So what scenarios have you played Recently?

Uncle_Duke

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J59 Friday the 13th
11/23/2019
As German, vs BL

A remarkably unsatisfying scenario. German armor isn't even remotely suited to the task at hand, with limited HE ammunition and a dearth of MGs. I'd have happily traded all of the JgPz IVs for a Panther or Tiger.


ASL 162 Armored Car Savikurki
12/04/2019
As Finnish, vs MB

Gave the Soviets the balance this time, due to a heavily pro-Finnish record. This playthrough proved that I can lose as either side. Short. Dicey. Fun if you're into the Winter War and one-off Finnish armored cars.


J122 Bloody Bois Jacques
12/14/2019
As US vs JB

American paratroopers fighting their way through the woods near Foy, Belgium. Germans have some interesting SSRs that presage the PFZ rules by four years. German observers were very out of place, and OBA utterly ineffective. This allowed the Americans to locally overwhelm the defense, turn a flank, then exit for the win.


ASL1 Fighting Withdrawal
12/18/2019
As Soviet vs MB

A classic for a reason, this one came down to the final move phase of the final turn. If either side stops to shoot, they'll lose, victory comes from a mad dash towards the exits in the MPh, RTPh, and APh interspersed by whatever shots you can take in the DFPh and AFPh. Planning movement is key to both sides, and an unfortunate change of wind can throw all of that careful planning out the window at a moment's notice. A wonderful way to wrap up 2019, I'd play this one again as either side in a heartbeat.


DASL20 Smoke the Kents!
01/07/2020
As German vs MB

My introduction to the world of DASL. The Germans have a bit of a weird force composition, in that they're infantry poor but armor rich. The defending British have more infantry than the Germans and a load of ATRs, which pack plenty of punch to knock out the tanks at any range likely to be encountered in the map. I think the onus is on the German player to properly understand how to use armor to support an infantry assault in close quarters. I did not, and my attack failed as a result.


ASL147 A Stiff Fight
01/11/2020
As Gurkha vs RH

This foray into the jungles of Malaysia fortuitously coincided with my finishing HP Wilmott's excellent book "Empires in the Balance." This is a short nasty jungle fight that has everything one could ask for except flamethrowers. Dice were very much on the Gurkhas' side this time around-- it's not often that a force in ASL will end a scenario with more leaders than they started, and the addition of not one but two 8-1s turned the few surviving Gurkha squads into nigh-unstoppable monsters.


FT269 End of the Rope...
01/20/2020
As Japanese vs CH

One of probably only a small handful of scenarios set during the Japanese attack on Hong Kong in late 1941. An interesting premise in that it features a mixed group of British and Canadians attacking a company or so of Japanese entrenched on a hilltop-- and the Canadians are represented by Allied Minor counters. I think this one is going to turn out very pro-Japanese in the long run, as the effectiveness of of British fire support depends heavily on the weather cooperating-- an unlikely occurrence since there is Light Rain at start, and that the Japanese can easily dodge most of it by using a reverse slope defense.


RB4 To the Rescue
02/17/2020
As German vs CB

NOTE: This scenario played with all applicable RB overlays, which may swing the balance pro-German by adding another potential escape gully in FF11 and EE12.

This is what Stalingrad fighting is all about. A group of Germans have gone and gotten themselves stranded at the Volga end of Landing Strip Gully. A rescue group starting out in the factory complex must break them out. Our playthrough was defined by intense back and forth fighting in the Chemist's shop as the stranded Germans made a run for Hall 4. A group of Soviet reinforcements managed to cut them off from the north, and even established a firebase in Hall 6a, but to no avail. A hard fought German win.


J150 The Sangshak Redemption
02/20/2020
As Japanese vs MB

Another PTO classic. An initial Banzai charge supported by mortar fire got the Japanese into the objective area in short order. Then the Gurkhas showed up and the Japanese had to hold on for dear life in three turns of house to house fighting. When the dust finally settled, the Japanese won, but the issue had been in doubt throughout the last CCPh.
 

wrongway149

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? Wow, this one caught my attention as well but ROAR has it quite pro-Hungarian/German (though very few playings recorded: 21 only). Good to have an AAR on this one as just looking at the board, forces, VCs & time limits it didn't grab me as a potential barker.
Good discussion- I think it ended up Pro-Axis (might be just right with the Russian balance) . The German reinforcements are just a tad too tough.

I've half a mind to re-do as a Deluxe scenario.
 

Houlie

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I committed to playing more ASL this year. A subset of that resolution was to chip away at some classic chestnut scenarios I have never gotten around to playing. So, when paired up with Stewart King in round 2 of the ersatz league rolled around, I proposed 3 The Czerniakow Bridgehead from Beyond Valor. This is a 1944 Russian / Partisan city defense against the canal-crossing Huns. It’s a 10-turner, all infantry. It sat at 105-98 favoring the Russians on ROAR.

I’ll briefly summarize our play: The Russians, who set up on board 23 (canal board) decided to avoid an upfront defense. I saw the two forward stone buildings as undefendable without risk of significant loss of precious Russian 447s. Too easy to get broken and captured losing critical CVP and defensive assets. Too, the Turn 1 SSR German Rally Phase NMC that every 447 had to take could mean breaking before ever getting off a shot and being captured. Just not worth it – especially when the Germans have ten turns to achieve their objective which is score more CVP than the Russian AND have 20 FP of firepower potential on board 8. As it turned out, all the 447s that failed the Turn 1 NMC SSR (five broke IIRC) were able to rout safely away to rally and rejoin the fight.

I did a slow withdrawal as the Russians slowly shifting squads to the Russian right flank – their main thrust. A German platoon attacked the Russian left flank, but got outnumbered there and were essentially pinned down for several turns with difficult prospects of extricating themselves without great risk. I took every reasonable opportunity to hit Germans on -2 shots. Eventually, the 1-2, 2-2 and occasional 4-1/-2 started to break squads forcing them backwards to rally. I stayed very agile, adjusting my Russian and partisan squads. It was through turn six and I was probably behind on CVP at the moment by ~4 or so, but I had a lot of guys well-positioned between the Germans and the “VC board”. Moving the Germans forward meant a lot of -2 shots. Plus, I had 4 x 127s HIP at key points near the entry of board 8 to further stymie the attack. At this point, Stewart assessed his situation and decided to issue the order to fall back and regroup.

This was a very tight, tense scenario with its ROAR record supporting this razor's edge. I enjoyed the challenge as the defender trying to “hold it together” with fairly crappy troops and few SWs. A lot of Partisan shots were in the 1-2 category (long range). Similar, 447 long range shots were 2-2. Partisan ammo shortage meant no firelanes for them – that’s a downer. Also, once the Germans got the 3 x 467, HMG, 2 x MMG in the big stone building at level 2, Allied movement got a lot harder, as expected. Fortunately, Mr. 9-2 got wounded on turn 1 and the HMG team accidentally left their repair kit back across the canal when it gacked it a few turns later. A more effectual death star could have easily swung the outcome.

All in all, a very recommended scenario with many decisions and challenges for both sides.
 
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Eagle4ty

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I committed to playing more ASL this year. A subset of that resolution was to chip away at some classic chestnut scenarios I have never gotten around to playing. So, when paired up with Stewart King in round 2 of the ersatz league rolled around, I proposed 3 The Czerniakow Bridgehead from Beyond Valor. This is a 1944 Russian / Partisan city defense against the canal-crossing Huns. It’s a 10-turner, all infantry. It sat at 105-98 favoring the Russians on ROAR.

I’ll briefly summarize our play: The Russians, who set up on board 23 (canal board) decided to avoid an upfront defense. I saw the two forward stone buildings as undefendable without risk of significant loss of precious Russian 447s. Too easy to get broken and captured losing critical CVP and defensive assets. Too, the Turn 1 SSR German Rally Phase NMC that every 447 had to take could mean breaking before ever getting off a shot and being captured. Just not worth it – especially when the Germans have ten turns to achieve their objective which is score more CVP than the Russian AND have 20 FP of firepower potential on board 8. As it turned out, all the 447s that failed the Turn 1 NMC SSR (five broke IIRC) were able to rout safely away to rally and rejoin the fight.

I did a slow withdrawal as the Russians slowly shifting squads to the Russian right flank – their main thrust. A German platoon attacked the Russian left flank, but got outnumbered there and were essentially pinned down for several turns with difficult prospects of extricating themselves without great risk. I took every reasonable opportunity to hit Germans on -2 shots. Eventually, the 1-2, 2-2 and occasional 4-1/-2 started to break squads forcing them backwards to rally. I stayed very agile, adjusting my Russian and partisan squads. It was through turn six and I was probably behind on CVP at the moment by ~4 or so, but I had a lot of guys well-positioned between the Germans and the “VC board”. Moving the Germans forward meant a lot of -2 shots. Plus, I had 4 x 127s HIP at key points near the entry of board 8 to further stymie the attack. At this point, Stewart assessed his situation and decided to issue the order to fall back and regroup.

This was a very tight, tense scenario with its ROAR record supporting this razors edge. I enjoyed the challenge as the defender trying to “hold it together” with fairly crappy troops and few SWs. A lot of Partisan shots were in the 1-2 category (long range). Similar, 447 long range shots were 2-2. Partisan ammo shortage meant no firelanes for them – that’s a downer. Also, once the Germans got the 3 x 467, HMG, 2 x MMG in the big stone building at level 2, Allied movement got a lot harder, as expected. Fortunately, Mr. 9-2 got wounded on turn 1 and the HMG team accidentally left their repair kit back across the canal when it gacked it a few turns later. A more effectual death star could have easily swung the outcome.

All in all, a very recommended scenario with many decisions and challenges for both sides.
Funny, I think it's the only BV original module scenario I haven't played yet either.
 

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I’m doing Czerniakow Bridgehead via pbem at present. Playing the Germans. The Russian sniper has been a major pain in the backside. My opponent is taking lots of 1 and 2 -2 shots and they are being very (frustratingly, because I can never get those shots to be effective whe I shoot them) effective and slowing my progress. I can’t seen to make a morale or rally check either. Luckily its 10 turn. My advice: attack to 1 side and not up the middle. Mass your Germans before moving onto the board tht trips the Russian sniper increase. I pushed too fast with too few units and tripped th sniper too early.
 

volgaG68

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Earlier this week I completed ASL 131, The Penetration of Rostov. I enjoyed the scenario with my German opponent winning in Turn 10 of 11. My Russians fell back the length of the board (#1), but were unable to hold any one position for more than one turn. When the AFV came on in Turn 8, the German Juggernaut could not be stopped. The last Russian squad in the last Multi-story building on the board went berserk in the German part of 10 and in the Russian 10 he charged into the ADJACENT Germans facing a 36FP +1 and then a SFF of 16 +1 suffering reduction with each shot, securing the German victory. I enjoyed the scenario and would recommend it.
Great scenario, agreed. Just finished this one with the Germans winning during their DFPh of Russian Turn 9b (11b). One 4-5-8 left which initially went berserk under DF, then the PzIVF1 got a CH and he became Red mist! A great "fighting withdrawal" scenario. EDIT: German AFV came on in Turn 3, which definitely helped.
 

Mister T

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Great scenario, agreed. Just finished this one with the Germans winning during their DFPh of Russian Turn 9b (11b). One 4-5-8 left which initially went berserk under DF, then the PzIVF1 got a CH and he became Red mist! A great "fighting withdrawal" scenario. EDIT: German AFV came on in Turn 3, which definitely helped.
It's also a good scenario if lengthy for a 'advanced beginner', with one Gun and one vehicle.
 
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Eagle4ty

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I've found the lengthy scenarios are better for a beginner or advanced beginner because they tend to be less dicey, allow for mistakes to be ameliorated in latter turns, infuse rule knowledge by constant or at least frequent repetitiveness, the early ones tend to introduce fewer force multipliers such as vehicles, guns, PBs, etc. and when they do one has a chance to use/misuse them without making or breaking the scenario in most instances.
 

von Marwitz

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I've found the lengthy scenarios are better for a beginner or advanced beginner because they tend to be less dicey, allow for mistakes to be ameliorated in latter turns, infuse rule knowledge by constant or at least frequent repetitiveness, the early ones tend to introduce fewer force multipliers such as vehicles, guns, PBs, etc. and when they do one has a chance to use/misuse them without making or breaking the scenario in most instances.
I think it depends.

For true beginners, short ones will do. Quicker to set up. The newbie will not win anyway, so balance and diceyness are not an issue. The scenario at this point is merely a tool to explain basic game mechanisms and to illustrate some early important lessons (for example that it is dangerous to step out on a road with -1FFMO and -1FFNAM around).

For intermediate and advanced beginners I think that medium / tournament sized scenarios are best.
While it is true that large scenarios are less dicey and allow some mistakes to be ameliorated, they also take a lot of time which might more be a factor for less experienced players. Furthermore, during long scenarios, the effects of good and bad play tend to accumulate with the effect of deciding the outcome quite some time before the scenario comes to its regular end. That way, new players would miss out on learning "the end game", which is very important to delve into from early on. Too many players, even more experienced ones, give up too early because they think they've 'lost it' already. IMHO one of the arts of ASL is to do as much as possible with as little as possible. In this regard, practicing 'end game' situations where your chances to win are slim yet existent will help your play during all stages of an ASL scenario.

von Marwitz
 

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Dilemma on Ma Po Boulevard LFT S4 Korea, '50 Assorted NKPA remnants must keep the USMC from exiting, or controlling too many roadblocks. Not much room for maneuver here. Flanking parties can go out through the dense urban maze, but the main show is on the boulevard itself.
I set my mob, or assorted NKPA, to hold the 1st roadblock in GG22 in depth. And hold they did, spider hole ambush, and a very active sniper gave me some hope against the Marine firepower. In retrospective, I should have put even more men here, as the other two roadblocks cannot be attacked, at least by tanks, until the first one falls. Once they were through my defenses there, an equal amount of USMC went after the N/E roadblock and the one in HH28. Both fell, but I was in the game until then due to being very close to the CVP cap. My suicide heroes- (TH heroes), - sent them all, made one attack, the rest were shot down quickly.

Fun scenario.
 

Spencer Armstrong

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First round of COVID-19 tourney was a Japanese win for me in 147 A Stiff Fight vs Pete Palmer. Hadn't played it in 20 years. I suspect the prevalence of half squad shenanigans is why the new version appears pro-Gurkha while the old appears balanced (Note: the scenario is unchanged). Took the whole game to run all the buggers down even after a magical turn 2 where I killed 3/7 squads and cleared the road of wire with minimal losses.

Finished FrF64 No Time to Bleed, winning with the Germans vs Steve Anderson last night. Shelling designs for board FrFA, this one was irresistible once I noticed its existence. I pushed through the village and had pretty good success, had three squads and the 9-1 within striking distance when the game ended on turn 4 due to the armor game. Steve was a bit overextended and a bunch unlucky with his armor. He had a lone T-34 M41 left to my two Tigers and PzIVH (I had lost both Panther D's, don't ask) when he conceded, unable to close that gap. The star was the PzIVH, with three total kills including two to save his own bacon in turn 4 against bracketing T-34s. Fun scenario. Despite the result, I think this is tough on the Germans as it stands.
 
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Spencer Armstrong

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I really like 'clumpy' maps like this one. And 67.
I love this board so much. I'm just waiting for it to get baptized in BoF2. Seriously, Chas and Mattias...make this happen.

BFP-R is another one in this neck of the woods. Just played a scenario on it and got similar vibes. It's a little more open with a road up the gut, but in the neighborhood.
 

Houlie

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I wrapped up 164 Torment at Tormua as the attacking Russians against Steve Anderson’s Finns. It was excellent and entertaining – and the first scenario I have played from HP. It has two distinct “fronts” for much of the game 1) the attack on the Bd 42 village to gain building VC (2 VP each x 12 possible) and the fight down the forest road. CVP are awarded normally, though prisoner bonus is NA. Russian had the balance (upgrade one 447 to a 458 and eliminate one 8-0 Finn leader (of which they had 10!)

The Russians moved very methodically into the Bd 42 village. Two outlying buildings fell quickly. On “The Road” I bumped into the first 45L and eliminated the crew in CC and captured the gun. Over the next few turns, a few other Finn units were swarmed and FTRed. The Russian horde of ten squad equivalents eliminated all but a 548/9-1/HMG on The Road while capturing both 45Ls. On the upcoming turn 7 they were poised to reach the village outskirts to pressure the Finns and possibly contest two buildings there.

In the village, through Russian turn 6 I had five VP buildings (after another one was lost and retaken by the Finns) and was comfortable consolidating my defense there. The CVP count through 5.5 turns was 29 – 11 which included the two captured 45Ls. More ominous was the arriving Russian force from The Road now able to take pressure off the Finn village counterattack and force a defensive response on the Finn’s right flank. At this point, the Finns would need to cross open ground against strong firepower to threaten the Russian village perimeter. This, with the current CVP gap, the Finns decided to fall back, warm up and regroup for another day.

A challenging and fun scenario against a wily opponent. Lots of decisions in this for both sides. Some odd dice where we saw a total of 8 x HS roll 6,6 on rallies or MCs – 5 Russian and 3 Finn. Steve had 3 x 1,1s on one half turn’s MCs creating a heroic leader, fanatic 548 and a hero. The Russian armor played very conservatively adding little to the outcome – other than not becoming easy CVP for the Finns. Scenario now stands 20-13 on ROAR favoring the Finns. Thanks to Steve to yet another challenging and entertaining game.
 
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boylermaker

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Played Subterranean Quarry, and oldie from the original Partisan module. The road net of board 1 represents mining tunnels running underneath board 4, with 5 entrances connecting the two boards. A mixed force of 14-15 partisan 5-2-7/3-3-7 squads set up in the tunnels, and 20 Romanian 5-4-8s with 4(!) flamethrowers have eight turns to eliminate all of them from the tunnel system.

My opponent set up pretty evenly throughout the tunnel system, and I wiped the floor with him. I'm not sure how the Partisans are supposed to win this one, but I suspect it might have to do with putting all of our forces at one entrance, wiping out any Romanians that come down that way, and then escaping into the open where you can threaten to come down any of the entrance hexes. If you managed that (no easy task; there is an 80% chance that you are attacking a flamethrower), you might have a shot at stalling the Romanians.

Regardless, the scenario was a very cool idea, but I think it's a dud. Combat in the tunnels just isn't very fun, and the Romanians have so much time that it discourages them from doing anything other than assault-move/advancing next to the Partisans. The partisan OB is variable, but not in any interesting way: I never figured out which OB my opponent had, and it never mattered.

I would say skip it, but I think a different scenario along these could be a lot of fun if there was much more fog of war, and guaranteed movement by both sides from the quarry to the area above ground and back.
 

Spencer Armstrong

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Played Subterranean Quarry, and oldie from the original Partisan module. The road net of board 1 represents mining tunnels running underneath board 4, with 5 entrances connecting the two boards. A mixed force of 14-15 partisan 5-2-7/3-3-7 squads set up in the tunnels, and 20 Romanian 5-4-8s with 4(!) flamethrowers have eight turns to eliminate all of them from the tunnel system.

My opponent set up pretty evenly throughout the tunnel system, and I wiped the floor with him. I'm not sure how the Partisans are supposed to win this one, but I suspect it might have to do with putting all of our forces at one entrance, wiping out any Romanians that come down that way, and then escaping into the open where you can threaten to come down any of the entrance hexes. If you managed that (no easy task; there is an 80% chance that you are attacking a flamethrower), you might have a shot at stalling the Romanians.

Regardless, the scenario was a very cool idea, but I think it's a dud. Combat in the tunnels just isn't very fun, and the Romanians have so much time that it discourages them from doing anything other than assault-move/advancing next to the Partisans. The partisan OB is variable, but not in any interesting way: I never figured out which OB my opponent had, and it never mattered.

I would say skip it, but I think a different scenario along these could be a lot of fun if there was much more fog of war, and guaranteed movement by both sides from the quarry to the area above ground and back.
This one definitely has that "ASL still finding its feet" feel. There's a certain enthusiasm of youth to it (a la Finnish overdesign in BV). I think "cool idea, but a dud" is the consensus.
 

JRKrejsa

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Played Subterranean Quarry, and oldie from the original Partisan module. The road net of board 1 represents mining tunnels running underneath board 4, with 5 entrances connecting the two boards. A mixed force of 14-15 partisan 5-2-7/3-3-7 squads set up in the tunnels, and 20 Romanian 5-4-8s with 4(!) flamethrowers have eight turns to eliminate all of them from the tunnel system.

My opponent set up pretty evenly throughout the tunnel system, and I wiped the floor with him. I'm not sure how the Partisans are supposed to win this one, but I suspect it might have to do with putting all of our forces at one entrance, wiping out any Romanians that come down that way, and then escaping into the open where you can threaten to come down any of the entrance hexes. If you managed that (no easy task; there is an 80% chance that you are attacking a flamethrower), you might have a shot at stalling the Romanians.

Regardless, the scenario was a very cool idea, but I think it's a dud. Combat in the tunnels just isn't very fun, and the Romanians have so much time that it discourages them from doing anything other than assault-move/advancing next to the Partisans. The partisan OB is variable, but not in any interesting way: I never figured out which OB my opponent had, and it never mattered.

I would say skip it, but I think a different scenario along these could be a lot of fun if there was much more fog of war, and guaranteed movement by both sides from the quarry to the area above ground and back.
Neat concept. But it was a massacre decades ago when I played it too.
 
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