Sunday, January 12, 2025

A look at Rally Point Volume 21 Grenadiers and AAR of RT201 Courland Cutoff

 

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.


Sieg for the people baby!!!




That's a wrap on this blogpost. 
Dan and I still on track for three games a week, so we will see you on the other side of the games!






Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Grumble Jones January 2025 Scenario GJ143 "The Bloody Rag"


2025 has arrived and with it another year of scenarios from your mama's basement. For the past couple of years, I have usually begun the year with a PTO scenario. For 2025, I am going back to 2021 when I made a scenario based on an episode of the TV series, The Gallant Men. For 2025, I would reach back to the 1970's and a personal favorite Sgt Rock comic.



It's still amazing when I remember what I could buy with 20 cents in pocket. For two dimes...you could buy a Sgt. Rock comic or The Haunted Tank or Weird War of Sgt. Fury and many other great WWII themed comic books. My stack of old comics has vanished over the years. Storing them in a hot Oklahoma attic was not kind to them. A small number of my Sgt. Rocks were illustrated by Russ Heath. this remain my absolute favorites. Russ Heath was a stripe above everyone else in my opinion. He just got it right. 


Putting together an ASL scenario based on this story has been rattling around in my brain for years. And finally, I decided it was time to put on paper. I kept this scenario small and with enough "color" SSR's to hopefully capture the feel of a Sgt. Rock comic. Hypothetical scenarios aren't alway popular with the ASL Community at large, but some folks might enjoy seeing a iconic comic book hero show up in the ASL World. Certainly, Sgt. Rock belongs there and maybe...just maybe the German "Iron Major"....Rock's arch nemesis. 






Now, while the Sgt. Rock story here is based on a comic, the other information provided in the scenario is based on actions of the 36th Infantry and German 198th Infantry Division during the fighting around Montelimar. 



Here now is GJ143 The Bloody Rag. Hopefully, this scenario succeeds in bringing Rock to life. 



As always, these monthly "Basement Quality" Scenarios are offered for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of this blog.


Remember to open pictures in a new window in order to maximize the size. 


All Grumble Jones scenarios are available from the ASL Archive website. 

               (Just search on Grumble Jones)



Wednesday, December 25, 2024

2024...Recap of an Amazing Year of ASL

 

Recapping the year gone by is a tradition here at Grumble Jones. It's a great way to look back and recall the great ASL moments of the year that has ended. Most years are fairly similar in character with a few tournament games and a healthy dose of quality ASL with my long time opponent Dan Best. But 2024 was different and massively so. By year end, I will have played 168 games in 2024. My previous best year (2021) was 126. I will have averaged 3 games a week for the entire year. That's a helluva lot of ASL. The title picture above speaks to the weariness and exhaustion that frankly accompanies such a huge ASL commitment. In November, Dan and I would play 11 days in a row. And keep in mind that Dan's total games played will exceed 190 for the year. 


Now playing that much ASL certainly has a lot of positives. It helps improve your game, your rules muscle memory and a host of other things that we associate with veteran players. But there are also some negative things that creep up. Dan and I both were increasingly impatient with things we don't like in scenarios like Dismantled Weapons, spending two turns to enter a board and get to the action, overlays, too many SSR's, mist, dust, and a host of other visibility issues and of course those scenarios that expect you to find joy in moving through open ground against an entrenched opponent. At the beginning of the year, these things don't trouble you so much...but after 100 games...yeah your patience fuse is cut pretty short. Dan and I also play fast. We don't dilly dally and we move into contact and get the fight going. ASL is not chess and I personally don't think it should be played that way. This means that a game that is supposed to take 8 hours will take us three. We are hyper focused during our game play and don't allow each other too much time to think things through. And we both love that about our game play. During a game with Paul Works this year he said to me that "Dan plays every scenario like it only has two turns." And I can vouch for that statement. Dan has made me a much better defender, because he comes at you hard and fast with everything. You slip up...cower or just roll bad and your goose is cooked!




"You gonna PREP Fire or whistle Dixie!?!"




As with most years, the Kansas City March Madness Tournament is usually the first big event of the year. I really look forward to it each year. So many friends and ASL acquaintances attend this event, that I usually feel very at home. The venue is great and the game room is spacious with plenty of room to move around and not disturb the table next to you when you move about the room. 

Two of my all-time favorite opponents: Mike Bistodeau and Dan Best. Friends since my first ASL tournament in 2013.


I cannot recommend this tournament enough. If you are in the KC region in March...make it a point to attend. You will be glad that you did.


June would usher in the next big event, which was the Texas Team Tournament. Another great venue and outstanding event that brings so many great players to Austin. I've enjoyed this tournament each time that I have been able to attend. Great fun and so many opportunities to win something.

I still cherish the Audie Murphy Award glass that I won in 2013 for most snakes. Long time readers of this blog know what an accomplishment that was...as my dice have never been that lucky before or since.


Two notables of the ASL Community.



Jeff DeYoung would slap me around with Jagdpanthers in our game. 2024 has been challenging for Jeff and we wish him the best going into next year.


Roy Connelly moving around the room. I always enjoy our games against one other. Looking forward to our future contests.



In September I would host my first Invitational Tournament for some of my Kansas City buddies. It was a huge success and just a great weekend with friends and our spouses. It was a lot of work and not a few pennies, but well worth it. We all had a great weekend of ASL and time with each other. 



   
It also gave me a great reason to break out my GEO-HEX (circa 1988), my Dragon Armor and a bunch of Airfix minis from a time...long...long ago.




I am profoundly grateful to have these men as my friends. It's truly great to have friends that share your interests. We are all passionate about ASL.

Following the Grumbler Tournament, Dan and I settled in for a long haul series of 3 and 4 game weekends. We tackled some scenario packs to complete them such as the Roma Pack, the recent Arnhem Pack and Kampfgruppe Peiper I. It's really satisfying to complete all the scenarios in a pack or a HASL module. Dan and I have both owned KGP since 1993 and had not played it. The opportunity to play the stuff we have accumulated over the years has been awesome. Dan owns 9,277 scenarios and has played 14% of his collection. I own 4,167 scenarios and have played 21% of my collection. With all the new product coming out each year, we'll never really get ahead. I'm aiming for 25%, which I hope to reach before my ASL playing days are gone. 


The next looming objective for Dan and I is to complete 1000 games versus each other before Dan sets out on a hike of the PCT in 2027. Currently we have played 677 and have four more before year end. So going into 2025 we will have completed 681 games. And we have two years to play 319 games or 160 each of the next two years. It will be close as 160 games is a hard pace to maintain...but we will give it our best shot.




And now it's time for our good friend and blog editor, Doctor Rollwright to go over the year's statistics.




2024 was a very good year for me...I got knocked down a few times, but kept playing!!!



2024 was a tough year for the Grumble Jones blog. It took a bit of a backseat to actually playing ASL. with Dan and I playing 3-4 times a week, I simply did not have the time necessary for the AAR's. Each AAR averages bout 4-6 hours and I was lacking that for much of the year. 

By the end of 2024, there will be a total of 893 posts on this blog. It feels like a lot and at times, I fear the blog has plateaued. Subscriptions to the blog area anemic 129...the Old Guard as I like to call them. These are the folks that this blog is truly dedicated to. The monthly average for blog views is at just over 4000. It's been at this number since roughly 2017. Growth among subscribers and viewers is non-existent these days. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Our community continues to age and younger gamers are not entering our community at a sufficient rate. In other words, our losses in the battle of life won't be filled by replacements. As to the future, the blog will certainly continue with monthly scenarios and AAR's from time to time. But it's not likely that you will see new content every Monday AM as was the case in previous years. My apologies for that reduction in content, but time and my own personal enthusiasm are down a bit. Bloggers blog best when they are inspired. So, I'll let inspiration be the guide for AAR's going forward.



One great positive in the blog stats for 2024 was he return to normal views. Whatever bot attack was coming from Singapore appears to have moved on. The 45,000 views in July of 2023 was crazy and not a single post was actually viewed. A very strange and unsettling period.


Above are the top 10 viewed blog posts. These are the posts that people are reading. Hube's Pocket is number one and number 7 is our playing of the Critical Hit Civil War ASL product. And of course Hill 621 is number 3. For reference, the average blog post receives between 150 and 300 views. 


And now a look back at 2024's opponents. 


Roy Connelly - Texas 2024


Matt Shostak - Texas 2024


Chris Kubick - Texas 2024 
(Apologies Chris...I neglected to get your picture during our game.)


Richard Burton - March Madness 2024


Mike Bistodeau - March Madness 2024


James Treu - March Madness 2024


Randy Shurtz - March Madness 2024


Paul Works - Grumbler Invitational 2024



Dave Mareske - Texas & Grumbler 2024


Dave Lamb - Texas 2024



Jeff DeYoung - Texas 2024



Dan Best - Opponent at large - 155 games in 2024




My thanks to all of my opponents this year!! Thanks for the great times we shared this year!


And thanks to you, the readers of this blog. 
Thanks for spending your valuable time here at Grumble Jones. We will see you in 2025.