So what scenarios have you played Recently?

[Jude]

Played 203 Hard ROK. Fun. I was the defending South Koreans. I figured the Board 10 units would get totally wiped out, and since I couldn't find a good place to put the MTR, I put it (dm) with a 2nd line squad and the 8-1 leader in a good location near the back of the set up area. I set up the Board 23 force on the other side of the canal except for the two conscripts (one hidden), a hidden 2nd line squad, and the 8-0 with the DC. North Korea's opening move was super short due to SSR 4. On my turn 1, I CXed the 8-1 and 2nd line squad and made a dash for the other side of the canal. I tried to set the DC in 23H5 but had no luck rolling a one. I figured the building in that hex would be a great jumping off point for the North Korean push over the bridge. Plus, it has a good LOS to a lot of hexes on the other side of the canal. The 8-1 and MTR team eventually made it to the other side of the canal, and I reassembled the MTR in hex J0 joining the other MTR in that hex (who never could dig a stinking foxhole!). The 8-1 paired up with the HMG and MMG. I tried setting the DC twice and gave up after the second try. As expected, the Board 10 men did pretty much get totally wiped out, but not before taking out a T-34 with a bazooka, a SU-76 with a Human-Bullet, and a really lucky snakes roll on a commissar and squad foolishly trying to cross one of the streets. They took a few more casualties, but the KPA marched forward and were in a decent position by turn 6 to try for the bridge push. I got the second T-34 crossing the bridge with a side shot from a bazooka and the second SU-76 bit it from the AT Gun. It brewed up, unfortunately, right on the other side of the bridge. There was also a heavy downpour at that point. As I suspected, my friend moved the 9-2 and some squads and support weapons into building 23H5. Luckily, they couldn't muster up any decent shots. With time running out and needing a bunch of squads to cross, my buddy pushed his men for one desperate charge. Out came the hidden squads on the first levels of the nearby buildings. With those two squads, the two MTRs, and the 8-1 directing the MG fire, despite the smoke and rain, the rush fizzled into a series of pins and breaks. With not enough men for a meaningful second attempt, my friend called it. I definitely had more fun playing this scenario than he did. The ROKA can do several sneaky things to make things frustrating for the KPA. It wasn't an easy win as I had to take some chances with stacked units on the other side of the canal, but having to go across one bridge is definitely an advantage for the South Koreans. I'd recommend it, my friend only slightly.

 

[A Lost Canadian]

Played ASL 63 The Eastern Gate. It’s a fun, wild scenario. It’s almost two scenarios in one. 2 columns of Gurkhas are rush on board to get to a hill on board 36 (overlay 2) while 3 columns of Japanese try to stop and send them. VC are the Japanese need >12 CVP, with that amount increasing by 2 for each level 3 hex the Gurkhas have.

My plan: SSR is pretty proscriptive about what has to be in each column for both sides. Rather than making my columns perfectly equal however I decided to create a ‘fist’ (Column A) and a backup (Column B). Column A included the 9-2 and the 9-1, as well as all 5 648s with LMGS. My plan was to rush the first straight through board 37 to the path in the middle of board 36. It would then take the path to the top of the hill. Column B was to wind through the grass at the edge of board 37 and then swing up to the hill.

The fight: The scenario is 10 turns, and we played 9 ½ of them, so I won’t go into a blow by blow account. (My memory isn’t good enough for that). The first 3 turns went very fast. Rather than running straight down to try to catch my columns on board 37, my opponent choose to take the diagonal to rush to the hill. As a result the columns didn`t meet (and thus break) until turn 3 when the head of his first column vapourized the 248 heading my fist column in the clearing in the middle of the overlay on board 36.

From then to turn 6 I slowly pushed forward trying to get to hill while not exposing my troops too much. My opponent was able to get both of his first two columns above me on the hill. At turn 6/7 I realized pushing up the hill would be too risky so I formed a line with my 648s and their leaders in the judge at the edge of the hill and planned to vaporize my opponent with my Gurkhas and their LMGs. I brought up Column B up to cover the east edge of the jungle from his first column. I left a couple squads and an HMG at the far west edge to force my opponent to keep some units on the hill.

And it worked… mostly. I skulked and pulled back into the jungle, using great dice rolls to wipe out the attacking Japanese. I wrecked a big part of his third column with a 8 -1 shot. My 9-2 with 2 648s and LMGs dropped 16@0 and 30@0 all over the place.

Things turned however when he was able to get my 9-2 death star in CC with his 10-1 and two 447. We rolled ambush…And I got it! Ambush! In act of huge hubris I didn’t withdrawal. I attacked and rolled 11! Miss! He attacked back..and miss! Melee! Now the core of my defense was stuck in melee making further withdrawals harder all the while his third column was swinging around me.
In turn 9 my hubris catches up to me. My 9-2 is able to kill the 10-1 and survive. Next fire phase however the leader is wounded and then goes berserk. One 648 is eliminated. Wounded, down a squad and now lax I wasn’t able to put up enough of a wall of fire to stop him from getting in CC and ambushed. Eliminated.

The real back breaker however was way over at the south end of board 36. The mangled remains of the third column managed survive just enough fire to get two 458s in CC. Attacking 1-4 they…killed my squads. 12 CVP. Planned failed. Half of my CVP came in Japanese turn 9 CC phase.

I was about to call it before remembering I had a slight change of taking the hill as my opponent by this point had lost about 75% of his forces. In my turn 9 I was able to get into CC with a gun crew that was the last thing between me and level 8. Again I lost it. Losing another 2 squads to put me at 16 and victory out of reach.

Review
The Eastern Gate is almost two scenarios in one. The first scenario is a race to the hill; both columns trying to move aggressively while not getting caught out in the open. The second, starting about turn 4 is a tight, narrow jungle fight. It is a fun scenario, with a lot of tactical challenges.

That being said, that CVP threshold is low, the hill is far, and the scenario is long. 12 CVP is just over 25% of the Gurkhas available CVP. With the Japanese skills in CC that leads little room for mistakes or boxcars. Further, even with the errata that gives the Japanese only half of their movement in turn 1 they can still easily out leg the Gurkhas to the top of the hill. Last, 10 turns a long time to take attacks and not lose CVP; the longer the scenario the more opportunities for snipers, critical hits and boxcars to take their toll.

Overall I think my opponents plan was sound. Going for the hill is better than trying to cut off the Gurkhas on board 37. Trying to fight on board 37, I think, could lead to the Japanese columns be defeated piecemeal giving the Gurkhas an open path (literally) to run up the hill at the end. The Gurkhas have more than enough firepower to savage any individual stack.

As for the Gurkhas my advice is…be lucky in CC? I think pretty much everything but 3 rolls broke my way in this scenario and that was enough for the loss. Use your firepower and gain concealment. Remember that 10 turns is a long time so being careful early is good.

 

[Michael R]

I finished a PBEM match of BFP50 Alligator Tanks with Jeff Sewell. I had the Americans with a nice selection of toys: several DC, a FT, two LVT with bow mounted FT, and three LVT with turreted 37LL guns. The Japanese have a 50 cal, a regular HMG, a MMG, an ATR and a 12.7 AA gun with trenches, panjis and pillboxes. The Americans must find and capture or eliminate the three pillboxes, but they have a CVP cap of 29. Jeff set up an excellent defence which I had to discover piece by piece in the first half of the game. The bulk of the defence combined the bamboo with panjis and trenches with the pillboxes well to the rear. About 2/3 of the way through the scenario, I was doubting I could successfully push the Americans into the Japanese defence. I had lost one LVT FT, one LVT 37LL and some infantry. The Japanese had lost some infantry and the HMG. Then the 50 cal malfunctioned and the 12.7 AA also malfunctioned. These events let me get more aggressive with the Americans. Their firepower then put enough hurt on the Japanese to get me the win.

 

[Michael R]

Bruno L'Archeveque and I had a VASL session of YASL07 MAKING A BREAK FOR IT. I had the defending Germans. I chose an up front defence with a plan to self-break back to leaders to avoid CC with the British 648 units. I covered the forest side and the town side about equally with the MMG and the AA gun in the center. Bruno chose to push all the British through the forest with only a few using the forest road. My plan worked for the first turn, but not for the second. My second defence line was too close and the British were able to encircle my units. I fell back further the next time, but now I had less troops. Bruno had a few units moving in the centre of the map to force me to keep some of my units there. The British firepower broke the Germans often. On turn 5, the British exited enough VP to win.

 

[von Marwitz]

Finished HP#17 Down Radio Road today.

For a complete AAR in this forum, see this Link.

von Marwitz

 

[Houlie]

Finished HP#17 Down Radio Road today.

For a complete AAR in this forum, see this Link.

von Marwitz

Super fun scenario.

 

[JRKrejsa]

Konitsa Crackdown BFP HG-2 Greeks counterattacking Italians, 1940. This is a puzzle for both sides of how much of the OB to devote to each board. (BFP H big open large hill mass, and BFP K, village among wooded hills. The Italians set up on the reverse slope on H, and in layers on K. Back and forth fighting on K, and I was never able to clear all the level 3 hills, but got as far as the sawmill at KM4. There was a see saw fight on H, over all the level 4 hill hexes. One of the Italian 81mm MTRs was the highlight of the game, vaporizing Greek squad after squad. Greek victory, an excellent fight. Recommended.

 

[esprcorn]

Konitsa Crackdown BFP HG-2 Greeks counterattacking Italians, 1940. This is a puzzle for both sides of how much of the OB to devote to each board. (BFP H big open large hill mass, and BFP K, village among wooded hills. The Italians set up on the reverse slope on H, and in layers on K. Back and forth fighting on K, and I was never able to clear all the level 3 hills, but got as far as the sawmill at KM4. There was a see saw fight on H, over all the level 4 hill hexes. One of the Italian 81mm MTRs was the highlight of the game, vaporizing Greek squad after squad. Greek victory, an excellent fight. Recommended.

Enjoyed this one myself. Though I could never find a good use for the Greek guns and mortars. Very poor LOS from start...

 

[JRKrejsa]

I had the same problem. Lots of Manhandleing! I was able to get an 81mm up the big hill. Where it was destroyed by one of the Italian 81mms!

 

[Ray Woloszyn]

Played Volunteers Became Scarce [RP141] yesterday and have just about played all the scenarios in this Korea pack. All have been nail biters with the issue in doubt to the very end. Maybe the fact two seniors playing these scenarios have something to do with this but I think they were well play tested by the Schwerpunkt boys. Like some of the others in this pack the attacker is forced to split his forces to address victory objects in two locations making these scenarios a game of movement and light counter density as opposed to attacking some Alamo chock full of defenders. I managed to hold off six T-34/85's with a combination of ROK human bullets, a 45 baz and a 57L ATG. My two designated assault engineers were ELR'ed second liners which I suppose (but am not sure) took away their special characteristics since the scenario card said "first line."

 

[esprcorn]

I had the same problem. Lots of Manhandleing! I was able to get an 81mm up the big hill. Where it was destroyed by one of the Italian 81mms!

I think they were mindly useful 1) to put some limited SMOKE down, and to keep him off the crests of the hills of the most forward hill.

 

[Mister T]

Played Volunteers Became Scarce [RP141] yesterday and have just about played all the scenarios in this Korea pack. All have been nail biters with the issue in doubt to the very end.

That's good news. As you know this pack saw very little action at ASLOK as very few were available for sale and i missed it too. Was wondering whether to buy it after all but what you say makes me eager to go for it.

 

[JRKrejsa]

That's good news. As you know this pack saw very little action at ASLOK as very few were available for sale and i missed it too. Was wondering whether to buy it after all but what you say makes me eager to go for it.

I’ve played two from this pack and liked both.

 

[Roy]

Tom Arnold and I played J106 Marders Not Martyrs a few weeks ago.

The AAR is up at my blog

Cardboard Warrior

Thanks for reading!

 

[Steve E7]

The Niscemi-Biscari Highway AH General 28.1 T9

Who remembers the replay of this scenario back in the General in the Day?
Curtis Brooks was nice enough to agree to play this one.
The Italian guns were of no use to the Ami Paratroopers (both broke quickly) and after a brief firefight between the paratroopers in the stone building 4X1 and Mr. German 9-2 behind the wall in Z1 resulted in that building's capture, and Germans breathing down the neck of the small paratrooper force back near 4CC6 the Americans conceded.
I like this scenario. Its dated, but really brings back a lot of memories.

 

[Curtis Brooks]

The Niscemi-Biscari Highway AH General 28.1 T9

Who remembers the replay of this scenario back in the General in the Day?
Curtis Brooks was nice enough to agree to play this one.
The Italian guns were of no use to the Ami Paratroopers (both broke quickly) and after a brief firefight between the paratroopers in the stone building 4X1 and Mr. German 9-2 behind the wall in Z1 resulted in that building's capture, and Germans breathing down the neck of the small paratrooper force back near 4CC6 the Americans conceded.
I like this scenario. Its dated, but really brings back a lot of memories.

I lost, so it must be a dog, right? Good game Steve!

 

[jrv]

I lost, so it must be a dog, right?

Yes, but favoring which side?

JR

 

[Jude]

Played a surprisingly fun game of scenario 204 Human Bullets. Why surprisingly? Looking at the set up I thought it would be a blow out for one side or the other. Didn't happen. I played as the South Koreans and chose option one for my board 82 force. I thought I'd get some decent rate and take out all the tanks within a turn or two. Things didn't turn out as expected and two tanks ended up surviving the game. Luckily they were the last two tanks and they ended up bogging on the wrecks. Eventually, I lost all three guns, one to an X repair roll, one to a MTR, and one on a CH by a motion vehicle! I've never had that happen before. I think we played that right. The interesting thing is immediately after that, my friend decided to use another motion tank to shoot at one of my other AT Guns. Just as he threw the dice I yelled, "Wait!" The tank was in a blind hex but guess what he rolled? Yeah, another two! I DEFINITELY have never seen that before! Of course, it didn't count, but still...

BTW, does the HE7 count as special ammo (because of the depletion number)? Not that it would have mattered in our playing, but that's how we played it.

The board 24 guys got swamped as expected. Interestingly, the squads I set up to at least stem part of the tide ended up doing little, while my picket squads did most of the damage. I was just hoping to hold off the hordes for 4-5 turns or a least keep them honest. The inevitable breakthrough happened around turn 5 and I was down to pretty much nothing by then. I still had two HIP squads on board 82 (which, luckily for me, my friend forgot about) and they broke four squads and a commissar. So, with three turns left and not enough men close enough to exit, my buddy called it. If the game were one turn longer, I think he would have made it. My friend even commented about the balance that eliminated the PTC at the start of the game. A little over a third of his men failed and that very well may have been the difference. For my part, all I had left was a crew, two leaders, and four squads (of which one was broken and out of position, and the other was bypassed long ago while broken on board 24). I'd recommend it for either side, although my gut tells me the KPA has a tougher task - unless the ambush goes horribly wrong.

Having just played 203 Hard ROK, I'd say these two were sort of similar. Both have an initial small group of ROKA trying to hold off a slew of KPA before they inevitably get mowed over. Then on to the second phase of the battle on another board with another small group of South Koreans trying to stem the remaining North Korean tide. Interesting (to me at least).

 

[Steve E7]

ASLUG 21: The Witch's Cauldron

If you have played this you know what a swirling melee it can be.
The Germans started their string of units along one side of the board, the French came in in three groups , spread out.
The French grabbed some Hull Down positions and the exchange of fire started. Then the German reinforcement panzers entered mostly on the opposite board edge of their starting force .. a few more shots were traded (two German panzers malf'd their B11 guns) before 5 French tanks charged them. The easier TH odds for the French made the difference as many a German shot bounced off the French 4/6 armor. French win .. I think final count after Turn 3 was 5 KO's German tanks vs 1 French. Infantry didnt' play a big role. French hid theirs, and Germans tried a few roaming HT FG's , but never crossed the middle board to seek out the French infantry. ATG's unloaded in the middle of the board under fire and got a lot of shots off.
Very fun French/German armor battle.

 

[hongkongwargamer]

BFP15 Cobra's Venom, first of the BFP Operation Cobra pack

The Americans carpet bombed the area and sloughed through the bocage, only to find scores of 548s, half dead Panthers and an 88 rising from the rubble to put up a fight!

https://hongkongwargamer.com/2018/09/22/bfp15-cobras-venom/