I'm an old SL player who recently restarted the ASL system after a 15 year hiatus. My fifth game to date and my first AAR submission follows:
I've been working my way through BV and Kevin was kind enough to agree put up with my frequent rule questions and play ASL5 on VASL with me. I rolled for the Germans and he set up the Russians.
My initial plan and setup for the Germans was to advance on board 1, exiting a few squads to prevent soviet reinforcements, and come down on the factory from board 1, with a strong center thrust and a holding force to the south. This seemed to catch the Russians somewhat out of position with their more balanced front and many units setup on board 20. The INF gun was setup in 20B4 to cover the streets.
The German advance soon swept board one with 3 sqds and an 8-0 ldr exiting on turn 4 to prevent Russian reinforcements (however one 628 did manage to come on turn 3).
The central force bogged down at the woods edge/end. Good sniper fire kill one leader (the 10-2 of course) and wounded the 9-1 ldr. A hidden MMG in 1G3 held us up for 2 turns, before escaping back towards the factory.
A series of abysmal rolls put us well in the hole, while strong Russian return fire from the wooden houses in front of the factory continued to hold us up at the wall/ruins. The board 20 units made reluctant try at crossing the road, but the INF gun and the last Russian GO squad in the rowhouses DM'd both units.
Finally on turn 8 we broke through, breaking most of the forward Russian units, but facing a whole slew of concealed stacks in the Factory. I admit it was looking grim.
No Russian reinforcements arrived on turn 8, but the Russian rolls had used up all my squads exited earlier. During the Russian Prep of turn 8, a half squad with a MMG in H10 went Berserk, effectively negating the use of the MMG, but having unforeseen consequences.
Prep fire in turn 9 DM'd the lone Russian 628 reinforcement mentioned earlier in D10 (the Factory), and the Berserk HS charged, overrunning D10 and taking PBF fire from D9 twice, c9, and finally C10.
This used up so much FP that the others could advance and fire on non-concealed units. What a brave soul. He was finally CR'd and eliminated on the 4th Russian shot (With a posthumous Iron Cross). This allowed the other squads to make a last ditch rush on the factory.
Turn 10 saw the last 2 sqds exit to prevent the 628 reinforcements (he did roll a 4 subsequently) while 2 stacks succeeded in gaining access to the bldg. It came down to a 30AF roll against my 9-2 stack. I held my breath while the ldr got snakes and became a hero, another snakes for a berserk 467, another passed, and the last boxcared to CR and DM.
We turned for a def fire attack to win the game and the 24AF roll was a 1,2: kia 3 Russian squads and a leader (more Iron Crosses all around). The game was ours.
What a dramatic turn around for my first ladder win!
Fritch