Following a week off as I moved myself to a hotel in Tulsa, Dan Best and I were once again in action for a 4 game run over Memorial Day Weekend. We would play one game Friday night, two games Saturday and a fourth on Sunday. ASL is a social game and when you are far from home, family and friends...it's nice to have an ASL game to take your mind off worries and of course the loneliness that is a feature of relocations. This is my 7th time relocating...and I am very weary of it. I miss my wife, my friends and my familiar surroundings. So, I'm extremely grateful to my buddy Dan for taking time out to play so much ASL. You need the connection when you're all by yourself.
Being back in Tulsa brings with it a flood of emotions. It was home for thirteen years and the place that both my children consider home. My son is an EMT here, so it's great to be back with my son. And of course Tulsa is the birthplace of Grumble Jones. So, we'll see how long this second tour of duty in Tulsa lasts.
Traveling with all of your ASL kit can be a daunting proposition...especially when you have 40 years worth of it as I do. But...I don't leave it behind and leave it the tender mercies of movers. Nope, I have too much time and money invested in my ASL to leave it in someone else's care. So it's taking up a little bit of space here in my hotel suite. Hotel internet is usually not the best, but so far Dan and I have played with only two interruptions that lasted about five minutes combined...so you can't ask for better. Space is of course limited and I made the best of what I had to keep the games fluid, as Dan and I like to play fast.
So...in case you've been missing your weekly Grumble Jones fix...well...we're back!
Ok, this AAR covers a lot of ground...so get a beverage...a snack and settle in...we going to hit the beach hard and fast!
Up first will be our Friday game - ASL Scenario WO31 Ma Deuce Delivers. Designed by Pete Shelling, this scenario covers the action in France, August 1944 as the US 79th Infantry Division tries to fend off a German counterattack with three King Tigers. Yeah...3 King Tigers...you had me at Hello!!!
The Ma Deuce is of course in reference to the Browning 50 Caliber or in this case Quad 50 Caliber. The Americans in this scenario would have two of these fearsome weapons. In the first movement phase, one of these would destroy a 7-0 and three squads who thought they couldn't be seen...but were wrong...dead wrong.
Now I tend to shy away from various ASL controversies like Black SS counters and IFT vs. IIFT...but as much as I love the Winter Offensive packs...I wasn't a big fan of North Koreans on the cover art. Why?...well for starters North Korea may be the most wicked regime in the world right now. There are plenty of contenders...but North Korea probably leads the pack of bad actors. This is the last combat force I would want to see in a victorious pose on a product that I am buying.
So yeah...not a fan of this cover. Of course this opinion does not diminish the quality of the product. MMP's Winter Offensives are fantastic.
As for the scenario, I have wanted a chance to play Ma Deuce Delivers for quite a while. I had seen on Tournament Play lists, but didn't get a chance to play it.
Dan had not played it either, so it was a perfect choice to start the new game period in Tulsa.
As the defending Americans, Dan would command the men of the 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division. This force would consist of 2 x 6-6-7's, 5 x 6-6-6's, and 2 x 2-2-7's led by a 9-2, 8-0 and 7-0 with an MMG, 2 x BAZ 44's, 4 x foxholes, 2 Quad 50's and 4 x M-10 Tank Destroyers with an 8-1 Armor Leader. 
As the attacking Germans, I would command the men of Jaeger-Regiment 36, Feld-Division 18 and the King Tigers of Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503. This force would consist of 6 x 4-6-7's, and 8 x 4-4-7's led by an 8-1, 2 x 8-0's and 7-0 with an HMG, MMG, and 3 x LMG's. And of course...3 x King Tigers with a 9-1 Armor Leader.
A look at the battle space. France in August 1944 with grain in the fields and apples in the orchards. The German attack would benefit from some decent line of sight blockers...but I would miss one and pay dearly for the mistake.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Americans must defend the road and village and have surviving units good order units. The two 6-6-7 squads will deploy to have more 7 morale troops. The AA guns will set up in Q7 and R12 to have more shots across the open ground. The 9-2 with a squad and MMG sill set up in a foxhole. The 7-0 and HS will set up with a BAZ in R13 to protect the AA gun. While two HS set up in S17 and U18 to make the Germans clear the road. The second BAZ will be in S17. Hopefully one or two tanks can be stopped in the armor duel. "
The victory conditions for the Germans offer two options: A) no good order Americans on the road or B) control of all buildings adjacent to the road. I hadn't decided which one to go for at this stage of the game. I was going to see how the first couple turns played out and then pick the one most obtainable.
My Turn 1 moves would be very successful...except for one terrible mistake. Dan's dummy units were upfront and so posed no threat, but there was a Ma Deuce watching the road and I thought I was moving in a unseen hex. So my 7-0 and 3 x 4-4-7's sprinted right in front of a Ma Deuce. when the firing stopped...they were all dead. UGH...so much fail in this move...
Turn 2 my King Tigers come on and now we were playing some ASL!!!
My Sniper would hit Dan's 9-2 stack and turn the squad with the MMG into a broken half-squad. My King Tiger and 8-1 kill stack would take out the crew of the Ma Deuce.
Turn 3 - Dan's 4 x M-10 Tank Destroyers show up. I had made good progress and at this point had determined to take the buildings adjacent to the road. I also could reduce the number of buildings for every excess tank I had over the Americans. With 88LL's I was feeling pretty confident.
Dan's M-10's raced into the battle. The terrain slowed down the M-10's and kept them from getting adjacent to my King Tigers. I would incredibly manage to destroy two M-10's in D-Fire and stun a third from my 8-1's position. Dan tried to race a half-squad to reman the Ma Deuce, but they were pinned and would not get there.
With three M-10's destroyed, I would realign my forces to continue driving down the road and take houses.
Dan's last M-10 mad a desperate attack and would be destroyed by my King Tiger watching the rear. His infantry tried to get into the row of houses, but too much fire from my tanks and infantry stopped them.
With all four M-10's destroyed, I needed 3 less buildings for the win.
"The plan did not work. The armor duel was lost decisively and the Americans would have done better going after the German infantry. The Germans were able to capture the needed buildings. Well played by Grumble Jones! This scenario is a late war armor fest for the Germans with the King Tigers almost invulnerable to American attacks. Recommend the Americans concentrate on the German infantry."
Now on to Game 2!
Dan and I decided to plan to play two games on Saturday. We play fast enough, that we were confident that we could finish two games with no problem. We would start at 3:00 PM and finish around 8:30-9:00 PM.
Our choice for the first game would be ASL Scenario 213, It's So Easy! Designed by Laurent Closier, this scenario covers an night time action in the snowy mountains of Korea. The US 1st Ranger Company would attempt to attack Communist Chinese Troops and force them back towards another platoon of US troops to eliminate them. It apparently sounded so easy, that a visiting French Correspondent would join the Rangers.
The assault would be anything but easy and the Rangers would be cut to pieces by hidden Chinese forces in the dark. The French correspondent would be among the dead. And the reputation of the Ranger's among the front-line US infantry would suffer badly.
As the defending Communist Chinese, I would command the men of the 126th Division. My force would consist of 6 x 4-3-7's, 2 x 4-(1)-7's, 4 x 3-3-7's, and a 2-2-8 led by an 8-1 and 8-0 with an MMG and 2 x LMG's.
Map 83...man is that a booger to move around on...and with ground snow...oh good grief. It's no wonder that the Rangers struggled in this engagement.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Americans must take prisoners and exit. The can also reveal nine or more MMC. The plan is to have two dummy cloaking counters draw fire while the 9-1 and 8-1 have two squads. Their high fire power should break up the attacks since the NVR is 1 and most attacks will be adjacent. Hopefully we can break an few units and advance into CC to take them prisoner."
Game Two ready to go!
This AAR will be lite with no extra pics or gifs. Night scenarios are so hard to depict properly and this game played so fast. It ultimately came down to 4 Communist 3-3-7's stopping the Rangers, which seems so improbable...but that's what went down.
I placed all my dummy units upfront and 4 of my 3-3-7's on the north edge.
All of my units would begin the game under no move. Dan's boys would be under cloaking counters.
First CC with a Dummy Unit. Dan would get Victory Points for each Chinese unit that lost concealment. So I had to be very careful. The bulk of my force were in reverse slope positions. I was taking no chances.
Dan would move adjacent to two of my real units. I would fire and give Dan 2 VP for the loss of concealment for two units. But they would break the Americans.
Dan's broken units would fall back one hex in the dark. I now had two units with freedom of movement. Dan's other boys were slowly moving through the gap between my dummy units and two real units.
Two more CC's with a dummy unit and a real unit.
My four real units all had freedom of movement and I decided to try and eliminate the broken stack of Americans with the broken 9-1. I would lose one unit to US fire, but my other boys would get into position to take down the 9-1 stack.
Dan would close combat dummy units in the south, while we went toe to toe for real in the north.
And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:
"The plan did not work. The Chinese got a good CC attack and created a leader. Plus broke the 8-1 stacks and eliminated it breaking the CVP cap. The Americans can be taken out by the Chinese fairly easy in H-t-H CC. Well played by Grumble Jones who used a reverse slope defense that made the Americans come to him. Fast playing night action."
Ok...time for Game 3 - now is the time for the bathroom break and a beverage refill...we got lots of ground to cover yet!
Our second game on Saturday would be ASL Scenario J190 Trial Run. This scenario is designed by Chas Argent and focuses on fighting at the Ricchio River, Italy in January of 1944. I've always been partial to Italian based scenarios...after Normandy of course!! In this scenario Canadian forces attempted to cross the Ricchio Riverbed and take the opposite ridge line from defending Fallschirmjaeger.
NOTE: SSR 3 - Dan and I both read it and promptly completely forgot about it. So the streak of no perfect ASL game ever having been played...goes unbroken. Our apologies to Chas as that SSR would certainly have added a nice element of spice to the game.
Look...here's SSR 3 - yep I see it...
As the attacking Canadians, I would command the men of Company A, The Perth Regiment, 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade. My force would consist of 13 x 4-5-7's and a 2-4-7 led by an 8-1, 2 x 8-0's and a 7-0 with 3 x LMG's and 2 x 51 MTR's. I would have have 4 Sherman Tanks...cause everything is better with a Sherman Tank...don't you think?
The battle space on the awesome Board 50 map.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Germans must keep the Canadians from exiting. I will set up the AT gun in M2. It will have clear field of fire in the valley as this is the likely approach of the tanks. The woods road is too susceptible to PF shots. The 7-0, HS and MMG will set up in O5 with a trench as a rally point. While the other trenches set up in T5, S6 and R5. The 9-1 will set up with a squad and LMG in T5, dummies' will be in S6 and a squad in R5. A foxhole will set up in the crossroads with a squad in Q8. Another squad and foxhole in O3 will protect the gun. Hopefully the tanks will get into the kill zone and the AT gun will get rate."
My plan was to send my infantry around the south edge and then exit as soon as possible.
Turn 1 Canadian - my boys surge forward. One half-squad is wiped out in front of the German 9-1 and MMG. The remainder of my boys would be ok.
During Opportunity Fire, my mortar would get a crit hit on Dan's 9-1 and MMG. I would break the lot and wound the 9-1. Just like that the door forward had been kicked open.
With the front door open, my boys sidled over the south and began moving around the flank. Things were falling into place, but another half-squad would KIA'd by the German LMG team covering the south.
Turn 3 Canadian - I bring my armor on from the north edge and try to run up the dry stream bed. And naturally I move right next to the German 50L AT Gun. Dan would Shock the lead tank, but the other three would stream on by...(like that...Stream on by...I crack myself up...)
Dan would MALF the 50L AT Gun with an Intensive Fire shot. Dan and I both take Intensive Fire shots all the time. 80% of the time it is successful...but that 20% can sure bite you hard. Dan's Fallschirmjaegers had rallied in the center and had successfully divided my force attempting to exit on the southside.
My Canadians would continue to move towards the exits. My 8-1 stack would get off and give me a huge number of points. I would win immediately by exiting 16 VP. This movement would help me get about 11-12 off the map. So I was in good shape.
Dan's Fallschirmjaeger kept up the pressure and successfully stopped my remaining infantry from exiting and were moving quickly to go after my three surviving tanks. I only needed to exit one tank for the immediate win...but it wasn't looking good...
Dan would do an excellent job of getting his Fallschirmjaeger to each of my three Shermans.
So the final movement phase of my Canadians...I would either exit a tank or lose the game. Dan would successfully Panzerfaust two Shermans...but the third would make a clean get away for the Canadian win.
"The plan did not work. The Canadians were able to exit enough infantry and the AT gun broke on an intensive fire shot after shocking one tank (eventually UK). Well played by grumble Jones who moved the infantry on one flank and the tanks on the other to keep the small German force off balance. This is a great little scenario, sure to be a staple at tournaments."
Whew...that's a lot of ASL...it's time for Game 4...
I know I am!!!
Okay, we have finally reached Game 4. Man...I don't know about you...but I'm worn out! Blogging these games takes more time than playing them! Our final game of the Memorial Day Weekend would be ASL Scenario 114 Cautious Crusaders.
Designed by Brian Martuzas, this scenario deals with a Slovakian force on bicycles that are assaulting an urban location in the Ukraine in late July 1941.
Supported with armored cars and light tanks, the Slovakians made an attempt to carry the Soviet positions, but Soviet artillery and accurate fire from anti-tank guns held off the Slovakians.
Our playing of the scenario would model the historical result.
As the attacking Slovakians, I would command the men of the Motorized Reconnaissance Group and 3rd Armored Company. This force would consist of 20 x 4-4-7's led by 3 x 8-1's and 2 x 7-0's with 3 x LMG's, an MMG, a 50 MTR, 3 x Armored Cars and 6 x Tanks.
As the defending Russians, Dan would command the men of the 305th Infantry Regiment, 44th Siberian Mountain Division. This force would consist of 17 x 4-4-7's, 6 x 4-2-6's, 2 x 2-2-8's led by a 9-0, 2 x 8-1's, and 2 x 7-0's with an HMG, MMG, 2 x LMG's, 2 x ATR's, a 50 MTR, 6 x Foxholes, 2 x 37L AT Guns and 2 x Komsomolets.
A look at the battlefield. This is a wide ranging battle. The Slovakians have to take the factory location and six additional multi-hex buildings. Not easy to do.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Russians must defend the multi-hex buildings on board 49. The plan is to build a defense in depth due to set up restrictions. The MTR will set up on the level 2 hill to take pot shots are attackers. The conscripts and commissar will set up in the board 48 village. The ATR will set up on the east flank to take shots at passing vehicles. The filed phone will set up in the level 1 of the board 49 P building. The AT gun will set up in 49R9 building. The 8-1 and HMG will set up in level 1 of 49K10. All the reinforcements will come on the east edge and go for the factory. With the AT gun covering the flank and unloading on the railroad. Hopefully the Slovakians can be delayed enough to allow the reinforcements to get into the factory."
My attack plan...such as it was involved sending the armored cars towards the crossroads to control that area. A secondary force would follow behind them to move towards the center multi-hex buildings. The bulk of my force was headed to the hill and from there into the factory.
My attack went off reasonably well. I would end up with some broken dudes, but nothing too bad.
Dan's OBA shows up an would really mess with me.
I was able to take the hill top position pretty quickly and turning the Russian Mortar back on them. My Turn 2 reinforcements would assist the drive on the factory, while a smaller group reinforced the center. Dan's arty began falling and destroyed one of the armored cars.
My attacks on the hill and factory would go pretty well, but my drive up the center was stymied by the Russian arty.
Dan's reinforcement AT Gun would arrive and would ultimately destroy 4 of my tanks. 37L AT Guns...who knew they were so powerful. The lesson here is that you should ignore enemy assets that cannot impede your attack. I let it get personal with that dang AT Gun and kept attacking it until I finally broke the crew...but that effort would cost me the game. Emotional decisions...never good ones in ASL.
Dan's next batch of reinforcing infantry would hit me at the factory. I would eliminate them, but again, they kept my forces from pivoting to drive up the road and get additional locations.
The grain field became a mess with flames, blazes and smoke. And no the smoke isn't all correct...it just became too much after 5 hours of play to deal with the fire spreading. The fight for the factory would dominate the remainder of the game.
Last shot as the Slovakians finally won the battle for the factory. Additionally, my boys had managed to move to the west and were on a path to take control of two multi-hex buildings. But after 7 hours and with the 11:00 PM hour approaching, Dan and I did a quick check and both agreed that if everything fell into place for my Slovakians, I would still be one building short of the victory. So, I gave the concession and we called it game over. Dan's effective use of his OBA and his 37L AT Gun of death, ensured a well earned victory for him.
My thanks to Dan for spending so much time with me this weekend. Without Dan's generous sharing of his time, I would have spent much of this Memorial Day weekend alone and missing family and friends. So many thanks Dan for the games and for the friendship! As for me, with 3 wins, I finally achieved a winning record for the year. After 49 games, I have 25 wins and 24 losses. But I began the year at 0-11...so getting to a winning record has been a real challenge this year.
And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:
"The plan worked...barely. The Slovakians were able to get the factory but the AT gun was able to destroy 4 tanks. The reinforcements were destroyed but absorbed most of the Slovakian attack force. The OBA destroyed two armored cars and the AT gun got the last one. The OBA also started a fire which smoked up the battlefield and allowed the Slovakians to attack through the board 48 village into the multi-hex buildings on board 49. However, the Russians held the center 4 multi-hex buildings and building 49K10 for the win. This scenario is old school play with each side needing to use their assets to keep in the game. It makes for a long and grinding scenario. My thanks to Grumble Jones for an excellent game of ASL!"
Well folks, I am knackered...wore out and ready to call it a day. And of course, I'm a working man again...so I have to rest up for week 2 of my new job. It's good to be back among the employed again.
Okay that's a wrap on the first 4 Scenario AAR.
Dan and I will be back next Saturday for another blazing game of ASL.
We will see you then!
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