Grumble Jones - An ASL Blog: Our Saturday Game - ASL Scenario B

For our Saturday game, Dan Best and I turned once more to the Classics and selected ASL Scenario B - The Tractor Works. The last time I had played this scenario was in 1992, when I lost as the Russians. Historically, I have never won this scenario as either side. From ROAR and past experiences, the Russians really have an edge. But having lost as the Russians, I knew full well that it is very possible for the Germans to win this one.

Now, the previous two Classic Scenarios...Hill 621 and The Hedgehog of Piepsk had been ass-whippings on a pretty rough scale for me. You have those kinds of games in ASL. It's like losing 60-0 as Arkansas Central Academy in a football game against the Oklahoma Sooners. And defeats like that can cause self-doubt to creep into your game. I have had similar periods in my ASL playing, where a certain fatalism entered my game play, because after so many back to back defeats, I just pretty much surrendered myself to whatever fate might bring. At one point in 1992, I lost 9 straight and again more recently in 2013-15 against Big Kansas, I only managed three victories to his 20 wins. And in two of my three wins, I very nearly lost them in the final turn. So suffice to say a crisis in ASL self-confidence is not an entirely new occurrence for me.

Like Wyatt Earp contemplating facing Johnny Ringo, sometimes you know you aren't the faster draw.

ASL can be like that too at times. There are clearly those opponents that you know, you can't cope with. On the plus side, you learn from those games and you improve. For years, I played tennis on summer evenings with my next door neighbor in St. Louis. I sucked at tennis and he was a competent player. And he regularly beat me up and down the court each of those summer nights. But I got better and developed a decent game and I still have fond memories of our nightly games at Barnicle Park in Webster Groves, Missouri.

So going into our Saturday game, I was feeling a little unsure of myself. And let's us just say, that three hours later, I wouldn't feel any better!!! So, the AAR which follows will be another of those that are cautionary tales of how not to play this scenario as the Germans.

But hey it was Saturday afternoon and time to march into battle!

The Tractor Works is another of those scenarios that we all have fond memories of from both Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader days. The struggle to take the X3 Factory on Board 1 would train many a player on the nuances of urban fighting in ASL. Some of us would become better masters of this, than others.

The scenario is 8 turns long, which I have always thought a bit too long. I have rarely seen this scenario in SL or ASL go the distance. It is a bloody, toe to toe brawl with great leadership and lots of firepower. One of the SSR's requires that both sides roll to see who goes first. I would win and would become the Scenario Attacker. I was very fortunate to win, as I had gambled and set up to attack the X3 Factory on Turn 1. I had only Dummies facing Dan's horde of Soviets on the west side of the battlefield.

My force would consist of men of the German 389th Infantry Division. Overall, I would have 6 x 8-3-8's, 13 x 4-6-7's with an HMG, 3 x MMG's, 4 x LMG's, 2 Flamethrowers, 4 x DC's led by a 10-3, 10-2, 9-2, 9-1, 8-1 and 8-0. A very respectable force, although heavily outnumbered by the opposing Russians.

As the scenario Defender, Dan would command elements of the Russian 308th and 295th Rifle Divisions. His force would consist of 12 x 4-4-7's, 26 x 5-2-7's with an HMG, 2 x MMG's, 7 x LMG's led by a 9-2, 9-1, 9-0 Commissar and an 8-0. Dan is an Ostfront Fanatic and loves to play the Russians and is extremely dangerous when he commands them.

Dan's 4-4-7's would be in the X3 Factory, while the 26 x 5-2-7's would be coming to the rescue from the west.

Dan would have only 1 leader in the X3 Factory. Taking out the 9-2 would be critical. But by game end...he would be smiling and wearing two new medals!

Now a quick note about my Board 1. My Board 1 has been in continuous action since 1978 and long ago split down the middle. My restoration techniques were not quite adequate, so I have developed a nice hump down the middle of Row Q...so you will notice counter clinging desperately to the sides of their Q locations. Dan prefers the hardboards, so when playing Cardboard via SKYPE, it's important for both players to use the same boards. The cardstock versions of Board 1 are different and what is an open shot on the hardboard is not on the cardstock board and vice versa.

The Star indicates the Scenario objective...the Tractor Factory. The white lines show my Turn 1 projected attacks. What I didn't realize was that only one of the stacks facing me on the east side of the factory was real. I would lose one Flamethrower on a roll of 10 trying to burn out a stack of Dummy Counters. That was my first Prep-Fire of the game and a portend of the future.

C'mon guys...how many times have I told you not to waste the flammenwerfer stuff...!?!

Turn 1 - I Prepped my flame-throwers and my 10-3 Kill stack. I eliminated to stacks of Dummy Counters. Meanwhile I launched my other boys in a direct assault on the X3 factory. Two 3-3-8 Half-squads with DC's led the way. Neither one would make it. And once inside the factory, Dan's 9-2 (36 factor) Kill Stack erupted in a fire so intense that no one survived my initial entry into the factory.

36 Factor kill stack with 9-2 and then he keeps Rate...UGH!!!

The residual fire marks the places where my boys fell...

I had made two colossal mistakes...just massive errors. My 10-3 was on upper-level. I forgot all about the staircase...so couldn't relocate in Advance Phase. And then my 10-2 Kill Stack had been marked with Opportunity Fire so I could take down the Russians I expected to be in Hex Y5...but they were Dummies. So my two most important stacks were rendered mission killed for Turn 1 support.

So my phase of Turn 1 ended. I had eliminated some Dummy stacks...but at a cost of a few squads and a flamethrower. And I now had to prepare myself to receive Dan's friends from the west.

As Dan prepared to move, I was able to lay down a critical fire lane, which did help slow down Dan's efforts in the center of the line.

But Dan's boys did manage to move around the north and south flanks. My boys in T7 had done a good job...but would soon be eliminated after I went for a Final Protective Fire and promptly broke them.

At the end of Turn 1, Dan was firmly in control of the X3 Factory and was moving forward from the west.

Turn 2...I was determined to keep trying to take the factory. Only my 10-2 stack didn't go for the factory. Instead I sent them to Y8 to defend against the oncoming horde of 5-2-7's.

The SAN For both sides was 6, so snipers were plentiful. The German sniper would succeed in wounding the Russian 8-0. It was also at this time, that a 3-3-8 with a DC rolled snakes and went Fanatic and created a Hero. The Hero would go onto place a DC on the Russians in Y4.

Sadly, I would roll a 10 and do absolutely nothing to the Russians.

10's aren't always a good thing Billy Bob...

The end of my part of Turn 2. I was in the Tractor Works...but Dan's Russians were going to put a serious hurting on me.

"Hans...where are the tractors???"

My Flamethrower boys knew they were going to get lit up...

And so they did...as Dan's Prep Fire ended...you will notice their hex is now empty.

Dan' made great progress on Turn 2 and had effectively trapped my boys on the first floor of the U2 Building. Meanwhile the Russian Sniper KIA'd my Hero.

Yep...insult to injury!!!

Turn 3...hmmm...doesn't this scenario have 8 turns...oh yeah we already talked bout that. Uh...well...so on Turn 3, I doubled down on poor decisions and sent my 10-3 and 8-0 charging into the factory!!!