So I promised last week that Dan and I would play some lesser known/played scenarios. And I believe we did. Both are early March Madness scenarios that deserve some love. Hopefully, the AAR's that follow will inspire you to check one or both of them and see for yourself how much fun they can be. I have to say that I did enjoy both of these scenarios. I also played a Starter Kit Scenario with my STL buddy. Thankfully now earthquakes this time...although tornadoes and flash flooding made life a little dicey here in Oklahoma. But then again...that's Oklahoma...extreme weather is just part of the deal.
My Friday scenario was ASL S81 Not a Man Afraid. Not a bad scenario, but I really messed up as the attacking Japanese. I play somewhat poorly as the Japanese. Of course that's better than I do with the Russians...but I truly suck as the Russians.
By SSR, the Japanese must Banzai all MMC's on Turn 1. If no enemy units are in the LOS after setup, you can charge a designated hex.
My opponent smartly placed four squads in my LOS so I could charge them. I did and charged in stacks...what was I thinking!?!
Yep, I got mowed down. I did manage to KIA all four squads, but there 11 more dug in the victory locations and I was down to only four squads. So...I gave the concession after four turns and called it good.
So we'll start with talking about our Saturday game which was PP07 Cabanatuan. Designed by Dan Best and Paul Works, this unique scenario depicts the Great Raid to rescued the Allied POW's at Cabanatuan Prison Camp. I've never played such a scenario is my 44 years of playing SL/ASL.
The scenario is covered on three pages, with a single page dedicated to the Special Terrain. Camp Fences, Camp Gates, Guard Towers are all covered in the terrain rules.
This is a night scenario and a large portion of the Japanese Garrison begins the scenario Pinned and TI as they are sleeping after reaching the camp. There are two HA GO Tanks, which start the scenario umanned as the crews are sleeping.
The American Rangers and Alamo Scouts set up outside the camp. Meanwhile, Captain Jaun Pajota's Filipino Guerrillas set up to guard against a Japanese counter-attack (Turn 2). All in all a very nicely put together scenario unlike anything you have played before.
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The scenario does an excellent job of recreating the Prison Camp. You will need the camp overlay in order to play the scenario. This can all be downloaded from the ASL Archive Website.
Watching The Great Raid can help you with visualizing the actions depicted in this scenario. Scenarios like this one are by nature a bit scripted. This isn't going to be a tournament type scenario, which clearly gives both sides a more or less equal chance to win the game. No, this scenario has the Japanese at tremendous disadvantage. As the Japanese Player, you will have to grin and bear it as the US Rangers sneak up and annihilate you in close combat. But be prepared to exploit any mistake or missed opportunity that the Rangers give you. All you have to do as the Japanese is to stop 9 squads from exiting. So be prepared to try and kill the POW's at the first opportunity. Kill three of them and it's game over and you win!
I have to admit as the Americans, I felt a strange responsibility to win the game...the lives of 12 POW squads were squarely in my hands. It was a weird feeling.
As the attacking Americans, I would command the men of the 6th Rangers, the U.S. Alamo Scouts and Captain Jaun Pajota's Filipino Guerrillas. My force would consist of 12 x 6-6-8's, 2 x 5-5-8's, and 6 x 3-3-7's led by a 10-2, 9-1, 2 x 8-1's and an 8-0 with 2 x BAZ 44's.
Captain Robert Prince, Lt. Colonel Henry Mucci and Sgt. Theodore Richardson
Captain Juan Pajota
As the defending Japanese, Dan would command the forces of Camp Cabanatuan. His force would consist of 9 x 1-3-7's, 10 x 4-4-7's, 9 x 3-4-7's and 2 x 1-2-7's led by 2 x 9-0's, 3 x 8-0's and an 8+1 with 6 x MMG's, 5 x LMG's, a 50 MTR and 2 x Type 95 HA-GO tanks.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Japanese must defend the camp and prevent prisoners from escaping. The best option is to target the prisoners for all fire. With a morale of 6 and no concealment it is likely a few casualties can be inflicted If more than 3 squads can be eliminated it is a Japanese win."
The Japanese intransient force begins the game Pinned and Ti as they are sleeping at the time of the raid. My plan was to move towards the tanks to knock them out with Bazookas, Meanwhile, my other Rangers would breach the wire and enter the Prisoner Compound after overwhelming various MMG positions in close combat.
Due to night rules with a 3 NVR, the Japanese begin the game under NO MOVE. Try and keep that them that way for as long as possible.
Turn 1 - My Rangers creep into the camp. One of the Japanese MMG's opens fire, but has no effect.
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The 3 NVR is tricky. The Japanese are well positioned to see most movements into or around the camp.
A look at the first Close Combats. I would get ambush and eliminate three MMG positions, but fail to take out a 1-3-7 in a tower. They would get ambush and infiltrate down while my squad was at the top of the tower. Good grief...now a good order Japanese squad could begin shooting at prisoners.
Despite some early bumbling, I had breached the fence and was moving to begin evacuating the POW's. I had to move quickly before the Japanese began to fight back.
The Prison Huts.
Turn 2 Japanese - Dan's counter-attack force would enter the game and face Captain Juan Pajota's Filipino Guerrillas.
Turn 3 American - With the Japanese fully alerted, I was in trouble. Dan's officers would race to remove the No Moves from the Intransient force. I pulled in Pajota's Guerrillas after losing two squads to the Japanese. I also began pulling all my Rangers and Alamo Scouts back to the Row R Paddies, which would be my blocking line to allow the POW's to escape. At this point in the game, I had reached all 12 POW Squads. I could not begin to move them out.
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Despite two attacks into the compound from the now alerted Japanese Guards, I was able to get all the POW's out of immediate danger. It was a near thing. A single Japanese 8+1 entered one hut and tried to Kill the POW squad in Close Combat. Dan would roll a 10 and fail. The POW's would tear him apart.
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While I had managed to get the POW's moving towards the exits, the Japanese were closing in on me. I had to keep focus and move...move...move...
Turn 4 - I continued to move the POW's towards the exits. The Japanese counter-attack continued to press hard on Pajota's men. Their weak firepower and the darkness were combining to allow the Japanese to move right up on them.
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Turn 5 Japanese - Dan's counterattacking force pressed up to the creek as his two tanks trundled towards the gates to pursue.
The gates had not been opened by either Dan's guards or by my Rangers. Dan would attempt to crash through them and BOG. I fired both Bazookas and missed and X'd out 1 with a 12. But with both tanks now stopped and with my POW's nearing the exit location at the end of the rice paddies, Dan would give the concession and call it a game. My Rangers had successfully exited all of the POW's to safety.
And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:
"The plan did not work. With the American able to attack right away and the Japanese under no move restrictions the Americans were able to get in and get out with the prisoners. Well played by Grumble Jones. This scenario is hard on the Japanese if they do not ruthlessly fire on the prisoners. It did not help with the Japanese tanks bogged crossing the camp fence."
I have to admit, it was a fantastic ASL moment for me to have gotten all of the POW's to safety. ASL is a very special game.
Now on to our Monday game - ASL Scenario MM'98 B Brandenburger Fiasco and one of the most enjoyable ASL games I have played in recent memory. This scenario is available from the ASL Archive as a digital download. The original scenario pack came with counters and was the precursor of all Third Party produced products that would follow. I recommend reading Mark Pitcavage's review on his Desperation Morale site. This quote from his review is pretty amazing...
"...the single most coveted collectible in the ASL world. Copies of the pack appear on E-bay seldom more often than once every couple of years or so, and when they do appear, tend to sell for $350-$450–a high price to pay for 9 scenarios and a small set of counters!"
WOW! I had no idea that I would be playing a scenario from a literal "Holy Grail" collectible scenario pack. Pretty cool! See the link below for pictures and the rest of Mark's review.
This very unique scenario depicts actions at joint German-Romanian airfield at the moment the Romanians switched sides. A unit of German Brandenburgers landed on the airfield to support the German garrison and destroy all of the Romanian aircraft on the ground. Historically, it was a disaster for the Germans. But would history repeat??
As the Germans, I would command the men of the Luftwaffe Flak Division 5 and Fallschirmjaeger Battalion Brandenburg. My force would consist of 3 x 2-3-7's, 6 x 2-3-6's, 3 x 1-2-7's and 3 x 5-4-8's led by a 10-2, 9-1, 7-0 and 6+1 with 4 x LMG's and 2 x DC's.
As the Romanians, Dan would command the men of the 4th Parachute Battalion, FARR Security Company and 2nd AA Brigade. This force would consist of 6 x 5-3-7's, a 3-4-7, 4 x 1-3-7's, and 3 x 1-2-6's led by an 8-1, 7-0 and 6+1 with 2 x LMG's.
Unpossessed at game start would 2 x 20L AA and 75 AA guns. Additionally, 17 parked aircraft would be along the runway. The German player wins immediately upon destroying all 17 aircraft.
Setup is simultaneous and one of the most enjoyable and challenging parts of the scenario. And the German player is allowed to place six PIN and six CX counters on Romanian Units. Once placed, the Romanian Player is allowed to remove any 3 of these. I would double up on some units to try and ensure they were affected. Dan would remove PINs instead of CX counters. But keep in mind, the PIN counters would be removed at the end of the Turn, while the CX counters would remain and affect two fire phases of the Romanians. So...keep that in mind as the Romanian Player. If no Germans are adjacent...then lose the CX counters.
And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:
"The Romanians must defend the airport and their parked airplanes. The setup is simultaneous with each side alternating placing MMC. The plan will be to go for the building particularly E6 and J8 which will have a 5-3-7 with LMG plus leaders. The buildings have the highest TEM and broken units will likely be unable to route due to getting closer to a known enemy unit. Hopefully for the building the Romanians can defend against the German attack."
Dan and I would have different setup objectives. Dan would go for the houses, which had good protection and great 360 views of the runways. I would go for the four guns, which were well positioned to destroy all of the planes. I would PIN and CX Dan's MG teams in the houses and where his units could get to the guns before me.
Turn 1 Romanians move first. The PINs and CX's would serve me well. Dan would make a hard push for the 20L AA Gun in the NE corner, but I would manage to break or PIN the attacking squads. But I was not liking my chances for getting control of that AA Gun. On the SE corner, I would eliminate the Romanian unit that tried to take control of the 75 AA Gun.
My Brandenburger 5-4-8's along with the 10-2 and 9-1 were my strongest force.
So a quick note about the aircraft counters. I elected to use the excellent BFP aircraft counter (Mixed Romanian/Italian aircraft). As each of them was destroyed, I would place a green glider counter. So the two Gliders on the runway at start belong the Brandenburgers. All the rest that you see during this AAR represent destroyed Romanian aircraft.
I would successfully move on to a 20L AA and both 75 AA guns. This would be significant as the game went on.
So as turn 2 wound down, I had control of 3 of 4 AA Guns and had already destroyed 5 aircraft.
Dan would move to take the NE 20L AA Gun and then put pressure on my boys around the perimeter.
Turn 3- I would get great production from my two 75 AA Guns. One would get two critical hits. I would also succeed in placing a DC on Dan's 7-0 LMG position. They would be eliminated and my Brandenburgers would have a great position to sweep the airfield with 3 x LMG's.
As Turn 3 wound down, I would lose control of my 20L AA Gun. The SW corner would soon belong to the Romanians. At this point, I had destroyed 13 of 17 aircraft. My infantry combined with the AA Guns were making short work of the parked aircraft.
The Romanians would fight hard to save their aircraft.
The circle indicates German positions. At this point in the game only three planes remained.
Finally, the last shot of the game. My 9-1 stack would fire their 3 LMG's at the last two aircraft. I would destroy the first one and keep rate with all three LMG's and destroy the last aircraft for the win. My decision to go for the AA guns at the beginning had paid off. The two 75's did a lot of damage. The key to this scenario for the German player is destroying aircraft. The Romanians are sufficiently weak to allow the Germans to destroy aircraft somewhat rapidly. However, if the Romanians get the guns, they can make short work of the exposed Germans. This was a really fun scenario from start to finish. There were a lot of tactical choices to be made right from the git go. This scenario has a lot replayability and wouldn't be a bad Tournament Scenario...if a TD is looking to add something from the Holy Grail of Scenario Packs...just say'n!!
My thanks to Dan for another great week's worth of ASL. Getting to play three games in a week is pretty darn special. I believe these two scenarios Cabanatuan and Brandenburge Fiasco are both worth a playing and especially if you are looking for something a little out of the ordinary. These are fun scenarios which effectively challenge both players.
And now for Dan's Post-Game comments:
"The plan did not work. While able to set up in the buildings the Germans were able to get the guns particularly the 75mm AA guns which were able to knock out many aircraft. The last airplane was destroyed on turn 4 for a German win. Well played by Grumble Jones! This scenario is great fun with much replay ability due to the setup. Just remember to go for the guns!"
That's a wrap on tonight' AAR's.
At game 50 for the year and going strong.
We go where the counters take us!
Dan and I'll be back next week for another round of hard-bitten ASL!
We will see you then!
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