This past weekend was full of ASL. Dan and I both had MLK day off and will play a fourth and final game tonight...it's 3:00 PM...so in two hours Dan and I will play the game sitting on my desk.
Our game for tonight will be PK1 Down Number Two Road. This will give us a full sweep of the 4 PK scenarios in the new ASL Journal 13. I absolutely love the concept and think it's a great way to present and play some quick and dirty ASL. I do have some criticisms, though none very too severe. The first would be the large number of counters engaged in relatively small combat areas. These scenarios cram in a lot of stuff for what are essentially very small scenarios. And secondly, they are straight up head bashers. Hard to use finesse in such constrained battlefields. These PK scenarios are fierce little fights.
On the battleboard next to my desk are next Friday and Saturday's games which will be BG1: A New Kind of Cavalry and BG2: First Horse Army.
BG1 and BG2 are both Russian vs. Polish scenarios. Looking forward to seeing how they play out.
This is a great pack by the way, in case you haven't already picked it up. Alan Findlay's Broken Ground Design has really been great for the hobby. From Counters covering all nationalities to an Epic Mouse Pad, there is something for everyone.
I particularly like the mouse pad. Another great idea in line with the Journal 13 PK scenarios. But I'm going to say, that I enjoyed the mouse pad scenarios a bit more than the PK scenarios.
Today's post will not be a normal AAR. I just wasn't feeling the blog vibes this week and so elected just to play and not worry too much about taking pictures or planning for the blog post. But I still wanted to just sit and chat a bit about the games we played this weekend.
As you may recall, I got my backside handed to me last weekend with three losses in a row. They were all tough games on me and I struggled to make things happen during those games. Well...fast forward to this weekend and what a difference. I would win three games (4th still to be played tonight).
Three of our 4 games would come from the ASL Journal 13. A great publication with a ton of great scenarios.
Dan and I would play PK3 Hot Toddy on Friday night. I was the Allies and very concerned that I didn't have a chance of winning that game. As the Allies, you start with British forces and by Turn 2, can switch them over to American 7-4-7's. Only catch is that you can only swap out unbroken, good order units that did not Prep Fire,
This is huge challenge as the Germans have an overwhelming force with an HMG and 2 x STUG's. Surviving two movement phases intact is no easy task for the Allied Player.
Dan would send both of his STUG's deep into my backfield to stop my reenforcing Americans. I managed to slow Dan's infantry down and then in my Prep Fire managed to destroy on STUG and Shock the second with my 57L AT Gun. My Americans were able to come on and destroy the shocked STUG in CC. I would bring on 3 x 7-4-7's, an MMG and the American 9-1. I would somehow hold out and the game would end with a German 4-4-7 in CC with an American 7-4-7, which gave the Americans the win. Dan's Germans suffered horribly from an ELR of 2. This scenario requires a fair amount of luck for the Allies to win...and lady luck was on my side.
While luck had been with me Friday night...she would marry and settle down with me on Saturday. My luck was literally off the charts. Our Saturday game would be ASL 243 The French Perimeter. Now the French have always been my lucky army. I have played the French 10 times and won 9. I can't explain my luck with the French, but I do enjoy playing the French!!!
Dan and I would only finish 1-1/2 Turns of the French Perimeter. In that time, I would go on a crazy rate of fire tear with my HMG that would kill the 9-2 and 3 x squads. My 105 Gun would get two critical hits, which killed the 9-1 and his 3 squads. Another squad would be KIA'd and one of the two MKIV's would be destroyed. My average dice roll was a 5. On the other side, Dan was rolling very high with too many 12's. He was not only breaking, but ELR'ng and casualty reducing. It was a perfect storm of bad. Dan would concede with nearly half of force KIA'd...not broken KIA'd.
As a player, I know how awful it feels when you get diced. It just absolutely sucks and the quality of the game is lost. We were playing an 11 Turn game that was over before Turn 2. My dice rolls were just completely off the charts good. Combined with Dan's horrible morale check rolls, it was just no contest. As I have often said, whether your are getting slaughtered or slaughtering your opponent, it's just not the best kind of ASL. It's like playing tennis and your opponent keeps hitting ACES...which you can't return and when you do connect...you hit the ball into the net. Not a lot fun...
Final picture of our game. I had actually intended to blog an AAR for this game...but threw it out the window when this game ended somewhat prematurely. Dan and I both thought this was a good scenario, it was just that our playing of it went south.
Our Sunday game would be PK2 Reckless Raid. I would be the defending Romanians. Much like Hot Toddy, this game thrusts you immediately into the action. German paras set up on a runway and possibly in Melee with any Romanians next to their gliders. Dan would start the game with 4 Melees which included two of my 3 AA Guns. I would lose two of the Melees and two would remain as Melees. But I felt defeated at the point. Dan needed 9 VP for the win and he earned those by destroying the 10 Romanian transport aircraft parked by the airfield.
I figured that I was going to get wiped out by Dan's paratroopers, but little things began to happen that would unravel Dan's chances of winning. It wouldn't be my dice. They were as cold as ice for the first few turns. But Dan would experience a first with a MALF'd DC. He would roll a 12 on DC set by a plane. We had not seen that before. Then my reinforcements came in and flooded his 9-1 and eliminated him and his squad in CC. This I surrounded the pinned 9-2 and killed him in CC. Dan's only remaining unit was a 5-4-8 with an LMG. They tried to move towards more transport aircraft and were broken. My Romanians had inflicted 11 CVP on Dan, which all but negated the 11 VP he had acquired. It was a solid win for my Romanians. But again another firece little fight that can go south on you really quick.
So it's now 4:00 PM..so I'll wrap up this blog post and get ready for our final game of this great weekend.
I hope that you all had a fine Martin Luther King day. For me this day will always have new meaning. As a white southerner who grew up the segregated south of the 1960's & '70's. Martin Luther King's words, vision and life are more than hollow rhetoric. They are a call to action to effect changes in our society that bring Justice and fair opportunity to us all...no matter how we may be different from each other.
I want a world where my grandson can thrive and enjoy a just and fair life filled
with all the happiness that this world can give.
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