The 2015 Grumble Jones Scenario Pack (For Fun only of course...and hopefully a couple of them are!!!)

Remember to open link in a new window to maximize the view. The PDF for these scenarios can be downloaded from the The ASL Scenario Archive. (simply search on Grumble Jones)

And always remember, these scenarios are presented for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of my blog.

 

A note about next year's scenarios. I will continue to produce a scenario each month for this blog, but you will see more hypothetical engagements as opposed to actual events. The flexibility to create something new and different is much more easily accomplished in the hypothetical realm. So hopefully that won't disturb folks too badly.

 

Looking forward to a great year of ASL in 2016.

 

Reflections on 2015 (warning...meanderings on a monsoon day here in Tulsa, Oklahoma)

2015...my 50th year and a pretty awesome one from an ASL perspective. Back in 2011, I first started this blog with absolutely no clue where I was headed and what I wanted to accomplish with it...if anything. My first blog posts were simple, dull...pretty uninteresting when I look back on them. 

I was inspired by the awesome miniature wargame bloggers and astonished by the quality of both their content and the volume of their readership. Their community is amazingly vibrant, supporting a huge number of bloggers. And their visitor counts are off the charts...500,000 visits on this site, 400,000 on that site and usually they have 100 to 400 followers. Amazing!!! So what makes their community different from ours???

I have pondered that question for quite some time. As ASL players we are fiercely competitive...and that is no less true of blogging. I wanted to compete with those top notch miniature bloggers. But how...??   

    

One of the very best miniature blogger sites out there is Wargaming with Silver Whistle. I highly recommend a visit, if you have not had the privilege to see it. You won't be disappointed.

     http://wargamingwithsilverwhistle.blogspot.com/

And when you scroll through a blog like this...it suddenly hits you as to why these blogs and their community is perhaps more active and vibrant than say the ASL community. 

The difference was/is right in front of me the whole time. It's the pictures...miniatures...modeling. I suddenly grasped that a key part of miniatures gaming is the modeling, painting, terrain building and showcasing of one's creations. Wargaming itself, was just one component of miniatures gaming and often the least blogged about part. It was the "EYE CANDY" of the incredible battlefield layouts, the beautifully painted miniatures. The terrain, so realistic, you were transported to Normandy, Tarawa, Waterloo...or Breed's Hill. ASL is a board game...not much opportunity for eye candy.

I pondered the issue for quite some time and my blog continued to kind of plod along. I had begun adding a historical picture to the beginning of my AAR's, but there was still something lacking...that ASL has more any other game....a story...a narrative...a way of retelling the game one player to another that is thrilling to hear, to relive and makes you want to dive in and play a game. You know the stuff that happens in OUR HEADS!

ASL plays out in our heads, every bit as much as it does on the game board. Our game doesn't have elaborate terrain boards, perfectly modeled tanks and figures. But it has an engaging and exciting STORY!! And frankly, beats out any miniatures game in that category.

But how to tell the story in a way that makes the average ASL game jump off the screen at the reader? That was the question I hadn't yet answered for myself. But in 2014, something magical happened. The PEGASUS BRIDGE CG happened as Chris Brackney (aka Big Kansas) and I spent that year engrossed in what stands as the greatest ASL experience of my life. From February to September, we played out the entire Coup de Main CG. And in the process, my blog grew to adulthood as I blogged each of our CG turns and added the story elements, which would become my stock and trade. 

The Pegasus Bridge CG had helped me find my blogging voice and tell a story that would make the pictures of the map come to life. Because...really...how many pictures of an ASL game in progress can you look at it...before you say..."yep...I've seen board 41 and yep...I've seen the counters before..." But when you combine that image with action, with historical pictures related to that action (in as much as is possible) and add the emotions experienced by the players...well then just maybe the narrative begins to flow and convey the excitement, the tension and the just plain fun that makes ASL the world's greatest WWII Tactical Board Game.

Yes, I admit...it took me a bit of time to finally get this blog rolling and I have to acknowledge the other great bloggers, whose work has and continues to inspire me on a daily basis -- you will find their links below the opening page of this blog. I look forward to reading and supporting their blogs in 2016 and hope that you will as well.

So in closing...thank you to each and every one of my followers, visitors and dedicated blog readers. Your support makes this blog a labor of love. Here's to 2016...may it be a great year of ASL for us all.

And may it be a wonderful year for you and your families!

See you next year!

 

Remembering the greatest ASL DYO Scenario - The Battle for Webster Groves, Missouri 1989

In the summer of 1989, my high school buddies (some still in college...or in mycase...married and working) got together to do the ultimate DYO ASL Scenario. For years, we had talked about making an ASL map of our hometown...Webster Groves, Missouri. Webster Groves is often referred to as the Queen of the St. Louis suburbs. Back in the late 1890's and early 1900's its opulent, Victorian Mansions and tree lined streets were home to the wealthy middle class of St. Louis. Street cars connected this southern suburb with the city of St. Louis. Today, it's a highly sought after community to raise a family in...(if you have enough money...and you better bring a lot!).

So there, we were in 1989, contemplating this project. We had already done a giant Kursk map and an entire CG built around the Battle of Cherkassy. But now...we were ready to make an ASL map of a portion of Webster Groves in a time before Google Earth. Using geologic survey maps, which showed all the elevation contours and home locations, we made a map.(The current location of which is unknown to me at the present time.)

These two pictures show the young men that I spent many happy hours playing D&D, ASL, Midway, Panzerblitz, and many a miniatures game.

Of course our parents were a bit leery of college age men playing with toy soldiers. But these men went on to be a Lawyer, two highly placed Department of Defense Employees, a Kansas State Trooper, an intelligence officer whose work...we cannot speak of, and of course...myself...an Aerospace Industry drone. All in all...a group of men, whom I am proud to call my friends and ASL opponents.

DYO scenarios were our stock and trade back in the day. It seemed as if we were always coming up with something new.

Our first wargame table...strategically located in my bedroom. The scene of so much 1/72nd scale carnage.

Another ASL player and my oldest friend...since 1970 in Bristol, TN. Bill celebrates a Napoleonic Miniatures victory...back in the day.

Michael, one of the real creative geniuses our gaming group and the man who would take mapping the Battle of  Webster Groves to amazing lengths...to get it right.

Here we prepare for 16 ft. of Johnny Reb table top goodness...cause John Hill made everything great!

A Bundeswehr Huey coming in during a Fulda Gap miniatures game.

One of our epic Pacific Theater games on some nameless island held by the Japanese.

1945 Germany - as the Soviet hordes crash forward.

Michael stabilizes a Stuka's dive bombing run on a JS-III.

"ring...ring..ring..ring..."

Now...our group had completed the map and sides had been determined. Chris and Greg would be the US forces defending Webster Groves from a determined 1946 German assault led by Mike and myself. St. Louis was hugely strategic...right...!?!

So I answer the phone...it's Mike.."What's up? I ask. "Are you ready to go out and check LOS for our attack?" asks Mike in a dead serious tone. "Huh..are you serious?" I ask...as my wife gives me that look...you know the one...

"Yeah...tell your wife I'm coming to get you to go check out some map details." Mike says in a won't take no for answer tone. "Honey, I'll be right back...promise." I assure my less than happy spouse.

Location of Webster Groves in relationship to St. Louis...and that other St. Louis suburb...Kirkwood...a Tolkienesque sort of suburb...but I'll let Robert Zinselmeyer tell that story!!

So here we have the general area that was mapped out for our battle. The US forces were defending the Seminary and High School...with the Germans coming in from the left along E. Lockwood Ave.

So what LOS was so important to check out? Glad you asked! Located in the Seminary is a rather large tower...based incidentally on the one at Eton in the UK. 

Michael's force of King Tigers (yes, he always had to have the big cats in his OOB.) were coming down Lockwood Avenue and he wanted to see if US forces located in the top of the Eden Seminary Tower could see him as he came down the road.

So off we went to the intersection of Lockwood and Elm to see if we could make out the top of the tower. And guess what...we could!!  So we both planned our assaults based on the knowledge that our movements would be easily observed from far back in the US defense zone.

So...I had to admit...that Mike's idea had merit and would prove to be valuable during our game play.

My German OOB consisted primarily of Stugs with a ton of Grenadiers. I knew that US Tank Destroyers were watching the roads, so I trail-breaked through the woods. A few Stugs bogged, but the majority made it through. Together with my grenadiers, the Stugs managed to brush aside the Bazooka Teams and went straight into house to house fighting with the US MLR.

My partner, Mike, had the big tanks and half-track Grenadiers. His force was going to bull its way down Elm Avenue and then but across towards Maple for a thrust towards the High School.

Only problem was that Elm went down hill at Cedar. The US player had HIP'd AT Guns on the slight elevation along both sides of the road. King Tigers blazed up one after the other...I think 5 went up in flames before my partner (in a fury) halted his attack and pulled back.


And that was the end of the battle as memory serves. Mike was so incensed that his King Tigers had been destroyed, that we took a break and never returned to the scenario. I was a little bummed as my attack had been largely successful. Oh well...we've all been there in a game like that.

As for the US positions in the Eden Seminary Tower. A 7-4-7 with a 50 Cal HMG was positioned there and actually took some long range shots at Mike's Half-Tracks as they passed Lockwood headed into the Elm Street of death...or as we jokingly referred to it year's later...The Nightmare on Elm Street.

So ended our Battle of Webster Groves. Looking back so many years later,  it has become a fond memory and I think now how great it would be to hear Mike's voice on the other end of the phone asking me to go recon the battlefield with him. Such great memories.

So, leave me some of your DYO Scenario stories in the comments. I'm sure you have some that were pretty epic as well.

Here's to our ASL memories and to making awesome new ones in 2016.

ASL Scenario AP55 The Generalissimo's Own - Turns 3-4

Welcome to the Grumble Jones Christmas edition AAR of AP55 The Generalissimo's Own - Turns 3-4!!!

 Our Monday game found us once again in 1938 China, as my Chinese battled Scott Holst's Japanese. And in true John McClain style...there would be an overload of aggression from both sides as we channeled our inner Hans Gruber!!! 

 Starting with Turn 3, the Chinese had progressed along the road and taken some building locations. But the majority of the Japanese force had yet to reveal itself.

My boys remained vigilant...searching for the sneaky enemy!!

 Turn 3 saw the entrance of my reinforcements. I elected to send everyone in from the North. Scott's Japanese had plenty of armor and guns watching my possible entry hexes. Not sure if it was the smartest move (I'm not known for those anyway), but I decided to just rush right at him.

 Scott did a great job of responding to my attacks from two sides. His Japanese were unfazed by my attacks.

 As my armor and infantry moved up the middle, the Japanese mortar teams broke and routed away. But the Japanese sniper reappeared and quickly pinned my 37L AT Gun Crew. 

 Along the east edge, my primary focus was on taking some building locations to build up Victory Points.

 Going into Turn 4,  my forces had succeeded in eliminating the mortar threat. Every little bit helps, so I was happy to put those out of action. As for my armor...I wasn't as happy with their progress. The gully definitely slowed me down.

 Back at the center, the Japanese ATR team knocked out one of my tanks. My remaining forces moved a bit more cautiously and succeeded in revealing that J11 and I11 were dummys.

You know...revealing dummy stacks should always be a priority...right...?

 The Yuletide fun continued as my efforts in the North were met with fierce Japanese resistance.

My forces were rebuffed by the on-target Japanese fire.

 My Northern Force continued to struggle. One tank was blazing and the other was immobilized. But despite being immobilized, the crew continued the fight and set one of the Japanese tanks ablaze. Meanwhile my infantry shifted to the west as the other Japanese tank rolled their way.

 In the center...I just went nuts and sent my tanks directly at the Japanese tanks. I know it was crazy...but just felt like going for it.

Yep...it wasn't my smartest move...

 Turn 4 also showed the arrival of Japanese fighter planes over the battlefield.

Oh boy...can't wait to see what kind of presents they drop on me...

 No we arrive at the moment in Turn 4 that was just completely whacked. In my last Advance Phase, I moved two stacks of infantry under the blazing tanks. Seemed like a good place to launch my next attacks from. It worked better in my head than in real life. (I suffer a lot of that kind of thing.) 

Scott, quickly realized that my boys had just blinded themselves and rushed a screaming 4-4-7 with a Demo Charge right at the stack of two 3-4-7's with LMG's. OH NOOOOO....

Naturally, I completely missed hitting the squad in First Fire, Final Fire...we'll pause before discussing the Final Protective Fire...(it will be worth the wait).

Dude...it was totally a BOMB...

Freaking Crouching Tiger...hidden 4-4-7 stuff as all of my shots missed the charging Japanese.

And then it happened...Final Protective Fire...c'mon snake eyes....

You have to be kidding....

You said it Ralphie...you said it...

And it didn't. After KIA'ing a half-squad and breaking the other with my "12"...my opponent's DC succeeded in blowing up everyone left...scratch two Chinese Squads....

Noooo....ok maybe a little...but bad move on my part..."Stupid is as Stupid does"...

 So yeah...there you have it...my boys in the North were reeling...

 

 The relative positions in the North sector as the night drew to a close.

 The fight in the center was great fun! Lots of tanks shots...which hit...missed...or bounced. Going into Turn 5, this will be the sector to watch!!!

 

 A final look at the ASL goodness in the center. Can't wait to see how this engagement ends. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 

to you and your families! 

Thanks for following Grumble Jones in 2015.