So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[Thunderchief]

Darryl Lundy and I played three scenarios from the Pegasus Bridge HASL while saying in Caen on a tour of Normandy in the last week. More substantial AARs to follow, I'm just passing time in the airport on the way home at the moment.

If anyone is interested in playing some Normandy scenarios - let me know!

 

[Eagle4ty]

I've been on a small winning streak against my longtime opponent but it's certainly not due to poor play from my him or stellar tactics by me. It just seems the scenarios we have been playing lately have tough victory conditions for the Russians (whom my friend always plays). This scenario, TAC13 Snow and Blood, was no different. To win the Russians must traverse the whole of board 3 in eight turns exiting more VP than the Spanish. Four VP must be infantry. The Russians have three T-26s, but the only way for them to exit at all is to stay in motion the entire game due to the deep snow conditions. This also pretty much limits them to the road (not plowed) so they ended up being a non-factor. I set up on the Hill 522 cluster to interdict the Russian entry. I stuck around a few turns to slow them down and then ran - or rather skied - to the Hill 534 and 547 clusters. I left just enough guys to lay down some resid at key intersections and that was enough. The Russians had almost made it to the infamous M2 building by turn 6, but with five of my squads in position on the hills, there was no way they were going to exit in time. Both sides having skis made buildings useless because of the cost of putting them back on when exiting - and to get anywhere in a timely manner, they needed to be on. I left the village undefended for the most part because if any Russians skied past my squads, they'd never catch up. I'd recommend this one for the Spanish, but not for the Russians. Too much open ground and restrictive weather conditions make this a very tough scenario for them to pull out a win.

Perhaps forcing the Spanish Legion to exit "x" amount of EVP would help. With having to travel a bit over 4 hexes per turn, AND against a strong defending force on board 3 (even without 3M2 having a 2nd level) does seem pretty steep.

 

[Jude]

Perhaps forcing the Spanish Legion to exit "x" amount of EVP would help. With having to travel a bit over 4 hexes per turn, AND against a strong defending force on board 3 (even without 3M2 having a 2nd level) does seem pretty steep.

I agree. During the game my friend commented about the fact I wasn't pulling back from Hill 522. I replied that all I had to do was prevent any of his infantry exiting in order to win even if I didn't make it off the board. That comment increased his urgency although he was moving quite a bit already. His problem was I was able to break enough isolated squads that his leaders were trying to rally guys instead of being able to push them forward (although his commissar did come through for him and prevented the game from being totally untenable). After I pulled back he was able to regroup a bit, but he had already lost too much time. If there were second level locations, I might move this scenario from improbable to impossible - although in ASL anything can happen...

 

[WuWei]

We finished ASL 21 Among the Ruins. It feels like my sniper alone won this scenario for me, repeatedly breaking well placed German squads with HMGs and MMGs, and outright killing a few leaders, too. I played sloppy at the end, so we had a little bit of tension until the last turn, but in the end, yeah, the sniper won it.

Now playing FT 63 Clear that Road!, and already the partisans have captures one of my SS squads... Embarrassing...

 

[Danno]

Played OB 10 The Men From Zadig and lost as the Germans. The scenario was great fun with the partisan 8-1 going berserk and taking a 5-2-7 with him. They died charging a Pz 35R(f). One Partisan squad self rallied to hide in the upper levels and win game.

 

[Genosse Gelb]

Now playing FT 63 Clear that Road!, and already the partisans have captures one of my SS squads... Embarrassing...

SFSN!

 

[WuWei]

We continues our f2f game of ASL135 Hill 253.5, with me as the German attacker. When last we left off, it was a pretty even game. I had penetrated the first line of defense, avoided the mines, and had considerable forces on one side of the hill, while the Russians had considerable forces on the other side, plus a very nastily places HMG in front of it. My only big loss was a halftrack that was taken out by the German sniper, and the gun of the Ferdinand, that malfunctioned in the very first turn.

But this evening started brutal. The Russians landed an accurate artillery strike on my forces and destroyed my second halftrack and the 9-2 leader in it and broke a lot of squads. Then, I drove one of my Panthers in front of a Russian gun, knowing that only a critical hit could hurt me. Of course, it WAS a critical hit. And I lost 1.5 squads in CC with a Russian 628, AND the Russian air force arrived, while mine was still absent. It didn't look good.

But then: My own air force arrived: Two stukas! I repaired the gun of the Ferdinand. My elite flamethrower squad climbed a cliff and was able to flank the Russian HMG. And I conquered the gun that had previously destroyed my Panther. In the Russian turn, one of the KVs drove in front of my last Panther and was blasted to pieces. I dropped all my bombs, because it was obvious that the Russian planes would dogfight me: Both were critical hits! Two squads, a leader, a crew and the 45L gun all eliminated. And in CCPh one of the stukas even shot down a russian plane!

All of a sudden, this looks winnable again!

 

[JRKrejsa]

"To Hold" LC LSSAH #5 Interesting SS v. British and French scenario. In our playing, the Germans got chewed up trying to cross the RR bridge, and the British took advantage of it, getting a squad within 3 hexes of the bridge for the win. The attack on the hill probably would a
have worked, due to poor French shooting- lots of 9s, but too many Germans had to run off to deal with the Brits at the RR bridge. Neat puzzle for both sides. It would be good as a 3 player as well.

 

[volgaG68]

Last four scenarios played...

ITR 11 "Cremation Station" Excellent IJA/GMD urban battle, GMD win. Chinese had Control of the Factory/RR Station at the end of their Turn 7a (8b), but there was an ADJ HtH Melee with a leader + squad for each side. Played out to see if the IJA might win it and Banzai into the RR Station for a last 1/2 Turn win. Both sides continually rolled 10s and 11s for no further resolution.

HS30 "The Good Shepherd" (DASL from OVHS) Very well balanced and fun 'little' scenario. Canadians win in final 1/2 Turn, 6a (6a). They had Control of 4 multi-hex buildings, but the German HIPster came out of hiding to take an unprotected one back in 5b. In 6a, the Canucks were able to take one other one for a very close win.

LSSAH 22 "Usual Nerve" Good and tense game, Russians win in final SS 1/2 Turn, 8a (8a). Russians had one squad tied up in Melee in a VC building on the ground floor. Same building, they had a squad on Lvl2; if it could be tied up in CC/Melee the SS would win. Two 2-3-8 HS got ADJ to the 4-4-7 with First Fire ineffective. In the DFPh (4+3), DR 1,2, one 2-3-8 failed the NMC (10) and the other Pinned. Russian win by a whisker! SS must be very aggressive moving in on the hilltop village in order to keep a winning timetable.

J165 "Among The Dead" Another great one! Allied win in final German 1/2 Turn, 7a (7a). Kiwis and Greeks managed to have 2 GO MMC remaining in the VC area at game end. One was actually in CC, but rolled a 1,1 killing the German squad and creating a leader. This was one of those scenario styles I particularly like where the attacker is almost sure to accept heavy casualties crossing sparse terrain, but they have the numbers to do so eventually, and will inevitably break forward with roughly just the amount of men and materiel required to finish the job, or NOT! PMC onus is on the Germans in this one, big time; but by no means impossible.

 

[Thunderchief]

Fanatic ANZAC Halfsquad Normandy AAR (It’s long)

You may also know us as the two guys in outrageous shirts in J11 holding a Gavutu-Tanambogo map.

My friend and ASL buddy Darryl Lundy was going to Europe to see a friend and wanted to know if I’d like to visit France with him for a bit. By France did he mean Normandy? Yes. Did my wife say I could go? Yes. Did I go? Hell yes! I was Darryl’s guide – having been to Normandy a few times before and knowing where to get the best souvenirs, the best books in English and which museums to avoid.

Is everything in this AAR true? Mostly, some things may have been exaggerated a little. No prizes for guessing correctly. No insult to the French or their language is intended There are bound to be some spelling mistakes – be kind.

Day 1 (8 August) – Fly to Singapore and meet up there (he’s from NZ you know….) Have a few games of a card game called Battle Lines. Watch a lot of movies on the two flights, including RAID with Danny Boon. It’s good to warm up my French language skills, though even a professor of the Sorbonne would have a hard time finding fault with my excellent French. Not quite the case with Darryl though……

Day 2 – Arrive in France – stay at a hotel in Roissy (many airport hotels are here) to recover. Played a game of MiG Alley in the foyer of the hotel before we check in, which I won.

We also had a game of PB 4 Killean’s Red from the Pegasus Bridge HASL. I had the Brits and lost my two leaders on turn 1. My win:loss rate vs Darryl is about 1:2 so it seemed that another loss was coming my way. However, my Paras fought well and CC was their friend (as it turned out to be in all the scenarios we played) and victory was mine.

Day 3 – Pick up the hire car and off to Saumur (big tank musee – that’s museum in French you know). We passed by a great many Liberty road markers near Le Mans. We took a few photos of the bigger tanks while standing next to them but agreed that the Merkava (a modern Israeli tank and one of my favourites of all time) appeared to be the widest. For the rest of the trip, the width of everything from dirt roads in bocage to McDonald drive-throughs would be assessed in relation to the width of a Merkava, which would probably just crush the obstacle anyway. We stayed in Angers which is a nice city and well worth a proper visit, as is Saumur. Though I have been to France a number of times (hence my excellent French) I had never tasted the delights of escargot (that’s French for snails you know). Lots of butter and garlic help them go down. Not bad but I’ve had some now, no need to go overboard and do it twice.

Day 4 – We left Angers and headed over to St Nazaire, location of a massive (double the size of the largest American-style shopping mall you’ve ever seen) submarine base, and subject of a LFT HASL. The concrete sub pens were very impressive, though the tour through the cold-war era French sub was less so. The sub itself was ok (and cramped as expected) but the heap of kids whose parents kept repeating touché pas (French for don’t touch) spoiled it a bit. After lunching on saucisse and frites (sausages and chips) we drove to Caen via Mortain, stopping by Hill 314 to take in the scenery. Dinner was at my favourite restaurant in France. An Italian one. They have very nice ice cream.

Day 5 – Darryl took his dive into the world of Heimdal and Histoire & Collections today. He is now addicted. After putting in an Australian flag at the Ranville cemetery for a pilot whose body was recovered in the last few years (I have written a book about his squadron – still looking for a publisher though), we make our way to Pegasus bridge. The museum is good as is the guided talk from staff and we go and have lunch at Riva Bella, just next to Ouistreham. We visit the Grand Bunker after lunch, then the gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer and I put some flags in at the B.11 airfield memorial where Australians flew Spitfires after the landings. Didn’t know that the Australians flew Spitfires in Normandy? Well that’s a good reason to buy my book available at…oh hang on – it’s not published yet.

Dinner was at an Alsatian restaurant. I’d never eaten at one before and neither had Darryl. We did recognise the menu items though and chose sausages and sauerkraut. I quite like sauerkraut, but half a kilo each was just too much. Couldn’t finish it.

That night we played PB 5 Taylor Made Defense. A SAN recalled my Marder right away but otherwise I was doing reasonably well as the Germans and got a PzIV around the back of the Brits to encircle some units. Then the MA broke, and this funny-looking PIAT thing goes flying through the air…….I lost.

Day 6 – We arrived at Arromanches at low tide in the morning and went out to walk amongst the mulberry (artificial harbour) remains and take photos. This was followed by the purchasing of books and a visit to the Bayeux Normandy museum (we didn’t see the Tapestry). We then drove through the Canadian sector towns of Rots, Authie, Anisy, Buron and one of a couple of Bretteville’s that are in Normandy. They also have more than one Tilly and more than one Amfreville. Most are sur-something, meaning they are by-something (usually a river) to distinguish them from each other. We also visited the Hillman fortified position in Colleville-Montgomery and two of my local contacts who have helped me with my book. Dinner was at an Indian restaurant. We ordered poulet vindaloo (chicken). I think the heat in vindaloo has been toned down for France, we were asked if we wanted it to be hot, we both said Oui, and were a bit disappointed. It tasted good, but it just wasn’t vindaloo as we know it. Indian restaurants in Australia make it HOT.

 

[Thunderchief]

Day 7 (14 August) – Name a famous French cheese. Brie? Wrong! It’s Camembert. We went to Camembert. And what did we do? Had a cheese plate and some cider. Yes the cheese plate included camembert. We then visited the museum at Mont Ormel which overlooks the exit route for the Falaise Gap. Very good museum and good attention and explanations by the staff – highly recommended. We stopped by Falaise afterwards and had a look at the castle (very few castles are in Australia and NZ, so few in fact that the total between the two may well be regarded as zero by European nations). This was quite good, and a bit scary if you’re not into looking over parapets and into the abyss, or 40 metre drops, same thing if you ask me.

This was followed by the highlight of the trip for me. Via my contacts I had organised a flight in a small plane over the beaches. Taking off from Carpiquet (SS and Canadians fought over it for a while), we flew north west, passing Bayeux and meeting the coast at Pointe-du-Hoc. We then flew along Omaha-Gold-Juno and Sword (allowing me to get some more photos for the book), up the Caen canal to Pegasus Bridge and back to Carpiquet. To me it was a Spitfire’s view of Normandy (1500-1800ft most of the time).One hour, a few hundred photos and quite a bit of video later we landed on grass (very 1940’s!).

 

[Thunderchief]

OK it seems I can't cut and paste any more........

 

[Thunderchief]

Day 8 - Off to the American sector. We stopped at the La Cambe German cemetery followed by Pointe-du-Hoc then Vierville (fortunately for us we arrived at low tide). Standing at the low tide mark and looking at the beach ahead of you and the ground beyond really shows why the Americans had such a hard time there. I can’t do it justice in a few sentences so I’ll just leave it at that. We also visited one of the newer museums near Omaha beach then had a look at the fortifications at Colleville.

That night we played the last ASL scenario for the trip, PB 3 Piecemeal. I rolled highest and got the Germans again, but my two flak wagons were not tough enough. One malfed the MA by turn two and the other went down easily – neither are armoured so don’t take well to 6FP shots nor LMGs. As with the other games, the Para leadership took a squad around the map with them and joined in any CC they could find – dragging in most of the OB of both sides so that it seemed that only one hex really mattered. The Brits won again.

Day 9 - Sainte Mere Eglise and Utah Beach. After spending almost six hours in SME we drove over the La Fiere causeway and around the area depicted in the three CH modules that came out one after the other all those years ago. Before stopping at Utah, I took Darryl to Marmion farm (private property – we didn’t go in) where a very famous US para photo was taken (guys standing holding a Nazi flag in front of a stone barn), then to Brecourt Manor, made famous by the Band of Brothers book and miniseries (again private but I could point out the gun positions from the public area).

Day 10 – Off to Cherbourg and Les Mesnil-au-Val (V-1 site). This was what Darryl called a ‘two-sub trip’, as we went on the French nuclear sub on display at Cherbourg (much more roomy than the 1950s one at St Nazaire). The WW2 museum on the hill overlooking the town wasn’t great and little on display had English translations, so if you’re tempted, save yourself a few Euros. We think we found the V-1 site but I’ll have to check on some other forums to make sure I got photos of the correct buildings.

Day 11 – We used this last day to catch up on a few spots we’d missed on other days and to post home some of Darryl’s purchases. If you’d like a very nice signed print of a Corsair over the Solomons, you can ambush the postman who should be delivering it to his address which is …….nah can’t do it. We went to the airship hangar at Ecausseville and Bayeux (in town this time) and feasted on éclairs and meringues about half the size of a football (doesn’t matter which game you associate with football – you get the idea). A great repacking of all things took place that evening.

Day 12 – It was 19 August and the 75th Anniversary of the Dieppe raid. We arrived in time to take shelter from the rain with the Canadian Minister for Veteran’s Affairs and his entourage, then went to the service at Puys, which was thankfully uninterrupted by rain. There were a number of services around town so there were no long speeches, just the laying of wreaths, national anthems, the Last Post, and a bagpiper. I have been to a lot of services over the years, both in Australia and overseas, but this was the first that I can recall ever seeing doves released.

We feasted upon that which the golden arches supplies for a late lunch on the way from Dieppe to Roissy, returned the hire car and took a hotel for the night. The next morning Darryl left for Italy and I left to come home.

I hope you made it this far. I’m very lucky that my wife lets me go on these trips, but also lucky that I am an ASL player and have met other like-minded people to share these experiences. Thanks for reading.

 

[MajorDomo]

Played ITR9 - Asia's Stalingrad.

Quite a grind as 32 JPN elite squads with nice accoutrements must clear three multihex/level stone buildings in highly rubbled 1937 Shanghai.

My Chinese had 27 squads of their own, although they brought many less toys.

My macho 10-2 camped out on a fortified level 2 with two HMGs/447s. Fourteen hexes away, a Jpn 10-2 with two HMGs and a MMG stared him in the eye from a level one. stone building.

Both leaders unzipped their pants, hung their balls out and dared their adversary to shoot them off. The duel ran five full turns before Dave malf'd all three machine guns, x'ing one HMG out. One of my 447s was obliterated in a Jpn ROF tear.

Oddly, neither 10-2 was even scratched, broken or pinned. My kill stack was then able to disrupt the Jpn mid game attack and allow my mostly skulking squads to deny the Jpn force the last building they needed.

Rich

 

[JRKrejsa]

Matira's Secret SP245 American force trying to push the Germans out of 2 of 3 buildings on board 20. The US player needs to be good at run and gun, combined arms. American managed to take N5 and T2, but it was not easy. The "Super Pershing" was killed by a second! Panzerschreck hit. (The first having been stopped by the 26AF hull armor.) But the King Tiger was killed by a long distance flamethrower shot. The hoped for tank duel never happened.

Thanks to Footsteps for the beautiful Super Pershing counter!

 

[thedrake]

Scenario 3000 Assault on Round Top from the General,solo play. Beefed up each side OOB with a SMG Co. for the Russians (7x 5-2-7) and additional roll for single tank+assault gun, and an Alarm Platoon(4x 4-4-7) for the Germans with additional roll for single tank destroyer.

Russians managed a bloody win by getting more squad-equivalents onto south end of Round Top than Germans. The Germans were down to about 6 squads and there was no way they were going to push the remaining Russians off the hilltop (Russians had about 12 squads-equivalents with a HMG,MMG,a 10-2 and 9-1 SMC and two Heroes,backed up by 2 JS-2m tanks and an Su85 with 9-2 AL.) The extra units made the difference for both sides or it may have ended sooner.

 

[Michael R]

I finished a fun match of J182 BELGIAN BLITZKREIG. I had the Belgians; Bruno L'Archeveque had the Germans. I realize, looking back, that one's experience with the opponent will definitely affect the setup that one chooses. I figured Bruno would hold back some Germans squads for the late entry, so I felt I needed to protect my rear area as much as the front building. My setup is in the attached photo. Bruno was unable to take the first multihex building in two turns, although I lost every unit defending it. My MMG team was able to fall back to the next building and take a level one position covering the Belgian right. With the other assets covering that side, Bruno ended up sending the at-start Germans up the middle. His reinforcements came in the north side, but I was able to do a good job of not giving them a free run into the Belgian flank. This had a benefit when I brought the bicycle troops in; there was only one German HS near the road that would give the bicyclists the fastest entry. I was able to use the Belgian tanks to overrun that unit and so bring troops right to the important multihex building adjacent to the central woods. Bruno had one ATG malf in a duel with the Belgian ATG. One truck carrying a HS ran the gauntlet into the Belgian rear. I needed to send the tanks back there after it and managed to eliminate the truck before the HS unloaded. The game went to the end with Germans and Belgians fighting over the central multihex building near the woods. There were 3 CC in the last German turn, of which the Germans won one and two stayed in Melee. In the last Belgian turn, I sent a couple of more units in to start another CC. Bruno was not able to win all the CC, so the Belgians won.

 

[Jude]

Played PBP#14 Under Siege and eked out a win as the Germans. I fumbled the VCs and missed the part about the stone building hexes being worth 2 VPs. Consequently, I gave up a lot of ground with my set up. Had I caught that, however, I think I'd still set up conservatively due to the fact that the Germans have no concealments in their OB. I thought it was more prudent to protect the Y1-Y10 road than get blasted by some serious Russian firepower at start. The scenario boiled down to MCs. It seemed like neither one of us could make one. This forced me to fall back faster than I wanted, but it didn't leave my opponent with enough squads to exploit this. At game's end, the Russians had 5 (of 12) and I had 5 (of 11) good order squads left. A last turn mad dash by the Russians to secure enough locations came up short leaving me with around +7 VPs over the required amount. A few more passed MCs by the Russians and it could have easily went the other way. This scenario was very fast playing taking us a little over two hours to complete. Better than expected, I'd recommend it for either side.

 

[Danno]

Played SV6 Norwegian Edelweiss as the allies. The German HMG went on a rate tear to break all my holding force in the two victory building south of the stream. The Germans moved in to take out the broke and then built a strong defense around the two buildings. I think the VC need to be three factories for the Germans.

 

[Danno]

Played A62 Paole Zion twice once as both sides. Very important the Axis player break up the convoy ASAP. Partisans get great fun and can CC trucks. This game plays really fast with most of the first three turns being movement while the Partisans maintain HIP.