Well...here we are again to talk about some ASL. Another week and another three games of ASL. Dan and I would play on Monday and Saturday, while my regular STL opponent and I would get in a Starter Kit game on Friday. All three were good scenarios...but all three were again not memorable games. During my Monday game, Dan's dice were so hot with '3's that by Turn 2, I was on the ropes and headed to defeat town. Friday's game went down the same way as my opponent rolled snakes to such an extent that my Japanese were all but eliminated by Turn 3. And then there was our Saturday Game, Parker's Crossroads. This a big scenario that I have been curious to play for quite some time. In fact, I spent the whole weeks looking at my defense and tweaking it all the way up to game time. We went to about Turn 3, before it also came to end as the Germans watched the bulk of the armor be lost.
What went wrong this week?
So let's look at Monday's scenario WP15 Burnt, Blue and Gray. Designed by George Kelln, this is a classic Normandy Bocage scenario with Germans trying to push through defending American infantry.
ROAR has this one with 25 German wins to 25 American wins. That's a balanced scenario. But our playing would feel out of kilter. Why?
Turn 1 - Dan's Germans aggressively attack my upfront defense. I successfully knock the Germans backwards with breaks and losses from a wall of fire. But a single German 5-4-8 with an LMG manages to flank one of my forward positions. Then in Advancing Fire, Dan's dice just annihilated me with '3's', which broken my entire left flank.
Turn 1 American - I try to fall back, but Dan's got me in defilade, so I have to go slow and I don't get into my second line of defense.
Turn 2 - Dan's aggressive tactics knock me on heels and both my Bazookas fail to do anything...even though adjacent to both of his STUG's. And again, Dan's Advancing Fire is hugely successful as '3's' rain down from the dice gods. At the end of 2 turns, I threw in the towel. I was getting diced and no amount of strategy was going to save me. I had no bazookas left, my left flank was gone and there was nothing to stop Dan from exiting for the win. Getting diced happens. I myself diced an opponent during the 2018 STL Tournament. He threw in the towel before the end of the Turn 1 movement phase. So, I have been on both sides of that and I know how great it feels when you're doing the dicing and how absolutely awful it feels, when you're on the receiving end of a total butt whipping. And this brings me to Personal ELR. We all get emotional playing ASL. Controlling your emotions through heavy losses can be critical. I've seen games turn around, when I thought I had lost it turns earlier.
Personal ELR will be at the root of this week's games and why they fell a little flat. Back in the early days, I never worried about winning or losing (my record bears this out). I just loved to play the game. I still love to play the game, but today, I'm a bit more pre-occupied by playing my best game and trying to win. And yes, you should always play your best for not only yourself, but your opponent as well. We all love the games that come down to the last turn and the last close combat after a hard fought battle. Throwing in the towel on Round 2 leaves you feeling a bit flat. Sure you enjoy getting the win, but it just doesn't feel that great. And if you're the one throwing in the towel...you find yourself replaying the game and thinking..."maybe I was still in it, if this happened or that happened.
So what is really behind loss of Personal ELR in an ASL game? There are generally three causes: 1) you're getting diced/wiped out; 2) you're no interested in watching your force be decimated on the off chance that you might still win; 3) you're upset about stuff not related to ASL at all...
In my experience, #3 is generally the root cause of Personal ELR failed task checks. Yep, you're head is filled with non-game related crap that has been weighing heavily on you and watching your kill stack get snuffed out by a 24 factor -2 shot that just rolled snakes...is simply more than you can bear in your current emotional state!!
ASL is too complicated a game to find your focus divided from the tasks at hand...
For me, I'm dealing with a lot of personal stuff that is sapping my joy and saddling me with a lot of worry. Usually, ASL is a great way to step away from all that garbage and just immerse yourself in what is a fantastic game. But then you spring your ambush with a 10-2/50 CAL/ and firing into a boresighted location...and you roll an 'effing" 11. And the result is nothing...not even rate of fire...when you had a 1-3 on the colored die chance of getting it. And then your opponent runs a 4-3-6 in the open adjacent to your 6-6-6 (a 12 - 2 shot) and you roll two 5's. An 8 at 8. The 4-3-6 rolls a 4 on his MC. You are now final fired due to cowering. In Advancing Fire, the 4-3-6 forces you to make an NMC. you roll a 6 and are now pinned. In close combat, the 4-3-6 gets ambush and destroys you. We've all been there...and if you are already feeling down...well...welcome to the bottom of the dark well of despair!!!
On that cheery note...let's continue our exploration of failed Personal ELR with our second game - ASL Scenario S80 Spring and Summer. This Starter Kit scenario is an exit game with Japanese trying to get through the jungle and Australians for the win. Designed by Ken Dunn, ROAR has this scenario with 3 Australian and 2 Japanese wins. Again, first glance shows this to be a balanced scenario.
I would have the Japanese and put together big stacks and try to go for the Banzai charge on Turn 1 to take down two Australian squads that were just three hexes away. I had a 70mm Gun and Prep-Fired it on the Australian 4-5-7. Boxcars...yep first roll is a damn boxcars. So I send my leader and three squads charging. My opponent rolls snakes -2. Goodbye stack.
I kept my head in the game and moved forward. But on Turn 3, another lucky shot from my opponent would KIA my best leader and shatter nearly half of my remaining force. I needed to exit 11 VP to win and I no longer had that available. For the second game in a row, my opponent's dice had diced me like a tomato. Yes...moving in stacks had something to do with it as well. So that's on me.
Ain't that the truth...
As Saturday approached, I pored over the battlefield and placed my American defense in a way that I felt gave me the best opportunity to win. Nothing is ever certain in ASL. You just gotta pray and play.
I really enjoy the opportunity to set up a defense and spend time evaluating it before game time. And it paid dividends for me as my defense and expectations of where Dan's attacks would materialize were very much in alignment.
My third game would be the "Our Saturday Game". This is a 10-1/2 turn beast that I felt would result in a great and interesting AAR. Well...it's good be to an optimist.
Designed by Brian Martuzas, ASL 197 Parker's Crossroads covers the Battle of the Bulge action by the same name. It's classic snow covered Belgium at the height of Wach am Rhein. A desperate ad-hoc American force tries to slow down SS armor and grenadiers.
ROAR has this one with 3 American and 0 German wins. The earlier G26 version of the scenario has 14 American to 11 German wins. This is a large scenario and these days, folks don't always want to play a big scenario, so the current ROAR record for the 197 version is probably not a good indicator of whether this scenario version is balanced. I feel certain that it is, it just needs more folks to give it a playing.
I also wanted to do justice to Brian's scenario. Especially since he would actually be on the field!!
The German force enters from the west edge of Board 35, the north edge, the east edge of Board 42 and the east edge of Board 35 over Turns 1 -4 . The Germans have a powerful force, but it's piecemeal introduction to the battle has to be managed by the German player. An American advantage is the opportunity to deal with small portions of the total German force before they can work together jointly.
My strategy would be stay close to the victory perimeter and cover my flanks with machine guns, the 3 105's and my Sherman tanks. My half-track meat choppers would be in the rear to pour fire on any Germans crossing through the middle of the board. My pre-registered OBA would land in the center Brush cluster. My intent was to deprive Dan's Germans of using that as a base of fire location. It would also force his units to go around either side and into the open areas of boards 16 and 33.
As the defending Americans, my force would consist of 5 x 7-4-7's, 3 x 6-6-7's, 6 x 6-6-6's, 3 x 5-4-6's, 2 x 3-3-7's, 3 x 3-4-7's and 5 x 2-2-7's led by a 10-2, 9-1, 8-1, 8-0 and 7-0 with a 50 CAL, HMG, 4 x LMG's 5 x BAZ44s, 2 x 60 MTR's, a 100mm OBA Radio, 4 x Shermans, 2 x Stuarts, 4 x Half-tracks and 3 x 105 ARTY's with 9 x foxholes.
Between both OOB's...that's a lot of counter management.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Germans must attack across the open ground and clear the compound on board 43. The plan is to gather the German forces on board 19 and attack through the brush into board 43. We will use the board edge cover. Hopefully the German armor advantage can clear the way against the American AA halftracks."
A look at the German entry points.
Dan's MKIV Panzerkeil would come straight ahead.
Turn 1 German - the 2nd SS Das Reich Division arrives on the field. I would take one shot from a Sherman at a half-track and miss.
On my part of Turn 1 - my radio guy would drop my ARTY right on target. My Sherman would miss his acquired half-track target and get taken out by a MKIV. Hull down....Mist...long ranger...did me no good. 25% of my Shermans were gone right off the bat.
Turn 2 would see some bigger action as Dan's Panthers entered the fray. I would immobilize a MKIV with the OBA, destroy a half-track, MKIV and STUG with Shermans and another MKIV with a bazooka. A tough blow for Dan as half of his MIV's were effectively out of action.
A single Sherman would knock out a STUG and MKIV and still have rate with no other target.
A look at the German penetration at the end of Turn 2 German.
Despite the losses in tanks, Dan's Grenadiers were still in great shape and moving up to get into the fight.
Turn 3 - my final concealed Sherman had waited patiently for the right shot. A Panther commanded by Oberleutnant Martuzas moved across its line of sight. It was side shot. I got hit and a kill with no surviving crew. Another MKIV be lost to a bazooka, while yet another would fail an ESB to stop roll and be immobilized in the brush. Together these would be a Personal ELR moment for Dan in a game that he wasn't really enjoying up to that point.
"Can't pass an ESB die roll to stop...!?!!?"
As we wrapped up Turn 3 - Dan gave the concession and it was game over and an American win. At this point in the game, the Americans had lost 2 of the 105 Guns, a Stuart and a Sherman. The Germans has lost a half-track. 2 x MIV's were immobilized, 3 x MKIV's were knocked out, a STUG and a Panther were knocked out. The Americans had 3 x Shermans and a Stuart along with all half-tracks, while Dan was down to a Panther, a STUG and a MKIV. Tactically, my Shermans in the south were moving up to stop the grenadiers from getting across the open. The rest of my force would content with the tanks and half-tracks on the other flank. From Dan's perspective it was game over. The Americans had the edge in armor and with a 105 and 5 x Bazookas still in the fight, his half-tracks would struggle to move up to support the grenadiers, who would be vulnerable without the armor. Additionally, Dan's 7-0 with the Radio had been broken and was not able to rally. So that was it.
Scenarios like this could certainly continue to be played and the expected results may well be different. ASL is a quirky game. One moment you're in the catbird seat and the next, you're reeling from losses you can't take. So, it's entirely possible that had the game continued, that Dan may have regained the momentum and made significant gains. But the victory conditions require only that the Americans have a single MMC or AFV with functioning MA in the victory area at game end. Dan could see that the American force was too strong to completely defeat with what force he had left. Playing another two hours or more to reach the same conclusion really made no sense.
My thanks to Dan and Scott for another week of ASL. The games didn't pan out the way we expected, but they were still fun to play and I'm always glad for the opportunity to push cardboard.
And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:
"The plan did not work. Even with the mist the Americans got hits on the German armored vehicles and before the Germans could form up for the attack the armored battle was over. Well played by Grumble Jones who used concealment and bore sighting to stop the German attack. This scenario has everything no fun about playing against Americans, massive firepower and crossing open ground. The mist does not help. There is way too much maneuver required in the scenario before the attack can begin. And the result is likely the same, high American firepower killing everything in the open. Congrats to Grumble Jones on a masterful defense."
That's a wrap on a bit of a gloomy day.
But we'll be back next week with some more happy go lucky ASL fun!
We will see you then!
No comments:
Post a Comment