So what scenarios have you played Recently?

Auscot

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I'm bringing 2 new players into the game so of course it was Gavin Take for their first outing.

It was a convincing German win but both of the guys really enjoyed the game.
Interestingly we played at our local game shop and there were a number of other people interested and even some who said the used to play years ago.
 

von Marwitz

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I'm bringing 2 new players into the game so of course it was Gavin Take for their first outing.

It was a convincing German win but both of the guys really enjoyed the game.
Interestingly we played at our local game shop and there were a number of other people interested and even some who said the used to play years ago.
Try to build on that, I say!

Maybe you can get a group of players going to indulge in ASL.
This could be very rewarding for all parties involved.

von Marwitz
 

Khill

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Played J200 One Story Town
We really liked the scenario and thought it was fun. The Russians have to make some thoughtful decisions to fend off a very strong Finn force. The Finns have a lot to do to grab those 4 (of 6) VP. Recommended. Thanks again to Rich for a great game!
Great points. Super fun. The Russian reinforcements are key for sure. Would play it again as either side

We had a blast playing One Story Town. Ted's Russians fell to my Finns. Finns in the northwest pressured the big 2VP building with strong half but sent rest toward the other VC buildings including AFV. The Finns in the southeast stormed the VC buildings to great casualties and vicious HtH action. Finn cooker burned a bunch of Russians in the center VC building, the tank took out an armored car, Lahti ATR's took out two Russian AFV. Russian turn 3 reinforcements (9-2 group) went to bolster the 2VP building defenders. He called it on his turn 5. He chose reinforcement entry hex on the southwest. There were heaps of Finns in the southern VC buildings and Ted felt there was too little time left to get enough buildings back from the Finns.
 

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Wrapped up J201 Careless at Bakri as the attacking Japanese against Rich Domovic’s defending Aussies. VC is the Japanese win instantly upon exiting ≥21 Exit VP (note: AFV worth only 2 VP after turn 2).

The Japanese had good success with many banzais through “orchards are light woods” for protection. The tanks’ objective was to get behind the defenders, infantry banzais, then break the defenders in AFire and eliminate them for FTR. The Aussies were whittled away while there were relatively light Japanese infantry losses. Three tanks were lost, one by a 40L, one fell victim to an MG, another to CC. In turn six, with 8 x VP exited, it was clear that there was little to stop the remaining units from exiting for the win and the Aussies called it.

Even with favorable IFT/CC outcomes for the Japanese, Rich and I agreed that this could go either way. We felt a key for the Aussie is limiting upfront unit placement as they will get steamrolled. We both thought this a nice design and found it fun.

The solid red lines in the map show the infantry; the dashed are the tank routes. 40Ls were in P4, S5.

Game End – top of turn 6
25361
 
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Gunner Scott

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Hi-

Bob and I polished off SM7 One Man Wrecking Machine with me as the Para's and of course Bob as the Germans. It took us about three hours to complete this one, but that was due more to talking about the Band of Brothers series and looking up Bocage rules...........alot. I had my pickets upfront to slow down the Germans then I began to slowly fall back. Bobs attack was cautious as his forces tried to prob for a weak spot, the bocage is really nice for the attacker just because you do not lose ? running up to it and moving around behind it unless of course you move in open ground to an enemy unit.

Bob found the seam on my left flank and by turn 4 began trying push troops toward the exit area using his 537's to keep my right flank from shifting over to support my left flank. The upper level is nice initially but one that marder has you acked up, it can become precocious. This did go to the last turn as Bob was able to exit the needed VP's off my left flank, a very tight sliver to exit from but due to my guys in the building losing RoF and one guy breaking, he was able to pull out a win as the Germans. Great scenario and lots of fun for bothsides.

Looking back on this one, I think next I will need to have a couple of HS in exit area digging foxholes to force the germans to burn time trying to get those Para HS outta their path. Next up is the Roadblock.
 

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This weekend I got to play a fun game of Rocket's Red Glare with Gary Mei and SM10 Not Apt to drag feet with Ron Duenskie.

In the game with Gary, his dice were stone cold, starting off with a turn 1 16+1 prep fire vs my 9-2 stack and rolling an 11. I hit back with a 16 flat, got rate and eliminated one squad and broke the rest of the stack. My StuG held firm on the left flank, smoking potential baz shots. My Wirblewind even survived a bazooka dud whose backblast killed the firing half squad. It was one of those games.

In the game with Ron it was fun to use to the big historical map. We played that the hedgerow gaps were open to vehicles, not sure if that's correct. A strong US force of 12 747 and 7 Shermans faces 6 467 and four Marder 1(f) plus two 37L trucks. The US also gets a dozen 666 as reinforcements from the right flank (plus two 747 on the left flank turn 2), while the Germans have a dozen 447s frozen on the right flank road for 2 turns. A key SMT rule is that the key central road basically is open in the movement phase (ie hexside hedgerows don't block LOS), but close back up in advance/prep fire/dfire. It's a key concept. After playing it's obvious that the US needs to blitz forward turn 3 down the central road and take their lumps vs. Marders in order to interdict the 447's. Start of German turn 2 below.
25584

Going around to the flanks is just too slow. I'd be interested to try this again to see how best to orchestrate that central blitz.
-Paul
 
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Gunner Scott

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One of the many DZ scenarios on my playlist. Strangely, my opponent has no problem noodling through the bocage rules, paratrooper drop rules ect ect, but when it comes to trying to get him to play in the PTO it is a flat no way lol.

Anyway, thanks for the posting Paul, I am also really digging this module.


In the game with Ron it was fun to use to the big historical map. We played that the hedgerow gaps were open to vehicles, not sure if that's correct. A strong US force of 12 747 and 7 Shermans faces 6 467 and four Marder 1(f) plus two 37L trucks. The US also gets a dozen 666 as reinforcements from the right flank (plus two 747 on the left flank turn 2), while the Germans have a dozen 447s frozen on the right flank road for 2 turns. A key SMT rule is that the key central road basically is open in the movement phase (ie hexside hedgerows don't block LOS), but close back up in advance/prep fire/dfire. It's a key concept. After playing it's obvious that the US needs to blitz forward turn 3 down the central road and take their lumps vs. Marders in order to interdict the 447's. Start of German turn 2 below.
Going around to the flanks is just too slow. I'd be interested to try this again to see how best to orchestrate that central blitz.
-Paul
 

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Howdy there -

Well another great scenario in the can. Bob came by last night and we managed to finish off SM3 The Roadblock with my Germans losing on turn 6. The column rules are not an easy rule set to deal with. After the game we both thought about how the rule allows the Germans to come in piece meal if they so choose contrary to the scenario card saying all units must enter on turn 1. But with 8 turns to achieve their objective this might not be a viable option, then the questions come up, if the units that entered on earlier are disbanded, do the units off map still have to enter on map in Column? As I said that is not a good option due to limited time and terrain that is very restrictive.

What make this more tough on the Germans is the veriable's in this scenario, IE the one die roll of how many units can move or the American reinforcement roll which if the American fail ups the German exit points. This is a bit of a gripe with this scenario, way too many veriable's that can either hurt the Germans or help, on average for our game I was able to move 4 squads, if stacked with a leader those are free but once more the question comes to mind, if you units are stacked with a leader, do they have to move with the leader or can the MMC move on their own?

In our game, I decided to move along the left flank with one group trying to infiltrate on the right flank. Bocage is a real bitch to deal with that is for sure as we both struggled with where and how Wall Adv comes and goes. As the scenario progressed I did manage to exit one stug but after that, the Americans brought all their AT weapons to bear upon the road I had committed my attack too, I diod not have enough time to switch my attack to a different part of the map. So by turn 7 I was desperate, Bob had failed his first two reinforcment rolls and that upped my VP exit from 17 to 19, stugs are only worth 6 VP's. I tried charging my stug down the road to exit but two BAZ's were in my way and one blew me up. It is turn 6 and only my 7-0 and two squads might be able to exit but that is dashed as Bob's reinforcements are now entering and will block my exit potential.

All in a fun scenario with some warts, you would think 19 squads would walk right through the American forces but that is not the case, the randomness is to me personally a real scenario killer. Anywhoo not a bad scenario, I think giving the Germans the balance might help alot.
 

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...then the questions come up, if the units that entered on earlier are disbanded, do the units off map still have to enter on map in Column? As I said that is not a good option due to limited time and terrain that is very restrictive.
Per SSR 4 they must all enter in a single Column...if the Column disbands before all units have entered the board, then the EXC in E11.7 kicks in:

11.7 PARTIAL ENTRY: If a Convoy or Column still has one or more units offboard when its MPh/APh ends, those units retain Convoy/Column status and can enter the playing area in their next MPh/APh. [EXC: If a partially-offboard Column Disbands, its offboard units set up again and enter in their next allowed phase(s) without using Column status. The normal prohibition against subsequent-turn entry is voided for this situation.]


...if stacked with a leader those are free but once more the question comes to mind, if you units are stacked with a leader, do they have to move with the leader or can the MMC move on their own?
They need to be stacked with the leader throughout their MPh, so they must move with the leader.
SSR 3:
"...MMC stacked with a German leader throughout its MPh are not so restricted..."
 

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Played O20 Charnwood (from the last Special Ops) yesterday at our local SoCal ASL meeting vs Fen. Baker’s dozen 1st line Canucks need to take 3 of 4 bldgs from 8 SS squads in Caen. Canucks get 4 Sherman’s and the bad guys a Stug and a 75L AT gun. Neat little scenario with lots of replay value due to the 10 rubble counters (5 each player) lay down. Twist is they each move one hex randomly. My SS managed to pull out a win when the gusts got rid of the smoke and the Canadian radio broke before the final assault. Highly recommend.
 

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Got together with my other FtF buddy Rich D and we played DftB Take and Hold. This is a jap vs American scenario where the japs have to take a bridge on board 40 and the option to take a building next to the bridge. The Japanese have alot and I mean alot of stuff, where as the Americans do not have alot at start. I ended up playing the IJA with Rich taking the Americans. The scenario went to the last turn with Rich retaking the building near the Bridge but unfortunately he had a berzerk squad blocking his path to retaking the bridge locations. He tried to kill the Berzerker but failed due to me passing one 3mc and a 2MC.

Not a fan of take the Bridge scenarios, and this one can go side ways real quick if the IJA do not get their smoke. Still had a great time as usual playing Rich though travrling in Chicago can get hairy with construction and street cleaning all over the place (and he only lives 15 minutes away on a clear non traffic intensive day lol). Also thanks for the Columbian Coffee, very good indeed.
 

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Houlie and I played FT 284 Vichy Strikes Back. My Brits set up in the little village mostly and the French came on strong on the short approach from the East. I probably should have seen that this side was the closest in and thus gave him the best chance to get in close quickly, but I still have a fair force on that side. They managed one 1,1 on a 2-2 shot to erase one squad and broke one more, but nearly all the other shots were fails. Meanwhile, but the middle of F2, he had broken 4.5 squads, killed the 9-1 and taken my mmg. This was 'one of those', where nothing much that I did worked. My personal morale cracked and the Brits gave it up in French turn 2. Total blow out.
To win, every Brit sets up facing east and says, sure, come in over the hills, plenty of time to reposition. Missing that was my contribution to the loss. Bad dice sealed the deal.
 

Michael R

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Here are the matches I played at CASLO XXVII.

TAC2 BETWEEN THE HAMMER AND THE ANVIL
My opponent was Nick Faryna from one of the Maritime provinces. ROAR results made the scenario look pro-Russian. I bid for the Russians; Nick bid Germans. Both sides try for the same building that begins in Russian control, with a German garrison on one side and German reinforcements approaching from the other side. Mostly first line Germans vs Russian rifle and SMG squads. The Russian reinforcements tied down the garrison, then eliminated them and reinforced the victory building before the German reinforcements could mount a serious attack. Russian win. 1-0

FrF33 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHT
Mixed SS with 2 guns, reinforced by a greater amount of SS infantry, try to hold a factory or any building adjacent to a runway hex vs elite infantry with OBA. I managed to practice this scenario ahead of the tournament. I bid for the SS, who I think are favoured. Steffen Knippel (from Winnipeg) bid for the Finns. His attack was completely different from my practice game. I was worried that I might lose the factory before my reinforcements entered. I saw, however, that there were not a lot of Finns on the runway side of things. The factory was holding, so I sent the reinforcements to the runway area. I eventually had several squads in two buildings. Not long after, Steffen conceded. He told me that he had misunderstood the VC. He thought the Finns could win by taking the factory OR taking a building by the runway. German win. 2-0

231 IN FRONT OF THE STORM
Mixed French infantry with 3 AFV try for certain hexes (some bridge) vs elite infantry with AT gun, mines. Keith Hill (from Maine) bid French; I bid German. The French attacked on a broad front with the tanks in the middle. Germand defensive fire was effective and Keith's dice were cold. When the tank platoon was adjacent to the center, I fired my 37L AT gun at the center tank, trying for DI. I was successful. When infantry moved up next to the gun, it went on a rate tear, breaking and reducing the adjacent units. The French were luckier the second time the approached the gun, and the crew self broke. One French tank broke its MA and then sixed it. Casualties mounted elsewhere and Keith conceded. 3-0

FE85 DANISH PRIDE
German infantry with 3 AC and a FB try for exit vs mixed quality infantry with 2 AT guns, roadblock, wire. This was not my first choice, nor that of Blake Ball (from Winnipeg), but it is where our picks lined up. This scenario obviously favours the Germans and the balance is wacky. The German balance is another FB; the Danish balance is another LMG. It should be to remove the German FB. We both bid German; I received the Danes. The game was close, although I had a broken MMG for several turns. What kept it close, however, was the German FB missing its first two sighting TC. The match went to the final turn, but Blake, through clever use of his only remaining AD, was able to exit enough infantry for the win, leaving him as the onky undefeated player. 3-1

J116 BRIDGADE HILL
Mixed Australian infantry, reinforced by a platoon, try for 3 of 4 hexes vs infantry, reinforced by a bit more infantry. I bid Japanese. Erik Lindblad (from Montreal area, like me) bid Australian. I defended the centre hill lightly with two half squads, two dummies, and a squad with an LMG. The rear two hills had one MMG and one leader each and the other forces where equally split. Erik pushed hard on the Japanese right. The squad and LMG stimied that for a while. I deployed another squad. It and other units left the hills to intercept the Aussie reinforcements. This led to an interesting sequence of events. The Aussie reinforcements had no way to enter without being shot at. Erik chose to send in one HS next to one of my waiting concealed units. I revealed a 447, fired, and eliminated the HS. Erik chose to keep everyone else offboard until the advance phase. Seeing a big concealed stack threatening the 447 with CC, I decided to self break the 447, knowing that my reinforcements come next and include a leader. The concealed units advance on board and keep concealment. That stack moves towards a hill, slowly, to keep concealment. I launched a banzai with a leader and 2 HS. At least one unit made it into the Aussie stack's hex. I followed that by a squad and LMG. In advancing fire, the 6FP broke the entire stack, when was then eliminated for FTR. This freed up a lot of units to reposition for Erik's second attack across the center hill. The first attack had been beaten back by the MGs and mortars from the two Japanese hills. Unfortunately, we ran out of time. The match was adjudicated in my favour. 4-1

We had a well run event in a nice hotel. As a bonus, I got to visit the New Brunswick Military Museum in Canadian Forces Base Gagetown.
 

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Played Hueishan Docks (BFP29) over a few VASL sessions. I was the (defending, then counter-attacking) Japanese.

This is a real meaty scenario. In a very crowded urban (BFP-made) map, the Chinese need to seize at least 6 of 10 buildings sitting along the docks. For this, they have more than 30 squads, almost two thirds of them elite, quite a few German-made weapons (mortars and an AT gun), and a lot of (flimsy, but still) AFVs. The Japanese start badly outnumbered (2 to 1 infantry-wise, but with no armor, with a full board length to defend), but halfway through, they get a significant boost in the form of their own armor and, very significantly, 10 squads, half of them elite, with no less than 3 DC and 3 FT. These reinforcements on the west end side of the docks, so while they get to push back the Chinese there, the eastern end is unreachable.

So, my initial plan as the Japanese was to delay the Chinese as much as possible, definitely dying in place if needed, until the reinforcements could come and stiffen up the defense. I did setup a HIP half-squad in the upper level of one of the victory buildings just in case.

My opponent (Cyril) surprised me by attacking only from the east (where the Chinese have less ground to cover to reach the docks, sure), trying to use numbers to move from east to west along the docks - I was expecting a more spread out attack all along the map, especially considering the number of troops available.

The part of the Japanese OB that was sitting in the way of the Chinese attack did just what they were expected to do: they slowed them down, a lot, and they died in place, all of them. Several of the Chinese AFV were killed by the small 37* INF SW-gun, despite their typically small size and its inability to get Acquisition (and the rest of them were plagued by their B11 weapons - but that was a problem shared by both Japanese and Chines weapons, with very few exceptions). The part of my OB that didn't stand in the way of the Chinese attack could fall back in the direction of the docks, and mostly made it unharmed.

Overall, by the start of Japanese turn 4 when the reinforcements entered, the Chinese had only managed to grab 3 of the victory buildings (and actually, only 2, 'cause I still had my HIP HS in the easternmost - Cyril could have Mopped Up or Searched but forgot to do so). More importantly, his truck-towed AT gun and truck-carried German mortars were still not in place, so that my mighty Type 89 CHI-RO with their tough 1 AF (2 on turrets) and huge 57* guns could move to the rescue with relative impunity. (It helped that the Chinese OBA failed to place even a SR prior to that)

Overall, the Chinese attack was stalled at roughly half of the docks, with 5 buildings in Chinese hands (if they had taken the time to wipe out my hidden HS), but the arrival of the reinforcements made it impossible for them to get any further. The mortars and AT gun, once in place, wiped out most of the Japanese armor, but it was too late and my opponent conceded after his 7th turn (out of 8).

In the after-game discussion, we agreed his massed attack from the east was probably not the best plan. The Chinese have enough troops and vehicles that they can afford to send some from the north; if they maybe don't get to capture the whole docks, at least it should let them capture the buildings north of them so as to prevent the Japanese reinforcements from rushing to the rescue.

Overall, it was a fun game, with lots of little-used vehicles on both sides (this was my first game vs the Chinese in, well, at least 20 years I think)
 

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Hi-

Played J119 Back in the Saddle with me as the Norks and Rich as the Americans. The game went to turn 6 with me throwing in the towel as Richs last three AFV's were about to roll into my hill defense with a few squads behind them to past my guys. Not really a fun scenario, the light jungle is such a pain in the ass to deal with and worse still this is an ant hill scenario IE your whole OB ends up fighting in a few hill hexes and can be very much a chore doing LOS checks and moving counters about. We both think it is balanced but the terrain makes this one painful to play.
 

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Hi-

Played J119 Back in the Saddle with me as the Norks and Rich as the Americans. The game went to turn 6 with me throwing in the towel as Richs last three AFV's were about to roll into my hill defense with a few squads behind them to past my guys. Not really a fun scenario, the light jungle is such a pain in the ass to deal with and worse still this is an ant hill scenario IE your whole OB ends up fighting in a few hill hexes and can be very much a chore doing LOS checks and moving counters about. We both think it is balanced but the terrain makes this one painful to play.
Just for clarification as there are a few scenarios titled “Back in the Saddle”. I believe this one is J219 (vice J119). SSR 1 says KW terrain is in effect; so it is light woods in effect, not light jungle. Thank you for the short AAR. I look forward to play that scenario.
 

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Played SM6 Sound and Fury, trying to get some experience on the Sainte-Mère map for a future CG and some much-needed experience with Night rules.

Problem is, unless we missed some major thing rules-wise, this scenario is completely broken. The US (defender) setup is limited to 5 hexes from some crossroad in the center, and this means there is a whole hex row to the east where the Americans can see nothing except for a single hex - which happens to be a stone building, and out of NVR range. So if the Germans just refuse to do anything but move along this side, the Americans have to rely on placing a double Fire Lane there in the hope that they will get lucky. And even if they do get lucky and manage to grab some Freedom of Movement, they will be severely outnumbered unless they have placed their whole OB on the east side - in which case the Germans can try the same trick, with a little more risk of Straying, on the western side.

In our game, the Germans exited 21 VP (out of 10 required) on turn 4 (of 7), without taking a single loss - some Dummies were removed and the worst that happened to their troops was a PTC that froze 2 squads and a leader for a turn.

(We'll probably be playing Taking the Left Tit from Yanks to get some Night experience)
 
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