J05 – BIZORY LOVES COMPANY
KC defending as the US
Legion attacking as the Germans
ROAR (US:G – 10:21) – 7th March, 2007
One day in the distant past I came across the View From the Trenches (VFtT) ASL site and downloaded every pdf there was.
Over the course of the next week I read them all, and then was disappointed to find there wasn’t anymore new ones up on the site a week later. Oh well. As they got published though I’d download and read them. Then just over 12 months ago my interest in ASL dropped away. So when it peaked again recently one of the first things I did was download the pdfs from VFtT that I had missed and caught up on what I had been missing (damn, Valour of the Guards is still not out! I remember putting in a pre-order for this and was horrified to find after I had paid my deposit that it may not come out until 2006, which seemed so far away at the time. 2006, it feels so far away now, except its in the past!).
Anyway. At the start of 2007 after watching all the Band of Brothers DVD’s I was primed for some ASL action. And after reading the latest VFtT I made it my new years resolution to write an article for VFtT’s. What to write about? An ARR seemed to fit best. It would allow me to play a game (PBP using VASL), write an article and Bizory Loves Company was a scenario I came across in an old Journal that tied in to Band of Brothers. The stars were aligned!
Who to play against? I had played some previous games with WillHog, a pommy guy who gave me successive whippings playing both sides in Mad Minute. I hadn’t played in 12 months but shot off an email to Will anyway. He didn’t reply, but in the past he’d taken off on his Harley and been away from his PC for weeks at a time so I wasn’t surprised (and a big hello Will!).
For plan B I had hopes of playing against any other Australian (just so we were in the same time zone), and I knew that Legion was an Australian with a large and ever growing AAR site. So he was at the top of the wish list. But he always seems to have games on and had never heard of me so at some point in the year 2007 I would have to get the balls to contact him and see if he’d take pity on me by playing the Germans in my chosen scenario of Bizory. But that wouldn’t happen till later in the year, if at all.
In the meantime I posted a “Game wanted” at Game Squad Forums. I wanted to play the first campaign day of Red Barricades. I’ve never played on the Red Barricades map and wanted to get some first hand experience after reading all the articles in VFtT about “the Armoured Blitz”. Not the whole CG, just the first day. To get my feet wet.
I got two responses. The third though was from…Legion!
Legion PM’d me (!) and said he’d play me in RB. But after a quick exchange of emails we decided to go with Bizory and an AAR report. It suited him for his site and me for a VFtT article. Told you the stars were aligned! I didn’t even have to contact Legion to make it happen. My fingers still tremble thinking about seeing a PM from “Legion” pop up in my “in tray”. I remember thinking “what have I done wrong?” and “I didn’t write to him, did I?” and then thought he must have me confused with someone else.
And so on to Bizory…
Real Life Background
I wanted to play the Americans (Band of Brothers). The real life battle took place in Bizory, Holland on the 3rd of January 1945. Elements of SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 26, SS-Panzer Division 12 were overrunning listening posts on their way to Bastogne when they came under fire and pivoted to face Elements of E Company (Easy Company!) 2nd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment , 101st Airborne Division.
Map
Most of Map Board 42 is in use with some overlays (shudder, I hate overlays, but VASL should make it much easier). EC are wet. No wind at start. Ground Snow in effect. All woods are considered Pine and therefore two level LOS obstacles and infantry take 1.5MF to enter.
A road runs the length of the board (25 hexs). There are 4 individual stone buildings at the front of the US set up area. Running parallel to the road and along the entire West side of the road is a large wood area. At the south end of the map, the road passes through or close to another handful of stone buildings at the exit point.
Victory Conditions
To win the Germans have to amass greater than 45 VP. Normal VP apply for German units exited off the south edge of the playing area (they enter from the north and have to run the length of the board to exit to the south), they get double VP for American units eliminated. They have 8 turns to do this.
My initial calculations show my US forces add up to 26 VP, which doubles to 52VP if eliminated.
The German force is worth 54 points if they all can exit. 24 points are tied up in squads.
American Side & Setup
Well, the Americans are outnumbered and outgunned on a straight squad by squad basis. The 50cal evens things up a bit. And combined with the concealment counters I’m guessing the 10-2 leader and 50cal will need to score a good hit on a German infantry stack early or take out an unarmoured vehicle or two for us (the US) to have any show.
{SAN:5}
I tried to have a layered defence, to defend “in depth”.
My front line [As all US units start concealed I have noted their revealed units in square brackets]
G3: 2x ?, 1S foxhole [337] – Mandatory setup
H5: 3x ? [2x 747] – Two squads to try and prevent infantry from getting across the road in support of AFV’s. No bazooka here, Legion will likely lead with his infantry and I wont get a shot at any vehicles. Best to put my Bazookas back towards the South edge board where he will need to exit and wont be overrun early.
I3: 3x ? [dummies] – I had decided to have dummies forward, once they lose concealment there are no secrets so may as well have Legion try and determine what this stack is and once he does, he will still need to confront my real units later in game and further back along the playing field.
I5: 2x ?, 1S foxhole [337] – Mandatory setup
Secondary line (front line reserves)
J3: 5x ? [3x dummy, BAZ] – another stack of dummies. Having a stack of 3 in I3 and 4 concealment counters (J3) at the crossroads and in stone buildings I figured Legion would have to assume there were real units here. Why the bazooka unmanned? Well, it added a concealed unit to the stack and I was hoping to move a half squad out of either of the trenches and take up the bazooka in my first movement phase. Yes, in hindsight, blatantly too cute. Also, Legion pointed out after the game this was an illegal setup. The last line of A12.11 says it should have been 3x ? counters and an unconcealed BAZ counter, which would have ruined the whole “trick” of it anyway. My response to learning this? I’m not above a little dishonesty (just joking) and even cheating I was not able to make it work or to win the scenario (no joke!).
J5: 4x ? [747 MMG, 9-1 (heroic)] – Leader in a stone location where my front line units would likely rout to when broken.
Third line
N6: 2x ? [747] – Squad in the woods here and at T5. Concealed units that I planned to assault move around the woods. I wanted these real units to act like dummies-acting-as-real-units.
T4: 3x ? [ 747 Baz] – Squad in woods with Bazooka in case Legion tries to rush his vehicles through the open ground.
T5: 3x ? [747, 8-0]
Last line
V2: 4x ? [747 50 Cal, 10-2] Too obvious do you think? Best leader with HMG in the building with longest LOS. Except maybe I should have set him up on level 1.
Y6: 4x ? [747 Baz, 8-1] I mistakenly thought the VC said he had to exit via the road hex. My mistake for playing Gavin Take at the same time as this, because he can exit anywhere off the south edge (in Gavin Take he has to exit via the road hex). I figured the leader and Bazooka would present a final challenge for him to pass.
German Side
{SAN:2}
On the infantry side they have 12 x 658’s, a 2-2-8 crew, a 9-2 leader, 2 x 8-1 leaders and a 7-0 leader. 2 dismantled MMG’s, 2 LMG’s, PSK and a dismantled mortar (60mm). That’s some pretty good infantry and leadership right there! The Germans also have some vehicles, 2x Pz IVH tanks 3x SdKfz AA HTs and some captured American vehicles, being 2 x M3A1. The SdKfz AA HTs stand out here for me, with their 20FP 20L guns!
To me this looks like a strong force of both infantry and vehicles!
American Strategy
The German has 8 turns to complete the VC’s. I think this is key. 8 turns gives the German enough time to probe forward carefully, take his time picking off US infantry at his leisure, and not have to risk his vehicles except from long range if required. This is a low risk approach that can work for the Germans I think.
Worst case for the Germans is he trades off all his squads (12 squads) by eliminating all my squads (8 squads) then he still accumulates 32 VP for eliminating my infantry forces. That would give him 32 VP for eliminating my squads, then he exits his 2 tanks (8VP) and he only needs a further 5VP for the win. The soft skin vehicles are worth 2 each, and there are 5 of them.
So, I will need to stop him from exiting and eliminate as much of his infantry as I can because he could run the board in 2 turns and exit vehicles early, or leave his run until late (turns 6 to 8), after he has mopped up my tank killing ability.
I have decided to have all my concealment counters up front along with 3 real squads and the required two half squads in foxholes (SSR at setup). Stacks of ? markers may mean he takes a turn or 2 to work it out (optimistic). Then my real life squads may delay him another turn. None of these units will have BAZ as I don’t expect him to give me any vehicles at this point to fire at. So I will hold them back where he has to exit the map and maybe get some shots at his vehicles as they pass, or to make him rout me out of the stone buildings as a minimum.
If he takes time to discover the concealed stacks and 3 real units up forward then he may need to rush the rest of the map to exit, leaving him precious few turns to winkle me out of the stone buildings at the south end of the map. He may be forced to blitz his vehicles past good order squads with bazookas – and then it becomes a crap shoot (really I hope it turns into a turkey shoot!).
The middle of the map is the single road with woods right beside it. A couple of infantry squads here to act as speed bumps. My strategy is to force him to take up time in the early going just getting to the middle of the board, reducing the time he has to kill my last few squads who are armed with BAZ for when his vehicles try to exit. By holding squads back they cannot be killed early on for double VP, and they may still be alive to take shots at vehicles as they (try to) exit.
What hexes to set up in exactly? I’ll put a squad in I3. It’s a stone building that can bring fire onto the road the German infantry have to cross (-2TEM maybe). I half expect a tank to smoke I3 and blind the obviously defensive point out of action. But that would be OK, I’ll assault move next door to stone building in J3. Same TEM, better LOS and he’ll have to SMOKE me again! Another squad in H5, its in the centre of the board and is another stone building and a squad in J5, a stone building a touch further south. This J5 position will also contain a leader so if H5 breaks they rout back to the leader. And if the leader breaks he can rout straight into woods. Seems a sound defence up here.
The bulk of the board is the road running north/south with the woods next to it. I’ll set up some squads in the woods with PSK since the distance from the cover of woods to the road is only a single hex in some cases. It will take him time to get to my infantry in the woods (1.5MF each hex) so it may put some time pressure on him. And if he chooses to run vehicles along the road without clearing my infantry I could get a clear BAZ shot at him.
In the rear, at the south end of the board where he must exit, I will have some BAZ action in one of the stone buildings. Again, it’ll take time for him to get to me and I know he has to come to this board edge, the least I can do is have a last gasp BAZ waiting. The HMG is in stone building hex V2. My HMG can pepper any action on the road (infantry or poorly armoured vehicles) and even get some fire into the open ground on the east side of the road if Legion chooses not to take his men through the woods.
In Summary
– I think he will take 2 full turns to cross the first road running east/west. Unless he runs a half track through, but that’s risky for the half track and any infantry inside it.
– I will use all my concealment counters up front to delay him, and then he still has to negotiate each of my 8 real squads (3 in stone buildings up front, 2 in the woods and another 3 in stone buildings at the exit point in the south).
– 2 squads in the woods, it may take him another 2 or 3 turns to travel the distance through the woods or chance moving in OG to reach these squads.
– That leaves him 3 turns to exit. To do so he needs to get past any retreating squads and the 3 squads in stone buildings. He’ll likely need to eliminate these squads, and possibly exit vehicles past them. Secretly, if this game makes it to turn 6 I’ll be surprised.
– 10-2 leader, squad and HMG in V2 with lots of open ground to fire over, using its range. I’m hoping to pick off an unarmed vehicle here, but would be happy to force his infantry to travel through the woods rather than OG.
I think this is the best I can do.
An option I considered was setting all my units up forward in the first cluster of stone buildings, but I feared if he did punch through the game could end quickly as he exits without opposition.
German Strategy
How do I expect Legion to attack?
– He’ll likely lead with infantry until he locates my squads, in particular the HMG and BAZ’s. These are dangerous to his precious vehicles. So early on it could be his 12x 658s against my 8x 747s. And if both forces are wiped out, I think that is a victory for him, since he looses 24 exit VP but gains 32 elimination VP.
– After his infantry have identified my units and finds whether they have bazookas or not, he can bring his vehicles onboard and set them up to provide overwatch fire from a safe distance. I just don’t see how I can get my bazookas within range of his tanks if he plays this even half smart.
I still think I have-to-hurt-him-early, to change his mindset to not wanting to engage with me for fear of loosing units he can exit.
The Germans enter from the north edge on turn 1. The onus to win is on the Germans to amass greater than 45 VP’s. They can do that by exiting the south edge or they get double VP’s for eliminating US units. So I’m thinking the German will try to exit what he can and eliminate any US units that show their heads along the way.
On turn 1 if his infantry come onboard, on foot, then they won’t reach the US front lines until turn 2. Or his squads could enter in the unarmoured vehicles and try and disembark to save time (but they are vulnerable while in the vehicles). If it were me, time is on my side so I would CX my infantry onboard and not risk having them die early with a lucky hit to a unarmoured vehicle.
– The US front line is on the south side of a road running across the board, so this gives them a clear line of fire across at least one hex of open ground. Going to have to watch that –2TEM as the Germans. I can see the German 658s leading the way here, to locate US units and engage with them. Then calling in the 20PF half tracks to mop up or inflict megadeath-type damage! Saving the panzers to fire safely from long range and get the exit points for them.
– Once my concealment is lost he can choose to fast track his vehicles to the exit, by-passing my units, or come looking for a kill and double victory points if needed.
There is a road running the length of the map, right up the guts, that is 25 hexs in an almost straight line. So his vehicles could cover that ground in 3 turns if required. That gives his infantry 5 or 6 turns to do what they can about killing US infantry and locating BAZ carrying squads.
So, how did the game turn out? Read on.
Game Recap
Turn 1
My expectations are that this will be a German cakewalk. His infantry will come on, identify and engage with my US infantry, I’ll take some losses (double VP!) and he’ll still be able to exit his vehicles, at least his tanks. I cant see how my BAZ will be able to get within range to have a chance of hitting his tanks… By the end of turn one I felt like I had done OK, I was still confidant. His forces had entered and he was leading with… vehicles? I was surprised his infantry weren’t up the front. Looking back now though, he knew his vehicles had a free run up to the I1 – I10 road, knowing I couldn’t set up forward of that. He used his vehicles to run forward and get acquisition on my concealed units which in later turns would wear me down.
Both my mandatory setup half squads in foxholes broke, routed and failed to recover the BAZ left unattended in J3. See what happens when you get cute?
Turn 2
By the end of turn 2 Legion had discovered my two stacks of dummy counters (& unattended bazooka, and likely figured just who the hell he was playing here!). He did point out at the time that that sort of thing is perhaps left for Red Barricades or something, where a poor dice roll or novel tactic won’t have such a large bearing on play. He had also moved two tanks to within 2 or 3 hexes of my front line squads. I don’t think he even knew then if they had bazookas or not, because I remember thinking it was a daring move. I thought I could have got a shot off at a tank… if only I had set up with a bazooka in my front line somewhere! I guess after figuring I left a bazooka unattended at start up he could afford to push his luck a little.
Apart from 2 squads who made it to the woods in J9, his infantry are yet to cross the I1 – I10 road. For some reason I saw this as good, because I hoped to hold him up for two turns or so just crossing that road. Sure, my front line units and reserves were feeling the heat of facing overwhelming infantry massing in front and tanks flanking both sides. But that’s war, right? Right?
Turn 3
Hmm. After thinking I was doing OK by keeping him at the road at the end of turn 2. His vehicles and soldiers leapt across the road like it was a start line and made for the centre of the board. My front line forces were broken and struggling to rally after being kept DM and they were soon surrounded. I don’t think that was Legion’s intent, its just that after they were broken his vehicles and infantry raced forward to make for the exit edge board. My men were broken and being kept DM so encirclement was just a function of him moving so swiftly past my brokies.
Legion had 3 or 4 squads moving through the woods (1.5MF) and my two squads were easily broken, keeping my single leader busy trying to rally them.
My HMG had moved from the ground level of V2 to the first floor of V2 to get LOS on his approaching vehicles. But if I could see him, he could also see me. His tanks were able to set up some 7 or so hexes away and get MG fire and main gun shots on my stack. Acquisition built up quickly and eventually it was a snake eyes hit on my stack in the stone building that broke them. The squad had to rout to the ground floor and leave the HMG behind or face being kept DM.
At the end of turn 3 Legion’s infantry was lined up on the K hex column and my entire front line wiped out. Legion had tanks in O1, N2 and captured US vehicles in the road at the P column. As well, my HMG was abandoned while the squad trying to rally downstairs. I had some troops messing with Legion’s soldiers in the woods who were also in a mixed state of trying to rally and deal with being outnumbered.
This was Blitzkrieg at its best. By the end of turn 3 I was wondering how I was going to stop him. My HMG was out of action and his troops were bearing down on my brokies. I had decided I couldn’t win the game and hoped I could at least stretch the game out a turn or 3 more to make it competitive.
Turn 4
Legion’s movement phase began with his infantry making for the path way onto the road in the woods (Q9) which helped him bypass my infantry. My guys were in no state to deal with them anyway, Legion was just looking to exit faster I am sure. He then began moving his leading vehicle and it passed within 2 hexes of one of my bazookas. I withheld fire though, thinking the first vehicle would have to exit past my road-exit-hex bazooka anyway, where I was likely to get a point blank shot on him, thus saving my other bazooka to fire on his second vehicle. I thought this way I had a chance to smoke 2 vehicles in the same turn. But it was here I realised I had confused the victory conditions. Legion didn’t need to exit via the road hex (& past my last bazooka with –1 leader!). He just had to exit anywhere on the south board edge! His first vehicle exited safety past my broken squad from V2 easily without having to pass my unfired-safety bazooka in Y6! Dammit!!! Legion’s second vehicle felt the full fury of my embarrassment and anger though, as he took the same path as the first vehicle and passed within 2 hexes of my bazooka in S5. I managed a hit and turned him into a wreck in S3.
Most of the German infantry and vehicles were in the N, O & P columns on the east side of the map. They had no HMG to worry about and were out of Bazooka range.
I managed to rally the squads in the woods and CX’d to catch up to Legions exiting infantry. My movement ended in an adjacent hex and I was hoping to advance and get into CC with him, despite CX penalties. But it didn’t get that far. He removed my concealment and blasted my recently moved units at point blank range and sent them broken away! There would be no stopping him now.
At the end of turn 4 Legion had some 32VP.
Turn 5
I had a stack of brokies in the woods and a sole leader standing in the way of a hoard of 7 or so German SS squads. I do have one good stack left. A squad with Bazooka and a 8-1 leader just waiting in Y6 for someone, anyone, to try and exit via the road hex. Funny how I was undermanned all game yet I had one stack not move or fire because I set him up thinking he would be my last line of defence, instead he was bypassed and wasted.
The end is near. Legion will be able to exit all he likes this turn.
Legion took a tank and ran him past my 10-2 leader, and exited. In his log he asked me to return it if the tank didn’t exit. Is he being sarcastic or rubbing salt in my wounds? [Neither, KC just didn’t think about the Street Fighting Opportunities] Another tank rumbled past and he had his exited VP and enough to meet the victory target of 45VP. Conscously at the start I hadn’t asked for the balance of 50+ VP. But even now, looking at it, he would have got that amount easy if he had just continued his movement phase to the end.
The SS have amassed more than 45 VP.
SS VICTORY
Conclusion
ROAR lists Bizory as pro German. 42 wins to 28. I knew that going in but figured as the underdog anyway, playing the US would allow me to accept defeat in any event and just brush it off as playing the US
Things I could have done better:
– Used smoke to mask my movement? Maybe not. Most of my movement was routing.
– I should have moved my front line guys back earlier, after they broke. Almost everyone I hear from says to rout the move before you think you need to. I hoped to rally them in my rally turn and not suffer any real effects of breaking. But Legion keeping me DM and the +4 that goes with it killed me (killed my guys, literally!).
– I should have set up my BAZ with a unit. Then even if the unit (half squad) dies, I would still be no worse off than the setup I chose where I failed to man it. Just wasteful.
– I should have been clearer about the exit conditions being the whole of the south edge board and not just via the road hex. I had a squad, bazooka and -1 leader in a hex that didn’t even come into play. Again, wasteful. Criminal considering I was outnumbered anyway from the get-go.
– In Legions first Movement Phase or two I should have momentarily revealed one of my real units to strip him of his concealment. Then my initial fire against him would not have been halved. Instead, I did not reveal my units because I wanted to keep my own concealment to half the firepower from him, thinking I had to permanently reveal a unit to strip his concealment. I learnt that I could momentarily reveal one of my real units, strip him of concealment, then regain my own concealment. A good lesson to learn for later games.
– Legion pointed out I should have forced him through the woods where my higher FP would have served me better in CC.
I’m not sure what else? I felt like his forces had all the aces and it was always going to be a game he had to loose. So while I don’t think I could have done much more to stop him from winning, maybe I could have put up a better fight. I have only played maybe 10 PbEM games. With more experience I may have been able to see more options available to me. We’ll see what Legion is able to point out in his AAR of the same game.
As mentioned we played this game via VASL. I thought this was how most games are being played now, making it possible to always get an opponent and to play against anyone all over the world. But I am shocked that many people don’t like the system! Many have not tried it but think VASL too slow a system to enjoy ASL by. I guess that’s fine if you can always get a FtF opponent and the time to play out a full game. Legion and I had 42 log files in 10 days to play out this game. A public holiday in their helped. We had 2 days of 6 logs each. VASL rocks!
And so I reach the end. An AAR to send off to Pete to see if it will make it into any upcoming View from the Trenches (tick in the box for New Years eve resolution). An AAR to add to Legions site. And after reading this AAR, likely any number of people cueing up to play me having read about all my basic mistakes!