J88 – ESCAPE TO WILTZ
Legion attacking as the United States
Chris W. defending as the Germans
ROAR (U:G – 21:29) – 2nd June, 2007
Played as 55 VASL Logfiles (June – August, 2007)
After replying to a request on the GameSquad forums for a game I had a chance to play against Chris for the first time in this scenario of his choosing. He also chose to play the Germans. Prior to the game I knew nothing of Chris, of his experience or style of play, and that makes this a lot of fun. I have seen over a few years of playing people other than JP how much having a single opponent for so long has conditioned my play… this is not a bad thing, JP is a ruthless and innovative player and I can say that many of the wins I have scored over other guys came from playing such a fine opponent… But there is always that question of who is this guy and what will he do…?
Initial Thoughts
This scenario looks to be tough in some ways, and not so tough in others.
It is tough because:
– I have to exit such from a narrow area (4-hexes wide) that can be covered by the German’s reinforcements within their first turn on-board (Turn 2)
– The Germans have enough leaders to move their troops very quickly.
– The US entry area is limited to on/adjacent to 17Q1, including my Turn 2 reinforcements, this allows him to be in position to prepare for their entry.
– The exit area is mostly Woods, thus giving him the opportunity to be well protected and concealed prior to my unit’s arrival.
– The US have to exit 28VP to win. This is no small task despite starting with 36CVP in Infantry and 11CVP in AFVs
So that is the bad… what about the positives?:
– The US have a 10-2 leader, the best on-board, not only is his modifier useful for shooting but he is also worth 3 Exit VP.
– 2 AFV are available (1 with each ‘wave’) both of them have Canister, though I did not get Gyrostabilisers for either of them.
– All but 2 of the Germans 13 Squads are 2nd line and thus have only 4 range, the Germans have an ELR of 2 which makes them prone to Unit Substitution.
– The Germans coming in on Turn 2 to cover the Exit Area are essentially a well-armed platoon of 2nd line troops. They will have to stick to the lower areas of the Board 39 Hill due to the heavily wooded terrain unless they want to allow me to get into position first.
– It is a simultaneous entry of the boards, thus the Germans are forced to manoeuvre to gain position.
This will be an interesting game and though I cannot make too many plans without seeing Chris’ first moves I can tell you that I shall be pushing HARD and FAST for the exit area… I want to get there in time to overwhelm his few defenders and to setup a Defensive Cordon to allow for the necessary amount of units to get off. I shall keep back a few units to keep him honest (and guessing) so that my 2nd turn reinforcements can enter safely – then it will be a dash for the Exits!
The Game
TURN 1
There are few surprises when I see that the Germans are entering in 4 big stacks with Double-Time. These units move with 2 obvious priorities. 2 stacks (8x? – 17Y3, 7x? – 17Z7) have come on to Bd. 17 with the intention of stopping my Turn 2 reinforcements. Hmmm… I am not sure this is the best thing to do… I shall be able to cover their positions easily (should I so choose) and once I have brought my men on then these stacks are going to be left way behind as the rest of my men rush for the Exit. On the other hand he has also sent 2 other stacks (8x? – 39I9, 3x? – 39G10) to the 39H9-O9 forest road – perhaps he is trying to catch me in a classic Pincer Movement (“Ah… I love it when a plan comes together”). As it is, his moves do not allow for any LOS to any of my units entering Adjacent to 17Q1 (17P0) which essentially give me a free movement turn.
For my movement I also have 2 separate plans. 1 stack (3x 666, 2x Baz, 8-1) move to the 17P2 Stone Building; this is to allow me to cover any units he may sent to cover my entering units… due to the size of the stack (with 2x Baz) he cannot be sure it is not the 10-2 with MMGs being sent here, which is the obvious choice. All the rest make a run for the Exit with Double-time – the 2x infantry stacks end up on the road at 17L5/M6 while the M5A1 with a 666 Rider can go as far as 17E9 and thus cover the vital 39FF7 hex… he places a -1 Area Target Type Acquisition here and is CE for maximum MG use! All my opponent does is re-mantle his MMG.
TURN 2
Wow… we are both being aggressive. In a bit of a surprise move the Germans push one of their heavily loaded stacks up as far as 17S2. The rest of his moves from the 1st Turn reinforcements are as expected… along the 33P9 road and to the 17U5 building. His 2nd Turn reinforcements move to cover both sides of the woods road from 39EE6 (4x?) and 39GG5 (6x?). This is a good move, and I am sure he will be able to drop a lot of FP down on the my entry hexes but it is also a bit of a gamble, if I smash these defenders then he is going to be in a bit of trouble as they will be easily isolated and surrounded for quick kills or I can try to run straight past them…
I decide to attempt to run past his defenders with as many men as possible.. this game is a race and my superior FP will decide it in my favour if I can get to the Exit Area first but the problems I will have to face make this very difficult. I use the typical tactic of sacrificial HS to draw the initial fire and he takes the bait big time. He has a lot of HS and Squads here but with the entry of just my 2nd Line guys I have managed to tie up the majority of his FP as he blasts away at adjacent HS rather than waiting for the Big Fish later on. A result of this is that I do lose a 546 broken to a SAN result… but it could have been so much worse so no complaints from me! He fires again at a HS entering but the result of this is just 1RF (already there is a 1FP FL there anyway) and now I am free from PF and FF worries – unfortunately the 1FP -2 does manage to snag a MMG(dm) 666 as he enters, though the rest of the stack (MMG(dm) 666, 9-1, 8-0) manage to get away. In the end I think I managed to make it out of a disastrous position with a fair amount of my force intact… what a relief! I lose a HS when I am ‘No Quartered’.
US Losses: 236
TURN 3
The Germans start to close the cordon on my US forces, they are manoeuvring to get to locations where I am forced to shoot at them in my own Prep Fire or to risk taking hits in my own Movement Phase… this is great work from Chris as he is constantly holding the initiative. I continue to pull back though and manage to again form a defensive position that might can hold him off in Prep at the expense of Movement. He closes in, he is making sure his men are all going to be in positions where they can interdict my Movement Phase… at least, the movement of those forces out in the open terrain of Bd.17. In doing so he has only left his Turn 2 reinforcements holding me out of the exit zone… this might prove his undoing if I can push hard enough (and am lucky). I am able to kill a HS. He eliminates a 546 through No Quarter and has DMed my other broken 2x 666 (17N0) in Advance to not give them a chace to Rout. I luck out in CC which puts a 2nd line HS behind his lines (he must be very scared!).
I have an atrocious run of attack DRs managing to fire most of my shots and only break a single HS… until, out of desperation I fire a Baz at his MMG 447, 8-1 in the 17O6 wooden building – I roll snake-eyes and though it is no CH, it is still enough for a K/2 which luckily breaks both these units. Movement for me is a struggle to get what I can close enough to the escape zone to make this a possible win for me. I am able to escape his LOS traps reasonably well.
US Losses: 546
German Losses: 2x 237
TURN 4
He is still moving aggressively but this time it works against him as he suffers a 1FP -2 shot which ends up CRing and ELR breaking a LMG 447, the result here takes the wind out of his sails a bit and the rest of his moves are quite conservative. I take a few useless pot-shots in Defensive but don’t get what I need.
In my turn I start to open up with the mass of FP I have stuck in the middle of the open ground in the East of Bd. 17 and luck out with a CH from my 60mm MTR, this atomises a MMG 467! The MTR then ELR breaks 2x 2nd Line HS. But once I start to move then my 6ML units become very vulnerable to German fire. I lose a 666 to ELR as he attempts to make it to the exit zone and then, in what is likely to be the game-clenching attack, I lose the M8 to a PSK shot. This is followed by more bad luck for me in the Advancing Fire Phase as lucky shots hit while the poor US morale means I lose units through Breaks and CRs and then I lose another HS in Rout Phase through Interdiction. My men in the open are pretty-much isolated from the Exit Zone and will have to travel across quite some territory before they can threaten the exit.
US Losses: 236, 346, M8 AC
German Losses: 2x 237, 467, MMG
TURN 5
At last something starts to go my way. I have a Hero created from Rally (17L0), though he is miles away from where I need him most. I also get back one of the 666 I had broken last turn. The nature of the attacks last turn has also put him on the back foot, we both lost a lot of important units and the battle zone around the Bd. 17 cleared area (centred on 17L3) is littered with Broken squads. Last turn I had placed a huge stack adjacent to an exit hex (39GG7), they are all concealed and face little real opposition… but that little opposition manages to roll low enough to hit while the MCs are high enough to break the 10-2 leader and all 3 of the Squads. All I can manage to do in Defensive Fire (thanks to a lot of skulking by the Germans) is maintain DM on his broken units in LOS.
Losing the 10-2 was a terrible blow but at least he rallied straight away, and with that rally he was able to bring up the entirety of the rest of the units broken with him. I have to setup for a last minute escape attempt, so that means waiting to gain concealment. Again Prep works out OK for me; I ELR break an LMG 447 and Wound his 8-1 leader whilst pinning the MMG 447 with him. Movement is first based around a sacrificial screen of HS (this didn’t work, he didn’t take the bait this time) and then the rest move… they fall victim to a miracle shot of 1FP +0 from the Pinned MMG which results in a PTC and then the dice swap from miraculously low to miraculously high and the whole stack is pinned and that certainly sews up the game as this stacks movement was really my last chance to get enough men off.
TURN 6
We both trade a few shots, but the only result is some re-gained DM and my Hero being KIA through a SAN result. He cautiously moves some more men up to ensure I cannot sneak anymore units back for exit VP.
There is no point messing around now… the battle has been lost so I am going to push and get as many off as possible. I charge with my remaining AFV and attempt an OVR on the units blocking the 36FF6 road, but as I move into the hex an PSK fires from 2 hexes away (against a small moving target in Woods) he needs a 4TH and naturally rolls less than that to turn my last really effective unit into a Burning Wreck. This burning wreck does come to my aid when it’s SMOKE is all that stands between my men suffering more losses and surviving long enough to enter into CC. I am trying to move Squads and leaders across from the Bd. 17 forest but they again get cut to pieces… some of these units are literally getting broken every Movement Phase, Rallying and then immediately getting broken again…
For me the point of no return comes when a 2FP +1 shot managed to spawn a 1MC which ended up breaking 2 of the 3 MMC who had moved into the hex adjacent to the exit edge… it seems that even the 10-2 leaders modifier was unable to save the MMC in this hex who yet again failed MCs. Having seen this happen once to many times, the US commander surrenders to save further needless casualties.
US Losses: Hero, M5A1
The US Surrendered
GERMAN VICTORY
Conclusion
First and foremost I made a HUGE mistake in not covering the US entry area Hedge. My mistakes here could have caused me to lose the game right from the outset. I was actually only able to pull back into the battle thanks to some poor shot choices by the Germans during my 2nd Turn entry. It was obvious that Chris has played this scenario before, something I was able to confirm during Turn 2… He knew the LOS very well and had his moves well thought out. I on the other hand had just come off of a long run of wins and was arrogant in my approach to this game. I did not take the time I should have (especially against an unknown opponent) to look at this battle from the Attackers and the Defenders point of view.
The US player is really going to have to look closely at the approach of the Germans in Turn 1. Although there is a desire to quickly move towards the Exit area with as many men as possible, if the hedge is not held then the Germans can move right up to it (as Chris did) and cause a whole lot’a pain right from the start of Turn 2.
The other problem for the US is the German 2nd Turn reinforcements; they are going to enter the map and then camp down right behind the 36FF6 woods. Even if they are not blessed with American-seeking bullets (as they seemed to have this game) they are still going to be a force to be reckoned with. There is little subtlety that can be applied to break through their defence; due to the Wooded Hill, the band of Woods separating the main battle from the Exit area and time constraints there is not much more that can be done other than hoping the DR fall your way!
As I mentioned earlier, I could have been totally out of this game from Turn 2 if the Germans had played their Defensive Fire options well… as it was they shot the majority of their FP as soon as units started to appear on-board. I lost a lot of 2nd line MMC and HS, but the AFV and the more important units managed to make it out of this death-zone… unfortunately they didn’t make it much further than that thanks to the amazingly brittle US morale.
Even from such a poor tactical position, I still had a chance of pulling off an unlikely win once Turn 2 ended… but that was dashed by very one-sided luck. My first AFV was lost to a 6TH, the next from a 4TH shot… Both times my 10-2 led his 3x 666 into the woods they got smashed from piddly little shots that did not miss… in fact, the units on the victory side of the 30FF6 woods did not miss with a single shot though the whole game and there were only 3 US units that passed their MCs out of the 10 rolls taken! Those are pretty hard numbers to beat.
The US too had some luck… but that was mostly Prep Fire shots from the open fields of Bd 17… taking out the German MMG and Wounding the leader certainly helped the US cause, as did a MTR tear who ripped apart a mass of Germans as they prepared to Defensive Fire but otherwise this was a very un-even battle in the places and at the times when it mattered most.
For me this game was a wake-up call. The one-sided nature of the DRs was a bother, but it happens sometimes so c’est la vie. No, the wakeup call came from knowing that I did not take the time to look at this scenario prior to play, that I did not attempt to put myself in the German’s shoes to think about how I would have attacked the US, and thus seen what was a pretty obvious German attack option.
I am not sure I would put this on my ‘to-play’ list, it certainly favours the Germans. In general I like meeting engagements, but the location of the entry area for the 2nd Turn German blocking force really does negate a lot of the tactical manoeuvring prior to entering the Exit Zone… in the end this game is always going to fall to whomever rolls the best DR in those final couple’a hexes.