As I write tonight's AAR, the skies above Tulsa are lit up with lightning as a heavy thunderstorm passes through. Typical summer day in Oklahoma...awoke to thunder this morning and probably sleeping to the booms tonight. Normally, I don't get the chance to start working on the AAR on Saturday evening. But Dan and I would finish early tonight. In fact, our game only lasted about two hours. Sometimes, games end earlier than expected. This scenario had an 8 CVP cap...which ain't a lot. And it's game over once that is reached. And yeah...it was kind of a bummer for the game to end so quickly. I hardly knew what to do with myself after the game was over.
Tonight's game would be our second from the Yankee ASL Nor Easter Pack II. Our selected scenario would be YASL-16 Legion of Doom. Designed by Michael Sprague, this scenario covers an October action in Russia as the 369th Croatian Regiment went into Stary Sanzhary, Ukraine to clear out Russian resistance. The Urkranian locals assisted the Croatians by revealing where Russian troops were hiding. At the onset of Barbarossa, the Ukrainians treated the Germans and their Allies as liberators. These feelings would of course be short-lived as the Nazis showed what they were really about.
ROAR has this scenario with 1 Croatian and 5 Russian wins. So, the scenario is not following the historical result. Moving across open ground is never easy and when you have no armor...no smoke capability and a HIP Russians with an MMG...well it's not hard to predict the pain that will follow. With only 6 recorded games, it's too early to talk about the scenario balance, but the trend does point solidly to pro-Russian.
Dan would be tonight's attacker and would command the men of the Croatian 369th Regiment. This regiment would be one of the more reliable formations available to the Germans. In this scenario they are depicted using Minor Axis counters. I've seen this in one other Croatian scenario and personally don't agree with it. While not a Wehrmacht formation, they were equipped with German weapons and performed capably in Operation Barbarossa. They performed so well, that they eventually found themselves in Stalingrad and in the fighting for the factory districts. To my knowledge, they are the only non-German unit committed to the fighting inside the city of Stalingrad. It would of course be their tomb.
Dan's force would consist of 9 x 4-4-7's led by an 8-1, 8-0, and 7-0 with 3 x LMG's. On Turn 3, they would get 3 x horse mounted 5-3-7's led by an 8-0.
As the defending Russians, I would command the men of the 216th Rifle Division and NKVD Detachment, Soviet 38th Army. My force would consist of 2 x 6-2-8's, 2 x 4-4-7's, 4 x 4-2-6's, and 2 x 3-2-8's led by an 8+1 Commissar and 7-0 with an MMG and an LMG.
The Nor Easter Pack II came with three new boards, NP1, NP2, and NP3. I always enjoy new boards, and was excited to give this one a playing. This one comes with fences, which by SSR in this game would be hedges. But really nice to see the fences as I believe these were a common obstacle in Ukrainian and Russian villages.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Axis Minors must attack into the village and clear out the Russians. The must take prisoners or run into the CVP cap of 8 fairly quickly. The plan is for the 8-1 and three squads to attack along the south board edge, the 7-0 and two squads attack up the gully and the 8-0 and three squads will attack through the woods setting up a fire base on the tree line. Hopefully they get some breaks on the enemy and can infiltrate past the Russians to take some prisoners in route."
Grain is not in season, so you're looking at a fair amount of open ground. I placed my MMG with a 4-4-4-7 and the 7-0. This would be my HIP unit. I placed both machine guns in the center rear of my position. They were to create fire lanes and provide support for my units upfront. My units upfront had a limited range, so would have to let Dan get close before taking their defensive fire shots...and they would have to count. As mentioned previously, Dan's CVP cap would be 8. I would win automatically if he met or exceeded it. My units had an ELR of 2...so I couldn't stand up to Dan's Croatians. I would need to stop them in the open if at all possible.
Turn 1 Croatian - Dan moves cautiously on the north side, while another stack moves up the gully in the center. In the south, Dan's boys brave the open ground and get hit hard with a few breaks.
Scenarios like this, that require moving across open ground are always tough. Dan was limited in his options. The gully provided the safest route forward and the 7-0 would lead his group safely into the village outskirts.
My forward 4-2-6 by the gully would break, and disrupt. He would surrender in Rout Phase. Prisoners would help absorb Dan's CVP. So I could ill afford to lose them and would have to kill'em if I could.
Turn 2 - Croatian and Dan came at me hard again. I would manage to hold him back.
Turn 2 Russian - I would try to move towards the south and go after all of Dan's brokies. One of my 3-2-8's would take the gamble and Dan would KIA them. In the north, my boys would skulk to avoid getting smacked around. Game Squad Forum has two active threads right now about skulking...cause some folks don't like it. The debate about skulking reminds me of the Call of Duty nonsense where Run and Gun players moan endlessly about Campers. All that said, I will always skulk my force to keep it alive and stay in the way of an advancing enemy. ASL is a game...it is not a simulation...and no wargame should ever pretend to be a simulation of actual combat. Thankfully ASL has no such pretensions.
So at this point in the game so crazy stuff would start to happen. Dan's 8-0 in the south would fail to rally for three Rally Phases in a row. This would sap Dan of infantry strength he really needed. Then in the center, I would break his prisoner toting half-squad. My boys would rise up and KIA them in Close Combat. I had never done this before in ASL.
Turn 3 Croatian - Dan's horse mounted reinforcements enter the game. But time was running out. Dan's CVP was around 5-6. He couldn't afford to lose much more. He would take another squad prisoner, but try to hustle them towards the rear. At this point in the game, both Dan and I thought the momentum had begun to swing back to the Croatians.
This was also the first time during the game that I Dan began to enjoy the scenario.
But for the second time, I would break the prisoner toting half-squad and my boys would once rise up and KIA the Croatians.
My dice were actually pretty hot most of the night. I did roll some 12's, which were costly, but Dan would roll two boxcars also and one would decide the game.
Turn 4 Croatian - Dan's 8-0 in the south had finally rallied up and led a squad forward. I would force them to take a morale check. Dan's 8-0 would roll boxcars and then a 5 on the wound severity. That was game as Dan hit the 8 CVP cap. My Russians had the win...because of a boxcars. What a strange game...two prisoner uprisings that killed their captors....boxcars gone wild. Well...that's ASL!!! Like Forrest Gump said..."you never know what ya gonna get!".
My thanks to Dan for giving this scenario a shot. It was tough on the Croatians and some screwy things happened in this game to take some of the fun out of it. And of course it ended so abruptly with the CVP cap that it just felt a little flat at the end. But hey...we were playing ASL on a Saturday night...what could be better!?!
And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:
"The plan did not work. Mostly due to terrible rolls and ELR reduction by the Axis Minors. But also due to the two squads of prisoners escaping when their guards broke. The Russian defense was up front and while both sides got in some good attacks the attacking Axis Minors hit the CVP cap. Well played by Grumble Jones. This scenario is a good one for learning prisoner and civilian interrogation rules. My thanks to Grumble Jones for a great game."
Well...that's another Saturday game in the bag.
Dan and I will be back next Saturday!
See you then!
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