This weekend's games would be some of the best so far this year. I would play my 80th and 81st games of the year while Dan would play his 99th and 100th games of the year. I'm 19 behind Dan and won't be catching up to him this year!!
It's a lot of ASL. I'm averaging 10 games a month at the moment, which is a lot of ASL. So I it's a good thing I enjoy this game so much!!!
We would play our first game on Friday evening. GJ125 Harckocsi Assault would provide the night's entertainment. I'm always a bit self-conscious and worried whenever I play my own designs. I worry that the scenario won't play well and stand up to the light of day. And to be certain, a great many of them fall into that category. But every now and then, one comes out the other end of scrutiny looking pretty good.
Harckocsi Assault would be one of the passably good scenarios. I would have the attacking Hungarians and successfully evade Dan's Bore-Sighted Hexes, cross the stream, take the village and then take the hill for the win. Two of my three tanks would be immobilized in Close Combat, but otherwise did good service. Dan's AT Gun would miss and then X-Out on an Intesive Fire Roll. Dan's dice would produce a number of Snake Eyes, but not at the right moments to sway the game. My Hungarians enjoyed the lion's share of the good fortune and made it onto the hill...just barely.
In our post-game discussions, we played with the idea of upgrading the AT Gun to a 45L, but the 37L is fully capable of knocking out the Hungarian armor without too much difficulty. I'll stick with the 37L also as a rate of fire tear could take the heart out of the Hungarian attack in one good fire phase.
Next item was Bore-Sighting. Neither of us is a fan of this rule, but I didn't make in NA in the SSR's. It's a very small battle space, so Bore-Sighting could be very effective. That said, I managed to avoid Dan's and so there's certainly more than enough chance that other players would as well.
Last up ,was a review of the 5 full turns of play. I initially wondered if 5 turns was enough for the Hungarians. But, I managed to get to the hill and win the game on Turn 5. And I was cautious in my turn 1 and 2 moves. So we both agreed that 5 was sufficient. The Hungarian Player should have to take some risks. Dan then suggested that perhaps 4-1/2 turns was the better choice. He wondered if the Russians should have the final movement phase. I think the answer is yes. The Russians deserve the chance to retake the hill if possible.
"Yeah...but...ok...you're right..."
Our second game, played on Saturday evening would be WO 10 All Along the Merderet. Dan would be the attacking Germans in this one, while I defended as the American 82nd Airborne Division.
ROAR had this game as slightly pro-German. The German Player gets to spend 6 points for a variety of OOB options.
Dan would have two of the little French Tanks and a Panzer MKIII. I would have four bazookas and a 57L AT Gun to fend them off. I would fail to hit any of them during the game.
The map setup is one of the more unique ones that I have run across in ASL. This scenario feels like two separate games, and I wondered during the game if it wouldn't play better as two separate scenarios. As one scenario, I think it would make an excellent four player game. The Germans can win the game by crossing the stream at the bridge or they can take control of victory hexes in the northeastern orchard.
Crossing the causeway through the marsh to take the bridge is a tall order for the Germans and equally so for the Americans. So, in our game, we would just stare at each other from our respective positions. I would send two squads and the 8-1 to try and take the causeway, but it would cost me the 8-1 and a squad. During the game, I would roll three casualty reduction Boxcars, which would kill both of my 8-1's and a 7-4-7 squad. Dan would also roll too many boxcars that would KIA 1-1/2 of his squads. This is a pernicious pain in the backside when playing ASL. Dan's snake eyes would create a Heroic officer and cause two squads to charge to their deaths.
Our game does this only too well.
Tonight's post won't be a full AAR. I'll admit I'm a bit weary these days and haven't been as excited to write up the AAR's as much as I should. So, my apologies for tonight's AAR lite.
Dan would make his attack choice early on in the game. He would forgo trying to cross the causeway and the stream. Instead, he would go full bore to take the orchard hexes and prevent my boys from controlling the hexes on the causeway that would prevent a victory if he took all the orchard hexes. I think this was a sound decision on Dan's part. The only thing Dan might have done differently in this situation was to move the Panzer MKIII to the battle for the orchard. It's absence would be keenly felt by Dan's grenadiers in that portion of the battlefield.
My paratroopers would manage to hold their Bocage Alamo against all attacks. The 9-2, 3 x squads and an MMG put out huge firepower and managed to break the German kill stacks, which ensure an American victory at the end of 5 turns.
I have to say that I found the game to be both interesting and fun to play. I would argue that they be separate battles as I believe the choice will almost always be to fight for the orchard hexes. Either side attempting to cross the causeway will be cut down by machine gun fire. Just my thoughts. I enjoyed this scenario and would certainly recommend it.
Our final game for this weekend will be played on Sunday. GD19 Pioniers Forward! will conclude our weekend's gaming.
In this game, Dan will be the defending Russians and I the attacking Pioneers of the Grossdeutschland Division.
Should be a great game to end the weekend.
Again, apologies for a much abbreviated AAR.
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