PBr CG I “Who Are These Devils?” — July 14 Night

by on July 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

[Previous Date: 14 PM]

With British reinforcements due the next morning, my only hope of keeping them from just walking into the main part of the map, and sweeping me off with way too many troops was to use my second (and last) ‘attack chit’ in a night attack to try and take the town. With my purchase limits and the severe German losses in the afternoon, there was a very real chance that I just wouldn’t be able to do it. However, an odd wrinkle of the CG is that the British withdraw everything after the night scenario and have to purchase a new OB. These troops can be put into any portion of his legal setup area, such as the town. But there’s a pillbox at the north end of the bridge. If I took that, then anything he wanted to setup north of the river would have to roll for potential casualties, so it was a main focus of my plan. We got started in September 2007…:

Okay after spending a RePh trying to find the purchase points for some confidence, we started the 14N German Assault on the village tonight.

Not a lot going on yet as the scenario is pretty clunky with lots of Cloaking counters to try and remember the contents of.

Even with the better movement of Cloaking counters, going is very slow as I have to AM my way through a very lit up area.


Situation as of AFPh, German Turn 1.

Taking a while for us to remember the Night rules again too. I did some illegal fire before we remembered NVR. Fortunately(?), I missed.
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PBr CG I “Who Are These Devils?” — July 14 PM

by on June 28, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

[Previous Date: 13 N]

In the Primosole Bridge campaign the Axis gets three ‘attack chits’; that is they get to declare three attacks during the campaign. It is obvious that the idea is to give the Axis two-three attempts to push the British forces back south of the river before reinforcements come up and put the Axis solidly on the defensive (and maybe one chance at a later counterattack). I made my purchases, planned out what I was going to do in the morning after the paratroops and gliders came in… and chickened out. I really didn’t think I had what it took to take on the existing British forces. So I went idle for 14 AM, bought more troops, and attacked in the afternoon. For us, the scenario took about a month and a half, starting in July 2007…:

And they’re off!

Just sent the first log file of 14PM off. Not going to be too much going on as the main force blunders through a lot of vineyards and olive groves.


Situation at beginning of 14PM.

Patch’s immediate comment was:

“I was most certainly expecting more units from the east. Going to be a tough fight.”
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PBr CG I “Who Are These Devils?” — July 13 Night

by on June 21, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

When Patch and I started playing through the scenarios from Pegasus Bridge, the intention was to follow them up with an actual Campaign Game from that product. However, by the time we had gotten through them all, Journal 6 had come out, with its own mini-HASL, “Primosole Bridge”. I was enthused by it, and talked Patch into getting a copy, and instead of playing a campaign game with British and Germans fighting over a bridge in Normandy, we played one with British and Germans fighting over a bridge in Sicily a year earlier. The original AAR was one big thread for everything, but I’m splitting it up into the various ‘dates’ here, otherwise it’ll be too long even for me. We got going in May 2007…:

And this one is likely to go on for quite a while. Patch and I just started the full 12-date CG for Primosole Bridge from Journal 6. I’m taking the Italian & German forces.

It’s going slightly slowly for us at the moment. It’s been a decade since Patch has played with Night, Gliders or paradrops, and it’s my first time for all three. However, the unit density for the initial scenario is low enough (compared to PB6) that once we’re past the night rules questions it should move pretty fast.

The initial scenario seems like it would make an interesting regular scenario, with a German convoy showing up in the middle of the Brit paratroopers taking out the Italian garrison. Setup was complicated for both sides, and odd for me, since the normal night options are in turn restricted by the fact that I have to be adjacent to the paved road and in a pillbox or building. And all the pillbox and trench locations are specified, so I didn’t bother HIPing them, as it’d only force Patch to re-read the SSR as he moved.

One turn into the date, and not much has happened north of the river. The paratroops scattered all over, and should be about to head for C Di Stephano.

The gliders landed in the south, and he got his reinforcements on turn 1. Not exactly what I was hoping for. However, Things have gone decently well. He discovered a minefield by losing a HS to it, and the losing the other half of the squad as they tried to rout out of it. The M23 pillbox’s MMG managed to nail a stack of his during my turn, breaking a 8-1 and two 648s. He managed to self-rally one of the squads on his turn and get the leader out of DM, so I’m not keeping them down for long. Meanwhile a lowly 346 squad has managed to keep another squad in melee for two CCPhs despite being Ambushed. I moved another group from O24 to the north end of the bridge. I did this in full (concealed) view of Cloak ‘A’, so I’m starting to wonder about him….


Situation south and around the bridge, beginning of British turn 2.


Town and British landings, beginning of British turn 2.

The really troublesome news is that the NVR has already gone down to 2, and I have yet to get a starshell off. Three attempts, and I think they were all 5s. This means he could get scarily close to the town north of the bridge before I see him.

We’re using the PBr VASL map available for download here, but we’ve noticed that the game-internal hexgrid has trouble. Much of it matches, but right at hexrow ‘O’ it suddenly shifts off a hex….
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T1 Gavin Take

by on June 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Every once in a while, I get ambitious enough to cast around for a PBeM game of ASL against someone other than Patch. I wish he’d do the same, I’d like to see how he fares against someone other than me. Of course, if he consistently loses, that could get depressing. So, here’s my first completed game against a different opponent after I met Patch from April 2007:

I advertised for and got a second PBEM game a couple weeks ago. My esteemed opponent, Giasone, “–g–“, from Italy has taken the Americans in “Gavin Take” from ASL Classic. Progress is slightly slow, but we’re certainly far enough in for it to be interesting.

This is my second time playing this scenario. …But I can’t remember the first time at all. Patch had to remind me of the fact that we did do some face-to-face games.

I’ll freely admit I glanced over the scenario analysis in ASL Classic before doing my setup. My defense is inspired by it, but wasn’t dictated by it.

g’s opening seems fairly typical, so far he seems mostly intent on going around me, and getting established south of town before I can shift too much that way. The worst thing is that I’m committing silly rules errors that I should know better on.

Situation at beginning of German Turn 1, showing later movement (blue) and routs (red).

It’s been a mixed bag, he’s scouting aggressively with HSes, and I’m shooting at everything in sight. Thankfully my Prep took out both squads that he left on the hills. I tried to get the leader in W5, but only pinned him and then turned him heroic (which un-pinned him) on a MMG rate-tear. But now he’s back for more.

After playing the Brits for so long I’m having to continually remind myself to watch for cowering….
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PB6 It’s About Time

by on June 7, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

The final scenario presented in Pegasus Bridge is a giant sprawling thing that takes up the entire map, and presents the British forces from the beach finally linking up with the Airborne division at the end of D-Day. It’s a very good, if very large, scenario that I enjoyed over four months at the beginning of 2007. Get something to drink, this one is going to be long:

This AAR on the final scenario in Pegasus Bridge has been a while in coming. It’s a large scenario, with a lot happening spread out over a large area. So setup took a while for both of us. I’ve been busy with a con that I sat in the dealer’s room in… and I’ve been a bit intimidated.

That said, we did most (and certainly the most exciting parts) of my (British) movement last Wednesday, and are now finishing off the turn.

This last scenario features hard-pressed airborne troops still defending Benouville and Le Port when the landing forces from Sword beach start arriving on the scene. This happens late in the day, and Turns 9-12 will have a +1 LV Hindrance for dusk (11 1/2 turns… yeesh. I hope it’s long enough).

The Germans are technically defending, but have a marked local superiority in Benouville, while the contest in Le Port would be reasonably even without the reinforcements.


General situtation at the end of British Turn 1.

Patch is having some amazing luck, having broken a MTR, a MMG, a HMG, and a PzIVs BMG and CMG during his defensive fire. I haven’t broken anything, but I haven’t had any effective fire yet either (despite getting a BFF Improbable Hit), and have managed to loose a Stuart.


Detail of Benouville, end of British Turn 1.

Obviously, I’m going to have to start pressing the Germans back in a hurry, and then send what I can afford down the road to Benouville before the Germans really get into the swing of things down there.


Detail of Le Port, end of British Turn 1.
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