Friday, September 13, 2013

WO3 Counterattack at Carentan - Great Game against Chris Brackney


 September has been a great month for ASL so far. I was fortunate to discover a new opponent while participating in a Game Squad ASL forum topic about playing ASL via SKYPE only. This of course if how I have been playing for the past 3 years, so I was tickled to learn that there are many more players who prefer the straight SKYPE method. So WO3 was the first of what I hope will be many games played against Chris Brackney
 Having played only a few scenarios with Bocage, I had a lot to learn about the ins and outs of attacking through the stuff. And wow...it's not easy. Chris has a well balanced defense with bazookas covering the center and his HIP 57L in the backfield. I lost the Marder to a bazooka shot in the first turn, but managed to push forward on both flanks and up the central road. The burning Marder spread flames to the adjoining orchard hexes throughout the course of the game.
 A fuzzy shot of the center after about 3 turns of play. Regretfully, I didn' snap any pics until Turn 3's action.
 A good look at the center and German right flank. The US 7-4-7 in the center of the pic managed to hold out and was a thorn in my side for two more turns, before breaking it and being eliminated for failure to rout. But not before he created a Hero who went on to kill a half-squad of SS in CC. The 7-4-7 on the far right would prove to be the hero of the game. This squad managed to move all the way to the back and prevented my final CVP's from exiting the board.
 The 57L was positioned nicely and managed to kill the 105 Stug before rolling boxcars while intensive firing.
 Chris kept his Americans in motion and I was not able to flank or bring them to grips in CC.
 The Marder continued to burn as the game neared its climax. These are the final German positions for those units that had no chance of exiting the board.
 This is the moment right before the 57L rolled its intensive fire boxcars while trying to stop the second 75L Stug from exiting the map. The gun went out, but the crew would continue the fight and managed to stop my half-squad from exiting the map.
 The Americans sprinted from the left towards the center and made every last effort to stop the Germans moving up the middle.
 Another blurry pic...but I like it for some reason.
 A good look of the positions prior to the German sprint for the exit hexes. The US 7-4-7 can be seen closing the distance in the bottom right.

 The end at the top of the map. The 2-2-7 pinned the SS half-squad and ended their bid for the board edge. And the 7-4-7 stopped the German 7-0 from making it off the board. Had the 7-0 made it, the Germans would have secured the victory. The Germans managed to exit 15 CVP vs. losing 9 CVP to the American defense.
 The final German positions in the center. All in all a great game from start to finish. There were a few boxcars that came at terrible moments, but overall the game played very well. And it's always great to see a game come down to the final moves...knowing it can still go either way. That's ASL at its very best! Thanks Chris for a great game!
The Americans celebrate the victory.

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