What should I play at ASLOK?

Anonymous

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I have been very working on Schwerpunkt volumes 9 and 10 all year and have played very few non-playtest scenarios.

What should be on my must play list of recently released scenarios?

What are you planning to play at ASLOK?

Evan Sherry
Tampa, ASL Group
 

Chas Argent

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I'm working on my playlist right now (incomplete still) but hope to get in some Desert scenarios (Khamsin, Scottish Nightmare, maybe even Point Of No Return :shock: .

Also, there are several Tactiques & Schwerpunkt scenarios that take place in North Africa (like Key to The Gate & The Fox' Offspring) that I've been wanting to play. Hopefully a glider landing scenario as well.

I have very little PTO experience so hopefully I will be able to get in a few in that theater without getting whupped too badly :) Now that I've said that I'm sure someone will be gunning..."Oh, sure, you take the Chinese in this one, you'll do FINE..." :?
 

Jazz

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Chas Argent said:
I'm working on my playlist right now (incomplete still) but hope to get in some Desert scenarios (Khamsin, Scottish Nightmare, maybe even Point Of No Return :shock: .

:?
Point of No Return is one kick-ass scenario. Khamsin is not quite as exciting, but still good.

If we can hook up in Cleveland, I'll give Point of no Return a shot....

Jazz
 

Anonymous

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I am looking more toward playing newer scenarios, stuff produced in the last couple of years. What CH, HOB, MMP, Fanatic pack, Canadian pack stuff should I consider playing at ASLOK?

Evan Sherry
 

Jazz

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ESherry said:
I am looking more toward playing newer scenarios, stuff produced in the last couple of years. What CH, HOB, MMP, Fanatic pack, Canadian pack stuff should I consider playing at ASLOK?

Evan Sherry
Is Fanatic Pack the SoCal stuff? I have played ~4 (out of like 6?) of these scenarios and they have all been excellent.

Canadian stuff is mixed..... A lot of tanks in more than a few of there offerings. I've also played some of their set-piece defensive scenarios that we just couldn't see how the attacker could dent the hard defensive shell.

It seems they (the Canadians) do a lot of whatever they do. A lot of vehicles,...enough trenches&wire to duplicate a stretch of WWI front line...which can make for some interesting scenarios. Not for the faint of heart.

The pick of the litter from the lads up North is the 3rd(?) LSAHSS pack that covered the winter '42-'43 Kharkov actions. Some very imaginative and interesting situations in the snow or mud.

I've been pretty much disappointed at the HOB FireFights. Too small and too dicey for my taste. Of course, Orsha has some really neat scenarios.
 

Pitman

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Fanatic Enterprises packs (there are three so far) are by Paul Kenny.

I have played only three scenarios from them. One was balanced and fun. The other two really seemed to be dogs where one side did not have much of a chance to win. It has made me somewhat cautious about these scenarios.

I have played 3 of the six Melee Pack scenarios. One, The Wolves' Last Tooth, was fun and seemingly balanced. The other two both had convincing wins for the defender, which made me a little concerned, but they weren't necessarily convincing enough to make me think they were dogs (in one case, my opponent pretty much blundered into every single boresighted/mined/wired hex I had). They were all fun to play.
 

Brian W

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Here are some of the scenarios I am thinking about playing:
  • The Sonnenburg Hotel [CH51]
    3rd RTR in the Rain [J43]
    Crossing the Gniloi Tikitsch [A98]
    U.S. Forces [PBP5]
    House of Pain [PBP19] as the Sovs
    Operation Nordwind [CH44] as the Germans
    Eye of the Tiger [WCW7]
    First and Inches [PBP25]
    Pomeranian Tigers [SP11]
    Bad Luck [J60]
    Armored Probe [CH6]
    One-Log Bridge [ASLUG12]
    Kravchenko's 6th Guards Tank Army [CH30]
    Final Crisis at Blackpool [CH97]
    Battlin' Buckeyes [J2] as the Japanese
Most I have not played before, and some I have played once and want to try the other side. They are all on the 60% side of the balanced list from ROAR. I also was thinking about these scenarios that are a bit farther out:
  • Orange at Walawbum (SCA5 re.) [A82]
    Raw Deal [PBP6]
    The Green Hell [CH3]
    Angels at the Airfield [KE10]
However, I signed up for mini's the entire time I am there, so probably won't get to play too much of this list; if history is a guide, I will probably only get two or three from the list played.

At first I was thinking about only picking scenarios with at least three overlays, but it took too many of the scnearios I wanted to play out of the picture. So there is my list; anyone else got one?
 

Chris Milne

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Jazz said:
Canadian stuff is mixed..... A lot of tanks in more than a few of there offerings. I've also played some of their set-piece defensive scenarios that we just couldn't see how the attacker could dent the hard defensive shell.

It seems they (the Canadians) do a lot of whatever they do. A lot of vehicles,...enough trenches&wire to duplicate a stretch of WWI front line...which can make for some interesting scenarios. Not for the faint of heart.
I'm curious about this Jazz - which scenario packs have you played? (I'm too faint of heart to want to play big defensive set pieces.)
I've just had a flick through the first Canadians in Italy pack (8 scenarios). No big defensive set pieces, although two scenarios have big armoured forces (Priority Call: 10 Shermans, and Booth Force: 8 Shermans plus 4 ACs). I don't have the second CiI pack to hand, but I remember one scenario with about 15 carriers and 10 Shermans, which seems excessive.

Are these tendencies seen to a greater extent in other packs?
 

Bryan Holtby

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Canadians in general like to drink lots of beer. So the longer the scenario takes to play, the more beer we get to drink :)

Thus the larger number of vehicles.
 

Jazz

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Chris Milne said:
Jazz said:
Canadian stuff is mixed..... A lot of tanks in more than a few of there offerings. I've also played some of their set-piece defensive scenarios that we just couldn't see how the attacker could dent the hard defensive shell.

It seems they (the Canadians) do a lot of whatever they do. A lot of vehicles,...enough trenches&wire to duplicate a stretch of WWI front line...which can make for some interesting scenarios. Not for the faint of heart.
I'm curious about this Jazz - which scenario packs have you played? (I'm too faint of heart to want to play big defensive set pieces.)
I've just had a flick through the first Canadians in Italy pack (8 scenarios). No big defensive set pieces, although two scenarios have big armoured forces (Priority Call: 10 Shermans, and Booth Force: 8 Shermans plus 4 ACs). I don't have the second CiI pack to hand, but I remember one scenario with about 15 carriers and 10 Shermans, which seems excessive.

Are these tendencies seen to a greater extent in other packs?
As I recall, there was one big defensive scenario in the first GD pack and one in the LSAH pack that dealth with '41 Russia. There wern't that many set piece defense scnearios, but they made up in numbers with lottsa trenches and wire.

I can't recall details about which scenarios have a lot of tanks, but I just rmember looking for a scenario in the Canadian stuff and being seriously impressed with the number of tanks in some of them. And we're talking about both sides haveing a bunch'o tanks....
 

Jay White

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Bring it on!

Maybe its a Canadian Thing, but I'm happy to see someone is still making big-ass scenarios. Hill 621 is still one of my faves; more more bigger bigger!

(btw, I don't personally know George Kelln, the creator of the packs, so I'm not being biased. :). I love the scenarios he comes out with. )
 

Chris Milne

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Jazz said:
I can't recall details about which scenarios have a lot of tanks, but I just rmember looking for a scenario in the Canadian stuff and being seriously impressed with the number of tanks in some of them. And we're talking about both sides haveing a bunch'o tanks....
Dug 'em out today. From CiI 2:

Crossing of the Moro: 9 Pz IVs take on 8 Shermies.
Glorious Summer Day: 3 Panthers, 1 Pz IV, 2 Marders and 3 SPWs with accompanying PanzerGrenadiers take on 12 Shermans (which is the entire Canadian OB). And the Panthers have improved exhausts!

Wacht am Rhein has some big-assed armour battles, including one with 7 King Tigers.


But on the whole, I think there's a pretty good mix in the packs. Maybe not something for everyone, but some good stuff nonetheless.
[Caveat: I've not yet had the chance to play any of these]
 

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The latest Canadian pack has a nifty little scenario with Italian conscripts and artillery pieces. It seems balanced and plays very well. Nice and tourney sized, too.
 

Pitman

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In order to a) have a convenient list of scenarios I wish to play, and b) help justify my purchase of a comb binder and my having scanned all my scenarios, I decided recently to make a booklet of scenarios that I wished to play. That would be handy for Office Fest, ASLOK, and other eventualities. Plus, since they were comb-bound, I could always replace “used” scenarios with new ones, and keep it eternally fresh.

I went through all my scenarios, picked ones that I hadn’t played that looked cool, then searched on ROAR for them to eliminate possible dogs. That left me with 61 scenarios, although technically I am down to 60 scenarios, having played Ron Bonear this past weekend in a game of “Franzen’s Roadblock.”

On the off-chance that others might be interested in taking a gander at scenario lists, what with ASLOK coming up and all, I am posting my scenario list here.

PTO Scenarios

A58 Munda Mash
CH14 Ninety Minute War
CH61 Prothero’s Hook
CH65 The Seton Block
CH80 Cut the Line
CH153 End of the Line
DB021 Crisis on the Abucay Line
FE8 Soebang Serenade
FE10 An Abandoned Army
FE31 Plenty of Time to Rest When You’re Dead
FE34 Go Down Fighting
FO2 Friendly Fire
FO4 Catcher in the Kunai
HG2 The Gifu
IP2 Company A’s Chance
IP8 Fists and Fury
J2 Battlin’ Buckeyes
J7 Slow and Steady
KE15 Angels at the Airfield
LN1#9 Deception at RJ177
LN2#4 Suicide Creek
MLR1 Hana-Saku
RP1#8 Victoria Cross
SP69 Meiktila Break-In
SP80 Weston’s War
TAC3 Uneasy Withdrawal
TAC61 Ghosts in the Jungle
WCW10 Stand and Die
Z24 Men of Stone


West Front

CH79 BARs Against Panzers
CH85 A Kick in the Pants…
CH159 Just Before Breakfast
DB026 Block at Ville-Sur-Illon
Euro-Pack 54 Devils in the Graveyard
J51 Canicatti
KE21 Franzen’s Roadblock
MP5 The Rats of Hamich
PBP-CH(F) Bedlam Bridge
PBP6 Raw Deal
PBP9 Last Roundup
Shin2 Forming the Thumb
SP72 One Touch Canuck
SP90 Skirting the Mace
TOT21 Tony—Take the Bridge—Out!
TOT32 Denouement
U7 Han-Sur-Neid

East Front

CH56 The ‘Stalingrad’ of Kursk
CH147 See Ya’ Sam
FT28 First Annoyance
FT34 Borodino Train Station
GD4 The Road to Lyon
HP9 The Maelstrom
HP11 Pillau Fight
J33 The Slaughterhouse
LSSAH2 They Stop Here!
LSSAH3 Fruhjahrsbestellung
LSSAH28 Last Drop of Blood
LSSAH29 To Its Last Man
OB4 Motoring to Mogilev
SP78 The Golovchino Breakout
SP84 Von Bodenhausen’s Ride
 

Brian W

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CH14 Ninety Minute War
This is a quick little scenario. I would swear it is pro-Japanese, but ROAR has it pretty even. Thumbs up as a PTO teaching scenario.

CH61 Prothero’s Hook
Perhaps I don't understand the scenario, but it seems like a barking dog to me. The Japanese sit on top of the hill and the Aussies hump up it and then get destroyed. They have OBA, but it is not likely to be of much use.

J2 Battlin’ Buckeyes
Played it as the Japanese and it felt pro Japanese. But I think that a cagey American with decent dice can do well. Main thing is not to get cut up in the beginning--the Japanese tanks can come in from a couple different directions and are very hard to knock out. Don't let them flank you; which doesn't mean that you should trust your bazookas to the task--give up ground and keep your rout paths open.

KE15 Angels at the Airfield
I've not played the new version, but the old one was a barking dog. I have my doubts about the new version after seeing the changes--you get a mortar with B11 and WP7. You better get a couple of WP rounds!

SP69 Meiktila Break-In
It's a gem. The designer is a genius. Showing pro-Japanese right now, but highly rated. The Japanese can do nasty things with the tunnels

SP80 Weston’s War
The designer is a bum. Actually, I like the brits, but there are a number of sneaky tricks that make it a game. After playing these a couple of times, I went on a "I never want to play a Japanese defense scenario again" kick that I am still halfway on. Lost this once in playtest when a Japanese Half-squad killed 5 british squads in the first game turn through fire, ambush, and rout path cutting. Completely destroyed a third of my force through an incredible string of DR's.

PBP6 Raw Deal
Played it as the americans and won handily, but my opponent was not giving me his A game. Would like to play it again as the Germans. ROAR has it showing pro-american. My opinion is that the American should be forced to chose at least one ATG-Tank exchange option. It makes for a better game, and I bet it would be more balanced.

SP72 One Touch Canuck
Played it as the canucks. Not very remarkable IMO, but I really do not like that particular board, the narrow street village.

SP90 Skirting the Mace
This is a scenario that I thought would get everyone's attention. It is meaty, but takes finesse as the Germans. Highly recommended.

U7 Han-Sur-Neid
Won handily as the German. There is a lot to like, but I couldn't get into the spirit of it.

SP78 The Golovchino Breakout
Not a lot of maneuver in this one. I designed it as a showcase for the much maligned Soviets in 1943. They get some nice toys and fight against some mobile germans. Pretty balanced IMO.

SP84 Von Bodenhausen’s Ride
A meat and potatoes affair. The T-34's are a big problem and if used right make it tough to win as the Germans.
 
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