Another week, another ASL double-header. Dan Best and I would once again manage to get two games completed. Our first game would be a rare Monday game, which I could do...since I ain't got nothing else going on, and feeling sorry for myself can occupy only so much time in the day. I had always wanted to play out Lt. Winter's assault on the German battery at Brecourt Manor. Critical Hit put out a mini-module on this engagement complete with its own map.
My copy was included with Hurtgen Surprise. The scenario I would choose was BM#1 So Full of Fire. This is the exact scenario I had been looking for that covers Winter's assault on the battery.
Designed by Giles Timmes, this scenario shows 1 American and 0 German wins on ROAR and 2 American and 2 German on the ASL Archive.
Not surprisingly, this scenario is a bit scripted. The Germans are very limited in their actions. This a 5 Turn Game and the Germans must roll for activation either in Rally Phase or if fired upon. On Turn 4, any Germans not yet activated are automatically activated. On Turn 1, activated German units may only Defensive Fire or Advance. On Turn 2, there are no limitations on actions for activated Germans. The four 105's cannot change covered arc and are assumed to be shelling Utah Beach.
The Critical Hit map does a nice job of replicating this engagement. I liked it.
After rolling for sides, I would roll the losers...err....I mean the Germans for this scenario. This would be yet another scenario where I expected to lose. At any rate, I would command the men of Ost Battalion 795 and 191st Artillery. This force would consist of 4 x 105 Artillery pieces, 1 x 4-6-7, 4 x 2-2-8's, and 3 x 4-4-7's led by an 8-1 and 7-0 with an MMG and 2 x LMG's and 8 trenches.
All joking aside, I really didn't expect to be successful in this scenario and really was just playing it to experience the Brecourt Manor assault. But much to my surprise...this game would actually be a competitive and fun game...as you shall see.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"This scenario is tiny. Any break by any side will have a big impact on the game. Even the loss of SW in significant. The plan for the Americans is to advance into the trench in F6 with the 9-2, the squad and MMG. While the hero, HS and 8-0 advance into E6. While the 9-1, HS and MMG advance to F5 concealed. They will then move along the trench destroying the guns. Hopefully the return fire does not break any units."
The Americans would be concealed and with the bocage could maintain concealment as they moved to enter the German trenches. At this time, no German units are activated and can do nothing.
Winters and his men quickly enter the 1st gun position and the MMG position. But...Dan would fail to get the ambush in either encounter...which would strip both American units of concealment. This would prove to be a crucial misstep for the Americans.
Dan would easily win both close combats and eliminate the first gun. Dan would win the scenario immediately with the destruction of all four guns or the accumulation of 20 victory points.
I would get incredibly lucky on activation rolls and my boys would all be activated except for one unit...my 4-6-7. My LMG position in C8 would open up and manage to make Dan's 7-4-7 go berserk after they broke their MMG.
Amazingly, my Ost Battalion boys would give a good account of themselves in this brief firefight.
With the berserk 7-4-7 unable to advance, Lt. Winters and the 3-3-7 went after the second gun without them. They would take it down, but in the next turn, I would pin the 3-3-7 and send a crew into CC with Winters and the 3-3-7.
And guess what...yep...I would KIA Lt. Dick Winters and the 3-3-7. They would in turn kill my 2-2-8...but I'll take that tradeoff any day of the week! I would also move three squads and 2 x LMG's into the D8 trench to get a good kill stack. The game was suddenly anybody's game....WOW...
Dan's berserk 7-4-7 would rush my kill stack and be KIA'd. I would manage to stagger the rest of Dan's attack. The Americans were running out of men in Winter's Group.
Turn 4 - Dan was at around 15 victory points, but he didn't have the manpower to capture and destroy the final gun. He would have to have his reinforcements. And Lt. Speirs was coming to the rescue.
As Speirs group entered the trenches, I would suffer a devastating break on my kill stack. All three squads had been broken. On had broken previously and had moved towards Brecourt Manor. Once again, the game's momentum was swinging back to the Americans.
Dan would come at me like a spider monkey on Mountain Dew. I could not stop the DC placement.
Dan's final movement on Turn 5 would be decisive. The Germans were completely defeated as the DC eliminated the final gun position.
Dan had done it, despite the loss of Lt. Winters. Lt. Speirs would go down as the hero of Brecourt Manor.
My congrats to Dan on a great comeback win. He managed to get Speirs right where he was needed to close out the win. My kill stack was my undoing. I know...don't stack...I should separated before Speirs got into the battle. It's often the little things that make the biggest difference. Putting everyone together allowed Dan's limited manpower to focus on a single target with devastating effect. And with no leader...my boys were done.
I highly recommend this scenario and despite the scripting, it was quite enjoyable. My Germans had a very good chance to win the game. And this one went to the final American movement phase before its outcome was decided. It also plays very fast. Dan and I finished in an hour and half.
And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:
"The plan worked. Although the Americans nearly lost it after breaking a MMG in defensive fire and losing the 9-2 and squad in CC. A lucky break against the Germans won the day and allowed the Americans to cut route paths and take out the last German units. This is a small and dicey scenario and rather too predictable to play. It played very fast in less than an hour. My thanks to Grumble Jones for a fun game of mini-ASL!"
And now for Round Two of our double Header ASL Week!!!
Our Saturday game, and second of the week, would be ASL Scenario 106 Kangaroo Hop from For King and Country. Designed by Shawn Kenny, this scenario covers the actions of the Canadians at Mont Lambert as they moved to eliminate a fortified German position consisting of pill boxes and anti-tank ditches.
This scenario shows 4 Canadian and 7 Germans wins, while the ASL Archive shows it with 1 Canadian and 3 German wins. This game would be a very tough one on my personal ELR. January 2021 has been a rough ASL year for me with 7 losses and 1 win. This scenario is pretty pro-German and I would lose it decisively and be personally embarrassed by my failure to even slow Dan down.
Were dice rolls a factor...of course they were. But's it's a strange thing as I would roll 5 snake eyes to Dan's 2. But Dan would roll no boxcars to my 4 boxcars, which would have devastating impact on me. Dan would also roll well within the "7" average for much of the game. I would roll above the "7" and suffer accordingly. And some tactical issues flummoxed me and left me a little bit sour during the game. I'll get to those.
Dan would be the attacking Canadians. By the way, when Dan and I roll for sides, we roll 2d6 and the high roll is the attacker. I typically roll high...but not when rolling for sides. I have been on the receiving end of the attacks for much of this year. Dan would command the men of the Nova Scotia Highlanders. This force would consist of 7 x 4-5-8's, and a 2-4-8 led by a 9-1, and 8-1 with an LMG and Flamethrower. For support Dan would have a Firefly, 3 x Shermans, 2 x AVRE's with Fascines, a Crocodile, and 6 x Kangaroos. Bring on the flamessssss!!!! Smaug is in the house!!!
I really hate facing flamethrowers and 3 x range 36 factor flame might be the worst ever....
As the defending Germans, I would command the men of the Bodenstaendige-Division 326. This force would consist of 7 x 4-4-7's, and 2 x 2-2-8's led by an 8-1, 8-0 and 7-0 with 3 x LMG's, 18 factors of mines, a radio with 100mm OBA, a 75 AT, a 50L AT, 4 x pill boxes, 4 x wire and 6 x AT Ditches. With an ELR of 2, this force doesn't have their heart in the battle. But again...ROAR results say these guys have the edge in this scenario. But I would find a way to dull that edge...it's a gift I have...
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Canadians are attacking with a combined arms force. The plan will be to use the mobility to go around both flanks and attack the hill from the rear. Both ARVEs will enter with fascines and attack head on. Their armor is such that they can deflect most AT gun shots. The crocodile will follow on and attack the pillboxes. One Kangaroo will act as recon and attack head on while the rest go around the flanks. Each flank will get two tanks to smoke the pillboxes. Hopefully some units are revealed by the pre-game pin check and we can close with the pillboxes from behind."
A look at my ill-fated defense. Keep in my mind, the Germans begin the game HIP. My defense was to funnel Dan's armor into the LOS of my 50L AT and 75 AT Guns. As I would discover my 50L was practically worthless and I MALF'd my 75 and never found out if it was any good or not. I placed wire on top of each pillbox...but this too was in vain, as Dan was still able to close combat me from on top of the wire.
The scenario begins with a pre-bombardment roll for the Germans. I would survive this and not fail a single PTC. So all my boys would remain HIP at game start. This was huge for me...and gave me a false confidence that things were going to go well tonight.
To win the scenario, Dan would need to control all the Level 3 Hexes at game end. I felt confident that this would be tough for Dan to achieve. I was mistaken.
Dan's attack came at both flanks and the AVRE's came directly at me. Their heavy armor would protect them from my pea shooting 50L.
OK...Dan's first AVRE would draw lots of fire from my 50L, but four hits would simply bounce off. One Sherman moved into the 3 AT factor minefield and I would a roll a 6. It would leave the hex the next turn...and yes, I would roll another 6. A second Sherman went into the 2 AT factor minefield and I would snake the effect and turn it into a burning wreck.
OK...let's talk about Bypass movement (I dislike it.). So having determined where my mines were, Dan sent his Kangaroos in bypass of the woods...because of course my boys stopped placing mines on the imaginary hex line. Dan would also successfully bypass my AT Ditch...which again stopped at the imaginary hex line...because why would I connect the ditch to the woods and force Dan to trail break...??? Dan let me know that BFP's Crucible of Steel actually has specific rules regarding this to make the AT Ditches connect to the adjoining terrain. Personally, I think that should be a normal expectation for fortifications. I'll be honest, watching Dan bypass my defenses took all the wind out of my sails. Bypass literally undid my entire defense. With Dan moving in my backfield, it was game over by Turn 2.
I'm generally not very good with fortifications, but with my AT Ditch and minefields unable to act as armor deterrents...coupled with the uselessness of my wire...all of this just took me out of the game. I saw no way to slow down Dan's attack. I was just so disappointed in myself for what was turning out to be a pretty worthless defense.
ASL is a strange game though. My HIP 2-3-7 showed itself, but failed to hit with a Panzerfaust. Dan was going to hit them with a flamethrower, but the German sniper broke that unit before it could fire. My 2-3-7 would get a second chance, but fail again. They would be KIA'd shortly thereafter.
My OBA showed up and would miss and not hit anyone. I would MALF the 75, my 2-3-7 would be wiped out and Dan's Crocodile had entered the game.
Dan's AVRE's were making slow progress as they had Fascines, which doubled the cost of each hex.
With my 75 AT Gun MALF'd, the crew decided to fire a Panzerfaust at the Sherman who had moved successfully the 3 AT factor minefield. They would hit and knock it out...but a one on the colored die would kill them. I would not knock out another armored vehicle for the remainder of the game.
One of Dan's AVRE's would be immobilized by the 100mm OBA. But meanwhile, Dan was already sending troops onto the wire atop my pill boxes for close combat action.
I had placed two 4-4-7's on the reverse slope to stop attacks from the rear and to try to retake the hill tops at game end. I kept them HIP as long as possible.
Dan continued to stream around my AT Ditch and move into my backfield. His Kangaroos quickly ran on top of the hill as the Crocodile roasted my 8-0 and a squad on the smaller hill. He rolled a 5 KIA which neither of us had seen in quite a long time. I was losing this game badly at this point. I had fired by hip 4-4-7's as the Kangaroos streamed past them. Both either failed to get a Panzerfaust or just plain missed. And now both would die, having achieved absolutely nothing. I was ready to concede the game at this point, but kept at it anyway.
At this point in the game, Dan had all but two Level 3 Hill Hexes, which were where my two strong pill boxes were. But the end was near.
One of my 4-4-7's would go berserk...because snaking your morale check never seems to be a good thing. I had also lost radio contact...so my ARTY was not raining down on the Kangaroos. I really couldn't catch a break.
The battle was rapidly winding down. I wasn't accomplishing anything with the fire from my remaining units. It was simply a logistics game as Dan tried to move all of his stuff into position to conclude the game. The Crocodile was also sending flame towards my pillbox by the spotting round.
Dan's Canadians were definitely in control of the battle. I knew my concession was coming sooner than later...
An ASL first for me was watching Dan deploy the first Fascine over the AT Ditch. Pretty cool moment.
As we were playing Turn 5, I took some adjacent shots at Dan's surging Canadians. I rolled yet another 11 and decided I had enough. I conceded on the spot and congratulated Dan on a very decisive win. At no point was it really ever in doubt. Once he bypassed my AT defenses, it was really game over from there. Dan had done a great job and beaten me like a drum. My thanks as always to Dan for a great week of ASL. I look forward to next week's games!
Dan's Canadians would celebrate a great win. As for me...well, I was just glad it was over.
And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments.
"The plan worked. Although mostly due to abysmal rolls by Grumble Jones. The flank attacks were able to get around the AT ditch but lost one tank to mines and another to PF. Both guns broke shooting at tanks without a kill. Wire on the pillboxes made close combat deadly for the attacking Canadian infantry. The flamethrowers made pillboxes deadly for the Germans. One roll from the crocodile got snake eyes garnering a 5 KIA, new highest KIA number for me in ASL. The slow movement of the ARVEs made their arrival a little late with one being immobilized. The Germans conceded before they could fire a shot. This scenario has a lot of fun possibilities for the defender with fortifications but the Canadians have the tools to get the job done. My thanks to Grumble Jones for another great game of ASL!"
That's a wrap on this week's games. Dan has got my number so far this year, so I'll have to start ramping up my game.
Dan and I will return next week for more thrilling ASL Action!!!
We will see you then!
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