After a brief hiatus as Dan Best attended the Texas Team Tournament, we were once again back in the cardboard fight. Dan would win the Audie Murphy Award in Texas for the most snake-eyes. He also managed to get in 10 games over the tournament against some great opponents. All in all, Dan seemed to have a great tournament. I didn't attend this year, as we had close friends in town from Quincy, IL. I used my time off to show some folks the best spots in Tulsa.
This week's games were my turn to pick. I would pick three from Schwerpunkt 15. I'm a huge fan of Schwerpunkt scenarios and always enjoy looking for new ones to play.
My choices would be Germans vs. Soviet, Germans vs. Americans and Germans vs. British. A little something for everyone!
Our first game, played on Thursday, would be SP173 Der Letzte Geburtstag. This scenario is set in 1945 Germany during the final days of a dying Third Reich. Very enjoyable scenario, but Dan and I would not be able to agree on the Victory Conditions as you shall see and hopefully weigh in and help Dan and I resolve our Tie.
As the attacking Russians, I would command elements of the 79th Guard Heavy Tank Regiment, 12th Tank Corps, 2nd Guards Tank Army. My force would consist of 4 x 6-2-8's, and 5-2-7's led by an 8-1 and 7-0 with 2 x LMG's, an 8-1 Armor Leader and 3 x IS-2's.
As the defending Germans, Dan would command elements of Panzergrenadier Regiment 25 and Battalion 1. Panzer Regiment 25, Panzer Division Muenchberg. His force would consist of 5 x 4-6-7's and a 2-4-7 led by a 7-0 and 6+1 with an MMG, LMG 2 x Panthers and a 37L Half-Track.
The Victory Conditions: "The Germans win at game end if they have at least one unbroken MMC at level 0 in a building adjacent to a road, provided that the < 3 IS-2 tanks exit the board via hexes Q1 and/or Y1."
We will come back to these at game end.
Whenever, I have to attack as the Russians...I sorta zone out and accept that I won't do well. I am terrible as the Russians...I suck with them at a very high level. I really do. My plan was to push some squads up the middle to see what I could accomplish, while 3 of my 6-2-8's, the 8-1 and my IS-2's attacked the German left flank for a chance to exit off the Y1 hex.
Turn 1 Russian - my infantry move cautiously into the woods and stay concealed. My IS-2's roll on and one falls to an intensive fire shot from the Panther. A 2-4-7 was in the house but would miss with a Panzerfaust shot and roll a one on the colored die for self-elimination.
In one of those rare occasions, I would knock out the first Panther in Advancing Fire. Haven't done that in a long time. On Turn 1 German, Dan would send the Half-Track and remaining Panther to stop my boys from heading to the Y1 exit. The Panther would attempt an ESB and immobilize. The Half-Track would be shocked by LMG Fire (I think we gaff'ed that.) Should have been a no result, I believe.
"Seriously Hans...what were you thinking with that ESB stop!?!"
With the Panther immobilized, I shifted my IS-2 to make a run for the Q1 exit. My infantry pushed up the middle and suffered some losses, but were in a position to threaten the 4-6-7 in this area. This 4-6-7 would eliminate 1-1/2 squads, battle harden and a create a Hero before breaking at the end of the game. Very much the hero squad of this game.
I would finish off the Half-Track with m IS-2's...so the gaff was short-lived. My infantry continued to press in the center, while my 8-1 moved another force to take on the Concealed 2-4-7 with a Panzerschreck guarding the Q1 exit.
Dan kept his poise throughout the game and continued to put up a fierce defense despite the immobilized Panther.
I would shoot 30 factors +2 into the Melee. My half-squad would break and Dan would snake it and battle harden and Hero Create...just great...
On Turn 4, would send my remaining 2 IS-2's off the board through Q1. At this point, I wasn't going to be able to force the Germans out of their buildings with only a single movement phase remaining...but I thought that exiting the 2 IS-2' would deny the Germans their victory conditions. Dan didn't agree and felt that I had to exit all three IS-2's, otherwise it would be a German victory if he had one MMC adjacent to a road hex, which he did. Unable to immediately resolve our VC dilemma, we recorded the game as a Tie and will now rely on reader feedback for the correct interpretation of the Victory Conditions.
Let us know!!!
Okay, so reached out to Hutch on the Games Squad Forum to get his opinion on the Victory Conditions. He agreed with Dan's interpretation that all 3 IS-2's have to exit. I therefore updated the ASL Archive to show a German victory.
Having said and done that, I have issues with the wording. < 3 means...something less than 3 and not all 3. Why not simply say...unless all 3 IS-2's exit, the Germans win if they have one MMC adjacent to the road. And given this fact, I can't see how the Russians would ever successfully exit all 3 IS-2's with 2 Panthers guarding the exits. Not going to happen. So, why bother with that as a VC component at all. Were I to play to this one a second time, I would simply put all my effort into moving the Germans out of the adjacent buildings...but again with 4-1/2 turns that is a tough ask. The ROAR stats 27 German to 15 Russian would confirm this as well. Despite the VC confusion, I thought this was a really fun scenario.
Our second game, played on Friday evening would be SP176 Smiling Albert. Living in Oklahoma makes playing the 45th all the sweeter!!! Go Thunderbirds!
As the attacking Germans, Dan would command elements of Infantry Regiment 725 and Infantry Division 715 with Tigers from Schwere Panzer Abteilung 508. This force would consist of 12 x 4-4-7's led by an 8-1 and 2 x 8-0's with an MMG, 2 x LMG's and 5 x Tiger I's.
As the defending Americans, I would command elements of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. My force would consist of 2 x 6-6-7's, and 8 x 6-6-6's led by a 9-1 and 8-1 with an MMG, 2 x BAZ 44's, a 60 MTR and 2 x M-10's with a 9-1 Armor Leader.
The Germans win by exiting 26 VP or more off the south edge. All roads are paved with soft ground in effect. Essentially all the armor must stick to roads or face a significant bog chance.
ROAR has this one with 25 American to 21 German wins. That's essentially a balanced scenario. But given the significant scripting with paved roads, and soft ground...the lucky player will likely win this one. That is rarely me.
"Nope...sure don't..."
Turn 1 - Germans advance. I get a few lucky hits on the Landsers moving in the open.
Dan's boys make some progress. Rain was in effect, but my next Wind Change DR would cause it to stop. Dan would restart it on Turn 4.
Turn 1 American - my M-10's move on. Like the Tigers I have to stick to the road and try to avoid giving the Tigers any shots at me. I needed to get Hull down...but with my crappy dice decided not to tempt fate and bog. It wouldn't matter one way or the other.
At this stage in the game, Dan's grenadiers had taken a number of breaks and some ELR's. My Thunderbirds were still holding a solid MLR.
Turn 4 would spell the end for my futile defense. With my bazooka teams out of action, Dan's Tigers made their move for the causeway. My M-10 with the 9-1 Armor Leader took his shot and got a hit in the hull...but then BOXCARS...(F'ING boxcars). Dice rolls matter.
I was frankly devastated. There was no guarantee of knocking out the Tiger...but boxcars all but killed any chance I had in this game.
Dan has a incredible knack for getting hits in Advancing Fire...and he would hit and knock out my M-10. It's hard to express my frustration with the game at that point. It was game over and I knew it.
But I still had one more indignity to suffer.
Final shot of the game before I conceded. Turn 5 - The first Tiger exits the causeway. My last M-10 fires and hits (no rate of fire) in the Turret. I can't knock out the Tiger with a Turret hit. I roll a three and best I can do is a Shock. but the 3 activates Dan's sniper and it hits my M-10 and stuns it. That was game. There was no way to stop the remaining Tigers from crossing and killing me in Advancing Fire.
Another great win for Dan and another hard luck loss for me.
Our third and final game, played on Saturday would be SP171 Audacity of Innocence. Audacity...yeah...aptly named for this scenario. At first glance, this one looked pretty good...but once we got into it...it became clear that the Americans have a very tough ask in this one. ROAR has it with 10 German to 0 American wins. Kinda a red flag for what was to come. I was the Americans for this joyride in crossing snow covered fields with an HMG watching your every step.
As the defending Germans, Dan would command elements of the Battaillon 1, Grenader Regiment 982, Volksgrenadier Division 272. His force would consist of 3 x 4-6-7's, 3 x 4-4-7's, and a 4-3-6 led by 2 x 8-1's with an HMG, 2 x LMG's, 12 AP Mine factors and Bunker and Trench.
As the attacking Americans, I would command elements of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 309th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division. My force would consist of 3 x 6-6-7's and 7 x 6-6-6's led by a 9-1, 8-1 and 8-0 with 2 x MMG's, a Baz 44, 2 x Flamethrowers and a DC.
The Americans win this scenario if there are no good order German MMC's in a pillbox or stone building (2 of those).
After two tough losses back to back...I wasn't really looking forward to this game. My luck with the dice has always been mediocre. Rate of fire is a rarity and getting decent rolls with high fire power shots have eluded me far to frequently. In my case, it's always been the 3 or 4 factor shot that lands...but these generally only occur in defensive actions...whereas the high firepower shots are generally set up to support an assault.
My planning here was to have my heavy weapons teams move in from the north to suppress the village. This would prove to be problematic as I would move directly into the bunker's field of fire.
My flamethrower teams would storm the hill from the east.
Turn 1 American - I send two half-squads to probe the north edge of the village. One is KIA'd right out of the gates. I would suffer a few KIA results during this game.
Turn 2 American - I would succeed in getting my assault force to the hill and on the flank of the pillbox.
My attempts to suppress the north end of the village were not successful. The German HMG and an LMG were knocking me around pretty good.
I was on the hill and ready to take on the pillbox.
Of course you can't take a position if you are Prep Firing at it every turn.
The hilltop battle would go to the Americans. I would secure the bunker, but ultimately lose my 8-0 who would be KIA'd trying to exit the minefield. My 8-1 and squad would succeed in getting safely into the trench and securing the bunker. The bunker fell easily due to my Sniper breaking them earlier. Dan rolled a lot of threes and so my sniper had many chances to create mischief.
I was running out of time...always an issue in these kinds of scenarios. While I had the bunker, I wasn't making any progress towards taking control of the two stone buildings. Dan's hot dice had done a real number on my infantry. One of my 6-6-7's with a flamethrower would go Berserk and ultimately be shot dead. I would also create a Hero...my first in a long while. The Hero would be KIA'd by another of Dan's snake eyes.
Above is the final picture that I would take. Now you should never decry your opponent's good luck. We all have it and we all deserve it. But lately, Dan's dice have been almost a second opponent. It's like playing basketball against someone who drops threes left and right. If you are only making lay ups, you're going to lose. Mentally, I was struggling in this game with the high number of good rolls. I had broken his 8-1 and a 4-4-7 in the Q2 house. A 4-6-7 with an LMG was still good order. I would fire at them to try and break the 4-6-7, but instead Dan's 8-1 would snake the morale check and go Heroic. Dan has a very long standing consecutive streak of creating a hero or heroic officer in game after game. With that officer rallied, I threw in the towel, I wasn't interested in watching more of my squads be KIA's going for the desperation charge on Q2 and P2. It just wasn't worth it to me. So that was game and my third consecutive loss. Dan had another great win and the sweep.
Sometimes ASL can be a little unsatisfying. You do your best...but ultimately it's a dice game complete with all the vagaries of dice rolling that give to some and take from others.
Dan and I will play a fourth game tomorrow, Starter Kit 22 will on the menu...but I won't be blogging that loss...er...game. This one is 32 German to 12 American Wins...so I'll get buggered for a fourth game in a row as the luckless Americans. That is another part of ASL that sometimes gets old when you find yourself on the negative side of the balance game after game.
Dan and I will be taking a break over the 4th of July weekend.
Here's wishing you all lots of fireworks for this year's Independence Day celebration.
Stay safe and enjoy time with your families!!
We will see you soon!
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