Our Saturday Game - ASL Scenario A105 - Police Action

Fresh from the St. Louis ASL Tournament, Dan Best and I resumed our regular Saturday game. We were both a bit bruised from our losses in St. Louis and looking to get back on a winning track. After all...we had a 50% chance of winning!!!  It was Dan's turn to pick the scenario and true to form, Dan would choose a Partisan scenario from the Avalon Hill  ASL Annual '97.

The selected scenario would be A105 - Police Action (designed by Brian Youse). In the spring of 1940, Polish resistance bands had begun to form and a large one was centered near Kamienna. Led by a former Polish Army Captain, this Partisan band came to the attention of the German Polizei Battalion 51. In a series of operations, the Germans began to encircle the supposed locations of the Partisans. 

The Partisans attempted a breakout through the German Polizei units. The attempt would fail, and German reinforcements in the form of SS Totenkopf Cavalry would arrive to complete the destructions of the Partisans. The Partisans would retreat to forested hills to hold off the SS Cavalry. Ultimately, the SS firepower would prove too much for the Partisans and the band would be destroyed.

A word to the wise...this scenario is 12 Turns long. Dan and I would start it at 5:00 PM and finally finish at 12:00 AM. 7 hours for 12 Turns is pretty fast. Dan and I have mastered fast play...but we were both exhausted by this monster 12 turn scenario. There are a lot hard tactical decisions that both sides have to make in the course of this game, so I don't recommend rushing through it. Give yourself the time to play it, even if that means breaking it up into more one gaming session.

There is errata related to scenario with regards to the Overlay. The SSR's incorrectly call out Overlay 1. You will want to use Overlay 2. Now, there is a big problem with this Overlay. There are no Hex ID's. In a normal face to face game this would of course be no issue. But trying to tell your opponent where you are moving over SKYPE is TOUGH. Again, Dan and I have mastered this, so it didn't slow us down too much, but it was an unwanted pain in the backside.

ROAR has this scenario with 14 German wins and 5 Partisan wins.

The ASL Archive has it with 3 German wins and 1 Partisan win.

In a departure from our normal dice rolling for sides, I would ask Dan if I could take on the Partisan Challenge. I wanted to see if I could get a win in a scenario that is clearly Pro-German.

While Dan has spent considerable time traveling in Poland, I have not had the opportunity and it remains on my bucket list.

As the Partisans, I would command Polish Irregular Troops. Basically, this group would consist of former soldiers and civilians banded together to resist German Occupation. My force would consist of 20 x 3-3-7's lead by a 10-2, 8-0 and 7-0 with an HMG and 2 x LMG's. A large force, but lacking in long range fire capability. My greatest strength was the simple quantity of squads available to me.

As the Germans, Dan would command two separate groups. His first group would be the men of the Polizei Battalion 51. This force would set up on board and consisted of  5 x 4-4-7's, 7 x 4-3-6's, led by an 8-0, and 2 x 7-0's with 2 x LMG's. Numerically, a good force, but lacking in range and firepower.

The second German horseback mounted group would be Squadron 10, SS-Totenkopf-Reiterstandarte 1. This force would consist of 9 x 4-6-8's, 2 x 2-2-8's, led by a 9-1, 8-1 and 7-0 with an MMG, 3 x LMG's, 2 x wagons towing 2 x 75* INF Guns. This would be the strongest force on the field.

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Commentary:

"In this scenario the Germans have to capture the hill and prevent the Partisans from exiting.  My plan is to use the Police Battalion units to cover the exit area.  The police units will set up in the stone buildings of the board 42 village.  With the LMGs covering the exit areas on row A.  One squad will set up in the upper level of 42V2 to keep an eye on that end of the board and watch the hill hexes.  The cavalry will enter and attack across board 37 toward the hill.  Or if the Partisans are pushing to exit, inter into the village to prevent exit.  The Partisans must choose in this scenario if they are going to exit or form a stout defense of the hill, they do not have enough firepower to do both.  Hopefully the police lines will hold until the cavalry arrives to win the day."

OK...the victory conditions call for the Partisan Player to either exit 23+ CVP off the southwest board edge or for the Germans to control 5 or more Level 3 locations on board 37 at game end. So the dilemma for the Partisans is which victory condition to fight for or against. After looking at Dan's defense, I doubted my ability to push past him for the exit VP. I was certain that I would get caught by Dan's reinforcing SS Cavalry and be decimated.

So I elected to place a small delaying force in the stone buildings. Their mission...hold the Polizei in the village for as long as possible. Another small force would guard the forest road on Board 37. And lastly, my main effort would be to try and hold the hill.

The Partisans settle on a plan. But was it the right one?

My first roll for my Heavy Machine Gun with my 10-2 as I fired at Dan's 4-4-7 in the far west edge stone building. Yep...boxcars...really...some days...I just don't understand...


Well...good thing this game is 12 turns long...cause I'll have time to fix my HMG. All whining aside, I would fix the gun in the very next Rally Phase and not break it again for the duration of the game. So...I couldn't complain.

Dan seemed to understand that my boys were just there to hold him in place. So he decided to come right at me. I fired two squads with 6 down 2 shots....and did nothing...10's and 11's will do that to you. None of us like to complain about dice rolls...but how do you defend yourself when you can't even roll an average result at enemy units that move adjacent to you in the open? Both of my squads would die in the close combats that would follow.

 Dan's boys didn't kill mine right away.

 I would manage to hold him in Melee...or better said...my rolls sucked and so did Dan's!!!

By Turn 3 - I was down to two squads left in the village and Dan's SS Cavalry were preparing to enter the board and make straight for my stronghold on the hill.

 Dan's movements went largely uncontested by me. 

 Having seen Dan's intentions, I moved some of my boys on the hill. 

In the village, my remaining two squads made a run for the hills. One would be stopped cold. The other would get away...but only temporarily.

 My blocking force on the forest road would have a little bit of success, but it would be short-lived.

Sniper activity would be a problem for both Dan and I throughout the game. In a 12 Turn game (did I mention this game has 12 turns...)  we would see a lot of opportunities for the sniper to pop up and smack us around. Dan's 8-0 would be the first victim. He would be wounded first and then tracked down and killed a few turns later.

As Dan's SS moved up, my 10-2 and the HMG would see an opportunity to catch some of Dan's SS in the open. I would get some breaks, but I tended to roll 10's whenever I fired the HMG.

My forest road blocking force would have one squad break. But then in the next Rally Phase, that squad would go fanatic.

As we neared the half-way point in the game, Dan had secured the village and had two attack groups ready to move on the hill. The western force would be composed of many 4-3-6's. Back along the Board 37 Forest Road...Dan's arty was slowing making its way towards my boys.

My HMG would do most of my shooting. Range and the desire to stay concealed kept me from firing unless Dan hung somebody out in the open.

One of Dan's good moves would be to place an LMG in the V2 building on the west board edge. This LMG would harass my 10-2 and HMG for the remainder of the game.

Unbelievably Dan's Polizei would get to the hill first. Oh good grief. These guys would keep my west flank busy for the rest of the game...when I really needed to focus on the SS 4-6-8's that were coming at me on the east flank.

Dan got a lot of production out of his 4-3-6's.

And every turn...an MG-34 would pepper my positions. Fortunately, it never caused me any serious grief.

As the night went on...Dan and I both began to wear down. but the main battle was about to begin...so we got our second wind and prepared for the fight that was coming.

Dan's boys began identifying their attack routes.

After manhandling his guns into position...Dan began to pound my boys at the edge of the hill. These guns would force me to rout.

 The German perimeter was getting closer with each passing turn...

Dan's boys come at me hard. I would do my best to stop them...but they just kept coming. My 3-3-7 with the HMG would  bite it...leaving my 10-2 all by himself to man the gun.

Fortunately for me, he was up to the task.

With each passing turn, Dan kept up the pressure. His boys were on the clock and had to get up the hill.

In desperation...I took some crazy risks. I sent my 10-2 into Close combat with Dan's 2-4-8 and Hero squad and another squad went down the hill into the hornet's nest to keep some of Dan's boys DM.

My 10-2 took down the 2-4-8, but was then be eliminated itself. The 3-3-7 would stay in Melee, but also keep DM's on Dan's brokies in that area.

As the night wore on, the fighting intensified as Dan's boys came right up into my grill.

Turn 11...Dan's boys had pushed me further into the woods. I only had a single 3-3-7 with the HMG and 1-2-7.  The Germans had been bloodied, but had the manpower necessary to take the hill.

Turn 12...and a quarter to midnight...seemed somehow appropriate.

My final D-Fire attempts were futile and Dan clambered through my final defenses and secured 6 of the Level 3 Victory Locations. Exhausted mentally and physically I had to accept defeat. My only consolation was that it had taken Dan every bit of the 12 turns to take the hill from my Partisans. So that was something.

It had been an exhausting fight. Dan and I were both completely knackered. 12 turns in 7 hours will do that to you. As I stated many times, I do think 12 turns is just too long. But other than that, I found the scenario to be challenging and fun to play. This is a good scenario for getting familiar with wagons and cavalry. Overall, I would recommend playing it, but again...give yourself ample time to do it justice.

Congrats Dan on a great win!

And now for Dan's Post-Game Commentary:

"Well the plan worked.  The Partisans went for a stout defense of the hill with a delaying force in the village.  The police troops were able to eliminate the delaying force and join the fight for the hill.  The Partisan HMG did not get very good rolls and rarely got rate.  In a grueling and grinding fight, the Germans slowly attrition the Partisans and on turn 11 entered the hill mass woods.  Once in the woods the German firepower blasted the way to the top and took six hexes in the last advance phase.  This was a hard fight!  With only one squad and one HS left good order for the Partisans, with another three broken HS.  The Germans had 5 squads for the cavalry and three for the police still good order.  With three disrupted police squads and three others broken.  Surprisingly the scenario was not much excitement for both sides.  Just a straight up shootout and assault.  I wonder how it would play if the Partisans attempt to exit?  Likely decided much faster with the Partisans able to exit by turn 3 or stopped cold.  My thanks to Grumble Jones for hanging in all 12 turns!  We both struggled playing ASL via Skype and not having identification numbers printed on the overlay.  Which led to much confusion on locations of units. Play time was almost 7 hours. "

Well that's a wrap on Police Action...Dan and I will return next Saturday for a playing of Scenario RO3 Defenders of Stalingrad...

See you next week from the banks of the Volga.