So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[Mister T]

Played ESG123 Badmash in Oyin a little known scenario from the last ESG pack. It has very interesting features. First a nice board layout. Commonwealth forces must seize a town but have to cross a river to do so against a strong Japanese force. Second a nice asymmetry of forces as the Commonwealth side enjoys quite a few hard hitting vehicles, but is faced with 1945 Japanese who have lots of AT tricks up their sleeves (AT Set DC, DC heroes, lot of THH potentially on map, HIP Guns). Third a good puzzle for both sides at setup as four credible attack lanes are available, including two across multihex bridges. It is a pity that we were not able to finish the scenario, which is demanding on both sides due to the ever-present threat of the little guys in their hideouts. I suggest you guys give it a try, should be fun.

 

[shirlfactor]

Just finished playing AP108 Yes Sir against Jim B. It's a pretty quick scenario. We got through it in under 3 hours. My Germans couldn't rally in the end or shoot for that matter. Jim had a plan and executed it well. He took option be and ran most of his units up the south edge of the map. I had a squad and lmg hip'd in a woods hex and kia'd his best leader and a squad. His 7-0 leader would become wounded. That's my highlights of the game. This scenario has a bunch of options and versatility that I'd play it again in a heart beat. After the game Jim brought up a good point to try and del. immobilize the tanks as they were stopped trying to knock my 20l out. A mc roll here or a prep fire roll there and my Germans would have had a chance. It was allot of fun.

 

[Eagle4ty]

Just finished playing AP108 Yes Sir against Jim B. It's a pretty quick scenario. We got through it in under 3 hours. My Germans couldn't rally in the end or shoot for that matter. Jim had a plan and executed it well. He took option be and ran most of his units up the south edge of the map. I had a squad and lmg hip'd in a woods hex and kia'd his best leader and a squad. His 7-0 leader would become wounded. That's my highlights of the game. This scenario has a bunch of options and versatility that I'd play it again in a heart beat. After the game Jim brought up a good point to try and del. immobilize the tanks as they were stopped trying to knock my 20l out. A mc roll here or a prep fire roll there and my Germans would have had a chance. It was allot of fun.

Norm,
Always thought the same about the scenario, a good teaching one for intro to Bocage (not too much there to overwhelm anyone) and a short "Infantry Only" scenario with higher building levels and those dreaded Rowhouses (yuk! - but cool LOS's). Buy the way, gut feeling it's a pretty evenly balanced scenario or at least has the feel either side can win up to the last turn most times.

 

[esprcorn]

Norm,
Always thought the same about the scenario, a good teaching one for intro to Bocage (not too much there to overwhelm anyone) and a short "Infantry Only" scenario with higher building levels and those dreaded Rowhouses (yuk! - but cool LOS's). Buy the way, gut feeling it's a pretty evenly balanced scenario or at least has the feel either side can win up to the last turn most times.

I'm confused... Is there bocage in AP108? And it's certainly not infantry only?

 

[Eagle4ty]

I'm confused... Is there bocage in AP108? And it's certainly not infantry only?

Oops! Mixed it up in my mind (not hard to do with my mind) with AP106 "Helluva Patrol Leader". Have played both scenarios in the recent past & you are absolutely correct "Yes Sir" has the US tanks and the German AA Gun (a great scenario in it's right as well). Sorry about the confusion as I was certainly describing AP106 - like 'em both by the way!

 

[esprcorn]

Finally wrapped up BFP34 Hundred Regiments Offensive vs the indomitable Ken Smith. Both felt we probably didn't play it well. I, as the Japanese defender, never felt like I was really taking advantage of their 'uniqueness' other than benefiting from their striping vs. breaking. He largely used his numbers to press forward though perhaps too timidly. In the end he came a up a building short while rushing a number of men across open ground at several potential targets. In all cases except one they were mowed down. In that one exception he did get a full squad in CC vs. a lone crew and took 'em out... and then promptly rolled snakes in my 1:2 attack back to end the game. Even had he not showed the kindness, I had a quite a few troops in the area and would have had a good chance to recover the building.

Still always fun to play Ken! A great name in ASL... Next up Ken and I will take on the classic DASL3 Storming the Factory

 

[esprcorn]

Wrapped up a very enjoyable scenario from the East Side Gamers... ESG74 Scorpions in a Bottle vs. Bret Johnson. Super fun. I took the Germans on the attack vs. Brets conscripts. I was a bit perplexed how to pull it off but my Turn 2 reinforcements carried the day in the end. His T28's, limited in mobility being radioless, we swarmed by my highly mobile mix of PzIIF, PzIIIF, and one Pz IVE. The MG plethora of the T28's never really came into play, but I was able to bring the excellent MG's and IFE of the Pz's to bear with several overruns and even a few gully-runs.... The scenarios seems to be highly tilted toward the Germans by ROAR record and our own play. I don't think the balance will help with what is really the Russians lack of an answer to the German mobile AFV's... I would be interested in hearing others thoughts on this.

Up next Bret and I will take on ITR5 Fire Teams!

 

[TopT]

Played a live Vasl game of J187_ In Deadly Combat. I will not bore you with too much detail just a few "highlights". Russians come on board pretty much as anticipated. T34 rolls up to my HIP 37L AND TURNS AROUND!. This is too good! A bunch of other moves and it is my DFPh. I un HIP my 37L, fire and promptly roll a 6,4 -no AP. HE roll -6,5. Well i still have 1 more 37L, un HIP him and roll -6,5. I don't even waste time with HE and frontal AF of a KV. A few other attacks do absolutely nothing.
My T1 and I cannot get anyone out of the front woods as almost everyone was broken by Russian fire in their T1. His DFPh and he turns his T34 on my now very visible 37L, fires, 1,1 -gone! He fires some more Infantry, they either KIA whatever he fires at or my rally DR is a 9,10, or 11. He fires at my other very visible 37L and 1,1 -gone! He would roll 4 crits. Things are not looking good at all and if the Russians do not kill me, Hitler definitely will.
His T2 starts. He fires and more of my "conscripts" melt away. His MPh. He moves an AFV down the village road and my ? Infantry squad reveals itself , rolls & passes it's PAATC, TK roll, 6,6. I shake my head as I know that I trained these guys better than this. He rolls another AFV next to my last HIP'ed ART AND TURNS AROUND again! TK roll -6,5 and I surrender. I would rather my men have 20 % chance in a Soviet POW camp then 0 % chance in this scenario.

 

[Jude]

Played TAC40 Scottish Nightmare as the Germans. After almost rage quitting several times within the first two turns I pulled myself back together and kept applying steady pressure. I eventually took out all his AFVs except for the Matilda. That allowed me to drive some infantry up and take the northern Hillock Summit. With all his men broken and one tank left, my opponent drove the Matilda up to the summit to overrun my men sitting there. It was ineffective and the tank became the sole victim of my 88. The crew survived but died while bailing out giving me the win. It took six long turns to complete, but it went down to the wire.

One high (or lowlight) was when I rolled three sixes (extra die due to light dust) twice in a row followed directly by rolling three ones. Luck played a major part in this one. The light dust made most of my shots miss by one for most of the start of the game. Coupled with a load of boxcars throughout and some great rate tears by my opponent's portees, I really had to go through many Personal MCs to hang in there. I feel I persevered more than having won. Recommended

 

[Philippe D.]

Played J183 A Real Barn Burner, from Journal #12, with Robin (Swiftandsure). A very fast scenario (4 1/2 turns), no vehicles. The French start with a small (2.5 squads, with dummies) Elite and Fanatical force surrounded in a farm, the Germans have 10.5 squads and a small AT Gun, and the French have a larger (10 squads) relief force; VC are that the French need to hold on to one of the farm buildings and get at least one MMC from the relief force into them.

So it's one of these scenarios where one force has to quickly overwhelm a small defense while trying to slow down a bigger attack on the same objective. The VC farm is a bunch of buildings, surrounded by Walls, and most of the surrounding terrain is open ground and plowed fields - not something you like to advance into.

I was the Germans, and chose to use a total of 3 squads plus the 37L AT Gun as a delaying force, with all the others closely surrounding the farm, to try to eliminate the defenders before the rest of the French troops could get in. One squad and the two HS broke on the first turn, but the last squad remained concealed in a stone building with Open ground that the French had to attack through, and the Gun also got pretty good shots, so the French relief force was very much slowed down. On the VC farm, my plan was to try to get them in CC, since the whole force was in Stone buildings and had 9ML. But overall, just 2.5 squads, even with high morale and good TEM, makes for a very dicey situation; in our game, one squad broke on a FPF, another on a lucky streak of my MMG, and by the end of turn 3 the whole farm was in German hands. Meanwhile, my small defensive force worked beautifully; the Gun crew died in CC, but the remaining squad managed to survive a lot (FPF, Heat of Battle/Battle Hardening, two CCs).

Overall, the game went very much in favor of the Germans. I liked the unusual situation, but it's likely to be very dicey one way or another - if the Fanatical French manage to hold, things are bound to become very hot for the Germans; OTOH it only takes a few bad rolls for the defending platoon to crumble, and then the French will be assaulting stone buildings through open ground...

 

[shirlfactor]

Just finished playing a classic scenario 1 Fighting withdrawal. i had the Russians against Jack's Finns . All I can say is my commissar and a 447 squad deserve a medal. Let me start by saying Jack is a fun opponent to play against, I'd play against him anytime. Early in the first couple turns I had 4 big things happen ,first my sniper went on a tear. With a 7 san you expect that. Second my hip 447 and lmg in z10 delayed his approach. Third I kia'd 3 squad as they tried to cross roads with 4 -2 shots. But fourth and most importantly the winds changed in my favor. Jack had setup 90% of his forces on the eastern side of the map. He was hoping to use the smoke later in the game to move through. Unfortunately the hexes around both original blazes began to flame and blaze but on top of that the wind changed direction to the northwest. The smoke began blowing in a northwest direction which made good cover for my concealed units that were in the U3 V3 area. I was able to keep concealment and get cc opportunities against cx'd finns. Then on my turn 4 I rolled for wind and boom, rolled for wind snakes, rolled on the wind table no wind. So allot of his units in the v4-v6 area lost any smoke cover they had. CC's were also good for me. I either tied up his units or killed the half squads that tried to enter my hex. At one point I had a 447 tying up 2 cx'd 628's both with lmg's. Jack kept rolling 10 and 11's for a couple turns. With my commissar rallying my broken half squads I Shot into the big melee and broke one of his squads . On my turn 4 I ran my 8-1 and a squad back to hex j5 knowing that they could escape off the board in time. We got to Finn Turn 5 and Jack conceded. He has 8.5 squads left , one of them was still in melee in v5 and his farthest squad was in s8 . I still had 8 squads and 2 half squads who I advanced into u4 , u5 which would force Jack to shoot at them on his turn or go around and take point blank df shots, plus I had all my leaders and my hip 447 and mmg in the second level of J5. Jack would have to suicide run his units this turn through multiple attacks in the open. He couldn't fire otherwise he wouldn't have time to get anybody off the map. This was my first time playing this scenario. Overall it was allot of fun the fires spreading was crazy. By the end of turn 4 we had 7 blazes and 2 flames on board. My commissar was a rallying machine and those close combats with cx'ed units really slowed him down. He had good odds but I ambushed him a few times which reduced or eliminated a unit and he never could roll low in cc. A fun scenario and a fun opponent.

 

[JRKrejsa]

The Haunted Castle ASL J185 If the Soviets hang back in this one, and just defend the VC buildings, if seems hard on the Germans. My Soviets took over double the losses, but still held 65CC6, without much difficulty. (the other two fell, but after being contested by the Soviets for a while. )

 

[Danno]

The Haunted Castle ASL J185 If the Soviets hang back in this one, and just defend the VC buildings, if seems hard on the Germans. My Soviets took over double the losses, but still held 65CC6, without much difficulty. (the other two fell, but after being contested by the Soviets for a while. )

We had the same results. The Germans need to prevent the Soviets from reinforcing the victory buildings. Then the assault group has a chance to take the victory buildings.

 

[Philippe D.]

From what I see (I haven't played the scenario), the Russians are likely to enter into a MMG firelane from W1 (possibly reinforced by spraying fire attacks from squads in the same hex), since they only have 3 possible entry hexes. Not much they can do to avoid -2 shots except enter by T0, which will slow them down. Is the scenario interesting to play despite this?

 

[Eagle4ty]

Had a long 3 day weekend get-together with my buddy Steve Rogers & got in 5 games and fattened up by his wife's cooking (have to get out & walk/run this week).

YASL #6 Hein Olshana was a fun game with radioless StuG IIIG's taking on SU-76's and German Infantry trying to oust Russkies from multi-hex (but single story) buildings. The VP count was a big decision factor throughout the game as loss of a StuG really puts the Germans in a bind, but he must use them almost without abandon to accomplish his objectives. Rate the game as even but is a little dicey as the Russians can get lucky & take out a couple of StuGs early & put the game out of reach.

A second playing of AP116 MOOK POINT (but not against Steve) confirmed this is a winner of a scenario. Even though the Germans won both times in my playings, I rate it as even and a hoot to play. Got stuffed early and the Americans really tore up my initial infantry force, but the flanking German reinforcements were able to put pressure on them & get in the backfield to grab victory buildings in addition to slapping just enough Americans on the ridge to prevent an American win. We're fairly certain the American Balance would seriously unbalance the scenario & the German balance would certainly destroy it.

SP259 CORRIDOR TO EXTINCTION is certainly a winner & if you like late ('45) war shoot-die-burn action, you'll love this one! Not much time to accomplish your VCs (hey it's a SP scenario) with 4.5 Turns, but the action gets hot and heavy right away. The attacking Russians get a pot full of T-34/85s & a couple of M3A1 SCs along with a boat load of infantry to roust a paltry SS force backed by two (possibly) HIP Pz-IVs and a JdPz-VI to keep them away from a road net while exiting a T-34/85 or having it in a VC area. The Russians managed to get their single surviving T-34 off, this after shrugging off a turret hit from a Pz-IV, turning and taking a B1F shot to kill the offender (hit only because his AL was in the last surviving vehicle). The last ditch run by the JdPz to garner a victory came to an ignominious CC end because the Germans simply didn't have any infantry to protect it. VERY MUCH fun. The balances on either side would certainly destroy this scenario.

SP263 SNOVA SNARE was a real let down after our previous game. A trapped German force must attack and eliminate the surrounding Russians after being reinforced by a breakthrough Pz & Pz Gd force. With the forces involved, we didn't think the Russians have much of a chance if the German player is anywhere competent. The only way we figured the Russians had much of a chance was if the Germans outsmarted themselves or the Russians got lucky with a few DRs. Don't think the balance would help the Russkies regardless of what defensive strategy he employs, can't ever give the balance to the Germans. Rates a "Meh" as it's not a really poor scenario (most fun part was the set-up puzzle) just not all that exciting.

Saved the best for last as we had at WO18 A QUICK STRIKE. Thanks to Bill Sisler for a great little scenario! This was my second playing of this scenario as well and had just as much fun and came as close to victory or defeat both times. An attacking U.S. Army force must dive through a stretched and under strength Japanese defender to exit quite a few EVP. It was touch and go the entire way with the Americans exiting enough VPs only because the didn't pin nor break while crossing a fire-lane lain across their only exit point. The Japanese only had a single stripped Squad/LMG, a crewed MMG and a HS remaining of his OB. A total blast to play both times I've had at it. The American balance would be too scary, not sure about the impact of the Japanese balance, but it's a close scenario!

 

[Danno]

From what I see (I haven't played the scenario), the Russians are likely to enter into a MMG firelane from W1 (possibly reinforced by spraying fire attacks from squads in the same hex), since they only have 3 possible entry hexes. Not much they can do to avoid -2 shots except enter by T0, which will slow them down. Is the scenario interesting to play despite this?

Yes. Especially when the Germans do now use the W1 location. Once across the Russians can get into the depression and get close to the building.

 

[JRKrejsa]

From what I see (I haven't played the scenario), the Russians are likely to enter into a MMG firelane from W1 (possibly reinforced by spraying fire attacks from squads in the same hex), since they only have 3 possible entry hexes. Not much they can do to avoid -2 shots except enter by T0, which will slow them down. Is the scenario interesting to play despite this?

Yes.

Fire lane killed a sacrificial 4-2-6, broke another squad, but that was all the damage done to the Soviet reinforcements.

 

[Houlie]

Had a long 3 day weekend get-together with my buddy Steve Rogers & got in 5 games and fattened up by his wife's cooking (have to get out & walk/run this week).

Hey, Mr. T. Looks like someone is lubing the barrel for The Open.

 

[fleetB17]

Hey, Mr. T. Looks like someone is lubing the barrel for The Open.

We like to call it pre-combat rehearsals.
Even if it is with cardboard combat troops instead of a sand table.

 

[klasmalmstrom]

From what I see (I haven't played the scenario), the Russians are likely to enter into a MMG firelane from W1 (possibly reinforced by spraying fire attacks from squads in the same hex), since they only have 3 possible entry hexes. Not much they can do to avoid -2 shots except enter by T0, which will slow them down. Is the scenario interesting to play despite this?

The Germans do not set anywhere near hex 65W1. They set up "within 2 hexes of 9bY1" - i.e., 9bY1 - not 65Y1.

What they can do is set up a Fire Lane down the 65 X hewrow - but that will go through two orchard hexes, so the three Russian entry hexes are pretty safe from German fire.