After a two week break, my St. Louis opponent and I were back in the saddle to complete Defiance on Hill 30. After the first 5 turns, I felt confident that my US Paras would get the job done and bring home the win. As a result of my reinforcements not arriving until Turn 6, I was awarded 6 CVP, which would ultimately be the difference in giving the US the win!
Sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference in the game!!
As we started turn 6, it was clear that the Germans were going to have a good shot at three of the objective buildings. I felt confident that I could hang on the W7 Building.
Sometimes you can get a little over confident when you have 7-4-7's...and I would be guilty of that as the game progressed.
The Germans continued to move cautiously with a lot of single hex assault moves. This caution would help my cause as it allowed me the time to get my Turn 6 reserves into place before my forward defenses crumbled.
Over cautious play is also a subject of debate. How aggressive you should be in a scenario is always best evaluated in hind sight...but having played against very aggressive players of late, I was expecting a more overwhelming assault.
In my phase of turn 6, I tried hard to push the Germans back as they pressed me in the village. My reserves came on in three groups. Two single squads were to move to occupy my foxholes, while, my 9-1 and the 3 remaining squads went straight up the middle to secure the W7 building.
In the course of the fighting, my 8-0 in the village would battle harden to an 8-1.
My boys in W9 managed to break the Germans in X9 and break up a large fire group.
My boys in the village gave it their all, but the German fire would be overwhelming...
The German 9-1 would be a stand out performer throughout the game. He would also battle harden to a 9-2 before it was all said and done!
Fortunately for me, my boys were able to race into the battle and would be in position by the time the Germans overwhelmed the village.
CXing it sure helps close the distance when moving...but it cost me in my fire phases as the additional +1 denied me some opportunities to hurt the Germans.
My opponent continued to hold his 9-1 on my left flank to put fire down on the W7 house. Meanwhile his other forces concentrated on taking the three closest building objectives. My St. Louis opponent moved his Germans methodically towards the village.
One of the best moves of the game was the German 4-6-7 moving into the woods hex at X8. As I failed my morale checks, my broken squads in W9 and V10 would be lost due to failure to rout. I had stayed too long in houses that I knew would fall. So I was quickly accumulating CVP that would come dangerously close to costing me the game.
So all too suddenly, all that I had left in the forward line was an 8-1 in V8 and a wounded 7-0 in T10. The Germans could smell the blood in the water...
Close combat would be my fate!!!
My opponent finally unleashed his boys and they swept into close combat to secure three of the four building location objectives.
My wounded officer would fall in the melee, but my 8-1 would win the ambush and then sprint into the V7 hex to escape!
The escape of my 8-1 would go on to aid my cause considerably.
The US sniper would also play a role in the latter part of the game as he managed to KIA the wounded German 8-1 officer.
The Germans worked hard to press their advantage, but poor rolls...12's and 11's kept us both on a roller coaster as the game neared its conclusion!
Neither of us realized it at the time, but the German high water mark had been achieved. They would not make any further progress.
As the game winded down, I continued to move my forces into forward positions. I briefly considered skulking back to avoid any further CVP gain. My opponent's forces were strong with two 16 FP groups and one 12 FP group. They would go on to DM a few of my boys, but fortunately I didn't lose more than a half-squad.
The biggest success was the breaking of the German 9-1 fire stack. Pushing them back gave my defense the breather it needed.
As we entered turn 9, I began to regret not having skulked back some of my units. The Germans unleashed on me, but fortunately my boys only broke and didn't contribute any CVP to the German cause.
In my final prep fire, I tried hard to inflict some CVP on my opponent....but my dice went cold and I barely hit anything as the game wound down.
Following the German Defensive Fire, we both agreed that the game was over. The Germans had taken 3 of the 4 building objectives and inflicted 8 CVP on the Americans. My Americans held one of the 4 buildings and had inflicted 12 CVP on the Germans...(6 of which were due to the late arrival of my reserves). And that would be the difference...giving me the win and my first back to back wins in a very long time!
Yes it was! Another great game of ASL...already looking forward to starting our next game, "Confusion Reigns".
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