Our Saturday Game - Break Contact Scenario BC3: 42nd Street

 

It's been all quiet on the ASL front this past weekend. Personal concerns have momentarily derailed my Friday night game with my regular STL opponent. Dan is of course participating at HistoriKC Fest this weekend. So, I will pass the current weekend with other interests. But that doesn't mean we don't have an AAR for this week. Cause we do!! Last Friday, Dan and I got in a quick game and I decided to blog it this weekend.

This game would be my first from this Break Contact pack. I have enjoyed the couple Break Contact scenarios I've already played. 

BC3: 42nd Street covers the famous fight of May 27th, 1941 on Crete. 42nd Street was a defensive line of the Australians. The German Gebirgsjaegers advanced into contact with the Australian line. The Australians would launch a series of charges against the advancing Germans.

The SSR's for this scenario include one that allows the Australians to go berserk at any time. Additionally, the Australians can initiate hand-to-hand in close combat. Keep this in mind as the Germans. You will want to keep some space between your forces. Stopping berserk Australians is not an easy thing to accomplish.

At 4-1/2 turns this scenario plays fast and especially given the very small battle space utilized.

As the attacking Australians, Dan would command elements of the 2/7th Battalion, 19th Brigade, CREFORCE. This force would consist of 8 x 4-5-8's, and a 2-4-8 led by a 9-1 and 2 x 8-0's with 2 x LMG's and a 51 MTR.

As the defending Germans, I would command elements of the 1st Battalion, 141st Gebirgsjaeger Regiment. My force would consist of 2 x 4-6-8's, 4 x 4-6-7's, and a 2-4-8 led by an 8-1 and an 8-0 with 2 x LMG's and a 50 MTR.

As I said earlier, this battle space is pretty small. The Australians win immediately if there are no good order German MMC's on or adjacent to the Y1 - Y10 road. 

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Comments:

"The Australians must clear the road and hexes adjacent to the road of good order German MMC.  Note MMC in melee are not good order.  The advantage the Australians have the ability to go berserk by passing an NTC.  And the ability to enter H-t-H CC if the attacker.  Grumble Jones dislikes CC and hates H-t-H.  The plan is to enter on board and use the MTR and 9-1 with two squads and two LMG as a fire base.  While the rest of the MMC go berserk.  Hopefully they can do well in CC."

This scenario plays very straight forward. The Germans have to keep the road and the Australians are going to take it away.

My LMG's would be key to my defensive effort.

Turn 1 Australian - Dan's first half-squad takes one step and gets hit with a fire land right down the center of the board. Dan's remaining troops would peel off to either side of the center road.

Turn 2 Australian - Prep Fire, Dan's mortar lobbed over some shells as the rest of his boys waited for the Movement Phase.

Movement Phase - Dan's boys begin going berserk - the first berserking squad is shot down and killed.

The rest of Dan's berserkers would rush forward. I would cower with my second LMG and watch the Australians run into my hex.

"Heinz....we don't have time for this!!!"

Things had not gone well. Some Australians had fallen, but Dan had created a Hero and broken my 8-1 LMG position. My other LMG position was caught in Hand to Hand Melee.

Turn 3 Australian - things had gone a little wonky. My broken 8-1 was still broken, but the squad self-ralled on a snakes and created an 8-1, which then wasted the Australian Hero. The hand to hand Melee still raged in the other location as both sides fought room to room. Our mortars traded shots and then Dan's boys advanced forward...but not berserk this time.

    My Landsers were holding on, but the southern flank was falling to the Australians.

Turn 3 German - my 8-1 finally rallied and then moved to support the melee to the south. In the north, I sent a half-squad to keep Dan's many broken units...DM'd. 

My 2-4-7's job was to push the Australian broken squads back and keep Dan's boys from any concealment gains.

The hand to hand melee had ended. I couldn't roll less than a 9 in each CC roll. My 8-1 had reinforced failure and died with the LMG squad. The southern flank was gone. 

"Looks like Schmidt's team is gone!"

Turn 4 Australian - Dan's boys went berserk again and my 8-1 would be the next victim!

My 8-1 LMG failed to stop the oncoming Australians. An Australian officer also raced across the battlefield to some broken Australians.

"Somebody has to rally those lads!"

The final Turn Australian - the Turn 4 berserker charge had killed my 8-1 and his squad as well as my 2-4-8 with the mortar, but Dan's boys had also fallen. Dan was down to just three full squads. The 9-1 and one squad moved down the road to get into position for a final charge. German fire would PIN them. That would be game end and a German victory. 

Dan and I both enjoyed this game. We finished it in under three hours and there was a high level of intensity as the Australians charged into battle. Highly recommend this scenario when time is short or you're looking for a nice ferocity fest kind of game. My thanks to Dan for a really fun game!

And now for Dan's Post Game Comments:

"The plan did not work.  I neglected to use smoke from the MTR.  But also took excessive losses in the berserk charge.  Doing well in CC did not make up the difference.  Grumble Jones also had a good set up with troops spread out (no stacks).  Making the berserkers charge across the open to get at them.  As is typical in small scenario a few good rolls and the attack was over.  Congrats to Grumble Jones on the win!  If you are looking for a short scenario with many casualties this one definitely meets the mark."

Dan will be here in Tulsa next week for 2 - 3 games depending on how quickly we play. 

Some face-to-face ASL is on the docket!