J109 – BREAK FOR HUNGARY
Legion defending as the Partisans
JP attacking as the Croatian 1st light Para
ROAR (P:C – 5:6) – 30th August, 2007
Played as Live VASL – 2 Sessions – 6 hours
On to game 2 of the Croatian 1st Parachute scenarios from Journal 7. The last one (J108) was a real blast that was hard fought from the mid-game onwards, I am hoping that the same excitement will come from this game.
Initial Thoughts
ROAR only has 11 playing’s of this game, and from looking at the surface of it I can see why. This game looks REALLY tough for the Partisans.
The Allies have to stop 8 Exit VP of Croatians from getting off of the Western Edge… but that is only 17 hexes away from their start up position. The Croatians have a maximum Exit VP of 28 VP – that means they have the ability to lose 3.5 CVP for every one they get off! To make it even harder the Partisans cannot even turn this into a suicidal stand-up fight as the Axis win at game end should the Partisans lose 8 CVP more than the Croatians. Since there are 3 mapboards in play the Allies must also spread themselves out to stop the Croatians from running off-board through the flanks, this further dilutes the defence… To achieve these victory conditions the Croatians have 6.5 turns… that is a lot of time and they will only have to travel 2.6 hexes a turn to cover the distance, they can essentially Assault Move and Advance their way to victory!
At the start of the game the Partisans have 12 MMC and 2 leaders (7-0, 8-0), the Croatians have 9.5 MMC and 2 crew as well as 3 leaders (9-1, 8-1, 7-0). The only equality comes from the SW disposition, with each side having a MMG, 3x LMG and a MTR – BUT both sides are also under Ammo Shortage… thus there can be no FL and there is a high probability of Breakdown with the MMG especially. Unfortunately the Croatians also get to start off with their entire force Concealed, though the Partisans can have 2 MMC HIP.
Man, this is a tough battle for the Defender.
With only 3 leaders he is going to struggle to get his men up and moving once they Break – but I face the same problem. The other major difficulty I face is that his men out range and out-FP the majority of my forces.
Croatian Setup
He has to setup first, but since he can do it all under Concealment, and he has 10 dummy MMC too, that puts me at a bit of a disadvantage, I can see what his probable plans are, but not his actual plans.
If I was attacking I would flood one entire flank with my ‘real forces and send the dummies with a few real units down the other flank and the middle to stop the Partisans from reinforcing the threatened flank.. I assume that is what JP plans to do.
He has setup with about a third of his counters ready to attack towards the North, the South and the Middle – and that really tells me nothing.
Partisan Setup
I have decided to setup a few units with LOS to his men or movement zones to force the initial assault to lose their concealment – at least that way I shall be able to see where the real threat is. I have had to essentially split my force into thirds as well.
NORTH
42V2(0) 337
42V2(1) 337
42W5 337, LMG 447
MIDDLE
38V8 337, HIP MMG 447, 7-0
38X3 LMG 447
38Y5 337
SOUTH
2M7 127
2Y6 50mm MTR127
2P6 HIP 337 – This guy is to score cheap CVP if JP tries to bypass the hills
2V8 337, LMG 527, 8-0
I would not say this this defence is very inspired, it a patch-work defence and nothing more. I am hoping that JP will think that the HIPs are in the Middle or the North as it will be easier to contain him if he attacks to the South or Middle rather than through the North. I expect him to be attempting to kill my MTR ASAP, but with the Ammo Shortage rules this might not be the prudent thing to try to do. Luck is going to play a big part in this game and that has been swinging JPs way in the last scenarios we have played.
The Game
TURN 1-3
JP takes no shots, which is a bit of a surprise; he is just going to move, and move slowly at that (time is not a problem with so little space to travel). I do try my luck with the MTR and though I don’t get ROF I do manage to hit a nice juicy stack in Woods, and then I roll a 6,6 for the IFT result. There is little finesse visible in his plans, he is just spreading out as much as possible to overrun my lines. Since he can see my disposition he is able to push 2-3 units up against every 1 of mine. He is also sending 3 stacks the long way over the hill to exit via the extreme South of Bd. 2.
I can only manage high DRs for my Prep Fire. I move my men in an attempt to cover the flanks of the battlefield. It is apparent that he is stringing me out by heading for the edges of the map, both these areas are high LOS Obstacle terrain and to stop him I am going to have to match his troop numbers. JP is busy in Defensive Fire and typically he hardly misses at all, but by some strange twist of fate my men pass all their MC/PTC.
JP continues to use his movement well. He is just stretching my line, knowing that I must make a stand and knowing that even a tiny gap is going to be something I cannot cover. He has placed his MMG and an LMG in the middle of the map (34T4 Brush area) which allows him to really cut down my lateral movement – he cannot move either but that is not his plan, he just wants to hold me up. His MTR is useless in the Runway area but if he cant hit me, I cant hit him, and he can move it slowly forward; it too is going towards the map’s centre.
His main manoeuvre elements are moving:
Along the extreme North edge of the board in the Bd. 42 Woods
Through the Woods bordering Bd. 42 and 38 – again they are moving slowly
Through the Woods bordering Bd. 38 and 2. Even though I have a very strong force here he again has time on his side and can afford to move under Concealment and spread out to swamp my defenders.
Over the Bd. 2 Hill in about the middle area of the board. I shall have to send a unit across to try and stop these units or he can win just with them alone!
My Defensive attacks are poor again and even when I do finally get a great ROF run with the MTR I do not score a single result on the IFT. I decide to unHIP the MMG and it immediately scores a 2MC on one of his 447s… but the result of that is a HOB! He scores a Fanatic and a Hero… sigh…
In my Turn 2 Prep I again score an amazing ROF tear with the MTR, but the result is poor until I finally score a K/1 to CR a 447, but he gets a SAN result that breaks a HS and puts them in danger of No Quarter. Deciding that I need to do something about his guys sneaking over the hill I unHIP the 337 and send it over the crest… it is hit with a long-range 1,1 which is enough to call a NMC… and that break again puts another unit in danger of FTR elimination. Finally, and desperately, I send a LMG 527 under Concealment to attack his MMG 447 and 9-1, but he again lucks out enough to Pin me which ruins my CC chance and will probably get this squad in deep trouble next Turn.
My LMG 527 is immediately broken but as he sends in a HS to attempt the FTR kill I am able to eliminate him with a MTR round; thus my Partisan squad manages to escape… unfortunately he is able to pressure most of my other broken guys enough to keep their DM active, and his also able to No Quarter a 337. He is not too worried about movement, he is edging along at a slow and steady pace.
Deciding that I need to take a calculated risk in order to stop the majority of his men (congregated in the Bd. 38/2 Woods) I separately Dash 2x 337 across a road to get into the 38Y5 building… he fires 2x 1FP-2 shots and both of them roll low enough to cause MCs (he gets ROF with an LMG 3 times!)… my MCs are both failed – this is a disaster. I have moved my MMG with the 7-0 to 38Z7, I don’t have much in the way of TEM here but I can cover his attacking movements; this unit is all that is holding his central units back! In the Bd. 38/2 Woods I have had to pull right back now that my defence is severely weakened by Broken units and by my pulling a 337 back to the South of the board to stop his Concealed units here from rushing right off (it is only after moving this unit that I realise these guys must be the dummy stacks… arrrggg…) The only high point for me in this turn is his MMG malfunctioning right after it scored a CR on my broken LMG 527.
Partisan Losses: 337, 127, 227
CVP: 1
Croatian Losses: 247
CVP: 4
This is where we ended it for the night.
I have been trying to pull together a patch-work defence but it is really tough against an attacker who has had the initiative gifted to him right from the games start. The Croatians have 3.5 turns to go and although they have have travelled less than half-way across the required distance the next half of the journey is going to be so much easier unless I start to get some pretty extraordinary luck!
Strung out at the end of Turn 3; the Partisan line has more holes than a rusted bucket
TURN 4-6.5
JP starts off the new turn by moving cautiously through the hills of Bd 2, and to tell the truth, I am happy with that… he has just 3 Movement Phases after this one and his reluctance to test my meagre FP might give me a chance to pull off a close result here. Even with the cautious movements I am still able to score some hits (for a nice change) and he is also failing MCs too (an even better change). By the end of this turn he has lost 2.5 MMC to Breaks. Interestingly the only place when he is moving aggressively is up in the Northern woods, but I actually have a rough parity in forces here and the terrain works in my favour too…
Given the choice between Prep Firing or Moving I choose to fire… this is unfortunate because it leaves me few options for movement, but I considered it a risk worth taking as any breaks I could have scored would have really set him back – unfortunately I miss with all my shots. Luckily what few moves I make are safe as all his Defensive misses too! I am able to get my 8-0 to the broken units I am accumulating in the 38AA3/BB2 buildings which means I might be able to re-build some sort of defence. In fact as I look up from the VASL board at the end of this turn I realise that miraculously all the leaks have been plugged – though my defence is paper-thin. JP managed to Breakdown his MTR (which has been misplaced and mostly useless this game anyway) and has also had his forces in the Centre here shot-up by a long-overdue ROF tear from the MMG.
Turn 5 starts off with a disaster as my MTRs crew is broken – with this loss I am in real trouble. However, since my moves last turn were able to maintain a tight hold on the Centre and in the Northern Woods it is only down in the South that JP has movement options. Strangely he opts for attempting to out-flank me on the Southern side of the hills; this is certainly the safest path, but it is going to be a close call time-wise due to the distance he will have to travel. Also, by choosing to go that way JP is going to give me time to rally some troops, and they have just as much chance of making it to blocking positions as he has chances to get off-board… In fact, so close has the game become that I only needed a few successful attacks in Defensive Fire to get the pendulum swinging in the Partisan direction – predictably though the dice desert me at this crucial time!
I have a 50% chance of Self-Rallying a LMG 527; this unit can make it to the 2CC8 Level 2 hex and that would put his whole move towards the Bd. 2 Exit area in quite some danger – unfortunately I completely fail the SR attempt (just like every other time in these Croatian 1st Para games). I move with some aggression this turn, trying to cover the exit areas in the North (with a spare 337 and the MMG 447, 7-0) and the South. Unfortunately despite my playing the odds JPs dice prove they come from a universe quite unlike our own as they roll low with ease… He fires with a single Hero at 1FP-2 and manages to score a K/2 which messes up some of my Northern plans (luckily this is the one area where I now actually hold a superiority in troops numbers) then he manages to Pin 1 of the 2 mobile units I have down in the South – at least the cost of this was the malfunctioning of his MMG. Again I have managed to cover most of my bases… but only just.
With the game coming to a climax I realise that it is only the troops he has in the North (2.5MMC, LMG 8-1) and the South (3.5MMC, LMG, MMG, 9-1) that have enough MP to make it off-board, so I decide to totally ignore all the other units. JP has also done the maths and so while his tactics down the South have not changed (escaping trough the Southern side of the Bd. 2 hills) his Northern Woods units suddenly start trying to kill a Partisan 447 off in CC as he decides to try for the CVP victory conditions. I am not too worried by this as unless he scores a KIA I can always Rout away – but again the dice decide to show me who is boss… they come up HOB and that HOB is a Berserk result! Sigh… this means certain death through either TPBF or CC as I am outnumbered 3FP: 8FP -1. I am able to make it all a little more difficult though by blowing away a Croatian 227 Crew for 2CVP thanks to MMG ROF.
For my final move of the game I manage to Rally 1.5 MMG with 2x LMG, this is a big bonus as these units can easily make it to the 2CC8 hill and that gives me a clear shot to the most-likely exit zone. Just to make doubly sure I send a guy right down to the Grainfield (2EE1) on the Southern edge – even if he attempts to use the Woods blind-spot here I can lay down some RF to keep him honest. I then rush my 2x 127 units down the hill (2FF6) to cover the exit area, but one of them suffers a Pin result and is stopped in 2EE7. I have done all I can down here in the South – it will now be up to the dice. Up in the Northern Woods I have managed to block any movements he may try to make through the woods, if he wants to rush units off-board he must attempt to get past a 4FP -2 shot from my distant MMG (42Y1). Finally I send 2 just-rallied units into his backlines to eliminate a 447 through No Quarter… Without a doubt I have done enough (even with my Berserker being eliminated) to stop the CVP victory.
It is the last turn and this means that the Croatians have to put it all on the line in this last Movement Phase. He moves the Northern stack (2x 447, 8-1) first… they rush along the road under CX and are immediately hit with 4FP -2 from my MMG… as luck would have it EACH of them is Pinned; that is 6 Exit VP saved!
Down in the South JP starts off moving the minnows, but they are broken and leave a trail of RF that the more important stacks must pass through. As each of the units move along the open terrain to the either the top or bottom of the Southern-most Woods patch they are Broken or Pinned in place from Partisan LMG or long-range IFP shots… He is able to get some men off, but it is not enough, the Partisans have somehow managed to win!
Partisan Losses: 447, 127, LMG
CVP: 5
Croatian Losses: 447, 227
CVP: 7
Exit VP: 6
The Croatians failed to meet the Exit VP or CVP requirements
PARTISAN VICTORY
Conclusion
Well… this game came down to the last turn before it was decided…
Even more than that it seemed like the Croatians were virtually unstoppable in this battle and yet somehow they lost. The Partisan defence was dogged and desperate, the Croatian attack was scattered and yet lethal at times. By all rights this sort of result should have made it a classic scenario, yet I found it to be a rather uninteresting battle.
I cannot really say what it is that I found to be so disappointing; maybe it was the vast map-board and the poor quality troops. I don’t really know… all I know is that I will not be putting this on my replay list.
Both myself and JP were surprised at the result, I had looked a few AARs but they were lacking in detailed information so it was hard to see what the other’s experiences were like.
Certainly I agree with other’s comments that the Partisan’s MUST setup forward and try to engage the Croatians ASAP – to allow the Croatians a chance to manoeuvre without interdiction is going to be very dangerous, the Axis forces already have a huge initiative advantage, it would be suicide to give them any more of a head-start.
As the attacker I think all one has to do is just push against the Partisan line and wait for it to snap, it is so thin and so brittle that once it is cracked the Croatians have a near-clear run to the Exit edge. If I were to be the attacker in this game I would weight my attack to the North or the South while sending LMG or MMG units to the Central portion to stop North-South reinforcement. I really fail to see how one can lose with this tactic.
So with this in mind, and with the fact that JP is such a brilliant player also on our mind we must ask… How did the Partisans win?
Honestly, I don’t think the Partisan’s won, I think the Croatians lost. JP got himself bogged down in needless fire-fights of little strategic value while moving his men too slowly… He suffered from a very rare lack of planning and imagination and paid a big price.