The Dennis boys go to Manila (CGII)

bendizoid

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I recommend a swift and brutal Japanese counterattack after a rolling barrage, slow. In Manila does a preregesturd hex get a free rolling barrage and if so what alignment?
 

klasmalmstrom

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I recommend a swift and brutal Japanese counterattack after a rolling barrage, slow. In Manila does a preregesturd hex get a free rolling barrage and if so what alignment?
Barrage is NA in Manila, IIRC.
 

sdennis

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So we played another turn today and sadly the random events (gusts, than heavy winds with fires) combined with continued hot dice for me as the Japanese, Neil threw in the towel.
I can't blame him, as I think Tate was saying in another thread without smoke getting on board is a problem. He was basically at the 4L row but the entire tobacco factory was burning and would likely still be burning on scenario 2.
My 1,1s kept coming and killing people now, my sniper was going off almost every time and kept hitting key stacks and rubbling them.
They gusts had rubbled a hex and than the heavy winds meant even thought that rubble was ablaze I could see through it with zero smoke, so now I can see some of his rally positions WAAAY in the back from my big mortars.
It went from bad to worse with each roll.

I was basically killing as many guys as he was...

And yes we share my precision dice...

We are going to try CGIII (the 2 phaser) and see if switching sides and areas of the map change the experience.

We both have major problems with getting on the map in Budapest as well (we've tried it 3 times) and Neil said this was worse given the constriction, no smoke, and my hot dice...
 

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How was the Japanese infiltration effecting you. GC111 is a slough I’m not sure the Americans can win the first scenario. Use your armor to the max ,and protect them. Hope the second day is not rain. The Americans need to suppress the Death Star (50 cal, hmg ) matrix the Japanese can have on board. And watch out for the 30% tank hunter hero the Japanese can produce.
 

ASLSARGE

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So we played another turn today and sadly the random events (gusts, than heavy winds with fires) combined with continued hot dice for me as the Japanese, Neil threw in the towel.
I can't blame him, as I think Tate was saying in another thread without smoke getting on board is a problem. He was basically at the 4L row but the entire tobacco factory was burning and would likely still be burning on scenario 2.
My 1,1s kept coming and killing people now, my sniper was going off almost every time and kept hitting key stacks and rubbling them.
They gusts had rubbled a hex and than the heavy winds meant even thought that rubble was ablaze I could see through it with zero smoke, so now I can see some of his rally positions WAAAY in the back from my big mortars.
It went from bad to worse with each roll.

I was basically killing as many guys as he was...

And yes we share my precision dice...

We are going to try CGIII (the 2 phaser) and see if switching sides and areas of the map change the experience.

We both have major problems with getting on the map in Budapest as well (we've tried it 3 times) and Neil said this was worse given the constriction, no smoke, and my hot dice...
Sounds a little like my first time at CGII. Winds so no smoke. I opted to get as much heavy arty as I could first two scenarios to pummel Japanese positions and brought infantry on slowly. Still took a lot of losses but by third scenario I was able to strike on a very narrow front and punched a hole right through to the Police Station. By turning the Japanese right flank I had a secure base to move north and west from. Of course we had "normal" dice rolls in that game. Passing PMC's in Manila can be tough when all looks lost. Seen the fortunes sway many times just by hanging tough and trying different approaches. Good luck in CGIII..
My fave of the five.
 

Den589

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Sounds a little like my first time at CGII. Winds so no smoke. I opted to get as much heavy arty as I could first two scenarios to pummel Japanese positions and brought infantry on slowly. Still took a lot of losses but by third scenario I was able to strike on a very narrow front and punched a hole right through to the Police Station. By turning the Japanese right flank I had a secure base to move north and west from. Of course we had "normal" dice rolls in that game. Passing PMC's in Manila can be tough when all looks lost. Seen the fortunes sway many times just by hanging tough and trying different approaches. Good luck in CGIII..
My fave of the five.
The way Steve was rolling I don't think anybody could have had a chance to be honest. He rolled 15 snakes in 3 turns. My sniper had been reduced to 2 so great right? Not one activation. On the other hand his sniper went off at least 8 times and hit a kill stack over and over and over and of course was selecting the leaders most of the time. Ok rant over.

That being said the heavy winds essentially broke the CG for us. No smoke via heavy winds or rain or whatever makes it near impossible for the Americans to step on the board. My casualties would have set me back so far that it would have been impossible. All this after 5 turns.

We are going to try CG III, switching sides. I'm a much better defender anyways (as are most not very good players like myself) And if it's at my house I can funnel more wine into him for an advantage.
 

DVexile

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That being said the heavy winds essentially broke the CG for us. No smoke via heavy winds or rain or whatever makes it near impossible for the Americans to step on the board. My casualties would have set me back so far that it would have been impossible. All this after 5 turns.
This seems a dicey proposition (see what did there?) in many "historical" scenarios/CGs where the standard ASL "fog of war" mechanics can utterly break something in a non-historical way.

Smoke seems to be the biggest one since in many cases by the design of the scenario it is the only possible way for forces to enter. If random events make it impossible then the battle is lost before it starts and essentially the entire design concept of the scenario has been violated. I don't think anyone has much interest in spending a lot of time setting up a large forces scenario and then having a particular DR produce rain decide the outcome before anyone has a chance to move or shoot.

Certainly there is a delicate balance to maintain, but it seems like on occasion certain huge global variables should be specified by SSR instead to better match what actually happened and to line up with the scenario design intent.

Another example is AFV reinforcements crossing a bridge. Historically we know whether they crossed without collapsing it or not, but in game mechanics the first AFV can collapse the bridge and thus no reinforcements and essentially end of scenario without any action from the opponent.

House rules can of course deal with such things, but something by SSR to at least limit the global vagaries might be in order (e.g. Gusts NA or Gusts may only occur once per CG day). If a single weather event can make the scenario unwinnable then maybe it should be SSR'd out.
 

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From my POV, if the Americans have smoke the entire time it might be a cake walk for them. They have a TON of assets to apply smoke, so if it never rains or heavy winds and the mild breeze is pushing the smoke in front of them, does it push too much in the American favor? It is a knife edge of design for sure.
I'm going to be the Americans and if I lose smoke I just might stop attacking...
 

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As the Japanese side I'd say that the Americans have everything they need and more. The japanese side is on the back foot.

No smoke because of wind/rain? OK, use vehicles as cover, use the rain, use FFE hindrance.

You got to have the skills to pay the bills even if it's raining.
 

sdennis

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Well it wasn't just no smoke due to heavy winds... the heavy winds were putting all his locations on FIRE... he was literally running out of places to BE near the factories. If it wasn't blazing already it had a fire or two waiting to convert, he had several squads have to enter flame hexes only to have to voluntary break.
And this was the area my sniper was going crazy.

I do think that allowing the players to CHOOSE the sniper that goes off is too advantageous. Once my sniper got in a good area I just kept choosing it as the one to go off. In RB or others it's random which one goes off so even being in the right spot, you have a 50% chance of that one not being chosen. If my sniper had been the other one 50% of the time, his island boys would have been messed up but that was the sideshow, not the main line of attack, in fact I used my first 2 to move it RIGHT where I needed it to be... after that just kept choosing it.
 

Den589

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As the Japanese side I'd say that the Americans have everything they need and more. The japanese side is on the back foot.

No smoke because of wind/rain? OK, use vehicles as cover, use the rain, use FFE hindrance.

You got to have the skills to pay the bills even if it's raining.
I will never claim to be the smartest man, but using vehicles as cover into a 10-2 led 30 FP stack, three 81* Mortars and three 16FP meat chopper guns backing them up; seemed just a bit too much for me with zero smoke. And I never even found the three 12FP guns that he bought. It never did actually rain, just heavy wind.

Like I said though, everything went bad for the Americans, from the gusts to heavy smoke to the dice gods. I'd be willing to try the CG again after I've licked my wounds; just think it is a tough entry onto the board very reminiscent of the Russian entry in the one Festung Budapest CG (we tried that one 3 times and never solved the puzzle as the Russian).
 

sdennis

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Yeah he was just getting to the good stuff!
There was a concealed squad hiding under a tank... until the 12(-1) rate 30(-1) happened :)
 

sdennis

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The American firepower is awesome if you can bring it to bear. I was only exposing a squad here, a squad there and he vaporized them when I did...
 

klasmalmstrom

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Another example is AFV reinforcements crossing a bridge. Historically we know whether they crossed without collapsing it or not, but in game mechanics the first AFV can collapse the bridge and thus no reinforcements and essentially end of scenario without any action from the opponent.
Most of the the bridges in ASL scenarios tend to be stone though - only wooded bridges can collapse. So it is a rather rare occurence, but certainly something designers need to be aware of, should they SSR a vital bridge into it being wooden.
 

DVexile

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Most of the the bridges in ASL scenarios tend to be stone though - only wooded bridges can collapse. So it is a rather rare occurence, but certainly something designers need to be aware of, should they SSR a vital bridge into it being wooden.
Good point, I had even meant to say "wooden bridge".

187 Morgan's Stand was one I was thinking of. The SSR puts in a wooden bridge mostly likely to give the Germans the option of trying to bring it down with one of their heavier hitting AFVs, which is an interesting if low odds strategy. Because the German groups enter in random order that would only be practical in certain circumstances anyway. It also, probably unintentionally, has the side effect of putting the bridge at risk of collapsing just by being driven over by the American reinforcements. In fact, I suspect a fair fraction of players forget to even roll for bridge collapse so it likely has minimal impact anyway!
 

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The way Steve was rolling I don't think anybody could have had a chance to be honest. He rolled 15 snakes in 3 turns. My sniper had been reduced to 2 so great right? Not one activation. On the other hand his sniper went off at least 8 times and hit a kill stack over and over and over and of course was selecting the leaders most of the time. Ok rant over.

That being said the heavy winds essentially broke the CG for us. No smoke via heavy winds or rain or whatever makes it near impossible for the Americans to step on the board. My casualties would have set me back so far that it would have been impossible. All this after 5 turns.

We are going to try CG III, switching sides. I'm a much better defender anyways (as are most not very good players like myself) And if it's at my house I can funnel more wine into him for an advantage.
Question: in a large CG, it appears to be big disadvantage if your SAN is permanently reduced a pip. Thoughts? Solutions?
 
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