GeorgeBates
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The plaza in front of Barad-dûr?
So what scenarios have you played Recently?
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synicbast
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Bah, I'm old school: Carn Dûm
von Marwitz
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If Carn Dûm should prove too cold and drafty, Dol Guldur could also be commendable.
Should you be really old school, it would be Utumno or Angband for you, however.
Or if you don't care for orcs (yet) and don't mind spiders, how about clefts of the Pelóri south of the Mount Hyamentir west of Avathar?
von Marwitz
synicbast
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Melkor was a wuss, pretty much like my SS have been in Steel Inferno as soon as a bullet comes too close. I mean one squad bxcarred, then the hs a turn later HOBed and generated a hero, only to then boxcar on the MC that also wounded the hero, who then perished in CC with a Crocodile. At least they covered the rearward redeployment of the rest of the company.
synicbast
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Scary to think my copy of the Silmarillion is almost 50 years old now and I was thrilled that something "new" had been published at the time.
von Marwitz
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Needless to say, you and me know, that the Silmarillion is nothing "new" at all.
While it is a science to itself to bring the Days before Days, the Years of the Trees, the Years of the Lamps, the Years of the Sun to meet, and even the sages are not clear on whether we are living in the 5th, 6th, or 7th age, some date the publication of your copy of the Silmarillion roughly 14730 solar years (or loa) after the end of First Age (which ended in 590 year of the sun but also included 1050 Years of the Trees before it. That said, it also covers stories that date from before the beginning of First Age.
I'm still struggling to bring the dinosaurs in, but I am merely a lowly mortal and not an elven sage.
Maybe we should pose these questions to the VASL map elves. There might be a slight chance that one of them was already there since the Awakening in Cuiviénen and could relate his memories first hand.
von Marwitz
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synicbast
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I tried to keep it light, but someone had to go full Tolkien nerd and suck the life out of a throwaway joke.
synicbast
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It wasn't you. (you kept it in the same vein) And I responded to the original throwaway joke in kind.
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The term “ joke” is used somewhat presumptuously. I certainly didn’t get them. Back on topic, please.
fenyan
Elder Member
Due to running out of time at West Coast Melee two weekends ago, @Ric of The LBC and I played the final round of the Deluxe ASL Mini today. He took the defending Germans in WO48 Last Assault on the Steelworks. The Germans have 10 x 447s, a 50L AT and 20L [6] AA to defend four factories with a 9-1 leading a reinforcement platoon on Turn 4. Against them are the Canadians, 15 x 458s, well led, with three Shermans.
I was grinding his force down pretty well but he passed his personal morale check on Turn 3, got his reinforcements on Turn 4, and made a great move by advancing a half squad into hex F1 to keep me from entering into Close Combat into the two hexes at the end of the factory on the next-to-last turn.
It came down to two CCs, two 458s vs a lone German 9-1 (hex G3), and two more 458s against the 20L crew (hex F2). The 9-1 ambushed the 458s so they couldn't declare Hand-to-Hand, and with 8-to-1 odds (+1 DRM for losing the ambush), needing a 9 to win the CC, I rolled an "11" which became a "12" so I couldn't even force a wound check on the 9-1. Great fun game with Ric and I extended my hand to congratulate our new Deluxe Mini Champ!
Also, thanks to Kevin Meyer for a very interesting scenario allowing for many potential countermoves. I've also had great fun with Bout of the Century and Hardened Veterans from this Winter Offensive 2024 pack (kudos to Pete Shelling) and am looking forward to Tom Morin's Can Opener.
I was grinding his force down pretty well but he passed his personal morale check on Turn 3, got his reinforcements on Turn 4, and made a great move by advancing a half squad into hex F1 to keep me from entering into Close Combat into the two hexes at the end of the factory on the next-to-last turn.
It came down to two CCs, two 458s vs a lone German 9-1 (hex G3), and two more 458s against the 20L crew (hex F2). The 9-1 ambushed the 458s so they couldn't declare Hand-to-Hand, and with 8-to-1 odds (+1 DRM for losing the ambush), needing a 9 to win the CC, I rolled an "11" which became a "12" so I couldn't even force a wound check on the 9-1. Great fun game with Ric and I extended my hand to congratulate our new Deluxe Mini Champ!
Also, thanks to Kevin Meyer for a very interesting scenario allowing for many potential countermoves. I've also had great fun with Bout of the Century and Hardened Veterans from this Winter Offensive 2024 pack (kudos to Pete Shelling) and am looking forward to Tom Morin's Can Opener.
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wrongway149
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Playtesting Hardened Veterans was the most fun I had in a long time.
Ric of The LBC
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Thanks Fen. As always, we have fun playing with each other. NTTAWWT.
I've played a total of 5 Deluxe games, 3 against Fen. He's not called Mr. Deluxe for nothing.
william.stoppel
Elder Member
You can’t beat a game that comes down to the last CC dice roll. Congrats Fen!!Thanks Fen. As always, we have fun playing with each other. NTTAWWT.
Perry
Forum Guru
Said the true Mr. Deluxe.
fenyan
Elder Member
Well it would've required another CC, two squads vs a gun crew. But yes, William is the true Mr. Deluxe!!
Doug Leslie
Forum Guru
This is going to be painful but my therapist has advised me that confession is the best form of therapy. I am on my worst run since I started my VASL adventures. Anyone who has seen me play will be surprised that it hasn't happened sooner but, now that it has, it has been a beauty.
1. Belgian Blitzkrieg
I played the Germans in the Illuminating Rounds Tournament against Dave Mareske, so there is actual video evidence of this debacle. The Germans can win by capturing a building in the first two turns, so the Belgians have to decide how strongly to defend it since there are lots of buildings further back that they also have to defend. Rather than just bypass it like any sentient human being, I decided to attack in force. My first shot battle hardened a Belgian 9-1 to a 9-2 and it was all downhill from there. My guys did manage to reach the building only to discover that the Belgian defenders had learned their CC skills at some Ninja Kung Fu Academy from Hell. The first CC produced a Belgian snake eyes, an 8-1 leader and a dead German killer stack. By the end of the scenario, every German unit that I committed to the assault had died in CC and the building was held by a single Belgian HS. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I waltzed a German stack further west into an open ground hex right under the barrel of a Belgian gun? Well, I did and I was lucky that the Belgian gunners had been knocking back too much Stella Artois or it could have been even worse.
Humiliation Factor (the higher the number, the greater the humiliation)- 8 out of 10
2. The Niscemi-Biscari Highway
This time I was playing Eric Bongiovanni and, again, I was playing the Germans. If I had been in charge of Germans for real in WW2, the French would have been in Berlin by the middle of 1940. As many of you probably know, given that this scenario definitely falls into "old chestnut" territory, a company of German landsers and an armoured car have to capture two out of three buildings from a somewhat smaller force of US paratroopers who have captured a couple of Italian AT guns to assist with the defence. When I was studying the scenario card, it seemed to me that there were two things that I needed to do. Firstly, I needed to engage the defenders at a distance in order to take advantage of the fact that German landers have a range of six while US paratroopers have a range of four The second thing was not to put the armoured car in a position where an AT gun was going to kill it. When I actually played the scenario however, I chose to engage the forward defenders at close quarters and parked my armoured car in a position that I thought was safe from an AT gun but wasn't (as Eric quickly demonstrated by turning it into a heap of scrap metal). My troops pressed forward despite this mishap and did cause some damage to the forward defenders but ran out of steam well short of the two rear victory buildings. The paratroopers fired those ruddy AT guns at will and laughed in the face of such concepts as captured use penalties.
Humiliation Factor- 7 out of 10
3. Aussie Spirit
This time I was the Japanese against Kare Jacobsen in the VASLeague. This is one of the Sparrow Force scenarios from Journal 14. My first mistake here was that I didn't read the scenario card properly. I thought that the attacking Australians needed to control buildings whereas the scenario card said building locations. Sadly, when there is a conflict between what I think and what the scenario card says, the scenario card rules. This meant that the two hex building to the rear was worth two victory points instead of one and I should therefore have defended it a bit more strongly, or at least not have left a gap in my lines that the Aussies duly waltzed through to take the whole building. Even this should probably not have mattered. As the game entered the final turn, the Australians needed to capture one more building location out of three. Two of the three were defended by Japanese units while the third was shrouded in smoke, surrounded by Australians, and occupied by several Japanese units and a -1 leader. To win, all that I needed to do was avoid being eliminated in CC by the Australians or alternatively having a mutual destruction result that would leave the Japanese in control of the location. This meant that the Japanese were decent favourites if they could hold both of the other buildings, neither of which were under serious threat. Well, not until I had a rush of blood to the head and decided to mount a banzai charge from the building that was furthest away from the bulk of the attacking force. I had my reasons and was favourite to kill the HS that was the target of the attack but none of the reasons really justified this rash piece of bravado. The banzai resulted in the attackers dying in CC and left the building that they had vacated wide open to give the Australians the win. This is quite a fun scenario but is likely to come down to CC at the end, which makes it a bit dicey. I feel that I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory here.
Humiliation Factor- 3 out of 10. Stupidity Factor- 10 out of 10
4. Wintergewitter
Another old chestnut where I was the Russian defenders against Eric Bongiovanni again. What is supposed to happen here is that a few Russian squads holding a village will come under attack from a fairly powerful German combined arms force only for three T-34s to arrive like the US cavalry to come to the rescue. My starting force had one anti-tank weapon in the shape of an ATR. I put this in a building to the front under a concealment counter. A German tank rolled adjacent. My ATR guys licked their lips and held fire with the intention of trying for a deliberate immobilization shot in the next PFPh. The German tank proceeded to roll 1,1 in bounding fire and a 1 in "getting a CH" fire. My ATR guys were duly turned into pulp. Another Russian squad took a casualty MC in turn one and it was all downhill from here. Eric put on a clinic in using tanks, HTs, infantry and a 9-2 leader to kill infantry with no AT capability whatsoever and the starting defenders were quickly wiped out. Not to worry, here came the cavalry. One T-34 was quickly despatched by a Mk IV. The others either missed the target or saw shells bounce off German armour before malfunctioning and it was all over by Turn 3. This was one of the most one sided military encounters since Custer's last stand. A real scalping.
Humiliation Factor 10 out of 10
5. A Stiff Fight
More torment from Monsieur Bongiovanni. This is a scenario from one of the early Journals featuring the rare sight of Japanese (moi) armour supporting infantry who have to clear enemy infantry from a jungle road. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the enemy infantry are Gurkhas brandishing Gurkha knives and a whole lot of bad attitude. This scenario is well named. The problem for the Japanese here is that they are facing an enemy that is just as adept at close combat as they are and which has the added advantage of being the defender in jungle terrain. It follows that CC is a risky proposition. On the other hand, the Gurkhas will just wear the attackers down in a firefight. When Gurkhas break, they just retreat a couple of hexes, rally and come back as good as new. The Japanese just die slowly. The good news for me was that all three of my tanks survived to the end of the scenario but there was only so much that they could do. When it came to killing Gurkhas with infantry, I didn't fare so well. Every CC seemed to result in a Gurkha ambush. I feel that the Japanese had to go for it though, because a firefight was never likely to end well. Eventually, as the casualties mounted on both sides, the Japanese just ran out of steam. Eric just blasted away as they came forward and then retreated to wait for the next wave. Well defended by him. This scenario seems to be pro-Gurkha going by ROAR results and my playing of this shows why it is difficult for the attackers. It would have been even worse if they had managed to nail a tank or two. Ah well, onwards and downwards.
Humiliation Factor- 2 out of 10
6. Patton's Ghost
My first foray into the Korean War as the defending North Koreans against Marc Hanna. This is a combined arms battle. The NKA have a couple of T34/85s, an artillery piece and a heavy mortar to help a company of infantry try to stop a company of US infantry and three M4A3s winning victory points by various means. US victory points can be earned by capturing buildings, clearing NKA from board 49, killing T34s and exiting units. Given that the Americans need 20 VPs to win, it follows that they can achieve victory simply by exiting two M4s. I felt that I needed to set up my defences to try to prevent this. My main worry was a board edge creep on either flank, so I went heavy on THHs there and put my artillery piece to cover my right flank. It goes without saying that Marc attacked straight up the middle. At first, things seemed to be going well for the NKA. The Americans were proceeding quite cautiously and one of my T34s took out an M4 with a rear shot after entering a building to mount the attack. This threatened to stymie the US advance, so Marc now decided to throw caution to the winds and drive an M4 into the T34's location to freeze it. To achieve this, it survived a street fighting attack and CC reaction fire attack after bogging in the hex. That M4 must have had a horseshoe up its backside and it survived long enough for the infantry and T34 to be taken out. After this, the way forward was clear and my troops could do little to prevent the Americans from amassing enough exit points for the win. This is an interesting scenario but my feeling is that there are so many ways for the Americans to earn victory points that it is tough for the defenders to cover everything. Then again, what do I know?
Humiliation Factor- 4 out of 10
1. Belgian Blitzkrieg
I played the Germans in the Illuminating Rounds Tournament against Dave Mareske, so there is actual video evidence of this debacle. The Germans can win by capturing a building in the first two turns, so the Belgians have to decide how strongly to defend it since there are lots of buildings further back that they also have to defend. Rather than just bypass it like any sentient human being, I decided to attack in force. My first shot battle hardened a Belgian 9-1 to a 9-2 and it was all downhill from there. My guys did manage to reach the building only to discover that the Belgian defenders had learned their CC skills at some Ninja Kung Fu Academy from Hell. The first CC produced a Belgian snake eyes, an 8-1 leader and a dead German killer stack. By the end of the scenario, every German unit that I committed to the assault had died in CC and the building was held by a single Belgian HS. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I waltzed a German stack further west into an open ground hex right under the barrel of a Belgian gun? Well, I did and I was lucky that the Belgian gunners had been knocking back too much Stella Artois or it could have been even worse.
Humiliation Factor (the higher the number, the greater the humiliation)- 8 out of 10
2. The Niscemi-Biscari Highway
This time I was playing Eric Bongiovanni and, again, I was playing the Germans. If I had been in charge of Germans for real in WW2, the French would have been in Berlin by the middle of 1940. As many of you probably know, given that this scenario definitely falls into "old chestnut" territory, a company of German landsers and an armoured car have to capture two out of three buildings from a somewhat smaller force of US paratroopers who have captured a couple of Italian AT guns to assist with the defence. When I was studying the scenario card, it seemed to me that there were two things that I needed to do. Firstly, I needed to engage the defenders at a distance in order to take advantage of the fact that German landers have a range of six while US paratroopers have a range of four The second thing was not to put the armoured car in a position where an AT gun was going to kill it. When I actually played the scenario however, I chose to engage the forward defenders at close quarters and parked my armoured car in a position that I thought was safe from an AT gun but wasn't (as Eric quickly demonstrated by turning it into a heap of scrap metal). My troops pressed forward despite this mishap and did cause some damage to the forward defenders but ran out of steam well short of the two rear victory buildings. The paratroopers fired those ruddy AT guns at will and laughed in the face of such concepts as captured use penalties.
Humiliation Factor- 7 out of 10
3. Aussie Spirit
This time I was the Japanese against Kare Jacobsen in the VASLeague. This is one of the Sparrow Force scenarios from Journal 14. My first mistake here was that I didn't read the scenario card properly. I thought that the attacking Australians needed to control buildings whereas the scenario card said building locations. Sadly, when there is a conflict between what I think and what the scenario card says, the scenario card rules. This meant that the two hex building to the rear was worth two victory points instead of one and I should therefore have defended it a bit more strongly, or at least not have left a gap in my lines that the Aussies duly waltzed through to take the whole building. Even this should probably not have mattered. As the game entered the final turn, the Australians needed to capture one more building location out of three. Two of the three were defended by Japanese units while the third was shrouded in smoke, surrounded by Australians, and occupied by several Japanese units and a -1 leader. To win, all that I needed to do was avoid being eliminated in CC by the Australians or alternatively having a mutual destruction result that would leave the Japanese in control of the location. This meant that the Japanese were decent favourites if they could hold both of the other buildings, neither of which were under serious threat. Well, not until I had a rush of blood to the head and decided to mount a banzai charge from the building that was furthest away from the bulk of the attacking force. I had my reasons and was favourite to kill the HS that was the target of the attack but none of the reasons really justified this rash piece of bravado. The banzai resulted in the attackers dying in CC and left the building that they had vacated wide open to give the Australians the win. This is quite a fun scenario but is likely to come down to CC at the end, which makes it a bit dicey. I feel that I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory here.
Humiliation Factor- 3 out of 10. Stupidity Factor- 10 out of 10
4. Wintergewitter
Another old chestnut where I was the Russian defenders against Eric Bongiovanni again. What is supposed to happen here is that a few Russian squads holding a village will come under attack from a fairly powerful German combined arms force only for three T-34s to arrive like the US cavalry to come to the rescue. My starting force had one anti-tank weapon in the shape of an ATR. I put this in a building to the front under a concealment counter. A German tank rolled adjacent. My ATR guys licked their lips and held fire with the intention of trying for a deliberate immobilization shot in the next PFPh. The German tank proceeded to roll 1,1 in bounding fire and a 1 in "getting a CH" fire. My ATR guys were duly turned into pulp. Another Russian squad took a casualty MC in turn one and it was all downhill from here. Eric put on a clinic in using tanks, HTs, infantry and a 9-2 leader to kill infantry with no AT capability whatsoever and the starting defenders were quickly wiped out. Not to worry, here came the cavalry. One T-34 was quickly despatched by a Mk IV. The others either missed the target or saw shells bounce off German armour before malfunctioning and it was all over by Turn 3. This was one of the most one sided military encounters since Custer's last stand. A real scalping.
Humiliation Factor 10 out of 10
5. A Stiff Fight
More torment from Monsieur Bongiovanni. This is a scenario from one of the early Journals featuring the rare sight of Japanese (moi) armour supporting infantry who have to clear enemy infantry from a jungle road. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the enemy infantry are Gurkhas brandishing Gurkha knives and a whole lot of bad attitude. This scenario is well named. The problem for the Japanese here is that they are facing an enemy that is just as adept at close combat as they are and which has the added advantage of being the defender in jungle terrain. It follows that CC is a risky proposition. On the other hand, the Gurkhas will just wear the attackers down in a firefight. When Gurkhas break, they just retreat a couple of hexes, rally and come back as good as new. The Japanese just die slowly. The good news for me was that all three of my tanks survived to the end of the scenario but there was only so much that they could do. When it came to killing Gurkhas with infantry, I didn't fare so well. Every CC seemed to result in a Gurkha ambush. I feel that the Japanese had to go for it though, because a firefight was never likely to end well. Eventually, as the casualties mounted on both sides, the Japanese just ran out of steam. Eric just blasted away as they came forward and then retreated to wait for the next wave. Well defended by him. This scenario seems to be pro-Gurkha going by ROAR results and my playing of this shows why it is difficult for the attackers. It would have been even worse if they had managed to nail a tank or two. Ah well, onwards and downwards.
Humiliation Factor- 2 out of 10
6. Patton's Ghost
My first foray into the Korean War as the defending North Koreans against Marc Hanna. This is a combined arms battle. The NKA have a couple of T34/85s, an artillery piece and a heavy mortar to help a company of infantry try to stop a company of US infantry and three M4A3s winning victory points by various means. US victory points can be earned by capturing buildings, clearing NKA from board 49, killing T34s and exiting units. Given that the Americans need 20 VPs to win, it follows that they can achieve victory simply by exiting two M4s. I felt that I needed to set up my defences to try to prevent this. My main worry was a board edge creep on either flank, so I went heavy on THHs there and put my artillery piece to cover my right flank. It goes without saying that Marc attacked straight up the middle. At first, things seemed to be going well for the NKA. The Americans were proceeding quite cautiously and one of my T34s took out an M4 with a rear shot after entering a building to mount the attack. This threatened to stymie the US advance, so Marc now decided to throw caution to the winds and drive an M4 into the T34's location to freeze it. To achieve this, it survived a street fighting attack and CC reaction fire attack after bogging in the hex. That M4 must have had a horseshoe up its backside and it survived long enough for the infantry and T34 to be taken out. After this, the way forward was clear and my troops could do little to prevent the Americans from amassing enough exit points for the win. This is an interesting scenario but my feeling is that there are so many ways for the Americans to earn victory points that it is tough for the defenders to cover everything. Then again, what do I know?
Humiliation Factor- 4 out of 10
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