Our Game - ASL Scenario U42 STAND FAST

2021...what a memorable year for ASL. As I sit and type this, I have played 113 games this year. And I'm predicting at least 120 by year end. I thought last year's 92 total would never be surpassed. And yet here I am with just an incredible catalog of ASL played these past 11 months. I wish I could have blogged an AAR for each game...but unfortunately, blogging is a time-consuming task. And this leads me to an admission, that I will slow down in December with fewer AAR's. I need a break, so December will have a scenario (a Stalingrad DASL) and some fun end of the year posts, but the AAR's will take a break until 2022. I really believe that every scenario deserves an AAR, whether by my hand or someone else's. The ability to research a scenario before playing it can be so helpful. Of course with over 8000 scenarios...that's probably never going to happen. Perhaps in the year 2475, half of those will have an AAR!!!

Transporting your ASL kit will also be a snap!!!

Tonight's AAR will have a special visit from Professor Rollwright. The good doctor hasn't paid us a visit in quite some time. So I'm looking forward to his insights.

Professor Rollwright has been a staple at Grumble Jones for almost ten years now.  In addition to tonight's game, the good doctor may also comment on some other games, which Dan and I played this past week:

ASL 120 Return to Sender  (My Win)

ASL 191 Bucholz Station (Dan Win)

ASL U42 Stand Fast (My Win)

ASL 194 The Attempt to Relieve Peiper (Dan Win)

YASL 19 Indirect Panther (Dan win)

I have blogged this before, but one of the best aspects of my gaming with Dan is that we are so evenly matched. As this past week demonstrated with each of us winning 2 out of the 4 games played and Dan getting the rubber match win the week before. We go into every game knowing that we have a good shot at winning. Of these five games, I personally enjoyed Bucholz Station and Stand Fast the most. Bucholz Station always takes me back to the glory days of Squad Leader. If you haven't played that scenario in a while...well break it out and give it a shot. It's a bit scripted as the old scenarios often were, but it's still a challenging and fun scenario. 

So before we go to the Blog AAR, let's talk about the games that didn't make tonight's AAR.

• First up is YASL 19 Indirect Panther. The Germans have a very confined entry location with hilltop Russians looking down on them. The Germans are well equipped and have an artillery observer in the single Panther. I went with a reverse slope defense...which is not the right thing to do. I was overly worried about the ARTY. And guess what...Dan never even used the ARTY. He used the Panther to take the hills. Had I set up in his grill, I would probably have stopped the German attack. Breaking two of my 3 AT Guns didn't help matters.
• ASL 194 The Attempt to Relieve Peiper - I liked this scenario the least of them all. As the Germans, I had to exit 25 VP through a very narrow...forested corridor. The Americans have HIP Bazooka teams, height advantage and OBA. I tried to stay concealed in the heavy forest cover until I hit the US MLR. But a HIP Bazooka team took out my first STUG. Then the OBA immobilized my second STUG. The OBA went on to inflict heavy losses on my infantry. So at the half-way mark I had to concede as I only had 19 points available to exit. I don't recommend this scenario. It's scripted for a German defeat unless you get pretty lucky or the American doesn't know what he's doing. I don't enjoy being funneled into a kill box with a HIP opponent.
• ASL 191 Bucholz Station - this SL Classic scenario is always fun to play. The setup is scripted, but there are a lot of tactical choices for both sides. My Germans had done well pushing the Americans out of the way. But the 50 CAL got into a second level location and effectively shut down the exit location. At the half-way mark, I was doing ok but getting close to my 13 CVP cap. I was also closing in on the American CVP cap of 13. But then I made the error of errors. I moved my 9-2 and two squads into the wrong hex. I still don't how I did that...but it was in the line of sight of the 50 CAL and the 9-2 would kill my 9-2 leader and break both squads. Just like that I was at 11 CVP...with only 2 more I would lose the game. And on the next Rally Phase I would roll back to back boxcars and casualty reduce two squads and hand the victory to Dan. I was heartsick. I had played a really strong game and just coughed it up at the end.

It is now...but it wasn't then...I was really feeling sick inside at losing because of back to back boxcars.

"Grumble...you have to stop rolling boxcars..."

• ASL 120 Return to Sender - this was our Saturday game and was the biggest of the lot. I chose not to blog it, because of the size and I wanted to do something a little smaller this week. This is a three board scenario with the Germans set up on level 3-4 hill with 3 x 88L's and Bulgarians trying to move through the open to take the hill. Yep...my Germans destroyed 4 of the 6 Bulgarian MKIV's and KIA'd 8 full squads by the end of Turn 2. As we began Turn 3, Dan threw in the towel. He'd had enough of trying to advance against the tough German defense with not much chance of success. This scenario involved a lot of effort to set up, so it was a bummer to end so quickly...but I was rolling uncharacteristically well with 3's and 4's. My MG's were controlling the battlefield and my 88's were connecting and knocking out the Bulgarian armor. 

So of course, you know that ASL Scenario U42 Stand Fast if the selected scenario for tonight's AAR.  Designed by Jim Stahler, this is a small scenario depicting a German defense of a supply depot. The Germans are confined to a small area and must designate to ground level building locations as supply points. The American Player wins immediately upon destroying the supply points.

The Germans have two squads against 5 American. If you haven't played this scenario...well doggone it...stop reading this and set it up and play it. Good grief, it takes an hour to play this scenario and that's  if you're dragging @$$. 

Serioulsy, I'd like to challenge those of you reading this AAR to play this scenario and leave me some comments of how your game went.  This scenario is actually pretty interesting and it would be fun to see how each German player worked out the defense. I'm not sure there is one best way to play this as luck will definitely play a role in deciding the victor.

As the attacking Americans, Dan would command the men of the 9th Infantry Division. This force would consist of 5 x 7-4-7's led by a 9-2 and 8-1 with an MMG and 2 x DC's.

As the defending Germans, I would command the men of the 3 Fallschirmjaeger Division. My force would consist of 2 x 8-3-8's led by 2 x 9-1's and 2 x LMG's.

2 x 8-3-8's...I love 8-3-8's and get them only very rarely.

Yes they will...8-3-8's adjacent will rock your world!!!

Board 3 - my absolute favorite board...

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

"The Americans must get into the center of board 3 and clear out the defending Germans.  The plan is to sweep form the east.  The Americans will enter turn 1 and move to firing positions.  The next turn dash across the road to enter the village.  Once in the village they will begin searching buildings for the supply points.  The DCs will be used to attack any German positions we find.  Eight morale troops in stone building will be difficult to assault.  Hopefully the Germans can be suppressed and the DCs can blast them."

Okay..let's talk German setup. By SSR, the Germans have to set up inside the village ring here. I looked at which building(s) have the most open ground around them and allowed me to maximize my firepower. I could also deploy both my 8-3-8's, but the loss in firepower was just too great. A two level building would also be advantageous for shooting over the hedges and walls. So I would put both supply depots in the lower level of building R3-S3. I would give each 9-1 an LMG and place them by themselves. A risky strategy, but one that would allow me to give myself a little bit more firepower.

So this decision would half the firepower of my LMG's to 1-1/2 or 3 adjacent. But moving in the open against 1-1/2 or 3 factors is still a dangerous proposition.

Dan would surprise me with his entry choice. I had anticipated him coming from at least two sides, but he elected to come in from the east edge and as luck would have it...right into the teeth of my defense.

Dan would move cautiously with assault moves at the edge of the map. But one unit would move in the open behind the wall. I would fire the 9-1 w/LMG in the Level 1 Position and break the units.

In m part of Turn 1, I would stay quiet and Dan's Defensive Fire would break the 9-1 upstairs. He would fall back to regroup. The other 9-1 would move up. 

Dan's first shot with his MMG would be a 12...MALF'd. He would nix it on Repair dr of 6. Just like that it was gone without doing anything.

"As a rule of thumb...you never want to roll Boxcars on your first shot...you should avoid this."

Well...thank you Professor Rollwright...certainly some insightful information...I think....

At this point in the game, Dan was not sure where my supply depots were located. So he had to search buildings. He would enter the north end of the village and begin searching.

The curse of boxcars would afflict me as well. I would MALF both of my LMG's. Seriously...boxcars happen way too often in this game. But my8-3-8's were plenty powerful without the LMG support to break up Dan's assaults.

Dan kept up the pressure and realized that the supply depots were the R3-S3 building. I would manage to keep the DC toting squads from placing their DC's. Stopping the DC's was critical to my survival. I would break my own 9-1 and 8-3-8 on an ill-advised Final Protective Fire Shot. It nearly proved disastrous.

Dan would occupy the S3 supply depot because of my stupidity. But he wouldn't be able to complete its destruction as I risked all and sent my good order 8-3-8 into CC with the US half-squad, while my 9-1 went upstairs to rally the broken 9-1 and 8-3-8.

My move would succeed and my boys would rally. 

At this point in the game, things were looking tough for the Americans. Both 9-1's were no with their respective 8-3-8's. Dan would have to move adjacent in order to get into the locations...and take the 16 factor shots. 

Dan's 9-2 had to fall back to rally brokies while the 8-1 took a squad into CC. They would be killed in the ensuing fight. The Germans were proving to be too tough.

Dan would launch one final assault, but the German firepower was just too much and the Americans were broken.

With the final assault broken, that would be game end and a German victory. In looking back at the game, everything went wrong for Dan's Americans. His initial advance was right into the teeth of my defense, my sniper eliminated his sniper, his MMG would MALF on the first shot and my 8-3-8's were just too tough in a stone building with non-open ground approaches.

My decision to keep my full squads rather than deploying had paid off. ROAR shows this scenario with 14 American and 3 German wins. But as our playing has shown, it's clearly possible for the Germans to win. In fairness, luck was very much with my Germans. 

My thanks to Dan for never quitting on this scenario. He kept attacking until the very last US movement phase and never shirked from moving adjacent to my 8-3-8's. Were the roles reversed, I would probably have conceded early rather than try and move next to the 8-3-8's. 

While the scenario is pro-American, but that shouldn't stop you from giving this one a try. It plays super fast and is good practice for urban fighting. So I definitely recommend giving it a try. 

And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:

"The plan did not work.  The Americans ran head on into the German strongpoint in building R3-S3.  The full firepower of the German squads was too much for the attacking Americans with three breaks over ELR and steady dying by the half squad.  The MMG also broke on the first shot and rolled a 6 on repair.  In small games even a single roll of 12 can be a serious setback.  Well played by Grumble Jones!  Keeping the German MMC full strength and defending one stone building with both supply points is the way to go.  The scenario is small and dicey with the dice going against the Americans.  My congrats to Grumble Jones on a well-deserved win!"

That's all she wrote for tonight. 

We will see you next time here at Grumble Jones!