J44 – AUDACITY!
JP defending as the Germans
Legion attacking as the Polish
ROAR (P:G – 54:54) – 4th June, 2007
INITIAL THOUGHTS
This looks like a good challenge, I have 8.5 squads to his 17.5 squads, he also has two tanks and I have a 37mm AT gun which has a 9#TK but he has 4#AF so my chances of killing are low. I need to keep him out of 10 of the 15 building hexes and it is played on a half board so it is very much a “stand and fight” type of game. To his advantage is the fact he can already start in 3 of the buildings with 3 squads already at the village edge and a fourth (I10) is fairly well indefensible for me. This looks tough but I have many advantages:
My right flank has a massive open field 5 hexes in width making him attack over hill 534 and channelling his attack into the remaining 5 hexes of the board.
We both have a French MMG with a B#11 but he also uses all his MG’s as captured weapons (A21.0) thus making all his LMG and MMG a B#9 as well as reducing ROF by ‘1’.
His tanks are radio-less and will have to use platoon movement or take NTC’s if moving independently.
EC are mud, increasing squad movement by ½ per hex and vehicles by 1 per hex.
I have a SAN of ‘4’ as compared to his ‘2’.
He has 3 squads in the shellholes along the I5-G6 road and I can set up a 9-2, 2x 4-6-8’s and 2 LMG’s adjacent for my 1st turn which could have a serious impact on his ability to live.
THE PLAN
I am sure he will use the tanks for their freeze-sleaze ability and so I will stay on hill 534 as long as I can and slowly pull back to the village, the tanks arrive in Turn 2 with half MP’s expended so they are not a threat until turn 3 if I am still on the front of the hill or turn 4 if I have pulled back.
He already has the I1 and K1 buildings as well as L4 although I have 2.5 squads, a MMG and my 8-1 leader (and my ATR to protect me slightly against the freeze-sleaze) there to convince him not to set up in it as I want L4 to cover the open ground with a fire lane across to E1 and also put fire on his guys at K1 if they try to take the big building M2, I am prepared to pull out of this building in turn 4 after all his troops have committed to going over the 534 hill.
I will send 1.5 squads and my MTR to the 534 hill to re-enforce the 9-2 and squads there but all will begin a gradual pull back as his tanks arrive. My AT Gun is in O5 where it can fire all the way down to K3 to stop his tanks from doing a “left hook” and it also has LOS to the level 2 hills at the rear of 534 as well as M6 which is the only other entry into the village as I have my 4 AT mines in M7 (1 factor) M8 (1 factor) N7 (2 factors). The mines cover the sneaky approach into the village for if he bypasses into it and after he hits the ‘1’ factor fields he has the choice of moving into N6 and being in LOS of my AT gun or N7 and hitting the 2 factor AT minefield, with a CMG of ‘2’ and a 37mm MA I am not scared to rush these guys and go for CC so I think he will keep them close to his infantry. I am prepared to let him have I1, K1, L4, I10 and M7 buildings but want to hold the rest. My troops on the hill will go for an opening gambit by setting up next to his guys on the I5 – G6 road where I will hopefully take one out with a KIA or at least break a pair and capture them in rout.
SET UP
All my troops setup concealed and I also have an extra 8 concealment counters to make dummy stacks with.
● M1: 4-6-8 LMG
● M2: 2-3-7
● M5: 4-6-8 MMG, 4-4-7 ATR, 2-3-7, 8-1 – that puts 30FP +1 on the adjacent L4 hex so he should not set up there and I will take it in turn 1 (I also have 2 dummy counters which will move away later, the 4-4-7 and ATR will go where needed, probably hill 534 on turn 2 where it will try a Deliberate Immobilization shot on one of his tanks.)
● M6: 2x Dummy counters
● M7: 2-3-7, 4-4-7 MTR, 7-0 – these guys go CX on turn 1 and go to I8 to put MTR fire on the woods E7-E9. The 7-0 will then pull back to P1 to rally broken troops throughout the game.
● M10: 2x Dummy counters to move to I10 to make him think I am defending “up front”.
● N1: 4-4-7 (right flank reserve)
● N2: 2x Dummy counters.
● AT MINES: 1 factor each in M7 and M8, 2 factors in N7
● O5: 37mm AT gun and crew, HIP
● G7: 9-2, 2x 4-6-8, 2x LMG
TURN 1
My opening gambit kinda failed, I was in G7 and spray fired at the adjacent G6 and also H6, although I rolled a 1,5 and gained ROF both squads passed with only the G6 squad pinning. I fired the LMG’s again at G6 for no result. My troops started moving to their pre-assigned positions and all looked good until his defensive fire. He fired at my 9-2 kill stack and the 1 MC pinned the leader and BOTH squads broke with 9’s and 10’s – now I am in trouble…. They routed to E7 which was the direction his troops would be entering from and both squads were captured in his turn. A very bad start and, quite honestly, I don’t think I can hold him but will have a go just for the sake of playing. His troops moved on and, as said, surrounded the broken squads and took them prisoner, he got too casual and I was able to fire a 4FP -2 at a FFNAM/MO squad which hardened and created a Hero – everything is going his way so far…
TURN 2
I was able to extricate my 9-2 from his exposed position using Rout and the Alpine Hill rules to save him but he did not get back into the action until turn 4. My Prep was ineffective and my MTR rolled a 6,6 while firing at his guys in the trees holding my men prisoner. I re-set my defences by moving my LMG and 8-1 from L4 to K7 where it can control the approaches to the village as well as the hill top (I am really missing the 9-2 and his 2 squads now…) and attacked at L0 and L1 with a view to taking the K1 building as a buffer. His defensive fire was ineffective and so was my advancing fire. I decided to pull them back and re-gain concealment as I could not afford the losses.
My MTR gakked out with a ‘6’ in rally, and his prep resulted in a K/ result on one of my hill side squads and my squad and ATR was broken, ELR’ed and forced to Rout out. His tanks came on down the road (I had toyed with the idea of setting my AT gun up in M3 and pushing it back to N3 when he got closer but changed my mind – shame as that would have made him reach the front a lot slower.) and stopped at E6 and F6. Meanwhile he was advancing troops across the board and, although I scored a few 2FP-2 shots, I was unable to even break one of them. The only highlight being my MMG scoring a 1MC on a stack of his troops at K1, surprisingly all broke and by the end of the turn he had 3 squads and a leader all broken on that flank!
TURN 3
I did little Prep (and with no effect) and started pulling back troops from the ‘I’ and ‘H’ rows of the hill as it was all getting a little too close for my liking. I sent a squad to J1 to try and capture or eliminate his 3 broken squads on that flank but a snake eyes from a 4FP+0 resulted in a K/ and, worse still, the HS then broke – I only have one other good order squad on that flank and I can’t risk losing him even though taking 3 squads and a leader prisoner was a juicy opportunity. I now have all 3 leaders on the hill and so sent the 7-0 to my right flank for rallying duties while my 9-2 went to rally the ELR’ed ATR squad, which HOBed on its next rally to become Disrupted (no KEU in LOS) but then rallied immediately in turn 4 – freaky stuff.
He kept the pressure on in his turn and moved his tanks to J5 and I6 where they gained an Acq. (with yet another snake eyes) on my last squad on the right flank in M2 but I am not worried about them as I know he will use them for sleaze-freeze manoeuvres. He is slowly surrounding my hill side troops and next turn I will have to pull back or lose them. His last reinforcements arrived, mounted on their trucks and although I had a shot at long range I was unable to kill them but my residual made him stop, dismount and think.
TURN 4
Lets get the hell out of Dodge City! If I stay any longer my rout paths will be broken so it is time to go! I left a dummy stack at L9 and pulled everyone back, by the end of the turn I had squads in O6 and P6, a HS in O5 with the still HIP AT gun. A squad and LMG in M2 protecting the broken 7-0 and 2x broken HS’s in N1 – I need them back quick or I will be gone for all money! My last squad with MMG and 9-2 and 8-1 is in M7 where I have one of my AT mines, and both the AT gun and ATR can see the approach hex of L6 in case he tries to freeze-sleaze, they are a little exposed but that was the furthest they could go as the 8-1 had actually broken leaving the squad alone with the MMG last turn, bad timing for me, I needed that extra 2MP’s and 1PP for the leader. He kept up his inexorable march across the board and sent his tanks to do the sleaze on M7; my AT Gun fired when it was in L6 for a miss and no ROF and my ATR also missed, he bypassed M7 and missed the AT mine, my squad and leaders CC reaction fired him but also did no damage.
During all this turn I scored a SAN which broke the HS guarding the prisoners way back in B6 and he had to send a CX squad back there to jump into the possible CC. The rest of his movement consisted of a pair of trucks trying to draw fire (no chance…) but one of them went to P4 to block rout paths so I shall have to deal with that another day. I was able to break 4.5 of his squads that tried a little too hard to take the M2 building along with the 2 escorting officers, for a moment it looks like my defence might hold or, at least, his attack will be un-coordinated and not at full strength. (if I were him I would have waited until turn 5 to attack when I could have sent twice as many troops in…). In his advance fire he was able to break the squad in the M7 hex where his tank was in bypass so my CC was a disaster; neither of my prisoners passed the NTC needed to attack their guard and the 2 remaining officers in M7 could not kill the tank which then wiped them out with a fluky 1,1!
TURN 5
Ouch….my 7-0 did not rally. My prep was my LMG in M2 firing at the 2 broken squads and leader in L4 to re-DM them and, although it gakked with a 6,6 it was enough to cause DM (A9.7 and A10.62 – check it out, surprised us!). I moved 2 squads to P5 and my only HS to P4 to clear out the truck and avoid some of his defensive fire but he had way too much firepower by this time and all 3 broke leaving the AT gun in O5 (which had prepped at the M7 tank – 4 shots, all turret hits, no damage) to defend these buildings and at this point I surrendered, I only have one good order squad and an AT gun able to hold off his 9.5 squads and 2 tanks.
POLISH VICTORY
FINAL THOUGHTS
I lost this on turn 1, I went for the big opening gambit with the 9-2 and 2 squads with the idea of clearing out the squads on the G6-I5 road thus allowing my MMG to move to J4 and force him across the hills but it failed on the 1st 2 MC’s of the game. I would play this again but be more careful with the valuable 9-2 fire group.
PS: If you are playing as the Germans be aware that your MTR has a better chance of killing his tanks than your ATR!