Our Satruday Game - ASL Scenario 39 - Turning the Tables

For Our Saturday Game, Dan Best and I returned once more to the sun baked sands of the Sahara! Our playing of West of Alamein Scenarios would resume with ASL 39 Turning the Tables. As I have mentioned previously, I have always been intrigued with the desert war...but playing in ASL...maybe not so much. Ooops...did I say that out loud? 

Looks like an inside word got out!!  But seriously, I have played  a number of desert scenarios with Dan and the enjoyment factor has been relatively low. In the past three, I have played the role of the hapless British (I am of course the hapless one!). And each of these encounters Dan has rolled up my defenses like a cheap garden hose. 

Couple my poor tactics with blinding sun rays...dust storms and OVERLAY OVERLOAD...and yeah...the fun-o-meter goes waaaay down.

Now I remember why I did't play DTO back in the day. It was just too big a pain in the backside to setup...look up rules...place overlays and then fight the environmental elements.  

I hate to be "Debbie downer", but these are the emotions I felt while setting up this scenario. It has a ton of overlays, which admittedly are necessary for desert scenarios. It comes with the territory. So please accept my apologies for this sand storm of a rant!!!  And of course remember, these are just my opinions based on the fact that I'm a bit of a lazy ASL player!!!

A look at the map quickly confirms the number of overlays involved with this scenario. This scenario also involves a lot of mines as well as wire, trenches, foxholes and sangars. There is a lot going on! ROAR currently has this scenario with 25 German wins and 27 British wins. The ASL Archive has it with 3 German wins and 4 British wins. It looks like the British have the slight edge. Minefields will do that from time to time. 

The scenario covers the actions at Mersa El Brega, Libya. Mersa El Brega was a natural chokepoint for halting Rommel's advance. The British dug in with wire, trenches and minefields. Despite tough resistance, Rommel's force would succeed in pushing the British out of their defenses. The race for Tobruk was on!

As the attacking Germans, Dan would command elements of Machine Gun Battalion 8. His force would consist of 8 x 4-6-8's, and 7 x 2-4-8's led by a 10-2, 9-1, 8-1, and 8-0 with an HMG, 2 x MMG's, 3 x LMG's, and 2 x 50 MTR's with 2 x Panzerjaeger I's and 2 x Half-Tracks. By SSR, three squads of Half-Squad equivalents would be designated as Sappers.  In order to win the scenario, Dan would have to exit 22 DVP off the east board edge provided the British have not amassed 5 more Casualty DVP than the Germans.

As the defending British, I would command  the men of the 2nd Support Group. My force would consist of 11 x 4-5-7's, 4 x 2-4-7's and 2 x 2-2-8's led by a 9-1, 8-0, and 7-0 with an HMG, MMG, and 3 x LMG's, 2 x ATR's, and 2 x 51 MTR's. For support I would have a 40L AT Gun and 40L AA Gun with 10 x Wire, 3 x Trenches, 10 x Foxholes and 4 x Sangars.

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

“The Germans attack diagonally across the sand dune filled boards to exit 22 DVP.  I will form 4 attack groups first with the German 10-2 will be a Squad HMG and Squad MMG combo with two HS one having a MTR.  The 9-1 will have the same.  The 8-1 with have a squad MMG and squad LMG combo with two HS.  Finally the 8-0 will have two squads with LMGs and a HS.  The squads with LMG will be sappers.  Each assault group will armored assault with the 10-2 and 9-1 with PzJg I and 8-1 and 8-0 with halftracks.   The four groups will enter as Schwerpunkt on the south edge and do a south board edge creep to cross the wire through the game in mines. while the 8-1 and 8-0 combo try to cross the minefields.  Once across the minefields the vehicles will go for exit and the troops will follow.  Hopefully the we can breach the minefield quickly and no vehicles bog in the sand or wire.”

SSR 6 calls for 2 x Stukas with Bombs to automatically show up on Turn 1...here we see the Stukas still on the ground on Turn 10...having never gotten the order to appear. (Yep, Dan and I both forgot to put them in play.) Note to scenario designers...it's helpful to include the Air Support elements in the Order of Battle Box...cause some of us are SSR challenged. 

 The green lines on either side of the British positions denotes the setup area. The German exit area is on the east edge of Board 28, so this setup prevents just setting up to block the exit zone. This provides the historical choke point, which Mersa El Brega was for the German advance.

As with previous desert scenarios, I was at a loss as to how to set up. I put wire on both flanks to slow down any board edge creep. I wanted to force Dan to hit me in the center. He would of course not do that.

I had my boys positioned across the entire front. 

Dan's Schwerpunkt would hit me from the south west board edge. This probably made the most sense for Dan as it would render 2/3rd's of my defense worthless and force it to redeploy.

The Panzerjaeger I's would lead the attack with all the German grenadiers moving forward in armored assault.

Turn 1 begins and the Germans move towards my left flank. My 40L AT Gun was waiting...but wouldn't get any hits.

"Here comes Jerry and making for the left flank., tell Corporal Hughes that he must hold! And redeploy the boys on the right to the cover the center rear."

Dan would assume crest positions behind the dune to cover his Turn 2 assault. I would start moving my boys on the right towards the center.

Dan would make good use of the dunes.

I would fall back to cover the exit zone and move my boys down the center trench to strengthen that point.

 At the end of Turn 1 - I knew where Dan's attack was headed...but could I stop it.

Turn 2 - Dan lunges forward. Dan takes losses in the minefield and begins sweeping around my left flank. The first Panzerjaeger I passes through the wire but fails to destroy any of it as hoped for by the Grenadiers following behind. Much of  my fire is ineffectual, but as his 10-2 and two squads with an HMG and MMG move into my line off sight...I get lucky and the crack of Lee Enfields results in a 1 KIA.

Dan rolls to see who takes the KIA and it ends up being the entire stack. In the blink of an eye, Dan's force is reduced by nearly 20% and the loss of the 10-2 will be difficult to overcome.

Turn 2- the Germans made progress and managed to DM the crew of my anti-tank gun, but the losses in infantry are heavy.

My boys were giving a good account of themselves on the left flank.

 The sand dune would prove troublesome for one of Dan's halftracks as it would bog.

  

No battle between Dan and I would be complete without some close combat. Ambush is rare in DTO, so we would have some good man to man combats. On the far left, all I had left was an 8-0 with an LMG. He would shock the PanzerJaeger I with the LMG and then go into Close Combat with it.

Now usually one man against a Panzer is a losing proposition, but against a shocked open top AFV...my odds were pretty good!

 Of course, I'd miss the roll and be in Melee, while my other boys continued their redeployments.

Dan continued his advance, but it was taking longer than anticipated to clear out my boys on the left flank. His second Panzerjaeger I would succeed in eliminating the wire in two hexes and open the way for the infantry.

My 8-0 would succeed in destroying the Panzerjaeger I in Melee and a lucky mortar shot would eliminate one of the halftracks. Dan's Germans were taking some tough body blows.

My 8-0 would hold out another turn before dying in close combat. Dan would finally turn my flank and start moving into the open.

Dan would end up breaking both of his mortars, which would be a relief for me as his rate of fire tears were taking a toll on me. I would try to dig foxholes in the center...but no luck...it's tough to dig in the desert. Dan would also reorganize his force and get all of his machine guns back into action.

 As we passed the midway point of the game, Dan would succeed in exiting the remaining Halftrack and Panzerjaeger I. My 40L AA Bofors would take a shot, but miss.

Dan would abandon his MALF'd mortars and begin making a run for the exit zone with his remaining infantry. At this point in the game, Dan has 8 DVP exited and only needed 14 more to get the win.

Despite heavy losses, and struggling through minefields and over dunes, Dan's Grenadiers were still in the fight!

Dan's Grenadiers would take up crest positions with their machines and there I was in the open desert with no foxholes. UGH!!!

Dan's kill stacks on the dunes would pack a punch with 18 and 20 factor shots raining down onto my Desert Rats on the desert floor.

But again some lucky shots by my boys would keep me in the game as one of Dan's MMG squads would go berserk.

 I would shift my forces as Dan's grenadiers moved into position to make a run for the exit. 

 Dan's berserk squad would run into the open and survive repeated shots...until on an NMC he would roll another of the many "12's" he had rolled throughout the evening. (Dan would roll more boxcards than I can recall in a single game.) So just like that the berserkers were gone and Dan was barely fielding enough DVP to exit the game for a win.

As Turn 8 neared its end, my boys would pour fire down on Dan's remaining grenadiers. I would succeed in taking down another squad and with that, Dan no longer had enough DVP to win the game. With that Dan gave the concession and we both slumped in our chairs...absolutely exhausted.

 
A final look at the battle. After 8 turns and six hours of intense DTO...we were both completely worn out. And of course with the time change...the 11:00 hour had turned to 12:00 AM on us. So we were both happy to see the game end. I had finally won a desert battle and it was still a very near thing. Had I not been lucky in killing the 10-2 and the halftrack and Panzerjaeger I, I think the game would have gone to a German victory. Certainly, the failure to bring the Stukas in on Turn 1 may also have affected the overall outcome...but we'll never know.

Now...what are my feeling about the scenario. Let's say they are complicated. On the one hand, it was a great game. Both Dan and I really enjoyed the scenario. That said, the setup time, the SSR's and the length of the game are not really in my enjoyment sweet spot. I will probably never play this one again. That said, I think if you are looking for a great DTO scenario, this one will certainly fill the bill. It's a great DTO experience.

And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:

“The plan did not work.  I forgot the air support.  While the dust gave cover to the attack it also made prep fire less effective and breaking the British positions took time.  While the 10-2 stack moved forward on the second movement the British got a 1 KIA on his stack of two squad and the leader.  Random selection got three rolls of 2...Yahtzee.  This loss was significant slowing the overall assault and making all fire less effective.  British MTR fire knocked out a halftrack and a British 8-0 leader was able to kill a PzJg I in CC.  In the end the vehicles were able to exit but the infantry losses especially to 12s on morale checks ended the ability for the Germans to exit the required 22 DVP.  Well played by Grumble Jones and a good defensive set up that allowed his first desert win.  My thanks for a great game!  Congrats to Grumble Jones on a hard fought victory."

My  Desert Rats would celebrate a hard won victory. It had been a very...very tough fight and my overall success in this game was  attributable to a 4-5-7 and a single 8-0 Officer who for nearly three turns held off Dan's Schwerpunkt around my left flank. Their efforts bought me the time I needed to get boys in position to try and stop Dan's exit.

Well...that's enough DTO for the moment as Dan and I head north to Finland for some good old Russian Front action with Scenario J192 Taking Some Flak. Trees...can't wait to see trees again!!!

We will see you then and then it's off to the March Madness Tournament in Kansas City!!!

 I can't wait!