Grumble Jones - An ASL Blog: Our Saturday Game

For our next cardboard clash, Dan Best and I would once again visit the steppes of the Kursk Battlefield. This would be our third Kursk fight of 2019. To date, Dan was leading me 2-0. So perhaps I could redeem myself in the our third trip to Kursk.

Our selected scenario would come once again from BFP's Crucible of Steel Pack. This would be my fourth scenario to be played from this excellent pack. I would pick Scenario BFP-102 Tolstoy Woods for this night's ASL. As with most of the scenarios in this BFP Pack, Chas Smith is the designer of Tolstoy Woods.

ROAR has this scenario with 50 Russian wins, 56 German wins and 2 Draws. The ASL Archive has it with 11 Russian wins, 12 German wins and 1 Draw. It's kind of interesting to see three draws for this scenario. You don't see that every day.

Tolstoy Woods depicts actions on July 12th as the Russian 183rd Tank Brigade aggressively attacks towards Verkhopene. The Brigade passed through forward Germans positions before encountering a German counter-attack at the Tolstoy Woods.

Google Earth look at the area of Tolstoy Woods today.

A look at the battle space for this scenario. Board 62 is a really interesting map. It's designed to funnel attacks towards the center depression. The Germans set up on or east of Row P and the Russians set up on or west of Row V. The Russian armor arrives on Turn 2 and the German armor on Turn 4. The Russians also have 3 ATR's vs. 0 for the Germans. Anti-tank options are definitely limted or non-existent for the Germans until Turn 4. A decisive Russian drive could take the necessary buildings by Turn 4. So....ya gotta find a way to stop the Russian infantry....and survive the Russian tanks long enough for the German armor to make it to the battlefield.

I would be the defending Germans in this night's action. My defensive streak continues as Dan continues to roll high on our "roll for sides". The high roll is the attacker and Dan has been winning that roll the last many scenarios. As the Germans, I would command elements of the 3rd Panzer Division and Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division. My force would consist of 10 x 4-6-7's, and 3 x 2-4-7's led by a 9-1, 8-1, 8-0 and 7-0 with an HMG, MMG and 3 x LMG's with 3 x Panzer MKIII's for support.

The 3rd Panzer Division "The Armored Bears" would see action from Poland to the Low Countries to France to Russia where it would spend the remainder of the war. Eventually driven back into Austria, it would have the good fortune to surrender to the Americans.

As the attacking Russians, Dan would command the men of the 183rd Tank Brigade of the 10th Tank Corps. Dan's force would consist of 12 x 4-4-7's, 3 x 5-2-7's, led by a 9-1, 8-0, and 7-0 with 4 x LMG's and 3 x ATR's with 3 x T-34/76's with a 9-1 Armor Leader for support. A good force, but leadership would definitely be a weak element.

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

“The Russians must attack across board 62 and capture 5 of 7 buildings for the win in this scenario. The Russian plan is to attack on the southern half of the board through the woods and around into the village from the south. The tank platoon will enter with riders and try to infiltrate behind the Germans to cut rout paths and hopefully both groups will occupy the village before the German reinforcements come on. Then the Russians can fight it out with the German reinforcements from a central position.”

And yes...it's the last AAR before Christmas and that means this will be the 2019 Christmas Edition AAR!!!

Let's Play some ASL!!!

My strategy for defending hinged on holding the wood flanks above the valley. I would deploy an additional squad and then hip 4 x 2-4-7 half-squads. All of my MG's would start the game HIP as well as one additional 2-4-7. I put a dummy stack in the I8 building. I would be lucky again and guessed that Dan's Schwerpunkt would be on the south edge.

My boys were ready to receive...

I was outnumbered almost 3 to 1 in squads....but I did have something to even the odds....

Dan's infantry made their initial move forward and were immediately under fire from my HMG. I would succeed in breaking and ELR'ing a few squads and essentially staggering the Russian assault.

NOTE: some readers have questioned the placement of the Fire Lane Counters. They are not placed where the fire lane existed. I had set the counters down and then moved them as we were stringing and figuring the correct fire lane. So my bad for not correcting their placement prior to the picture. I was lazy.

Turn 1 would be a tough one on Dan's Russians.

A Russian squad would be forced to surrender. I accepted the surrender...but would live (and die) to regret it.

Both Dan and I would retreat from the point of contact. I needed to fall back and Dan had to rally some broken units.

Turn 2 - Dan's reinforcements entered on the Y1 Road. This was my biggest worry in the game. I didn't have any anti-tank assets and my own tanks wouldn't arrive until Turn 4. I had to hold for three Russian movement phases.

My HMG would lay another fire land and successfully force all three 5-2-7's to bail with two of them breaking (one would ELR).

Dan would move his tanks aggressively even after their riders had been brushed off. He would attempt to stop with one extra movement point and fail the ESB roll. One tank immobilized.

Turn 2 had resulted in a number of additional Russian breaks. But while his infantry was struggling, Dan managed to move all three tanks to put pressure on my boys. My HMG team would have to relocate after a T-34 parked right next to them.

My 8-1 knew it was time to move!

Despite breaking a lot of Dan's boys on the south, he was still able to put pressure on me and jump into close combat.

Dan and I would struggle throughout the game to close out the close combats. Nearly everyone of them would result in Melee. This would benefit the Germans as Dan's squads were locked down.. In the south I was falling back towards my HIP MMG.

Despite locking Dan's boys in Melees throughout the game...I would not win any of them.

In the north, I would have to relocate due to two tanks. There was no infantry threat in the area yet, but the armor was a serious threat.

I would get a little too aggressive and go after Dan's tank in the north.

On both flanks, Dan and I were locking horns in close combat.

In the north, I would manage to immobilize the tank, but not destroy it. Not good. I was now locked in Melee.

Melee...everywhere melee..

In the south, I finally opened up with my HIP MMG. It would startle the Russians, but wouldn't give me the performance I had seen from my heavy. My southern flanks was starting to break under the pressure of Dan's Schwerpunkt!!!

Dan's last mobile T-34 would head for the village. I would send a half-squad to the village as well. I had no real units in the village, so knew I'd better get someone in town.

Melees....they were at least slowing Dan's infantry down as they crowded into the fight to finish me off.

Turn 4 - Dan had finally gotten to the village and taken the first of his five required building victory locations. And his T-34 had taken up position to interdict any run down the road by my reinforcements.

My reinforcements would stream on to the battlefield on the second half of Turn 4. I would send two tanks and all my infantry to occupy the line of three building locations. Dan would have to take one of these to win the game. My final tank went south to try and hold up Dan's boys there. But I moved poorly and was spotted by the immobilized T-34.

"I know...what a goof. I should never have moved where that immobilized T-34 had a shot at me..."

On the south side, my mercy in taking prisoners was about to turn very sour on me. In the Melee, Dan's POW's decided to join in the fight. They would roll Snake Eyes...killing my boys and rearming themselves to a 4-2-6. Wow...remind me not to take prisoners anymore!!!!

Dan had been rolling badly all night...with 12's, 11's, and 9's...so I knew that he was due a snake eyes.

Back in the village, I sent a 2-4-7 into CC with the T-34 there. It would not end well for my half-squad as Dan's tank killed them.

Turn 5 - Dan would destroy my blocking Panzer MK III and my broken MMG team could only watch as the Russians streamed by and headed towards the village. My southern flank was finally broken. I was also done in the north, but the Melee was sucking in all the available Russian infantry there, so my 8-1 and the HMG team were still in action and conrolling the main road in the village.

I could kick myself for misplaying the placement of my MK III. Just sloppy play on my part.

In the north, I would succeed in knocking out Dan's last mobile T-34. This would ensure German control fo the village.

Interestingly, Dan and I would both only lose one tank each. Dan's other two were only immobilized. This battle remained a primarily infantry affair throughout.

As the Russian part of Turn 5 came to an end, Dan would give the concession. He would wipe my boys out in the south, but the Melee in the north was still ongoing and with my boys firmly in conrol of the northern part of the village. Dan would end up with 4 of the 5 buildings required, but lacked the strength to take any more. So with that it was game over.

And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:

“The plan did not work. Grumble Jones correctly guessed the Schwerpunkt and delayed the infantry for two turns with CC melees. Good use of fire lanes kept the infantry from going around the blocking positions. Two Russian tanks were immobilized one going for ESB, which was not too bad since it was in a good position and ended with one German tank kill. The second was stopped by CC in a position where it could not support further attacks. Due to ELR reduction, rally of broken Russians was a long process and the Russians did not get into the village until turn 5. The German reinforcements had already secured three buildings and could not be dislodged. Well played by Grumble Jones! This was my second playing of this scenario once for both sides. I have lost both so the scenario must be well balanced. Great tournament style scenario from the BFP crew. My thanks to Grumble Jones for another great game, my 600th match.”

And congrats to Dan on his 600th recorded game of ASL!!!

My boys emerged with a victory, but the cost had been severe. Only a half-squad and the 8-1 remained from my original defenders. Dan lost a total of about 3 squads. My initial blocking force managed to slow down Dan's Russians for four turns, which was what the Germans had to have to win this one.

My thanks to Dan for another great "Our Saturday" game. We have had an amazing 2019. This will be our final game of 2019.

We'll be playing a 4 player game on December 28th with Dave Mareske and Paul Works joining us for a playing of Scenario MM50 - The Wrong Choice. As a Battle of the Bulge Scenario, it will be the perfect choice for finishing up 2018 as we remember the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

To YOU...our readers...THANKS for following the "Our Saturday Game" series. It's been a blast for Dan and I and we look forward to continue the fight into 2020.