After an extended break due to the March Madness Tournament and the flooding occurring in the upper Mississippi River Valley...we are back with our latest "Our Saturday Game". It was great to be back rolling the dice. Rough times with work issues and an adult daughter's antics have kept me in some bad headspace...so getting together with Dan and Dave was just what the doctor ordered!
I'm sure many parents out there can relate to the image above. Throw in troubled boyfriends, and substance abuse and you have the hat trick of parental anguish. I always keep my blog personal and I'll admit...raising two children has been the hardest and sadly the most unhappy experience of my life. My watch began in 1994...and I pray daily that my time on the "Wall" can eventually end...with my sanity and life intact.
Ok...enough of that...let's talk ASL!
For our Saturday game, Dan selected ASL 124 - On the Borderline. Dan and I have been working to complete all of the Beyond Valor 3rd Edition scenarios. Once upon a time, we have both played this scenario, but for me it has been quite some time ago. The scenario covers the first days of the Winter War as the Soviet Union crosses the border into Finland. This particular scenario covers the advance of the Russian 139th Rifle Division as they moved towards Artahuhta, Finland. Confronting the Soviets would be a 20 man border guard with a company of reserve cavalry coming to their rescue.
This is a classic scenario and existed previously as A16. ROAR has A16 with 5 Finnish and 4 Russian wins. ROAR has 124 with 5 Finnish and 5 Russian wins. The ASL Archive has A16 with 12 Finnish and 11 Russian wins. The ASL Archive has 14 with 2 Finnish and 1 Russian wins. Balance...this scenario has some real balance across both versions.
Now...word to the wise...this is a LOOONNGGG scenario at 13 Turns. And there is a reason for that...The Russians start out in Siberia and march all the waaaayyy to Finland...at least it feels that way as you watch your Russian opponent dragging mortars and machine guns through the snow turn after turn...until finally in Turn 9, they lose their @#&* and drop them!!!
Now, the other reason for this set up is also to give the Finns time to react and/or retreat. So it works...but make sure you make time for this scenario to give it justice. If you need a 2-3 hour game, hold this one for later. On the Borderline is a fine wine...sniff it...taste it....savor it...slowly...and you will enjoy the hell out of it!!!
Indeed...
Now...as noted earlier this would be a 3-Player scenario. The Russian force is large enough to allow for that. So Dan and Dave would split the Russian force. They would command elements of the 364th Rifle Regiment. Their force would consist of 26 x 4-4-7's, led by a 9-1, 1 x 9-0 Commissar, 1 x 8-0, and a 7-0 with 2 x HMG's, 2 x MMG's, 4 x LMG's, 2 x 50 MTR's, 2 x Radios with 100mm OBA each and 2 x BA-6 Armored Cars. a substantial force...but with a 2 SAN and 2 ELR would be a bit brittle. ELR's were would be frequent. And surprisingly (for me) there would a lot Russian sniper activations as I rolled an unbelievable number of Snake Eyes.
My dice were good to me on this day...
As the defending Finns, I would command elements of the Myllyjarvi Border Guard Detachment and 4th Reserve Cavalry Squadron. My force would consist of 2 x 5-3-8's, 10 x 6-4-8's, let by a 9-1, and 2 x 8-0's with an HMG, 3 X LMG's and a Road Block. My 2 x 5-3-8's with the HMG would set up HIP way out in front. The rest of my force would be back on board 3 in the village.
And now for Dave Mareske's Pre-Game Commentary:
"Dan Best and I are splitting the Russian forces and
attacking Scott’s Finns. Going up
against the Finns is always tough with them being stealthy, not cowering and
their ability to self-rally. Dan will be
taking 13 squads and the armored trucks and I will be taking 13 squads and all
of the heavy MGs. Dan has the 9-1 and
7-0 leaders and I take both 8-0s, but turn one into a Commissar, 9-0. Our basic attack is for Dan to creep the
north board edge and for me to take the south board edge. By splitting the forces there may not be
enough squads on either force to put together a Human Wave, but I got the
counters out just in case. I hope slow
and steady wins the race as we will need most of our force to take the
village. The radios will be used for
SMOKE to try and get close to their positions on Board 3. Losses in the first few turns should be
minimal."
The link above will take you a short live stream we did of Turn 1.
Ok, the game begins. My strategy was to move my HMG with the border guards back to Board 3 and get away from the Russian OBA, which could only target full hexes on Board 4. Dave would never get his OBA functioning, but Dan would put down a couple of smoke screens.
My MLR would be just on the border between Boards 3 and 4. I wanted the HMG to anchor my position and it was also my best asset to take on the Russian armored cars.
Turn 1 - my boys moved rapidly to establish my MLR.
Turn 1 - the Russians surge across the border and the Winter War begins!!!
As Turn 2 ended, my boys were in their positions ready to receive the Russian attack.
The Russians continued to slog forward across the snowy fields. The first few turns went quickly and uneventfully.
Dave did get one spotting round before losing Radio Contact.
The Russians get a lot of good support weapons, but they spend most of the game trying to get into the battle.
The best Russian weapons of the battle were the two 50 MTR's. These things with their high rates of fire would do some damage to my Finns hiding in the woods. Dan's OBA would drop in the smoke screens.
In contrast, Dave would struggle the entire game to get the MMG's an HMG's into firing positions.
A look at the Finnish MLR and the many broken Russian squads after the first contact with the Finnish MLR.
My HMG would find itself hanging out too far forward. I would successfully pull it back,
My line intact and waiting.
Boxcars would afflict both sides, but the Russian would break a mortar, LMG and the MA on one of the armored cars. The Finns would break and lose a single LMG.
As we neared mid-game, the Russians had been bloodied in the north and were making some progress in the south.
But...the Finns would prove to be very tough. Their 6 factors and no cowering were allowing me to deliver some effective fire, which broke up Daves' attack in the south.
As I started to have men break, I would send them back to the village to prepare my final defense.
Dan and Dave were finally making some strong moves into my MLR. Essentially, my MRL would hold, but the Russian armored cars would pass through it.
My HMG would get very luck and destroy one of the BA-6's!!! Woohooo!!
"Good shooting Tex...er….uh...Torsti!!!"
While my MLR was breached, it was still intact in many places. The remaining BA-6 was in my backfield and this would affect routs, etc.
A look at the situation as we entered the late turns. The Russians had one of the 4 needed locations. The others were firmly in Finnish control. The Russians had been staggered with losses and ELR's.
In the next two turns, the Russians would hit me hard. I would build a huge wall of Residual Fire.
The second of two Russian drives as the game neared its end.
The Russians jumped into 2 Close Combats, but my Finns would win both.
My Finns were tough hombres!
With the final Russian assault thrown back, Dave and Dan did the math and realized they didn't have the manpower left to continue the attack. So after 10 turns, they offered the concessions.
My Finns had the win.
My thanks to Dave and Dan for a great night of ASL.
"Well the first five turns went as planned. Dan was able to lay smoke with his radio
contact, but mine never came into play.
Scott escaped with his border guards to Board 3 and brought his 6-4-8s
to form a nice line of defense on the east edge of Board 3, a defense that we never really got past. Progress was slow lugging the big MGs and
also for the trucks crossing open ground in the snow. Dan and I both ran leader stacks but in
retrospect I think the leaders are needed to help move the MGs. The mortars did a pretty good job, but we
could not affect enough casualties on the Finns. By Turn 10 we had lost over half our force
and another quarter had ELR'ed. We only
had one squad and one truck threatening the town and Scott had managed to get
at least five squads back to defend.
Scott had some well-placed snake-eyes, but also paid for them with our
Sniper activation. His Sniper did well
too and was very active in Turns 5-8.
Scott did a great job in setting up the defense and getting his border
guards and especially the HMG back to Board 3 where it could lay fire lanes and
chew up troops with its ROF. Well played
Scott!"
Dan and I will return next Saturday to play ASL Scenario WO 20 Sealing their Fate.
See you next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment