanted the Americans to use. I got lucky with a halftrack BFF against the German MMG team, rolling snake-eyes. The K/2 result ended up eliminating the leader and squad. The road, however, had wire and a roadblock. Those fortifications forced my Americans to move up just to the left of the road, figuring the INF gun would be in the center orchard and taking out a vehicle or two. It wasn't. All five of the first bunch of vehicles got close to the river on the first turn. There was a backstop German squad in the area, but when it tried to approach, fire from an AC broke it. In the second American turn, the remaining American forces entered, using the same route. The INF gun appeared to the right of of the right of the road when my second batch of vehicles finished their move. The bocage made my vehicles hull down to its fire, which saved them. One turn later, so much was across the river that Chris conceded.

 

[Michael R]

In the final round, Steve paired me with Bruce Stevenson, another Canadian that had three wins. Our choices resulted in us playing AP141 CURRIE'S FAVOR. I bid G0, he bid C0. Five and a half Germans squads defend a town square on board 12a from the Canadian attack of 6 squads, two Shermans and 3 Stuarts. The Germans have also an 88 AA gun, an 81 mortar and some SW purchases. I chose a PSK, MMG and LMG. I placed the 88 to cover the south edge. The 81 mortar covered the south-east area. I had a dummy gun (all German guns set up on board concealed and emplaced) covering the east edge. Of course, the bulk of Bruce's Canadians came from the east edge. I got lucky on turn 1. The 81 mortar obtained a CH on a Stuart to eliminate it. The Canadians have a CVP cap, so this was an unexpected boost. Bruce had some concealed units slowly moving towards the dummy gun. The rest of the troops moved from the southeast corner, behind bocage to approach the town. Bruce was cautious because of the CVP cap. My PSK remained concealed for most of the game, but prevented a Sherman from getting to close. The PSK had only one long range shot before being eliminated in CC. It missed the shot. The mortar crew pushed their weapon two hexes north to cover VC hexes. That paid dividends in the end game when I was able to use smoke to protect some of my troops. On the last Canadian turn, the Canadians were next to some hexes they needed to take. The Germans had caused 17 CVP so far. The 88 crew had earlier abandoned its gun to attack and eliminate a Canadian HS. That same crew found a PF to kill a Sherman and put the Canadians over the 20 CVP cap. I regret to say that I have no photo.

 

[Gunner Scott]

My posting from FB:
Well, tomorrow (tues) my buddy Rich is coming by and once more we will dive into another scenario from CH make the rubble bounce pack. The one I have picked out is RB72 Between Two Plants which pits a strong German armored infantry force against a very strong Russian force. The Germans will need to reach the Volga with at least two AFV's or two non crew squads too win. So 10 turns of pure mayhem awaits both sides. On paper the scenario looks like it has no major faults, the scenario is 10 turns and the Germans have to cross alot of terrain to get too the volga. So plenty of time to accomplish that task and no need for the Germans to rush in this one. Well time to set this one up.



here is my set up for this scenario. The circled red means infantry units in HIP positions. Russians have a nice allotment of AT weapons but boy do you have to spread them out. Still, I have my 45L ATG's mostly in the rear to hit any AFV's that try to achieve the >= 2 AFV's on east of hexes 10 or greater.



It took Rich and I about 6 hours to get to turn I think 7 before we called it a game. We were both tired and frazzled, not from the scenario, but just frazzled from the scenarios intensity IE super fun with a huge bell curve. I suppose I could have kept going , but with my forces on my right thoroughly shattered, I really did not think it was worth the effort. I should have also put more stock into building I5 (red circle on posted pic) by having my 76 art gun that saw this building start firing into it with smoke or HE. Funny thing though, ALL my 76 ART guns ran out of smoke on the first or second attempt. With the 9-1 and two HMG's up on that 2nd level of building I5, they were able to slow my shifting units down from reinforcing my right flank. We also had 2 or 3 melee's that went on for 2 or 3 turns, Hand to Hand and we both whiffed our attacks. All in all we both enjoyed this one very much and might give it another go because I think a better Russian set up will I think really slow the Germans down. As an aside, there is errata for this scenario, so be aware of that if you plan to play it (ya right lol) Still, even though this pack has its quirks and warts, it is still alot of fun and with all the Red Barricades rules in effect including CG 11 and CG 15, it gives this pack a really nice RB flavor. Pic below is Rich's attack with his Germans.

 

[Houlie]

I enjoyed getting back to the gaming table today at our Twin Cities ASL game day at the Fantasy Flight Game room on this freezing cold Minnesota Saturday. Mark Harms and I played FT260 Inainte! from LFT’s From the Cellar 9. It’s an all infantry affair pitting 13 x 447 attacking Romanians 2 x MMG, 2 x LMG a 60mm mortar and DC against the Russians. The defenders scraped together 4.5 x 458s, 3 x 447, an MMG, LMG and mortar. The objective was the Romanians have to move across board 18 to control at least 5 VC buildings (of 9 available) on board 17 within five hexes of the village center. The game length is 6.5 turns, so enough time so as not to have to get reckless on the attack.

The Romanians move across board 18 with just a few nicks. Some of those that were nicked up struggled to rally with a slew of high rally rolls. About four squads moved up on the Russian left flank and the remainder of the squads on the right flank. A fair amount of defensive skulking and opportunistic fire was used to ensure the attackers don’t get a foothold in the village too quickly. The two forward (and frankly undefendable) village VC buildings fall uncontested. Shots are traded, and the Russians do a poor job of staying good order, though the Romanians with their 4 FP squads are formidable on the IFT attack. On a positive note, having a commissar (Mr. 9-0 that BHed to a 10-0) helped regenerate some broken rabble at key times. That said, he broke three times (as a 9-0) until he BHed.

On the other hand, some key CCs in the “barn” on the Russian right flank with odds favoring the Romanians went as poorly as it can get for the Romanians. No result in the first round – melee. The Russians take out a 447 in the second round, a 447/9-1 in the third (with only a Russian leader CR – a subsequent wound) and in the finale, a stand-off – no results - melee. So, at least four rounds of CC with Romanian odds ranging from I believe 3-2 to 3-1 (-1) and the Romanian could not wrest away building control.

Another building was under pressure with a 247 surviving fire to move into CC against a 447, no 'bush, Romanian whacks the 447 on a 1,2. The return 2-1 attack, 2,1. By this time the Russians held five buildings for the win. The other multihex building had an upcoming 8-1 odds CC in favor of the Romanian. The only hope there for the Russian would be an ambush withdrawal. However, it was not necessary.

A really nice, tense, ridiculously close all-infantry clash the seemed tightly balanced. Thanks to Mark for yet another great game. It’s always fun and challenging to play Mark and I look forward to our next clash.

 

[asloser]

Today I played DTF-6 Magnificent Beasts of Prey against my brother Teemu Lukkari. I was the defending Germans.

Early on I managed to kill one ISU 152 and Sherman with my HIP tanks and got a lucky three hex range PF hit on another Sherman. This put me ahead in the game. in by mid-game I lost the StuG when I moved badly and ISU 152 from the hill hit it. The Crew bailed out and killed the last Sherman with PF. So I had a relatively comfortable lead when we entered the endgame. But I had suffered quite heavy losses it was getting difficult to keep all hexes covered.

At the beginning of last turn Teemu had 10 locations and was down three tanks so he needed 5 more points One hex fell on the flak, Teemu got a Prep fire shot in on the JgdPz IV on a ISU-152 and rolled boxcars, got in a Bounding Fire Shot against the PzIV but missed by one!!! He also got adjacent to couple of empty hexes which I was able pin and break the units before they got on. In the end he ended up with 11 building hexes killed one German AFV and lost four AFVs for 8 points. As both of the German AFVs were in the sights of Russian heavy Guns and he barely miseed 4-5 possible building hexes it flet a rally close game.

In other words the last turn was a complete dice fest which decided the winner. We thought it was very good an exiting scenario.

After the game I checked ROAR and found out it had a 21-3 record! This left me baffled. I could see the Russian being more demanding to play but not to that extent. Or am I missing something obvious here?

 

[Jacometti]

Today I played DTF-6 Magnificent Beasts of Prey against my brother Teemu Lukkari. I was the defending Germans.

In other words the last turn was a complete dice fest which decided the winner. We thought it was very good an exiting scenario.

After the game I checked ROAR and found out it had a 21-3 record! This left me baffled. I could see the Russian being more demanding to play but not to that extent. Or am I missing something obvious here?

The ROAR record of this scenario baffles me too.

I have seen a fair number of playings: two things I have seen many Russian players mess up is either a) being super conservative with their AFV, trying not to loose them, so running out of time or leaving their infantry to do the work alone and b) Russians infantry charging through open ground in stacks in LOS of Level 2 German MMGs, which is usually not wise.

Beyond that, two good players should be able to have a close game.....

 

[asloser]

Beyond that, two good players should be able to have a close game.....

When I think of it, by turn 4 Russian had lost all the Shermans and one of the ISUs and it was still close game... The SU-100s are by far the worst of the AFVs for the tasks in hand (no MGs, limited HE, not the best armor) and it was still a very close game. I refuse to label this as a complete dog.

 

[asloser]

Today I played DTF-6 Magnificent Beasts of Prey
In other words the last turn was a complete dice fest which decided the winner. We thought it was very good an exiting scenario.

This picture shows the end of last Russian MPh after which it was called.

W6, X4, Y5 (there is abroken Squad there despite the black capture DC showing under the resid) Y8, Y9, AA3, BB2 have Russians trying to enter locations. In Z3 there is a Russian Berserk 328 with the JgdPz IV/70. Only the units in W6 ja BB2 are unirs which can advance.

 

[Cult.44]

I enjoyed getting back to the gaming table today at our Twin Cities ASL game day at the Fantasy Flight Game room on this freezing cold Minnesota Saturday. Mark Harms and I played FT260 Inainte! from LFT’s From the Cellar 9. It’s an all infantry affair pitting 13 x 447 attacking Romanians 2 x MMG, 2 x LMG a 60mm mortar and DC against the Russians. The defenders scraped together 4.5 x 458s, 3 x 447, an MMG, LMG and mortar. The objective was the Romanians have to move across board 18 to control at least 5 VC buildings (of 9 available) on board 17 within five hexes of the village center. The game length is 6.5 turns, so enough time so as not to have to get reckless on the attack.

The Romanians move across board 18 with just a few nicks. Some of those that were nicked up struggled to rally with a slew of high rally rolls. About four squads moved up on the Russian left flank and the remainder of the squads on the right flank. A fair amount of defensive skulking and opportunistic fire was used to ensure the attackers don’t get a foothold in the village too quickly. The two forward (and frankly undefendable) village VC buildings fall uncontested. Shots are traded, and the Russians do a poor job of staying good order, though the Romanians with their 4 FP squads are formidable on the IFT attack. On a positive note, having a commissar (Mr. 9-0 that BHed to a 10-0) helped regenerate some broken rabble at key times. That said, he broke three times (as a 9-0) until he BHed.

On the other hand, some key CCs in the “barn” on the Russian right flank with odds favoring the Romanians went as poorly as it can get for the Romanians. No result in the first round – melee. The Russians take out a 447 in the second round, a 447/9-1 in the third (with only a Russian leader CR – a subsequent wound) and in the finale, a stand-off – no results - melee. So, at least four rounds of CC with Romanian odds ranging from I believe 3-2 to 3-1 (-1) and the Romanian could not wrest away building control.

Another building was under pressure with a 247 surviving fire to move into CC against a 447, no 'bush, Romanian whacks the 447 on a 1,2. The return 2-1 attack, 2,1. By this time the Russians held five buildings for the win. The other multihex building had an upcoming 8-1 odds CC in favor of the Romanian. The only hope there for the Russian would be an ambush withdrawal. However, it was not necessary.

A really nice, tense, ridiculously close all-infantry clash the seemed tightly balanced. Thanks to Mark for yet another great game. It’s always fun and challenging to play Mark and I look forward to our next clash.

Nice write-up and well played. That was a fun, intense game as usual. I like to dream that, someday, I'll make a timely CC roll at the end of the game for a win. Until then, I'll just mutter to myself about what could have been.

I like the scenario -- pretty straight-forward but I think both sides go in wondering how they're going to pull it off.

[edit; fixed funky double post]

 

[Philippe D.]

Played AP135 Fuller's Folly (from AP14) last weekend, in a rather rare FtF opportunity.

8 German 548 squads try to keep twice their number in 2nd line US troops from storming a hill in Bocage country.

The scenario is set on two full boards, but the VCs only care about what ends up in Good Order on level 2 hexes on mapboard 84, and the Americans only have 6 full turns to get there, so as the German I somehow foolishly disregarder the possibility that the attackers would try to flank me on the east - a rather stupid choice: with road for most of the way and no obligation to cross many Bocage hexsides, this was actually the shorter route. About a platoon of the US troops tried to do that, forcing me to quickly reposition the squad and LMG I had intended as a major hindrance on the crossing of another road for the US.

Fortunately, the rest of the US attack bogged down trying to attack frontally. Both of my mortars managed to score good hits, despite very poor LOS country (hills, in-season Orchards and Bocage don't help). In the end, my opponent gave up after his turn 5, when it became clear that close to none of his OB would make it up the hill while I would manage to bring almost all of mine back. (The US attack suffered from poor DRs, and also from a slight misreading of the Bocage rules that helped the Germans more than the Americans; but mostly, they suffered from their Morale 6 vs the ML 8 of the German troops)

Quick notes on the design: the US troops are denied Assault Fire to account for their use of Springfields instead of M-1 Garands - the "folly" that makes up the scenario title. This does indeed have a huge effect, especially since the Germans can often grow concealment thanks to the Bocage. They are given some form of range-2 MOL capability, but in my game this didn't help them much - with the +1 drm for non-AFV targets, the bonus is quite unreliable. My opponent didn't try to split his attacks into smaller fire groups so as to get more MOL drs, but since many attacks were against +1 or +2 TEM, I'm not sure if this would have helped.