Our Saturday Game - ASL Scenario 72 - Sea of Tranquility

For our Saturday Game - Dan Best and I returned to the jungles of the South Pacific. We would head to Peleliu. For me this was probably a little too soon after just playing the Wildcat Bowl scenario from the March Madness Close Combat Pack. And on Friday night I completed American Devil and the final scenario of Starter Kit 4. So, this would be another PTO scenario to add to the ten I had already played this year. Don't tell anyone...but that's too much PTO. 

Our choice of scenarios would be ASL Scenario 72 - Sea of Tranquility. And it would be anything but tranquil. In fact, I would pretty much lose my @#%$ tonight. But we'll save that for the moment.

Now it will come as no surprise to Dan...but I hate PTO cave bug hunt scenarios where I bumble around and get shot to pieces. I hate...no mean...I really hate it. If these kinds of scenarios were all I could play...I would probably quit playing ASL. Strong statements I know, but I do not enjoy scenarios where the enemy is completely hip and finding him is also part of the scenario objective.

I'm much more of a let's take that building or exit off that board edge kind of guy. Acting as cardboard bait for my opponent's next clever ambush is not fun for me. And scenarios like Sea of Tranquility are tailor made for that experience. 

But as I said about Wildcat Bowl, there are players who really enjoy playing fortification scenarios and the process off locating and destroying them. 

Historically, the 1st Marine Division found itself mired in several of hell's layers as it fought its way across Peleliu. HBO's The Pacific series does a very fine job of showing the fighting on Peleliu. I personally found the Peleliu episodes to be among the best imagined WW2 combat, I have seen on film. And it clearly and completely sucked to be a participant (American or Japanese) on that island. And ASL does a very fine job showing  how difficult it was to locate and eliminate the Japanese in their cave complexes.  

Caves can be very tough in ASL...but turn them into Cave Complexes and you have entered a true realm of pain...unless you are the one with the caves. In this scenario Dan's Japanese would have 14 caves and 2 bunkers all of which were connected to the complex. Dan's boys could move unseen all over the complex and pop out at various locations to inflict grievous damage to my Marines. And that's pretty much how the four turns of this 10-1/2 turn game went. I'll just warn you now that I quit during Turn 4. I'm not proud to say that...but for the first time in a game with Dan...I quit and conceded the victory to my opponent. We'll review what led me to that awful decision a bit later...

Even Gunny had his limits...

As the attacking Americans, I would command the Marines of the 1st Marine Division. My force would consist of 9 x 7-6-8's and 6 x 3-4-8's led by a 10-3, 9-2, 9-1, and 8-0 with 3 x HMG's, 3 x MMG's, a BAZ44, 9 x DC's, 3 x Flamethrowers and a Radio with 60mm OBA. For support I'd have four Sherman Tanks. In any other world, this is a winning force. In my world, it would be a hospital ship worth of casualties.

As the defending Japanese, Dan would command the men of the 14th Infantry Division. Like the Marines, they would sufferer mightily on Peleliu and nearly all of them would be killed. This force would consist of 7 x 4-4-8's and 6 x 2-2-8's led by a 10-1, 10-0, and 9-0 with an HMG, MMG, 3 x LMG's, 2 x 50 MTR's, 3 x DC's, 12 Factors of Mines,  2 x 47L AT Guns, a 75* INF Gun, 81 MTR, 2 x Bunkers and 14 x Caves. A very stout force that would be almost entirely HIP at the start of the game. 

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

“The Japanese must defend the level 4 hill hexes and make sure more than half the caves are not destroyed.  Caves are good defensive positions and the Japanese can make up to four cave complexes but once revealed the Americans can assault the caves and have 3 flamethrowers and 9 demo charges to clear and destroy them.  The Americans also have four tanks to armored assault with.  The plan is to build two cave complexes, one to defend hill 758 with 6 caves and use the other 8 caves to defend hill 766.  The two pillboxes will set up in the bamboo hexes 25Z4 and 25Z3.  Bamboo is hard to enter and hard to search making them likely not to be found.  Z4 will have an AT gun looking across the valley at hill 766 and hopefully get rear shot at tanks climbing the hill.  A cave in 25Q7 will have the other AT gun looking at R6 and covering hill 758 and hopefully getting some rear shots on a few tanks. The Pillbox in Z3 will look at Z2/AA3 and have the MMG for fire lane possibilities.  The 75mm INF will be in a cave in 25P6 looking at P5.  The 81mm MTR will be in 25X7 to support both hills with spotted fire.  The rest of the caves will be in mutually supporting positions covering the slopes of the hills and the gaps in the crag.  Tanks cannot enter crag and the Americans are likely to armored assault.  The set AT DC will be in road on 36Q2 between the swamp and bamboo.  The TH heroes will set up with DCs in crag hexes 25 AA4 and 25Z3 to catch the tanks passing around them.  They will be covered by 50mm MTRs for smoke/WP cover.  Hopefully the Americans will not enter on board 25 due to the open ground as the rear side of the hills does not have many cave positions.”

Move out Marines...time to find those caves and destroy at least 7 of the or gain control of Hex 25BB5 and one other Level 4 Hill Hex. Good thing I had 9 DC's and 3 Flamethrowers...in fact I've never had that many of either of those things in any other scenario.

Turn 1 - American - I was focused initially on taking Hex 25BB5 and sent a huge part of my force in an attack on the south edge of Board 25. All of my machine gun teams and 10-3 and 9-2 would attack from Board 36 and provide suppressing fire for the assaults on Board 25 and then move to capture the other Level 4 Hill I was going to have to take to win the game. I was not interested in eliminating caves as my primary objective. They would a secondary objective and done as I located them if possible. The victory condition option to control hilltop positions was my favorite part of the scenario. At least I could focus my energy on achieving those goals. Of course it was going to be waaay harder than I anticipated.

My assault from the south board edge of 25 was through mostly open ground. I had anticipated getting shot to pieces right away or  hitting mines with the first moves. But surprisingly, Dan did not believe I would attack across open ground. So I had actually attacked from the best possible approach. Of course I didn't know that at the time.

As I climbed the hill, Dan would reveal both a bunker and a cave. I would miss the first of all of my morale checks (I would not make a single morale check during the game and with 8 morale Marines.).

Picture of a cave on Peleliu. Dan is an absolute master of caves and fortifications. I've never played anyone who understood them or used them as well as Dan does. It's his ASL Super Power. And fortifications are my Kryptonite.

Turn 2 - I moved up the hill to take control of Hex 25BB5. My armor moved up to assist my infantry in taking on the bunker and cave. 

I failed to self-rally my broken 3-4-8 from the Turn 1 attack and would fail again until turn 4 when I would roll snakes and create an 8-1 leader (the one highlight of the game for me).

I had made some progress in terms of moving, but had not in other meaningful way. 

My dice were horrible...kinda like Ron Weasley's wand...and switching them made no difference. I rolled 9's, 10's, and 11's with a disheartening regularity. Continually rolling 10's and 11's is the one thing that really takes me out of the game and makes me despondent. Bad rolls are an obvious hazard of playing a game that uses dice, but when you have 8 morale troops and you can't pass a normal morale check...even once...it just saps you. Meanwhile your opponent is rolling 3's and keeping rate of fire and forcing you to keep rolling badly. It's his job of course and your pain is his gain. But all of this was weighing on my mental state.

Yeah...I was starting to crack emotionally...and it was not all a result of ASL. I'd been spending the day prior to game time, returning from St. Louis, where I was checking into things related to future employment in the event such a thing became necessary. COVID-19 is of course wrecking havoc on the economy and I'm doing my level best to stay employed. So that bit of business was dragging me down and not something I had communicated to Dan. So...the water's were rising and my internal ELR dam was about to be breached.

Oh...hey look another cave appeared!! Dan would reveal another cave and a 50 MTR would hit my Sherman with Willy Pete. A great shot and a great play on Dan's part. His caves were expertly positioned to hit me in the rear as I moved towards known threats. As I said earlier, Dan is a master of this kind of defense.

Dan's boys would hit me hard from their Caves, survive my Advancing Fire attempts, then disappear back in the cave to regain HIP and then maybe showup to hit me again later. I was beginning to straight up hate caves.

Then Tank Hunter came at me. He would survive the Willy Pete, but then miss with his placement of the DC. As always, bad dice were not unique to me. In two scenarios, Dan's Tank Hunters have failed to accomplish anything and it was a source frustration for Dan. Dan would also break an LMG and 50 MTR. So, again bad rolls afflict everyone from time to time.

After the tank hunter failed, Dan sent the boys from the bunker at the Sherman. They would be wounded and striped by the Willy Pete as Dan's dice went against him.  They would eventually succeed in destroying the Sherman in Melee.

I would search during this scenario. You may recall I did not search in Wildcat Bowl. My searching would reveal multiple caves on and round Hex 25BB5..so there went an easy control of that hex. I might be sitting on top of it, but I would need to eliminate the cave beneath me to control the hex. I set a DC in another cave and would eventually succeed in destroying that one. So I would get one of the 7 caves that I needed for the win.  My 10-3 was leading three 7-6-8's and the three HMG's towards the right to get up on that hill and secure another Level 4 location. This movement would set up the catalyst for causing me to quit the game early.

So here is the final picture that I took before the game ended abruptly. Dan's 10-1 and HMG would show up as I moved one of my MMG teams. A -3 shot would KIA them. At this stage of the game, I had eliminated one cave and was in sight of another four and I was on Hex 25BB5. So  you would probably think the Americans were doing fine. But the next Turn would hit be like the Bismarck hitting the Hood. And it wasn't pretty. 

Play a cave scenario...it'll be fun they said....

OK...so there I was playing ASL...when my 10-3 assault moved up to level 1...a hidden Japanese cave with an LMG team fires at me...Dan rolls low and keeps rate...+2 morale check. My 10-3 rolls a 9...I break...my 7-6-8 rolls a 7...breaks...Dan rates me...another +2 - my 10-2 is wounded....wound severity...dead...squad reduces and then takes the leader loss morale check -3...and dies.

Then my 9-2 on the other side is drilled and broken. Oh and I forgot to tell you...in Prep Fire...I would MALF my Radio with a 12...so goodbye OBA.

I was in shock...my 10-3 dead...2 of my 9 x 7-6-8's KIA'd, one Sherman gone...my Radio gone...my 9-2 broken...and one cave...one 8-0 and a 2-2-8 lost by the Japanese. That's not a winning kind of math when you still have 7 turns to play to go. 

I had reached an emotional tipping point...all the background noise from earlier in the day was being amplified by horrible dice rolling and a battle that was just a series of ambushes...with me as the victim. 

I said it out loud and then went a little nuts and said..."Tell me again how this is fun?" Dan replied..."It's fun for the Japanese..." At that point...ya gotta laugh cause Dan is right...this was a fun game for the defender to showcase great ambush skills. And as I said earlier...Dan is just a killer at placed mutually supportive ambush fortifications. And it is fun to see you defensive design work like it is supposed to. That's what this scenario is all about...Marines....closing with a hidden enemy, taking the body blows and destroying the caves. 

SNAFU was right...but despite that...I also knew that I was done for the night. ASL should be fun and if it's not...then know when to walk away from a scenario. 

So is quitting a game early ok?  Again, I'll have to say yes. I played two top players in tournaments in 2016 and 2018. In one of the games, my sniper would KIA my opponent's 10-2 leader immediately after one of my 4-3-6's destroyed his Pershing Tank with a Panzerfaust. After that...he conceded. The other game was against an opponent who had won that particular tournament some years before. In our game, his turn 1 movement was mowed down by rate of fire and the lowest continuous die rolls I have sent into a dice cup. He conceded before full defensive fire.

In both cases, I completely understood how my opponents were feeling. After all, I have been there myself on many....many occasions. So even top tier players have an emotional tipping point in this game. Personal ELR is a real thing in ASL.  The million dollar question...is could they have won the game, had they decided to keep playing. The answer is yes in both cases, defeat was not a forgone conclusion. And that was also true for me. Yes, my forces had been shattered and I had suffered some significant losses, but I still had a significant force in play that could methodically take down the caves.

But...I was not having fun with the scenario anymore and I didn't enjoy the idea of moving adjacent to enemy fortifications...hoping to survive and then seal up the cave...since Dan's boys would skulk back into the complex before I could do them any harm. I just wasn't up for more of that experience...even if I might win in the end. 

It's an old maxim in ASL that you are not out of the game until you pull out of the game. Over four decades of playing this game, I have seen victory snatched from the jaws of defeat many times.  But sometimes...on those very rare occasions...you are just done...and calling it a game is the best course of action to decompress and then plan out your next scenario. So my apologies for Dan for not sticking it out. And of course my congrats to Dan on a masterful defense that brought me quite literally to my knees!

Cave scenarios have that effect on me...

And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:

“The plan worked after a fashion.  The Americans did come on board 25 and got into the backfield.  They assaulted hill 758 and were finding caves.  The MTR had used WP on a tank in  AA3 and the TH hero had made it into the hex protected by the WP.  However, the DC placement was bad and the MMG crew and leader had to take the tank down in CC from the pillbox.  The Americans had destroyed their first cave with a set DC (and a -7 DRM).  Then in Turn 4 movement the 10-3 was killed and the 9-2 was broke and Grumble Jones called the game.  With the radio broken, two squads, a tank and the 10-3 eliminated for the loss of one crew and a 9-0 leader for the Japanese things were not looking good one third of the way through the scenario.  While the Americans were in good positions on hill 758 they were nowhere near hill 766 and the Japanese auto skull function of cave complexes was making cave assaults a long and difficult affair.  This scenario is a good intro to caves and cave complexes.  But for the Americans can be a tedious bug hunt for the Japanese hiding in caves.  My thanks to Grumble Jones for a second try at cave complexes.  Looking forward to our next scenario back in ETO!”

That's a wrap on Sea of Tranquility. Dan and I will be playing a few games over the next few days...so get ready for more AAR's...ready or not...they'll be coming your way.

Our first game will be tomorrow night with a playing of ASL Scenario 187 Morgan's Stand. Dan was kind enough to pick out an ETO scenario for me...thank you Sir!!!

On a serious note, tomorrow is 

Memorial Day here in the United States. 

This a day when we remember the sacrifices of the men and women of our Armed Services who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today.

"We don't know them all...but we owe them all."

Be safe everyone.