Another week has past and another three great games of ASL were played. Three games a week is a lot and I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to play as often as I have been these past many months. Dan would be my opponent for all three games, as my STL buddy was ill and not able to play on Friday.
Dan and I would play two scenarios from Hollow Legions and one from the Swedish Volunteers. All three games were a bit different, but I have to say all three were slightly forgettable. I know a wee bit of heresy in writing that. But when you are playing a lot of scenarios and you expect to be playing a lot more, you do start to compare the fun factor of various scenarios against the events that occur during the game and of course you own likes and dislikes for a given theater of operation, WWII time-frame and of course nationalities involved in the game.
We'll start with our Friday game, which was AP 149 Lions and Tin Men. Designed by Erik Leander, this scenario takes place in Norway and its a board exit scenario with the Germans as the attackers against Norwegians and Swedish Volunteers.
Dan would be the defending Allies and the I would be the attacking Germans. ROAR has this with 9 German to 2 Allied wins. I elected to bring on the Panzer MK1 and it did excellent work in helping me punch forward. The German 81 Mortar failed to get smoke on the very first shot, but then went on to pummel the MMG and LMG positions. With those removed, the Germans surged forward and overwhelmed the Allies.
By Turn 4, I had exited the necessary points and had suffered no losses in the process. Not really a great thing to see. The Allies really have no answer to the MK I and of course getting rate of fire with the 81 MTR would prove to be devastating.
Next up would be our Monday game - ASL 266 Nocturnal Attrition. As of this writing, ROAR only has our game listed, which puts the scenario at 1 Italian and 0 New Zealand wins. Designed by Roger Best, this scenario is a night battle with the New Zealanders attempting to inflict CVP or control 2 key hill locations to win the scenario. It's a bit reminiscent of Fort McGregor.
I'll be honest...not a fan of night scenarios. I've played more than a few and generally find them difficult to enjoy. So much of what you have in ASL muscle memory has to be been set aside. You can move in the open (outside of the NVR)...not get shot at and not lose concealment. It's hard to remember that at times. Straying is an absolute pain the backside. It's has hurt me in more night scenarios than I like to remember. It would hurt me in this one as well. At a key moment in the battle, when I needed to reinforce a location, the troops strayed and went the opposite direction. I would lose the location shortly thereafter.
Bad luck would also plague my attacking New Zealanders. I would move adjacent (concealed) to one of Dan's 47 Guns. It would get a lucky hit on me with rate and then proceed to chew up a stack of 3 squads and my best leader. That was a third of my force basically sent packing. I paid the price for stacking. My strategy was to advance into close combat and waste the Italians with overwhelming force. And I got burned. I would have some success and was moving forward...but my personal ELR was toast and I wasn't digging the straying issues and Dan's continual rate of fire tears with his two guns and 9-2 firing machine gun. So despite still having a chance to win...I threw in the towel and gave the concession. Dan's defense was well situated and once he started sending up star shells...well that was it for me.
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Our Saturday game would also be from Hollow Legions and take us to 1936 Ethiopia. I have always been intrigued with the later fighting in British Somalia Land, but had never really been keen on playing the battles in Ethiopia. Number one, there just weren't a lot scenarios based in this theater and of course we didn't have Ethiopian counters. Well now we do...and they are really fantastic. I was eager to get them on the board and see how an Ethiopian battle went down in ASL.
Our selected scenario would ASL 257 Circle the Wagons. Designed by Rick Thomas this is a classic ambush scenario. The Italians are strung out on desert track minding their own business, when suddenly Ethiopians attack their column from all sides. I was excited to play the scenario (even as the Italians). I thought it would be a fun change of pace from 1944 Normandy. And it was a change of pace and would remind me of playing Civil War ASL.
ROAR has this scenario with 4 Italian and 0 Ethiopian wins. Having played it...I can see why. The Ethiopians start the scenario too far away from the track with the exception of two HIP units that can be adjacent to the track and get some nice shots on the unsuspecting Italians.
The Italians must set up in a continuous column on the track and are heading towards the right board edge. The Ethiopians set up all around the map. But as I indicated earlier, they set up six hexes away from the track except for their HIPSTER's. The predominant Ethiopian squad is a 2-3-7 and the predominant Italian squad is a 3-4-6. So this scenario would see a lot of low odds shot at long range for basically no result. Yep...we're not in 1944 Western Europe. One note for the Italian Player. Once your units break...there's no routing...cause you are surrounded and can see 16 hexes in all directions. The Ethiopian Player needs to remember this as well. You don't have to attack from all sides. Push hard and inflict breaks from one side and there is no routing away. Italian 3-4-6's...well...don't that they just start the game broken....(there are few squads I dislike more than Italian 3-4-6's).
As the defending Italians, I would command elements of 83 Reggimento Fanteria and 19 Reggimento Artiglieria da Campagna, 19 Divisione Fanteria "Gaviana". My force would consist of 18 x 3-4-6's, and 3 x 2-2-7's led by a 9-1, 8-1, and 2 x 8-0's with an MMG and 3 x LMG's with 5 x Trucks, 3 x Wagons hauling 2 x 75 ARTY's and 1 x 100 ARTY. On Turn 5, I would get 5 x 3-4-7's led by a 7-0 on horseback.
As the attacking Ethiopians, Dan would command elements of the Army of Gojjam. His force would consist of 3 x 3-3-7's, 18 x 2-3-7's and a 1-2-7 led by a 9-1, 8-1 and 7-0 with an MMG and 2 x LMG's.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Ethiopians must ambush the Italians and inflict 22 or more CVP without losing 30 or more CVP. The Ethiopians will set up two HIP units adjacent to the track each with a 3-3-7 squad and LMG. The 9-1 and 8-1 will also set up with the HIP squads. The 7-0 will set up with a human wave group from the south with nine 2-3-7 squads. The crew and MMG will set up east of the track to fire at moving units. Also the last 3-3-7 and two 2-3-7 squads will set up on the east. Two 2-3-7 squads will set up on the west side. With six 2-3-7 squads on the north to keep units from exiting and to act as an anvil to the human wave hammer. Hopefully the ambush units can get some vehicle kills and immediate CVP kills in CC."
A couple NOTES: Picture quality is not great. My poster board frame that I use for bigger scenarios is just a glare magnet. It's awful. Hopefully, my next office will have a different lighting and help alleviate some of the glare.
And just an FYI - this AAR will be short. Dan and I played 2 turns and that was the game. I've said previously that Dan and I play fast. We are also keen to get into the action early and often. So there are those games, where the sustained losses are just too heavy for the game to continue. That would be the case in tonight's game.
Setup is simultaneous with the Ethiopian Player secretly recording his locations and then revealing his units once all the Italians are on the track. Cardboard vai SKYPE shines in this kind of environment. No need for Dan to manually record his units. He just set them up and his map. So there's one of the great advantages of this way of playing ASL.
Dan's 9-1, a 3-3-7 and an LMG would set up HIP next to the track. Another 3-3-7 would also setup HIP next to the track. Dan's MMG was accidentally missed during setup. So it was not HIP...I just had missed it during setup when Dan called it out. I also got my north/south confused and my trucks were pointing in the wrong direction at the start.
Dan would launch a Human Wave attack from my left flank.
Dan's MMG would open up on me and break a squad, but wouldn't do anything else. Dan would MALF it and then throw it away on a Repair 6 dr. Boxcars...ruining ASL games since 1985. That MMG was the only real asset the Ethiopians had. It's removal from the battlefield was a huge aid to my Italians.
"Remember to fire bursts only...we don't have any extra ammo."
On my part of Turn 1, I would get my 100 and one of the 75 ARTY's into action. My other wagon had been ambushed by Dan and the crew was killed for failure to rout. In CC Dan would jump on the wagon and roll boxcars...and suffer casualty reduction and be held in MELEE. The wagon would survive. Boxcars...oh you know the line.
At this stage I had one truck burning, one of my ARTY wagons in Melee, and another truck immobilized.
Turn 2 - Dan's Human Wave hits my left flank. I fired away and did manage to KIA the 7-0 and a half-squad. The rest of the wave made contact.
My dice rolls were to the high side as my boys fired 1-1/2 or 3 factor shots. But my rolls in Close Combat would be very good with two Snake Eyes and the creation of two Italian 7-0's.
Dan's Human Wave would fail to deliver a knock out blow. We would both die, but my newly created 7-0 would add his weight to another Close Combat and help the Italians to get good results.
At this point, Dan had suffered 19 CVP and the Italians had suffered 12 CVP. All of the Ethiopian leaders were KIA'd. So no more Human Waves would be possible. Two of my guns were in action and protecting my remaining trucks and wagons. My 9-1 had two squads and an MMG holding the right flank.
A final look at the battle at the end of Turn 2 and the Ethiopian concession. The momentum had shifted to the Italians. On the bottom of the battle, Dan's boys were broken and being pursued by my guys. Four more points would soon go to the Ethiopian CVP. On the right flank, my boys had won the close combats and were anchored by the 9-1 and MMG. On the left, Dan's boys had a numerical edge, but my boys would fall back to the 75 ARTY on the track and blast them. With their low firepower and no LMG's left, they didn't have the juice to salvage a win. Failing to win the close combats and eliminate trucks and wagons deprived Dan's boys of the CVP they needed in order to win.
Dan's good dice rolling on morale checks vanished in close combat, where he averaged 10 and 11. I had poor IFT dice rolls, but in Close Combat, my dice ruled and secured the victory for my Italians.
Two turns may not have given this scenario justice. It's 6 turns long and I never got to bring on my Turn 5 reinforcements. It's always a bummer when a scenario feels like it finishes too early. But there is also a touch of reality to that. In our playing, with all of their leaders KIA'd, the Ethiopians would have more likely quit the field to regroup and live to fight another day. Only cardboard warriors keep fighting until they are completely wiped out. My thanks to Dan for some solid ASL. These games might not make our memory highlight reels...but all ASL is a good ASL!
And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:
"The plan did not work. The ambush units both had good targets with one immediately eliminating a truck and the other immobilizing a wagon and killing the crew of the 75mm ART. However, bad dice quickly eliminated the advantage. The units could not get kills in CC with the squad attacking the immobilized wagon rolling a 12 to CR. The MMG broke on a 12 in Prep and the human wave was delayed by broken ground movement. Then the CC kept going bad for the Ethiopians with both the 9-1 and 8-1 being killed and the human wave attackers being killed. The Italians rolled two snake eyes in CC. By the end of turn 2 the Ethiopians had lost 19 CVP and only inflicted 12. With no attackers in CC and no MGs the low firepower Ethiopians faced an uphill battle to get more CVP. Congrats to Grumble Jones on a win with Italians! This scenario is fun and the terrain is unique for the desert. But the Ethiopians must bail hay with the initial ambushing units and get into productive CC or the Italian firepower will tell."
That's all from Abyssinia.
Dan and I will be back next week with a playing of ASL 197 Parker's Crossroads!
Can't wait!!
We will see you then!
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