VASLeague Round 2 - AAR Part 4

[Four parts?! How self-indulgent!]

Axis Turn Five

My half of the fifth turn was quiet as I waited for the inevitable counterattack from the remaining Russian squads their reinforcements. Lady Luck was still on my side however. The first-line reinforcement squad armed with the LMG was vapourized by yet another very low roll by yours truly in hex T3. And of course, the Commissar offed another hapless conscript half-squad when they failed their miserably low MC.

In the MPh I even brought in my HMG stack from M5 to O5...

Allies Turn 5

Paul was massing one last big push into the Bread Factory from the east. The question was whether he could mosey around the inevitable blasting from my stacks o' death.

In the interest of brevity and following the axiom of "a picture is worth a thousand words", here is the answer to that question:

OUCH! -- The Wall of Lead

They couldn't make it past the Wall of Lead. Stacks were blasting from O5, P5, R5 and the Bread Factory itself. It was a brave charge that ended in tragedy. Turn Six saw some little bit of maneuvering (one stack approached the Russians directly and the HMG stack went to good ol' N3).

On the final Allied turn the rally checks for the last couple of squads failed and that was that. Appropriately, I guess, the Commissar was the last to shoot in this meeting engagement around the Red Barricades' Bread Factory #2.

S18 Baking Bread - End of Game

Here's a final shot of the map at the end of the scenario. The last of the Russian forces huddled up in R1, their AT Gun still sitting alone in R5, and a ton of their discarded support weapons littering the field of battle.

For the Germans, the MVP was Sgt. Esser himself who, after watching his stack get blasted away, picked up an LMG and voluntarily forfeited his leadership modifier for the rest of the game -- who says there's no "Berserk" in ASLSK?

---

Notes from the Rubble

1. Once again, I'd like to thank LTC Paul for being such a good sport. In retrospect, I think he was a good guy for trying to the very last in the face of such long odds. He definitely passed his PMC.

2. I really, really, like S18. The more I think about it, the more I like the densely urban scenarios a la Stalingrad.

3. I think this was my very first scenario with a Gun. I wasn't too worried about it; AFVs are moving Guns after all... I think Paul did a fine job with the HIP -- perhaps he could have rotated the CA once counter-clockwise? But how would he know that I wouldn't be charging Esser on a route north?

4. A Commissar really changes the rally calculations. I'd say Paul was unlucky for the most part early, but seriously, no halfway decent squad should be failing the rally checks?

5. Gun crews self-rally?! Oh crap!

6. My counter discipline is a LOT better. My language about doing things is not as precise as it needs to be. You must always be very clear in what you intend to do, and with whom or what you intend to do it with.

Example: In the early game I prepped or DFed a line of squads in big FG. Later on, I added anothe squad into the stack in the group. When I DFed again later I said "same guys" doing the DF. Well, when I was placing the Fired markers I discovered I had neglected to mention that new squad and Paul and I had to judge what to do. Had I intended to fire with them or was I holding them back...? The answer was honestly in between... I intended neither but as a courtesy I should have been more precise in my language with Paul and explicitly said what I was NOT firing with I guess. I was a LOT more precise after that. You have to be if you're in a competitive situation -- amongst friends it's a different story.

7. HMGS still rock.

8. Seeing as I hadn't played an ASL game in anger since the last VASLeague round I was a bit rusty at first but I really had no problem getting right back into the swing of things by game's end. I was almost taking a "mini-break" from the game. There's no question it's still in the top echelon of games I've ever enjoyed and this match really reinforced that. I may dabble in Memoir '44 or SCS or Ancients or whatever but I think that ASL is still in that sweetspot of complexity, scale, and sheer nervous excitement over every single die roll.

On to Round Three!

VASLeague Round 2 - AAR Part 3

Axis Turn Two - Start of the RPh

The Axis second turn was quite eventful. Scratch that -- every turn was eventful -- that's why I love ASL goshdarnit.

As would be the case for much of the match, Prep Fire on units in buildings was pretty fruitless. Esser's trimmed down stack and his personal LMG did nothing to the units holding the Bread Factory proper.

Little would happen until my Movement Phase when things started to develop. I pushed my 7-0 stack to the R-column of buildings south of the AT Gun and followed up with an advancing line of 4-6-7s onto the P-column. Seeing the danger Paul swivelled his Gun CA to O5/O6 where he could still keep N3 under fire and address the German first-liners threatening him directly. His TH roll was ineffective.

In DFPh, the Russians firegrouped the squads and MGs in the Bread Factory on Esser in N3 and promptly rolled boxcars -- malfing the MMG by random selection. Esser was earning his nickname of Sgt. Luckypants McRabbitfoot. The dice gods evidently favoured me this night because my 12FP+3 shot in the AFPh on the 9-1 stack of broken Russians promptly snaked for a double CR result. Maybe I should have been calling myself McRabbitfoot.

I recall now that Paul and I, at the end of the session, remarked that the dice in the game were weirdly all over the place. The funny thing was that under the VASL Analyzer at aslscenarioarchive.com we averaged close to 7 on our DRs.

Axis Turn Two - DFPh

As we pressed to the Advance Phase I thought I was sitting very pretty. Though the Russians still held the Bread Factory I had maneuvered a nice assault force into a kind of right hook envelopment. I was making inroads on the Factory and the Gun was just not doing its part. Of course, I suddenly realized that I hadn't yet moved my reinforcements onto the board. Paul quickly checked the rulebook and told me I had only a one turn window to move OR advance them onto the board... whew... I advanced them to L5 to support another base of fire with the HMG closer to the Factory. DON'T FORGET YOUR REINFORCEMENTS KIDS!

Allies Turn 3 - Start of RPh (I think!)

The Allied half of the second turn was full of close calls. Yet another conscript unit fell to the wrath of the Commissar and Prep Firing across the streets yielded scary shots but no effect in the end. Of note was a German firegroup rolling snakes (cowering!) and their targets passing nasty 2MCs.

Though I was able to break the Gun crew (twice in the game too), it was becoming pretty clear to me that I wasn't going to attrit the Russians fast enough this way and I'd better be pushing men into the Factory soon... To make sure I got the message the fresh Russian reinforcements moved onto the board (Paul is not as dumb as I) from the east mapedge. The only thing that made me a little less stressed was the quality of the reinforcements. They were mostly crummy 4-2-6 conscript MMCs who I really could ignore for a half-turn or so til they brought their FP to bear.

Axis Turn Four

Here's how things looked around the start of turn four. We had called it a night after turn three and another 2+ hour session. When we reconvened I was ready to start "The Push"...

Axis Turn Four - MPh

I think that screenshot above says it all. It was masterfully executed if I do say so myself... or at least the Prep Fire finally broke both Bread Factory stacks... Cue the Elite squad with DC hanging out with Esser in N3... The 30 FP DC attack CRed two squads in that stack and the rout was on.

I'm not quite sure what happened in this turn to cause it but I think Paul was a little flustered from the advance when he shot from R1 to P2 before I had taken the hex. Luckily he missed (and really, I wasn't going to make it stand if it did) and we had our quote of the match.

Allies Turn 4 - Start of the RPh

This is the incredibly ugly situation facing Paul at the start of his turn. In (A) I had taken the Bread Factory with Esser and another stack in P2 and P3. At (B), my reinforced HMG stack with 9-2 was looming over the scene. Both (C) and (D) held stacks of 4-6-7s and LMGs, only differing in leadership. The latter two stacks were now turning the tables on the Russians, covering every close approach to the Bread Factory and near enough to support if things even got close to CC. Every Russian squad of note in the area was DM and low crawling away or a turn away and conscripts. The Commissar wasn't going to win this himself... I was in a very strong position but ASL is such a nailbiting game I was far from overconfidence. The victory condition was both Bread Factory hexes and I could easily foresee some last turn CC win by the Russians ruining my plans...

Next up, the conclusion!

VASLeague Round 2 - AAR Part 2

Axis Turn 1 - DFPh

With just around 2 weeks to go 'til the deadline, Paul and I set-up and played turn one. It was a two and a half hour session: grueling and nervewracking.

My number one concern was the MMG and squad in P3. They were (1) elite, (2) armed with a nasty SW, (3) occupying a victory hex with a full field of fire on my incoming troops. The very first roll of the game was my Prep Fire from Sgt. Esser's group into that building for a 16FP + 2 shot.... If they failed to break the target there'd be some nasty retaliation. The final DR was an 8 for a 1MC and whew! I broke the unit. No MMG return fire (for now) and I started drawing up plans to advance on the factory. My first gamble of the game.

I moved a nice kill stack with a HMG and 9-2 leader to L5, advancing them to M5 later. This stack proved to be a nasty piece of work, mowing down units the entire game. I've said it before and I'll say it again... HMGs are awesome. That 7FP and 3 ROF for the German version is, in the words of my students, "sick".

After pushing a bunch of 4-6-7s into buildings across the street south of the factory I played a few nervous smoke games farther down with stacks of my slighty better troops, led by a 7-0. They were to roll up the left flank of the Russians in the south with the intent of getting some better sightlines to the factory itself -- and hopefully, trip over the HIP gun.

As luck would have it, Sgt. Esser's large stack in the N3 building was way too juicy a target. Paul unHIPed and laid into Esser's stack. The Gun turned out to be in R5 zeroed in on the N3 building. The Gun hit and a MMC broke. For the next couple of turns, the 45L Gun laid waste to the hex and was waxing squads up and down. But Sgt. Esser passed every MC and even picked up a dropped LMG later to wield it himself.

The only other thing I noted early was the nice defensive set-up in the north. The Commissar waited in R2 for the inevitable routing squads where he could easily rally them...

Allies Turn 1 - Start of the RPh

Of course, we went to the second half of the first turn where the Commissar promptly claimed his first victim. He ELRed the broken Russian squad when they refused to listen to his wonderful rhetoric. My "elite" Germans did no better in N3, refusing to budge under Sgt. Esser's tender ministrations. Ah well.

Prep Fire was both "hit and miss". (In fact, if there's a general lesson that has to be made known to new players it is this: Don't depend on Prep Fire!) Paul's squad in O7 took a PB shot at my 7-0 and three squad stack and missed. Whew again from me. Then his whole line in the neighbourhood started shooting across the street -- no effect! But his newly unveiled Gun popped a few rounds (thanks ROF!) and literally popped the head off a unit (thanks Critical Hit!) and broke the other squad. Esser was left, again, with a bunch of headless corpses under his command.

Allies Turn 1 - MPh

I think Paul sought, immediately to take advantage of Esser's very precarious position. He moved in two different squads from his immediate reserves to try and CC N3 (I think -- Paul's offered to write up an AAR from his side and I'll post it when he's finished it). Alas, I had a leader-led (9-2) HMG in M5 with LOS to N2 and O3, both hexes he would need to get to if he wanted to advance into N3 and take out Esser.

In both instances the HMG (and supporting squad at first) chewed up the Russian advance. I kept a LOT of rate. Now, my memory of this is hazy as I didn't pay attention to it at the time but Paul mentioned it later when we convened for Turn Two onwards -- Defensive First Fire where you keep ROF in your SW is not carte blanche to keep blasting away -- the key limiter is the MF expended to get to the hex. So, in at least two instances, I think, I kept ROF and fired a second/subsequent time on the same squad moving into the open ground hexes of N2 and O3. Having expended only 1MF to get to the hex I was allowed only ONE shot. Was this game changing? I'm not sure. I do recall that both squads who tried this ended up very dead. I apologized to Paul, I think some of my enthusiasm with the HMG might have "jedi mind tricked" him... To be fair we were both tired from the long turn and it was a Sunday night before a work day (and I certainly didn't do it on purpose!).

Regardless, in the end Paul couldn't get his guys into CC with Esser in N3. He would maintain a bastion of German fire from that building until his advance midgame.

The rest of the turn saw my 7-0 stack rout the guys next door in DFPh and my HMG, still maintaining ROF rout the other squads on the O-line buildings. Things were starting to get ugly...

Axis Turn Two - Start of RPh

We concluded the session by doing Turn Two's Rally Phase -- we'd know what we had going into the next turn and would have time to think about it. Here you can see that the routed O-line squads were backed up with the 9-1 into hex P5. The squad in R3 had run up into the Bread Factory and taken up the MMG left behind by the others. While the Gun was still threatening N3 with a nasty -2 acquisition counter my guys on the M-line and the 7-0 stack in O8 were making noises on the Russian flanks.

It was turning out to be a very interesting game...

VASLeague Round 2 - AAR Part 1

Welcome to Part One of the VASLeague Round 2 AAR I'm writing. At least I'm pretty sure it's going to be more than one part given that all my other AARs are. Let's get to it!

My second round opponent was LTC Paul who is a reservist in the United States and has a PhD to boot. Given that we were in the same time zone I thought it would be a breeze to hook up and finish the match. Alas, it wasn't until last Wednesday when we were finally able to conclude things due to a protracted game of computer tag. I'm just glad that we had the two months to be able to play. When real life rears its ugly head wargames get shoved in the corner.

We decided on S18 - Baking Bread (available originally in MMP's Operations magazine but now downloadable here). Baking Bread is an allusion to the tense firefight for Bread Factory #2 (those crazy Soviet names!) during the battle of Stalingrad in October of 1942. The scenario was adaptable, presumably, from Red Barricades, the HASL module that many consider the best ASL experience, bar none.

Compared to the other ASLSK scenario set in Stalingrad (S2 War of the Rats), Baking Bread is a claustrophobic, dense, urban nightmare. Scenario rules make all non-building terrain "Rubble" -- that is, chunky +3 TEM, 3 MF piles of broken stuff representing the detritus of intense urban street fighting. No nice trees and orchards here. VASL was able to show this with Rubble counters over the affected hexes (see pic above). Other than an ambush modifier for Russian squads (probably representing their inherent fanaticism in defense of their once-lovely city) the scenario also gives ASLSK players their first glimpse at the Soviet Commissar leader.

The Commissar, for those who don't know their Russian history, was a very nice fellow who followed the rank and file troops around and thanks to Stalin's visionary leadership shared command of the units with the military officer. He really was a useless adjutant except that he had the authority to perform summary executions for the political good. In ASL, this means the 6+1 leader is really a 10-0 fanatic who, thanks to his scary powers, rallies broken squads with ease. The problem being that he ELRs then Casualty Reduces anyone who fails to toe the party line. Like I said, very fun at "parties". Haha.

Here's a shot of the map with some crazy markings on it. At first I was quite surprised at the size. It's a fraction of a full map, condensing a lot of urban terrain in one. If War of the Rats was anything to go by, this map with MORE units and a Gun would be quite unpleasant.

According to the historical notes, Sgt. Esser, observing the carnage around him charged his small band of Wehrmacht soldiers into the Bread Factory (marked by "V" overlays on the map). This is represented by the open blue arrow from the top left. Esser's band sets up in sight of the Bread Factory filled with Russian troops and back up by the "X" where the commissar is polishing his pistol.

Another small group of squads is in the buildings below, making the crossing into the street a (hopefully) fatal activity.

Given that I had only six turns as the Germans to take and hold the two victory hexes I couldn't be dawdling. My plan was to sweep the reinforcements from the left edge through the streets below and threaten the units on top in an aggressive advance. A subsequent reinforcement on turn 2 would support whatever position needed it. For the Russians, they would receive a mediocre stack of conscripts from the right edge on turn 3. I felt confident that they wouldn't be much of a threat if I took the factory asap.

The main problem? The Russians had a 45L anti-tank gun HIPped (hidden-initial-placement). Paul was honourable enough to email me an encrypted Word file with the Gun's HIP and CA -- to be shared when he unleashed hell on my troops. Neat eh? Not to spoil things but I gave him such a juicy target on the first turn he was blasting away with it immediately from the position marked with a "?". The Gun had Q5 and R4 in a covered arc.

Here's the first turn, set-up and ready to go:

[I have no idea what the red ringed halo is...]

The game begins in Part 2 later!

VASLeague Round Two Completed!

Woot! Let's just say it was another barn burner. More details and AAR soonish.

In the meantime, here's the Quote of the Match:

scrub - dude, im not sure why you fired on your own men...
LTC Paul - Because they SUCK!!! LOL!
scrub - OMG LOL

LOL indeed. It was another great scenario and a gracious and awesome opponent -- sorry for being such a sloppy player (though I think I improved by game's end).

More from VASLeague 2...

We finally caught each other in a big match of Computer Tag. Tonight we ripped through 2 turns in almost 3 hours.

Highlights?

1. Turns out we may have royally screwed up the HMG last week. Units that expend only 1MF get shot at only once in the MPh. I may have shot more than once with the HMG of Doom last week. It's ok, I think it had ROF once tonight. Damn you dice gods!!!

2. Speaking of dice, the ASL Scenario Archive has an awesome VASL Analyzer. It's at http://davidramsey.no-ip.info/asl/analyser.php and rocks. Now you can definitively prove your dice were crapola. For what it's worth I was averaging 6.3 and opponent was 6.9 (4 snakes and 1 boxcar for me, 1/3 for him) if I remember correctly. I do NOT want to play tomorrow night when I will regress to the mean... if you know what I mean? Haha, I'm funny.

3. Prep Fire has demonstrated to us that it SUCKS in terms of getting people to move out of houses. But I think we knew that.

4. I almost forgot my reinforcements in turn 2. The SK and full ASL has rules for this! Unlike other games (I'm thinking SCS and whatnot) if you do not put the guys on the board on that turn you LOSE THEM! [Check 3.3] Wow, luckily I forgot them in MPh but was able to Advance them in APh. Lucky lucky boy...

5. If you know S18 - Baking Bread, Sgt. Esser, who leads the first squads nearest the "Bread Factory" has now been renamed in our game, Sgt. Luckypants McRabbitfoot. Nothing phases him. NOTHING. Now he has a machine gun...

6. The Commissar ate his first victim today, some schleps from the Ukrainian steppes refused to stop peeing their pants so he perferated them. Nice. His name is Ivan actually. Awesome at parties...

Remember, roll LO....

VASLeague 2 OR HMGs -- I love them!

It's been a while since I've played some ASL(SK) so I was a bit rusty tonight versus Paul, my opponent in the VASLeague.

Yep, we just started our game in the last 10 days of the two months we had. I laughed -- LAUGHED -- when I heard the VASLeague gave 2 months a round. Now I know why. If it wasn't me then it was my opponent who couldn't scrap together the time. I think that face-to-face play is less likely to be disrupted but for some reason, as soon as ASL moves online all bets are off.

So, we decided at the last moment to play S18 - Baking Bread. (MMP has the map here. ) It's set in my favourite of hotspots, Stalingrad. To make things even crazier, the map is a fraction of the whole in an intense built up area. What is more, special scenario rules put every non-building terrain hex as rubble (+3 TEM, inherent terrain, breaks LOS etc. etc.). So the map is pretty busy. Here's a shot from the middle of the action:

So far it seems pretty even; the balance seems to see-saw between the two of us (I'm German). The HIP Russian gun tore me a new one but my HMG seems to be handled by some German Davey Crockett -- first Allied turn he eliminated two units, CRed a third and, broke two more. That's what I call a severe beating.