Welcome to 2025, a year that we won't forget anytime soon. As for ASL, it's time to get back into the saddle of playing against my long-time friend and opponent, Dan Best (Ost Front Fanatic). Dan and I played 153 games against one another in 2024. It was truly an epic year. As of this posting, Dan and I have played 8 games in the new year. So we are off to a great start and on pace for 150 + by year end. Of course, life and work may create some disruptions and we'll take those as they come.
One of the scenario packs that Dan and I focused on at the end of 2024 was the latest Rally Point 21 Volksgrenadiers 1944-1945. I'm a huge fan of Rally Point and Schwerpunkt. In general, the scenarios are easy to get on the board, play fast and are generally very enjoyable.
Rally Point 21 is a 10 scenario pack focused exclusively on late war and German Volksgrenadiers. I've been fascinated with Volksgrenadiers since my earliest readings of the Battle of the Bulge, where these units had a tremendous impact.
So of course, I was super excited to dive into this pack and convinced Dan to play through it in its entirety. Our final scenario to be played was actually the first one in the pack, RPT 201 Courland Cutoff. We'll give a full AAR of that game at the end of this post.
The ASL Archive has the following info on the pack with total playings and length to play.
Let's look at all 10 as Dan and I experienced them. (comments are mine as placed in the ASL Archive). They are unfiltered...and frank in some cases. Opinions are of course opinions and nothing more. Let me say upfront that I really like this pack and would absolutely recommend. Did I love every scenario challenge...no, but that is true of every pack ever published. Sometimes you don't grok the scenario and then blame the designer. I'm as guilty as anyone of that.
RPT 201 Courland Cutoff: Dan would win as the defending Germans - (played in 4.5 hours).
My Russians struggled throughout this scenario to do much of anything. My dice were very bad most of the night. I did manage to knock out a Hetzer and both halftracks, but lost an IS-2 and 2 of my T-34's. One of my few snakes rubbled a victory location and thus it was no longer a victory location. I would ELR 5 squads with 2 of those disrupted. I would end the game with only 3 locations, since I rubbled one of them.
ROAR: 2 Russian / 1 German
RPT 202 Split by the Rail: I would win as the attacking Americans - (played in 3.5 hours).
Very interesting scenario and brutal for the advancing Americans trying to move across MUD with Level Chateau and Level 3 hills on their flank with Pill Boxes covering their every move. German AT Gun in a level 3 Bunker knocked out 3 of the 4 Shermans with ease. My remaining Sherman stayed in the rear and successfully smoked Dan's 9-2 with the HMG at level 2 in the Chateau every single turn. That Sherman got epic amount of smoke. My 9-1 with 3 squads and 3 MMG's as at level 1 of Hex Y7 and broke apart the German MLR in the woods on Board 6. My big British 200mm Thumper cleared the hill with the bunkers and got a a Critical Hit 72 factors -5. Americans took all four bunkers and the K1 building for the win.
ROAR: 1 American / 0 German
RPT 203 Ozark's Thanksgiving: Dan would win as the defending Germans - (played in 2 hours).
Goofy scenario with mud...which always sucks. Setup is also a bit screwy. Overall, the Americans really stand little chance of winning this one. I gambled with an upfront attack and rolled very poorly. My Firefly and two Shermans were knocked out by Turn 2 and the remaining tank at the end of Turn 2. I managed to take 9 victory locations, but had no chance of getting any more or even holding the ones I had once the SS and heavy Panzer arrived. Threw in the towel at the end of three as defeat was a foregone conclusion. 6 Morale Americans attacking 8 morale Germans in stone buildings with lousy tanks...not a recipe for success.
ROAR: 4 German / 0 American
RPT 204 King and Love: Dan would win as the defending Germans - (played in 4 hours).
Tough game for the Americans. The Germans went with a rear defense centered on the victory locations. The German HMG was in the steeple and was the target of much American fire for much of the game. My Americans moved slowly into the center woods and hit the wire and minefields. The German AT gun would hammer me and knock out two tanks. My Americans struggle mightily to make any headway. But slowly, my grinding attack got me into the victory area and at game end I would take 8 of the required 10 locations. The Germans would get the win, but it had been very close. (Too many support weapons in this scenario.)
ROAR: 2 German / 0 American
RPT 205 Death of the Porcupine: Dan would win as the defending Germans - (played in 2 hours).
Not a lot of fun for the Free French.
ROAR: 4 German / 0 Free French
RPT 206 Muscled out of Town: I would win as the defending Germans - (played in 2 hours).
Tough fight for the Free French. The Germans blasted the eastern force and then manhandled the armor coming in from the south. The Jagdpanthers are nearly unstoppable. At the end of Turn 2, the Free French conceded after only a single tank and half-track were left.
ROAR: 1 German / 0 Free French
RPT 207 The Last Knight: Dan would win as the defending Germans - (played in 2.5 hours).
Good game with the Germans prevailing on Turn 4 by blowing the two bridges.
ROAR: 3 American / 1 German
RPT 208 The Erft Effort: I would win as the defending Americans - (played in four hours).
Another meaty scenario with too much stuff...particularly Infantry Support Weapons...9 machine guns for the Germans and 4 for the Americans along with lots of Bazookas and Panzerschrecks. The Germans have 2 squads to each support weapon. The Americans have 10 support weapons for 14 squads. Seems a little excessive for the Carolina League. Lots of tanks as well with a total of 13 altogether. This is a complex scenario that does take a lot of time to manage. There are two Open Ground overlays that frankly aren't needed. The Bridges don't really matter either. Then you have the mud and tanks spending two MP per non-road hex, which just makes moving the tanks less fun than it could be. It's a grinding scenario with a lot of counter management, tough defensive terrain and 2 ELR for the Germans, which was a killer in our game as the Germans ELR'd left and right. The American armor had the edge and waited to shoot the oncoming Germans. At game end, the Americans had lost the 75 Sherman and nothing else, The Germans lost 2 Hetzers, 3 STUGS and 1 Brumbar. But the Germans still had a Hetzer and a Brumbar to face off against 2 76L Shermans and 2 M-36's. One M-36 knocked out a Hetzer and a STUG and then DM'd the German 9-2 in a squad with a 4 Rate of Fire, that managed to stop the final German assault. American win in what was a really exhausting and grinding scenario.
ROAR: 1 American / 0 German
RPT 209 Alles hat ein Ende: I would win as the defending Germans - (played in 2 hours).
Tough game for both sides. The Germans managed to deal enough damage to slow the Russian infantry and then eliminate all the Russian Armor by Turn 3 for the win.
ROAR: 2 German / 0 Russian
RPT 210 Fused at Zero: I would win as the defending Canadians - (played in 1 hour).
Germans moved forward aggressively on Turn 1. The Canadian 114 got a Crit Hit on a stack moving through the center woods, killing 3 squads and a 8-1. The other 8-1 would be wounded in CC against a half-squad. Following that CC, the Germans threw in the towel. Six squads had been lost in the first movement phase. Tough results so early sort of jacked up our game. Canadian win.
ROAR: 1 Canadian / 0 German
Thoughts and Conclusions:
This scenario pack is heavy on SSR's and a few of them have MUD...which bogs down game play...it is what is and I've never been a fan of struggling in the mud. Support weapons...some scenarios seemed to have way too many. German HMG's and American 50's make a couple appearances as well. Scenario length is consistent with Rally Point and Schwerpunkt norms with none over 5.5 Turns. But the OB's and the objectives for many of these scenarios should probably have been longer. I think the case could be made for 7 turns for many of these. Forcing the attacker to always gun the engine and push forward hell for leather shouldn't always be the norm. Many of our games were literally a turn short of the attacker winning. That's what 2 minutes in game time per ASL?
One of the most difficult things to do in any game I know is attacking in ASL. Dan and I are both 40% winners when attacking. It's tough and when you have to push through mud and deal with short turn lengths, it can really hinder a thoughtful attack. You just don't have the time to develop it and are forced to exploit whatever early successes present themselves.
Don't misunderstood, I love the short turn games, but I felt that the OB's for many of these scenarios as well as some terrain situations required additional time.
The fun factor - I love late war scenarios, and these were all in my fun factor wheelhouse. I will admit that I did not enjoy the scenarios where I had to attack, even when I won, I just felt like it was a really difficult task. Defending was much more enjoyable in this pack of scenarios and typically, the defender would win in our games.
RPT 201 - Germans (Dan) won defending
RPT 202 - Americans (me) won attacking
RPT 203 - Germans (Dan) won defending
RPT 204 - Germans (Dan) won defending
RPT 205 - Germans (Dan) won defending
RPT 206 - Germans (me) won defending
RPT 207 - Germans (Dan) won defending
RPT 208 - Americans (me) won defending
RPT 209 - Germans (me) won defending
RPT 210 - Canadians (me) won defending
9 Defending wins to 1 Attacking win. 3 Allied wins to 7 German wins.
Dan would win 5 games and I would win 5 games.
It appears that the Volksgrenadiers got it done..7 out of 10 times. Not too shabby.
Alright, so we have walked through the entire pack commented on nearly every game. But let's take a deeper dive into the final game we played, RPT 201 Courland Cutoff. This scenario takes place in Courland in October 1944. The German 551st Grenadier Division was tasked with holding an overextended line against oncoming Soviet assaults. The attacking Russians in this scenario are a mixed bag with some 4-4-7's , 4-5-8's and tank mounted 6-2-8's. ELR is a bit of a problem and that is representative of the poor quality of the 4-4-7's many of whom were recently liberated conscripts thrown back into the sh$t. They would perform like that as well, particularly in my game. The 551st would crumble in many areas, but one defensive pocket as depicted in this scenario would hold the line and receive some timely assistance from the Grossdeutschland "Fire Brigade" Division. Our game would match this historical result.
As the attacking Soviets, I would command the men of the 6th Guards Division and 5th Guards Tank Division. My force would consist of three waves containing 13 x 4-4-7's, 8 x 4-5-8's and 5 x 6-2-8's , led by a 9-1, 2 x 8-1's, an 8-0 and a 7-0 with an MMG, 5 x LMG's, 4 x ATR's, 2 x IS-2's and 3 x T-34/85s.
As the defending Germans, Dan would command the men of the 551st Volksgrenadier Division and Aufklaerungs Abteilung, Grossdeutschland Division. His force would consist of a 5-4-8, 2 x 4-6-8's, 4 x 2-4-8's, 2 x 4-6-7's, 3 x 5-5-7's and 3 x 4-4-7's led by a 10-2, 9-1, 8-1 and 8-0 with 2 x MMG's, 3 x LMG's and 3 x Panzerschrecks and 2 x Hetzers, 2 x 250 Halftracks, 1 x 250 Halftrack with 75* and an Auflkar38(t).
Screen grab from the excellent Reconquest of Estonia: The Courland Pocket 1944 WW2 History Documentary BATTLESTORM Part 5 by TIK This shot shows the relative positions of the units in the scenario as they were located on October 1st, 1944.
Grain is in season, despite the October date. Dan and I questioned that, but presumably, the fields weren't harvested due to the intense fighting in the region and the displacement of so may civilians as they fled ahead of the Soviets. The white arrows depict may planned moves. Dan anchored his line with a Hetzer at either end. My 4-4-7's would go up on the right side and my 4-5-8's would hit on the left side of the line. I was not confident any kind of success.
Turn 1, I moved very cautiously forward. And likely my slow 1st turn move contributed to my eventual defeat. And this a criticism that I have for these 4.5 turn games. Time becomes a huge opponent for the attacker. And the Soviet tanks don't show up until Turn 2, which is when the Germans get their armor support.
Turn 1 was very dull as neither Dan or I landed any shots. Turn 2, my tanks rushed into the fray and dropped off their 6-2-8 squads. German fire would slow me down and break and ELR my first couple squads.
At the end of two turns, I was just not where I needed to be before Dan's reinforcements arrived.
The Grossdeutschland would come in from the north and wreck havoc on my left wing assault.
I was really struggling at the end of Turn 2. I had made only token progress and my attack on the left side was not going to be successful as I had to contend with Dan's armor as it came at me.
But then Turn 3 took a turn for the better. I would get a CRIT HIT on the south edge Hetzer which split it apart. I would now be able to do some moving. But of course Turn 3 was probably a turn too late.
My Turn 3 movements as I tried to retrieve the battle and gain some victory locations.
Dan's Volksgrenadiers punished me hard with broken, ELR'd and Disrupted units. I was getting slapped around pretty good.
I would take my first victory location on Turn 3 and had my armor in position to support rolling up through the village.
Dan's Turn 3 would be even better than mine. He would send his halftracks to create mischief and sent his last Hetzer to take on my T-34/85's.
Dan's Volksgrenadiers also counterattacked. Melee would break out.
Dan's counterattacks would knock my assault off kilter as I had to respond to him instead moving towards my objectives. I was rolling terribly and not getting hits, especially on the damn halftracks.
Going into Turn 4, I had taken two of the 5 needed Victory locations. But I knew I wasn't going to get there. My infantry was torn to pieces, my tanks were going down and Dan was streaming his men towards the nearest Victory Locations.
I would get two important snake eyes. My ATR on the left would knock out a pesky 75* Halftrack with a critical hit and my IS-2 would get a crit hit on a victory location. It would KIA the 5-3-7 with an LMG there...but have the undesired effect of rubbling the location. Yep...it was no longer a valid victory location. Even my good luck was killing me in this game.
I was running out of gas. I was closing in on the 4-6-7 in M6 and that would probably be my third and final victory location.
Yep, I would take my third location and that would be the game. Dan's Volksgrenadiers had won the day.
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Sieg for the people baby!!!
That's a wrap on this blogpost.
Dan and I are still on track for three games a week, so we will see you on the other side of the games!
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