So what scenarios have you played Recently?

Jude

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Next up was BFP-78, but as that seemed like a two weekend affair, we skipped it this week and went for BFP-79 A Hard Push. Turned out to be a surprisingly pretty easy win for my German troops. My friend went with a reverse slope defense (as would I) so there wasn't much interdiction of movement. I pushed a bunch of HS through the center grain to flush out any HIP AT Crews and to discover any mines. I also moved a couple up the board edge in case the Russians tried to get sneaky with the hidden AT Gun. There was nothing anywhere, but when I popped a couple of HS onto the first level of the hill mass, out came some pillboxes, wire, and trenches. Using their CA against them, I flanked a couple of outlying pillboxes connecting to a vast trench network. Not wanting to lose the valuable men inside, the Russians instead pulled back into the network. Tank freeze and smoke helped the Germans move forward and once they got into the trenches, the Russians were overwhelmed. By turn 4 (of 6.5) the Germans had all four Pillboxes (of five) required for the win. Although anything can happen in ASL, we decided to end it there as the Germans had way too much firepower for the remnants of the Russian forces to overcome. Nothing particularly unique stood out about this scenario for us. We both agreed it was just OK.
 
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JRKrejsa

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Once More Unto the Breach FT 235 Tunisia, '43. Italian Airborne, regular Italians, panzergrenadiers, and some panzers must take a hill from some Scotsmen. Artillery support for both sides, broken terrain, and sun blindness. The Axis attack came at the south end on the hill, because that's where most of the victory hexes are. My Crusaders did well, 40L against 6 factor armor. But, with anf ROF of two, the hits added up quickly. On the other hand, the German 105mm OBA was accurate, and parked on top of the hill for most of the game. Once on the hill, the sun helped the axis considerably. Back and forth for the top of the hill, but the Scots held out, with the Axis only taking 6 of the nine required hexes.

Good, back to the desert scenario.
 

JRKrejsa

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Ferenc Jozef Barracks SP RPT 1 Budapest '45. Communist Romanians must clear, (no good order), a multi story building from the Hungarians. Romanian balance used. We wanted an excuse to break out my new Broken Ground Hungarians. Even with the balance, I could not clear out the Hungarians from enough locations.
So, the Hungarians were left in possession of SOME of this structure, and avoided another cold, wet night in Budapest. And they looked good doing it, with the new counters....
 

JRKrejsa

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Got Me a Tank SP RPT 144 Korea, summer '50. The NKPA is supposed to hold two buildings and still have one surviving T-34 in the same area. The early-war US is stuck between the initial small NKPA force, and a much larger one that arrived on turn 1. My Americans were able to take both victory buildings. Then came the onslaught by Kim's Finest. One building was re-taken, after some effort, but the 2 ELR Imperialists need to give ground and sulk. The most amusing part of the game was the lack of shooting skill on the part of the bazooka and T-34 /85 gunners. A lot of missed shots, at three and sometimes two hexes away. The rounds flew off into beautiful downtown Taejon....

US victory, and a fun, quick KWASL scenario.
 

joee

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I played FT213 Up the Liri Valley today at our twin cities ASL game day. I had the defending Germans against the Curtis Brook's Free French. This is a tight all-infantry scenario set on board 55. It is a real puzzle where the Germans must gain 19 VP by scoring them at the end of every turn through occupying one VP each for four different buildings and 2VP for two more remote buildings. This scenario is appealing as it requires each player to both attack and defend. Also, both sides had an instant win condition of inflicting 18 CVP on the enemy.

We ended up getting about half way through before the FF called it a day. Some effective fire and residual caused the 9-1 and a 458 to perish for 4CVP. Plus, three other broken 458s had been or were about to be taken prisoner to add another 12CVP to hit the CVP cap. Two of those breaks and captures courtesy of some very lucky SANs. They hit two 458s in very key defensive positions.

While The Germans were the beneficiary of the two SANs that helped break open the game, we both agreed this is a nifty scenario that is a nice puzzle. Currently 20-19 on ROAR.

Many thanks to Curtis for a good game despite bad luck with those SANs. He's a tough player and I look forward to a rematch.
Hi Houlie, question regarding hex VP on Up the Liri Valley. One VP point per each building F4, H5, J3, P8 and/or W6, that is 5 potential VP points total or only 1 VP, if you control at least one of the 5?
 

Houlie

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It's been a while, but we played it as 1VP available for each of the buildings you listed. Super-fun scenario. Cheers!
 

Uncle_Duke

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Yesterday, @Matt Boehland and I returned from a break to play ASL 227 Danica Air. This provided the pleasant opportunity for me to finally put my copy of Armies of Oblivion on the table after sitting around gathering dust for nearly a year.

I commanded elements of the Croatian 1st Light Infantry Parachute Company, @Matt Boehland commanded elements of the 2nd "Kalnik" Partisan Brigade.


ASL227 and J108

Danica Air was originally published in Journal 7 as J108, and it's had a few revisions for its reissue in Armies of Oblivion. First, it's now 6 ½ turns instead of 5 ½. Second, the Partisans' 50mm mortars must enter dm. Finally, wordings of VC, SSRs, etc. have been clarified. Together, these changes tend to favor the Partisans-- a necessary boost as the original scenario is 12-8 (Croatian) on ROAR as of August 2019.


Setup and Initial Thoughts

As the Croatians, my job is to defend ammunition dumps and buildings on the board 38 airfield. The airfield is very much a double edged sword.

On the one hand, there's a lot of open ground for the Partisans to cross, and the Croatians get two squad equivalents HIP, two pillboxes, three trenches, and some foxholes to play with.

On the other, the Croatians don't really have the capability to create a defense in depth-- there just isn't any place to retreat to. This is complicated by the Croatians lack of leaders (a 9-1 and an 8-1) and an SSR which prevents placement of pillboxes within 4 hexes of each other.

My general defense plan was to take advantage as much as possible of the killing zone presented by the airfield. Each building would be garrisoned by a squad or crew with a machine gun. The mortars would be concentrated in a foxhole near the center of the airstrip where they had clear fields of fire to the woodlines. The majority of my men, along with all of the trenches and one pillbox, would be deployed in the woods South of the airfield to take advantage of one of the few places in my deployment area where I had good route paths. The Northern approach would be covered by a screen of HIP half squads tucked into the thickets at the edge of my deployment area.


The Fighting

The affair almost immediately got off to a bad start for the Partisans. The good news was that they found my HIP traps on Turn 1. The bad news was that they found these traps by running headlong into them while CX. In each case, Croatians won the ambush rolls-- not a particular surprise given the net -3 modifier. Where it looked like I could win (1-1 [-2] or better), I fought. Where it didn't, I withdrew behind the Partisans to interfere with their future rout paths.

Then the mortars opened up. Two ROF 3 mortars together give an average of four attacks per turn, and these were pumping out a lot more than that. One of the first shots landed a critical hit on a large (2x squad, 2x SW, Leader) Partisan stack on the Northern flank, scoring a KIA and killing the rest for failure to route. This knocked the teeth out of the Northern thrust at a stroke.

This sort of occurrence defined the course of the fighting.

To the South, the Partisans simply didn't have the manpower to fight their way through the woods. An initial thrust made its way as far as the trench line before being ambushed and annihilated.

On the West, the attack was broken up by machine gun and mortar fire from the airfield.

The Partisans enjoyed some limited success in the Southwest, but without any sort of local support, they were not bound to get very far.

By the end of Turn 3, the Partisan attack was not merely broken up, but substantial elements were obliterated. Realizing that they lacked the manpower to press home an attack against the Croatians' fairly intact defense, the Partisans withdrew.


Conclusions

Even at 6 ½ turns, I think the Partisans have a hard time of it. The requirement that they enter from three sides as separate groups inhibits the creation of a large force capable of rooting the Croatians out from their positions. This is especially important because they lack any sort of SMOKE assets, which means that their best option to get near the buildings or ammo dumps is to first break defending Croatians by fire.

Their best option may be to enter their main force from the North, with a supporting force entering from the West in 42V4, which then proceeds East to link up with the main force. A token group, including both mortars, should enter from the South, then take up firing positions on level 2 hill hexes to provide supporting fire and, if practical, advance North through the woods to keep the Croatians honest.


And of Course....

Thanks as always to @Matt Boehland for a wonderful game! And thanks especially for his patience in the face of my incredibly hot dice.
 
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jrv

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Two ROF 3 mortars together give an average of three attacks per turn, and these were pumping out a lot more than that.
A ROF 3 weapon is expected to make an average of two attacks per turn. Two of them will make four attacks per turn, on average. This ignores malfunction and anything that might reduce ROF such as spotted fire.

JR
 

Uncle_Duke

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A ROF 3 weapon is expected to make an average of two attacks per turn. Two of them will make four attacks per turn, on average. This ignores malfunction and anything that might reduce ROF such as spotted fire.

JR
Thank you-- I got sloppy and forgot to sum the series. Correction made.
 

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Played STL4 Don't Count your Chickens from the good STL Burma pack. A group of Gurkhas is surrounded by Japanese. They must break out and exit from one at-start secretly-designed edge. As the Japanese can't defend everywhere in numbers, it looks like an easy job for the attacker except that he must exit a big chunk of its OB (including SWs). Yet the Japanese must optimise its perimeter setup otherwise the Gurkhas just rush outside before the reinforcements throw a spanner in the works. Fortunately the Japanese HIPs prevent the Gurkhas from doing silly things. Small PTO, a bit dicy as always but both sides are on their toes. A scenario to discover
 

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I played FrF86 Belgian Tigers against Matt Blackman. He chose the Germans. Here are the highlights. On turn 1, the assault engineers couldn't find their smoke grenades, and a lot of Germans got shot up while trying to cross the bridge. The Belgians were able to lay down criss-crossing fire lanes with both MMGs, and some other residual as well. But German fire turned one Belgian MMG squad berserk, and they charged to their deaths on their half of turn 1. Another squad changed positions to take over for the berserkers, but couldn't find the MMG at first. Therefore the Germans had more success getting across on turn 2, and eventually started breaking the Belgian defenders. An ATR shot brewed up one of the Belgian tanks, so they didn't even get the SSR-mandated hero surviving the wreck. The Belgians hung on by their fingernails as the Germans made more progress, but eventually a few things went their way and the Germans found themselves a couple buildings short of the victory. Good game. Despite its even record on ROAR, it feels a bit pro-German to me. The Belgians can melt pretty quickly once the Germans are across the canal.
 

waltermcwilliam

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ASL 170 11th Guards Counterattack: Ray Woloszyn and I squared off in this fun scenario. We've known each other for years and were born in the same little podunk town in western PA and never faced off. I took the fins since I'd never played that nationally before.

We had a good time, and though I played well, I just couldn't over come some lack luster dice that began about turn 2.5. I held out hope until turn 5 but to Ray's credit his guys just wouldn't break.
 

Jude

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Played BFP-78 Operation Wheatfield as the attacking Germans. I moved up the western side of the playing area in order to use the hedges for cover. Other than the four AT Crews and a bunch of concealments, the Soviets left Board 43 pretty empty. By the end of turn 2 (of 7) both forces started to engage. Luck was with me as most of the Soviet AT assets were to the east. Turn 4 had my units halfway across the last board. I was 100% sure I would be able to get the 65 VPs required for the win (exit/casualties inflicted/control of buildings) but was not sure about getting the 40 CVPs that was also required. Then the Russian tanks rolled in. After taking out two of the three and isolating a couple of Guns at the top of turn 5, I had enough CVPs to meet that requirement. By the next turn, there would be no way for the Russians to stop enough units from exiting so we called it.

Another tough scenario for the Russians, IMHO. Set up too far forward and risk getting overrun by the 11 tanks the Germans get. Set up too far back and they give up too much easy ground. The Germans have the luxury of massing their forces while the Russians have to defend a wide front with not enough infantry to cover it all adequately. The biggest key to me, however, is that German losses don't count against them. Once I got near enough to the exit board edge, I could run tanks and men up without worrying about breaks, kills, or pins. There were too many Germans and not enough Russians to hold everything back. My friend and I thought this one was just OK.
 
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Mister T

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Played RO5 Men of Steel although it came to an abrupt conclusion on turn 4 as the Soviet oppo failed his PMC. He had already lost 15.5 sq-equivalent and three Guns against the loss of only 4 German sq-equivalent. Furthermore the German had already seized 40 stone building locations. The soviet phone operator for the 120mm OBA was recon'ed by fire and fell like a rotten apple while the rocket OBA fell in empty territory (that was very fortunate as it scattered to
the only direction it could not do any damage). It would be excessive to draw any conclusion on scenario balance. What can be said is that the scenario compares unfavorably to its two monster Stalingrad brothers, the First and the Last bid as there is little manoeuver other than focus on the central area. Both sides cannot afford to risk losing control of that VC-rich factory area. So it's just a huge slugfest between two teams in a scrum (as they say in rugby union) where each hex is going to be bitterly contested. So the tactical dimension is there, the strategic one less so. Please note that it is still a great ASL experience, again only less rewarding than the two scenarios of an equivalent scale imo.
 
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TomK

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Alan Saltzman and I played Blazing Borders from the Stavka Archives. My 75 (yes, 75) squads and 12 tanks attacked his 24 Finnish squads in deep snow on the first day of the Winter War. The Finns put up a spirited and valiant defense but were unable to stand against the seemingly endless horde of Bolsheviks. Great game, though really big.
 

Thunderchief

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Just finished ASL 3 The Czerniakow Bridgehead with Darryl Lundy over two VASL sessions (about 5 hrs) and lost as the Germans with a unit being held up in CC and unable to add its FP the total required. I was way ahead in CVP but only got a CR on the last CC roll....

The Germans made a great breakthrough at the start and it still came down to the last turn. Darryl had not played it before and I last played it in 1999. Very balanced in about 200 playings on ROAR. The older scenarios still deserve some love.
 

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Last Monday my bud Curtis & I had at the old classic "RB3 Bread Factory #2". It had been ages since I had played the scenario & Curtis wasn't sure he had played it previously. Fun by all was had as the short smash mouth Stalingrad scenario played out. In the end the Germans (not me) emerged victorious though a phyric victory for him it was. Perhaps HIP'ing the Russian HMG & a 9-1 on Level 1 forward in a three hex two story stone building hoping he would not shoot a concealed 458/LMG stacked with them would allow them to trade FP shots with his 9-2 directed HMG ensconced in a wooden building (in effect a Mexican stand-off) would have been a decent if somewhat scary choice. My greatest difficulty was denying him a constant flow of reinforcements into the VC buildings that started adjacent to his set up area while attempting to retake the same said buildings (or even a single building). A little dicey but loads of old time in your face ASL fun nonetheless (great playing on the new RB map as well). It's a head scratcher for the Russkies for sure; Next up, "RB6 Turned Away"!.
 

JRKrejsa

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Cub Cub Hills FT231 Eritrea '41. Free French attacking an Italian held hill. There are a lot of hill locations to defend, but the hills are tall, and the cover sparse. Board 80. I concentrated my Frenchmen to go after the north most hill and the next mass south, 80P3. My opponent can cancel some of the level 4+ objective hexes, and they were all on this north most hill. So, smart work on his part. But, all attempts to reinforce the threatened sectors were shot down by keen eyed French MG work. In the end I was able to gain enough hill hexes.

Nice colonial battle between very average troops.
 

Hovned31

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Played FT269 End of the Rope against Mark Devries yesterday. I've been struggling with ASL burnout lately so I decided to go back to basics and play infantry only scenarios (one or two guns are OK). Mark and I had planned to play this scenario for some time but I had to cancel on him twice. The whole time I was under the assumption that I was taking the attacking Canadians/British since I was traveling to Mark's. I get to Mark's place and he was under the impression I was the Japanese. So, all the time I spent looking at the scenario ahead of time as the attacker are out the window. I agreed to the the defending Japanese and do a hasty set-up. I set up with most of my guys entrenched on the level 3 hills. One squad on my right hold the single level 2 hex on that flank. My HIP guys go in the level two woods on my left flank. Mark starts off by putting WP on my LMG stack on the left flank and moves aggressively against my left flank. I manage to gun down some guys in the open with the HIP squad and CC takes place against my smoked LMG squad and leader (squad is striped and leader is wounded-from rolling an "11" on FPF shot. Mark fails to take me out in CC and the ensuing HtH Melee is looking good for me. My turn involves some shooting with minor effects. At some point the leader he has on the left flank goes berserk but is killed in CC as are the guys in melee with my stripped squad and wounded leader (the squad gets reduced and leader dies as well). Turn 2 sees Mark smoke my mortar. He manages to clear me from the level 2 hill on my right and set up a death star with a leader, 2 squads and 2 LMGs to fire at my turn 2 reinforcements as they enter. In defensive fire, my smoked mortar fires at his gun and scores a CH! So long artillery piece! We have another inconclusive melee on the right flank. My turn 2. My Mortar (which is shooting out of SMOKE) manages to place a smoke round on Mark's death star on my right flank. My reinforcements can now move on board free of negative shots. I run CX around Mark's guys on the hill and his fire from the smoke filled hex has no effect. I am in position to place him in encirclement. Turn 3 Mark has to move off the hill to avoid encirclement and I manage to shoot him up pretty good. He calls it a game at that point. I broke my 9 game losing streak, we had a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to one more all infantry scenario before my upcoming 6 month ASL hiatus due to work travel.
 
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mgmasl

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I’ve played recently this scenario and if I remember correctly it’s raining at scenario start.. so no smoke possible until rain stops... at least we played this way.
 
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