Let me first wish everyone a Happy Easter on this fine Sunday. Here's hoping it was a great one for you and your families.
Once again, Saturday evening brought Dan Best and I screen to screen for another Cardboard ASL via SKYPE Contest. It would be a hard fought struggle as we grappled for the olive wreath of victory!
As in past Saturdays, Dan and I elected to play another scenario from the Kansas City ASL group's March Madness Hollis Pack. MM37 Ninety Night would be the evenings exercise in night fighting, dice rolling and accepting one's fate!!!
I would draw the British and would the be the scenario attacker commanding elements of No. 3 Commando. I would have 6 x 4-5-8's, 2 x 2-4-8's led by a 9-2, 8-0 with an MMG, 2 x DC's, 51MTR and 76 MTR for support. 
As the scenario defender, Dan would command the Italians comprising elements of the 206th Coastal Infantry Division and 44th Artillery Group. Dan would have 8 x 3-3-6, 4 x 2-2-7's, led by an 8-0, 7-0 with an LMG and 4 x 105 Artillery pieces for support.
The 4 x 105 Arty's would be the scenario objective. The British player would win if all four guns were destroyed at game end without losing more than 4 CVP. The scenario would also take place at night. It would be nice and dark for my stealthy commandos.
My plan was to send my dummys up the west edge while the bulk of my forces moved up the middle and along the east. I was aiming for the two openings in the wire.
The darkness kept me concealed as my boys crept towards the Italian compound. This also allowed for some fast play as the Italians did not have freedom of movement.
(NOTE NVA should be NVR...Dan didn't have any NVA hiding in the dark as far as I know...)
(NOTE NVA should be NVR...Dan didn't have any NVA hiding in the dark as far as I know...)
I wanted to try and enter the Italian compound without getting caught on the wire. But naturally Dan was waiting for me like Shelob waiting for a Hobbit...
One of my better decisions was to use opportunity fire on my big mortar since I couldn't see anything until Dan's units fired.
I was able to DM the Italian 3-3-6 in the stone villa overlooking the river bed. This was one of the key positions that needed to be dealt with before going into the compound.
On Dan's next wind change DR, my Commandos would be the recipients of some useful intel as Danielle, a local farmer informed my men of a Italian 105 Arty which had blocked the road into the compound!! Thank you Danielle!
You never know with the wind change DR...what my might occur....
I managed to get into position to begin moving into the compound. I had maintained my concealment in the darkness and was ready to jump off.
My commandos moved quietly out of the dry river bed and into the Italian compound.
Having been told where the first gun was, my boys ran up and placed a DC on it.
As the other commandos rushed into melee with the Italian defenders, my 9-2 stayed behind the wall with a 4-5-8 and the MMG to provide fire support.
As the battle progressed, neither Dan or I could win the melees...and this was beginning to cause me to panic.
The longer I was held in the melee, the better chance for Dan's Italians. My commandos were getting bested by 3-3-6 Italian conscripts...ugh!!!!
Suddenly, I had no more troops that were not either broken or in melee. I was beginning to think my strategy of going into CC with the Italians was a bad one...
Then when I was convinced it couldn't get any worse, Dan's remaining Arty pieces decided to fire into the melees....Oh good grief!!!
The melee markers tell the tale...my boys were trapped...
Dan's arty blasting into the melees broke boys on both sides...but left me in a precarious position with only my 9-2 free to move about.
but....NOT REALLY
Using the MMG by himself, my 9-2 managed to break the Italian gun crew that had been blasting into the melee. So at this point in the game, I had destroyed one gun, captured another, leaving one abandoned and one malf'd. But...I was out of men and the melees would suddenly become game ending for me.
In the next Close Combat Phase Dan would casualty reduce my squad and win the game as I exceeded the CVP by 1.
Yeah...not the way I planned things....and I took it hard right in the...
Oh yeah...I was feeling the butt hurt...
Dan's Italian conscripts had held off my Commandos and in close combat no less!!! Bravo Dan Bravo on another fine victory.
Dan tried to console me when I questioned my strategy of going into close combat instead of just firing away...
Another great night's ASL!
This will be the last AAR for a short while as I relocate from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Quincy, Illinois to start a new position. I have enjoyed the last 14 years in Tulsa, but look forward to once again living alongside the Mighty Mississippi River!
See you soon from Quincy, Illinois
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