Winning by the narrowest of margins

[Curtis Brooks]

Just finished a game with my weekly opponent, Tom Yetter. We played Btb1 Taking Tailleville .... I had the attacking Canadians.

For 7 turns I was knocking the Germans around like a rag doll. The objective is to make sure the Germans have no GO units between row P and BB. On my last turn, the only unbroken Germans were a conscript HS tied up in melee and a wounded 8-0 and HS tied up in melee. I maneuvered my units on the last turn to bring more units to bare for the final melee.

The melee with the wounded ldr and half squad was cleaned up with no problem. For the last melee, I had 2.5 Canadian squads and two leaders (one was a -1 ldr). I had 6:1 odds, and by going for capture against the conscript HS, it was 6:1 with a -2 drm. I rolled a 6,6! Ok, that's enough for a cr and win. But then Tom rolls snake eyes to create a leader! This changed the odds and stole victory from my grasp.

We both laughed, and I don't feel bad about losing on the last DR. I was peeved that he broke my 13 game winning streak. Oh well, time for revenge next week.

 

[MajorDomo]

I once had enough VP +1 more of Good Order Japanese infantry in the victory area with one 9-0 leader still to move. My opponent had only a 37L, to DFF fire through two Kunai at my several separated squads.

He could win by reducing one of my Japanese squads to a broken HS, which would reduce my Good Order total by two points.

I thought unlikely, but why take a chance, then moved the final leader into the VC area to add another point and up the morale of the closest 448.

What could go wrong?

Well the 37L fired at the moving 9-0, perfect I thought, no intensive fire possible, no DFF as there were no adjacent units, and he did not keep rate on his shot which hit the 9-0 for a 4 flat IFT result.

The 9-0 rolls snakes, goes Berserk and the takes the 448 Berserk, which reduces my point total to one less than I needed.

Rich

 

[Tuomo]

I maneuvered my units on the last turn to bring more units to bare for the final melee.

Say, just what kind of Melee are you talking about?

 

[Curtis Brooks]

Say, just what kind of Melee are you talking about?

HtH?

 

[clubby]

Last night, I was playing my regular weekly opponent @shirlfactor in J154 Cradle to Grave. The object being to have more Partisans on the board (counted as Exit VP) than the Germans can take stone building hexes. Thinking there was no way my opponent could get more than 15 hexes and having 15 VP of Partisans still remaining, I setup up my last line of defense in my last APh in the inner city knowing that he would have to make some rush to victory to try and grab several hexes or at least grab one. He didn't have a lot of troops left so I felt pretty confident that it was going to take a miracle for him to secure the last building hex. Somewhere in my elaborate APh plan, I moved a Partisan full squad out of a stone building location. I don't know why I did this, it served no actual purpose in the game. This lone stone building was completely out of the action and the units around it were completely inconsequential to the action going on elsewhere. In his last MPh, he waltzed a crew two hexes away into the building for the 16 stone building hexes needed to win. It was a bitter defeat caused by my own stupidity but it was still hard to swallow.

 

[sfcmikej]

I once had victory secured against a regular opponent name Tom. Went into close combat knowing I had already won. I don't remember if he got ambush or if I rolled a 12 on the CC but it allowed him to withdraw and cost me the victory. The worst part was I could have guarded against this by garrisoning a hex with a squad that went into a CC that was not needed.

 

[clubby]

Great big fingers, little tiny keyboard.

 

[TopT]

Playing a new opponent in a PHD scenario and I was clobbering him. On my last turn I am moving my units to tidy them up and secure the victory. Dust settles and i find that I moved my AFV/ MMC right out of the Victory area

 

[jimfer]

Just finished a game with my weekly opponent, Tom Yetter. We played Btb1 Taking Tailleville .... I had the attacking Canadians.

For 7 turns I was knocking the Germans around like a rag doll. The objective is to make sure the Germans have no GO units between row P and BB. On my last turn, the only unbroken Germans were a conscript HS tied up in melee and a wounded 8-0 and HS tied up in melee. I maneuvered my units on the last turn to bring more units to bare for the final melee.

The melee with the wounded ldr and half squad was cleaned up with no problem. For the last melee, I had 2.5 Canadian squads and two leaders (one was a -1 ldr). I had 6:1 odds, and by going for capture against the conscript HS, it was 6:1 with a -2 drm. I rolled a 6,6! Ok, that's enough for a cr and win. But then Tom rolls snake eyes to create a leader! This changed the odds and stole victory from my grasp.

We both laughed, and I don't feel bad about losing on the last DR. I was peeved that he broke my 13 game winning streak. Oh well, time for revenge next week.

It ain't over till the Fat Lady sings. Sounds like a great game and a little payback for roughing up the Germans the whole game. Maybe a little Karma at the end.

Jimfer

 

[dpabrams77]

I once had victory secured against a regular opponent name Tom. Went into close combat knowing I had already won. I chat remember if he got ambush of I rolled a 12 on CC but it allowed him tobwitjdraw and sent me victory. The worst part was I could have gurded against this be garrisoning a hex withbabsquad they indent into a CC that was not needed b

Mike did you have a stroke while typing this? Or was it the sausage fingers?

 

[bprobst]

A game of "Shklov's Labours Lost" played many, many years ago. My (admittedly, not very experienced) German opponent had managed to stomp my Russians pretty hard. On his last turn, he only had to get a single MMC into a single building and victory was almost certainly his -- my chances of recapturing the building would have been very poor indeed -- maybe even impossible, I'm not sure that I had any surviving units that could even reach the building in question in my last turn. (Mind you, he only had a single MMC available for this move -- I'd been doing plenty of stomping myself.) Well, he moves the unit as far as it would go, ready to enter the building in the APh.

It's still his MPh, and he still has a StuG available to move. Not wanting to "waste" it, he decided to move it and make an OVR attack against some unit I had in the street -- I have a vague recollection that it was my 10-3 who had been pinned, alone, in the previous turn and was just sitting there being useless. His OVR attack was very good -- and it triggered my Sniper, who immediately selected the waiting-to-advance German squad and pinned him! Just like that, and his inevitable victory was stolen from him.

More experienced players know, of course, the lesson that he immediately learned: don't make attacks that you don't need to!

Mind you, this was the same opponent who in a previous game had attempted to OVR a single US squad with three different tanks in the same MPh and had rolled "12" for the OVR attack for each of them (one after the other), managing through Random Selection to malf almost all weapons on all three vehicles. Maybe he was just desperate to see an OVR that worked. If so, he got his wish -- sort of!

 

[kcole4001]

It's easy when you're new to the game to get fixated on something you just need to have work at least once, consequences be damned.
As you said, it's a lesson learned, and often that's a very vivid memory which serves as a reminder later on of just what can go wrong.
I'm sure we've all done it.

 

[Curtis Brooks]

It's easy when you're new to the game to get fixated on something you just need to have work at least once, consequences be damned.
As you said, it's a lesson learned, and often that's a very vivid memory which serves as a reminder later on of just what can go wrong.
I'm sure we've all done it.

Yup, done that. Who here has shot at a broken unit hoping to kill it instead of taking prisoners, and instead generates HOB and now faces a GO unit PLUS a hero!

 

[kcole4001]

Yep, I did this a few times recently hoping to provide a very graphic example to my son Tom who is just learning the game,
and it finally worked, battle hardening the squad and making a hero as well.

 

[sunoftzu]

Last evening, I finished my scenario of FrF-077 "Ghostbusters" vs Jackson Kwan. By the end of German turn 5, I had 30 VPs in the VC area (out of 18 required), but in the last (French) turn Jack exits 1 Laffey (raising the amount needed to 21), and eliminates 2 PzIVs (with some rather low TK DRs) leaving me 1 point shy (on 20). There is a 468 squad in CC with a Panhard AC, so I carry on in the vain hope of getting a Leader Creation in CC, and sure enough, in the last CCPh of the game, I roll 1,1 to create an 8-0 leader for the 1 point I needed.

Not quite as extreme as Curtis' opponent needing Curtis to roll 6,6 followed by him rolling a 1,1. But still pretty bizarre to go from the French having next to no chance of wining, then actually being very heavy odds-on to win, only to lose it on the last DR of the game....

John.

 

[thedrake]

Years ago and playing my regular opponent in scenario SP45 A Stroke of Luck with myself as the Russians. After being pummeled for almost the entire game,on the last turn of the game (German Player turn) I have a lone GO 4-2-6 Conscript squad left holding the last building the Germans need to capture and win the scenario. My squad is on the 1st Level of the building in a stairwell hex and the Germans move two 6-5-8 squads into Ground level of the stairwell hex and will Advance upstairs to get into CC. That is until I remember something I had read from another player he posted online: Voluntary Break+Rout,which I do and get the 4-2-6 up to 2nd Level where he cannot be reached and deny building Control to the Germans. Gamey tactic but legal. Thinking back on it I should have agreed with my buddy to play out the CC to see who would win that way.

 

[jrv]

Years ago and playing my regular opponent in scenario SP45 A Stroke of Luck with myself as the Russians. After being pummeled for almost the entire game,on the last turn of the game (German Player turn) I have a lone GO 4-2-6 Conscript squad left holding the last building the Germans need to capture and win the scenario. My squad is on the 1st Level of the building in a stairwell hex and the Germans move two 6-5-8 squads into Ground level of the stairwell hex and will Advance upstairs to get into CC. That is until I remember something I had read from another player he posted online: Voluntary Break+Rout,which I do and get the 4-2-6 up to 2nd Level where he cannot be reached and deny building Control to the Germans. Gamey tactic but legal. Thinking back on it I should have agreed with my buddy to play out the CC to see who would win that way.

It's hard to tell from your description whether you were upper-level encircled or not, but if you were, you couldn't voluntary break because then you would immediately surrender. If you weren't upper-level encircled then it was a legal move.

JR

 

[thedrake]

JR, no was not Encircled as other stairwell in building allowed me access down to Ground level. Made sure to check before making that move. Thanks for asking as should have clarified.

 

[jrv]

JR, no was not Encircled as other stairwell in building allowed me access down to Ground level. Made sure to check before making that move. Thanks for asking as should have clarified.

One of the things your opponent should have done is to upper-level encircled you just to prevent this sort of move. He could have used a SMC even. If it was impossible to get another unit in, he should have used one of the two 6-5-8s.

JR