Took a 4-day weekend this week and with that, gave my wife 1 day and ASL 1 day (a customary thing for my longer-than-3-day weekends). Today's live VASL foray was ASL45 Revenge at Kastelli against Spencer Armstrong. This one was on my list for several reasons:
1.) Having come to ASL (fully) in the early 2000's (2001 I think), and having SL but never having played it really, most of the "old" scenarios are new to me. This happened to be one of the many I have never played.
2.) It's a fairly straight-forward scenario with some easy-to-understand SSR's and VC's.
3.) It's all-infantry and I'm still not very good with tanks.
Having played 4 turns of it, now, we're shelving it. I may do an actual AAR later (or maybe not), but here are my impressions. One of the things I'm finding about the "old-school" scenarios (from the boxed sets) is that they are all 1.) really long and 2.) much more "historically based" in OB and conditions than "newer" scenarios as a general rule.
The key to this scenario is to surround and kill or even better, capture for FTR. I've loaded the south board and while I've certainly taken my licks, have fairly well surrounded the Germans down there. I left a token force in the north to try and force the Germans to move slower to reinforce the south and hopefully give my Greeks enough time to clear it prior to them getting there so that they can redirect their force.
The problem with the game is that there is simply no variety in the action within the scenario itself. The playing area is large and the bulk of the Greek squads are green so they only move 3 normally. It takes longer for them to get anywhere. The hills and woods-to-brush terrain change make for an interesting modification to these boards because the hills make routing extremely difficult, and the brush makes movement-under-cover impossible.
Don't know if we'll pull this one out again or not (either live VASL or PBEM). It's not a very "exciting" scenario (more of a slog-fest) and with there being so many other scenarios out there to play... Who knows?
What WAS fun, however, was playing ASL with my friend Spencer. For those of you that have not had that opportunity, I highly recommend it. A great player, and even more important, a great guy. I look forward to our next meetings both PBEM and live.
The Count
Showing posts with label VASL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VASL. Show all posts
Friday, May 4, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
AAR for FrF45 Totensonntag
With this being my first ever game of PBEM, I would have thought it would be harder. It's not. I really enjoy the speed and medium of PBEM to fit my time needs. Not that I don't like live VASL/F2F more but right now, this definitely fits my play availability better.
So I've set up a "permanent" opponent in my eASLeague partner-in-crime Spencer Armstrong. This was our first scenario and at the beginning, he spent some time teaching me the mechanics of PBEM (but they're not hard to master). He then proceeded to school me on how NOT to attack as the Polish in this scenario.
The Polish are set with the task of killing 6 SEq worth of Germans and/or capturing wooden buildings (with one building captured being the equivalent of one squad) in 6.5 Turns. It is an infantry-only scenario on board FrF-A. Below, is a screenshot of our final Setup (illustrating the board as well).
This is my first foray trying to push through the last batch of woods. I got a few through, but at this point decided that I hadn't been pushing enough. The Polish player needs to be fairly aggressive in this scenario so that the German can be flanked. If the German is always to the south, the Polish player will run out of time.
End of Turn 6:
Here's where I started pushing and formed up at the edge of the woods for a last ditch charge to capture some VP's. At this point I had broken the eastern-most guy and passed him. I would be able to kill him for FTR by moving adjacent. I had stood up to a firelane to ensure it. The guy in the building was now isolated, but I didn't anticipate him routing upstairs so taking him was not to be. I had also gotten another HS as free points.
Game Final:
So I've set up a "permanent" opponent in my eASLeague partner-in-crime Spencer Armstrong. This was our first scenario and at the beginning, he spent some time teaching me the mechanics of PBEM (but they're not hard to master). He then proceeded to school me on how NOT to attack as the Polish in this scenario.
The Polish are set with the task of killing 6 SEq worth of Germans and/or capturing wooden buildings (with one building captured being the equivalent of one squad) in 6.5 Turns. It is an infantry-only scenario on board FrF-A. Below, is a screenshot of our final Setup (illustrating the board as well).
As you can see, there are several "open" hexrows that lie between woods and town that I'm going to have to cross - with NO smoke. That was sucky.
This is the end of Turn 1:
I began toward rushing the right side because of how heavily the left was loaded (MG in the wooden building plus no cover. Spencer shifted immediately, however ready to punish with -2 shots. I was not able to keep enough pressure on him with the guys in the center to keep him from shifting.
At the end of Turn 2:
I have forced him out of the stone building in the middle and taken the first row of woods. The problem is that when you're advancing, you have no cover between the woods rows and the German can make you pay. The trick for the German seems to be avoid adjacent units and especially CC at any cost (up to and including Voluntary Break) and NOT to let the Polish behind them. The Polish, on the other hand seem to not be able to go down either side and rush the back field (both to capture buildings and/or kill for FTR) without taking brutal -2 fire which leaves the middle and cover for the Germans' retreat. Seems a real pickle.
At this point, I wasn't losing excessive firepower and I had taken a half squad and he had broken one of his MG's. Not quite as quick of progress as I'd hoped, but there was still 4.5 turns. I had some time.
...Several turns later...
In Turn 3, I picked up another HS. but had come up empty after that. As you can see from the picture above, I had taken the second woods, but was drastically running out of time. I had previously tried to flank with a squad and leader down the left (east) side but they got gunned down and were pretty well down for the count. You can see here, Spencer is falling back like a pro leaving a few units as "speedbumps" and enough possible negative shots to funnel me through woods terrain that eats up my MF. At this point, the game is very likely over, but I have decided that I want to play more endgames so I can see some of those last minute reversals (though with my luck at this game, that's not likely to ever happen but hey - "you have to play to win").
End of Turn 5:
End of Turn 6:
Game Final:
By the end of the game, I had killed the ninja squad (who had dodged ENTIRELY too much fire to not have some sort of ninja training) to the east for FTR and another squad with Boxcars on a MC. Final tally 3/6 of the VP required with no buildings captured. Win for Spencer.
A great game all around and one I recommend as a good all-infantry game. Another great offering from the guys at Friendly Fire. I look forward to our next fracas.
The Count
Friday, November 25, 2011
My inglorious return...
Today, I made my return to the world of ASL in typical fashion...by playing a scenario and having my strategy explode in a spray of blood and body parts to a counterpoint of flaming wrecks. The impersonal nature of VASL + Skype did not do much to dull the sting. My opponent, Spencer Armstrong, a true gentleman, was as nice as can be as he mocked my feeble attempts to get to the Victory Objective while laying waste to my critical assets.
We had previously decided to do some PBEM, but due to his impending move back to the land of promise, we had put it off, and put it off. Since I had today free, we decided to play it today live and pick another for my first foray into PBEM. The scenario we had chosen was one of Pete Shelling's ShellShocked scenarios that are freely available from the ASLOK website (here), Backs to the Saare. This scenario has the US devil squads (6-6-6) with some assault engineers backed up by some M36GMC's, some M4A3's, and an M4A1. They get tubes, footballs, and a torch. Opposing them are the Germans, with 1st and 2nd line squads some decent leaders, AT/AA assets and some dummies with a tube. There are some Pillboxes and tradable trenches (for wire, and roadblocks for fortified bldg locations, but most importantly, on turn 4, the cavalry arrives in the form of a PzKfw VG, a PzKfw IVJ and a couple of StuG IIIG's. The goal for the US is to take either 21Z2 or 20Z3 by game end.
My initial thinking was that if I were defending, I would probably reinforce the wooden building in 21Z2 heavier due to the TEM difference. I briefly thought that attacking up the middle would keep him guessing for a couple of turns while I felt out the defense, but if I were him, I would have the excellent fire lane of 20Y1 - 21Y1 set up so that no matter which way the attacker turned, I'd have a back shot with a decent chance of totalling my target. Experience bears this out in spades (more later). Based on that, I tried to do a force wedge on the board 20 side and attack what I believed would be the more lightly defended stone building. I should have tried the middle somehow.
The scene below shows the situation at the beginning of Turn 2 (after some maneuvering). I drove pretty well, not allowing my infantry and armor to spread out and become isolated by firelanes or HIP guys. I lost smoke rounds on basically everything, but made effective use of smoke mortars and smoke grenades to go forward. Then, I had the unfortunate luck of losing a M36GMC to a sniper of all things. Recall. That set the tone for things to come...
This is where things started to break down. I had some issues driving to the victory building and getting across that street. The momentum got held up through turn 3 and I couldn't afford to lose it. Below is the scene mid-way through Turn 4. Ready to cross the street finally. Unfortunately, this is about a turn too late and the German has way too many troops in 20Z3
Below is the scene at the beginning of American Turn 5. German tanks are closing in and the Americans are still not across the $@#&ing street.
Below we have the German Turn 5. I tried running a tank around to flank and attack the lower Pz IVH. I was concerned that if I left the tanks to the south unopposed, I'd get flanked and having tanks running around unopposed in my back field was NOT something I wanted to deal with. Not the worst plan ever, but it left me with a flaming wreck to show for it. See also the other M36GMC in the middle of the board flamed in turn 4.
Below is American Turn 6 in which the Americans finally grow a pair and go for the endgame. One tank, who can't really go anywhere where he would be effective, so I have him putting smoke down still.
I get a whole bunch of assets into the street where somehow they survive two firelanes at which time the germans brought down some HE from one of the Guns (can't remember which) and it took care of that stack, hard. The last shot here is the final image of the game where the American's trying to finger their way into the victory building evaporate into a fine red mist. At that point, there was no possible way I had either the time or the resources to take the building. So I ceded victory.
Final thoughts:
1.) OT M36GMC's should have been kept in the backfield and used once the other tanks were brought out.
2.) Should have pushed harder with the infantry. There was plenty of leadership to rally and they come back on 8's.
3.) As mentioned before, I probably should have split his forces by going up the middle instead of allowing him to reinforce bd. 20 from the south.
4.) Flamethrowers IGNORE TEM. An FT can take care of those pesky fortified building locations with ease.
I'm sure that there are more, but those are some really big ones.
To quote Spencer: "Play ASL to (in this order), have fun, learn/teach something, win - 2 out of 3 is good enough."
In summary, I'm not in any danger of winning a GROFAZ title or mini wood any time soon. I am in the market to have a lot of fun in this game again, though. I'm still finding great guys to meet and play. It just doesn't get any better than that.
The Count
We had previously decided to do some PBEM, but due to his impending move back to the land of promise, we had put it off, and put it off. Since I had today free, we decided to play it today live and pick another for my first foray into PBEM. The scenario we had chosen was one of Pete Shelling's ShellShocked scenarios that are freely available from the ASLOK website (here), Backs to the Saare. This scenario has the US devil squads (6-6-6) with some assault engineers backed up by some M36GMC's, some M4A3's, and an M4A1. They get tubes, footballs, and a torch. Opposing them are the Germans, with 1st and 2nd line squads some decent leaders, AT/AA assets and some dummies with a tube. There are some Pillboxes and tradable trenches (for wire, and roadblocks for fortified bldg locations, but most importantly, on turn 4, the cavalry arrives in the form of a PzKfw VG, a PzKfw IVJ and a couple of StuG IIIG's. The goal for the US is to take either 21Z2 or 20Z3 by game end.
My initial thinking was that if I were defending, I would probably reinforce the wooden building in 21Z2 heavier due to the TEM difference. I briefly thought that attacking up the middle would keep him guessing for a couple of turns while I felt out the defense, but if I were him, I would have the excellent fire lane of 20Y1 - 21Y1 set up so that no matter which way the attacker turned, I'd have a back shot with a decent chance of totalling my target. Experience bears this out in spades (more later). Based on that, I tried to do a force wedge on the board 20 side and attack what I believed would be the more lightly defended stone building. I should have tried the middle somehow.
The scene below shows the situation at the beginning of Turn 2 (after some maneuvering). I drove pretty well, not allowing my infantry and armor to spread out and become isolated by firelanes or HIP guys. I lost smoke rounds on basically everything, but made effective use of smoke mortars and smoke grenades to go forward. Then, I had the unfortunate luck of losing a M36GMC to a sniper of all things. Recall. That set the tone for things to come...
This is where things started to break down. I had some issues driving to the victory building and getting across that street. The momentum got held up through turn 3 and I couldn't afford to lose it. Below is the scene mid-way through Turn 4. Ready to cross the street finally. Unfortunately, this is about a turn too late and the German has way too many troops in 20Z3
Below is the scene at the beginning of American Turn 5. German tanks are closing in and the Americans are still not across the $@#&ing street.
Below we have the German Turn 5. I tried running a tank around to flank and attack the lower Pz IVH. I was concerned that if I left the tanks to the south unopposed, I'd get flanked and having tanks running around unopposed in my back field was NOT something I wanted to deal with. Not the worst plan ever, but it left me with a flaming wreck to show for it. See also the other M36GMC in the middle of the board flamed in turn 4.
Below is American Turn 6 in which the Americans finally grow a pair and go for the endgame. One tank, who can't really go anywhere where he would be effective, so I have him putting smoke down still.
I get a whole bunch of assets into the street where somehow they survive two firelanes at which time the germans brought down some HE from one of the Guns (can't remember which) and it took care of that stack, hard. The last shot here is the final image of the game where the American's trying to finger their way into the victory building evaporate into a fine red mist. At that point, there was no possible way I had either the time or the resources to take the building. So I ceded victory.
Final thoughts:1.) OT M36GMC's should have been kept in the backfield and used once the other tanks were brought out.
2.) Should have pushed harder with the infantry. There was plenty of leadership to rally and they come back on 8's.
3.) As mentioned before, I probably should have split his forces by going up the middle instead of allowing him to reinforce bd. 20 from the south.
4.) Flamethrowers IGNORE TEM. An FT can take care of those pesky fortified building locations with ease.
I'm sure that there are more, but those are some really big ones.
To quote Spencer: "Play ASL to (in this order), have fun, learn/teach something, win - 2 out of 3 is good enough."
In summary, I'm not in any danger of winning a GROFAZ title or mini wood any time soon. I am in the market to have a lot of fun in this game again, though. I'm still finding great guys to meet and play. It just doesn't get any better than that.
The Count
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Random ASL-ery
Interesting times a-happening:
1.) My daughter, Meagan, has decided at the precocious age of 9 (she'll be 10 in December), that I "need to teach her to play ASL, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!" I've started running her through Chapter K slowly. To my surprise and delight, if I go slow enough, she's actually picking it up. Who knows, I might develop a "for real" ASL opponent here local that wants to play often...and I get to bond with my daughter at the same time. LOTS of up-side.
2.) Having made yet another "ASL friend" in Spencer Armstrong, I've got a VASL game lined up for over Thanksgiving Break. 4-Day weekend = 3 days for family + 1 day for ASL. Everybody wins! Additionally, I'm going to have him walk me through a PBEM game. I figure with the small timeframe that it takes to build a log file (or portion thereof) and the small amount of time I actually seem to be able to put towards ASL on a regular basis, that it would be a match made in heaven (until circumstances change). Good times.
3.) Yet another guy that is tops is Chris Doary, the proprietor of ASL BattleSchool. This is one of the crispest, most well put-together blogs for ASL I have seen yet. He also runs a raffle every month for blog subscribers. This month, some poor schmuck in Lubbock, TX won (me). Take includes 4 precision BattleSchool custom dice and a $20 gift certificate to the site's store, KitShop. I find it incredible that the members of our community can do things like this. I have been in others where although the people were great, they were not nearly this generous. So many (like Chris) contribute blood, sweat, tears, time and no small amount of money to this hobby to keep it alive. Not everyone can be a Curt Schilling, but the smaller contributions to the community, like BattleSchool, are both humbling and appreciated. They make ME want to continue contributing and to contribute more.
Hopefully, this doesn't sound sappy, because it's not how it's meant. I just am continually grateful to have met the people I have and found this hobby/community. For all our quirks, we really have some of the nicest people I've met yet.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Rant: Cramping my style
For those of you that have left the simplicity of bachelorhood behind, have you ever noticed how having young kids/pets cramps your ASL-style?
Before you get the wrong idea, let me first say that I LOVE my kids. As much as I don't want him to know, I even like my cat, Rambo. However, working 60 hours a week every week does not leave much time for ASL. When I get the energy I want to get out the counters and play, but a couple of hours of ASL does not allow me to play a full game (I'm not speed racer when it comes to this game).
My 9 year old daughter has learned to leave my stuff alone. My 6 year old son, however, still looks with his hands. As for the cat, do a search on the Gamesquad forum for "FOBA" (or Feline OBA) - enough said.
The next response is usually "go with VASL". This is a hard one for me. VASL is a wonderful program (I say that as both an end user and as a programmer - though not in Java). The community should be forever grateful to Herr Kinney for his creation and CountermanCX for his ongoing contributions, not to mention all the map trolls and extension elves quietly and diligently adding their two cents. The fact of the matter is, I use a netbook for most of my computing. Screen size is an issue. I have, however, also done VASL with both one and two monitor setups. 2 monitors is tolerable. I don't happen to have two monitors at home.
Another problem with VASL is that I spend much of my day on a computer anyway. Often, I have a hard time generating the desire to get back on even to play this awesome game. This doesn't seem fair to my opponents to me so I am extremely hesitant to even begin a game. Case in point: my last attempt ended as a miserable failure. I had a very patient and understanding opponent. I am almost certain he bears no ill will that life was stepping in the way, but I feel guilty all the same. We did not even finish a single game.
Perhaps the more important and less concrete reason is that there is some aesthetic attraction for me to pushing cardboard stacks around a hard board (and occasionally tipping them over). There is also something about actually looking your opponent in the eye. I suppose I have been spoiled by living in Spokane and having a friend like Mr. Wolkey living so close. Here in Lubbock, I have not found nor been able to make a regular opponent.
It makes me wonder if any of my other "readers" suffer in silence. Speak up! Tell your stories. I'd love to hear them as well.
And so this doesn't end on a negative...Play often and roll low!!! Happy ASL-ing.
Josh
Before you get the wrong idea, let me first say that I LOVE my kids. As much as I don't want him to know, I even like my cat, Rambo. However, working 60 hours a week every week does not leave much time for ASL. When I get the energy I want to get out the counters and play, but a couple of hours of ASL does not allow me to play a full game (I'm not speed racer when it comes to this game).
My 9 year old daughter has learned to leave my stuff alone. My 6 year old son, however, still looks with his hands. As for the cat, do a search on the Gamesquad forum for "FOBA" (or Feline OBA) - enough said.
The next response is usually "go with VASL". This is a hard one for me. VASL is a wonderful program (I say that as both an end user and as a programmer - though not in Java). The community should be forever grateful to Herr Kinney for his creation and CountermanCX for his ongoing contributions, not to mention all the map trolls and extension elves quietly and diligently adding their two cents. The fact of the matter is, I use a netbook for most of my computing. Screen size is an issue. I have, however, also done VASL with both one and two monitor setups. 2 monitors is tolerable. I don't happen to have two monitors at home.
Another problem with VASL is that I spend much of my day on a computer anyway. Often, I have a hard time generating the desire to get back on even to play this awesome game. This doesn't seem fair to my opponents to me so I am extremely hesitant to even begin a game. Case in point: my last attempt ended as a miserable failure. I had a very patient and understanding opponent. I am almost certain he bears no ill will that life was stepping in the way, but I feel guilty all the same. We did not even finish a single game.
Perhaps the more important and less concrete reason is that there is some aesthetic attraction for me to pushing cardboard stacks around a hard board (and occasionally tipping them over). There is also something about actually looking your opponent in the eye. I suppose I have been spoiled by living in Spokane and having a friend like Mr. Wolkey living so close. Here in Lubbock, I have not found nor been able to make a regular opponent.
It makes me wonder if any of my other "readers" suffer in silence. Speak up! Tell your stories. I'd love to hear them as well.
And so this doesn't end on a negative...Play often and roll low!!! Happy ASL-ing.
Josh
Thursday, February 18, 2010
ASL 21 - Among the Ruins AAR (Part 1)
After a semi-forced hiatus (I couldn't find a F2F player in Lubbock), I finally bit the bullet and began to seriously look at VASL+Skype again. My job unfortunately, does not allow the amount of time that I would like in the evenings, so my ability to play is quite restricted. I advertised on GameSquad and found several people who were OK with my conditions. Either they are as hard up as me for an ASL fix, or we have some VERY patient people in this hobby. My guess is that it's a little of both. I LOVE our community.
I selected Roy Connelly as an opponent from Wichita, KS. After the usual trepidation of "meeting" a new person (yes, I'm somewhat shy - sue me), we connected tonight to begin our game. Roy is an ideal opponent. Knowledgeable, fun to talk to, and plays a good game. If anyone out there that reads this (and there are more of you than I imagined) has the chance in the future to play him on VASL or can get down to the Texas Team Tournament, I highly recommend doing so. You won't regret it and will walk away having had a great time.
That being said, Roy selected the Americans as in several other games, he is defending and wanted one on the attack. I didn't care and the ROAR is dead even in the 70's per side, so I let him have it. That being said, this is a VERY interesting scenario for both sides. The Americans have a vast superiority in number of squads. They are all 6-6-6's, though. Known for their brittleness. Even though they rally extremely well, broken units do not move toward the victory locations. Roy also gets 3 tanks, another plus. VBM anyone?
To fight the Americans, my Germans are greatly outnumbered but are 8 morale. They have a plethora of support weapons (including 2 'Shreks), and a Quad 20 AA gun. They get dummies, and the Gun and 2 squads + SW can HIP. Because my Germans are outnumbered, I made a hard decision. I decided to play the time card. My setup was mainly in the middle of the board, a little back from the front lines. I decided that I needed to concentrate my forces where he attached so I had to be able to shift to one side or the other. Doing so, however, would very likely concede turn 1 and probably 2 as well with little or no action. I put a token resistance up front and kept the main force back and sent him my setup.
Sure enough, he decided to come in force down the cemetery side. I had put a set of dummies up in the 3rd story building on that side and rubbled buildings in front of it to look like the HMG. He decided to take his chances. I hoped for some luck with the dice to soak up some prep fire on turn 1. That took 2 stacks. He had plenty more to move. Oh well. You can't pick 'em all. By the end of turn 1, he had advanced to the second line of streets and my paltry defense was ready to meet him with backup double timing it behind to adjust. Turn 2, one of the two elements shifted out of the front line defense leaving a lone 5-4-8 with an LMG to slow the American hordes. Run through the checklist: Fire lane - tried with no effect, DFPh with inherent into the stack that avoided the fire lane - no effect. Now the squad is boxed in a row house with a tank closing in. He preps at the one value target he sees, a devil squad with a BAZ. He shoots....he scores. DM, rout to a woods hex with no leader. It's not much, but what can you really expect from a squad that's been left to die by his buddies? I mean, seriously...
Turn 3 looks to be when the game is going to start in earnest. I have a whole bunch of MG's to bring to bear and he still has no idea where the 2 HIPpies with whatever they're packing or the Quad 20 are. One thing I've learned over the time that I've been playing and can pass along: HIP units are more useful as a threat than an actual force. Anything that makes the attacker think twice about charging toward his/her (hopefully...) objective is a useful weapon for the defender. That includes dummies and HIPpies. You may put a HIP squad in a bad location, or even a location that is out of the path of the attack, but the Attacker still has to wonder where that squad is. It's not so easy to run a tank down a road with buildings on the side if you suspect a HIP unit with a BAZ/PSK waiting for a rear shot or a Quad 20 to cut up your infantry. Maybe that HIP MMG has a crossroad hex bore sighted. Which of all of those question marks on the side of the board I need to attack is real and which is a dummy? All of these push an attacker toward cautiousness and for a defender that needs to last a specific number of turns while keeping his opponent from the objective, caution is something you NEED the attacker to have.
I'd almost forgotten how much I love this game and the people in it. Everyone should play ASL. All the time.
I selected Roy Connelly as an opponent from Wichita, KS. After the usual trepidation of "meeting" a new person (yes, I'm somewhat shy - sue me), we connected tonight to begin our game. Roy is an ideal opponent. Knowledgeable, fun to talk to, and plays a good game. If anyone out there that reads this (and there are more of you than I imagined) has the chance in the future to play him on VASL or can get down to the Texas Team Tournament, I highly recommend doing so. You won't regret it and will walk away having had a great time.
That being said, Roy selected the Americans as in several other games, he is defending and wanted one on the attack. I didn't care and the ROAR is dead even in the 70's per side, so I let him have it. That being said, this is a VERY interesting scenario for both sides. The Americans have a vast superiority in number of squads. They are all 6-6-6's, though. Known for their brittleness. Even though they rally extremely well, broken units do not move toward the victory locations. Roy also gets 3 tanks, another plus. VBM anyone?
To fight the Americans, my Germans are greatly outnumbered but are 8 morale. They have a plethora of support weapons (including 2 'Shreks), and a Quad 20 AA gun. They get dummies, and the Gun and 2 squads + SW can HIP. Because my Germans are outnumbered, I made a hard decision. I decided to play the time card. My setup was mainly in the middle of the board, a little back from the front lines. I decided that I needed to concentrate my forces where he attached so I had to be able to shift to one side or the other. Doing so, however, would very likely concede turn 1 and probably 2 as well with little or no action. I put a token resistance up front and kept the main force back and sent him my setup.
Sure enough, he decided to come in force down the cemetery side. I had put a set of dummies up in the 3rd story building on that side and rubbled buildings in front of it to look like the HMG. He decided to take his chances. I hoped for some luck with the dice to soak up some prep fire on turn 1. That took 2 stacks. He had plenty more to move. Oh well. You can't pick 'em all. By the end of turn 1, he had advanced to the second line of streets and my paltry defense was ready to meet him with backup double timing it behind to adjust. Turn 2, one of the two elements shifted out of the front line defense leaving a lone 5-4-8 with an LMG to slow the American hordes. Run through the checklist: Fire lane - tried with no effect, DFPh with inherent into the stack that avoided the fire lane - no effect. Now the squad is boxed in a row house with a tank closing in. He preps at the one value target he sees, a devil squad with a BAZ. He shoots....he scores. DM, rout to a woods hex with no leader. It's not much, but what can you really expect from a squad that's been left to die by his buddies? I mean, seriously...
Turn 3 looks to be when the game is going to start in earnest. I have a whole bunch of MG's to bring to bear and he still has no idea where the 2 HIPpies with whatever they're packing or the Quad 20 are. One thing I've learned over the time that I've been playing and can pass along: HIP units are more useful as a threat than an actual force. Anything that makes the attacker think twice about charging toward his/her (hopefully...) objective is a useful weapon for the defender. That includes dummies and HIPpies. You may put a HIP squad in a bad location, or even a location that is out of the path of the attack, but the Attacker still has to wonder where that squad is. It's not so easy to run a tank down a road with buildings on the side if you suspect a HIP unit with a BAZ/PSK waiting for a rear shot or a Quad 20 to cut up your infantry. Maybe that HIP MMG has a crossroad hex bore sighted. Which of all of those question marks on the side of the board I need to attack is real and which is a dummy? All of these push an attacker toward cautiousness and for a defender that needs to last a specific number of turns while keeping his opponent from the objective, caution is something you NEED the attacker to have.
I'd almost forgotten how much I love this game and the people in it. Everyone should play ASL. All the time.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Panzer Commander
It's been a while since I've posted. Moving and the new job have absorbed the bulk of my time. I have not been able to make any F2F contacts for ASL here in Lubbock, so it is probably going to have to be VASL until I can convert someone to the One True Game. ASL posts, therefore, will probably be a little sparse until I can get a schedule working. In the WWII vein, however....
I had the pleasure of finishing a new book this afternoon. Based on recommendations from the GS forums, I picked up Panzer Commander, by Hans von Luck. Hans von Luck was the commander of the 7th and 21st panzer divisions under Rommel. As a strict study of tactical doctrine, the book is somewhat lacking. I had hoped for a little more in that arena. However, it was an extremely pleasant read. I am a big fan of the writing style of Stephen Ambrose and this book presented his history and doings in much the same vein. I was particularly struck with the sentiment (and I have seen it in other books) of camraderie between former enemies (soldiers from different armies): German and Russian, German and American, German and French, and German and British. Having never been in the military, the respect that seems to exist, even for enemies, between professional soldiers is very appealing. The distinction between the Weremacht and the SS also struck me as profound, and seemed to be readily accepted, even by von Luck's Russian captors.
If you are looking for a strict study of tactical/strategic doctrine, I'd suggest that you keep looking. If you want a decent feel of what being a soldier in the German Army during WWII was like, this is an excellent read.
I had the pleasure of finishing a new book this afternoon. Based on recommendations from the GS forums, I picked up Panzer Commander, by Hans von Luck. Hans von Luck was the commander of the 7th and 21st panzer divisions under Rommel. As a strict study of tactical doctrine, the book is somewhat lacking. I had hoped for a little more in that arena. However, it was an extremely pleasant read. I am a big fan of the writing style of Stephen Ambrose and this book presented his history and doings in much the same vein. I was particularly struck with the sentiment (and I have seen it in other books) of camraderie between former enemies (soldiers from different armies): German and Russian, German and American, German and French, and German and British. Having never been in the military, the respect that seems to exist, even for enemies, between professional soldiers is very appealing. The distinction between the Weremacht and the SS also struck me as profound, and seemed to be readily accepted, even by von Luck's Russian captors.
If you are looking for a strict study of tactical/strategic doctrine, I'd suggest that you keep looking. If you want a decent feel of what being a soldier in the German Army during WWII was like, this is an excellent read.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
AAR - Gavin Take
I had the opportunity to finish up the scenario ASL T1 - Gavin Take last night against Happy Jenkins, a great guy I met at Enfilade this year over VASL. Happy is relearning the game after a very long hiatus so we selected this scenario as it's one that I could play and know all the rules in case he had a question. The game went down to the last turn and as the Americans, I almost pulled it out. Alas, no soup for me.
We started this game last week and I had a colossal brain fart. I moved units into a visible hex instead of advancing them. He caught me with a 1KIA result and with random selection, 2 units bought it. Buy one get one free for Happy. That happened on the "I" hex front and severely weakened my pressure capability on that side. Aside from that, I don't know that I made any real mistakes during the game. The middle portion went fairly predictably. I had a group speed down the right flank and hook toward the end zone. Part of this starting force blitzed the town and actually tied up one of the MMG's with associated 9-2 leader the ENTIRE game. Go me.
Turn 5, though, saw me with not nearly as many forces in the end zone as I wanted (due to some bad MC's in turn 4). On turn 6, I wouldn't have been able to get these guys to Q10 for the advance off the board. After agonizing, something occurred to me. If these guys can't get to Q10, it doesn't matter what happens to them. Once I realized that, several interesting possibilities presented themselves and I settled on one. The two 7-4-7 squads I had left that could get "close" both each charged one of the stacks I KNEW would be shooting at the third 7-4-7 and leader I would be trying to exit off the board. If Happy fired, so much the better, but I knew he wouldn't. That was OK by me. I waltzed right up to the adjacent hex and attempted to pop smoke in his hex. If nothing else, instead of a +2 Hindrance for the smoke my End Game 7-4-7 would place, they would be shooting out of smoke at a +3 - a slightly better chance for survival. My first guy got one guy with an LMG. So far so good. My second guy rolled a 6. PIN. SUCK!!!!!!!! That was the guy going for the Q7 kill stack. Oh well. Have to try it anyway. My other 7-4-7 successfully placed smoke in Q9 and went for the goal. He got to Q10 and the stack in Q7 still caused a PTC which my guy failed, ending the game.
If I hadn't lost the 2 squads in turn one, my forces on that side of the board would have tied up his much better, making that force much less of a threat in the end game. That would have left the Kill stack, which, while significant, is only one group of guys. I have to say, though, that the smoking of the German hexes is one of the more inventive things I have done yet. It would have been pretty freaking awesome if it had worked the way I wanted....
Happy was an excellent opponent. Very congenial, eager to learn, and fun to play. He's one that "gets it". Like me, he still has a long way to go, but he'll get there. Then watch out. He will be a force to be reckoned with. If you get the opportunity to play him on VASL or in person in a tournament, I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry you did.
We started this game last week and I had a colossal brain fart. I moved units into a visible hex instead of advancing them. He caught me with a 1KIA result and with random selection, 2 units bought it. Buy one get one free for Happy. That happened on the "I" hex front and severely weakened my pressure capability on that side. Aside from that, I don't know that I made any real mistakes during the game. The middle portion went fairly predictably. I had a group speed down the right flank and hook toward the end zone. Part of this starting force blitzed the town and actually tied up one of the MMG's with associated 9-2 leader the ENTIRE game. Go me.
Turn 5, though, saw me with not nearly as many forces in the end zone as I wanted (due to some bad MC's in turn 4). On turn 6, I wouldn't have been able to get these guys to Q10 for the advance off the board. After agonizing, something occurred to me. If these guys can't get to Q10, it doesn't matter what happens to them. Once I realized that, several interesting possibilities presented themselves and I settled on one. The two 7-4-7 squads I had left that could get "close" both each charged one of the stacks I KNEW would be shooting at the third 7-4-7 and leader I would be trying to exit off the board. If Happy fired, so much the better, but I knew he wouldn't. That was OK by me. I waltzed right up to the adjacent hex and attempted to pop smoke in his hex. If nothing else, instead of a +2 Hindrance for the smoke my End Game 7-4-7 would place, they would be shooting out of smoke at a +3 - a slightly better chance for survival. My first guy got one guy with an LMG. So far so good. My second guy rolled a 6. PIN. SUCK!!!!!!!! That was the guy going for the Q7 kill stack. Oh well. Have to try it anyway. My other 7-4-7 successfully placed smoke in Q9 and went for the goal. He got to Q10 and the stack in Q7 still caused a PTC which my guy failed, ending the game.
If I hadn't lost the 2 squads in turn one, my forces on that side of the board would have tied up his much better, making that force much less of a threat in the end game. That would have left the Kill stack, which, while significant, is only one group of guys. I have to say, though, that the smoking of the German hexes is one of the more inventive things I have done yet. It would have been pretty freaking awesome if it had worked the way I wanted....
Happy was an excellent opponent. Very congenial, eager to learn, and fun to play. He's one that "gets it". Like me, he still has a long way to go, but he'll get there. Then watch out. He will be a force to be reckoned with. If you get the opportunity to play him on VASL or in person in a tournament, I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry you did.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Finale of OA6 - Mounted Extraction
Well, Darren and I finished up OA6 - Mounted Extraction last night. That turn 1 really hurt me. The Germans really need to high tail it to the west on Turn 1 and set up some good peripheral firing positions to stop the Russian reinforcements coming in unmolested as well as being in better position to hook up with the tanks. Not to mention that the German players luck with the dice needs to be...well...vastly different than my standard. Rob has always said, my dice luck is about the worst he has ever seen. I can't disagree.
Total tally, 2 tanks down (one a burning wreck, the other an unconfirmed kill) and two on their way back across (one with riders who were going to be hosed down by an HMG next turn anyway) and a whole bunch of infantry stuck in the woods holding their own against the Russians that were near them. Not good. Not good at all.
Still, it was an interesting scenario and Darren is a world-class guy. I'd play him again any time (and am looking forward to our next game in the future). It's one of the things that I love about this game and community. The people that I have met are all great guys and have taken me under their wing to help me learn. There's no "superiority" complex at all. They're just really great guys.
Total tally, 2 tanks down (one a burning wreck, the other an unconfirmed kill) and two on their way back across (one with riders who were going to be hosed down by an HMG next turn anyway) and a whole bunch of infantry stuck in the woods holding their own against the Russians that were near them. Not good. Not good at all.
Still, it was an interesting scenario and Darren is a world-class guy. I'd play him again any time (and am looking forward to our next game in the future). It's one of the things that I love about this game and community. The people that I have met are all great guys and have taken me under their wing to help me learn. There's no "superiority" complex at all. They're just really great guys.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
First Skype Game
I started my first VASL game with Skype last night against Darren Gour from Calgary, AB. We played OA6 Mounted Extraction from Out of the Attic. As the Germans, I have to cross armor across 3 boards to pick up some surrounded infantry and then carry riders back across the same 3 boards.
My initial problem with this scenario was that I misunderstood it. My initial concept was that the tanks would have to fight through the Russians, pick up the Germans and exit off the board edge opposite the one they came in on. My turn 1 was played under this assumption so the surrounded infantry tried to exploit the Russian weak side on board 5. After my turn 1 however, I realized my mistake and began heading west toward the tanks. My men were in bad position however and I had wasted an opportunity to Double Time toward the west on turn 1 to get into position for pickup.
That blunder aside, we are on Allied turn 3 and I'm not in terrible position. Two of the tanks have stopped for pickup and a third is on the way (my safety). I've got one tank that's going to go nuts with smoke and the rest of the infantry that isn't picked up is going to try and delay and occupy the Russians on that part of the board so they don't shoot up the riders. We'll see how it works out. The Russians have a couple of 50mm mortars that might cause some problems for the riders in turn 4 or 5. Not sure when we'll finish this, but I had a blast playing last night. My earlier feelings were confirmed. If you can't play F2F (which is slightly faster than the VASL interface), this is a perfectly acceptable substitute. It beats the heck out of the VASL text interface.
All in all a very satisfying experience.
My initial problem with this scenario was that I misunderstood it. My initial concept was that the tanks would have to fight through the Russians, pick up the Germans and exit off the board edge opposite the one they came in on. My turn 1 was played under this assumption so the surrounded infantry tried to exploit the Russian weak side on board 5. After my turn 1 however, I realized my mistake and began heading west toward the tanks. My men were in bad position however and I had wasted an opportunity to Double Time toward the west on turn 1 to get into position for pickup.
That blunder aside, we are on Allied turn 3 and I'm not in terrible position. Two of the tanks have stopped for pickup and a third is on the way (my safety). I've got one tank that's going to go nuts with smoke and the rest of the infantry that isn't picked up is going to try and delay and occupy the Russians on that part of the board so they don't shoot up the riders. We'll see how it works out. The Russians have a couple of 50mm mortars that might cause some problems for the riders in turn 4 or 5. Not sure when we'll finish this, but I had a blast playing last night. My earlier feelings were confirmed. If you can't play F2F (which is slightly faster than the VASL interface), this is a perfectly acceptable substitute. It beats the heck out of the VASL text interface.
All in all a very satisfying experience.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The forward march of technology
Last night I got to listen in on my first Skype session of VASL (there wasn't really anyone hanging around looking for a game so that I could play). A player from Massachusetts was playing someone from Italy. How cool is that? You know, if there was no way anyone could play F2F this would be a completely acceptable substitute. As it is, to me, there is just something esoteric about pushing counters around on a board with your friends. The tactile feel of the game is an experience I would rather not have to do without.
I am looking to play more, however, and can't always get out with the club. This option actually seems like it would work (as opposed to the ICQ interface which, while serviceable, is WAY too slow). I'll have to try on a weekend when more people frequent the server.
I am looking to play more, however, and can't always get out with the club. This option actually seems like it would work (as opposed to the ICQ interface which, while serviceable, is WAY too slow). I'll have to try on a weekend when more people frequent the server.
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