So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[gorkowskij]

The Time of Humiliations, Japanese turn 6; they have three turns left to capture the remaining buildings. So far, Japanese have lost four squads and their 10-1. The French have lost five squads and their mortar.

 

[Cpl Uhl]

The Time of Humiliations, Japanese turn 6; they have three turns left to capture the remaining buildings. So far, Japanese have lost four squads and their 10-1. The French have lost five squads and their mortar.

That's a good one!

 

[Houlie]

I was pleased to play my first face-to-face game since the pandemic – J212 Shoulder to Shoulder against TCASL regular/legendary scenario designer and all-around great guy, Mark Harms. The dr gave me the attacking Germans vs. the Americans.

The Germans made steady progress the first couple turns pushing center/left. Unfortunately for Mark, his dice were pretty frosty early. Though, a couple of pesky 666s did a great job shaking off multiple MCs limiting forward progress. I was on the outskirts of the village and started to fail quite a number of MCs. I did luck out on a 2+1 against his “hedge trimmer” (as Mark affectionately calls his Quad .50) where he proceeded to box his MC for a STUN+recall. Whew! I was able to knock it out in my next prep fire for 5 CVP.

In the latter half of the scenario I really struggled to make much progress. I felt I was in tough shape. Mark had a vice grip on the village with me only holding one mutli-hex building (finally gaining a second). Thus, I felt I had to try for the EVP (10 required) + the "more CVP" VCs (I was behind at the time) as winning two more buildings looked really tough. One of my two remaining StuGs made a move toward the board edge to exit but didn’t have enough MP, so had to stop and show frontal armor to a Greyhound. The other StuG was near the church. The Greyhounds made a move to dispatch the offending StuG seeking to exit which would have almost certainly iced the win for Mark. The two StuGs knocked out all three Greyhounds in the span of a turn getting two successful IFs. As a result, the Germans would surely be able to exit the EVP needed (2 x StuGs) and had built roughly a ~23-~13 edge on CVP. At that point Mark called it. A crazy win for the Germans.

We thought this was a very fun scenario, with a slight edge going to the Americans. The multiple VCs make it interesting, as they are constantly shifting as the game develops. Mark played a great game, but my tanks won the day (got lucky) thanks to some sharp shooting at just the right time. It was great to play face to face again and even more enjoyable playing an excellent player and enjoyable person like Mark. Thank you, Mark!

 

[Cult.44]

That a was fun game, Craig! Houlie is an excellent and precise player so I'm always glad to be able to make it interesting. I thought the odds were in my favor when I went after the hanging Stug but it didn't work out. All in all, I should have been more conservative with my vehicles. But when I smell blood, I can't help myself. I want blazing glory! Bzzt ...

 

[Larry]

J209 Corking the Chambois Bottle and J210 Moment of Truth.

 

[JoeArthur]

Friday Club played SP175 Tisza Tease. Out of three games no Russian player won........

If you are about to play it give the Russians the balance - they get another tank

 

[von Marwitz]

Friday Club played SP175 Tisza Tease. Out of three games no Russian player won........

If you are about to play it give the Russians the balance - they get another tank

ROAR has it Russian 14 / Germans 15. I played that long time ago and lost as the German.
Can't remember the game, though.

von Marwitz

 

[Houlie]

Played J200 One Story Town as the defending Russians against Rich Domovic’s attacking Finns. My plan was to hold the 2VP building (22F5) and 49P6. The picture below lays out the general flow of the attack. Initially, I couldn’t pass a MC and lost six squads in the first turn and a half(!). A bright spot was the CCRF that knocked out the Finn heavy tank in turn 1. Shortly thereafter, the OT-133 FT tank Xed out its MA leading to a Total Recall. The first three turns I slowly withdrew toward those two buildings.

Things turned around for the Russian in turn 4/5 when my dice got really hot which took the steam out of the Finn attack. The 22F5 building was stuffed with turn 3 reinforcements and the Finns struggled to make progress there. The Russian turn 5 reinforcements were poised to reinforce 49P6. It was looking like a pretty steep climb for the Finns after a K/2 took out a 10-1 (mortal wound) and CRed a 548 in the center on a Yahtzee RS. At that point Rich called it in turn 5

Attack overview and final positions


We really liked the scenario and thought it was fun. The Russians have to make some thoughtful decisions to fend off a very strong Finn force. The Finns have a lot to do to grab those 4 (of 6) VP. Recommended. Thanks again to Rich for a great game!

 

[Larry]

FF7 Monstir Gap -- Germans gotta climb.

 

[VonHutier]

My regular Oppo and I finished ASL Scenario J20 "The guns of Naro", in which I played the defending Italians.
I was wrong footed when he sent a couple AFVs around the hill, avoiding the road. Eventually however the American HTs, followed by some jeeps appeared along the road, which I engaged with the ATR, eventually getting one HT kill till the crew were destroyed. The Americans proceeded to use OVR to great effect, and my forces were slowly worn down. The FBs managed one Sherman kill and a few breaks but that was it.
However, the crew of one of the 100* rallied and returned to their undestroyed gun in the centre of the board, scored a K result on a stack , and along with an accompanying couple of squads which also got K results, 95% of his remaining infantry broke.
My remaining gun was HIP in the wooden house in O10, and with his AFVs dispersed he threw in the towel during US turn 5 ( of six ).
Enjoyable scenario that lived up to it's balanced reputation, recommended if you like "hide and seek" scenarios. Oh, and it brought my losing streak to an end

 

[volgaG68]

My remaining gun was HIP in the wooden house in O10

Having played this not too long ago, I can say that your 100 ART Guns were not allowed to set up in buildings. B23.423, must be either Small target or AT/INF that is not a Large target.

 

[VonHutier]

Having played this not too long ago, I can say that your 100 ART Guns were not allowed to set up in buildings. B23.423, must be either Small target or AT/INF that is not a Large target.

Now you mention it... I was thinking INF guns, should've checked. Rats, the result was the same if it was set up in the woods next door but ...thanks for the heads up, I'll pay more attention in future

 

[volgaG68]

A few good ones I've played lately.....

FT230 Italian Behemoth Italian win on their Turn 6a(7a) by exiting a total of 20 VP, 6 of which were Infantry. Small-mediumish scenario, but pretty fun. With doubled OOBs and a doubled map footprint it might well be 4-stars.

FT267 Thugny-Trugny French win when Germans concede during German last 1/2 turn, last French half turn was not needed. Great design with spread out VC objectives (like FT318 Arsenal Of Communism). I like ones like these where you have to have a pretty good hunch on how much of your forces to allocate to each sector, and if/when you can speed them over to another sector in time to make a difference. The VC buildings in the larger village were never really threatened, though their defense was kept more than honest, but F13 in the SW sector changed hands back and forth a few times. Great scenario from that pack, IMO, that hasn't really gotten many plays.

FT256 Radio X-MAS It only looked 'okay' on paper, but proved to be very interesting in play; especially when one can see all of the grain (SSR vineyards) on the maps (the thumbnail maps didn't show the grain/transformation). Italians win in their final APh, 7a(7a), by exiting 3 more EVP to go from 9 to 12 (11 or more needed). They only had 3 CVP of US Infantry/PRC so they earned no wiggle room in that respect. Very well designed fighting withdrawal. It proved tactically uber-interesting on how quickly the Italians must get to/cross the giant stream (SSR), what, if any, rearguard to leave behind, and what backstab defenses to set up north of it. All to then estimate how much time/fighting was needed to exit through the remaining partisans whilst Americans are shooting at you from behind. The overall balance proved to be dead-nuts, and for someone who loves fighting withdrawals this one was a whole 'nother level of planning the timing and execution of one. Absolutely down to the wire, Italians/US/Partisans/1945, loved it!

 

[holdit]

ASL 45 Revenge at Kastelli
I didn't like the look of this scenario but it was more fun to play than I anticipated and it went down to the wire. The Greeks sent forces of equal strength against the Germans in the south and north. The attack on the northern group went well, but the southern attack stalled badly. The Greeks could only manage 17 of the CVP required to win. If I was to play this again I would take a more Napoleonic approach and use a smaller forces to contain the southern group and send the bulk against Hill 612.
Final situation on Hill 612:



G40 Will To Fight...Eradicated
This turned out to be as bloody as a Guards Counterattack session. The Poles swept the garrison aside with surprising ease, but ended up a bit strung out on the far side of town as the SS reinforcements started arriving. Although the Poles were savagely mauled and just barely hanging on, the Germans were in a worse state and ran out of time with only 17 VPs in the bag of the 29 needed.
CVPs: German - 11, Poles - 27.
Final situation:

 

[Houlie]

Completed J202 Down by the River with Jeff Wasserman as the attacking Germans "baddies" and me the “backs to the water” Russians. A unique scenario with two largely independent battles occurring on each side of the board 7 flooded river.

The game-end image shows the final German movement phase and coming oh so close to hitting their VCs: ≥10 squad equivalents adjacent to the river with at least 2 squad-equivalents from each side. Each mobile StuG with functioning MA counted as 2 x squad equivalents.

It was a see-saw battle throughout. Notable events were the 45LL taking out one StuG early, the other malfed its MA. We traded casualties, but in the final turn, it was extremely tight. I was able to break or pin a few units, but the last move could still win the game for Jeff’s Germans. An 8-1/548/247 dropped the FT and went on the move on the topside-right of the river. Russian Major Norrisov in 7Z10 spied this brash gaggle of Germans stumbling through plowed poatato fields of 62DD8 in a dash toward the riverbank. He quickly ordered his 447/HMG to take a long-range 2-3 FP attack. Result: 1,2 – 2KIA – both MMCs eliminated on RS. A quick calculation showed the maximum squad equivalent that could make it to the VC areas was 9.5, falling a mere HS short.

A unique “two front” backs to the river scenario. We both liked it very much. Thanks to Jeff for a well-played and always fun game.

Endgame

 

[STAVKA]

Completed J202 Down by the River
Endgame
View attachment 25047

Marsh hex 7CC10 should be a Flooded Water Obstacle.

Played it recently, the Germans won.
Waffen SS had 3.5 Squad-equivalents and the Wehrmacht had 6.5 Squad-equivalents (No StuG IIIB) down by the river.

 

[Houlie]

Marsh hex 7CC10 should be a Flooded Water Obstacle.

Yes, thanks. Fortunately Jeff noticed that early on and we labeled it river. A map bug.

 

[Gunner Scott]

My buddy Bob and I played J220 Battle of the Barricades, ok scenario but the Marines just do not have the time to get at the Barricades, especially if they are set up as far back as allowed by the st up SSR's. The Marines have to fight through alot of NKPA fire power, deal with suicide heros, HIP guns that WILL attempt DI's. Bob used his Suicide Heros with DC's to charge into my Marine squads to draw fire and blow them up. He used the 45LL ATG's to guard the barricades along with the SU's doing DI shots on my armor. So ya not a bad scenario but one I think might be tough on the jarheads.

 

[Houlie]

Sharing an installment of the “better to be lucky than good” files. Played J176 Deadly Assumption with David Haasl as the attacking American vs. me as defending Germans in 1945. An intriguing scenario where the American sets up its 7 x tanks HIP in a 5-hex radius in the village; German sets up; then tanks revealed. Americans get 10 x squads as turn 1 reinforcements. VC = most VP (stone buildings 1 VP (22 avail), mobile AFV with functioning MA, 2VP each)

I was able to bag three AFV to PFs by the end of turn 1 – probably pretty average. I felt I could do little to stop the entering infantry once my HIP HMG/238/9-1 in the steeple malfed on its first shot -- a 6-3 on a stack of infantry. David established a death star with a 9-2 that would have likely shredded my infantry in forward positions. My inability to rally my broken units meant I lacked warm bodies to stop him gaining VP buildings on his left flank.

My half (the top) of the last turn had me recover one building with a 9-1/248, but remained 2 VP behind. The first piece of total luck came when a Sherman tried for WP and boxed its roll (and failed on its repair attempt in the final player turn). At that moment, we were even on VP. However, my 9-1/248 in the recently-won VP building was looking at a brutal CC with advancing 2x667/546 + hero (red arrow). Ambush dr was 5/1 in my favor for the ambush WD to the adjacent stone building (blue arrow) to recapture it and retain that tying VP for the razor-thin win. In this case, lucky triumphed good.

End game


Another very fun scenario by Michael Koch that should have more plays than it does. I wonder if the pregame HIP vehicle placement puts some people off. However, VASL makes that quite easy.

David played another great game and I was staring at a far different outcome seconds before his MA malf. I felt on the ropes all game due to his excellent play. Many thanks to David for an exciting game. We both rated this game highly and it currently sits on ROAR at 10-9.

 

[M.Koch]

Thank you for playing, sir. Nevertheless, it always hepls being good in ASL ...