Our Games - MM79 Race for the Wolfheze and NTX03 The Scugnizzi Boys

Here we are again to talk about another week of ASL. After two weeks of less than stellar play, this week's scenarios went the distance and were both fun outings. My regular Friday night game was the victim of some strange event. My regular STL opponent's modem was knocked over by a loud boom of some sort in the Affton area of St. Louis. With his internet on life support, we were forced to reschedule our Starter Kit game to next week. 

Turns out that the mysterious boom was an earthquake. Interestingly, St. Louis folks on twitter also thought it sounded like and explosion or thunder. The couple earthquakes, which I have experienced in Tulsa had a distinct rumbling sound. So, I guess if you have to miss a game of ASL...this might be a pretty good excuse.

Our Saturday game would be selected from the Grumble Jones Pack. Scenario MM79 Race for the Wolfheze would be my choice.

It's been great fun to play my scenarios from this pack. The KC Team has done a great job of playtesting and revising them.

My Arnhem scenarios have proven to be some of my favorites and seem equally to be among my best designs. Late War, Western Front has always been my favorite theater to play in ASL. And I would argue that getting a balanced scenario can sometimes be easier in late war scenarios. This is particularly true in combined arms scenarios. Certainly, in Western Front battles, both sides have good infantry Anti-Tank capability.  Early war scenarios can be a little tougher as tanks can really dominate those actions.

View of the Wolfheze circa 1944.

As the defending British, I would command the men of B Company, 7th Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, 1st Airlanding Brigade, 1st Airborne Division. My force would consist of 10 x 6-4-8's, and 2 x 2-2-8's led by a 9-1, 8-1, 8-0, and 7-0 with an MMG, 2 x LMG's, 2 x PIATs and 2 x DC's.

As the attacking SS, Dan would command the men of the SS-Battalion Eberwein, Kampfgruppe "Von Tettau". Dan's force would consist of 16 x 4-6-8's, led by a 9-2, 8-1, 8-0 and 7-0 with an MMG, 2 x LMG's a Panzerschreck, 2 x DC's, 2 x Half-tracks and a Flak Panzer 38(t).

The venerable board 6. Still remember opening up Crescendo of Doom and getting this board and board 7 with a River!!! One of the greatest aspects of SL and ASL was the ability to reconfigure the geoboards to create a multitude of engagements. 

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

"The SS thugs must clear the British paras from the hotel building on board 6.  The plan is to attack through the orchard.  The 9-2 three squads with the MMG and LMG will get into building 6J8 at second level to provide cover fire.  While the others attack the hotel from building 6K4 and orchard hexes.  The vehicles will be used for VBM freeze or Russian smoke from the PIATs.  Hopefully once in the hotel the Germans can win some CC to clear the staircases."

The Wolfheze on Board 6 is the objective for both sides. There are 21 possible victory locations (roof tops are in play) in the Wolfheze. The side with control of the most at game end is the winner. The British get to move first, so they will reach the Wolfheze first

Turn 1 British - I sent a blocking force to place the MMG and a PIAT looking down the road, while the bulk of my force CX'd it over to the Wolfheze. We had reservations!!!

Turn 1 German - here comes the Eberwein boys. My MMG would lay a fire lane and pin the German 8-0, but other than scaring him, that was pretty much it!

Turn 2  British -  I send everyone into the Wolfheze, except a 6-4-8 and a 3-4-8 with a PIAT.

"Blimey Harry...why are we always stuck out front. Jerry is sure to come right at us." "Hush George...the Sgt. Major knows you're a crack shot with giant caulk gun." "Oh...now I know you're lying...I aven't even fired one of these before" "Well...I suggest you learn right quick ol' chap!"

Dan's grenadiers made great progress on Turn 2. The first assault on the Wolfheze was imminent. 

There I was with my concealed 6-4-8 just itching for his 12 -2 shot...but then the crack of a KAR98 and suddenly my unit is broken. WHAT!?! Back inside the Wolfheze, I would set a DC in one of the staircase hexes and wait.

Turn 3 German - the first push towards the Wolfheze. All of my Red Devils were inside the Alamo. We just had to keep out the riff-raff!!

Take cover Lads! Jerry is in town!

Now Dan's dice rolls were all over the place during this game. He rolled snakes and boxcars with alarming frequency. He would create three Heroes in the course of the game...but his boxcars would counteract his good fortune. He would MALF the MA on the Flak Panzer 38(t).

Turn 4 would see another push. My PIAT's would take out the Flak Panzer and one of the Half-tracks.

I would successfully keep Dan's grenadiers from getting into the Wolfheze, but one of Heroes would go into CC with a half-squad and my 9-1. He would not survive.

 A look at the German perimeter after four turns.  

Turn 5 German - Dan made another push on the southside of the Wolfheze. I would toss a DC out the first floor window and vaporize a squad of grenadiers. Believe it or not...an ASL first for me!!

Dan and I would both create fanatic and/or berserk squads. This was one stand up fight!

Turn 6 attack. Dan's 9-2 had been laying down some serious 20 factor fire on my boys from across the orchard, but he kept failing to get rate and couldn't follow up on some of the breaks. Meanwhile, my boys were making in nearly impossible to get across the open ground. One German Squad entered the open hex with my set DC. The perished in a 2 KIA fireball...but I failed to rubble the hex.

The final image from the game. My PIAT would take out the last half-track and I would send a 3-3-8 from the Wolfheze to keep a stack of Germans DM'd. On Turn 7, Dan wasn't able to rally anyone and with that it was game over as he didn't have the manpower to take locations in the Wolfheze. It had been a tough game for Dan's Germans. The large number of boxcars sapped the momentum of the German attack. 

And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:

"The plan did not work.  The Brits were able to keep the SS thugs out of the building with defensive fire.  The SS rolled many boxcars and snakes but generally took heavy losses to boxcars.  The casualties were too much for the attacking SS thugs.  Congrats to Grumble Jones on the win.  Well played to hold out for the win.  This scenario depends on getting into the building and the SS could not make it rolling boxcars on morale checks."

Next stop...Italia!!! Our Monday game would be NTX03 The Scugnizzi Boys. I had seen this one played here and there and wanted to give a shot. It's a 5-1/2 turn scenario with small unit sizes and a fairly small battle space. It was a great choice for a weeknight game.

Designed by Matt Evans, The Scugnizzi boys is another of the great scenarios from the North Texas ASL A Fistful of Scenarios Pack. 

ROAR has this scenario with 2 Partisan and 2 Geman wins. I personally really enjoyed this scenario and thought it was a challenging game for both sides. And I couldn't really say that it was harder for one side or the other. 

My only concern is knowing in advance where my opponent has to exit. I'd rather my opponent could secretly choose from a couple or more options. In this scenario, the Germans have just one exit and yep, you are going to camp there and make sure they a heavy price to get away. In defense of the scenario design, given the city environment it is entirely possible that the Partisans would know exactly where the Germans had to go to leave the city.

The Germans do have the option to approach the exit from two sides, which might be advisable.

le quattro giornate di napoli

I highly recommend doing a Google Search on le quattro giornate di napoli and learning about the four days of resistance to the Nazis in Naples. It's fascinating.

Something else to check out would be the Italian movie, Malena, which covers a young Italian boy's coming of age in World War II. Monica Belluci (from Perugia) is outstanding as the object of the town's gossip, affection and hostility. It's a great movie and well worth your time.

It ain't Captain Correlli's Mandolin. It's actually a bit more serious in exploring the struggles of civilian life in World War II Italy. And did I mention that Monica Belluci is in it...?

As the defending Partisans, I would command the men of the Italian Seventh Army and the Scugnizzi boys. My force would consist of a 3-4-6, 2 x 3-3-6's, a 1-2-6 crew led by a 9-1 with an LMG and ATR. My Scugnizzi Boys would consist of 4 x 3-3-7's and 2 x 1-2-7's led by a 7-0 and 6+1. My 6+1 would be a hero in the game that unfolds. ASL...you just never know!

As the attacking Germans, Dan would command the men of the Hermann Goering and 15th Panzer Grenadier Divisions. Dan's force would consist of 2 x 4-6-7's, 5 x 4-4-7's and a 2-3-7 led by an 8-1 and 8-0 with an LMG, Italian Tank and Half-track.

Definitely a unique battlespace. The Partisan Player also must place rubble and shell holes in 8 different, random locations. 

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

"The Germans must attack across the urban board 68 and 64 and exit on road hexes of board 64.  The plan is for a board edge creep.  The Germans will assault along the west edge.  Blasting through the Italians and exiting.  Hopefully they can inflict enough casualties for the win."

This is a small scenario and is a bit scripted by where both sides can set up. The random rubbling creates opportunities for replayability. The burning building also keep you busy as it spreads. Our fire would spread rapidly across that part of the board. Dan's Germans prepared to make their run for the exit.

Turn 1 German - Dan's boys head up the road.

Turn 2- Dan's armor prepares to enter the battle. Meanwhile, his troops make first contact with the Scugnizzi Boys! A sniper breaks one of the German half-squads. And a fire lane shot eliminates another German half-squad as it dashed across the road.

A look at the German penetration as we headed towards Turn 3. The German armor was in the battle, but Dan had suffered some losses and a couple broken squads. The Partisans also had some breaks. And the fire began to spread. One of the things I find tedious in ASL if fire spread. Good grief...it takes a good 5 minutes to go through all the spread opportunities and for in our battle that portion of the board was not utilized at all.

The Germans had a single PzKpfw 15/42(i).

Turn 3 German - Dan begins to move around my left right flank. I was falling back on the hill to concentrate my force on the exit hexes. I couldn't stand up to Dan's boys in face to face fight. 

My perimeter was beginning to shrink, but my ATR was sitting by the exit hexes and my boys were slowly moving there as well.

Turn 4 - German - Dan makes an effort to get around my right flank. We manage to hang on.

Turn 5 - Boxcars strips Dan of both MA's on his armor. This is a major blow and reduces the firepower directed at my boys holding the hill. Despite the setbacks, Dan pushed up the hill and was getting into my grill.

Turn 6 German -Dan makes his last desperate attempts to exit the board and inflict enough CVP to win the game. My boys are waiting. My ATR doesn't do anything and both armored vehicles exit. It's tougher on the infantry as they have to do an infantry overrun against my 6+1 standing in the street. It felt a bit sleezy, but it was a game winning move. It ensured the elimination of Dan's broken squads in the hex. And Dan was forced to Advancing Fire into the hex to try and kill my 6+1, but instead ended up killing more Germans. My 6+1 would manage to survive and rout away.

Dan would exit enough points, but had didn't have 6 more CVP than the Partisans. So he sent his boys to try and to get some of those points. They would break more of my Partisans, but in the final Close Combat against my Italian 9-1...he would get ambush and rout upstairs. With that, the Scugnizzi Boys had won the game by a hair!

With the battle over...my Scugnizzi boys could go back to normal life! My thanks to Dan for two really fun games. They were both very enjoyable and both went right down to the end. 

And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:

"The plan did not work.  The Germans were able to exit enough but last dash casualties did not give the Germans favorable CVP over the Italians.  Well played by Grumble Jones in preserving his force for the win!  This is a good low firepower scenario with both sides needing to move for the win.  Worth a play or two."

That's a wrap on a great week of ASL...you never forget the great ones!

Dan and I will be back next week 

for two unique scenarios 

that you likely have never seen played before.

Should be fun!!!

We will see you then!