Snowed in...

Well the blizzard of 2011 is still rolling through Tulsa. So looks like a great day to work on ASL Scenarios. I have made a few over the past 30 years. They have ranged from very small recon skirmishes to all out campaigns. The most ambitious was done in 1981 and was a Squad Leader (Cross of Iron) fight of the Cherkassy Breakout of 1944. We literally mapped the whole thing out and then positioned the forces inside and outside the pocket. We then would decide at what point we wanted to game and would get out the boards and the forces dispositioned there and fight it out. Off-board artillery was based on the artillery available in the real Order of Battles. It was a cumbersome game and we of course never finished, but the concept actually worked and we had a great time.

Another mega scenario was based on German attempts to breakout from Budapest in 1945. It was a massive battle and tremendous fun. The losses on both sides were staggering. I've never played another scenario where I lost over 80 tanks and still had a huge force on the field. The Germans actually won the game after landing glider born SS at the juncture between my Soviet and Romanian forces. A German armored thrust led by Panthers and Tigers punched through at the same point. My Romanians were no match for the SS and my force of 24 T-34's thrown point blank at the Panzer Wedge were brushed aside. My heavy KV's couldn't reach the point of attack as I had them on the right flank and there was just too much board to move down. The Germans were able to open a breach and held it for the 1 full turn and it was game over for the Soviets.

So today, I'll look at creating a nice one board, 5 turn scenario that shows a little more ASL wisdom.