J41 – BY OURSELVES
JP defending as the Germans
Legion attacking as the Norwegians
ROAR (N:G – 50:51) – 20th May, 2007
INITIAL THOUGHTS
Once again the Norwegians have a 9-2 leader that I will have to avoid like the plague!! In this scenario they are attacking for the first time is this series and I couldn’t be happier. They need to get 16 building hexes and cannot lose more than 10 CVP’s to do it. They have a dozen squads (6 first line and 6 elite) as well as a pair each of MMG’s and LMG’s as well as 3 leaders, overall it looks like a well balanced company. To defend I have 3 squads, 2 HS’s, a MMG, a pair of 50mm MTRs and an 8-1 leader. I also have 3 foxhole counters and 8 concealment counters. I get re-enforcements on turn 3 of another 6 squads, 2 leaders, MMG and a LMG.
SETUP
I have set up with every body in the front line as I want to make him take losses while they are still out in the open.
4-6-8, 50mm MTR concealed in 22B9
4-6-8, LMG, Foxhole concealed in 22G10
2x 2-4-8 HS’s MMG, 8-1 LDR, Foxhole concealed in 22H10
4x concealment counters in 22J10
4-6-8, 50mm MTR, Foxhole concealed in 22L10
I have made this defence strong on my centre and right flank as that gives him the best chance to achieve his victory once he is in the town and I want his attack to slide to my left flank as there are a few buildings there that I am happy for him to take (22K9,L9,N8 etc) and they have a difficult path into the rest of the village proper, If I can give him an opening in this area I am sure he will take it, as an attacker Legion will always take the easy option rather than getting involved in a fire fight. I want to hold him up for three turns and pull back to link up with my re-enforcements on turn 3.
I will re-combine the HS’s in 22H10 in the 1st rally phase after they have been exposed, I feel that the extra 4FP will be vital in the early stages which is why they are not manning the MTR’s as we would traditionally do. The squad and MTR in 22BB9 are to cover the bd18 GG hex row but it can also move one hex to 22C10 to cover the centre of the board as well. The 4 concealment counters in 22H10 are there as bait for his 9-2 and MMG’s (hopefully he will set up in 18X5 and waste a fire phase attacking them). In a game with this few troops and the full intention of firing with everyone on turn 1 dummy counters will not be useful for long. I am also considering using spray fire on my first fire to put residual in 2 hexes to alter his attack plans or at least force him to take a 1FP-2 shot as he goes through.
I think he will attack in the centre over the hill using the Alpine hills rules to keep him safe and use the gully on my left to advance to 2 hexes from my main line of resistance.
My re-enforcements will play it by ear but if he has taken the bait and is moving in on my left flank then I will put a squad and LMG into 22O4 to protect these buildings and to put fire on the woods M6,N6 and 7 as they are the obvious routes into the rest of the town. My second line of defence will be across rows 6 and 7 of the board as that only allows him 15 building hexes, obviously this is subject to change depending on what he has gained by turn 3, obviously I would prefer to still be holding the E9 and H8 clusters of buildings thereby keeping him in a pocket on my left.
THE GAME
TURN 1
He setup in an unusual way with 2 big attack groups on each flank. His 9-2 and 2MMG’s were in S5 and they revealed my dummies in 22J10 and then stripped concealment of my MMG group in 22H10. Another group (with the LMG’s) went Opportunity Fire over on my right flank at FF5. Everybody else moved and tried to draw fire, the Mortar in B9 made that attack slide into the centre of the board and things were going well for me. I had plenty of shots but was only able to break a HS. As expected he used the gully to go CX with a leader and get to S8 where the 3 squads and leader advanced each into the adjacent open hexes and unless I get a great ROF run from my mortar a few will infiltrate the village, no real problem as I was happy for him to gain ground on that side of the board.
In my turn I recombined the HS’s in H10 and the rest was mainly Prep fire, I could not leave my foxholes for fear of being hit by his 9-2 firegroup as they exited. My prep achieved a broken squad near the gully but nothing else and his defensive broke the leader in H10 and the squad and LMG in 22G10. They both routed away and in advance I moved the squad and MMG from H10 to the foxhole in G10, although it can no longer support my left flank I don’t care as I need to hold him up in the centre and right flank.
TURN 2
By this stage he had about 5 units (mainly HS’s) around AA8/BB7 and they all came out with the intention of taking buildings and drawing fire, I had no option and started blasting away. A CH from my mortar (B9 had relocated to C10 when it was apparent that he was not attacking down the side of the board) K/ a squad for my first CVP. My MMG was able to pin 3 squads but scored neither kill nor break. With no more fire able to be given a HS made it to the village proper and re-DM’ed my squad and LMG. Meanwhile he moved a concealed HS adjacent to my C10 Mortar for no risk. In his advancing fire he broke the G10 MMG squad which was taken prisoner by the adjacent HS and he also advanced into the C10 squads hex, fortunately there was no ambush and I survived the CC and took the HS out. – Now I got 2 CVP’s out of the ten I need to win. I moved the C10 squad and MTR to C9 where it can put the open ground into the village proper (D10 – G10) under fire and he still has 5 squads on this flank that have not reached the buildings yet.
During my turn I pulled my 22L10 MTR squad back one hex to cover the approaches into the K6 set of buildings. These guys will die as his 9-2, 2 squads and 2MMG’s are in 18V9 – we don’t have LOS due to the woods hex in 18V10 or 22L10 – depending which way you are looking at the board but they have LOS to the open hexes in 18W10 and 18U10 so the 9-2 group will have to waste a turn taking them out which will stop them from being in a position to fire at my re-enforcements as they move to the counter attack.
THOUGHTS AFTER TURN 2
Setting up in the foxholes was probably a bad move as I can not leave them to re-enforce my flank without drawing fire but I am still confident. This battle was about stopping him from taking 16 building hexes but I will now change my focus to scoring the 8 more CVP’s I need to deny him victory, I will move a HS to O4 to put him in a surrounded position and the MMG and 9-1 will go to G6 to be a fire support role and defend the factory. The rest of the squads will attack down the B-C-D-E rows with the intention of killing his troops as they will be a little more scattered, (there are plenty of HS’s I can snap up!!)
This game is not over and I feel it is evolving the way the designers wanted it to as it is copying the real events written in the scenario card.
TURN 3
He was able to get a pair of squads and 2 HS’s into the centre of the village around K6, his 9-2 wasted its turn taking out the Mortar squad in L9 (it broke in Adv. Fire and surrendered in rout) and my other Mortar in C9 was able to influence his movements such that the 8-0 and squads avoided him and went to the centre of the village rather than his right flank where I want to counter attack. My re-enforcements arrived and starting pushing down the board, a pair of them broke from a 4FP+1 shot in H4 which was a shame as I was wanted to get a shot with them at the 9-2 MMG group as they arrived. I advanced out of an encircled position in C9 to D8 (went CX) and CC a HS for my 3rd CVP. (7 to go!)
TURN 4
He pulled a squad back from F6 as I had a squad in F5 and others with LOS to it, my defensive managed to break it and it routed to E9. My D8 squad AM’ed to C9 where he had a previously concealed squad (was not going to do this but the concealed squad dropped concealment when it fired my captured MTR) and I advanced into the B9 hex in advance phase where we both rolled a n/e to become Melee.
TURN 5
I am keeping the pressure on and he is starting to feel the pinch, a lucky shot broke his 8-0 and squad and also CR’ed a broken squad in H9 (4 CVP – need 6 more) and now there are no units left to hold this flank other than the 9-2, 2 MMG’s and 2 squads in i6. I re-enforced the melee and also CX’ed a leader down to 18EE9 to re-DM a HS there and sent the rest of my troops into that area, capturing the broken squad in E9 (6 down, 4 to go) and eventually killing the B9 squad in melee for no loss (8 scored 2 to go).
TURN 6
By this time he had routed his broken H9 troops to a position I could not reach in 1 turn but had pulled everybody he could back into a defensive hedgehog K5-J5-I6-J7 however, he had left I7 empty and I felt that I could exploit that. His MMG in I6 setup a fire lane out to E8 but did not damage the HS as it crossed at H6 (it HOB-ed and created a Hero) and it bypassed the I7 building into J6, the very centre of the hedgehog – so far it has survived 3-4 shots at it with one of his units, a HS in J5 going FPF and breaking in the process which means I might be able to take it prisoner in rout and take the win. He was aware of this and used his 9-2 leader and squad to fire at them where they died, but they had drawn enough fire to give me a glimmer of hope. Another squad avoided the fire lane and went to H5 where he died from his squad in I6 as it final fired. The only unit that has not final fired now is the 9-2 and squad down in J7. I ran a squad up to their front door but he wouldn’t be tempted so I sent a LDR to I7 to stop his I6 squad from breaking and routing, his 9-2 fired but it survived albeit pinned but good enough for my purposes. My 9-1 and last squad in reach went across the factory to I5 but he did not FPF – shame….but now his squad cannot rout away! The leader in EE9 and the 2 squads that had been in melee surrounded his broken HS which had routed to DD7 (9 CVP’s only need 1 more for the win!). the 9-1 and squad advanced into CC and it all got down to the very last roll of the dice for the game.
Unfortunately I rolled a ‘7’ missing out on the win…
NORWEGIAN VICTORY
AFTERTHOUGHTS
That was close!!
Quite honestly I have never complained about the dice in any of these AAR’s but I cant help feeling I got diced on turn 1, all four squads fired for n/e and all 4 SW’s failed to get ROF nor cause any damage at the critical time when he is moving in the open, just 1 CVP would have given me the win.
Overall I liked my setup but getting out of the foxholes was a problem, especially when he has a 12FP –2 kill stack waiting for you to move from the +2 fox up to the +1 woods. My LMG in G10 was my designated re-enforcement and was meant to move to J7 to slow his advance on my right flank long enough for my turn 3 re-enforcements to relieve him but breaking on turn 2 ruined that plan.
Overall it was a good game and went right down to the wire I would recommend it to anyone. Just make sure you put your foxholes in your final line of defence in the village!!