The Summer of ASL continues as Dan and I played another of our Saturday Games. We are both racking up a huge number of games played this year, which is of course AWESOME! I have already set a record with 69 games played...ASL fellas...keep your mind on ASL. Dan is well over 80 games at this point and time and has begun playing Cardboard via SKYPE with some new converts. It's great to see more people playing via this method. The year of COVID has definitely forced players to adapt new methods of playing from VASL to Cardboard via SKPE. The good news is that people are playing ASL.
I had some great news earlier in the week, when my buddy in St. Louis let me know his COVID test came back negative. And he and I were back at it last night for a great ASL Starter Kit Scenario. We had a good game and have also played a bit more this year than in previous years. And I have to say, playing Starter Kit can be fun. Never having to worry about the Sniper is liberating. Will you take that 4 factor +3 shot?? Why yes, yes I will!!! Needless to say, I'm very grateful that my buddy is mending and virus free.
Our game tonight would be a Code of Bushido scenario that was revamped for Rising Sun, ASL Scenario 62 Bungle in the Jungle. It has no CAVES...no PANJIS...and therefore I signed the contract with Dan to play this scenario. This year has been tough on me, playing a lot of DTO and PTO scenarios to assist Dan in completing the legacy ASL scenarios. Many of these scenarios, I passed on back in the day due to length, complexity, etc. And guess what...80% of the time I was right about those scenarios. Many of them were more grueling than fun to get through. Tonight's scenario is a 10 turn monster...why so many turns people....really... It does seem like the older scenarios were just long...too long in my opinion. We will see how long it takes Dan and I to play tonight's game. I hoping for 5 hours....and since I'm the Japanese tonight...if it starts to take too long...then I'll just Banzai until it's over!!
Bungle in the Jungle (designed by Pat Jonke) covers the invasion of Burma by the Japanese in 1942. The Japanese 55th Infantry would be one of the veteran Japanese formations fighting against the British 7th Armored...The Desert Rats...newly arrived from North Africa. What must that have been like for the Desert Rats to find themselves in the Burmese jungle after their time in the Sahara Desert. I can't imagine it.
After rolling for sides, I would be the Japanese. I would command the men of the 55th Infantry Division. This force would consist of 3 x 4-4-7's, 10 x 3-4-7's and 5 x 2-2-8's led by a 10-1, 9-0, and 8-0 with an MMG, 3 x LMG's, 3 x 50 MTR's and 4 x 37L AT Guns. On Turn 6, I would get 3 x Type 95 Tanks.
As the attacking British, Dan would command the men of the 1st West Yorkshires and A Squadron of the 7th Hussars. This force would consist of 9 x 4-5-7's, a 2-4-8, and 3 x 2-4-7's led by a 10-2, 9-1, and 8-0 with an MMG, 3 x LMG's, 3 x 51 MTR's and an ATR. Armor support would include 6 x Stuart Tanks and Bren Gun Carrier with a 9-2 Armor Leader.
A look at the battlefield. ROAR has this scenario with 40 Japanese and 19 British wins. The ASL Archive has it with 6 Japanese and 1 British win. Pretty clear that this scenario is a bit pro-Japanese.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:“The British must cross
three boards diagonally and exit 30 VP.
If they eliminate any of the Japanese guns it reduces the needed VP by 4
for each gun. The squads will armored assault
with the tanks and try to break the Japanese line. In the process they can hopefully destroy a
gun or two. Then before the Japanese can
reform the line the British can exit.”
The battle begins. I placed my guns to defend the rice paddy approach and the main road. The terrain is a real booger for the British attack and channels them into a pretty tight spot. When I said this scenario appeared pro-Japanese, I didn't realize just how true that was going to turn out.
Turn 1 would see Dan move two of the Stuarts and his main infantry force up the main road. The road west of Row Q is actually a path or just open ground. My AT Guns would open up in full Defensive Fire and knock out the two Stuarts on the main road. One would be a burning wreck. I did not appreciate the power of my 37L AT Guns. They would dominate the battle.
Dan's British had made some progress on turn 1, but the loss of two tanks was a hard hit.
On my part of Turn 1 - I shuffled my forces to meet Dan's attack.
Dan's next big push was right up the middle. Dan and I would fight for this section of road for several turns.
My infantry in the center were doing a great job of holding the line and holding back the British infantry at that point. I had placed a 3-4-7 in the road who would absorb a tremendous amount of firepower without breaking. In fact, this line of squads would be unhurt except for a Sniper hit that striped a 4-4-7. This was also a defense that I had put together at the last minute in my setup. I didn't appreciate how important it would be in the battle. With a supporting mortar and AT Gun, it would be the strongest part of my defensive line.
Dan's OBA would struggle mightily to land a visible spotting round. PTO is some harsh terrain. This was a huge part of my lines ability to stay intact. Had Dan's OBA landed it might well have shattered my defense.
Dan's OBA guy...let's listen in..."Battery B to Strikeforce Z...can you correct spotting round??" "Strikeforce Z to Battery B...I can't correct what I can't bloody well see...over!"
Despite tank losses and no OBA, Dan kept the pressure up and finally found a gap in my defense. He literally went into the swamp. I did not see if coming and was not happy about it at all. He made it through the swamp and would take possession of one of my AT Guns, which he would destroy and reduce his exit VP from 30 to 26. I was still holding in the middle and I had troops moving away from the rice paddies to meet the new threat to my AT Guns along the tree line behind the rice paddies. I couldn't afford to lose any more guns.
Dan's set backs would continue to stack up. My AT Gun would knock out the last Stuart and the Gun Carrier. The OBA would be gone for good. Meanwhile his 10-2 was finding it tough going in the center.
Trust me there were moments, when Dan and I were both ready to crush some dice in a vice!!!
But..we kept it together and had a blast playing some crazy @ss ASL!!!
The one bright spot for Dan's attack was his efforts to roll up my AT Gun positions along the rice paddies.
Dan's 9-1...let's listen in...."Chin up lads...it's almost over..."
On Turn 6 Japanese, my reinforcing Chi-Ha's arrived and helped push Dan's 10-2 back from the center. On the road, my heroic 3-4-7 squad moved forward to ensure the death of a broken 4-5-7. And to the east along the rice paddy, my boys would eliminate one of Dan's Heroes and the half-squad with him.
As we started to begin Turn 7, the clock passed 10:30 PM and Dan did a quick calculation and the math was against him. He would have to exit everything currently on the board in order to win the game. And the likelihood of that was not very great. His 10-2 failed to rally and would be vulnerable to encirclement from the Chi-Ha's before his three fresh Stuarts could get to him. So Dan graciously gave the concession and my Japanese had the win.
My Japanese could celebrate. They had managed to hold the line. My thanks to Dan for what was a fun game despite our horrible dice rolling. As for the scenario....as it stands currently, I think it's too tough for the British. ROAR seems to bear this out. The British player needs many things to come together and if they don't, then the Japanese can inflict a lot of damage with the AT Guns and the mortars. The Stuarts are very vulnerable and the reserve Stuarts come on to late in the game to make a real difference. And again...10 turns is too long. Compressing the time line and bringing in the British and Japanese reserves earlier would I think improve the scenario...but's that just my humble opinion. In the end, I still found it to be an enjoyable scenario to play.
And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:“The plan did not
work. The Japanese AT guns were able to
knock out the tanks and hit the infantry hard.
The British OBA observers could not land a spotting round in LOS. There was also a large number of boxcars on
both sides but it caused more problems with the attackers. The British casualties mounted to the point
of not having enough to exit. Even with
one Japanese gun destroyed. Well played
by Grumble Jones with a good defense and fast movement of units to keep the
maximum troops in front of the British attack.
Congrats on a good win by the Japanese.”
Dan and I will take next Saturday off
and we will return on September 12th
for a playing of
Scenario MM 62 Five Kopeck Bridgehead
...a night fight on the Russian Front....
you won't want to miss that!!
Happy Labor Day everyone!
Enjoy a safe and fun-filled weekend!
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