Our Saturday Game - ASL Scenario 50 Age-Old Foes

August 1st would be our next "Our Saturday Game". August 2016 is when Dan and I first reconnected after meeting at the 2013 Texas Tournament. I had no idea that my decision to attend the games day in Kansas City would have have such far reaching effects on my ASL life. But it most certainly has been an amazing four years of ASL. I've nearly played as many games in four years as I did in the years between 1989 and 2016. And that is largely due to playing against Dan. So thank you Dan for being a great and consistent opponent. It's been a fantastic ride these past four years. 

Tonight's game would be chosen from Doomed Battalions Third Edition. The scenario would be ASL Scenario 50 Age-Old Foes and yeah...it's an Age-Old scenario. I played the earlier version of the scenario back in 1991 and got my backside spanked as the Polish. I recall being wiped out in a big grain field. I also don't remember liking this scenario too well. But as Dan had not played it yet, I was more than happy to give it another go around. Unfortunately for me, I would roll the Polish side again. I have been particularly unlucky in winning the good side in more than a few scenarios this year. It can certainly make a difference in your odds of winning if you don't get the favored side from time to time. ROAR has the scenario with 37 Russian and 18 Polish wins. The ASL Archive has the old version with 1 Polish and 5 Russian wins and the new version with 5 Russian and 0 Polish wins. Designed by Brian Martuzas, this scenario depicts the efforts of Polish cavalry and wagons to escape into Hungary. But their Age-Old foes the Russians, would be  on hand to intercept their attempt with armored cars and infantry. Despite their valor born of desperation, the Poles failed in their broader attempt to escape, although a few did and would make their way to the West to carry on the fight.

German-Soviet cooperation would lead to Poland's swift demise, but would also assist German endeavors during Barbarossa. I often wonder if the Germans had factored that into their thinking with the Invasion of Poland or if it was just a lucky consequence of the invasion. I'm leaning towards the latter, but it's interesting to contemplate.

This is where dreams of escape go to die....

As the Poles, I would have the difficult task of trying to exit 30 Victory Points off the south edge of Board 33. Board 33 is covered with a nice big grain field on one end, an orchard in the middle and open ground on the other side. It's not the best ground to try and run for the  house and not get shot to pieces. I would command the men of the 25th and 27th Uhlan Regiments. This force would consist of 13 x 4-5-8's, and 6 s 4-5-7's led by a 10-2, 9-1, 8-1 and 8-0 with an MMG, 3 x LTR's and 13 horse and 6 wagon counters. My wagons would be worth 3 VP each if exited. 

 As the defending Russians, Dan would command the men of the 72nd Rifle Division and 24th Light Tank Brigade. This force would consist of 20 x 4-4-7's led by a 9-1, 8-0 and 2 x7-0's with an HMG, 2 x MMG's, 4 x LMG's, a Radio with 80mm OBA and 4 x BA Armored Cars. The Armored Cars would enter on Turn 2 and 8 squads of 4-4-7's would enter on Turn 4.  Plenty of machine guns to stop fleeing cavalry.

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

“The Poles must cross the playing area and exit 30 VP off the south edge.  This is out of a total of 64 points including the 6 wagons.  For the Russians I will put the 8-0 with the radio and a squad with an MMG in the upper level of the multi-hex building on board 33.  They will try to bring fire down on all who attempt to cross the grain.  The 9-1 with a squad and MMG will set up in the building cluster and move to firing positions in the building cluster depending on where the Poles try to cross.  The 7-0 with a squad and LMG will set up in the woods hex of row H.  The rest of the units will spread out along the exit edge of board 33.  The plan is to target the wagons which represent one third of the total exit points for the poles.  The next priority is anyone stacked with a leader.  Hopefully the wagons can be eliminated, and the troops reduced to prevent enough Poles from exiting.”

I was really perplexed by what to do in this scenario. I decided to send the 9-1 with three squads and 3 ATR's to the grain field to await the arrival of the BA-20 Armored Cars. Meanwhile my 10-2 and the MMG would move to the center to put down fire on the Russians in the village by the orchard. Meanwhile the bulk of my force would make a run for it along the east board edge. The biggest flaw in my plan..."I didn't think it would work..."

It's Turn 1 at Churchill Downs as the horses pound across the Polish plains. Then a Russian spotting round lands right where all my boys are hiding in the woods. They were there getting ready for the Turn 2 gallop to the south board edge.

Turn 2 - I got my ATR's and MMG into position all the while moving away from the spotting round. On the east edge, my boys made their run. I would be largely successful, but my wagons were being destroyed and taking an entire squad with them. Lesson learned...don't leave your men in the wagons..."It's never a good idea."

At the end of two turns, I wasn't doing badly. Dan's first FFE had no effect despite landing on my 10-2 stack with the MMG. My wagons were not moving very fast, but I still had five of them. And a large portion of my cavalry were one movement phase away from exiting.

Turn 2 Russian - enter the BA-20's. These bad boys wiped me out the last time I played this scenario...so I was not excited to see them again.

Dan sent two of the armored cars racing towards the east, where I was nearing my exit. The other two entered the grain field. Amazingly, I would get a crit hit on my one of the armored cars as it sped down the road. Scratch one BA-20. Now let's talk about dice. On Thursday, I received my new dice tower from Mario Aceto. It's wonderful and super quiet. I love it and my dice seemed to respond. I rolled "average"....straight up...my dice were average and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!! Turns out that my dice glass was the source of my unending bad die rolls. Bizarre I know...but it appears to have been the culprit. As for our rolls this night: Dan would roll 0 snake eyes,  which was shocking. He would roll 4 boxcars, which was a lot. I would roll 4 snake eyes and 1 boxcar. That is a ratio I can live with!

The bad news for me was that snake eyes activated Dan's sniper who promptly shot my 10-2 in the head. My MMG position that had been doing a fair job of pinning and breaking Dan's OBA radio man was now out of action. It's little things like this that stack up in a game and rob you of momentum. This was definitely a rough hit for me as I had started to think I might have a chance of winning this crazy game.

I know...what was I thinking...

Turn 3 - wagons ho!!! I would lose two wagons in the east, but nearly all of my cavalry successfully exited. I would manage to exit 17 VP of the required 30. I only needed 13 more to win. Wow...I really was upbeat at this point. I had no expectation of being able to win this game based on its history and yet here I was with 5 turns left and I had exited more than 50% of what I needed. Oh ASL you cruel mistress toying with me like this....

My lucky streak against Dan's BA-20's would continue as I got another crit hit and brewed up an armored car in the grain field. 

I was also largely successful in keeping Dan's radio operator DM'd. Removing the Russian OBA from the game was keeping me alive...quite literally.

Back in the east, my last remaining wagon continued to fight on and even survived an overrun attempt by a BA-20. Fun times!!!

With the battle in the east basically over, I focused on moving my boys in the west on Turn 4.

A look at my remaining positions.

Dan attempted to move his 9-1 and MMG. My MMG caught them in the open and broke the squad.

In the grain field, I successfully knocked out a third BA-20, but the flames began to spread from  the earlier BA-20 wreck. This would ultimately eliminate a broken Russian 4-4-7 caught in the blaze.

Turn 4- Russian - Dan's reinforcing infantry arrive on the west edge. The battle was already finished on that side of the map. They would be mission killed and not able to participate in the battle.

Turn 5 - I moved towards the exit. My two wagons alone were worth 10 VP. If I could exit both, I would be at 27 VP. It really seemed possible. But then disaster. Dan's DM'd radio operator rolled a 3 and rallied. It almost seemed unfair. This scenario is already so tough on the Poles that you really question the need to add 80mm OBA to the mix.

Dan's OBA would be inaccurate, but then the dice sent it directly on to my fleeing wagons and Dan vaporized both of them. That was it...game over and a Russian victory as I did not have enough points left to exit. I was a little disappointed. I thought I had done a pretty good job of giving myself a chance. I kept his radio operator DM'd for turn after turn. There was very little left that Dan could have done except hit me with OBA. And that's what he did. The ASL mistress gave her affection to Dan and left me in the blood-soaked grain....

My congrats to Dan on the win. He managed to overcome more than a few boxcars as well as losing all but one of his armored cars and still get the win. This scenario despite it's pro-Russian history ended up being a pretty fun little scenario for Dan and I. We managed to make a good game of it and it was overall an enjoyable night's ASL.

And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:

“The plan worked. It was helped by some luck with the OBA and the sniper killing the 10-2 Polish leader.  This game is very hard on the Poles.  It is recommended the Poles unload from the wagons when they can otherwise those are worth even more points when destroyed by firepower.  Even so Grumble Jones gave a good showing exiting 17 VP in a cavalry rush and would have exited far more if not for the timely rally of the OBA observer and luck in getting an accurate FFE.  My thanks to Grumble Jones for a great game.”

Dan and I will be back next Saturday for a playing of Scenario OA14 Wiking Horde.

We will see you then!