My regular St. Louis opponent, Scott W. was once more in the ASL saddle and ready to roll some dice. We selected the iconic ASL 11 Scenario, Defiance on Hill 30. We last played this scenario on March 16th, 1991. During that game, I was the Americans and Scott W. was the German attacker. Fast forward to July 31st, 2015 and once again we are commanding the same sides in a rematch. Having won back in 1991, I knew Scott W. would be eager to secure a win for his Germans!
Scott's Germans planned their attack approach as their 12 squads made for the 4 victory location building hexes.
My badass US 7-4-7's...would be ready!
My 6cm Mortar would turn out to be my primary unit engaged in trying to stop the Germans as they advanced across the open. I had placed my MMG to cover my left flank, but failed to put it high enough (major gaff on my part...think Braxton Bragg at Missionary Ridge) to fire on the oncoming Germans.
The 3 ROF on the US mortar is a thing of beauty. I managed one string of about 5 consecutive shots.
The German infantry CX'd and made good progress getting into position to begin putting down fire on my first line of defense.
Through the early phases of the game, my mortar was the only effective asset I had against the Germans. But as the Germans concentrated their fire on my positions and rolled plenty of "4's" to activate my sniper. And my sniper was johnny-on-the-spot with pins and breaks!
My opponent's attack on my left flank was led by his 9-1 officer and posed the greater threat of his two attack prongs.
Through the first half of the game, the German 9-1 would keep his boys rallied and succeed in eventually DM'ing my mortar team.
My mortar continued to rain shells down on the Germans...but soon the Germans would get payback.
Fortunately for me, the German attack was a conservative one, with my opponent focused on moving without losing anyone. So lots of assault movement, which was just fine for me as I awaited my reinforcements.
Our game had been going great and we were both just tickled to be playing...when suddenly the phone rang....oh good grief...my daughter's piece of @#%! Jeep Liberty had broken down again (third time) in downtown Tulsa.
Well...that's the end of the game for the night I thought and just as things were getting good...but then my wife came to the rescue and told me to relax and keep rollin' the dice. She and AAA would take care of business...and they did!!!!
Thank you AAA!!!
(and my fantastic wife!)
And glad my daughter got home safe!!!
(too bad the Jeep is still Shocked...and I'm betting that an unconfirmed kill is coming!)
Back to the action as the Germans concentrated all their available fire on my mortar.
Scott kept his Germans moving forward, but most of his units would be engaged in Prep Fire activities...which again was beneficial to me as I awaited my reinforcements.
A running joke between Scott and I is that we never fail to KIA at least a half-squad of our own men every game due to boxcars. This game would continue the unofficial trend as Scott's Germans rolled 12 on their self-rally attempt.
Boxcars...it's never pretty!!!
Now having played against Scott W. since 1978...I know all of his quirks, etc. and I also have gotten used to his mutterings when the dice do bad things to him...and let's just say his mic got a little hot...
The weight of German fire would finally result in DM'ing my mortar team.
I hated to see my mortar break.
The Germans plunged ahead and I managed to give them a bloody nose in the woods.
The German mortar would succeed in knocking out my mortar half-squad with a critical hit and eliminate a crucial part of my defense. At this stage, my right flank was hanging wide open.
Kudos to the German 5cm Mortar!
Going into Turn 4, I was still in good shape and holding a solid perimeter around the victory locations. My MMG had been completely silent and had moved into the W7 house on board 2.
On Turn 5, the Germans turned it up a notch and moved full steam ahead. But...they remained out of LOS to any of my units. My opponent wanted to ensure that all of his units gained concealment. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I had expected Germans all over the place and in my grill.
I had failed to roll for my reinforcements on Turns 4 and 5, so was awarded 6 VP and the knowledge that my reserves would enter on Turn 6. But since my opponent had hesitated on Turn 5 to go full bore, I remain confident that I might just hang on long enough for my reserves to get into the fight.
The final look at the map as we stopped play at the end of Turn 5.
Turns 6, 7, and 8 should be a blast!!!
I know my 9-1 with his 5 x 7-4-7's sure thinks so!
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