Advanced Squad Leader!

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Comment by Mike O'Brien on November 30, 2009 at 12:05pm

Here is the wrapup from my opponent of Flags of Poland that we played this weekend.

We played until @8:30. By that time the Germans had 4 tanks surrounding the victory building and a number of squads ready to enter with 2 turns left to go.

Mike did a good job of falling back to the victory building, but was outnumbered in troops and vehicles at that point.

The Panthers were a tough call. To hit a StuG they needed a 5 without changing CA (+1 BU, +2 Motion, +1 Inexperience Crews, +1 Small Target). I think Mike took 2 or 3 shots with those odds and just didn’t get the numbers. The second AT gun had the same issue. The FT tank took out the AT gun, but a Panther took it out soon after. The first Panther got taken out with a side-shot by a StuG, and the second one got swarmed by 3 tanks and 2 FT squads (after an unsuccessful round of CC with a infantry squad!). There just wasn’t enough Pole infantry to support the tanks at the final stand. I think the MOL availability might have been a good anti-tank option, but the troops who had those opportunities also had to deal with nearby German infantry support.

The fallback to the last wall and building was good strategy. Also, a quicker readjustment to the German setup might have given the Poles better defense, but I don’t think they have a great chance in this one regardless of setup (ROAR only shows 2 plays of this scenario, but they’re both German wins).

No heroes, fanatics, berserkers, broken MA, sniped leaders or flaming wrecks occurred during the scenario – go figure.

Comment by Mike O'Brien on November 27, 2009 at 8:50pm

Rally Point #12, Retreat from Bairak. The Germans were defending the town from a Russian attack on the Eastern Front.
I tried this one again, as the defender again. Instead of retreating my troops to force the Russians into chasing down 5 squads I kept everyone in the town and forced the Russians to come and get them. I lost my two Pz IIIH's pretty quickly, bad rolls and maybe poor choices. The T-34's and KV 1 just are deadly at blowing up building and forcing morale checks. I just couldn't get a good roll when I needed it. I did try something different with my AT gun and that caused my opponent a little grief. But, I highly recommend this scenario. I've played it twice. The Germans have lost twice but I think that's a matter of dice and some decision making. I plan on giving this one another shot.

Comment by Mike O'Brien on November 23, 2009 at 10:46am

Here is my opponent, Dick Mitchell's AAR of our weekend game.

AAR Retreat from Bairak - 11/21/09

Saturday's Scenario for Mike O'Brien and I was Rally Point #12, Retreat from Bairak. The Germans were defending the town from a Russian attack on the Eastern Front.

The Russian attack focused on the north side of the German lines while the Germans retreated a reinforced platoon on their south to hold the ground outside town to the west. Once the R's tanks had committed in the town the G tanks advanced on them and gave them some scary moments. The German AT gun added to the fun. One T-34 was destroyed and the other immobilized before the KV-1 broke free to menace the German force west of town. A PzIII went after it to relieve the pressure on the infantry that had holed up in a small group of houses but it ended up a victim to the KV's superior armor and gun.

The R infantry did not fare quite so well. They were repeatedly pinned down, reduced and broken by a G machine gun nest in the northern VP building and another concentration to the south held up the R platoon sent to help the KV-1 shake the infantry loose from the buildings outside town. The immobilized T-34 finally had some effect on the northern strongpoint and, with the hard work done, the R infantry followed up to good effect. To the south, a conscript squad rushed the G strongpoint building to absorb the brunt of that fire and free up the pinned down platoon detailed to go west. They accomplished their mission and went on to break that strongpoint. The R's then concentrated on the southern VP building but it was slow going.

Back outside town, the Gs now had to contend with a full platoon to their south and the KV-1 to their north. A G squad attacked the KV-1 in close combat several times before being forced back by the tank's machine guns. The R platoon spread out and laid fire into the orchard where a G squad was holding the flank. That squad broke for cover and made for the command post.

On the last turn, the Gs were still in control of the southern VP building but it was surrounded by Russian squads and went down in close combat at 4-1 odds. A win for the Russians.

The scenario was enjoyable and not totally overbalanced. Through shrewd placement of German strongpoints in town and active, effective, armored support, the Russians were bogged down in town for longer than expected. The Russians were not helped by a conscript platoon reenacting the Jewish Exodus on the northern fringe of the battle.

In the end it was poor shooting dice that sank the Germans as they could not affect the Russian platoon sent to clear the area west of town. Their ineffectual attacks on the KV-1 helped seal their fate. Some better dice rolls would have changed the outcome dramatically.

With the exception of the wandering platoon to the north, the Russian conscripts were the stars of the day. They passed 2MCs (always rolling 4 and pinning) several times and helped clear the final objective, joined in killing off the AT-Gun crew, and freed up the platoon of regulars heading west with their (reluctant) charge into the teeth of the German southern strongpoint. The German squads in the northern VP building got posthumous game balls for their badger-like defense of that building.

DM

Comment by Mike O'Brien on November 22, 2009 at 12:22pm

Dick Mitchell and I got in an Eastern Front in '42 scenario called Retreat from Bairak.
I took the Germans, Dick took the Soviets. The scenario has some great opportunities for tactical interaction. The Soviets get a horde of conscripts, a KV1, a couple of T34's and some reinforcements that come in on the flank on turn 2. The Germans get a couple of PzIII H's, a 50mm AT gun that's hidden and around 11 squads and 3 leaders. The Russians have to take two buildings and make sure than there are less than or equal to 8 VP's of good order German troops back on the second board. It turned out to be a pretty close game with some wild happenings including my AT gun taking out one of the T34's from the front, Dicks troops close assaulting one of the PzIII's and killing it and one of my units of infantry holding out until the last turn in both buildings when both were eliminated. Soviets won this game but I am looking forward to a rematch. I'm sure Dick would give a better AAR but I wanted to at least let people know that we are getting in some ASL here in Sacramento.

Comment by Mike O'Brien on November 9, 2009 at 9:08am

Here is an AAR from a friend and my opponent for Friday the 13th.
Subject: AAR - Saturday: Friday the 13th / J59


Since the balance on this scenario was so good on ROAR, I chose it for my game with Mike. I got to be Germans (surprise!) and Mike was left with the responsibility of defending the village from my rampaging forces.

Mike set up first with his AT Gun hidden in 17N0. The ville was screened to my left by a hedge 6 hexes from my entry row. To the right of the road through 'town' were hedges and woods. So I moved one of my tanks 1 hex on board on the road to set up for some shooting in order to try to dislodge his troops from their foxholes on the hedge line to my left. I also sent a couple half squads along with another squad and a leader along the left edge of the world to secure the hedge line. The rest of my force went to the right using the hedge and forests for cover.

On turn two, I ran a half-squad into his AT Gun and exposed that. He had pretty good LOS to everything in the center and left of my line. As I was setting up to CC his gun, Mike used it to break 1.5 squads + leader and then No Quarter them. A setback for the Reich but I was able to move the other half squad into CC a turn later and the gun was tied up for the rest of the game. My tanks now had a free hand to be as 'bad as they wanna be'.

Mike had set up a rally point in the stone building in 17P2. After I pushed his pinko's off the hedge line and out of building 17P4, they overstacked to rally - perfect time to hit them. So I moved a tank adjacent to his RP and took the shot...BOXCARS! Broken MA that my tank crew made worse so, after some Russian CC on my tank, it left for the MA repair facility.

Meanwhile my superbly trained (i.e. my dice were much better than average) troops kept pushing the Reds until they realized the futility of resistance and skulked off to become socialists. I did get an opportunity for some RtPh No Qtr mayhem, myself, later in the game.

Mike was of the opinion that he had set up his gun badly. I thought not. It seemed to be the spot with the most scenic views to my forces. In retrospect, a 1/2 squad nearby to slow down infantry wouldn't have hurt, but his use of the gun to smack my grunts caused much National-Socialist boo-boo lip.

Even though he was in dire straights during turn 4 Mike stubbornly refused to surrender until Dave called the bout a TKO in the top of the 5th. Mike also has an annoying habit of rolling snakes at inopportune times (for his opponent). Despite these idiosyncrasies, it is always fun to play ag'in 'im.

Mike suggested the scenario had some replay value. I agree. He and I should switch sides and replay this one.

So, there it is, A view to a semi-private room in an ASyLum .
DM

Comment by Mike O'Brien on October 11, 2009 at 2:05pm

Played Dogs of War scenario yesterday. Czech Partisans (Charles Stevens), Germans SS (Dick Mitchell) and ROA (me). Very interesting three way battle with flamethrowing 1/2 tracks, Jadgpanzers, Hetzers and SS troops, along with Partisans popping up everywhere. Great game that Dick won in turn 4.

Comment by Mike O'Brien on October 7, 2009 at 8:48am

Tim, you need to come up to one of our Sacramento events. We start at 11 and run until 8. There's plenty of time to hit Viking Hobby and get lunch. We normally get together on Saturdays but the Miniature Wargaming Society meetings are on Sunday through May. They are at a library so you don't need to feel obligated to buy anything.

Comment by jtisdel on October 7, 2009 at 8:16am

Well, of course it's "cute" - all those pastels and muted colors...

Comment by Timothy Burke on October 7, 2009 at 1:59am

Mike, Keep us updated on the NorCal ASL group. October is out for me as I'm traveling that weekend but I'm up for the next date in Vallejo.

Comment by Mike O'Brien on October 6, 2009 at 9:57pm

http://www.meeplepeople.com/proddetail.php?prod=Shirt05
Even better, try this one out for size, an ASL Meeple shirt.

and yes did say the cover of ASL is "pretty"!
Now to get some show like Color Splash, my girlfriend is a big David Bromstead fan, to do a room in ASL! "I want a masculine room in pink and yellow with a combat theme."

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