So what scenarios have you played Recently?

gorkowskij

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242 Swan Song (formerly A52)

This grudge fest features a French infantry-armor mass trudging forward through orchards and a graveyard against a torrent of fire from outnumbered, but well-equipped, Germans ensconced in a hamlet. The end result is a “numbers game” in which the huge French force steadily erodes, but also makes many low odds attack dice rolls, some of which will inevitably come up “lucky.” In other words, with so many rolls, you will witness multiple “rare” events, and we did.

French R35s approached the hamlet in three pairs, one from the east (19I10), one from the southeast (19A5), and one from the south (19A1). Two German 37mm ATGs fired from the orchards east of the hamlet (19N2 and T2) to shock one tank that later recovered. The one functioning east-side Renault fired main armament and scored an improbable critical hit (snake eyes followed by a subsequent 1) to kill one German ATG! The Germans kept firing. Mortars in the eastern orchard immobilized an east-side R35. The remaining 37mm swiveled to kill a southern R35 around 12FF5.

French infantry entered on turn two in two mobs, one along the east edge (around 19K10) with about six squads, MMGs, mortar, and radio, and the other along the south edge (19A1-5) with about 15 squads and LMGs. They kept to the vast blind zone created by the sprawling orchards. A German MG at the southern tip of the graveyard (12Y3) could see them, but broke early and had to flee north to the church (the three hex building just north of the graveyard). French Renaults failed their “radio-less” independent move checks and/or fired on distant German targets to no effect.

By turn three, French infantry started creeping up to the graveyard. MGs on the 2nd level of 12 R2 (the eastern high rise) and 12V4 (church overlooking the graveyard) started smacking French squads with rate. This went on for a few turns to gradually whittle down French manpower and confine the eastern force to the board edge woods (19O10) where German harassing fire (OBA) landed, but did little more than enforce desperation morale status. Isolated French tanks kept failing their move checks.

A French tank and infantry platoon made it into the graveyard. A nearby German 8-0 (12V2) successfully placed a satchel charge to brew up the R35 whose billowing smoke provided some cover for the French still closing on the yard. At about the same time, a French half squad among the tombstones spawned a hero who led his tiny force into the church (12V4) where they defeated three times their own number in close combat! The German spotter in 12S5 L2 brought OBA down on its preregistered hex at 12AA1 to smother a French rally point; dozens of frustrated Poilus gave up the fight as their broken squads crumbled to half squads or worse.

Around turn six came a company of behemoth Char B1-bis from the south (16GG1-GG5). The lone Renault around 12FF5 (who had earlier lost his partner to ATG fire and was since hiding behind a building) tried to lead their charge against the German 88mm FLAK on the church-side dirt road at 12V7, but MG fire from 12R2 L2 decapitated the CE commander to stop their stunt cold. Unconcerned, the B1s sailed across the landscape toward the mighty 88. The FLAK gun fired and hit with rate, but it was dud! The 88 fired again to brew up one of the B1s, but lost rate. The five surviving B1s pulled within a few hexes of the gun (12V9-X9 area) and stayed in motion as their only defense against its coming prep fire phase. On a lark, the nearest B1 tried an in-motion, advance fire phase, MA shot at the 88. Of course, the French scored another improbable critical hit to vaporize the 88 and its crew!

Soon after, those French heavies stormed the village firing relentlessly at adjacent Germans to invoke that scenario special rule calling for morale checks even on otherwise fruitless IFT attacks from adjacent tanks. Concealed Germans bobbed and weaved to avoid substantial hits while those unconcealed, and mostly on 2nd level, fired into advancing French infantry to slow them down. A blast of German artillery killed two tanks, one R35 and one B1, just outside the church. The pivotal German 12R2 L2 HMG position broke and fled, but the leader soon returned on his own as a hero. Too bad he twice failed to recover the HMG as the French footmen closed in around him. Still, he did kill a French berserker (like I said, lots of rare events) with same-hex triple point blank fire before those that followed clocked him in close combat. Meanwhile, a German mortar did the French a favor by killing an immobilized B1, had it survived, stuck there on the battlefield, it would have upped the French VP location requirement.

In the end, the French captured 11 of 12 VP locations, just enough to win since they had not exited any B1s, four of six remained functioning on the board.
 

Richard Weiley

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FT81 Dubrovka

Great game, was undone by the last HIP unit. A conscript squad that emerged in the last Soviet turn in Hex K6, practically the only eligible concealment terrain hex on the map that I hadn't searched or moved through, and advanced into building K7. Most of my force had been committed to overcoming the last Soviet resistance in R2, R3 and S3. My opponent's final fire shot down one stack that got adjacent, including a flame thrower armed squad and my remaining advancing fire shots were ineffective. So could only get two squad equivalents into CC and they were CX, not surprisingly I whiffed the 2-1 +1 CC roll and that was it.
 

von Marwitz

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FT81 Dubrovka

Great game, was undone by the last HIP unit. A conscript squad that emerged in the last Soviet turn in Hex K6, practically the only eligible concealment terrain hex on the map that I hadn't searched or moved through, and advanced into building K7. Most of my force had been committed to overcoming the last Soviet resistance in R2, R3 and S3. My opponent's final fire shot down one stack that got adjacent, including a flame thrower armed squad and my remaining advancing fire shots were ineffective. So could only get two squad equivalents into CC and they were CX, not surprisingly I whiffed the 2-1 +1 CC roll and that was it.
This is indeed a very good scenario. Played it twice some time ago. At first glance you might think, meh, infantry only...
But there are some infantry only ones that are more that they seem when looking at the scenario card. This one ranks among them.

I'd recommend it.

von Marwitz
 

Smedley

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Played BoF20, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. My defending Reds held off a relentless German attack. Key to my victory was the elimination of the JagdPanthers in CC.

I also finished up the finals match in this years Winter Offensive. My defending Americans were able to eek out the win by surviving the last CC roll. I was very impressed by the quality of the play test scenarios used in the WO. Can't wait until the new action pack comes out!!

Rob
 

WuWei

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DN7 Saint-Medard after Dark, a fun night scenario with lax Germans and lax French units stumbling over each other at night in a small village near Dinant. I lost this as the French defender by playing unsmart and rolling high, but I learned. Now, as the German attacker, I had a good plan that worked, except this one time when I moved as a stack without really needing to (they all broke). But in the end, I made the rolls that I needed to (lots of Ambushes!) and even had a Big sniper that broke a crucial enemy unit. I could prevent the French reinforcement from even getting to the village, and when I killed the last French leader, my opponent folded. This is a nice, small scenario, rather dicey because of all the CCs that will happen, so not suited for "serious" play, but fun!
 

von Marwitz

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Finished playing SP195 Retreat From Hannut two days ago and the AAR for it just now.

An interesting Westfront 1940 scenario with plenty of tanks on both sides.

von Marwitz
 

von Marwitz

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Yesterday, I finished J102 The Yelnya Bridge, a short 4.5 Turn scenario set in the opening months of Operation Barbarossa. A lightly armed crack German Infantry force supported by two tanks and two armored cars are pitted against some Russians holding behind a stream in terrain which channels the attack.

A full AAR can be found here.

von Marwitz
 

von Marwitz

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Almost three years after I have received the Defensive Setup from my opponent, I played FrF87 Mormal Forest yesterday and completed the full AAR just now.

It is an interesting action pitting the Germans against the French in May 1940 with Guns 'n' tanks 'n' Stukas 'n' everything.

von Marwitz
 

Richard Weiley

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BtB11 Bosq Barbeque

I took what I thought was the safe option of entering on the west edge. This proved to the right move for my armour as the 88 was eventually revealed in BFPD FF1. What I completely failed to appreciate was the LOS opportunities offered by the combination of half level bocage and 3/4 level slopes. Consequently my infantry attack was soon bogged down and suffering constant casualties from a combination of long range MMG fire from BFPD S2 and, more demoralisingly, the quad flak that revealed itself in BFPD P3. My opponent had his own tribulations, having two SPGs recalled by an active Scottish sniper and malfíng both the aforementioned FlakVeirling and the 88, the latter however he did manage to repair. I conceded during my turn 5 movement phase when consecutive boxcars on morale checks had whittled down my Good order infantry to about a third of its original strength. It looked to be too tough an ask with most of my surviving infantry still a couple of movement phases from the VC buildings and the German infantry virtually intact. Really like the map layout in this one, gives a good feel for Normandy combat. Would like to give this one another go as the Scots if Monty doesn't sack me for my initial incompetence.
 
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commissarmatt

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I thought heroes died automatically on a second wound.




Last week I finished a very exciting and tense game of J152 Messenger Boys, which came down to the last CC DR.

All but one of my tanks going up in Blazes. Two heroes created (Higgins and Magnum, the former finally going down on his 6th Wound, the latter on his first). A German 'Commissar', an invulnerable German 8-1 with 548+MMG menace surviving uncounted attacks. MA's malfing, SMOKE rounds not found, killer stacks killing, going down, recovering, going down.

Will Lt. Whitaker (9-2, DSO, MC) drink his cuppa tea on the final objective just in time with his batman Mortimer Bowden-Heseltine and his trusty subedar Venkata Narasimha Rajuvaripet from his old Indian station?

This and all the drama is in this here freshly finished throuogh AAR!

von Marwitz
 

Augie

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I thought heroes died automatically on a second wound.
No, but a wounded hero that fails a MC does. From the RB: 5.2 HEROES: A hero is represented by a SMC with a Strength Factor of 1-4-9. If it fails a MC, the hero is considered wounded and the counter flipped to the wounded side where it displays a Strength Factor of 1-3-8 and must undergo a Wound Severity dr (17.11). If a wounded hero fails a MC it is eliminated; ...
 

von Marwitz

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I thought heroes died automatically on a second wound.
I was surprised, that Higgins died on his sixth wound as I was convinced he had nine lives...;)

But indeed, we played that wrong. Still Heroes don't necessarily die on their second wound. If they fail a MC for the second time, they'd die. If they are hit by a 'small' Sniper, they would have to take a Wound Check (not an MC), which they could pass.

von Marwitz
 

Cpl Uhl

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Played TOT42 - Thunderbolts. German conceded after T4 after having quite bad dice and just getting fed up. I (as the American) think it was still close because this is hard on the US, but sometimes you've just had enough of continual rough sledding, so I understand the concession. We forgot to give the American the balance, which is recommended. Neither of us had luck with the artillery early, which changed the complexion of the game a lot.

This is one of those scenarios with late war US or Brits (US in this case) where the attacker has tons toys and has to use them all. Unlike some other scenarios of this sort (like Cold Crocs for instance) the German has to do more than just sit, skulk and shoot, which is nice because both sides have to work hard. US dice were hot: a 1,2 on a BFF shot from a Stuart to kill a JgPz; a 1,3 BFF shot from an Easy 8 to kill another JgPz; and a "what the hell" 1,1 from the AT Gun (Level 2) to kill yet another Jg Pz, hull down even. Yeah, I understand the concession after that.

Must be a great face to face scenario where you have to just play fast and loose. On vasl we had lots of time to plan, think, etc. Still fun, but would be really intense "live".
 

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Played AP40 the Head of the Mace (ROAR has Polish 39/German 37). The Polish get to setup HD and in foxholes but have the possibility of their AFV becoming Immobilized in every hex that they enter due to fuel shortage. Both sides suffer from Ammunition Shortage but interestingly neither side has MG's? The Germans have to cross open hills and exit > 24VP in 5 turns. My attacking German 3x PzIVJ's were able to place 2 SMOKE counters and both Panthers placed SMOKE with their Nahverteidigungswaffe (sN) allowing my infantry to get into the level 1 woods and building at 9D8 and 9E8 while losing only 1.5 squads. Thought I was in pretty good shape for turn 2 (it never came) . Polish turn 1 the Sherman VC 76LL gets 3 straight critical hits destroying both Panthers and a PzIVJ and the other 2 PzIVJ's also get taken out. The Crusader AA's (IFE12) both got ROF so over half of my 19 infantry units were broken or eliminated. With No AFV's left to supply covering SMOKE for my advance (lots of SMOKE behind my advance with 4 burning wrecks) I Conceded before completing turn. Sometimes it just isn't your day with the dice.
 

Orphan76

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ASL 12 Confusion Reigns (ROAR has Americans 108 to Germans 79). The Germans have limited mobility in this one. Can move squads equal to the turn number plus a squad for every GO Leader and anyone stacked with a Leader (No stacking at setup). I decided that my best defense would be to kindle the woods in 24V5 and 24W5 then fallback to the stone buildings in 24S5 and 24V3. Plan worked great as there was an impassable wall of fire from 24W3 to 24W6 to 24U7 in front of building 24V3. This limited the Americans avenues of approach and they were never able to close with the Germans. Americans conceded on turn 6. Sometimes my evil plans work.
 

Paul John

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Just finished playing the Hatten CG. This is super fun. A reasonable size, so the whole this is fairly playable for those of us without huge playing time. It really felt like it followed much of the historical flow. My germans pushed really hard towards the fort on day one and two, but were stopped there by the onrushing american reinforcements. The whole thing is super bleak for the amis initially, but they come on with huge numbers. Days 3 & 4 saw them push really hard and while they had local success, the casualties (especially in armor) were too high. German armor remained largely intact by comparison and they threw in the towel late in day 4. The germans had 2 locations more than needed and enough forces to clog approaches that it wasn't going to happen in the time left. Still, a very tense and fun campaign game, I highly recommend it. A small tip. Without smoke the amis are lost.
 

fenyan

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Played High Danger, available online from View from the Trenches magazine, our first DTO scenario. It was a real hoot! As you may know the Germans attack with 4x Pz IIIJs, 4x halftracks with 4-6-8 squads plus a Marder and Pz IVF2. They're trying to take a hillock summit on the other side of the playing area. This is defended by several Australian 4-5-8s, a 76* MTR, two 40L 2-pdrs, with three Valentines coming in to reinforce.

We pretty much played this scenario with a pretty quick setup and quick review of the DTO rules; the Germans made a main push up the middle. The 2-pdrs were set up one behind the summit and the other on a flank. The halftracks made it close to the hill and offloaded the troops. The MTR was protecting the summit well until it malfunctioned. All the German armor were wrecks or immobilized at the game end, a couple sacrificed on the summit itself.

Game ended with a Valentine overrunning a pinned 4-6-8 on the summit but to no avail, and the CC had no results either so the Germans squeaked out a victory. Highlight was a pesky 2-pdr that had nailed two panzers in the side being overrun by a Pz IIIJ which bogged in the trench and subsequently became a burning wreck. +3 drm for the 40L gun firing from the hex, mission accomplished!

Got most of the DTO rules right but should've noted the Deir hull down effects as well as the fact that the Heat Haze was Intense, and totally missed the light dust effects on Interdiction. Here are the tanks I used on a map blown up to 1" hexes:

16663

All in all, agree with the many others who've recommended this scenario. Nice articles on strategy for High Danger can be found in View from the Trenches 10 and 43/44. We'll definitely be playing again.
 
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