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After finishing up in Tulle, Mark and I went back to Paratrooper, and scenario 17, “Lost Opportunities”. It’s D-Day, and the Germans are trying to retake Ste.-Mère-Église from 505th Parachute Regiment. They have six turns to take five buildings on board 1.

I had the defending Americans, who get eight paratrooper squads, a 60mm MTR, a couple MMGs, five BAZ, and an AT gun. The defense is along the narrow edge of the board, where it abuts board 2. The ATG went in J4, where there’s actually pretty good LOS up the entire center street, and if the Germans went too far on either flank, it’d still have a shot. My one HIP squad took a MMG and was in D2, where it could do a surprise shot if he advanced on that flank. The MTR was in E6 with a foxhole, as it’s one of the few hexes with open ground in front of the buildings, and has a few places it can see in the MTR’s range. The other MMG was up in 1F6h2, where it could largely out-range the Germans.

The Germans have a mix of nineteen second line and conscript squads with the usual machine guns, a couple 50mm MTRs, a Marder I, and a couple of captured French Renault tanks. Most of them in a line at the limit of the setup area, but the two MTRs set up on the hill, with the Marder right in front. As a last note, the Germans lose if they ever go below nine unbroken squad equivalents. Given the quality of troops, its a heck of a restriction.

Mark led off with a bombardment of forward positions from all his ordnance, including a nice rate-tear from one of the MTRs. However, the only result was to reveal my squad in 1B6 and battle harden him. Movement was fairly calm until a 8-0 came into view, and the high-up MMG pinned him and ELRed the conscripts with him (for the first turn or so, I was stuck on the underscored morale method of breaking into HS for anyone who couldn’t be Replaced, before finally remembering they should be disrupting instead). Then an 8-1 came in next to that, and the MMG broke him and the MMG squad with him. In DFPh, the MMG claimed another victim, breaking his 9-1 and LMG squad, and the ATG took what I supposed to be a ranging shot at the hull down Marder, which hit and burned it.

Situation, German Turn 1, showing the full board. North is to the left.
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A while back, I got contacted by Tracey Love on BGG for a teaching game of ASL. He’s played the Starter Kits, and was in the middle of making the leap to the full system. This was an interesting experience for me, as there were plenty of things he was already proficient with, and then others that were completely new (including bocage, which I needed to brush up on). After a little discussion, we went with scenario 12 “Confusion Reigns” originally from Paratrooper, and now reprinted in Yanks, with me as the defending Germans.

At first glance, it seems an ordinary enough straight-up fight for St. Mere-Eglise with twelve squads on each side. However, the Americans need to get 12 CVP (and at least double the German CVP), and have better leadership with their excellent 747 squads. The German commander and his staff were killed just before the scenario begins, so the Germans can move a number squads equal to the turn number plus one per GO leader (they start with two), plus a unit that sticks with a leader for the entire MPh. This freezes parts of the defense in place, which must setup within 4 hexes of 24X5. The Americans get half of board 1 to set up in, and on the opposite side from there is board 4, which the Germans can exit from without granting CVP to the Americans.

I set up with a mass in the woods that dominate the setup area, with some forward HS, and my two main MGs in buildings. The MMG went in 24T6h1 where it could see what was going on at ground level elsewhere, and the HMG in 24V3h2 where it could see most everything. The main worry was keeping the Americans from getting around the main defense, and not only leaving me nowhere to go, but inflicting encirclement. Retreating through the woods was inevitable, and I hoped to withdraw to the north in an orderly fashion.

The initial American bombardment took a few logs to run, as Tracey got used to ordnance/mortar rules, and broke two of my forward HSes and his sniper pinned a LMG squad in 24BB3. His advance was fairly cautious and conservative, but he advanced nicely on his right. I managed to break one squad as he tried to get into the valley, but had no other effect, while his advancing fire managed to kill one of the broken HSes, and another good shot reduced my LMG squad with a K/1.

Situation, American Turn 1. The full map is half each of boards 4, 24, and 1, going from north to south.
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