TCASL 10/14/23-- Halloween Horror Show Mk.4: CAVES

Uncle_Duke

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Greetings all,

It's that time again, folks! Break out the maps and counters, and let's play some ASL! Be advised, we're starting at 11:30am this time. I was a little late to the party trying to reserve the room, so I wasn't able to get it for the entire day. In positive news, I'll actually be present! And for the entire time, even!

Details:
Day:
10/14/23
Time: 11:30am - 4:45pm -- NOTE THE CHANGE!
Location: Ramsey County Library Roseville 2180 Hamline Ave N, Roseville, MN 55113 [Board Room, 2nd floor, on the left, over by the periodicals]
Masks: Recommended

This year's Halloween Horror Show takes us underground! ASL Caves are most common in the PTO of course, but they're occasionally found elsewhere:
Code:
Number  Title                              Side1              Side2                #Hrs  S1Win%  S2Win%  Publication                     Notes
ASL72   Sea of Tranquility                 Japanese           American             7.6   51.16%  48.84%  Rising Sun
ASL74   Bloody Red Beach                   Japanese           American             23.9  52.00%  48.00%  Rising Sun
ASL151  Take Two                           Japanese           American             10.5  ??????  ??????  Rising Sun                      Low play count
ASL253  Our Place in the Sun               Italian            Ethiopian            5.8   ??????  ??????  Hollow Legions (3rd Ed)         Low play count
A67     Monte Castello                     American           German               7     50.00%  50.00%  Annual '93b
J14     On The Hoss' Side                  American           Japanese             5.4   43.75%  56.25%  ASL Journal #2

Allied advances in Italy and the ever-present conflict on the Eastern Front weren't the only fighting in October 1943. Partisan activity continued in both Italy and the Balkans, as well as in New Guinea:
Code:
A99     To Clear a Roadblock               German             Partisan             4.8   60.24%  39.75%  Annual '96                      10/5/1943
ASL227  Danica Air                         Croatian           Partisan             3.1   ??????  ??????  Armies of Oblivion (2018)       10/6/1943, Low play count
AP68    Odd Angry Shot                     Japanese           Australian           3.2   38.46%  61.54%  Action Pack 7                   10/12/1943
 

Uncle_Duke

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On Saturday, I had the pleasure of watching Byron (Soviet) and Stephen (German) play FT208 "To Have and to Hold."

Two things jump out when looking at the card:

1) The playing area is pretty small. A pair of deluxe boards provide a playing area smaller than half of a regular board.

2) The orders of battle are enormous. 34 squad equivalents for the Soviets and 18 for the Germans mean an incredible 52 squads will be shooting it out in a battlefield that's a mere 560 meters long by 400 meters wide.

The VC for this one are pretty simple: Soviets win immediately when they control all building hexes.

The SSRs are likewise simply written, but raise a couple of questions. First is that the Germans are granted 4 Fortified Building locations, but it's unclear whether or not Tunnel Substitution (B8.6) is allowed or not [I reached out to Vincent Maresca and he clarified that Tunnel Substution is allowed, though not originally intended]. Secondly, Deep Snow (E3.73) is in effect. Not an issue on its own, but Drifts (E3.75) are not n/a, and trying to implement the rule as written to deluxe boards is a little bit weird [Vincent also clarified that Drifts would need to be explicitly specified in an SSR to be in effect].

Key to image annotations:

North is up
Red = Soviet, Blue = German
Solid arrows denote movement
Dashed arrows denote significant fire
Blue boxes indicate Fortified locations.

My apologies for the glare.

Position at setup:
FT208 "To Have And To Hold".  Setup.  BL (Soviet) vs SL (German).  Played 2023-10-14

We have a speedbump in d1G2, comprised of 2x 4-4-7s hiding out in an SSR-mandated Fortified Building Location (at least one Fortified location must set up on each board). I'm not sure I'd have put all my eggs in one basket, fortified or no, but I think that some sort of forward defense is necessary to slow down the Soviet advance.

The Soviets kicked off their attack with an aggressive push all along the front line. The Germans held their fire until a Soviet advance group entered d1G5, then they opened up to deadly effect:
FT208 "To Have And To Hold".  Soviet 1 MPh.  BL (Soviet) vs SL (German).  Played 2023-10-14

The end result was a wounded leader and a broken half-squad (units toting DCs seemed to be particularly vulnerable this game). Otherwise, the Soviets advanced without opposition.

Positions at the end of Game Turn 1:
FT208 "To Have And To Hold".  End Turn 1.  BL (Soviet) vs SL (German).  Played 2023-10-14


Turn 2 continued the themes laid out in Turn 1. The Soviet advance continued against desultry German fire. In the center, the German speedbump was broken in d1G1. They had no rout path, and since No Quarter had not been declared, the survivors threw down their arms, raised their hands, and were accepted as prisoners of war.

On the left, the Soviets were able to rush into the d5B2 woods mass more or less unopposed. That they were able to take this position so easily probably constituted a defensive error on the German part. I suspect that turning the d5A5 / d5B5 / d1C1 hexes into a killing ground is a pretty necessary step in a successful German defense.

A German outpost did get some shots off in their Prep Fire Phase though. This was a marginal success at best, as Heat of Battle sent one squad Berserk.
FT208 "To Have And To Hold".  German 2 PFPh.  BL (Soviet) vs SL (German).  Played 2023-10-14

Positions at the end of Game Turn 2 (Soviet reinforcements arrayed for Turn 3 entry are visible in the top left):
FT208 "To Have And To Hold".  End Turn 2.  BL (Soviet) vs SL (German).  Played 2023-10-14


Then the Partisans entered and the Soviets began to close the net. They forced the Germans out of the d5B2 woods mass and started to set up a large scale encirclement with further advances on the right flank. There was an exchange of fire between these forces and the village garrison. A few units were broken, but there was little overall effect.

Positions at the end of Game Turn 3:
Caption: FT208 "To Have And To Hold". End Turn 3. BL (Soviet) vs SL (German). Played 2023-10-14


Turn 4 was dominated by an intense and sustained exchange of point blank range fire between the Soviets and Partisans in the woods and the Germans garrisoning the village. The berserker was annhilated virtually instantly, and both German and Soviet units started breaking.

In the north, German reinforcements entered in an effort to push the Soviets out of the woods and away from the village....
Caption: FT208 "To Have And To Hold". German 4 MPh. BL (Soviet) vs SL (German). Played 2023-10-14

The weathered a hail of fire, and closed in to resolve the matter with bayonets, hand grenades, and entrenching tools (the Hand to Hand Melee marker is an error, this was a regular Melee):
Caption: FT208 "To Have And To Hold". German 4 CCPh. BL (Soviet) vs SL (German). Played 2023-10-14

Positions at the end of Game Turn 4:
Caption: Caption: FT208 "To Have And To Hold". End Turn 4. BL (Soviet) vs SL (German). Played 2023-10-14


The noose drew ever tighter for the remaining Germans over the course of Soviet Turn 5. As the Soviets pushed in closer, there simply weren't enough defenders left to push them all back. By the end of the Player Turn, the Soviets had siezed three of the six remaining victory buildings. With no improvement in sight, the Germans bowed to the inevitable and waved the white flag.

Final positions (end of Soviet Turn 5):
Caption: FT208 "To Have And To Hold". End Soviet 5 Final Position. BL (Soviet) vs SL (German). Played 2023-10-14


Thanks to Byron and Stephen for letting me watch their game, take pictures, and generally make snarky comments. It was great to have you both at the meetup!
 
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