So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[Perry]

The Americans used their CPP to purchase a Bombardment [didn't get much effect out of it, though].

8 CPP out of 10 is a lot to burn for little effect. But perhaps little effect is relative when looking at 100 hexes of unspared Bombardment.

Unfortunately, the Americans utilized a Harassing Fire Smoke FFE to blind the gunners covering the
Pasig River side of the defense [also blinding the Observer of the Japanese OBA]. Thus, while the defenders on the two landward sides of the Intramouros were able
keep the Americans out, the river crossing portion was able to secure a decent foothold against those defenders.

That's what that SSR is for.

The increase in Japanese SAN paid off, with most of the LVT(A)4s being Recalled due to STUN results. {Two of the LVTs were Immobilized, due to Japanese firepower}.

Goes to show you never can tell.

All in all, a most enjoyable weekend. I look forward maybe doing this again in the future.

Great. Thanks for the mini-AAR.

 

[Houlie]

Finished up LFT’s Inor CG1 The Pride of the Foreign Legion last week as the attacking Germans against Curtis Brooks’s French defenders. My first CG ever. It worked for me with only three dates and no night. It was very tight going into the final date, with the French having 19 VP (needing two more to win). However, the Germans had some devastating dice early on Day 3 that reaped a lot of CVP. At the end of two turns Curtis conceded as the VP tally dropped to 17 VP for the French due to the CVP loses (after he revealed his interdiction loses).

A great experience. I highly recommend it. There are only three dates, but lots of units ~60 squads per side. A big shout out to the designers and contributors to this fine HASL. A huge thank you to Curtis for a well-played game. He stretched me to the limit as I had serious doubts I would be able to hold off the inevitable Day 3 French counter attack.

For a AAR/summary here’s a link to the AAR section. Inor CG1 AAR

 

[Chas]

FWIW on ROAR Dutch 12 Japanese 10

Just finished "Langoan Airfield" from BaJ....Wow! I played Japanese and never got near the VCs....two drops were inaccurate, but nevertheless resulted in very few "striped" squads and nothing offboard; however, lots of MMC were turned into their constituent HS and the support weapons were scattered far and wide , plus moving around to try and become fully armed was trickier than I thought( Japanese play as pre '42 Germans )...so I spent two moves trying to round up units and SW, which turned out to be a mistake I think..my regular oppo had placed his pillboxes in mutual fire support and the airfield is ( obviously) devoid of cover, so moving through jungle/kunai in an effort to get to the VCs was time consuming.
A better player would no doubt have made a better fist of this but my oppo did say ; " have you checked the ROAR on this ? I don't see how you could win".
With hindsight I'd have dropped a wing on the Airfield ( or tried ) to tie up his defenders while I organised the rest of the force.
Thoroughly enjoyed it but would love to hear how others have handled the Japanese.

 

[VonHutier]

FWIW on ROAR Dutch 12 Japanese 10

Thanks - yes, looked it up and was surprised...!

 

[Carln0130]

8 CPP out of 10 is a lot to burn for little effect. But perhaps little effect is relative when looking at 100 hexes of unspared Bombardment.


That's what that SSR is for.

Goes to show you never can tell.

Great. Thanks for the mini-AAR.

Perry, have all the pre-orders for Manilla been filled now?

 

[wrongway149]

Perry, have all the pre-orders for Manilla been filled now?

I haven't gotten mine yet.

 

[Old Noob]

Neither have I, a couple more weeks to go.

 

[VonHutier]

Neither have I, a couple more weeks to go.

I'm in England, no doubt a bit longer... ..can't wait !

 

[Eagle4ty]

I haven't gotten mine yet.

I just got a notification that retailers should start receiving their orders in about 2-3 weeks (mid to late June) so maybe the last of the pre-orders have yet to be shipped.

 

[Paul John]

Unfortunately, the Americans utilized a Harassing Fire Smoke FFE to blind the gunners covering the
Pasig River side of the defense

Is that allowed???

 

[Carln0130]

Is that allowed???

No, they are Concentrations.

 

[Perry]

No, they are Concentrations.

As I said above, there is an SSR for that.
Manila preorders will take some more weeks.

 

[Carln0130]

As I said above, there is an SSR for that.
Manila preorders will take some more weeks.

Didn't read the whole thread and hmmm, interesting.

Thanks for the pre-order update

 

[wrongway149]

As I said above, there is an SSR for that.
Manila preorders will take some more weeks.

Mine is en route!

 

[Richard Weiley]

AP168/Nameless Hill. Had the defending Japanese in this one. My opponent setup the 9-1 MMG and one squad from the at start force in the level 2 jungle hex in his setup area. I setup my long range weapons to waste this hex in my initial prep fire phase. Most of my remaining units were dedicated to expanding my perimeter to deny the US easy entry and allow me to trade space for time. Net result of the opening salvo from my mountain gun, mortar and two leader directed MMGs was a pinned squad. The bulk of the US forces entered on board 39 around A7. The 9-1 stack decided to stay and duke it out and prep fired in his turn. My return fire was much more effective, resulting in a broken leader and reduced squad and I had enough fire power to break most of the remaining half-squads. A quick counterattack reduced this force to two half squads and while the 9-1 managed to rally he fled into the jungle and spent the remainder of the game trying to link up with the reinforcements. With that flank relatively secure I was able to leave a force to garrison the huts and redeploy the remainder to hold off the US assault from the north and west. The US attack was able to capture one hex of the trail but with a turn remaining he had no chance of achieving the rest of the the victory requirements so he conceded.

 

[Richard Weiley]

JunoBear 2022

My first face to face tournament since 2020. Played Saturday and Sunday at the Paddington Woollahra RSL Club. The tournament was organised by Andy Rodgers

AP18 Village of the Damned. Had the defending Axis in this one, after bidding for sides (missed out on getting the Soviets but exchanged the German 8-0 for a 8-1). Had some luck in this one. Sniper took out the Soviet 8-0 leader during the initial movement phase. I misplayed the German component by sticking around a turn too long to fire Prep fire on some squads sitting in the open which allowed them to be VBM freezed by the tank and swarmed in CC. However my now battle hardened 9-1 and squad managed to hold on for a couple of turns and taking advantage of sequential close combat, managed to eliminate 1.5 squads and the Soviet 9-1 before succumbing. With only one leader in play my opponent struggled to maintain the attack's momentum, particularly when a couple of his units got tied up in inconclusive melees. The surviving Italians and sole German halfsquad slowly retreated toward the board edge and I held on for the win.

STL2 Nothing Ventured. Had the attacking Burmese (?) in this one. Went into the game without much of a plan. Setup about half the force on the North side of the village, the 9-1 and most of the remainder entered on the east edge and attacked across the hill which the defender had left ungarrisoned. Two green squads entered on the X hexrow on a forlorn hope to take the single building in X2 and more importantly to distract the Japanese for long enough for the attack on the village to succeed. At the beginning of my turn 2 I did a quick assessment of my opponent's disposition and decided that with a bit of luck I could take the six buildings to satisfy the sudden death victory conditions. Well I did get a bit of luck. By the end of the turn I had just fallen short, having taken five buildings but being unable to win Close Combats in two others. Needless to say I was somewhat deflated when my opponent pointed out to me that I had completely forgotten about the undefended building in H2 which I could have strolled through in my first turn. In my opponent's turn he was successful in two of the close combats reducing me to four buildings but with heavy casualties on both sides including the British 9-2. Turn 3 came around and I realised I still had a chance of victory as I could send a just rallied squad to take the H2 building and my opponent had left the O7 building unoccupied. I still had squads capable of reaching it in N5, L7 and N8. However a leader directed MMG stack in P5 put paid to the attempts from L7 and N5 and the last squad went down to a six flat in O8. I had about two good order squads left at that stage so I conceded.

Journal ??? Bowden's Woods. One of Andy's designs slated for an upcoming Journal. It's set during Operation Nordwind in January '45. SS with armour support are attacking a US infantry force defending board 75. My opponent is still pretty new to the game, playing his first tournament and to say his dice were cold would be an understatement. A pretty easy victory for the Germans in the end but under the circumstances not a fair reflection on the balance of the scenario.

Great weekend and good to catchup with some guys from out of town who I hadn't seen since pre-Covid.

 

[Eagle4ty]

AP168/Nameless Hill. Had the defending Japanese in this one. My opponent setup the 9-1 MMG and one squad from the at start force in the level 2 jungle hex in his setup area. I setup my long range weapons to waste this hex in my initial prep fire phase. Most of my remaining units were dedicated to expanding my perimeter to deny the US easy entry and allow me to trade space for time. Net result of the opening salvo from my mountain gun, mortar and two leader directed MMGs was a pinned squad. The bulk of the US forces entered on board 39 around A7. The 9-1 stack decided to stay and duke it out and prep fired in his turn. My return fire was much more effective, resulting in a broken leader and reduced squad and I had enough fire power to break most of the remaining half-squads. A quick counterattack reduced this force to two half squads and while the 9-1 managed to rally he fled into the jungle and spent the remainder of the game trying to link up with the reinforcements. With that flank relatively secure I was able to leave a force to garrison the huts and redeploy the remainder to hold off the US assault from the north and west. The US attack was able to capture one hex of the trail but with a turn remaining he had no chance of achieving the rest of the the victory requirements so he conceded.

Curtis & I are about to sit down and have at this one, looks like an entertaining scenario.

 

[Steve E7]

AP177 - A Celebratory Mood - Action Pack 17.
This is a DASL scenario from the new AP. I had the US who had the task of moving across the board and taking a 3 hex stone building. Things blazed up quick ( kindling allowed, huts, and a US FT ) and with my attack then somewhat channeled I struggled to really engage the IJA who fought a nice delaying game, and stuffed the V building with units. I moved fairly quickly but with 2 Mph left my forces gathered adjacent to the v building got clobbered by very accurate fire. Out of time and with half my force broken, it was a US loss. Tanks performed well, but needed the infantry to occupy ground for the win. It was fun game. Cool deluxe city PTO scenario. We were glad we played it.

 

[Gunner Scott]

FT INOR 1 Deep into the French Front-Bob came by since he had Junteenth off and we began our journey into LFT's Green Hell Of Inor module by getting our feet wet with Inor 1. The scenario has a small forces on bothsides so it can easily be played in a couple of hours. The Germans have a couple of very vulnerable AC's, motor cycle troops, a truck towing a 75 INF gun, the French are defending with a garrison of seven squads that by SSR are pinned (they can still fire their LMG's but with a +2 if they fire at the racing AC's. The French also get an ART piece that is limbered and an ATG that sets up on a hill away from the village of Inor.

The VC is for the Germans to take 13 buildings and exit 8 vps off the opposite side within 5 1/2 turns. Basically it is a run the gauntlet type of scenario and hope the French do not roll low. Well for my Germans that did not happen, I tried to race off my AC's while the French were pinned initially, but one AC was hit by a three and blown up, another AC was hit by another three and blown up, and my last AC (there are three) managed to exit off the map while drawing lots of street fighting, that pinned SSR is odd but it is what it is. So we played for 4 more turns, even though I was able to take the required buildings, I did not have enough time to exit any of my remaining troops.

We both liked the scenario, granted it is dicey, it was still alot of fun, we plan to play Inor 7 Sauerai wald this week and then perhaps the CG next month. We are liking the looks of this one, the map is a nice playable size, thick paper and no glare. The campaigns look awesome, the whole package looks awesome!

Scott

 

[jimfer]

Finally recovering from the Austin Team Tournament, it was a great deal of fun. The big Thursday smash em up, Ferocity Fest featured BFP-29 Hueishan Docks. I was the Chinese my opponent David wanted the Japanese so OK with me. I am not a big PTO player and this is a big city fight so no trouble for me. I pushed very hard down my left to get quickly to the docks. I used the Dare Death squads to clear the way and it worked for me, they won 3 out of 6 CC due to Davids poor rolls. Pushing hard I managed to get six buildings and the Japanese reinforcements threw themselves at my defenders. David did manage to get into position to strike the needed victory building. I called down my one and only Artillery strike danger close and sure enough it drifted on to my forward building hex and broke all my troops in the forward building hex with a Snake eyes. That calamity aside he would have to Banzai through the barrage to get to the last hex. He charged into the barrage and it didn't work, 6 squads, a Leader and 2 half squads moved out, a wounded leader and a broken half squad survived. Lots of carnage and loads of fun. The tank battle left a lot of charred vehicle husk on the battlefield so not available for the final push. Quick note, the Japanese had a 75 art that killed 4 tanks, the stripped crew killed 2 squads and later another squad in CC, nothing like having 6-1 odds against a 1-2-8 crew only to have him ambush and declare H-H and roll a 3 down 2. Crazy fun.