 asl crossroads :
aar central — a b : blazing :
Blazing Chariots - ASL 35 Little did we know how the dice would perform ... I took one section of 6 Stuarts, while the newbie took the other, leaving the SLer to try the Germans. The initial German setup was placed evenly on all three boards, with two Pz IIIs and a Pz IVE on the left flank, a Pz III, Pz II and another Pz III on the right flank, with the remaing Pz III & Pz IV centred around a Pz IIF in the centre. The British plan was the usual flank charge, hoping that the Germans would miss or malfunction his guns and we would then swirl around behind them and deal death and destruction. Turn 1 saw my column tearing up boardedge on the German's left flank. A Pz III on the extreme flank opens up, DR 6,6 - MA malfunction. A second stuart follows the first and another Pz III opens up, DR 6,6 - MA malfunction. At this point in time the German player started to lose his smug smirk that he'd had at the thought of blowing apart the charging British. The rest of my section followed up, with a Pz III firing and missing, and then finally a Pz IVE (with the 9-1 armour leader) tries for HEAT, DR 1,1 - Boom! One stuart down. The British on the German's flank had a better time of it as although the Germans scored 3 hits, only one Stuart was shocked. British AFPh Turn 1 saw the British firing wildly and not hitting anything. Turn 1 - German. The two MALF MA Pz IIIs on the left flank didn't repair. In Prep Fire, the Pz IVE with the kill, shocked a Stuart, and a Pz III scored a direct hit, with a TK DR 6,6 - a Dud! On the right, a Stuart went up in a fireball. The British DF Phase saw no apparent effects. Turn 2 - British. Once again the two MALF MA Pz IIIs refused to be repaired. The shocked Stuart on the right flank recovered. The charge was on again! On the German's left flank, I had forgotten to BU and my first Stuart payed the price - stun. Immediately everybody else still alive BU. A second Stuart moved one hex, before being turned into a burning wreck by the 9-1 armour leader in the Pz IVE (out of HEAT by now, but carrying plenty of AP). The two remaining GO Stuarts on the right charged up and through the German flank, one coming to a halt directly behind a MALF MA Pz III, the other remaining in motion in the Sun Blindness spot of the Pz IVe. The right flank was a flurry of activity. The recovered shocked Stuart started it's engine and was promtply nailed by a Pz III. No CS. One of the four remaining Stuarts charged the line, being missed by a Pz III twice and remaining in motion adjacent to the end Pz III, who felt obliged to go INTENSIVE. DR 6,6 - MA MALF! A second Stuart followed the first, with the Pz IIF scoring hits and retaining ROF, but failing to penetrate the frontal armour. This Stuart also rolled adjacent to the Pz III above, and the German IIF went INTENSIVE. DR 5,5 - MA MALF! The third and fourth Stuarts surrounded the Pz IIF and the Germans succeeded in getting two or three hits, but no kills - and another Dud (DR 6,6)!. AFph by the Brits saw one motion hit by one of my stuarts burn a Pz . Turn 2 - German. The Germans now had 1 Burning Wreck & 4 MALF MA to the British's loss of 4 tanks and one UK, which OKed itself. The Pz III parked adjacent to my Stuart recalled itself, and no other MA were repaired. German prep. The German fired off everything that he had. What he hit, he failed to kill. A Pz IVe firing on a motionless -2 aquired Stuart, TH DR 6,6 - MA MALF! The Pz III that was under recall, burned the moment it roared to life - Point blank CH - in my books a catastrophic kill. In British DF a Panzer III got cooked on the right flank. The Stuart that took out the recalled Pz III had ROF, swivelled round and blasted the remaing MALF MA Pz III on the left flank. Burning wreck. Turn 3 - British. Prep Fire saw a Pz IIF dispatched on the right flank, and the annoying Pz IVe with the 9-1 armour leader found the 4 Stuarts on left flank gunning for him. First shot, HIT, KILL - but the crew bailed out and survived all the MG fire (amazing!). *** SHOT of the evening *** The previously stunned Stuart on the left flank, BU, fired at 24 hexes at a Pz III on the right flank. TH 2,1 , TK 3,1 - Burning wreck! In Defensive Fire the German IVe ran out of AP and lobbed HE at a Stuart. With multiple ROF, three hits were scored, but HE just ain't gonna knock one of them cans out. The last Pz III fires on a Stuart, past a wreck, Miss, IF, Hit, Kill - Burning wreck. At this point the British already had a win, but we played out the Turn 3 DF to see what would happen. All in all the Germans had 1 CH, and 5 MA MALFs and 2 DUDs !! He also averaged about a 45% kill to hit ratio. The British on the other hand had 1 CH and 1 CMG MALF and had an average of about 60% kill to hit ratio, though their proportion of hits to shots was pathetic! Quotes of the evening : German player - after the slaughter : "I guess I don't roll that well" Newbie player - before we began : "I don't want Stuarts - give me a REAL tank" (Promptly hand over a King Tiger counter) "Yeah, Yeah" (Big grin on his face). Myself - When the German player announces HEAT as his first shot at an unaquired Stuart in motion : "You sure you don't want HE for aquisition purposes?" Answer "Nope" and a DR 1,1 CH. and best quote : from the Newbie : "Roll low in ASL and you can't lose" - got to give it him : he learns quickly! Bryan Reply:>Myself - When the German player announces HEAT as his first
shot at Oops, I did the same thing the first time I played Blazing Chariots; no HEAT is available 'til 1942, and BC takes place in 1941! Brian Williams |