After a week of downtime, Dan Best and I were back in the fight. You may recall that we were to play The Hornet of Cloville two Mondays ago. Well, we weren't able to play that day and so played it as our Saturday Game. It would go quickly as Dan and I finished it in 2-1/2 hours. Don't believe anyone who tells you playing Cardboard via SKYPE is slow. It ain't.
Until recently, I only played Schwerpunkt scenarios at tournaments. I didn't own any of the packs and so these were something new to me. Prior to attending my first tournament, I was strictly an MMP scenarios guy. I never any considered playing third party.
But after that first tournament, I joined the third party club and have been enjoying third party offerings ever since.
SP5 The Hornet of Cloville is set in Normandy...which is my favorite ASL setting. Dan is an East Front Fanatic and me...well I'm a West Front fanatic. I struggle when playing Russians and Dan struggles when playing the Americans.
Designed by Evan Sherry, this scenario is 4-1/2 turns long and just perfect when time is short. As I mentioned we played the full 4-1/2 turns in just over 2 hours. Of course, Dan and I play faster than most. But personally, I've always thought ASL should be played fast. It ain't chess...it's something much better.
ROAR has this scenario with 100 German wins to 64 American wins. As the American player, I doubted my chances for winning this scenario. ROAR shows it to be pretty pro-German. The ASL Archive has it with 6 American and 5 German. It's interesting that the trends of which side wins does differ greatly from time to time when comparing ROAR to the ASL Archive. More players do seem to load their game results into ROAR than into the Archive. But the advantage of the ASL Archive is the opportunity to see which players loaded their results. This gives you a better idea of the caliber of players reporting the data. So I would encourage you to load your results into both ROAR and the ASL Archive.
As the defending Germans, Dan would command Abteilung 3, Fallschirmjaeger Regiment 9, Fallschirmjaeger Division 3. This force would consist of 5 x 5-4-8's led by an 8-1 and 7-0 with an MMG, LMG, and Panzerschreck and a Nashorn and Panzer IV.
As the attacking Americans, I would command Company E, 2nd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment and elements of the 741st Tank Battalion. My force would consist of 9 x 6-6-6's led by a 9-1 and 8-1 with 2 x MMG's, a Bazooka and 3 x Sherman Tanks with a 9-1 Armor Leader.
A look at the battlespace. The Americans can enter from the north and/or west edges. It's a tight battlefield to be sure.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Germans must defend the board 42 village. The plan will be for a tight defense using the stone buildings. No squad will deploy, the 20% loss of firepower is too much. The 8-1 squad and MMG will set up in the rubble in I4. This had good fire lane possibilities. A squad and LMG will set up in H5 and a squad and PSK in D5. The other two squads will set up as a screen in J5 and J3. The Hornet will set up in H3 with a bore site on G8. The Pz IV will set up in E4 with a bore site of A6. Hopefully the infantry can delay the Americans long enough to hold out for the win."
Today's pictures are provided by the Grumble Jones staff photographer embedded with the Fallschirmjaeger. This photographer provided the many pictures from the 2015 playing of Lone Canuck's Purple Heart Draw campaign. A good man to have in a tough fight.
My strategy for the assault was to hit Dan from three sides. Out of the picture on the left are two Shermans and the 9-1 with an MMG, BAZ 44 and 3 squads. On the north edge (top) the 8-1 has an MMG and 3 squads with 2 half-squads and then another full squad armor assaulting with a Sherman. And the lastly is a single 6-6-6 squad to come in from the east end of the village. Dan's armor began the game concealed. I placed them the Hornet and MKIV where I believed they were and would be correct.
I knew Dan's boys were watching me...
Turn 1 American - I move cautiously. Dan holds his fire.He's a steely eyed missile man...
As my part of Turn 1 ended, I was positioned on the three sides. But I had yet to reveal any of Dan's concealed boys...guess my old friend Willy Pete would have to make an appearance...
"No sign of the Germans yet sir..."
Turn 2 American - Willy Pete shows up and reveals a 5-4-8 with an LMG. The rest of my boys move cautiously to put pressure on the Germans. My armor remains in place firing WP and supporting the infantry movements. The Germans KIA one of my 3-4-6 scouts and break the other one. We had made contact with the enemy.
Turn 2 German - Dan breaks a squad and then goes to movement phase. The 5-4-8 with the LMG in the Willy Pete house tries to get out and is wiped out. The MKIV moves to push me away from the east end of the village. And a 5-4-8 in the south attempts to escape and is broken and casualty reduced. His panzerschreck squad also moves to get into close combat with my 6-6-6 in the center.
Dan's Panzerschreck squad is eliminated in close combat and my 6-6-6 is casualty reduced. At this point in the game the Germans have 2-1/2 squads left.
My boys were managing to hold out against the veteran Fallschirmjaeger.
Turn 3 - My Shermans move to eliminate the 5-4-8 holding the north of town. I attempt to get troops across the road to keep the Germans DM's with the 7-0, but the German 8-1 foils my plans.
As Turn 3 neared the end, the Germans were still hanging tough.
Turn 3 had created a chink in the Fallschirmjaeger armor. The 5-4-8 with the MMG had rolled snakes during an MC and had gone berserk. Now three squads with an MMG and the 9-1 waited patiently for them at attack. Unbelievably...they would survive the 44 factor shot and only casualty reduce and then make into my hex. Close Combat would see them eliminated...but they should never have survived the first shot...
Turn 4 American - I had taken the 5-4-8 in the north part of town prisoner and it was now time to press the attack and send my Shermans to engage the Nashorn. I would lose one tank to the Nashorn, but my other would force it to pivot. It would fire and miss. In Advancing Fire, my Bazooka team would knock it out. Scratch the Nashorn.
Turn 4 had gone well. I took the German 8-1 prisoner as well, but my 3-4-6 would be eliminated in CC with the German 7-0 and half-squad. But I had two Shermans left and the German infantry was all but gone. Only the MKIV was left.
Turn 4- German - Dan's final movement opportunity. His infantry are reduced to a broken 7-0 who routed back to the new position of the German MKIV.
Turn 5 American and the final turn of the game. I rush infantry at the MKIV from all sides. Its machine guns manage to pin and/or break the 8-1 and 2 squads. My 9-1 manages to take his three squads adjacent, the 6-6-6 from the east also rejoins the fray and comes in from behind. My bailed out crew with a captured German LMG also get adjacent. The MKIV fires it's MA at the approaching infantry. Dan was hoping for rate of fire. But he didn't get it. My first Sherman moves adjacent...Dan intensive fires...misses and breaks the MA...and with that it's game over and an American victory.
NOTE: you will see that the American sniper is under my broken half-squad in the north...that should of course be the German sniper. Not sure how I did that...but just noticed it as I completed this AAR.
It had been a fun game and full of tension. I struggled to get to grips with Dan's dug in Fallschirmjaeger, but luck was on my side. Two rolls would undo Dan's efforts in this game. His 5-4-8 going berserk completely unhinged his defense and allowed me to approach the Nashorn. And lastly his MALF'ing of the MKIV MA resulted in an American win. So once again...the dice have been heard from in a game.
My thanks to Dan for a fun evening of ASL. I think this scenario can be a fun one. It certainly is not easy for either side and subject to dicing due it's small size. But otherwise, it's a fun situation to play out. I would definitely recommend this one if you have not played it already.
And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:
"The plan did not work. The German defense was undone by one squad going berserk and the Pz IV malfing its MA in the last turn. Small tournament scenarios are very susceptible to bad dice. The German defense could not survive the two bad events. Well played by Grumble Jones with a steady attack backed up by good use ow WP to cover the advance. My congrats to Grumble Jones on the win!"
Man was it nice to be back playing some ASL...14 days without ASL...well that's just criminal!!
Mr. Donovan needs to do an ASL song to the Saturday Night Fever...Stayin' Alive...
Hope to hear it on the 2 Half-Squads soon...
Dan and I will be back next week for more rollicking good ASL!!!
We will see you then!
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