So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[Carln0130]

Don't set it in concrete, but yes, let me know when the time comes and I should be able to drum up an oppo. Either "map/counters with cam" or possibly ftf with @sswann if our schedules allow.

It's Steve's baby, so doubtless he would be so inclined .

 

[william.stoppel]

Saturday Fenyan and I played ASL News 50 The Grain of Sand. It’s DASL so of course it is a good scenario. We both live DASL (as most in SoCal do) and neither of us had played it. Early war French vs Krauts with some quirkiness built in. German recon unit (light armor and little infantry) attack a green French company minus supported by a pair of big 75L AA guns (no AP). It is bocage country and the Germans have to control a road. The word control is key as before any unit can move or shoot they must be in control. It’s automatic if you are with or adjacent to a leader or a dummy stack. Otherwise you have to roll less than 5 on a dr. French subtract 2 and the Germans straight up so it’s an adventure. My Germans started poorly losing a h/t and a 9-2 hiding behind a roadblock. 75L HE vs one AF is pretty powerful. Fen’s green French were acquitting themselves quite well in the early going. Germans finally got on track and got through the roadblock and killed the AA gun crew in CC (after it had killed multiple AFVs and broken many MMCs). Conducting a fighting withdrawal with green French in bocage and across a stream is a tall task. That allowed me to get to the back gun who had remarkable ROF but eventually succumbed for me to pull out a last turn victory. Pretty cool scenario with interesting SSRs so a good bit of replay ability but I wouldn’t play it for kidneys.

 

[Gunner Scott]

Hopefully you will get him to try the Vietnam stuff.

Saturday Fenyan and I played ASL News 50 The Grain of Sand. It’s DASL so of course it is a good scenario. We both live DASL (as most in SoCal do) and neither of us had played it. Early war French vs Krauts with some quirkiness built in. German recon unit (light armor and little infantry) attack a green French company minus supported by a pair of big 75L AA guns (no AP). It is bocage country and the Germans have to control a road. The word control is key as before any unit can move or shoot they must be in control. It’s automatic if you are with or adjacent to a leader or a dummy stack. Otherwise you have to roll less than 5 on a dr. French subtract 2 and the Germans straight up so it’s an adventure. My Germans started poorly losing a h/t and a 9-2 hiding behind a roadblock. 75L HE vs one AF is pretty powerful. Fen’s green French were acquitting themselves quite well in the early going. Germans finally got on track and got through the roadblock and killed the AA gun crew in CC (after it had killed multiple AFVs and broken many MMCs). Conducting a fighting withdrawal with green French in bocage and across a stream is a tall task. That allowed me to get to the back gun who had remarkable ROF but eventually succumbed for me to pull out a last turn victory. Pretty cool scenario with interesting SSRs so a good bit of replay ability but I wouldn’t play it for kidneys.

 

[fenyan]

RE The Grain of Sand: It was a fun game. I should have protected the roadblock more, once that went down, the floodgates opened up with all the road-bound halftracks and armored cars. If I were to play again, would like to give the French some help, maybe bid some half squads. Or heck maybe try that upfront defense you suggested.

 

[Khill]

SP 208 Portomaggiore was fun. I setup a German defense and Steve attacked with the British on Board 23. The British have to Blast all German MMC's out of all stone buildings AND exit 15VP

Setup restrictions make it difficult for the Germans to realistically hold the Church on the far left and the smaller building on the far right. The big building on the right has three hexes that the German can setup in but it seemed like, with so few German troops and so many British AFV's, this building has the potential of being a trap

The German spread out in the buildings in the center left. The plan was to hold onto as many VC buildings as best they could and not worry about the exiting units

The British focused most of their effort on the German left but had a hard time getting going. They got good smoke (for a while) but the lone Conscript defender in the Church on the far left shrugged off tremendous British firepower to stymy the early Brit advance. Interlocking German fire kept the Brits at bay on the center left

On the right the Brits sent a light force to capture those buildings and pressure the German right flank. He opted to exit the Carriers early (most of the exit VP). Two German half squads and the AT were able to blunt that British push

The Germans were able to hold on for the win. Seems like a tall order for the British to Blast the Germans from ALL stone buildings AND get 15 VP off Board in spite of all the hardware. It was a fun scenario and I would play it again as either side but I'm bidding German at a tourney

 

[Paul John]

Russ came up from Florida way and we had a trio of games in the Pacific over the last couple of weeks. We started with a couple from Hell’s Corner: HC1 First Matanikau & HC4 Whaling Good Time. I took the defending Japanese in HC1 and it started well. There are two American groups, one that needs to cross the sand or effluent hex where the river meets the ocean and they were getting wrecked as they approached. I had defended that stoutly hoping to eliminate that threat before the main force coming through the jungle could engage. Russ was very careful coming at me and the initial successes led me to be overconfident against the main force. As they crept in concealed, I let him get into CC with me and it went downhill fast from there. I stood fast, got wiped out and he came rushing in for an American win. Fun scenario! We switched sides for HC4 and this was an American blowout. ROAR had it favoring the Americans, so we gave the Japanese the balance, but it was irrelevant. The Japanese couldn’t make anything happen, suffered from an early KIA and 6,6. My Americans exited easily. Then we switched to Manila for SF14 The Cost of Postage. I played the Americans again and after a nervy approach in which each time a Japanese squad dropped concealment, every American in LOS opened up and tended to vaporize them, we finally got into the building. Although I had really knocked Russ’s troop numbers down, he held the stairwells and it wasn’t clear I would have enough time to capture more of the building. FTs were put into action and had that rare mix of not malfing but not harming anyone. But American firepower finally overwhelmed the defense and there were enough Americans to run up the stairs and capture about 2/3 of the building (1/2 needed) for an American win. This came to the last Movement and could have gone either way. Fun scenario, the best of the three! Russ was out of the game for the last few years, so happy to help bring him back into the fold. Lots of fun chatting and a good opponent!

 

[Paul John]

Started Manila with SF1 Race to the Bridge with N8. I conceded super early on this one as I was so impressed by my American firepower that I charged willy-nilly onto the board and his impressive firepower blew me to bits. This one needs a more careful approach. I was thinking I had to get in to stop him from blowing bridges, but I am not sure that is very likely to happen without a very lucky American or unlucky Japanese. We are playing again and I am trying to be more cautious through T2 (but don't ask the crew of the burning Sherman). More on that later.

 

[Paul John]

Sf14 The Cost if Postage

Blocking the stairwells is certainly critical. If he had put someone on the first level instead, I wouldn't have had time to run around collecting locations upstairs and I likely would have lost. The trick is to have enough units to clog the stairwells till the last turn. That is presumably why the Americans are given scaling ability, but that seems tough to use...
Certainly the American firepower is overwhelming vs. any stand and die attempt.

 

[buser333]

Sf14 The Cost if Postage - Had a similar result. There is just too much Ami firepower in my opinion.

The only Jpn chance is to block the two stairwells with sleezy kindling and make the Amis kill you on the now isolated first level with their firepower.

Not sure how you could do that when kindling is N/A by SSR1, and disallowed in CG VP Position Locations in general (SF9).

 

[MajorDomo]

Not sure how you could do that when kindling is N/A by SSR1, and disallowed in CG VP Position Locations in general (SF9).

Yes, my error.

I confused the AAR with another scenario I played. Actually, bever plated SF14 - The Price of Postage.

 

[Houlie]

Completed Hazmo5 Blood of the Lambs against Rich Domovic. I was the attacking German against Rich’s flimsy, yet numerous Russians on Day 2 of the Russian campaign. This scenario looked very interesting to us, but it ended early for my Germans where I conceded in my Turn 4 of 9.

The VCs are two-fold for the German: control 17 of 19 buildings between hexrow M and Y AND no GO Russian MMC on level 2+ in the initial Russian setup area.

Setup


Rich had an expert defense and allocated 6 x squads and commissar to the single hex level 2 pimple on the German right and a couple 426’s speed bumps on the hill/woods in the center. We agreed Russians holding the pimple was imperative to divert, consume and tie up German forces. Even winning the pimple, which would have occurred in German Turn 4 APh, meant that the Russians which faded into the nearby woods could still contest it. Thus, those German forces were committed and would find difficult to shift to the village assault.

Overall, the approach to the village left the Germans vulnerable and Russian mortars punished my concealed kill stack on the top of the hill wounding my 9-2 and it shortly thereafter was finished off by a SAN. Fast forward to Turn 3 and 4 in the village. I was approaching and was starting to loosen up the village right. I overplayed one of my tanks like an idiot and it died to an ATR. Soon after, a Russian T-60 with a 20LL killed my adjacent BFFing Pz35t; a PzII died sleaze freezing a key hex and lastly an ATR CH killed my PzIII. I was down four tanks, two AFV left -- one of which was an AC and had a nice collection of acq markers on it. With the loss of the PzIII (and four Russian AFV still in play) it was clear the chance for victory was pretty nonexistent and I conceded.

Final Carnage (German turn 4)


This scenario card ticked all the boxes for us: size, troop mix, AFVs. We agreed the Russian allocating forces to the pimple was imperative. Too, even the 2 x 426s in the center of board 50 required attention tangling up a couple squads for an extra turn or two. An expert game played by Rich. He positioned his 2 x 50mtrs well, harassing and breaking my hilltop kill stack. He had the HMG/237/9-1 in the steeple which was also problematic by making me take a more cautious and time-consuming way forward. My four AFV losses really sunk me at the loss of no Russian AFV meant it would be a steep uphill battle.

I still like this scenario, but my goodness there are a lot of Russians on defense (27 squad equivalents to 25 for the German). The 2 ELR is a counter balance, but still. So, there is a lot for the German to accomplish. Any level of early bad luck can make it unrecoverable for them. This outcome put ROAR at 6-5 in favor of the German. So, clearly its doable. I’d love to hear how other playings went. Thanks to Rich for another great game

 

[volgaG68]

I overplayed one of my tanks like an idiot...

I see you have been reading my personal Tactics Manual! Seriously though, it seems like that faux pas was negligible compared to the high-odds fate your other 3 AFV suffered that turn. Seems like a good scenario, you just suffered the Turn 3 From Hell.

 

[Michael R]

Completed Hazmo5 Blood of the Lambs against Rich Domovic.

The roadblock position surprised me. I thought the best place for it was on the road through the forested hill. Another tactic that I had used against me is putting about ten squads and the commissar in the large hill forest. This took many turns to clear out. By the time I was seriously into the village, I could see I would not have enough turns left to meet the VC.

 

[Houlie]

The roadblock position surprised me. I thought the best place for it was on the road through the forested hill. Another tactic that I had used against me is putting about ten squads and the commissar in the large hill forest. This took many turns to clear out. By the time I was seriously into the village, I could see I would not have enough turns left to meet the VC.

Michael, I agree about the roadblock. I was quite surprised the board 50 forest road was open. The approaches for the AFV are time consuming for the German. I planned to do a clearance attempt should it be on that road, but was unnecessary. Yes, if the Germans are stalled early, it will definitely be a challenge.

 

[Eagle4ty]

Curtis Brooks & I have just finished off our latest scenario from Sword & Fire, SF3 THE GRIM REAPER'S LAIR, I would again have the defending Japanese trying to hold out against a powerful and well equipped American infantry force bent on inflicting twice as many Japanese casualties as they suffer while controlling two VP building or having 3+ GO Sqds/SE in the large Paco Cemetery. Though I would have 3x 75mm ART pieces and some wire & mines (two each) as support assets, I was hamstrung by having the majority of my infantry as 2nd line units and a paucity of locations to place the guns. I would use these forces along an MLR (Main Line of Resistance) that paralleled the "4F--" street with two squads forward as combat outposts to slow the advance of the GIs. Though reinforced randomly by a .50-cal and MMG along with a FT (Group #B) I would also have to detail a couple of squads to guard my southern flank at least until turn 3 as the Americans could enter along there with their reinforcements.

As it was I used the mines to hopefully deter him from entering key terrain along the enemy side of the MLR and break his attacking formations into two mutually unsupported attack positions. The wire would be used to prevent a crossing of the street into my positions without resorting to moving into Open Ground. The Guns would be placed along the MSR in covering terrain while the FT, manhandled by an 8-0 Ldr was my reserve. Fortunately this plan seemed to work fairly well though my combat outposts were rapidly chewed up (once again by the bane of the Japanese, PIN results and the follow on actions needed to avoid immediate elimination by a larger force).

Once the GI's had come up against my FLOT (Front Line of Troops) they were indeed broken up into two almost separate attack groups, each facing a daunting task of crossing the street covered by Japanese Fire and not positively knowing where my guns were located. His mortars would by of no great help in his endeavor as each had run out of WP ammo on their 1st try. At this point Curtis was thinking of giving up the ghost but in true ASL fashion the worm turned on an unexpected event. As I brought out a gun it malf'ed on its shot and the .50-cal used its only shot to turn a BAZ toting guy berserk (I don't recall that .50 having a ROF the entire game). Now I compound this turn of events by self breaking the crew to run away (WHAT WAS I THINKING, If the crew was eliminated in CC the 'zerker would return to normal!). With that DA move (you figure out what the DA acronym stands for) it allows the BAZ to fire a WP round on the .50-cal in the Japanese turn and would force me to use another squad to try and take him out in my CCPh-you guess the results, no bush, no elim of him on my part-ah, no Melee either, BUT AT LEAST NO LONGER BERSERK! Fortunately for me my MG would come to the rescue in the end. With time running out for the Americans he was forced to make a desperate gamble to cross the street but nary a guy could find their smoke grenades to help. By the time Curtis gave in he had but a few of the fore-mentioned non-smoke grenade squads left in GO and when a poor RPh failed to deliver a single rally he gave up the ghost.

A fun and challenging scenario, especially for the Americans. I rate it as pro-Japanese by at least 60-40% but could be closer if the Americans keep a lot of WP in their ammo rucks.

 

[MajorDomo]

Blood of the Lambs

I put the the roadblock in the town rather than the U7 hill hex. I thought that the U7 hex would only cause a slight AFV detour into the stream, which would not be of much defensive value as the German AFVs need to wait a bit for the infantry to catch up. The town roadblock position protects AP mines in R5, S6 and T6 from an AFV trailbreaking right through them. Mines still HIP on Craig's picture.

As to Mike's encounter with the big central forest delay blob, it is a defensive gamble. The forest mass is four hexes deep until the horizontal road is reached.

The 9-2, superior German infantry supported by an AFV looping into the woods behind the Russians might just overrun the low ELR russian forest people in three turns. They then can head to town to terrorize the remaining garrison.

Fun scenario, would like to hear from the German's that won.



SF3 - The Grim Reaper's Lair

Played this twice, just think the Japanese three 75 mm guns coupled with whatever MGs the extra roll grants are too much for the low morale Amis.

 

[Gunner Scott]

Played an ESG 60 Groupment Molinies Honor over the weekend. My French almost held the Germans back but the French are so brittle that they began to crumble by turn 5. The French also need to guard against a possible German exit and keep at least three VC buildings out of the Germans hands. This can be a bit tough but doable. Unfortunately for my poor French lads, the Germans were able to find the seam in my defense and by turn 7 were able to take the needed buildings to win. Excellent scenario and lots of fun. Cool toys for both sides to play with and not a boring scenario at all. Another plus is that the scenario uses the old hard back boards, no fuss in trying to get the scenario set up IE just throw down the boards and play. No tape, no plastic glass to fuss with.

 

[gorkowskij]

ASL 116 The Sixth Blow:

This one’s a bit of a slog owing to a mismatch between the terrain and the order of battle. Both sides have highly mobile forces, but the battle field is choked with obstacles that significantly impeded movement. This frustrates the attacker, entering along the east edge of board 2, who must trudge forward along narrow avenues between boggy thickets, on board 47, to cross board 50 and then exit westward. The terrain essentially channels the attacker into three avenues of approach, each about two hexes wide, one along the north edge, one in the middle, and one along the south edge.

The Russians set up five concealed stacks (partisans and dummies) at mid field (board 47) throughout the thicket/quagmire.

As the Axis defender, I set up most of my dismounted Hungarian cavalry dispersed and in holes on my right, the smaller hill on board 2, with a few on the larger hill. Further west, on board 50, I actually put both Hungarian artillery pieces in the brush atop the level four ridge, ready to take long range area target type shots, rather than tuck them safely in orchard or woods along the west board edge for less risky exit. Also on board 50, I placed one trench on the small wooded hill mass very near the north edge (50C3), one at level two on the north slope of the level four hill (50H3), and one at level two on the smaller hill mass just south of the big hill (50X2). My Hungarian heavy machine gun (which broke on its first shot) served by a crew occupied this last trench, the other two started empty.

Russian rocket artillery opened the battle by landing on the smaller board 2 hill to smash one Hungarian squad and AT rifle, but everyone else was far enough away to limit the damage. Then the Red Cavalry raced in from the east and started up the slopes. My Hungarians fled at the first opportunity, about half mounted and half afoot, streaming westward off the hill along the south edge of board 47. At the same time, from board 50 two Hungarian half squads struck east along the south edge of board 47 to probe for mines and link up with the cavalry coming their way. These clearance operations went well since all the Russian mines were on the north edge of board 47 and most of the Russian partisans were there or at mid field. German Panthers entered from the west and started ascending the big hill on board 50. German infantry rode halftracks to the empty trench on my left (50C3) and doubled-timed toward the other two (50H3) and (50X2).

Russian rocket artillery again found its mark by clobbering the Hungarian 8-1, MMG, and squad which had reached the small hill on the south edge of board 47 (47DD2). Russian armor entered along the east edge of board 2 with one half moving along the north side (my left) and one half along the south side (my right) of the battlefield. German Panthers reached the summit of the big hill on board 50 where they exercised commanding views over most of the field from hexes 50K4 and 50O5. German infantry slid into waiting trenches.

Here's where the scenario bogged down. Given the Panthers on over watch, to get across board 47 the Russians had little choice but to stick to blind zones. That meant advancing along the north board edge and south board edge, both of which required moving through a woods hex and thereby risking bog. Running up the middle was suicide. Everywhere else (left of center and right of center) was clogged with almost impenetrable concentrations of woods, marsh, stream, and water obstacle.

One Russian remedy MIGHT have been to move Red Armor up the bigger board 2 hill as fast as possible and from there rain SMOKE down on the board 50 ridge to blind or at least hinder those German Panthers. That’s not risk free, the Panthers might have picked off a Sherman before they could fire their smoke and maybe even one or two more through smoke, but a SMOKE screen (conveniently aided by the wind direction) could have diminished the dominant German hill position.

What actually happened is that the Russians rightly avoided a thrust up the middle – into the Panthers' muzzles – and instead picked though their own minefields and forests along the north edge. Along the south edge, a waiting Panzer IV in 47CC8 killed an SU-85 who poked out of the woods-road at 47Z2. German cavalry came in along the south edge to try and salvage what was left of the fleeing Hungarian cavalry. But Russian infantry and Scout Cars had done their work. In the end, I think the Axis saved only two Hungarian squads of the original nine that began on board 2. And, in a final slap, the Russian rocket artillery killed the Hungarian armored car waiting to exit while under concealment in the orchard along the west edge of board 50 (50Q10).

By now the Hungarian gunners were pushing their 75mm artillery pieces down the board 50 hill to waiting wagons (at level 3) in preparation for exit on turn 6. Those guns had fired area target type at several targets of opportunity, but managed only to break two Russian squads before running out of ammo!

One of the Panthers left the board 50 hill to go north and intercept the Russian horde breaking through the trees up there. The Panther stopped among the hedges at 50B3 and exchanged fire with an SU-85 which had reached 47A8. After a second fire phase, the Panther won and the SU-85 went up in flames. Meanwhile, entrenched 5-4-8s at 50C3 and 50H3 held back the Russian infantry.

Russian planes entered on turn 5 to knock out the German FlakPanzer in the brush along the westward slope of the big board 50 hill at 50L6. The next turn one Sturmovik’s bomb load missed the hill top Panther while the other’s scored a critical hit! Meanwhile, about 19 VP of Hungarian units exited the west edge.

Although the Russian rockets and planes had done well, the Russians had lost both SU-85, several squads, and further progress required driving head on into waiting German armor and Panzerschreks along the north or south edge so the Russians conceded.

 

[gorkowskij]

AP 2 Storm of Steel

This one’s an engineering puzzle, highly recommended, even if a bit long. After nine hours of play, Neil S. (Russians) and I (Germans) have reached Russian turn 7 with the end is still in doubt.

My Germans broke through the mine belt around 43W2/W3 (just east of the center) on turn 1 because AP mines brewed up two B-IV mine clearance vehicles which then detonated to blow a path through the obstacle. German heavy machine guns and Ferdinands laid down overwatch fires from the low hills on board 18 while assault engineers and stugs advanced along the road that ran 43 Z5, 6, and 7 with infantry on both sides to sweep away a few Russian 3-2-8s before they could kill AFV. The German advance then forked around both sides of the eastern lake on board 42.

A Russian 57LL ATG in the stone house at 42DD6 knocked out a Stug in 42AA1. The resulting fire eventually spread through the entire wood line along the north edge of the lake. Same said ATG scored a K against my kill stack in those woods, before they caught fire, to clobber my 9-1 and 15 riflemen disabling my heavy and medium machine guns for one turn. A lone Russian squad east of the lake in the stone house at 42DD4 held up half of the German advance. We maneuvered to take him out without losing a stug to the minefields we knew were all around that house since it was the only plot of land without an AT ditch – they ran southwest from 42GG3 (the board edge) to the sprawling wood at board center.

Around turn 5, German sappers broke the Russian troops in the stone house (42DD4) and cleared a path through the mines in 42DD3 (the front yard) to enable forward progress. At the same time, German troops scrambled over the AT ditch along the east edge to kill that pesky Russian 57LL with a satchel charge. Having taken 42DD4, the Germans are now trying to clear it of AT mines, which they suspect are there among the AP mines they know are present. So, the Armor waits for a path to be cleared.

From the north, a Russian ATG and HMG are closing to join the action.

 

[PS NJ]

Ron Duenskie and I played SF15 no greater love from the Sword and Fire Manila module today. It was a fun scenario that gave a good feel for a Manila IJA/US city slugfest . It took us 6 1/2 hours and went the full 7 turns. Despite the Americans being forced to set up on a road and the Japanese going first, most of the US set up area is behind stone buildings and they do have tremendous fire power so it's not a pre-set ambush type scenario. The Japanese have two very nasty set DC’s and a fair amount of the victory points are in the customs building that’s not easy for the Americans to get to. Ron won with 36 to 28 in total CVP and building VP, but about a dozen of those VP came on the last player turn. The amount of Manila ssr’s is minimal. However there is a Q&A on gamesquad that Adobe buildings don’t count as stone for the VC, which would probably should be official errata.
-Paul