Our Saturday Game - ASL Scenario J157 - Rage Against the Machine

Our Saturday game would see a return to the war in Northern Europe. Specifically, Dan and I would travel to the Kurland Campaign. A quick search on YouTube will bring up any number of WWII Archaeology videos of digs in the Kurland Pocket. The last months of the war on the Russian Front would see concentrated and heavy fighting in this part of the world. It would leave a long lasting legacy of relics, which fill the forests and fields of the Baltic States. The Kurland/Courland Pocket would hold out almost until the end of the war and exist as a forgotten front of that savage war between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. And interestingly, the woods and wetlands of the Baltic States produced one of the stiffest German defensive stands of the latter part of World War II. German tactics and infantry support weapons had evolved sufficiently to provide the German defenders with the capability to hold and retake their positions. Naval and limited air support were also present for much of the campaign. And lastly, the focus of the Soviets on reinforcing the final drive on Berlin would also strip the Russians of some of their offensive punch against the stubborn German defense. 

 A few maps of the Kurland/Courland Pocket.

The Scenario J157 Rage Against the Machine came with the ASL Journal 10. Designed by Chris Mazzei and Peter Struif, this scenario covers the fighting in the Courland Pocket on December 21st, 1944.

It covers a specific engagement where German Kampfgruppe Zoll was defending a key crossroad near Libau/Liepaja, Latvia.

A German Hauptmann Bidermann would lead a desperate German defense against a heavy Soviet armor assault. Bidermann and his grenadiers would hold the line and destroy over 20 Soviet Tanks in the fighting. Such successes only forestalled the inevitable German defeat, but would contribute to heavy Soviet losses in a campaign that would no longer have a bearing on the outcome of the war.

ROAR has this scenario with 81 German and 63 Russian wins. The ASL Archive  has it with 21 German and 10 Russian wins. So yeah...pro-German. And I would be the Russians....UGH...

Bidermann gives a full accounting of this fighting in his book, In Deadly Combat, A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front. Dan has this book, but I have not had the opportunity tor read it. I'll certainly add it to the wish list for future books. 

The scenario is 6-1/2 turns long and the Russians win if they control two of three objective areas, which consist of four buildings and two bridge locations. I really like this kind of victory condition as it gives the attacker some choice in what he wants to achieve and adds uncertainty to the defender's defensive choices as well.

So I definitely was excited to play this scenario and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, it's pro-German, but in spite of that, it's was still fun to play as the Russians. I would recommend it and especially for anyone interested in playing some of the bigger Russian tanks.

As I write this latest AAR, the United States is enduring a trial of our national conscience. No matter where we sit individually on the political spectrum...watching the unfolding drama across our nation is painful beyond words. Forgive me as I blog a bit here. So tonight's scenario is entitled "Rage against the Machine". Bizarre that this title would be so absolutely appropriate to what is going on in the country. Millions of Americans are in fact raging against the machine. 2020 has been a horrific year that shows no sign of letting up as it keeps it Rate of Fire. Minneapolis is the epicenter for the latest horror-drama to afflict us. Minneapolis is personal for me. My wife is from Minneapolis (Dan is also from there.). I was married in Minneapolis and had one of the greatest weeks of my life in the Summer of 1985 as I visited for the first time and met my future wife's family. A month later I was in Reutlingen, Germany and would not see my future wife for almost six months. So the memories of that week sustained a relationship that is celebrating 33 years of marriage this year. So watching Minneapolis suffer these past few days has been difficult. I pray that we will endure and move forward from these dark days.

The dice rolls for sides put me in charge of the attacking Russians. I suck with the Russians...so knew my chances in this scenario would be very bad at best!! I would command the men of the 1st Baltic Front and 18th Tank Corps. My force would consist of 6 x 4-5-8's, 6 x 5-2-7's, and 4 x 4-4-7's led by a 9-1, 8-1 and 7-0 with an HMG, 3 x LMG's, and 2 x DC's. My armor support would consist of 2 x ISU-122's, 3 x ISU-152's, and 4 x T-34/85's. The tank force would be powerful but low ammunition rules would diminish the potential effectiveness. Ultimately, I would not do much to Dan's Germans with my tanks. As sign of the late war period, was that my Russians would have an ELR of 4, which was handy

Dan would have the defense in this scenario and would command the men of Kampfgruppe Zoll, Infanterie-Division 132 and Sturmgeschuetz-Brigade 912, Panzer Division 12. This force would consist of 2 x 4-6-8's, 4 x 4-6-7's, 2 x 4-4-7's, 3 x 4-3-6's, and 5-4-8's led by 2 x 9-1's (one wounded at start), an 8-1 and 8-0 with 1 x MMG's, 3 x LMG's, an DC and Panzerschreck with 75L AT Gun, 2 x JdPzIV's and a Stug IIIG. Dan would get to HIP two squad equivalents. Dan would deploy both 4-4-7's and conceal all 4 of the 2-3-7's. A brilliant defensive idea, but unfortunately, these half-squads, despite surprising me, failed to do anything of value against me.

A look at the battlespace. I did not pick which two objectives to focus on. The bridge seemed out of reach as I fully expected that Dan would put his AT Gun in the house with a direct line of side down the river road and given the slow speed of my tanks (no road bonus by SSR and grain is brush) I doubted that I could safely get to the bridge before Dan's reinforcing armor came in on Turn 3. Now remember I said this, because you will see that I actually do reach the bridge area before Dan's armor arrived. 

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

“The Germans must defend two of three victory location on board 3a.  The big defensive position will be building P7 on 3a.  With the unwounded 9-1 and two 4-6-8 squads with a MMG and LMG.  I will deploy the two 4-4-7 squads and set them out in HIP ambush sites to get PF attacks at likely points where the Russian tanks will come through the dense terrain.  The 75mm AT will set up in the N11 building on board 3a hopefully the will get some tanks moving along the road.  The 8-0 and 4-6-7 with LMG will cover the board 42 cross roads with a 4-6-7 PSK in the orchard / hedge across the street.  The other 4-6-7 squads along with the 4-3-6 squads will set up in a screen on board 42 and 40 and fall back to the village.  Hopefully the Russians do not overwhelm the infantry with a single board Schwerpunkt and the tanks get out ahead of the supporting infantry for maximum PF effectiveness.”

I did not do a full Schwerpunkt and that was primarily because the terrain was already so limiting that I was afraid of just bottle necking my boys and making it easier for Dan to concentrate his scant forces to that point of contact. It would matter either way in the end.

I always get excited to have the ISU-152's...but then they never actually do anything. 

Turn 1 Russian - I came on conservatively. I was trying limit my risk and probe Dan's positions to root out the dummys.

Dan's boys would stay concealed.

Turn 1 was relatively  uneventful. I managed to break and reduce a 4-3-6 on the north board edge and had one of my own squads broken and reduced. The biggest event was foolishly shooting at concealed locations with my big guns and incurring 3 Low Ammo's in a row as my dice continued to roll their favorite number 10.

My big guns apparently didn't bring enough ammo for the fight. 

So as my part of Turn1 ended, I had revealed little and accomplished even less!!!

So in his part of Turn 1 - Dan did something truly surprising. He fell back...he never does that. He completely skulked away and established a new line. Who was this person that I was playing and what did he do with Dan!?!

Turn 2 - I moved forward along the whole front. I would find the first of Dan's HIP 2-3-7's as my armor went bypassing through the center of the map. 

Dan's HIP 2-3-7's were a great idea, but as I said earlier, they failed to get fausts and when they did, they failed to hit.

At the end of Turn 2 - I had a nice front moving forward, but I was not where I needed to be before Dan's reinforcements arrived. I had also broken a BMG on a T-34/85 and the MA on one of my SU-152's. It would roll a 6 in the next Rally Phase and be recalled.

Turn 3 - I knew Dan's AT  Gun was waiting for me...but took the risk anyway. I would lose one ISU-152 to the gun after Dan intensive fired. As you know, Dan and I both will intensive fire as often as we can in spite of the risk. In today's scenario, intensive fire would serve Dan well and MALF a gun for me. I would then immobilize another trying to ESP by the bridge. And a single German 4-3-6 would succefully FPF me and not break. I was feeling the hurt.

 As my part of Turn 3 ended, I had made progress, but had done little to Dan's forces.

Turn 3 - Dan's reinforcements arrived and honestly, once they came on, it was pretty much game over for me.

Dan would send his reinforcements into the village to take control of the two objectives located there. His AT Gun would pivot and miss. I would manage to break the crew. I would also manage to destroy one of the Panzerjaeger IV's that moved adjacent to my T-34/85. One of my only snakes in the game.

I had struggled for much of the game with some pretty consistently high rolls, so taking down a Panzjaeger IV was one of the better moments in an otherwise frustrating game.

My precision dice...probably about 10 of them were sent flying around my office at one point as I threw them off my desk. Not proud to admit that...but I'll be honest...I'm really getting tired of averaging 10's on my rolls. So I turned to my red and white Chessex dice. Even over SKYPE Dan has learned how to read my emotions and knew that I was crossing over into madness...

Turn 4 - I secured control of the Bridge Objective and so now would only need to take 2 building locations of the four available. I continued my advance and did ok. I was threatening the Germans from three sides. Unfortunately, my infantry were not in a postion to support the armor.

My 5-2-7's were stalled in the center.

Dan and I would fight one close combat during the game and one of his 2-3-7's would be lost.

End of Turn 4 - Dan's armor came after me. I would MALF two guns and fail to hit a concealed German squad that moved into Panzerfaust range against my ISU-122 in the north. It was at this point, that I abruptly told Dan that I conceded and congratulated him on the win. I could see a very bad future. My ISU-122 in the north would fall to a Panzerfaust, the German AT Gun crew would get back to their gun and my T-34/85 in the center would go down to the Pannzerjaeger IV or the Stug III. That would leave me with only one tank and with Dan's boys embedded in the village..it was going to be a very diffcult task to take the required objectives. So after 4-1/2 hours of game play, I threw in the towel. 

A final look at the battle as we headed into the bottom of Turn 5.

Dan's boys had performed very well. They hit me when they could and fell back when they should have, which prevented me from hitting them back. Dan really played a textbook fallback defense. I haven't seen it work this well since playing against Chris Brackney, who I consider to be the master of the falling back defense. Used effectively, this defense can be used to burn up the clock and force your opponent to take great risks to open things up.

And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:

“The plan worked.  The Russians came on a broad front and moved steadily forward.  The Germans were able to slowly fall back although none of the three HS ambush HIP units were able to get a PF.  The Russians lost three MA malfunctions and one ESB immobilization.  With the AT gun killing one tank and the PSK another the Russian armor was in a bad way.  The Russian infantry were too far away from the victory locations for an effective assault and Grumble Jones threw in the towel.  This scenario is hard on the Russians with the B# circled assault guns making advancing fire a very risky affair.  It was however a nice change from the desert.  My thanks to Grumble Jones for a good game and fun scenario selection.”

So, today is the last day of May and tomorrow we enter June and a summer of uncertainty not only for the United States but for the world. On Friday, a good friend and former boss texted me as I was playing ASL with Dan. He texted to tell that he had just been let go at Spirit in Wichita. This veteran Aerospace Supply Chain professional was the latest casualty in the Boeing layoffs that will ripple across our entire economy in the months to come. I imagine Airbus will face challenges as well...but European workers have more protections against layoffs, so should ride the storm out.

I mention this, because it brought me back to reality as I indulged in my favorite hobby. ASL is something that I am incredibly passionate about and I am so fortunate to be able to play it...but I can't forget that reality's storms are currently blowing. Pandemic...crashing economy...health care concerns...and the chaos of social protests can't be ignored. How I wish they could be.

I'll leave it there as Grumble Jones is not meant to be a place of political or social stumping. I just hope that the positive values of America will ultimately prevail in this unsettling time.