The day has finally arrived....the last "Our Saturday Game" played in Quincy, IL. This weekend would turn into a double-header AAR, which was a nice way to finish out my time in Quincy. My relationship with Quincy, IL and ASL is interesting. In 1996, I moved to Quincy for the first time and left my group in St. Louis. It was the beginning of the end of playing ASL for the next 13 years. I despaired of ever playing the game again. I tried solo play, but I kept beating myself and losing to yourself...it just feels self-defeating. :0 ) Fortunately, I was able to play again and in 2016, I attended an October games day with Dan Best and the KC Crew at the Hollis Center. Following that, Dan and I took the first steps towards playing ASL Cardboard via SKYPE. And here are 5 years later with an incredible body of ASL play and AAR's. I have logged 488 games of ASL since 1990. I played quite a few games before 1990, but never kept any records. I returned to Quincy in 2017 and since that time, I have played 351 games of that 488 since I've been back in Quincy. So Quincy redeemed itself from the destroyer of ASL to the giver of more ASL than ever imagined possible.
I'm going to really miss my Quincy ASL Mancave.
And of course, it was the site for my interview with the 2 Half-Squads...which was the best moment so far in 2021.
When next we meet, it will be from Tulsa. The past four years have been truly amazing for ASL and for my blog. Tulsa is of course the birthplace of Grumble Jones...so the blog will return to its roots.
Our Saturday game would be my choice and I would pick BFP-95 Obian Highway. Designed by Chas Smith, this scenario depicts the attempts by the Russians to slow down the advance of the 11th Panzer Division towards Novoselovka.
I picked up Crucible of Steel during my infamous one day at the 2015 Texas Team Tournament. I had played Flying Turrets with Alan King and Jim Ferrell. We went to lunch at Fuddruckers. I had some pico de gallo on my burger...which was a bad idea. Around 7:00 PM...I got up and went to the restroom. We were only at Turn 2 after over 6 hours of play. Flying Turrets is a grueling scenario to play. On the way out of the bathroom, I felt dizzy and hit the doorframe. I thought it was just a blood sugar kind of thing. But another hour, I knew something bad was wrong. So I excused myself and let Rick Reinesch know I was ill and going back to my room. I was food poisoned and literally laid on my hotel room bed...thinking that it was game over. Around 2:00 AM, I was finally able to sit up and the next day, I packed up and headed back to Tulsa. But at least I had my copy of Crucible of Steel!!
I would be the defending Russians and command the men of the 86th Tank Brigade. This force would consist of 7 x 4-4-7's, a 2-2-8, 2 x 2-3-7's, and 3x 5-2-7's led by an 8-1, 8-0, and 7-0 with 3 x LMG's, an ATR, a dug in T-70, a 45L AT Gun, 2 x T-34/s and 2 x Valentines. Oh and by the way...I suck as the Russians...I mean I really blow badly when I'm the Russians. Want to win a game...let me be the Russians. My life-time record with the Russian side is 24 wins and 57 losses. Yeah...pretty bad.
As the attacking Germans, Dan would command the men of the 11th Panzer Division. This force would consist of 2 x 5-4-8's, and 12 x 4-6-7's led by a 9-1, 8-1, 8-0, and 2 x 7-0's with 2 x MMG's, 4 x LMG's, 2 x DC's, and 5 tanks with 9-1 and 8-1 Armor Leaders.
Board 56 reminds me of a Starter Kit Board and has those lines of sight that you don't realize you have. In fact, I would lose a T-34 in this game, because I failed to see an open line of sight. Dan didn't miss it.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Germans must clear the multi-hex buildings at the crossroads of board 56. The plan is to attack using armored assault and follow the road into town. While the armor stalks each other in the village the infantry will capture the buildings. The tanks are very vulnerable to CC attacks with the Germans getting early use of ATMM. Once the German infantry are in the buildings the German tanks are free to engage the Soviet armor. Hopefully the infantry battle is fast, as 6 turns means this will go down to the last CC phase."
All the buildings are wooden and single level. So I had no way to shoot over the grain. I could not find any decent open lines of sight. Dan would Schwerpunkt on the east middle of the board. A flanking force would creep along the west edge.
Turn 1 German - Dan comes right at me. My ATR misses, but I manage to DM an armor assaulting stack. My two half-squads would both cower, but some final protective fire would get a Pin and a Break. All in all, not too bad.
The Germans would take care of my two half-squads. They would not contribute anything further in the game. Have I told anyone how much I detest cowering...? It's like playing D&D with a Dungeon Master who is intent on killing you at every turn.
Turn 1 - Russian...my ATR misses again and I skulk. That is all...
Turn 2 German - Dan does an excellent combined arms assault to encircle and eliminate my eastern defense zone. My AT Gun patiently waits until a MK III is adjacent and fires...no rate of fire and I only manage to immobilize it. Doggone it...but immobilized will work. Dan would also create a Hero. He would go on to do... you know...Hero things...
Dan's assault really was very good. It wrapped me up completely.
At the end of German 2 - Dan had made good progress.
Turn 2 Russian - my reinforcements arrive, while my surviving riflemen try to fall back.
Turn 3 German - we had reached the halfway point and I was in big trouble. But Turn 3 would see a second German tank destroyed by the dug in T-70. Snake eyes comes in handy every now and then.
At the end of three turns, the Germans had lost two tanks destroyed and one immobilized. The Russians had lost the ATR, MMG, 45L AT Gun and were about to lose the dug in T-70.
Turn 4 German - Dan pushes in and secures two of the three victory locations. He also sees a line of sight to my center T-34 and takes me out. I completely missed that LOS and it cost me.
As Turn 4 closed out, the Russians still had control of one victory location. But my resources were fading fast. Both my Valentines had no more HE and no machine guns, so were of dubious value at this point in the game.
Turn 5 - Dan makes a push for the center. A single 2-4-7 manages to dash successfully into the last victory location. I would pivot my T-34's turret and shoot...and miss. I had now lost the chance to hit Dan's 9-1 stack adjacent. A terribly stupid mistake on my part. There's no guarantee that I would have done anything to the 9-1...but what will soon be apparent was just how deadly the 9-1 was going to be.
Don't think half-squads are important...think again...
In Close Combat, the 9-1 would go after the last T-34 and take it down.
Turn 5 Russian - I needed to get all my boys into the final location. I managed to DM the intrepid German 2-4-7, but then I would experience an epic failure...truly epic. My doggone Valentines didn't have enough movement points to get around the German 9-1 in the street. So I tried to just roll through them without overrunning. The 9-1 and a squad took down the first tank. So I sent the second one and only a 2-4-7 remained to try and stop it. He needed snakes...and of course Dan rolled snakes.
Just another routine day of tank killing...
Turn 6 German - the end came quickly. Dan's Prep Fire shattered me and I was annihilated in close combat. Game over and a very solid victory for the Germans. My congrats to Dan on a great win and his second of the day as he managed to best Dave Mareske earlier in the day. While I enjoyed the game, I was not a big fan of the scenario. The lines of sight are so poor that a weak Russian force really never had the good moving open modifiers that would have forced the Germans to forgo big stacks. The German kill stacks were just devastating.
German losses in infantry were about three squads. The Panzers suffered the most, but both Armor Leaders survived, despite Malfing both of their guns.
And now for Dan's Post-Game Comments:
"The plan worked. The Germans cut through the Soviet lines and cut rout paths. A lucky sniper shot killed one leader an the other was broken and cut off. The tank battle was won by the Russians but three remaining Russian tanks were destroyed in CC. The Germans captured the last building in turn 6 CC and the Russians had nothing left to counter attack with. This scenario is hard on the out numbered Russians. With few clear fields of fire, the German infantry can close quickly. Also the lack of MGs on the lend lease British tanks makes half the tanks very vulnerable to CC. My thanks to Grumble Jones for a great game!"
Now on to our Friday Game!
You knew Rhianna wouldn't miss the Last Quincy AAR!!!
So Dan and I were able to get in a Friday game after my regular St. Louis opponent had to cancel. His second COVID shot was doing a number on him, so he was resting up. Dan already had a scenario prepped in case we got the opportunity and he picked ASL Scenario 238 Break for Hungary.
Designed by Steve Swann, this scenario concerns a mid-war effort by surrounded Croatian Paratroopers to escape to Hungary against determined Partisan resistance.
As the defending Partisans, I would command the men of the 2nd "Kalnik" Partisan Brigade. This force would consist of 2 x 5-2-7's, 2 x 4-4-7's, 7 x 3-3-7's and 2 x 1-2-7's led by an 8-0 and 7-0 with an MMG, 3 x LMG's and a 60 MTR.
The scenario premise is for the Croatian Paras to try and escape from their Partisan surrounded training airfield before all their supplies run out. To win the Croatians must exit 8 VP off the west edge or end the game with 8 more CVP than the Partisans.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Croatians must break out of the Partisan lines and exit off the west edge. The plan is for the heavy SW to set up to provide covering fire while the infantry with leaders goes for exit. The MMG will set up in the pillbox with a HS to cover the board 38 road and cut the Partisan set up area in half. It cannot use fire lanes because of ammo shortage but can hit any units crossing the road. The MTR will set up with another HS in a trench accessible to the pillbox. While the other pillbox will set up across the runway area with the final HS (from deploying one squad) to cover a flank. The crews will try for exit since they are worth more exit VP. The 9-1 and three squads will set up with a LMG in a trench in row P next to the 8-1 three squads and a LMG in another trench. One group will prep fire and one will move each turn. While the 7-0 shepherds the last two squads and two crews to exit toward the northwest. Hopefully these groups do not run into the Partisan HIP stacks."
The Partisans can HIP two squads. I would HIP the MMG and one of the LMG's This would really be a useful asset for the coming fight.
Turn 1 Croatian - Dan would come at me with everything. He would move adjacent to a HIP LMG and the HIP MMG would also get in a good lick. This fire would devastate the 8-1 stack. One Croatian unit would also end up Berserk. Overall, the Partisans got in some good hits.
Dan would successfully DM my mortar and I wouldn't self-rally for the duration of the game. Dan's Turn 2 effort was focused on pushing north and then making a run for the west board edge. I would have to redeploy my boys to keep units in front of him.
Turn 3 Croatian - Dan was fully committed to breaking out to the north. I was a little slow to pull in my southern forces.
Close Combat would be the name of the game. My boys would be stealthy, which would give us a slight edge.
I had successfully forced Dan's boys to rout back to their entrenchments for the first two turns, which sapped the strength of his push to the north. Additionally, my boys in the south had pushed their way to the north to establish a new blocking line.
I was just managing to stay a step ahead of Dan.
Near the game mid point, Dan's force was still struggling to get out of the airfield sector.
But Dan was undeterred and made a successful push along the northern road and woods.
In the north, my concealed unit would win ambush and infiltrate away. In the center, yet another MELEE raged.
The Partisan line was holding.
The Croatians make yet another push for freedom. This effort make some progress.
Dan actually gets enough points close for a race to the board edge.
But the final movement phase is unsuccessful and Dan's boys are still too far away to get off the board. The Partisans would have the win. Once again, Dan and I both enjoyed the game. My personal opinion is that it could be tough on the Croatians, particularly if the HIP units get good ambush shots as was the case for me. My thanks to Dan for two great games. It was a great final weekend of ASL in Quincy. Moving back to Tulsa will open a new chapter in our games and for the blog.
It's a very bittersweet time for me.
And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:
"The plan did not work. The HIP Partisans ambushed the 8-1 stack dashing across the board 38 row Q road. And that unit was badly mauled. Stack movement is always dangerous, even when dashing. Grumble Jones did a good job of keeping the Partisan force in blocking position and out of LOS of the 9-1 kill stack. Eventually the Croatians ran out of time for exit and were very low on troops. Well played by Grumble Jones. The scenario is a fun little exit scenario, that plays very quick. My thanks to Grumble Jones for a great game. Congrats on a well played victory!"
That's a wrap for this week's AAR
and for Quincy, IL.
Dan and I will take a break next week as I will be traveling to Tulsa on Saturday.
Goodbye Gem City...
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