So what scenarios have you played Recently?

Jude

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Playing some short and long scenarios since my friend and I have some time. Almost finished with our foray into Italy 1944 and started the Eastern Front 1944 for a bit. I played as the Germans in all three.

OA6 Mounted Extraction. Germans have to exit 28 VP of units off the board. All four tanks can easily exit as they enter where they are supposed to exit. That means at least four points of infantry must exit. Without mounting as riders, I figured it would take five of six turns to exit some infantry. On turn five I was poised to exit two leaders, three squads, and all the tanks using armored assault. Two shots by the Russians broke a leader and two squads. Lost by one point. Tense cat and mouse game.

G5 Six Came Back. As bleak as the name sounds. The Americans didn’t get mauled, but their starting position is not very good. Broke enough guys that FTR kills and prisoners were becoming commonplace. Ended this one early as there just doesn't seem like much for the Americans to do. Neither one of us liked this scenario.

ITR-16 The Fighting Tank Busters. Crazy hot dice for me. Got critical hits with the OBA, the Nashorn, and a CH on the lone British AT Gun. Even if it wasn’t for that – which was pretty considerable – the two modules of OBA put a serious hurting on the poor British. I lost one tank. Called it early. ROAR has it 7-1 pro German. I’d say that’s about right.
 

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BFP75 Schreiber's Success, over PBEM.

I played this about two years ago as the defender, and really enjoyed thinking through the extensive Fortifications setup.This time I was the attacking Germans, so I was initially worried about the many defensive tricks I knew were available to the Russians...

My opponent chose to use the AT ditch, then Wire, to make an almost continuous line of tricky hexes for the German armor; unsurprisingly, the access to the one-hex gap was covered by mines, both AP and AT. The AT ditch was running from the West edge, Wire from the East. What was a bit strange was that the AT ditch was adjacent both to the multi-hex building in F4-E5, and to the village in J6 with a connecting trench in J7, so it provided the attackers with very convenient cover to reach the village. This was intended as a way out for the Russian defenders initially placed in the ditch, but it ended up helping me much more.

In the first turns I Searched for mines and HIP units a lot (mostly in the Grain patches), so they didn't inflict too many casualties but that slowed me down a bit. But with a lot of firepower and a 10-2 leader (initially on the small hill; I expected this to be in LOS of the Russian 81mm mortar so I was ready to move out quickly), I managed to break the first line of defenders and my SS quickly reached the buildings and the AT Ditch. With Germans visible on both ends of it, some of the broken Russian defenders could not use it to rout; I think only one squad or HS (out of 3-4 squads) made it back.

When my StuG entered I sent them on the hill from where they put Smoke to help cover the 10-2 and his kill stack, by now in an upper building (I should have sent one StuG to the left in anticipation of the T34s entering, but I was afraid of offering a side shot to a hidden AT Gun).

Overall I was pretty lucky in my offensive; the AT Gun and mortars were quickly put out of action or impaired by smoke, and I only lost one StuG to an AT minefield. The Russian sniper (SAN4) was pretty active but never managed to hit a key leader or unit; mine (SAN3) only made one early move, but that was to kill the best Russian leader so it was pretty significant. The SS rushed to the village through the AT ditch, and even when the T34 platoon came to reinforce the West flank and broke a lot of squads, their huge morale and high number of leaders quickly made a difference.

We stopped the game with one full turn remaining, but by this point it was more than a done deal. The Russians had lost two of their T34s with the third in CC with a Fanatic SS squad, and they had, I believe, two unbroken squads remaining, 527 with no SW so pretty easy to maneuver around, especially when you have Assault Engineers ready to lay some smoke.

This game was pretty one-sided, in good part, I believe, because the Fortifications ended up being way more useful to the attacker than the defender. Still, I highly recommend this scenario to anyone looking for some practice playing with fortifications - with mines, wire, pillboxes, trenches and AT Ditch, it's got it all, and plenty of them.
 

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G5 Six Came Back. As bleak as the name sounds. The Americans didn’t get mauled, but their starting position is not very good. Broke enough guys that FTR kills and prisoners were becoming commonplace. Ended this one early as there just doesn't seem like much for the Americans to do. Neither one of us liked this scenario.
At the time it was released, it was an original design and i liked it. The passage of time has probably been detrimental as the Germans have a lot of mobile firepower and would now use it more proficiently than before.

ITR-16 The Fighting Tank Busters. Crazy hot dice for me. Got critical hits with the OBA, the Nashorn, and a CH on the lone British AT Gun. Even if it wasn’t for that – which was pretty considerable – the two modules of OBA put a serious hurting on the poor British. I lost one tank. Called it early. ROAR has it 7-1 pro German. I’d say that’s about right.
I would agree. Looks grim for the British.
 

Ray Woloszyn

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Playing some short and long scenarios since my friend and I have some time. Almost finished with our foray into Italy 1944 and started the Eastern Front 1944 for a bit. I played as the Germans in all three.

OA6 Mounted Extraction. Germans have to exit 28 VP of units off the board. All four tanks can easily exit as they enter where they are supposed to exit. That means at least four points of infantry must exit. Without mounting as riders, I figured it would take five of six turns to exit some infantry. On turn five I was poised to exit two leaders, three squads, and all the tanks using armored assault. Two shots by the Russians broke a leader and two squads. Lost by one point. Tense cat and mouse game.
Being a short and somewhat fun scenario I played it about four times as the Germans until I finally won on my fourth try. It is always close but pro-Russian IMHO.
 

Vic Provost

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Green Apples DftB DB 153 China, '45, Nationalist Paratroopers and a handful of US advisers jump into river delta country and must; avoid losses, exit, and or, shut down a road, or the river traffic. The Japanese are reinforced by just about everything, including cavalry, a/c, HA-GOs, and a boat.
My jump was scattered, but not horrible for my luck in airdrop scenarios. With where everyone ended up, the nearest objectives were to cut the road and river, at the bridge. This turned into a fine furball, with my opponent alternating his reinforcements arriving o either side of the river. My troops on the south side of the river were all but wiped out. On the northside, in the hexrow X treeline, I was able to hold out, even after two banzai charges. In the end, I was able to shut the road and river, but blowing up the bridge was never a serious thought...

Fun scenario.
Fun and very re-playable to say the least, with the drop never being the same nor what the reinforcements will be or where they might be or coming from. Throw in the VC menu and we have yet another brilliant design from Tom Morin that is well worth brushing up on the paradrop rules to try it out, Vic.
 

Jude

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At the time it was released, it was an original design and i liked it. The passage of time has probably been detrimental as the Germans have a lot of mobile firepower and would now use it more proficiently than before.
Since it is a very old scenario, I know I played this before. I just can't remember what happened. I agree with you about the mobile firepower. Plus not prep firing much and using half squads more definitely affected the game (which, in my younger days, I usually prep fired and rarely used half squads). The Americans were corralled in the woods and buildings, shot up, and then routed to death. Not much fun.

I would agree. Looks grim for the British.
Two keys for me was the placement of the two rubble markers and using a small HS rush. I placed one so I had a clean OBA LOS to the interior of the factory and another so I could negate some blind hexes to the rear of the village. I then used some sacrificial HS to run up to some forward positions. My friend bit on one. Once I had that known enemy unit in sight down came the OBA. With almost every British unit clustered in the village, I didn't care if it was accurate or not. With the heavy rain LV modifier, it couldn't be accurate anyway (LV always confuses me, but I think we played that right). Irregardless, that was fine with me. I just corrected the SR and called for FFE conversion not caring where it landed and let the pounding commence. My men hit the other side of the village and that was that.

As a side note, my friend screwed up his placement of his field phone. He placed it in a bad spot with limited visibility (the steeple) so his OBA never played a role.
 

Jude

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Being a short and somewhat fun scenario I played it about four times as the Germans until I finally won on my fourth try. It is always close but pro-Russian IMHO.
Did you try to mount up or armor assault in your attempts? I used the StuGs as deterrents for the Russians coming onboard and left some squads behind to delay the onboard Russians. Once I saw where they were going, two StuGs went to escort the infantry while the other two harassed the side I was moving towards. With no MGs to speak of on them made the tanks less useful than say having a Mk. III or IV. Plus, trying to keep a seven hex distance to avoid a lucky DI shot from one of the ATRs made their use tricky (and their side armor is crap!). Vehicular smoke helped, but it was fickle. Tough choices made it fun. Plus, as you said, it is fast so it's easy to try this one in after playing a more meaty scenario for the day.
 

Ray Woloszyn

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Did you try to mount up or armor assault in your attempts? I used the StuGs as deterrents for the Russians coming onboard and left some squads behind to delay the onboard Russians. Once I saw where they were going, two StuGs went to escort the infantry while the other two harassed the side I was moving towards. With no MGs to speak of on them made the tanks less useful than say having a Mk. III or IV. Plus, trying to keep a seven hex distance to avoid a lucky DI shot from one of the ATRs made their use tricky (and their side armor is crap!). Vehicular smoke helped, but it was fickle. Tough choices made it fun. Plus, as you said, it is fast so it's easy to try this one in after playing a more meaty scenario for the day.
I tried about everything but playing it when it first was published I probably was not as polished a player as I am now so when I tried it years later it seemed to go better. Unfortunately even that last playing was in the distant past such that I have forgotten how I played it.
 

Ray Woloszyn

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Played Saint-George [DB154] from the recent "Bunker." My usual face-to-face opponent was Dave Stephens. My French held tough but collapsed just as the needed reinforcements were arriving. Unfortunately the two good order squads remaining from the initial onboard group broke on turn five and allowed the Germans to get a toehold over the rail line. That toehold then expanded with eight morale Germans, a battle hardened 10-2 and two heroes that my five H35's could hardly scratch. Worse was my poor placement of the two Auto Cannon trucks which were quickly dispatched by the German Stugs. In hindsight they need to set way back and then be moved across the rail line and get concealment to protect the turn five reinforcements as well as the victory areas. Both sides got an immediate OBA bombardment but the Germans got there Stuka too early to interdict the French reinforcements. Good scenario that went to the last French advancing fire phase.
 

Jude

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Played J120 Ishun Tank Traps as the Germans. I misread the set up and thought all the tank traps had to go on board 43. I left two spots open to funnel the Russian tanks towards my AT Gun. I got one tank with a trap but by sheer luck on his part, my friend drove all the rest of his tanks through that two hex open spot. I got two more with the 75 but a mad dash by a CX Russian squad killed my crew in CC (although my crew did take him out as well). At that point I thought it was over, but my friend just slowly crept his tanks up. I even asked why he was moving them so cautiously. He didn’t reply. After the game he asked where the rest of the traps were and I pointed them out. He asked why I didn’t put any on board 18 and that’s when I realized my mistake. Oh well. They were still effective in that by not knowing where they were he moved slower than he could have.

So on the last turn my guys still held two buildings. Then came the inevitable “I’m going to lose if I don’t run my guys up in a suicide charge to take one of the buildings on the last turn” silliness (I've been guilty of this many times as well. In fact, in this very scenario). Well, it worked for him. My guys held bravely taking out two more tanks with PFs but the CX 9-2 Russian leader and three survivors with two LMGs took out a squad and leader holding one of the buildings in CC with no casualties against them. Then it was my turn to throw tactics out the window and run up to face ridiculous firepower coming from the building. One squad survived the bum rush but died in CC. I think a more aggressive Russian player should have an easier time than my friend did. Once the 75 is found out (there’s not a lot of great places to put it if you want to get some decent shots off) play follow the leader until the tank trap area is clear and blast the meager German force to bits with those tanks. Always fun if it comes down to the last turn, though.
 
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fabiofotomoto

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Played Hill 41 from Biazza Ridge as Americans. The germans have to cross all the map (45 hexes) passing over 3 hills full of not entrenched americans, exiting 15 VP of infantry and saving 7 tanks going off map within turn 9. The german force is strong, especially the panzers, 2 waves for a total of 18 PzIII/PzIV instead the american are very poor of AT weapons, a couple of 57L but one manned by a HS and not emplaced, 3 37LL and 2 81mtr but for set up fare from entry point and 9 baz 43 spreads along the large map. At the end of turn 4 the germans have take the Hill 41, losing an AC and an immobile pzIII, the americans overrunned in the olive groves! and baz all malfunctions in OVR preventions :-(. After that the germans falls in the american OBA sight and in range of the other 57L, but while OBA done its works the 57L roll 6,6 at its first shot, repaired the next turn, and roll again 6,6 !. The cleaning of the 2nd hill cost much to the germans in panzer, 9 killed or imobilized with some good and lucky shots from the 37LLs and BAZ. At the end the germans was able to exit with what they needs and win. A very good scenario, with a lots of set up and tactic options from both sides, i think it can be replayed more than one, and enjoy every time!. About the module: The maps are fantastic ( yes, i read someone critics them for the thickness of the paper, but anyway when you play a so big map you need to use a plexiglass over it, so at the end no different between this one or for example the FT Seoul map) and clear, needs only some time to learn how use the hillock half level above very levels, after that you really have the sensation to fight in a real hilly countryside. The scenario itself is son of a deep historical research but keep hight playability. I suggest for which have buy this product to start to play it!
 

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Played ITR-17 The Devil’s Factory as the defending Germans. The Americans, split up into two (or three) groups must take two of three building by game’s end. The northern American group was absolutely pounded by the 80mm OBA. So much so, that it basically decided the game. The southwestern group made decent progress but faced a buzzsaw once they entered the factory. The US OBA was ineffective because the offboard observer is only at level one which basically limited his targets to any units on the western side of the village. I made sure to keep most of my guys in blind hexes to prevent them from being pounded. By the end of the game, only the church building fell. Fun. Surprised there are only (now) three recorded playings of this on ROAR. It certainly has enough to make either side entertaining to play. Give this one a try.
 

Ray Woloszyn

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Played Hill 41 from Biazza Ridge as Americans.
Nice to see this posted. I am afraid I will start with the smaller scenarios from "Brevity Assault." That way without a huge investment in tine I can say I have played these new items in the ASL canon.
 

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Played a fun game of 78: Encounter at Cornimont.

The French must defend a small village on the right overlooked by a hill on the left. They have a force of mixed bag infantry supported by 3 truck-mounted 75-mm AA guns. The Germans have a company or two of first-line infantry entering on motorcycles and trucks, supported by 5 armored cars. Although only the village matters for VC, there is a wrinkle that if the Germans can get a unit on the top of the hill, the French AA-trucks are all recalled. The armored cars and about half of the German infantry appears from the left on turn 1, the rest of the infantry on trucks can appear on the left on turn 2, or on the right on turn 3. If you choose to delay their entry until turn 3, however, the trucks are forced to enter from offroad, and not very close to any road either, so there is basically no point to ever doing that. I wonder whether there is a typo on the scenario card?

I decided to ignore the hilltop entirely and instead use bullets to recall the French truck-guns to the great motor pool in the sky. The armored cars charged forward into the face of the French defense, popping smoke dischargers along the way to cover the infantry, which (mostly) safely scuttled sideways across the French front to arrive in the nearest part of the village. It took two or three turns to kill the French trucks, get all my infantry into the village, and then force a crossing of the stream that divided the village in two.

The cost of this was brutal: I lost 4 of my 5 armored cars in the first couple of turns, as well as a small handful of trucks and squads. By the end of turn 3, I was well established in the village, but had suffered 28 CVP, and would insta-lose if I got to 31. The good news was that the surviving armored car was perched in a position where it could interdict any French efforts to redeploy the hilltop defenders into the village, and the crew of that AC were wizards with their IFE; of a platoon or two of Frenchies on the hill, only a single green squad ever made it into the village. So I had a ton of time to clear out the village, and local superiority of forces to do it with, I just had to be very cautious.

Alas, I couldn't make it, as my opponent managed to wring out a last few CVP as I was crossing the final patch of open ground. But I still had a lot of fun in the playing--usually I try to force myself to play more aggressively than I feel like I should. But getting so close to the CVP cap so quickly gave me an excuse to play the Prep-Prep-Prep style of ASL that every relative newcomer secretly wants to use, and I did enjoy myself doing it.
 

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Lesson Learned in Lessin RPT 159 Prussia, '45; Late war German force with JgPz4/70s, has to defend a lakeside village and keep JgPzs alive. The Soviets have a lot of JS-2s and T-34/85s, and good infantry. My opponent blew up Soviet armor, and fell back well. You would think the best Russian anti-armor weapon would be the tanks. But with deep snow, and the inability to show their egg shell side armor, the JgPz had to back away slowly. Which allowed my infantry to immo, and then kill all three JgPz.
Nice little fight, on boards 75 and 79. Went down to the last turn. Soviet Victory.
 

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Just wrapped up U14 - "Sacrifice of Polish Armor" that went down to the German turn 8 final assault before it was decided. A last desperate lunge by a Pz IB and 2 squads in turn 9 saw the squads stopped dead but the Pz I had to be taken out in CC just as the last VC building caught fire , driving the Poles out of the location by the end of their last turn as the location changed to a Blaze. A Polish win.

AAR will be posted tomorrow.
 

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Brief report from a a few weeks ago. Played FT254 Insurrection at Cividale as the defending Germans against a gaggle of Italians led by Jim Taylor. The Italians had ~20 squads (two of which were partisans) and 7 X assorted AFV/tankettes. Germans had ~13 x 447 and 3 x captured Italian 75mm MA AFV.

A maddening game for the Germans where little seemed to go well. Failed small arms fire, MCs, non-rallies, etc. Their three AFV literally had absolutely NO combat effect the entire game - none. Meanwhile the small and double-small size Italian AFV roamed with near impunity. A couple were taken out with PF, but even adjacent and in-motion the TH was either 4/5 -- if you find a PF.

With the swarm of Italian infantry and buzzing AFV, my slow fighting withdrawal turned into a festival of clanking, stumbling, getting isolated, broken and not rallying, and rolling 9s or better on key shots to slow down the attackers. Many of my troops simply died in place. In the end, I lost on the instant win 23 CVP cap. A collosally frustrating game. My only highlight was a 447 taking out 2 x 346 in HTH CC (and the 447 died, too). Jim of course played his typical expert, methodical game which leaves no room for error or misjudgement.

All this said, Jim and I agreed either side can win this one. An interesting situation with Italians vs. SS and clanky armor. A nice design by Mr. Holst. Recommended.
 
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Jude

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FrF40 Sporck’s Eleven. Played as the defending Germans. Better than I thought it’d be. I figured the halftracks would be crushed quickly and then rate from the PaK 40s would decide my fate. I forgot about the Achilles heel for the Russians, red To Hit numbers. They may as well not shoot at anything and floor it (unless they can swarm a target). I slowly whittled the Russian tank force down with the AT Guns while the halftracks kept the Russians honest by not allowing an all-out flank revealing dash for the exits. I took out all but one tank with the loss of only one AT Gun and one halftrack thanks to some great rate rolls. The infantry battle, on the other hand, wasn't going as well as I was too spread out. I pulled the infantry back, regrouped, and staved off a big Russian infantry push up the middle. I liked it but felt it was a bit dicey. If the Germans get at least one extra shot off per ½ turn, which isn’t unreasonable, they should make a game of it. No rate or a few bad To Kill rolls and they will be swamped quickly if the Russians push everything up one side.
 

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I liked it but felt it was a bit dicey. If the Germans get at least one extra shot off per ½ turn, which isn’t unreasonable, they should make a game of it. No rate or a few bad To Kill rolls and they will be swamped quickly if the Russians push everything up one side.
Of course no scenario can withstand a string of extreme rolls, but i think it is possible to mitigate the impact of luck on this one, possibly not fully, but enough to make it very pleasant.
 

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FrF40 Sporck’s Eleven. Played as the defending Germans. Better than I thought it’d be. I figured the halftracks would be crushed quickly and then rate from the PaK 40s would decide my fate. I forgot about the Achilles heel for the Russians, red To Hit numbers. They may as well not shoot at anything and floor it (unless they can swarm a target). I slowly whittled the Russian tank force down with the AT Guns while the halftracks kept the Russians honest by not allowing an all-out flank revealing dash for the exits. I took out all but one tank with the loss of only one AT Gun and one halftrack thanks to some great rate rolls. The infantry battle, on the other hand, wasn't going as well as I was too spread out. I pulled the infantry back, regrouped, and staved off a big Russian infantry push up the middle. I liked it but felt it was a bit dicey. If the Germans get at least one extra shot off per ½ turn, which isn’t unreasonable, they should make a game of it. No rate or a few bad To Kill rolls and they will be swamped quickly if the Russians push everything up one side.
I remember playing this a few years ago. It was kinda the opposite. The Soviet tanks massacred the halftracks, and the ATGs didn’t do much. The Soviet infantry made little progress, but the tanks dragged them through.

Fun though.
 
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