ASL19 – BACKS TO THE SEA
Peter Kossits / peterk1 defending as the US
ROAR (US:G – 46:62) – 4th November, 2006
This is my 3rd playing of Backs To The Sea as the US defender. For me, it’s become less of an ASL scenario and more of a frustrating little chess puzzle that I still have to solve. I haven’t won it yet, but my play has become more confident each time and the results have been getting better and better. I still take something away with me with each loss that I end up using in other ASL matches. I think Backs To Sea is an excellent scenario to teach a new player how to preserve a small force and keep them in relatively good shape into the end turns. The lessons learned here can be used in a number of similar small scenarios which appear in Paratrooper and Yanks (Silence That Gun, Under The Noel Trees, The Roadblock).
I won’t focus too, too much on the game itself since it was a fairly routine advance along an under-defended flank for Legion, but I’ll share some thoughts on my assessment of the scenario itself and the approach I took.
German Pros:
Terrain
Germans get to attack along a map length (approximately 1200 meters) against only 80 or so lightly armed defenders. They do not have to capture objectives everywhere along that frontage, so they may attack on only a very small portion of that area if they wish, obtaining an overwhelming numerical superiority.
In addition, there is cover on the center of the board (a small forest) and bocage walls dividing the main approach into 3 lanes which have to more or less be covered individually by the defender. This means that the Germans can regroup in the centre of the board and change their axis of advance in mid-game while remaining very safe.
The shellholes are an attacker’s dream. I think of them almost as woods which can be turned on or off at will. If the US player defending one lane have been completely knocked out or if they have no shots left, the Germans can move quickly treating the shellholes as open ground – if the area is being covered, the German simply has to slow his pace a little and he gets cover in almost every hex of the final advance to the objectives.
Also the terrain is very wide open with no natural chokepoints. Residual firepower will pretty much never come into play for the US, since the German has only to sidestep slightly. The lack of free shots for the US hurts a great deal.
Force Strength
The German has 2:1 advantage in overall squad strength. But more importantly, if the US player tries to assign even coverage to each sector (west, east and center) and the German chooses a single sector in which to advance, then the German player can expect an approximate numerical advantage of almost 6:1.
Long range weapons
The Germans have twice as many weapons having ROF possibilities as well as a longer overall reach. The 2 German MMGs can fire out to 24 hexes while the best the US can do with their mortars is 18. It will be difficult for the US to establish a secure firebase for their mortars if the German MGs and mortars can key in on them.
German Cons:
ELR
The only significant German con in this one is that they will not tolerate losses too well. Broken units will ELR and disrupt easily and will then hold their position forcing a leader to venture out towards them. The US player should try to disrupt as many Germans as possible rather than going for outright kills.
US Pros:
Leadership – Hero?
A slight advantage in overall leadership. They also get a hero, however it is difficult to get the hero’s -1 modifier into play, since the Germans will try to break up any fire group long before they venture into the hero’s 4 hex normal range.
Concealment
Due to a generous allotment of concealment counters the Germans don’t really know where the Americans are initially however, the US will have to fire often and early to deal with that many Germans… they will end up giving away their own positions very quickly. As mentioned, the Germans also have excellent cover in which they can regroup and change direction, so the advantage of concealment is very short term and temporary indeed.
ELR
The biggest US advantage is that the Rangers are tough and will not degrade to green when under fire. The Germans will have to take them down man by man and won’t get any cheap and easy knockouts via disruptions.
US Cons:
Long range reach and low ROF
The Americans are really desperate for some MGs in this one since they have so many of the enemy to deal with. However the only ROF weapons they have available are the mortars. How the mortars score will very likely determine the character of the scenario. I didn’t do it in this play, but I would stack the 9-1 and 8-1 leader with the mortars in my next attempt.
Victory Conditions
The victory conditions may even force the outnumbered American defender into a counterattack situation in the later turns if the German obtains his quota of men at the cliffside.
Approach
These are just a few guidelines I set out for myself in approaching the scenario:
I tried to avoid setting up units so that they would only be able to cover one avenue of advance and would be shielded from the rest of the board by the bocage. The American player can place a large number of his forces in useless positions because of the bocage cutting LOS to the far side of the board. It is not too easy to find positions that respect this criteria.
Regarding mortar set-up, instead of setting them up on the flanks, I set them up further back closer to the center of the board. The idea being to make it more difficult for the German to avoid their fire.
I tried to invite the German player into the center of the board by placing lots of counters on the flanks and almost no-one in the middle. The idea was to try and tempt the German into an area which looked easy to attack but to which I could quickly and easily redirect almost my entire force.
And last, and quite possibly the decision that led to my quick defeat in this one, I played the Kossit’s gambit on the east edge of the board – placing 50% of my squads, my hero and and my 2 best leaders covering a single advance axis. The reasons for this were more of a psychological shell-game than anything else. In my last play of this scenario, I defended everywhere evenly, and my opponent just steamrolled everything along that map edge overwhelming me. So this time around I placed a force there which could not be easily overwhelmed. The 2 leaders in the area were there to allow me a quick retreat back to the tree line at the cliff’s edge after 1-2 turns.
Tactically, I wanted to avoid shooting too early in my defensive fire. The US player does not get too many shots per turn in this one. The quicker he exhausts all of those shots, the more freedom the German player gets for the rest of his MPh. Because there will not be any meaningful residual fire coming into play, there is very little motivation for the US player to shoot early. I decided to hold fire as much as possible to hopefully force Legion to move more carefully than he would like.
The plan was to disrupt as many squads as I could early and to then focus on taking the German leaders out.
The Game
Turn 1
The Germans take most of Board 19 for free. In my opinion, it’s simply too dangerous for the US to set-up so far forward that he can cover board 19 in any meaningful manner. It’s a pity, because that’s where most of the open ground is. Legion’s main thrust is on the west flank, away from the Kossit’s gambit forces. So I succeeded in scaring him over to the other side of the board, now we have to see if I can successfully redeploy and get over to cover the far edge. They have already begun their withdrawal. The US mortars open fire and score very modest results (2 breaks, no disrupts), however one mortar breaks early. Infantry meanwhile are taking small long range shots with no success. The concealment counters are already out of play for the most part.
Turn 2
On the far west flank, the Germans have succeeded at eliminating the entire defence and have taken half of board 16. They will be in range of the objectives in about 1-2 turns. The mortar broken in Turn 1 has been permanently disabled and the HS is now rushing over to try and fill that gap on the left flank. My gambit forces have meanwhile paused their withdrawal since they were presented with some nice shots versus the forest in the center of the board which Legion is using as a Rally base.
Germans have lost a HS thus far and US has lost a leader.
Turn 3
Germans have begun taking the victory positions on the undefended west flank. Legion has 1.5 good order squads there already and another 1.5 broken squads. The crew manning the last operating US mortar has been knocked out of action and they routed away from their weapon. My gambit forces meanwhile have retreated in good order back to the forest on Board 7. But they are far away from the action and I will now have to shift them over to the other side of the board. We will soon be in the counter-attack situation.
No new casualties for either side.
Turn 4
Legion has consolidated his hold on the victory area on the west side of the board. It looks like at this point he has enough guys there for the victory but I not sure since he’s started gaining concealment for them. My forces on the other side of the board have started taking heavy losses in their attempt to redeploy for counterattack. Legion has also setup a very nice MG position in the bocage at close range in the middle of board 16. In my PFPh I will always have to fire Area Fire at them, because they constantly get to regain their concealment. I have to ignore this position and advance through their fire, because I simply don’t have enough FP to deal with them.
Germans casualties are at a HS and a leader.
The US has lost 3.5 squads and a leader.
Turn 5
First US counterattack ends in failure but with low casualties – mainly breaks. I have one turn to regroup and then one last attempt on the final turn.
Germans lost a HS.
Turn 6
The US recovered from the breaks on the last turn quicker than expected and they mounted a 2nd counterattack sooner than expected. This one was turned back with high casualties however. Meanwhile Legion has been sneaking a HS into the victory area on the far right side of the board away from the action. This is a side show but I will move to meet that threat.
German casualties are: 1 squad and 1 leader.
US casualties are : 6 squads and a leader
Turn 7
US mounted a 3rd counterattack with the survivors and tried to unsuccessfully take down the HS on the east side of the board. There was still a very, very small chance of US victory at this point. Legion ended up with 10.5 good order squads in the victory area.
German casualties are: 1 squad and 2 leaders.
US casualties are : 6.5 squads and a leader