ASL23 – UNDER THE NOEL TREES
Legion playing as the Germans
JP playing as the US
ROAR (G:US – 159:158) – 4th November, 2006
JP and I have had some time off… the stress of multiple CGs using VASL logfiles for 3.5 years had done both our heads in. We decided to have a whirl at an online game of VASL and when presented with 3 options of scenarios to play I chose this one… So read on as I attempt to ride rough-shod over the US defenders.
Initial Thoughts
The pretty snow covers the ground and all the stands between my panzers and their date with destiny in Bastogne is a few airborne troopers and a pair of HIP M18 ‘Hellcats’. Entering on board 16 I have to exit 4 of my 7 AFV off of the opposite edge (board 19) – I can also make do with 3 AFV off as long as I have earned more Casualty Points than the US.
A quick look at the terrain suggests that I will have a lot of LOS traps I can take advantage of no matter where I attack from… at least until I enter board 19… Board 19 has three options for my attack
A. To the South: There is a massive patch of open ground from board 16 to the edge of 19 which makes any attack here difficult… though a mass swarm might be able to break through. The 19X6 building provides some LOS relief from long-range shots – but will that be enough. This side is most likely to be under-guarded.
B. To the North: This is the most obvious attack route. There is not much LOS possibility apart from a setup right in this area… and AFV/ infantry moving here will have plenty of chances to grab cover. He will have to place at least one of his TDs here as well as some infantry support.
C. Through the central woods: There are plenty of holes to move through so that there is little time lost in movement, but these bottlenecks will also mean a lot of opportunity to him to concentrate his fire on my attack. Also I shall be vulnerable to Baz shots from these woods…
Another thing I am taking into account is that no matter where I attack he is going to have to move at least 50% of his force to come and deal with me. To go to the North gives me the most cover at the expense of the best opportunities for his defensive setup. To go South means I shall be vulnerable to long-range shots, but there is little chance he will set up a strong defence here… maybe I can get him first as he comes to me. The Centre means he can set up a defence and can reach me quickly too…
OOB
7x 658 SS
9-1, 8-1, 7-0
3x LMG, MMG (dm)
5x PzIVH, 2x StuG III(L), 8-1 AL
German Setup
All units must enter as riders and all units have only half the MP/MF in the first turn
The US have setup with a typical layered defence… there are 3 units in the central woods with the rest spread reasonably equally about the exit edge of board 19.
I have decided on a weighted attack on the Southern side, though I shall enter in the central area first to make sure that he must keep guessing as to my intentions as long as possible. Part of my reasoning for this is the 3 units defending the Southern side’s edge… this is a lot more units than necessary I think, so it is unlikely that he has a strong HIP presence here.
The Game
My forces cruise across the snow-covered plains weighted towards the South, and the US start to shift their infantry South as he starts to see my intentions. I we both start losing ? but the SSR stating that SW can remain HIP until used makes it very hard for me to know what is going on with his defence… there are no dummy stacks but every unit is a potential Baz carrier. I Bail or Unload my riders ASAP but the extra .5MF for infantry in the snow makes movement very slow and my forces end up quite spread out. There is also the ever-present fear of the HIP M18 GMC’s to deal with but the way he swarms his troops to my anticipated focus of the attack (the Southern corner of the board) makes me feel that he has placed the AFV to the Centre and the North…
Alas, wrong… The first Hellcat to be exposed is in 19V2… and he quickly dispatches a StuG, without losing his ? (SSR states the AFV are treated as Emplaced Guns in woods for ? loss). I spot a sneaky LOS at this guy from a Pz IV in 16J6 and pop off a bunch of long-range shots… unfortunately, despite my eventually only needing an 8 or less to hit… I miss. He does not – Kapow! 2 Panzers killed and he has not even lost the M18’s ? yet!
I bunch up my AFV behind the 19Z10 woods as this is out of his tank’s LOS. I want to make a mass-rush towards the 19GG1-BB1 area, thinking that multiple targets are better than single ones… once he has taken his shots then hopefully the remaining AFV can make it off the board in a single rush. Also I have started to get my SS involved and they are breaking down his infantry. So far only a MMG is exposed, but he has 6 units in this area – with one of the 2 units in the planned ‘exit zone’ already broken. I sacrifice a Pz IV’s movement to shoot some SMOKE (19X4) and the rush starts.
To my great surprise the M18’s shots are all misses… Great! I change my plan to allow me to have more shots at this guy and bring up some more AFV to just past the 19Z10 woods to be ready for the next turn when the game will be settled… and that is when it all falls apart. With a StuG’s nose just popping out past the woods where I was previously safe the other GMC (19N2) is able to take a shot and (eventually, thanks to ROF and IF) scores a kill… 3 AFV down, one more and it is game over!
Meanwhile I had sent a single AFV to the North… hoping to hold up some forces here. As it turns out this little guy is able to just cruise all the way along the board and does not face any opposition. If I had sent the mass of my forces here I would have forced him to move his AFV to get a shot at me and thus probably had the upper hand. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
So, with just a single AFV standing between him and victory I am in a bit of a fix… And this is where fate steps in with his steel-capped boots.
The US sniper had been pretty active all game, obviously I was rolling a lot of 4’s and just as obviously they were for pretty useless things (infantry MCs or impossible MA attacks). I took a 2FP +0 shot at a suspicious unit rushing towards my intended exit point… could I stop a Baz attack with this shot…? No… but I can call a hot SAN roll that ends up dropping right on top of a CE AFV. D5.341 KIS the commander and Recalls the AFV – with 4 AFV down it is well and truly game over!
US VICTORY
Conclusion
I got owned… no other way to put it. Although the SAN result at the end was pretty rough… and the miss with the really cool long-range LOS was a major turning point, I still don’t think that either of these events turned the game. No, as much as it pains me to say it, it was not dice that settled this game… I was just out-thought and out-played. Against any other player I might have been able to pull this off but JP knows me well enough to know I was probably not going to take the obvious route.
The HIP M18 GMS’s are really tough to get around, and the positions he had for them were excellent (19V2, 19N2) for anything but German thrust to the North of the boards. Even if they were not treated as Emplaced Guns for ? loss (A12.3) they would have been tough to hit before getting smoked (their 76L guns have a 17TK with ROF 2 – ouch). As it was he only had a single one of them revealed at games end, and that was from the last shot he took!
The HIP SW SSR is tough too… the mind starts to see every US MMC as a possible Baz carrier… I was skirting them like I would late-war Germans with their pesky PF.
Finally I totally messed up with my failing to appreciate the difficulties that would be posed by the extra MF cost due to the snow… As usual I was so focussed on the AFV that I totally mis-played the SS troopers… There are plenty of LOS blocks to let these riders get almost all the way to the board 16/19 junction before being at risk and riding is a lot quicker than CX-ing in the snow. Although the Germans have Winter Camouflage this was of no use in this game as the ranges were all too close for it to come into play