ASL107 – TETTAU’S ATTACK
Originally published as A33
Legion Defending as the British
Colonel Custard Attacking as the SS.
ROAR (B:SS – 9:10) – 16th August, 2009
Played in 2 FTF Session (July – August, 2009) – 6 hours
ASL 107 – Tettau’s Attack is one of my main teaching scenarios
I have a friend who comes from the world of BattleTech and WH40K, he also plays in a Dark Heresy RPG I ran. I asked him if he was interested in learning a REAL war-game and to my surprise he said yes. To my further surprise he only needed a single 4 hour session to pick up the basics (infantry, MGs, movement, terrain) which was enough to play the most basic of games! He felt confident enough to tackle a scenario, so we set up some pieces and over the course of 2 weeks we played ASL107 through to the bitter end.
Initial Thoughts
This looks like a walk-over for the SS, and this is actually the reason why I suggested we play it. With my experience it gives us a fair chance of the game being balanced.
For the British Paratroopers really does look like a tough one, the SS have to get just 3 VP of their ELR 2 force off of the far end of the map from their setup location. They have 26 VP worth of troops at the games start and have 11 turns in which to achieve this task. Against the Company of Germans stands just 4, yes, 4 British Paratrooper Squads. SW are about the same with a MMG and 2-3 LMG each and leadership-wise the forces are again almost identical with the British having a 9-2 leader as their best.
Terrain is Bd. 17, so there are a few choke points for such a small defensive force to use to try and slow down the SS attack but ultimately this game will come down to DRs. The fewer men/AFV available to a scenario the more important each and every DR becomes. With a bit of luck the British can stitch their defence up so tight that the Germans will have no chance, but a tiny bit of bad luck will see the Allies collapse like a house of cards.
SS Setup
The SS have setup most of their forces in a line from Z2-Z5. They have also placed a stack in AA7 and I assume their intention is to swing to the North and attack me there. Colonel Custard has also Deployed the maximum number of HS possible. This is a pretty sophisticated plan for a newbie, so I shall be interested to see what happens once the bullets fly.
British Setup
I really don’t have too many options. I need to place a Squad on each flank, and I place a leader on the Northern Flank and a LMG on the Southern flank. In the centre my other LMG and the MMG are also positions with the 2x 9ML leaders.
S9 648, 8-0
S2 LMG 648
Q4 LMG 648, 9-1
Q4(1) MMG 648, 9-2
My plan is to attempt to put the pressure on my opponent right from the start. Because he is new to ASL I think he is likely to make some mistakes when I don’t sit and wait for him, so I am going to push in the South and keep my eye on the open ground in front of the Woods to the North. When things start to get tough I will pull back and make a stand at various choke-points like N4 and K7.
The Game
Setting the Stage
My British are setup as well as could be expected. I do make one move though, I decide to send the LMG 648 up the Southern flank to V0. My opponent is a newbie and I am sure that pushing forward against his attack will stress him out and wrest any initiative away from him. My men hunker down and wait.
The SS move forward behind a screen of HS! While I would expect this from a more experienced player this is a bit of a shock to me as I did not show this tactic to my opponent, he came up with it himself. The initial screen moves forward in an almost Human-Wave-like rush and this causes a HS to be KIA from one of my shots, however when I am able to score a great LOS to shoot at a stack of 3x 447, 8-0 with my MMG he is lucky enough to escape with just a PTC from the 6FP -4 shot. Col. Custard has actually managed to use his HS screen to fan out on the Northern Flank which forces me to choose what to do next turn, and in the South he has not only placed his MMG in such a way as to cut off the V0 rout options but he has charged up to me, the tables have been turned completely and now it is me who is under pressure and I am not sure if I can extricate myself safely. Even worse I didn’t cause him to waste any time!
The SS Clerks and AA Gunners are taking the fight to the experienced British Para’s
The Farmhouse Assault
It is time to try and pull back in the South but this goes horribly wrong as I only have Brush for cover and this proves to not be enough. I have a 337 CRed from this move and the other HS is broken. This remaining HS can not run fast enough and is swallowed up in the relentless SS assault. I have lost 25% of my force for no gain and all because I made a n00b mistake against a newbie who has more to him than meets the eye.
Up North I spend a Turn trying to hold off the 4CVP of units attacking me, I really need to keep an eye on the Turn marker and each hex I can hold him back from makes his end-game harder. Unfortunately for me I have only a single shot each turn and I am missing with those shots, even when the Germans get cocky and move Adjacent to me I am unable to make him pay. It all falls apart in the mid-game for me when on Turn 3-4 I am broken by a lucky shot, an unlucky MC and then must Rout back deeper into the forest. Thankfully he is unable to move fast enough to catch up with me and I am able to pull back and Rally in time for the 3rd Phase of the Battle: The Roadblock
With both my Flanks either wiped out or pressed and crumbling it is all down to the central Farmhouse building. Unfortunately for the beleaguered British this part of the defence is failing too as another lucky shot sees my 9-2 leader wounded and the MMG 648 CRed! By the end of Turn 4 and the start of the most crucial part of the battle I have just 1.5 Squads in GO holding off 10 of his! My MMG HS retreats to the rear of the farmhouse as the SS steamroller presses on almost totally unaffected by the little FP I can throw at it. I decide to pull the LMG 648, 9-1 out and place it behind the N4 Hedge where I can cover more ground without him ganging up on me. This leaves just a wounded 9-2 and a MMG 338 in the farmhouse with a manned MMG.
And then it all goes crazy.
Firstly I get a HOB roll to send the 338 Berserk. Then as he rushes forward I am able to pull a sneaky LOS to hit a stack of 3x 447, LMG, MMG and a Leader with enough fire to break them all and send them scurrying for cover. It is not as though the game is over but the pendulum has swung back towards the centre. My Berserker rushes forwards to CR and then eventually KIA a 447, but in doing so he is stranded on the Q5 road right in the LOS of the MG stack which took its time rallying, but does so just in time to KIA the HS. While all this is going on my wounded 9-2 leader rolled ‘6’ for 4 turns in a row to completely fail to pick up the MMG! I could have really used this SW as the German attack started to come apart big time. His Conscripts (which were piling up thanks to the 2 ELR) are falling all over the place as finally I start to make my shots count. He has limited cover and the fall of his MG stack has left him with isolated units who cannot link their fire or move safely.
This part of the game ends when the Berserk 338 is KIA and the wounded 9-2 is CCed, but only after the Leader FINALLY gets the MMG working and takes out a 447. The Germans are able to capture the Farmhouse and link up their forces to the North and South of it. Meanwhile they have been harrying me in the Northern Woods and CRed the 648 here (he was in P8 by this stage) – in return I KIAed a Squad, but it is not enough.
The Roadblock
My sole remaining units are a LMG 648, 9-1 who start hopping from side to side of the K6/K7 hedge depending on the location from which they are able to do the most damage. This is actually a useful location as it allows me to place a 1FP FL to K0 and to fire on him as he makes his moves. The delays and losses I have imposed on his units in the battle for the Farmhouse have also suddenly evened the battle up to the point where it looks like the 4 Turns he has left might not be enough; if only I had a single Squad extra! Col Custard cannot afford to take his time now, his force is mostly slow moving Conscripts and the MG stack is too far back to be able to influence the battle and move far enough to make it to the end of the board so he no option but to rush.
The end game starts with single Conscript Squads attempting to force the Southern side of the board so that they might run in the Open Ground to the South of the F1 Woods. I Pin the first with a 1FP -2 FL attack but the second makes it past and this is 4CVP worth of troops I cannot afford to ignore… unfortunately I need my LMG 648 to watch the road lest the remaining 8CVP of his men are able to sneak past. It is at this time that my Northern 338 Rallies and with the 8-0 Leaders help I might be able to make it to the board edge before him!
The Germans move forward and I go back to my old ways of missing important shots… my 338, 8-0 rushes like mad to make it to A4 from where I might be able to stop a single unit form exiting with a good attack DR. With just 2 turns to go it looks like I am going to be able to win this… and then more bad luck hits me when a 1FP -1 shot causes a PTC on my LMG 648, 9-1 and Pins them up in J7 right at the start of their move… these units could have made it back to the edge of the board and almost assured me of the win, instead the luck which has haunted me all game bites me on the bum again and I am Pinned too far away and in an LOS shadow that ensures this stack shall only have a marginal effect on the result of the game.
With a single 338 able to defend the board edge and 7 CVP of units (3x Squads and 1 leader) within movement range of it it all comes down to my opponent making a mistake. The SS Commander does not, and secures with Win!
The SS have at least 3 Exit VP
SS VICTORY
Conclusion
I was under the impression that this game would normally be a walkover for the SS. I was also under the impression that my decades of experience as opposed to Colonel Custard playing his first game would give me a huge enough advantage to ensure an easy victory for me… I was wrong. The Colonel played an excellent game and although luck was on his side it was he who capitalised on my overconfidence and managed to keep focussed for the win when things evened out mid-game. I did give him some minor help, I offered tactical and rules advice when asked if it did not give him too much of an advantage, and I certainly did not hold anything back to avoid anything nasty happening to myself but this was really a much better game from an inexperienced opponent than I expected.
Without a doubt I made the error of being too sure of myself and my ability to extricate myself from any difficulties. I setup to slow him down and force the pressure on him and failed. Partially it was because of luck, partially it was because I expected him to be over-awed and not know how to deal with me grasping the initiative. Unfortunately for my British the SS were not as inexperienced as I expected and they were able scrape together a win. The only real crisis for them came in the mid-game when I was able to hold him off thanks to some luck of my own in the Farmhouse area. I also have to take a bit of credit for essentially holding off 75% of his force (~ 8 MMC) with 33% of my own force (~1.5 MMC).
The game came to be so close that in the last turns we were really not sure who was going to prevail, the confidence for the win swung back and forth. I can honestly say I have not played many games where it has literally come down to the very last turn and the very last move to secure the result, this was one of those games! The highlight for me was when the Colonel looked up from his very first ASL games and said “THAT was awesome!”.
Personally I still think this scenario is pro-SS and I would not hesitate to back myself to win on the attack. The Brits are a fantastic fighting force, but they are brittle and once those breaks start a’coming, and they will, then you are left with holes for the Germans to exploit. I think the game is too long by about a turn to really give the Allies much of a chance.