So what Starter Kit Scenario have you played recently?

custardpie

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Hi guys. Already we have the very well trafficed what scenario's have you played recently? on the main forum but I don't see much in the way of reports for starter kits scenario's. I use that list for a way of checking out scenario's to play/avoid so thought it might be usefull here to.


Mod's if this gets enough intrest how about making it a sticky as per the other. Otherwise let it live/die by intrest.
 

custardpie

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OK best log one.

I played S41 Sinks Encouragement from the SK Bonus pack against a new player via PBEM. This was his first game and I have 25+ years of SL onwards so it was never going to be a fair fight!! The idea is that we will play the scenario and switch sides and continue to do this awhile to get a few tips and understanding of the rules.

I was the defenders and the Ami artillary could not be more accurate, even the ones that were not perfect drifted into better positions. The net result was a handful of broken squads to the rear whilst the forward troops survived the fire. Rookie mistake number one was not charging forward to take advantage of the thin line. Within two turns I had the lot back and the Ami tended to fire rather than move. A few moves got him broken tending to reinforce the don't move idea. In the end I was able to do a limited counter attack to throw off his timing and keep a squad from rallying (DM'ed him again). He really got unlucky with smoke attempts pinning two of his squads. I ended up with a comfortable win but we both enjoyed the game.

Roar now has this as 4-1 in the Germans favour, too early to say but I personally think it is hard for the Ami's to dig out the Germs and would recomend the balance of an extra 7-4-7 and MMG as scenario card. The new map is fun to fight over.
 

ChrisM

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I played S41 Sink's Encouragment about three weeks ago as the Germans. I spread out my defense way too much - worried about a concentrated American artillery strike.

Big, big mistake.

The paratroopers broke me defneders on teh right flank and moved aorund them. next thing I know, they are cutting rout paths and moving on teh center of the viallage in good order and with surprising speed. as I pulled my west flank guys back closer to the town to shore up the defense, they got shredded by Defensive First Fire. The couple of squads covering the victory buildingswere quickly overwhelmed.

It was an awful beating and after the agme my opponent let me reset the German defense in a much more concentrated and tighter force. we even played out the artillery strike and I came through with only one squad broken, depsite a couple of units taking tow 16 FP table attacks.

I agree - with a halfway competent German setup, this one looks kinda tough on the Screaming Eagles.
 

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Played S7 Festung Brest with my wife last night. :surprise:

She hadn't played in some time and was a bit rusty. So I recommended that she take the defence. She placed most of her Germans up front in the R row. The 9-1, a pair of 4-6-8s and an LMG were in R8. A 5-4-8 covered the orchards from R1 and a 4-6-8 in R3 held the north end of the building. Her reserve, a pair of 5-4-8s, an LMG and the 8-0 began the game in P3. I thought that I would teach her a few lessons in this one, namely: the perils of stacking, the importance of a layered defence, and how to isolate a sector of the battlefield with fire, as the main attacking force steam rolls over the isolated defender.

Her first turn DFF managed to break an Ami squad, but otherwise did not impede my move forward. At the end of the turn, I had the 8-1 with three squads and a pair of MMGs in U4. This hex was out of her LOS. I would get first shot if she moved forward or tried to shift forces to the north. In the north, I managed to push six squads along the board edge at the cost of one brokie who routed to T10 where my 8-0 awaited. A pair of 6-6-6s were in S9, with the other three squads in separate OG hexes outside this building. I figured that the 9-1 would get the message and fallback rather than face the possibility of a 24 FP attack from the adjacent 6-6-6s and another 24 FP attack from the 8-1 stack. I was wrong.

Her 9-1 was made of sterner stuff. She prepped and broke both squads adjacent. Then she moved her 4-6-8 and 5-4-8 forward to S3. My 8-1 stack took the 24 up-two shot on the 5-4-8 to no effect! However, I did manage to pin her 8-0 and break the 5-4-8 with the LMG as her reserve stack crossed the street in Q3, with a two-down-one shot from a CX 6-6-6 in the north.

During my second turn, I failed to budge the 9-1 stack with a 24 FP attack from my MMG stack in U4. So I had to draw fire with a pair of 6-6-6s in order to get the rest of my northern force round her northern flank. With a platoon and the 8-0 in the block of houses east of the Q row, I was feeling confident, too confident. During her DFPh, she managed to not only break a pair of squads in the north with her 9-1 stack, but more importantly, scored a 1MC on my killer stack with an eight-up-three shot! Predictably, the 8-1 pinned and everyone else broke. One squad boxed the MC and presto: a 2-3-6. The second squad ELR'd, while the third, mercifully, merely broke! And I was going to teach her something about stacking :(

The game quickly went downhill from there. On my third turn, I tried to press the attack in the north. I drew her fire with a couple of squads until she had Final Fired the stack. Then I ran a squad into R8. (At this point, her 9-1 stack was occupying S8.)
She sighed, "I guess I can't fire on him because I'm done firing these guys?" "Well, actually, you could FPF," I said, "but it's risky." "You could break the entire stack and malf the LMG if you roll ten or greater," I cautioned. She liked these odds and fired. :nofear: I shouldn't have told her that she could FPF as long as I moved troops adjacent to her stack. She fired again, and kept on firing at every squad that moved adjacent. After five or six FPF shots, I was left with a brokie in T8, a CX squad in S9, a broken squad in R8 and a pile of bodies in R7 where my 8-0 and 6-6-6 had been. After breaking my 8-0 stack--this being her fourth or fifth FPF shot (I lost count)--she decided to go for broke and fired again at these brokies. She was surrounded, she said, and figured that she had nothing to lose by trying. Surrounded indeed she was, by broken and CX squads! So she fires her last FPF salvo and rolls snakes. The 8-0 wounds on the K/2, rolls a five and dies. The previously ELR'd 5-5-6 fails the 2MC; the surviving HS fails the LLMC! Brilliant! :nuts:

During the DFPh, her annoying stack in S3 fires on my battered 8-1 stack, eliminating the second-line HS with another eight-up-three shot! For giggles, I advanced a CX 6-6-6 into the hex with her 9-1 stack. She minced it in CC. :bite: Fortunately, she had to get up early for work this morning, so I was spared another pasting. The Amis need a new plan.

Pretty straightforward scenario. The Amis are going to break a lot as they move forward. I gather that they need the turns to rally the troops and continue to press forward. Elite Krauts in stone buildings can be tough to evict, but the Yanks have FP in spades. A conservative attack moving forward steadily should do the trick. I think the Germans need to be concerned about the Amis slipping through the orchard in the south, so R1 is an important building to hold for a couple turns, but can become a death trap. The O-P block seems to be the obvious choice for a last stand by the Germans. Therefore, the Germans can't afford to let the Yanks have the R row too early. Frankly, once an Ami squad or two gets past the German lines, I don't see how the Germans can restore the situation. In my game, I could have simply kept running east and collected stone building hexes like so many easter eggs. But then, my wife wouldn't have had as much fun shooting up my men as she did.

I didn't see this scenario on ROAR, so I don't know if it favours a particular side. However, I'm inclined to think that the Germans can lose this scenario very quickly to some bad choices on their part. They need to be able to place as much resid as possible in the path of an American rush. Even one-down-two shots will be tough on six-morale troops. A good American will bid his time and reduce the Germans with FP before risking a rush--unless an opportunity presents itself earlier, of course. The Amis can afford to make a few mistakes along the way, but they need to recycle their brokies quickly to maintain momentum and keep pressure on the Germans. Keeping broken Germans DM is also important, as they are hard enough to break in the first place. To this end, the German player needs to think hard about where her rally points are situated. A good, quick-playing scenario. :thumup: High German morale makes this scenario tougher than it might appear initially for the Amis.
 
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Lorenzo26

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Do you know this one was originally designed to be played on board "y", not "z" ?
It's an other game ;-)

Laurent.
 

Lorenzo26

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yes we played with board y in France ;-)
The game is more fluid and germans less protected.
There is more open space...
Board "z" is for urban warfare ; here with board "y" it's "rural".

Laurent.
 

BattleSchool

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Actually, I find board z surprisingly "open" due to the smallish buildings. There are so many LOS that it is tricky to cross a street without getting shot at. The new board r (Expansion Pack) is going to be even nastier to fight on. I find that many of the SK boards are quite challenging to fight on because of all the close LOS.

Well the Canadian team just won the Gold in Men's Hockey :vsign:, so now my wife is ready to resume playing the scenario :joy:

à bientôt...
 

serpico

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"To this end, the German player needs to think hard about where her rally points are situated. A good, quick-playing scenario."

You can't get over the fact that she beat you eh? :>}}

Just having fun......
 

BattleSchool

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"To this end, the German player needs to think hard about where her rally points are situated. A good, quick-playing scenario."

You can't get over the fact that she beat you eh? :>}}

Just having fun......
Actually, that came up during our post-game analysis. She asked what I thought she could hav done differently--beisdes rolling low, that is. :D

She was actually done by the end of Ami turn 2, once I got a platoon into her backfield. But why play nasty with SWMBA* when she's agreed to play a game? So, I turned round and attacked. The crumbled 8-1 stack was not important at this point. In any case, she had a blast and got to brag to her brother, who usually gets trounced by me. (He's also a newbie, but heck, I don't have to live with him!)

*She who must be amused. :hail:
 

custardpie

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S43 Clearing Carentan. Played as the defending Germans (just like Sinks Encouragment) but against another new player. This one has the look of being pro American to me though this time the Germs have the OBA so that is a nice factor. 6 turns is a long time to go the distance in this nasty firefight. 5 squads v's 6.5 but the germs have a mix but some nice 8ML whilst the Paras only have 7 but such firepower!! Add to this the -2 and -1 leader mods and it begs for you to set up a kill stack of two squads and the MMG with the 10-2 and possibly a 3 unit stack with the 9-1 to mop up (FP20-1) of course if they fail to hurt the Germs then you will regret this move but after all you do set up second.
As mentioned my opponent was new and thus had read about the need to move and keep moving so he tried this tactic. Luck was not his though two of his units trying for smoke rolled 6 thus ending their move whilst the others were less lucky, they rolled no smoke but tried to cross the open. Well they survived but broken. My arty started to make an appearance failing to do more than shift his attack in an extended line. More bad luck saw his final major attack run into the other pre-reg hex and loose two squads, he did try to continue but a lucky low roll of mine broke his10-2 and squad and then I got them for failure to rout and it was over.

I counterattacked on both flanks so I could remove broken squads from the game and shot at broken units to keep DM. Two tactics that are well worth using.

Anyone else played this one here yet? Roar has it 0 : 0 so mine will be the first recording.

Give it a go, it's quick and fun, I recon if you know the rules you can play both ways in a night.

Ian
 

kempenfelter

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Played S17 "A Ridge Too Far" a week ago against a new ASLer. 12 German 2 ELR German squads with indifferent leadership and a few MGs try to stop 8 well-led 5 ELR British squads supported by a mtr and a MTR from moving 12 hexes in 6 turns. The terrain-altering SSR--Woods are Orchards--makes for some long LOSes. And with nearly every obstacle a hindrance instead there's no safe approach or place to hide. It made for a very different game. The scenario is good for teaching the SK Ordnance rules--both mortars have smoke. Plus, the no cowering, Assault firing Brits are just what a noob needs to be on the attack. ROAR has this at 2 British to 4 German victories, which is odd because the Allies have the firepower in this contest. Maybe the novices are taking that side, and don't make use of all the tools at their disposal. I would be surprised if the Jerries won if the opponents were of equal skill level. Despite that, as the Axis I managed to lose a very exciting game. We had a 76mm MTR Critical Hit--on an Intensive Fire shot. A 2nd line German effectively FPFed to break and pin the khaki swarm, and then ambushed and eliminated the half-squads that tried to CC it. Finally, Sgt Stahel in a last rush picked up an LMG and moved adjacent to the enemy, only to fail a PTC and lose Advancing Fire. It seemed like every DR in the last turn was make or break. I'd play this one again.
 

serpico

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Sounds like some games I've played (full ASL) where it seemed to always come to dice rolls in the end...

Nice write up guys....
 

ChrisM

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Got in a playing of Baking Bread - which is available as a free downlaod from the MMP website last night. i had the Russians with four 4-4-7s, three 4-5-8, a 9-1 a 6+1 Commissar (using the full ASL commissar rules - and damn if I didn't forget to pull a piece from my full kit) supported with 2 LMG, an MMG and a 45L w/ crew. A very modest russian rifle formation for October '42. This is a Stalingrad scenario on SK board z and my opponent had a very numerous, well equipped and well led German force trying to take and hold buildings Zp2and Zp3 (simulating the famous Bread Factory). Both sides get reinforcements - the Huns get a lot more!, and the Soviets get 3 conscripts and a 5-2-7 assault squad, led by an 8-0 and about midway through teh engagement (Turn 3)

The Russians cannot stack on set up and must set up within four hexes of S5. So i staked a pair of 4-4-7s out in the victory buildings, since the Germans start rigth across the street - i figured these guys would break and fall back, and I'd reinforce with reserves set up out of LOS. The MMG with a 4-5-8 and the 9-1 started back in R6 covering both the open ground/road running horizontally along the S/R hex grain and the victory buildings. I put the Commissar in the multihex building right behind the VP objectives with a pair of 4-5-8s as a striking reserve I palnned on shucking guys back and forth across the Q street. with the commissar eliminating DM and urging Ivans back into the line.

I didn't see a lot of good spots for the 45, so I ended up siting it in S5 with its CA coveirng both the two Bread Factory buildings as well as that open ground just to the south of them - where i figured the reinforcement attack would end up falling heaviest.

Things played out kind of as I expected with teh 4-4-7s sucking up a couple of 20 +3 shots and passing the resultant 1MC and NMCs for the first couple of turns.
the German had his HMG with a couple of 4-6-8 and the 9-2 on the far south, setting up a fire lane down the street between the Factories and the rally point (though he doesn't know what fire lanes are in game terms yet) and engaging my MMG nest in a fire fight. Due to his superior leadership, he eventually won this shootout, but i tied up the HMg through turn five, which was the goal. .

The Germans have more than enough resources and time to destory the Russians in deatil given their somehwat scattered set up requirements, andmy opponent (who is learning really quickly) did just that. i think teh scenario is about a turn too long and really should be five turns, whihc would put a little more pressure on the German to be up tempo. nontheless, he carefully broke the few 4-4-7s I had on the southenr side of the board with heavy prpe, then maneuivered squads across the north-South street to root them out of buildings and force them abck on the 9-1 machine gun nest - which eventually cracked as i emntioned. teh 45L did get some nice rate runs and slowed up his attack, but on turn three, he finally cracked my boys in the Factorues (God its weird calling one hex buildings factories), and I ran them back to teh Commissar, who rallied them pretty quickly. it was the first time the newbie saw a Commissar in action adn i look forward ot graduating him to Guards Counterattack and (later) RB and VoTG eventually.

LOS on these Sk boards is a little wider than i am used to and I didn't notice one 4-6-7 in his rear actually ahd a shot between P2 and P3 toto Q4 where I was running teh 4-5-8s through to reifrice. he broke one squad and the residual pinned another one - and I couldn't get back in the VP builidngs before his movmeent phase. He took them with a sweep form teh north on turn 4 and there was no way I could launch a suuccesful counter atatck with teh reinfircing conscripts. Conscripts really suck for this work.

It was a fun little firefight, though i do think hte Germans have too mcuh time, given their force allocation. i also think I should have set the gun up in one of the factory buldings and hunkered dwon until he advanced, then popped out of HIP, and nailed him with -2 (Point blank)/-1 FFMO and probably -1 NAM shots. With ROF 3 and the possibility of IF, I probably could have shattered the whole northern strike force - and that might have given me the battle, given how methodically he was reducing the Russian rifle platoons on the soutrhern flank.

Not a abd little fire fight, and it makes me wnat to move him up to limited fiull rules and run him through the old SL stalingrad scenarios next. Guards Counterattack should be fun - I haven't played that one in twenty years or so -and maybe only once with ALS rules. i don't think I'll revisit either SK stalingrad sceanrio anytme soon - both this one and War of teh Rats (SK2) seem pretty pro German to me. (Although I do think they're more teaching tools than anything else - so that might not be fair to call them unbalanced).
 

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I played Clearing Carentan as the attacking Americans last weekend at the Bitter Ender here in NC. My opponent wanted to play with the full rules, which I was fine with as long as we played with no upper levels (a la Rally Point 2). We both got to use bypass to move units around in the back field. He used it to concentrate his initial spread out defense. I used it to run my 8-0 around and rally guys.

My basic strategy was to cross the street in turn 1 by attacking one hex hard. He was so spread out that he could bring little firepower to bear on my guys as they crossed the road. Set up the kill stack to nuke the entry point. Then ran some squads up to smoke the hex. Then ran the 9-1 leader up to blast the brokies in the entry hex to smithereens. His 1st OBA dropped right on a stack and didn't touch them. After that, it was just a methodical taking of buildings where his OBA couldn't touch me. One highlight was that he had HIPped a halfsquad in the 6-hex building in hopes to keep him hidden until the end and deny me the victory, but my 9-1 leader routed into the squads hex revealing him, and eliminating my leader for failure to rout (invoking no quarter). In turn 3, I thought he had slowed my grinding machine down when I rolled 2 casualty MC and getting stuck with 2 disrupted halfsquads. Alas the 10-2 came through. In turn 4 or 5, he was clinging on to the last two buildings. I just ran guys all around him in hopes to get encirclement in the AFPh. Fortunately, he FPFed until all his guys broke, giving me the win.
 

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Got in a playing of S11: A Long Way to Go last night. It was my first SK scenario in a while – I have been bringing a new player along through the SK system, and lately we had been playing a few of the full ALS scenarios that work as introductory fare: Guards Counterattack, Gavin Take etc. So it was a little weird getting back to the more basic SK type game.
We did port in a few of the full ASL rules, since he is getting comfortable with them. This scenario has 7 German 4-6-7/four 4-4-7/several half squads and a 9-1,8-1,7-0 attacking a small force of Americans in Sicily. The Germans need to exit 9 VP for the win without losing 11 CVP. The Americans have two 7-4-7, three or four 6-6-6, two 43 BAZ, a 60mm mortar and a 9-1 and an 8-0.
The American force is outmanned and outgunned and I think they need to practice a fall back defense – and this is a good teaching scenario for such. There are two hills and a small village forward, then a lot of open ground around the hills, with a handy wheat field on the eastern edge of the map and woods to the rear. He set up his force forward, and slowed up my right and center thrusts with residual fire power. I managed to get the 7-0 and four squads through the wheat field and around the hills, and once his forces started breaking, they didn’t really have rout paths to run back to. He gambled on a 2-1 CC that didn’t work out for him when I rolled a lucky four to his eleven and that cost him a pair of squads and the 9-1. Given how tin his OB was, it was a big blow that I was able to capitalize on. Despite relatively heavy early German casualties, once he lost his guys on the ridge for FtR and lost the CC – I was easily able to get enough VP off for the win.
ROAR has it 18-11 for the Germans and I think you need a bit of experience to properly setup an American defense. Again – I think you set up a screening force forward and fall back on the mid board farm houses and woods – the Germans will have a lot of OG to cross mid game, and that’s where the US needs to look to pick up CVP. I don’t think they can really stop so many Germans form getting through – so I think the US needs to be looking for kills in the mid game – you can’t stay in place and fight it out with the forces against you.
I found this to be a fun little engagement and (I think) a pretty good teaching tool. We even implemented a few ASL rules to SK stuff for the first time, and they seemed to slot in nicely without throwing the balance off too far.
 

custardpie

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S43 Clearing Carentan. Played as the defending Germans (just like Sinks Encouragment) but against another new player. This one has the look of being pro American


Well we switched sides and played it back. Right from the start this did not go so well. I ran units into a building (well I would if a HIP Squad and MMG was not sitting there), scratch the whole lot of them as both rate and low rolls put the big hurt on me. OK that's bad but can live with it, just need to get some back. Another well placed HIP caused me a broke. This is a new player and I treated him so which was my big mistake. His original attack was far to aggressive and lacked use of cover. On the flip side his defence in this game was very good. His HIP was spot on and his positions of his OBA worked well. One location was in the VL's which of course to win you have to go through. By the time I was attacking the victory locations I was already down to a few squads so the OBA ended up being a real pain. I conceeded early when I was left with only 1.5 squads unbroken and only a half squad broke!!!! for this I managed to just kill one squad not the best result.

This was still a good fun playing and again I feel is a good scenario to play. The adding of HIP and nice OBA rules make this worth playing . Having looked at the Expansion scenario's that are coming I would say that the Starter Kit players have a lot to look forward to.

Cheers
Ian
 
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