So what scenarios have you played Recently?

Mister T

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Bruno L'Archeveque and I played J122 Bloody Bois Jacques. I love and hate this scenario at the same time. It has a SSR that makes it unique, but at the same time silly. The SSR allows units in foxhole hexes to treat the Pine Woods as hindrances instead of obstacles for LOS and LOF. It is a neat way to represent cleared fields of fire. However, the cleared fields of fire can change, which makes no reality sense; even the Americans in foxhole hexes can use the SSR to fire at the Germans, who may or may not be in foxhole hexes, in front of them.
Think positively of it as a concise and elegant way to create some PFZ flavour and try to make the best of it tactically. I liked the scenario.
 

Mister T

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I had a good time at the Texas Team Tournament. Starting with Kickoff in Hürtgen (OS-11), a good scenario depicting the initial US assault on Vossenack with outnumbered Germans trying to cling to buildings. Opponent was unlucky to get only one fire OBA mission, so things were much easier when OBA was gone. Consider some chit draw mitigation process to avoid that. Moved to Conscript Counter (OS-1), original design with an all-conscript German OB in its quest for survival against US firepower. Despite their state, these weaklings can run and hide and make a US victory difficult to reach. A morale 6 party, fortunate to have prevailed with the Amis. Continued with a required playing of Schurter's Sortie for Friday's mini, a LFT scenario where the outcome was already sealed when we rolled for sides. As Partisan player i desperately held on for three turns and then everything collapsed the following turn. To recover, nothing better than a game of Fighting Withdrawal (ASL 1) where a Russian forward deployment was punished in two turns, these old-style Finns are awesome. Back to Objective Schmidt with Devil's Sunday (OS-7), a comparatively 'large' scenario. A scenario rich in tactical options, a challenge for both players to grok. As one US OBA observer was ill-placed while i could effectively use two OBA modules to help gain a foothold in the town. Interesting map, complex combined arms techniques required, a good choice. Overall, the special rules of Schmidt were easy to take up, which is always a good point when playing a HASL for the first time. Topped up the experience with two March Madness scenarios. In Crete German paratroopers were ordered to Take that Hill (MM-46), but they took the long road and consequently could not dislodge my Aussies from the high ground. Did not like the SSR subjecting the late-arriving British tanks to a mechanical reliability roll offboard. Liked better the other one, the Brickworks (MM-47), a small-scale Stalingrad action yet fairly intense. My StuGs dodged a lot of grenades and did a great job when it came to dislodging Smedley's Soviet Guard infantry from the factories. Finally, some KW action with the Grist Mill (208), admitedly not the most exciting of scenarios but a foray into the Korean theater with minimal rule investment. Much depends on the capability of the US .50 cal to spew a steady volume of fire as it is under the threat of ammo shortage. Fortunately for me it did well and not much NKPA was left on the map at the end.
 

wrongway149

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Bruno L'Archeveque and I played J122 Bloody Bois Jacques. I love and hate this scenario at the same time. It has a SSR that makes it unique, but at the same time silly. The SSR allows units in foxhole hexes to treat the Pine Woods as hindrances instead of obstacles for LOS and LOF. It is a neat way to represent cleared fields of fire. However, the cleared fields of fire can change, which makes no reality sense; even the Americans in foxhole hexes can use the SSR to fire at the Germans, who may or may not be in foxhole hexes, in front of them.

I split the Americans in two groups. The best leader went up the middle path with a platoon, a hero and the MMG. Everyone else, save one HS, went in by the west road. That last HS went along the west edge. The German OBA decimated the central platoon during German turn one and American turn two. Only two HS routed out of that area. The west group made decent progress. Bruno shifted the east troops west, and retreated a squad to cover the exit area. I saw a glimmer of hope when the German radio broke on German turn three, but Bruno repaired it on American turn four. I needed to position my remaining troops close the Germans in that area to have a hope of exiting. I managed to throw a DC on the OBA observer, break him and wound him. He came back in American turn five, however, and in German turn five brought down another OBA mission on my troops poised to exit. It was not pretty. The result left me with no hope of exiting enough VP.

I wonder if this engagement could be redesigned using the new Prepared Fire Zones rule.
I have already considered it as a possibility. Not a high priority right now, though. (for me, anyway)
 

Markdv5208

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Playing HARD ROK for the 4th time in 3 months tomorrow versus Alan Wagner. I think it's hard on the ROK player so I am giving him the balance ie add a 9-1 SMC to the south korean
 

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Just Finished a game of ASL 104 Hill of Death with Felipe Zuvela. Very fun game and quite a challenge working with the lumbering Churchill tanks again after so long away from those lovely "I" class AFVs the Brits were so famous for. Diving back into some well-enjoyed DASL next - with ESG-7 "Backstab" and LN-12 "Nightmare at Naha". I got the Japanese with a J2 bid so an extra MMG/crew and another Fort bldg location or I could swap it for a tunnel. Turn 1a is finished with that one Monday night- Did some damage to "K" Company as they came on map with decent DRs for the residual FP IFT attacks, and the manpack FT fizzled on the first shot with a 10 DR at LR fire, welcome relief that. (the POA-CWS-H1s have a much nastier and harder to deal with TF32). A 70* INF got the drop with a HEAt round on the side of a M4A1 stopped and with Point Blank, making anything with H6 ammo depletion a hit, but miffed the TK DR, needed a 6 to shock on the turret side hit, rolled a 9. poing! It was worth it for an early 42% chance to put the thing out of commission in turn 1. Now the gun will die a quick death, swarmed by three Shermans. The IF shot was AP and also had ammo, hit the hull side, but miffed on a 6.5 TK DR. - Well, one can try. :). I'd bet a weak AT performance - Gun and crew, on a chance to tag an important AFV like the Shermans are in LN 12, on a <=11 DR to hit and <=6 to take it out of commission on turn 1 DFPh, any day of the week. :).
 

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I just finished playing ASL-166 "Skiing In Lapland" with Peter Palmer on VASL this Saturday afternoon. I only noticed a short while back that it used to be a Friendly Fire scenario (FrF-035), and thought it strange that I hadn't ever heard anyone comment on that. Apart from the add-ons, you don't get a lot of TPP scenarios as 'core module' scenarios.

In this scenario, the Russians attack westward down 2 separated boards (19 and 4, both with some overlays added), trying to link up with a platoon of ski troops. The Russians get to decide which board (west edge) and when the ski troops enter on, with play immediately ceasing on the (now redundant) other board. The Finns defend with a force of 10 squads and an ATG, which they have to split between both boards and a pool of reserves, which may enter on to either board (north and south edges). Some real strategic thinking demanded of both players in this scenario !!!

I defended sparsely, since the Deep Snow (E3,73) greatly slows down the westward advancing Russians. Peter had Group A attack along board 4, while Group B attacked along board 19. His Russians were able to inflict a number of early on break results against my Finns, and although the committed reserves largely stabilized the situation, it reduced the forces that I would be able to use to stop his ski platoon linking. Peter committed the ski platoon to board 19 at the start of Russian turn 5, and when his T-37 held up a key squad in Melee, he was able to establish a VC satisfying link in the turn 6 Russian MPh.

ASL-166-Rus-06-MPh-gif.gif

A great fun scenario to play. This medium sized game (essentially 2 small concurrent games) was played (to the Russian turn 6 MPh) in about 4 hours and well enjoyed by both players.

John.
 
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JRKrejsa

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The Golovchino Breakout SP78 German breakout from encirclement, '43. I played for time with my Soviet defense. So, the German attack was swift, and got into the 16O4 barn pretty quickly. Once there, the Germans shot up the rest of my force. Once my reinforcements arrived, I went after a SPW 251 with the scout car. But the already stunned SPW fought back, hit the destroyed the Scout Car!.
I had a glimmer of hope for a bit; the SU-76m was dominant, ( How often does that ever happen!) until it too was stunned then eliminated.
German victory.
 

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Was able to play two short scenarios, J116 Brigade Hill and ASLUG12 One-Log Bridge.

As the Japanese in Brigade Hill, I elected to defend only the two southern hills. The large center hill looked like it could be easily overrun. The Australians made good progress but their attack petered out at the base of the two smaller hills mostly due from failing easy, i.e. NMCs, with 8ML squads. By the end of turn 5 (of 6 1/2) my friend realized he didn't have enough left to make one more push up either hill and called it.

One-Log Bridge was fun. It went to the last turn with my Japanese holding onto one of the three victory locations. Lots of casualties. At game end I only had a 9-1 leader, a striped squad, a striped crew, and a half squad of my original seven squads. Poor CC rolls by the marines help my cause allowing me survive and then declare H-to-H on my half of the turn. My guys usually died, but they took squads with them. Oh yeah, crossing a deep stream also was tough for the marines. Recommended.
 
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JRKrejsa

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Morire in Belleza PBP 22 "Death or Glory" Yugoslavia '41. I thought this looked interesting when I bought the pack, over a decade ago. Instead of going over the hill to the VC hill, the Italian attack came across the west end of the hill and the plowed field. My Yugos caused some damage early but the Italians made steady progress. The 81mm only laid down one smoke screen, but it was taken advantage of by my opponent. I was in real trouble after the Italian 10-2 battle hardened into a 10-3! My last turn counter attack went nowhere... Italian win. Good scenario.
 

Delirium

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Played BFP106 Going Postal face to face in Dublin last Saturday. This is one from the Poland in Flames pack, played on the urban halves of Board 10 and BFP B - the latter is a railway-heavy board from Into the Rubble.

Two groups of Poles defended three VC buildings, one of which is heavily (+5 TEM) fortified. The Germans assault with low quality SS, but plenty of them, assisted by three Austrian armoured cars, Heer assault engineers and three artillery pieces to be fired directly. The armoured cars are relatively slow, with 24 MPs, but muster a 12fp attack when the 20L cannon is fired IFE. An embarrassment of OOB riches compared to the Poles, who have regular and partisan infantry and three B11 LMGs.

This one was a near walkover for the Germans. Too much fp, too many toys, not nearly enough Poles. It's an interesting situation with cool German toys and an interesting German force mix, but the Poles need an ATR and a squad or two, I think, to make this one an even contest. In our playing the Armoured cars dropped vehicular smoke grenades and drove up point blank to hose the Poles 24+5 in the fortified building, while the lower quality SS took care of the partisans. Effectively, all over by T4 of 7 turns.
 

Philippe D.

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I played this scenario as well via PBEM, and though it went to the last turn, my impression was the same - the Germans have way too much force for the Poles to stand a decent chance. My Polish opponent tried to position his forces all around the board, but this meant I could attack each group with overwhelming force. Smoke from the guns essentially neutralized the defenders in the big VC building for the duration of the approach - after which it was a battle of Fanatic defenders in a +5TEM vs an overwhelming, encircling force with huge firepower and flamethrowers...

(And that was with my Germans sweeping through every possible concealment hex for the Polish HIPsters, since otherwise there would have been a possibility of a last-minute building recapture)

The situation is an interesting one with lots of cool toys on the German side, but unless we missed some special trick, the Poles really need a lot of help in this scenario.
 

Mister T

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Played 135 Acts of Defiance for the first time. While it is a very popular scenario, for long i had been a bit dubious on the scenario robustness due to the 120 mm OBA and the fickleness it implied. My fears have been partially assuaged as the OBA is not all-powerful and there are ways to cope with it as German attacker. I can better understand why it is a popular one as there is furious action right from the beginning. So okay a rather good one with some replayability but still not a fav due to a high snafu level.
 

Jacometti

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Played 135 Acts of Defiance for the first time. While it is a very popular scenario, for long i had been a bit dubious on the scenario robustness due to the 120 mm OBA and the fickleness it implied. My fears have been partially assuaged as the OBA is not all-powerful and there are ways to cope with it as German attacker. I can better understand why it is a popular one as there is furious action right from the beginning. So okay a rather good one with some replayability but still not a fav due to a high snafu level.
The reputation far outweighs the quality of the scenario.

If this was printed nowadays in a Journal, we would all say it is cookie cutter late war......I do not particularly like the VC, nor the almost total lack of Fog of War, nor the silly stuff with the Goliaths.

7 out of 10 in my book, maximum.
 

Roy

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The reputation far outweighs the quality of the scenario.

If this was printed nowadays in a Journal, we would all say it is cookie cutter late war......I do not particularly like the VC, nor the almost total lack of Fog of War, nor the silly stuff with the Goliaths.

7 out of 10 in my book, maximum.
Stop beating around the bush.... What do you really think? :D:D:cool:
 

JRKrejsa

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First to See Will... PBP 10 Korea, 1950, mobile US troops try to run over North Korean rearguard and seize buildings. US attack came through the 16EE2 woods. I flanked a T-34/85, but then could not hit it, with a Pershing, a bazooka, or a Sherman. I lost the exposed Sherman in the next player turn, and a halftrack. I stayed aggressive, and the US OB has the toys to make this happen. The T-34/85s are no match for the Pershings. The NKPA fought well, falling back and clawing away. The final battle was for the portion of the board 17 village that is in play. Came down to the last CC phase, US victory.

Nice scenario.
 

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ASL 184 Death at Carentan
Just finished this one up against @Matt Boehland the other day. Very much a fun scenario, with paratroopers of the 502nd PIR (me) up against a whole hoard of Fallschirmjaegers (Matt). The good news-- the initial smoke fire mission came down right where I wanted it, and I was able to take the victory buildings with little trouble. The bad news-- I lost the radio for the 100+ OBA without even getting an AR down. Without the off board 105s, it's hard going for the Americans, and I was overwhelmed by the end of turn six.
 

sunoftzu

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Peter Palmer and I completed another Hakkaa Paalle scenario this weekend (2.5 hours on VASL Saturday, and about 3 hours today). The scenario was ASL-167 "Breakout From Praaza". I played the defending Finns, whilst Peter played the attacking Russians. To win, the Russians have to exit 40 VPs off the north edge.

Peter's infantry were aggressive throughout, and with the help of a Human Wave, he was able to make quick inroads and cross the stream faster than I would have liked. My Finns resisted as best they could, but were completely wiped off the map by the end of the Finnish turn 9 RtPh. Peter had cleared the mines during his turn 8, and was able to exit 66 points of units (including all vehicles) during his turn 9 MPh.

ASL-167-Rus-09-MPh-jpeg.jpg

John.
 
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Carln0130

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I played several scenarios at The Hallowed Ground Tournament the prior weekend. Two Open Games and then 4 for the tourney.

My first opponent was Gary Bartlett in That Damn Bridge, AP103. I had the Americans and while I was shot up pretty good the first three turns, the long range mortar fire began to find the mark and I was able to get over the hill and into the victory buildings for the W. Gary may have defended a little too far forward on his left and was unable to get back to the VC buildings in sufficient force.

My second game was against Paul Sidhu in a game of WO27, Checking Out. I had the hated SS and came up a bit short in an entertaining game. I had to shift the axis of attack three times as Paul kept shifting in front of me to block my advances. The last shift back had a chance to get me where I wanted to go, but the last gasp attack was an abject failure.

The next game was the first tourney game of the weekend against host John Dober III. We played Hart Attack, J167. I had the defending Germans and proceeded to box out my 40LL on his first shot at a Lee. Fortunately, I had a MMG from hell. After a Street Fighting attack by another stack failed, I went for a kill attempt at one hex range into the rear of a Lee who was angling to sleaze freeze me. I needed a hull hit come back with a 2 or 3 TK to get anywhere, but his infantry had all moved and this MMG was all dressed up with no where to go. Result, hull hit, snake eyes kill, no crew survived on a high CS DR. Sweet. His kill stack of a 9-2 and three elite squads then pulled in ADJACENT in the same stone building as the squad with his MMG. A 20+3 rolled a 3, the whole stack went down and I was in the process of surrounding them in movement when John tossed it in.

The next game was J189, Buckley's Block against Ken Mioduski (SP big time). I had the Japanese and ran up the left flank, straight into Ken's 37LL. The 37LL then proceeding to defecate upon the sheets and wipe itself with the curtains. No Canister and while we're here, let's miss with the HE too. It was overrun and captured giving me some nice VC points. In the end, I was able to get over the 20 combo CVP/EVP I needed. Good game.

The following round was AP100, Coal In Their Stocking against Randy Rossi. Neither of us came away too enamored with this scenario. I won with the defending Germans, being able to gun up Randy's infantry sufficiently to get the win. An aborted try to get off the board with the JadgPZIV ended in disaster for me, but by then, Super Puma had destroyed two AFV's and broke a key stack. With said stack down, I was able to counterattack to retake a key building late in the game and also bag a platoon of infantry for FTR. That put the scenario out of reach for Randy.

The final was against Ron Duenskie in a playing of J32, Panzer Graveyard. This is a moldy oldie, but fun. In a very tense game, Ron's main attack came up the middle. I had my Churchill in a building and he was able to get a -1 leader and squad in on it in CC. They gacked the ambush and then the CC Roll. The counterattack next turn took them out and as Ron only had three leaders and the 9-1 was the best of the lot, that hurt. He would later create a -1 leader, but it would be too little too late. The ATG extracted a pound of flesh, destroying four AFV's by game end. I had a Sherman go off on a 4 shot rate tear and shoot up his right flank late. This allowed a piat toting crew to run around the flank and grab a building and draw off German attention after himself. Ron pursued and took him out and going into my last turn had 21 of the needed 20 buildings. My counterattack was able to find some seams though and take back two buildings for a 1 building win. I would strongly recommend this scenario to new players who have never had a chance to play through some of the old "classics".

So total for the weekend was 5-1, with a 4-0 in the tourney. John and his significant other Christina were wonderful hosts, along with Chris his roommate. A very nice tournament and you can't beat Gettysburg for locale.
 

witchbottles

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Ended my glorious vacation last night with some PTO action in "Those Ragged Bloody Heroes". The Japanese perimeter is quite intact, and the Aussies have finally discovered the Main Line of REsistance is a semicircle of heavily packed, mutually supporting trenches and pillboxes (with their inherent tunnels linking them), with probably not enough time left in this CG Date to do much about it.

13 days off work - played G 40 face to face at the local ASL meet, finished the VASL game of ASL 104, began VASL game of LN 12, finished almost a full scen CG date of TRBH CG, finished 2 player turns of VotG CG IV, finished a full scen date of BRT CG 3, and a full game turn of VASL ESG 1. Not a bad vacation :)...

KRL, Jon H
 

Ray Woloszyn

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Playing HARD ROK for the 4th time in 3 months tomorrow versus Alan Wagner. I think it's hard on the ROK player so I am giving him the balance ie add a 9-1 SMC to the south korean
Played this yesterday against Chuck Payne from Cary, NC. We added the 9-1 and it came down to a last defensive fire shot breaking a squad of a stack of three waiting to advance to victory across the canal. My ROK men were swept away rather quickly and Chuck was very careful with his tanks which were either surrounded by his INF and moved to positions searched for HIP BAZ men or AT Heroes. I had five sniper attacks of "one" which recalled both of his SU-76's. It was a festival of Chuck's "fours" and my "snake eyes" so death roamed freely around the two boards. A close game and if the 9-1 is needed for balance, it might be only for the first time you try the scenario as I would make my defense a bit better than I did.
 
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