Our Saturday Game - Scenario LM1 Recruiting Tactics

For our Saturday game - Dan Best and I went to a time and theater, which I had never played before in ASL. We went to 1931 China during the time of the Long March. Last year, Dan had gotten me a copy of Heat of Battle's - The Long March. After going through the pack's many scenarios, I decided it would be a good idea to play one of them and give this scenario pack some love. There are a lot of good scenario choices in the pack, but after last Saturday's marathon playing of Balberkamp, I was looking for a Saturday of ASL lite. But much to my surprise...this game would be every bit as gut-wrenching and intense as any scenario I have played.

When it comes to the Long March, I was aware of it and had read some small excerpts about it, but I was not well versed on the actual fighting that occurred between Mao's Red Army and the Nationalist Kuomintang Army (KMT). 

There are a lot of good resources available via a Google Search to learn more about the Long March. It's definitely a unique historical event and would of course contribute greatly to Mao's eventual success in China. 

For our scenario, Dan and I would select LMT 1 - Recruiting Tactics (designed by Jay Long). This scenario depicts actions between the Red Army and the KMT in Jiangxi Province in July of 1931. 

The battles in Jiangxi Province would consist of meeting engagements between the two armies as the KMT was drawn deeper into Mao controlled areas. For the most part, the KMT would find itself encircled and then annihilated in the Red Army controlled areas. In many cases, the Red Army would attempt to take prisoners in order to bring former KMT soldiers into the Red Army. This would be well reflected in our playing of Recruiting Tactics.

This scenario uses Boards 43 and 35. Interestingly, I have noticed Board 43 popping up in a number of scenarios played lately. 

The Victory  Conditions are very straight forward. The player with the greatest number of CVP wins the game. The KMT Player can also receive an additional point if any units crosses south of the 35 A5/P5 Road. 

ROAR has this scenario with 8 KMT wins and 8 Red Army wins. The ASL Archive has it with 3 KMT wins and 2 Red Army wins. Both sides have a good opportunity to win the game.

The Red Army starts the scenario with all units HIP. Then on Turn 1, they get a force referred to as the "Bait Force", which enters on the north edge before the KMT enter on Turn 1 along that same board edge. 

So the idea is that the KMT player will attack what he can see which will be the Bait Force and then be lured into a trap where the HIP units are patiently waiting. And yes, our game would go exactly as the scenario designer intended!!

After rolling for sides, Dan would be the defending Red Army. His HIP force would consist of 4 x 3-3-3-7's, and 2 x 2-2-8's, led by a 9-1 and 8-0 with 2 x MMG's. Dan's Bait Force which entered on Turn 1 would consist of 6 x 3-3-7's led by an 8-1 and 8-0. 

By the way...I hate playing against HIP forces....just saying...not my favorite thing to face in any game.

As the KMT Army, I would have the burden of leading my boys into a trap expertly crafted by the always wily Dan Best. My force would consist of 10 x 3-3-7's, 4 x 3-3-6's, and a 2-2-7 led by an 8-0 and 7-0 with an MMG. 

 And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

"The Red Army in this scenario must inflict greater than or equal to the number of CVP as they lose.  They must also prevent the KMT from getting past the road on board 35.  I will build a good ambush along the roads on board 43.  Starting with the 9-1 and MMG located in R1.  To set up a fire lane along the road.  This unit is without cover, so turn 1 they will go for a foxhole.  I will exchange the 8-0 for a commissar and place them in the woods in FF2 with the other MMG.  The extra morale boost will help this position which is most vulnerable due to the covered approach of the hedge and field.  Each position will get two squads to protect it and both will cover their roads to take out those attempting to get past the MG fire lanes.  The Bait Force will ender along hex row GG with the 8-1 and get to the woods in GG4 to cover the flank.  The other group with the 8-0 will move along the roads to the field around Z4 and deploy.  Hope fully these forces will cover the attack that is sure to come through the hedge field." 

Ok...it's game on and Dan's Bait Force prepares to move on to the battle space. Dan's HIP units await their comrades...

The Bait Force moves forward. It was hard for me to know Dan's intentions as I had no idea where his HIP dudes were hiding.

In an unusual move...Dan would reveal his 9-1 and one of his MMG's. They would attempt to entrench and would be successful. So I now knew where one of the two MMG's was hiding. R1 is probably the single best location on the battlefield.

Dan's boys were in position in the center and on both flanks. This confused me...because it looked like Dan was covering the entire battlefield rather than trying to lure me into an seemingly undefended area. It was just another part of his devious plan to wipe me out!!!

On my part of Turn 1, I positioned my units to move forward. Knowing where one of the machine guns was located would affect my planning. I would not cross the road covered by it for the durations of the game.

I moved forward to engage the Bait Force. I needed to get CVP and so I would have to initiate contact in order to get some points.

 I was able to get into position without any difficulty. The tough turns were coming soon though.

Dan shuffled his forces. Again his intentions were unknown to me and I initially thought he was falling back to lure me deeper into the interior.

With the known MMG on the right side, I opted to move on the left side. Ooops...Dan's first HIP unit would appear with a 9-0 Commissar and MMG. Ok...both MMG's were naturally covering the open road hexes. Should have been pretty obvious...but I don't play ASL with any tactical acumen...sometimes I'm just moving cardboard pieces around a board!!!

Maybe I should try RISK...maybe not...

 Despite a few breaks, I was still in pretty good shape.

 The grain was playing havoc on both Dan and I as we just couldn't get good shots at one another. 

Now bad die rolls would really plague both Dan and I throughout the game. We would both break our MMG's (Dan would break his twice) and we would both kill our own boys with MC Boxcars. Super fun!!! Nothing better than just giving your opponent CVP. I would also end up with a disrupted squad that just begged to be taken prisoner...

BOXCARS BABY!!!

Speaking of boxcars...Oh look...I MALF'd my MMG...

I love this game!!! Really I do!!!

 I wasn't the only one rolling Boxcars. Dan would roll plenty as well and end up killing the crew manning his MMG with the Commissar on the left. 

It was around the end of Turn 2, that I realized I was already in Dan's trap. I had two MMG's stopping any forward progress and Dan was creeping up the left board edge with the intent to capture my Disrupted boys and any other dudes that might be inclined to surrender. Oh...and I still didn't know where his other HIP boys were hiding.

"Ya think..."

I shifted more of my force towards the left. I wanted to at least get force superiority on that side and see if I could take down some of Dan's boys.

 Dan and I would also roll a few snake eyes. In this case, a 3-3-7 would go berserk. 

I took a big risk and moved my 8-0 Kill Stack and MMG into position to take down the Berserk squad and then put down some fire on the 9-0 with the MMG. I was about to find out where Dan's HIP squads were...

 Oh look...they are right beside me and here I am just standing in the open...

Dan's ambush would not be as bad as I had feared.  One squad would break, one would pin, my 8-0 officer would be wounded, but my last squad would create a Hero. A HERO that would change the game!

Dan's ambush would keep me from using all of my strength to stop the charge of the Berserk squad. That squad would be a bullet magnet and survive all of my shots and then jump into the target hex. This allowed his 1-2-7 with a squad of prisoners to move up and grab my disrupted squad. Just l like that Dan had taken two squads captive. This game was quickly getting out of control for me.

Now, at this point in the game Dan had roughly 14 points to my 8. I was even considering giving the concession as I didn't see a path to victory. My entire left flank had been turned and I was broken across the field. But then Dan went full out into attack mode and came at me like a Spider Monkey on Mountain Dew!!!

I think Dan realized that I was at my most vulnerable and he was determined to put me down for good.

As the turn ended, I had managed to stop a couple of Dan's assaulting squads, but the Berserker squad was in melee on the left and his intrepid 1-2-7 with prisoners was preparing to go all Jeb Stuart on me and ride around my army!!!

But then things would get a little funky! One of my 3-3-6's would rally and just in time to meet the threat of Dan's Jeb Stuart 1-2-7. My wounded 8-0 would even be on hand to help out!

In the ensuing close combat, I would go for capture attempt (first time in 30 years of playing this game that I ever tried that!!!) And it worked!!! I managed to free my boys and capture Dan's. And just like the tables were turned.

The next big set back for Dan's boys would happen to the 9-0 Commissar stack on the left. I would manage to break the entire stack except for the Commissar himself. My Hero led the assault to force Dan's boys to rout. They would rout, face interdiction and the brave Red Army Commissar would be killed along with a squad. 

The KMT had regained the initiative and had the lead in CVP for the first time in the game.

At this point, the CVP were now 15 for the KMT and 10 for the Red Army. We played the last few moves of Turn 6.

A final look at what had been an wild and woolly game of ASL...good grief...at the end of Turn 3...I was all but defeated....and by the end of Turn 6, I had the most improbable of victories. My thanks to Dan for what was one of the most frustrating and fun games we have yet played.

It had been quite a battle. Neither Dan or I had expected this simple scenario to turn into such a great battle between us. We both cursed our bad dice and generally rued our fates, but in the end, we both had to agree that Recruiting Tactics had been a blast and one of the more fun games we have played against one another. And that my friends is the true magic of ASL.

And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:

"The plan did not work.  I was undone by my own aggressiveness.  The ambush worked well and broke up his attack.  So much so I captured one disrupted squad.  The HS that took the prisoners then went into the backfield to get another disrupted squad and it worked.  The unit also fended off a counter attack and killed a7-0 leader.  Then in order to escape with their prize, they tried to go around the hedge field.  They got caught by a self rallied squad and killed in CC.    This freed the prisoners and I lost those CVP. There was also a hero created when he attacked across the road and this unit was able to break the ambush and kill the commissar as he routed with his MG units.  This led to the KMT winning 15 CVP to 10.  Well played by Grumble Jones!  Both of us had terrible dice with most of mine on morale checks and most of his on attacks.  It is better to roll bad on attacks.  Congrats to Grumble Jones on a great win."

Ain't it so...

Dan and I will be back next Saturday for a playing of ASL Scenario 20 Taking the Left Tit.