Archive for ASL

93 results.
Sep01

FB12 The Black Ravens Are Flying

by Rindis on September 1, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Patch and I finally got back to Festung Budapest for our latest ASL game. FB has a lot of unusual scenarios, and that’s definitely true here, as there’s a four-hexrow overlap in the opposing setup areas, and anyone who sets up in the same Location starts in Melee (setup is simultaneous and secret). This is probably easier in VASL than FtF. Right after that is worked out, a die is rolled to see who goes first, and is effectively on the attack, as they will have to Control five out of nine ground-level victory Locations at the end of five turns, and both sides have a limit of 35 CVP.

Pre-game rubble checks knocked down most of building YY30, but did nothing to four other buildings. I had the Russians, who start with nine squads (three each 628, 458, 527), a MMG, DC, a 75mm INF, and three T-34/85s. There’s also six OB-given “?”. I mostly used those to conceal the bulk of my forces, but also put a Dummy in EEE27. My main concentrations went on the VC Locations of ZZ27 and CCC28, but the MMG went further out in XX26, where it could cover most of the north side. I put two squads across the main north-south road, with a 628 on the VC Location in ZZ25, and a 527 + 7-0 next to a VC Location in EEE25. Most of my concentration was in the south, and I hoped to take and keep DDD25. The INF was in AAA29, where it was out of the Axis setup area, and could cover most of the area being fought over, especially to the south.

The Axis has three SS squads (two normal 658s and a 468), three regular elite squads (a 548 and pair of 468s), and three Hungarian 526 squads. They’re at Ammo Shortage 4, and only have two LMGs, but also have a DC, 75L AT, Pz IV H, StuG III G(L), and a SdKfz 251/9 (with a short 75mm gun), as well as six OB-given “?” and initial Control of all victory Locations. On the west-side of the main street, he had what turned out to be a dummy in YY27, and two Hungarian squads in building CCC28, one of which was instantly in Melee with my main stack with a 9-1 and 628 (the remaining Hungarians were in BBB26, with the leader in BBB24), while the ATG was in ZZ24. The rest of his squads were in a line along the east side of the street, with two of them in cellars. In one case, this meant we were in the same hex, but not in Melee, but my force in EEE25 did end up in Melee with a 468. His Pz IV was in bypass of FFF24, adjacent to the Melee, though actually out of my setup area, the StuG was in CCC24 looking down the street, while the SdKfz 251/9 was in ZZ23, where it could cover the central building.

The scenario also has purchasable reinforcements, where each side gets three points every turn, and there’s a schedule of what you can buy, from leaders and squads, a few tanks, or even eliminate the next player turn. (You just go through your turn and then do your next turn right after, costs 8 points.) The start went to the Axis, and Patch skipped buying anything, and went straight to Prep. He only fired his group in YY25 at my guys next door in ZZ25, getting a MC that I passed. Movement consisted of skulking in the center and preparing to rush into EEE25.

I didn’t want to reveal too many “?” for fear of making them vulnerable, but I did reveal the INF, which missed a shot at DDD25, but behind-the-lines fire at DDD28 broke that squad. Patch had forgotten his squad in ZZ25/c, and I pounded it, eventually breaking it with a shot from a T-34. Patch declined to advance into CC in ZZ25, though he would have had an edge in leadership and FP (he’d still be attacking at 1:1 -1, unless he could get the Ambush; too chancy). But CC went poorly for me, with the Hungarians wiping out a 628, 9-1 and DC in CCC28 while taking no losses, and he CRed my 527 in EEE25 for no losses.


Situation, German Turn 1 showing the full playing area. The red hexes are the Russian entry area, and the blue hexes are the Axis entry area. North is to the left. German setup was xx28 and above, Russian setup xx25 and below, but not in/adjacent to building BBB26.
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Aug09

195 Rocket’s Red Glare

by Rindis on August 9, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

For our next game, Tom and I ended up with a small scenario from the new Yanks (and originally from The General), 195 “Rocket’s Red Glare”. The SS are defending the board three village against a large number of American paratroopers backed up by a M36 GMC… and a number of captured panzerfausts. Setup is a little odd, as the Americans get to start in a fairly restricted area (five hexes) on board, or enter on turn 1, and must first decide which troops are doing which. Then the SS sets up, and then the Americans set up the on board troops and prepare for entry.

The Germans have 7 regular SS squads, reasonably good leadership, a MMG, HMG and LMGs, a PSK,  a StuG IIIG (L), a Wirbelwind, and a 105 ART to defend two buildings on board 3 for six turns (and I should point out at this point that we missed the MMG, so I played this with just the HMG and LMGs). The Americans have 12 paratrooper squads, great leadership (four leaders ranging from 10-2 to 8-0, and all but that last have a negative modifier), with four MMGs, four BAZ (two each 44 and 45) and four PFs (normally marked with DC counters, but Vassal has American PF counters, which we used), and they win immediately upon getting Control of Q7 or O10.

I would have liked to set up on top of some of the hills to get good LOS, but the restriction to setting up in woods and buildings precluded that. The StuG and ART were part of the final line of defense, with each one pointed down the road loop near the close victory building. Most of the rest of the setup was scattered through the village, with some outliers on each flank in case he tried to go around everything towards O10. Tom put most of his forces onboard, with the M36 entering at Y1, and a platoon entering at I1.

He started by deploying two of the on-board squads, and one off of I1. He tied a fair number of men up in Prep Fire, but rolled well, and killed a HS in W4 outright, as well as breaking two squads and a 8-0 in the village, though my sniper broke a squad of his in return. This allowed him to occupy the south-west end of the village without trouble, and entering platoon took up positions around N2, while the M36 strayed out of contact with anything else in the west.


Situation, American Turn 1, showing the full board, and my HIP 105mm ART.
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Jul14

A96 In Rommel’s Wake

by Rindis on July 14, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Having fallen into playing a couple scenarios from a set of four SL-conversions/tournament scenarios in ASL Annual ’96, I arranged for a third and advertised for a game of the last one in the set, A96 “In Rommel’s Wake”, and got a game with Pierce. In May ’40, Rommel has crossed the Meuse, but the French are still holding other crossings, and the German army is trying to seize another one from a small defending force.

There’s a number of interesting things going on here. It’s a three-board scenario with board 7 and two bridges in the middle. The Germans enter from board 5 with nine 1st line squads of bicycle troops (with an errata SSR that allows them to carry four LMGs) and two PSW 222 armored cars. The basic French defense is six 1st line squads, two 8-0 leaders, a MMG, two LMG, and two DCs on board 2 and the south bank of the river, all but one squad HIP as long as they’re in concealment terrain. However, they secretly draw a chit before the game that determines the length of the game, and their exact troops. With a draw of ‘1’, it’s the basic troops and 5 turns; a ‘2’ is 6 turns, and adds a squad, an 8-1 and a MMG; ‘3’ is 8 turns and one of the DC is already secretly Set on a bridge hex; and a ‘4’ is 10 turns, and adds an eighth squad, and promotes an 8-0 to an 8-1. The Germans need to have 12 VP south of the river at the end of the game (including broken units!), and at least one of the bridges needs to be intact.

The scenario has a lopsided record on ROAR, so we went with the French balance, which gives them a pair of foxholes, and Pierce volunteered for the French. He (unknown to me) drew chit 1, and set up the foxholes at the exit to both bridges, which now that I think of it should have been HIP until I came  into view, though the non-HIP troops in them would have been something of a giveaway, and it wouldn’t have take long to see them. I decided to go for the far, wooden, bridge as it was much shorter, and I didn’t want to be stuck on a single clear hexrow forever. I gave some consideration to sending some forces to the nearer, longer, bridge, so that both were threatened, but decided I would need concentration of force more than the French.

Bicycles are fast. They count as Infantry movement, so there’s no changing CA, and CX and leader and road bonus still count, but each road hex costs 0.5 MF, so I made 16 hexes this turn (+1 in APh). Also, there’s no MF cost for getting on/off them. The two ACs went down the middle, one of them to 7Q3 so it could try to interdict any shift of troops to the targeted bridge, and try and keep the French from hurrying onto the bridge to Set a DC on it, and the other to a more sheltered position that could see near the exit of the stone bridge.

To my surprise, there was no French response at all, and the second half of the first turn passed quietly. I had figured there’d be at least one squad covering the main bridge who’d rush towards my attack.


Situation, Turn 1, showing the full map.
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Jul06

AP75 Gabriel’s Horn

by Rindis on July 6, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

While looking over some of my recent ASL purchases, Patch was struck by some of the scenarios in AP8 featuring the 36th Infantry Division in Italy. So, for our next game we went with “Gabriel’s Horn”, which features a chunk of the division getting overrun by the Germans shortly after the Salerno landings, as they were much more familiar with the terrain and infiltrated the American positions at night.

It’s an interesting setup, using all of board 5a, and the middle half of 60. The Americans have seven squads on the hill of 5a, and another five in the dense hilltop town of 60 (both split between 1st Line and Green). The first force has to set up at levels 2 and 3, while the Germans set up anywhere on 5a at least two hexes away from the Americans. The second force has to be within three hexes of 60Q5, which restricts them to a very dense part of town. Both sections have two MMG and two MTR and two BAZ 43s (which have to be used by a crew, or suffer Non-Qualified use penalties; presumably, they’re brand new, and the crews represent the few people specifically trained on them so far). The Germans have fourteen squads (mostly 1st Line, with some elites), the usual MGs, a couple DCs, and some OB-“?” (which the defending Americans don’t get), and four StuGs (two B, two G) enter on turn 2; and they get 80+mm OBA with an Offboard Observer.

The setup allows the Germans to basically surround and cut to ribbons the main American force (who at least get to set up entrenched), who, with an ELR of 2, will tend to collapse. But the Germans have an ambitious goal: they have 6.5 turns to take Control of all the Level 3 hexes on board 5a (there’s 19 of them), and take 4/7 three-hex buildings on board 60, while doing twice as many CVP to the Americans as they take.

Oh, and for another wrinkle, all the Orchards are in-season, while the woods are Olive Groves, and the brush is Cactus Patches (we assumed that both of those should still be Inherent Terrain, since they normally replace Orchards).

I had the defending Americans, and set up in a line mostly meant to try and support itself on the western half of the main hill, though a final three squads were in the east to keep the Germans from setting up there even as I ignored the very easternmost peak. Board 60 set up with an eye to trying to interdict the valley and slow down German attempts to get up to the town. Both MTRs were manned by a HS each, in a square in R6, while a MMG squad in R7 was ready to spot for them. Patch set up loosely around the poor exposed GIs, with two stacks obviously already in position to head into town once securing the hill was underway.

Patch opened with a 16FP shot that only caused a PTC to my hilltop MMG in 5aF4, which had no effect, but that activated his Sniper, who broke one of my MTR HS in 60R6. His third shot hit the same target, and ELRed the squad. The next shot pinned a 8-0 and ELRed the squad in J9. The sixth shot was a ‘2’ on Encircling Fire to wound my 8-1 and Disrupt the other MMG squad. However, that also set off my Sniper, who killed an already-fired 8-1. A pair of ROF shots later, and the BAZ crew in J7 broke.

Patch then went to movement, crawling closer to what was left. In Final Fire, I broke a German squad in H11 who hadn’t fired or moved, and revealed a DC+HS in F6 on a passed 1MC, and my board 60 MMG pinned the leader and squad in P4. Two of my MTRs missed, but one got a solid hit (1MC) H8, which the Germans passed. Advancing Fire pinned my BAZ crew in G6. Overall, both side’s fire rolls were fairly good, and we both felt that it had been a fairly brutal turn.

A HS accepted the surrender of F4, while a different one went in there for CC vs my 7-0, and neither side did anything to the other.


Situation, German Turn 1, showing the full playing area. North is to the left, and the German perimeter markers show where the StuGs are due to come in.
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Jun28

A94 Last Defense Line

by Rindis on June 28, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

By the time I finished Panzer Graveyard with Tom Arnold, I was engaged in a (currently delayed) game from a set of four in Annual 96 that were rereleases from SL. I proposed “Last Defense Line” from that set, and Tom took the defending French.

It’s May ’40, and the French are defending half of boards 3 and 4 with eight squads, good leadership, two MMGs, a Brandt MTR, and two 65mm INF Guns, with two foxholes. The Germans enter with 12 squads, very good leadership (five leaders), a MMG, four LMGs, and a Radio for 80mm BTN OBA. Complicating the French defense is the fact that before play the German picks a random chit to determine his goal: either eight turns to get 12 CVP, nine turns to take five buildings in the board 3 village, or ten turns to exit 12 VP off the opposite side. No matter what they draw, the German job is made harder by being unable to go CX.

I drew Chit 1, and so needed to inflict 12 CVP on the French, with an initial plan of pushing to contact as rapidly as I was allowed. I figured it’d help create the idea that I needed the village or exit. There was little fire until near the end of movement, his MMG stack was able to pin a squad in my 10-2 group moving deep in a grainfield, and a pair of squads on the south side managed to break a leader and squad while pinning another squad. A DFPh shot ended with activating his sniper, who broke the HS that was covering my south flank.


Situation, German Turn 1. North is to the left, Allied markers show the limit of the French setup area. And by SSR, grain is in season in May.
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May23

ASL Upgrade Round 1

by Rindis on May 23, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Much of my base ASL set dates to the mid ’90s. I originally got the rule book and Paratrooper at a flea market at DunDraCon in ’96. I remember specifically getting West of Alamein in a visit to the Oceanside GameTowne (which closed a year later), but I can’t remember where I got the other core modules. Anyway, while I mostly play on Vassal, the physical set does come out every once in a while. So I’m finally getting around to upgrading my copies of Beyond Valor and Yanks from the AH versions.

Eevee wanted to see what was going on. And yes, I also got an Action Pack so I’d also have something new while spending all this money.

This gets me the newer, nicer counters (without the annoying side-nibs) for the main system markers, the Germans, Russians, and Americans. (I’ll note that I ‘gain’ a half-sheet of counters going from one set to the other. I also get the light gray Finns to go with the ones from Hakkaa Päälle.) I transfer 9 boards to the newer SK-style, which helps on storage space. I managed to get most of the old SL-boards back in the 90s, so I’m getting several duplicates of boards that aren’t scheduled to go out with the sale of my old sets (1-5 and 8, 40-41 will someday go out with CdG, and this is my second SK copy of 24) the only ‘new’ board I’m getting is 46, which was originally from Action Pack 2 (and the other board from that was in Rising Sun; now if MMP will just release the scenarios…). There’s updated scenario cards, which mostly just update small bits of language, though “Gavin’s Gamble” is practically an all-new scenario, and can’t be played with just the contents of BV and Yanks since it also wants a couple overlays. Finally, there’s also all the ‘new’ reprinted scenarios in BV3 (123-136) and Yanks 2 (178-202), but I should have the original versions of almost all of those.

Round 2 of upgrading should be getting For King and Country and Hollow Legions 3rd Ed to replace West of Alamein and Hollow Legions 2nd Ed (this plan is part of what prompted this round, as I want Soldiers of the Negus, which will be included in the new HL). Of course, FKaC has sold out, so it will be trickier to do round 2 as I wouldn’t be surprised if HL3 sells out by the time MMP can get around to reprinting FKaC….

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May07

J167 Hart Attack

by Rindis on May 7, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

While looking through the ASL Journal 11 scenarios back in January, Patch saw that J167 “Hart Attack”, featured some Grants, and wanted to have a go at it. We’ve actually used them before (or at least some Lees), but I got to drive them that time, so I took the Germans defending against Allied forces in Tunisia. This is technically a re-release of the early ’90s scenario ASLUG7, but frankly, it’s a completely new scenario from the same designer. The German forces are about the same, the British have been cut down, it’s two turns shorter, and gone from a three-map area with overlays to just needing board 7a. The VCs and SSRs have also gotten a lot simpler. That said, someone could probably talk me into trying it for comparison’s sake.

The Germans have 8 squads and 3 HS of 548 elites, with MGs, a pair of 50mm MTR, an ATR, DC, and a 40mm squeezebore ATG, and then get three Pz IIIs with a 9-1 AL on turn 3. The Allies enter from the west with thirteen British squads (mostly first line, with some elites), good leadership (four leaders with -4 in leadership mods between them), HMG, MMG, a couple 51mm MTR, an ATR, and five American M3 Grants. The Allies have six turns to get 7 VP; getting one VP per building they control (there are seven on the board), one per every other tank they exit off the east side (i.e., 1 for exiting one, 2 for exiting three, 3 for exiting all five), and a VP per German tank they kill. The Tunisian setting means that orchards are olive groves, and hedges are cactus hedges. The Germans are considered Elite for Ammo Depletion (…I think I forgot that), and the British get to use ATMM to represent Gammon bombs.

There’s one building at the west edge, and then two widely separated clusters of three buildings on the board. This gives the Allies two general approaches depending on which cluster they want to go for first. One set is tucked way back, and is hard to get at unless it’s the primary target, while the other is much more central (and nearer the odd, ‘close’ building), but is made of stone in fairly dense terrain with walls, olive groves, and a couple hills, and features the only two-hex building in the lot. I set up blocking positions on both western roads, one MMG overlooking the further buildings, the other in the two-hex building, with a MTR adjacent that it could spot for (which was bore-sighted on the hill overlooking the compound). The ATG went on a hill where it could boresight a woods-road that Patch would almost have to use if he went north. I figured if he went south, he’d still come for the final buildings anyway, and I’d push the gun down to where it could trade shots from either side of the walls. The ATR went in the center, where it’d have a chance at an underbelly shot at a tank going over the wall that lines the area; about the only good shot I figured he’d let me have with the thing.

Patch took the northern route. In fact, more northern than I’d figured. I’d kind of mentally shrugged off the most-northern section of the board, which would require going around a fair amount of terrain before getting anywhere. So naturally, half his force went there, and made me wonder if he’d be trying to overrun my ATG before it got a shot at a tank. I didn’t have any fire against most of that, but the rest of his forces lined up at the wall, with a large stack headed for the close building just across the wall, and a lucky shot broke his 9-2 as he entered, and the resulting LLTC pinned the two squads with him. Two of his tanks went over the wall, but my ATR shot went wild (Final 12), while one of them stopped long enough to reduce my forward squad with a BFF K/2, and three of his tanks parked around a concealed HS in D5. His AFPh scattered a number of acquisition markers about, with no other effect, despite a NMC against the squad in E4.


Situation, British Turn 1, showing the full board with my boresighting and ATG.
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Apr21

J32 Panzer Graveyard

by Rindis on April 21, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

After finishing up Lagus Assault Guns, Tom suggested trying out J32 “Panzer Graveyard” from Journal 2, and we got going at the beginning of March. A January ’44 scenario in Italy, it has a worn-out German force with a lot of tanks assaulting a stiff British defense in the board 46 town. The Germans attack with twelve squads (ranging from first line to conscripts), a few MGs and four Pz IV Hs with a 9-1 AL and four Pz III Ns. The British are defending with ten first-line squads, a HMG and a MMG, two PIATs (who are assigned to 1-2-7 crews), a 6 pdr AT gun, a Churchill IV and a Sherman III, and some concealment markers. There’s a small cluster of buildings added across the street from the main town that serves as a possible jumping-off point for the Germans.

This ordinarily should be a 1/2 map scenario. But instead, it uses all of board 46 and 18 (including an overlay with another level 2 hill). This is for the use of the Pz IIIs, which set up on the various hills, ready to shell the defenders, or smoke them in. The Germans have six turns and need to control 20 buildings (out of 30) in the British setup area at the end of the game. While they have lots of armor support, they have problems; all German MMC are Lax, and their ELR is only 2. Finally, there is a +1 LV on the final turn.

I took the British defense, and spent some time trying to figure out what I wanted to do. There’s three main ways for the Germans to approach this, the main obvious one is the center area, jumping off from the built up area. I figured an approach from the east had a lot of open ground to go through before reaching the first buildings, and then tended to hit the least-dense parts of the town, with the graveyard, woods, and orchards, though all of that was harder to defend. Meanwhile, the west side had some open ground as well, including an extra small hill, but with some cover just on the other side of the road that forms the setup areas. I put some light forces (including a Dummy in 46W7) to slow down an east-side assault slightly, while defending the west more heavily with the HMG in EE4 and a PIAT in the brush in DD2. Another HS was in the brush in EE1, which was as far forward as I dared to go there (and there was no concealment terrain forward of there anyway). LMGs were in Y5 and W5 to provide Fire Lanes against advances in the center area, with the HMG centrally located in BB5. I had a hard time figuring out where to put the tanks and ATG, since anywhere exposed could lead to them getting easily swarmed, with eight German tanks out there (though the Pz IIIs would struggle to kill either of mine even with a rear shot with a Final TK of 3; 5 with HEAT on a 9 or less), and a good number of PFs available. The Churchill anchored the main line of defense in the northeast in Z7, with help from a PIAT in Z9 (with a crucial error that I’ll get to later), and a 7-0 Z6 to act as a preliminary rally point. The Sherman was in CC7 to cover the central street, and possibly anchor the defense once the first line of buildings had fallen. The ATG went in GG7 facing SE, in case armor tried to go around the west flank and cut off my defenders (and I had problems finding anyplace that could see terrain I wanted to cover).

Tom’s setup surprised me, with the bulk of his forces in the center, but largely a hex back, and out of sight from my line, and three squads (and two HS, with his HMG & MMG) on the eastern flank backed up by two of his Pz IVs. He had figured my ATG was around EE2 (exactly the type of forward position I avoided) and stayed away from the brush. Most of his Pz IIIs were behind them on the board 46 hill, but one was backing up the main force in 18Q2. One Pz III fired, placing Smoke in V5, while the eastern Pz IV first pinned my HS in U7, which then ELRed to fire from his MGs. Most of his center forces fired on my other visible unit in AA2, forcing a 1MC which they passed. The last Pz IV fired on W7, but missed.

Tom then started showing off aggressive armor tactics my moving the second eastern Pz IV into Motion VBM of V8. I attempted CCRF, but pinned instead. Having locked up my primary defense, he advanced two squads and a 9-1 towards the building, but a good roll from W5 managed a 1MC that pinned the leader and broke a squad. This activated his Sniper, who broke the squad that had been the target of all his fire earlier. Past that, there was little left to move, other than some of the Pz IIIs advancing up to the rest of his troops.

My LMG squad Final Fired on his MG stack, and with another low roll, broke both HSes with MGs. Not only that, but my Sniper activated, and hit the same hex, with a three-way tie (out of four units), to fatally wound the 8-1 and then break the squad in the hex. The only CC was with the VBM Pz IV in V8, and my squad only missed because of being pinned.


Situation, German Turn 1, showing the full scenario area, and my HIP Gun. The blue ribbon is the dividing line between the British and German setup areas.
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Feb22

174 Lagus Assault Guns

by Rindis on February 22, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

After a bit of a delay, Tom Arnold and I got together for another Vassal ASL game, this time with a scenario from the recent Hakkaa Päälle. The Russians have taken the offensive in Finnland in mid-’44 and are back to trying to break the defenses that stopped them in the Winter War.

In this scenario, the Russians enter with eight squads (split between 1st line and elite rifle squads), a couple leaders, a HMG, a T34/85, a SU-152, and a IS-2, and then get six squads of (628) assault engineers with a couple FTs and DCs on turn two. The Finns defend with ten 648 1st line squads, a MMG, hero, PSK, two Sturmis (StuG IIIs in Finnish service), and a 81mm MTR. They’re actually in two groups, but one setup area is just a subset of the other. One squad equivalent gets HIP, and the Finns get to assign two of their available PFs to any unit(s) they wish (probably the hero, but one each to the hero and best leader seems like a good idea). The Russians have seven turns to either take 5 of 7 buildings in the board 17 village, or get 5 squads (not squad-equivalents) and two AFVs past a ‘finish line’ that lies behind the village.

Tom had the defending Finns and set up a defense scattered along his setup line. Interestingly, he used all his available Dummies (6) as large “?”, giving me five possible locations for his two Sturmis. It looks like the normal approach is along the west flank, going through some cover, and driving right at the village where there’s some open ground for the AFVs to operate. I decided to go on the east flank, in the board 32 woods, and try to drive for the goal before he could get everyone to focus on me. Better yet, there’s a nice gap at the beginning of the path that leads towards the village. By securing that, I can keep him uncertain as to which way I’m going. In fact, if he puts too much in front of me, I can switch goals in a hurry. Patch was by while I was setting up, looked things over, and had much the same idea, which was neat.

My initial advance had the two T-34s, covered by a pair of squads, holding my west flank. The main drive went up the 32A5 road, seizing the initial groups of houses for some cover. Tom only made one attack, revealing two full squads at the ‘gap’, and broke two squads who were armored assaulting up the road, while pinning a leader. I put acqusitions on the two squads, and on 17X2.


Situation, Russian Turn 1. North is to the left; the red circle is where the victory buildings are (two are covered by Finnish “?”), and the dashed line is what the Russians need to cross. As usual, green is movement, blue is advance, and red is routs.
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Jan13

A95 The Long Road

by Rindis on January 13, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

I got a sudden call from Patch on Saturday, saying that he was in the area, and didn’t have anything to do during the day. So, he came on over, and we started figuring out what to play. Quickly settling on ASL, we started looking through the most recent Journal, but most everything we looked at needed boards I didn’t have. So I pulled out Annual ’96, and we found “The Long Road” dealing with the British campaign in Vichy Madagascar in late ’42.

I randomly picked the Brits, and Patch figured out a setup for the Vichy forces. They defend board 5 with six squads, a pair of MMGs and four hexes of wire; everything in concealment terrain can be HIP, but they suffer from Ammo Shortage. The Brits are looking to exit 16 VP off a three hex area in 7.5 turns, and have 10 squads, some LMGs, and two armored cars with ATR main armament (I never bothered firing them, sticking with the CMG the entire time). Looking online now, I see that looks pretty tough on the defending Vichy, but the balance of trading a MMG for a HMG probably wouldn’t have helped here. It probably needs to be cut down a turn, and then some other adjustments made.


Patch’s reference photo of his setup. Note: there are no bridges in this scenario.

The Brits can come on within two hexes of any one x1 road hex, giving three entry choices. The furthest one (I1), requires going through most of the board 5 woods, and Patch blocked the road with the fourth wire hex (with the other three on the exit hexes; I imagine that just about every game features that setup). The closest one (Y1) features a lot of open ground, with just a gully for cover near the entry. So I went for the middle area (Q1), which is also open, but the woods close in enough to protect it from most of the rest of the board, and there’s good cover nearby. The ACs were to break out of that little area, while at least some of the infantry was to gain the woods on the other side of the clearing and head straight down, hopefully flanking the bulk of the defenses out in the open areas of the board.
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