 asl crossroads :
aar central — a b : blocking :
Blocking Action at Lipki - ASL
A44 The goal this weekend was to play something with a few more tanks in it, but perhaps on the Eastern Front, but not Hill 621. BAAL worked for us. We wanted to practice BF and BFF as well as DFF with ordnance, picking stuff up and dropping it off. After a CC DR, Peter Sprague ended up with the Russians, while I ended up with the Germans. In BAAL, Russians strike from the East in early July 1941 in an attempt to prevent the Germans from taking Smolensk. This was the first action in which the Germans came up against the T-34s and KV-2s, and they were quite frightened by these tanks' invulnerability to fire. Outgunned, the Germans apparently stripped away the infantry, dealt with the lighter tanks, then went for the immobilization attempts against the heavy tanks and saved their day. This sounded pretty good to me, so I thought I'd try it, too. The Russian VC are either to exit => 15 VP off a portion of west edge or to inflict => 15 more VP on the Germans than the Germans do unto them. Board 5 serves as the middle board, while Board 4 (laying widthwise here) is the final defense board. The Russians enter on Board 16, with half of their MP allotment (FRD) available. Board 5, of course, has those nasty woods on it which can channel the attacker either extremely north or south, but keeps the center fairly safe unless the Russian armor crashes through a single hex separating the roads and makes a trail break for the trucks to follow. My plan was to run my units as far forward as possible to interdict the Russian attack and fight the battle as far away from my own units, to take advantage of their range of fire to minimize casualties from the more numerous, but shorter-ranged Russians. I also wanted to avoid being fired upon by the gigantic 152* of the KV-2 or the 76 of the T-34 M40. From Board 16, Peter zipped the trucks, loaded down with infantry onto the open southeastern edge road of Board 5, they were all lined up, with Peter's slower tanks following. The German player turn opened up with a sprint across board 4 by the SPW 251/10 to gain a forward firing position on or by the Board 5 west edge gully bridges. Fortunately, the halftrack made it to the intersection by the bridges, unfortunately, it failed it's ESB breakdown DR and putzed out there. The other halftracks carrying infantry and LMGs followed up the 251/10, while my Pz IIIG's went for the open country to set up fields of fire in the open stuff. I did some BFF to take a truck under fire, hit it, but the round passed right through it without taking it out. On turn 2, the Russians tumbled out of the trucks into the eastern gully and their armor passed through into the gully, in the direction of the channel which divides the Board 5 woods. The German armor took up positions behind the woods to cover the open ground in front of the gullies, but out of LOS of the Russian ATR's. This scenario is 8 turns long...I didn't want to have the panzers out in the open taking shots from infantry, when I needed them to deal with the Russian armor. As the Russian tanks popped up out of the gully, Peter drove them into the woods, where both BT-7s failed their bog rolls. I could DFF at one with the 37LL of the halftrack and killed it immediately. At this point, Peter concentrated his fire at the vulnerable halftrack and killed it as well. Oh, well, at least it took out one tank and forced Pete to drop off his infantry. In turn 3, Peter sent his armor forward, though the remaining BT-7 mired in the woods. The KV-2 lumbered forward and I watched the 50mm Pz IIIG shells bounce off of it. Because it was 7 hexes away, the panzer couldn't go for the immobilization attempt. When the German player turn showed up, I wondered if I should prep fire on it or try to get out of there in the MPh. Well, again Pz IIIG's MA malfunctioned. In the DFPh, the monstrous 152* put a flaming end to this panzer. Realizing the complete vulnerability of my vehicles to the Russian tanks and the ability of these tanks to range far-and-wide in a single turn, I unloaded some of my infantry and sent one halftrack off to intercept Peter's truck offensive on the northern frontier. I hid everybody out of view of Peter's infantry so his Commissar wouldn't launch a human wave. On turn 4, The KV lumbered on up to the east/west gully bridge and destroyed a halftrack on the road, and Peter's infantry rose from the gully and took up staging positions in the woods. The T-34 cranked up and went around the bridges to the south (*thankfully*) and directly into the LOF of my last panzer, which sent shells bouncing off of it. Again, in the German prep fire I attempted to kill the T34, but without success, and my last Panzer III died in the DFPh. Things were getting kinda desperate...Peter had armor up front I couldn't seem to kill, his infantry was still intact...and half the game was yet to be played. I decided to concentrate on the KV-2... My two 4-6-7's in the woods made a run for the KV-2. While the KV-2's MA missed, it's MG's hammered the left flank squad down to a broken half-squad. LRF DFF from the Russian infantry to the rear pinned the leader, but the squad remained untouched. The mired BT-7 broke it's MA One Pz IVE headed up the road towards the KV-2 while the other went through open ground of Board 4, but carefully out of LOS of the T-34. The first Pz IVE managed to get a HEAT round off, but it, too, kerranged off the KV2. My other PzIVE made a BFF attempt, also, but found it's LOS nefariously blocked by woods. My infantry adjacent to the KV-2 were now locked into combat with a 9-1 and a 4-4-7, with the German 8-1 and a 4-6-7. Thankfully, the 2-3-7 showed up to help destroy the Russian attackers. On the Russian turn 5, the cannon of the KV-2 again roared and demolished the Pz IVE on the road into a blazing wreck. Its MG fire was ineffective to my units hiding under the adjacent wreck and they fired back at the Russian infantry closing in on them, breaking the squads and wounding the Commissar. The German 9-2 leader and its two 4-6-7's managed to break a squad on the bridge behind the KV-2, but then broke their LMG which then completely fell apart in the next RPh.. The T-34 turned around, crossed the bridge and overran the 8-1 and 4-6-7 beneath the ht wreck. They survived, and their CC Reaction fire pinned the 8-1. The T-34 contined on down the road into the same hex as a flaming wreck. The sole surviving PzIVE took a shot at it and missed. In the German player turn, Commissar Denisova did a great job of CRing the squads he was trying rally. The 2-3-7 hs managed to survive DFF to advance on top of the KV-2, while the 8-1 and 4-6-7 AGAIN!!! refused to enter CC with the hulking KV-2. The 2-3-7 then died in CC with the monster. The 9-2 and the 2 4-6-7's moved closer to the in-motion T-34, but it was unable to hit them from the dense smoke of the remains of a Pz IVE. I had previously unloaded the 28LL ATG and now swung it to face the T-34, which was still behind the woods. Certainly, turn 6 would be a break through turn. At this point, the KV-2 fired at the 8-1 and 4-6-7 next to it on the bridge beneath the smoking wreck of a Pz IIIG, but missed. The nearby Russian infantry formed a FG and blasted away, but without effect. The T-34 now headed down the road which swings right onto the Q hexrow of Board 4. Now aware of the need to go for immobilization attempts, the 28LL swung around to shoot, but missed, then shot again in the next hex, hit, but the round bounced off. The Pz IVE swung it's turret further as the T-34 came to a stop next to the two-hex building, hull-down behind a stone wall. No more immobalization attempts were possible!!! And it was only two hexes away from the ATG and only one hex further away from the left flank of the Pz IV. While the Pz IVE hit the T-34, it depleted both its HEAT and AP in doing so...so nothing was working. Ooooohh, noooooo!!! The remaining BT-7 without the functioning MA came whizzing by to make a run for the west edge, but there was nothing the Germans had left to fire at it. In the turn 6 German PFPh, the 28LL fired and missed, then IF'd at the T-34, but again the round did not penetrate. There was nothing the Pz IVE could do but try to get the heck out of there. The only thing I could figure out to do was to go for the CC with the T-34. So, the 9-2 and the 4-6-7 approached the T-34 from outside of it's CA and grabbed WA. The Pz IVE started up and headed off across the map. The T-34 didn't shoot at it as it was saving it's DF for the ATG. The Pz IVE then broke a squad out in the open with an ATR at the very edge of the mapboard and killed it for failure to rout. The T-34 blasted away at the ATG, hit it, but, the gun and crew stayed intact. The squad up at the bridge was also hanging tight and, when it came time for the APh, everybody passed their PAATC and climbed aboard the Russian tanks...and killed them...and won the game for the Germans, who we thought were losing quite badly. With two turns left, there wasn't enough time to get the Russian infantry across board 4 past the last defending German forces. Whew, this was a tough one...the Russians were up 7 points on the Germans when we decided to end it at the end of turn 6, but it sure seemed like the Germans were in the hole. What did we learn from this one?
Mike Thuleen AAR 2:Despite the apparent imbalance on the Record (49 Ger - 24 Rus) my buddy Bryant and I gave this one a go. Aside from being a meeting engagement, it has some cool Russian toys (a KV-2). Bryant's general Russian plan was to push his armor along the south board edge with the infantry dismounting on the east side of the big board 5 woods and moving through the woods toward the farmhouse and barn in the middle of board 4. Bryant's plan from the start was to go for casualty points, hoping to rack up points with his two nearly impervious tanks. My plan for the germans was to hold in the vicinity of the board 4 farmhouse and barn, with the 28LL gun as a backstop in T4 (I unloaded and pushed the gun into the woods). I wanted to keep some of the german infantry mounted for quick counterattacks. I also planned to send the 37L armed halftrack far around the north side of the woods to get in behind and hopefully take out a few trucks and distract the main attack. Early Turns: Bryant pushed to the south as I hoped, and the battle developed around the farm on board 4. The Russian infantry were making good progress in the woods, but slowed when the 467/LMG/9-2 stack started to take them under fire from the barn and later the farmhouse near it. Bryant held back his BT-7 light tanks on board 5 to wait for the KV-2 and T34 to catch up, and then he pushed toward the barn through the big field just south of barn. In the resultant melee, I got very lucky and immobilized the hulking KV-2 and the T34 in my prep fire during turn 4. Bryant had pushed them up a little too close (closer than six hexes) and after the KV-2 immobilized the crew bailed out but survived. The T34, minus some roadwheels and track sections, sat tight. The russians now had infantry in the woods around 5T1 and the woods around 4N10, with an abandoned KV-2 in M10 and an immobilized T34 in L7. The next turn, one of Bryant's BT-7s flamed a halftrack with a 467/LMG/8-1 in ! it - OUCH! I also lost the 37L halftrack in a vain attempt to engage the two BT-7s on board 5. (Big mistake by me. I should have kept sneaking him around and gone after some trucks. This would have forced him to keep at least one tank busy back on board 5 and out of the main fight). Late Turns: Things still looked good for the Germans. Both big tanks had been immobed and the PzIVs had shown up on schedule on turn 4 and were deployed just behind the barn and near the AT gun. However, the casualty points were adding up for the germans. I had only killed 1.5 russian squads, and by turn 6 Bryant had flammed one PzIIIG with his T34, the 37L halftrack, and one of the other halftracks with a bunch of infantry in it. Bryant then took out another halftrack with a seven hex ATR shot! This pushed the German casualties to 19 points, with the Russians having taken only three. With the casualties points to win, Bryant tried to disengage and just head back where he came from. He had to leave some infantry around the two immobed tanks to protect them from my now attacking german tanks and infantry. The germans were pushing forward onto board 5, but the Russians were running away too fast. Bryant then made one mistake which probably cost him the game. I had a P! zIV in bypass along the woodline in 5Q9 pointed south. He chose to attack it from the woods in CC and ended up with a squad in melee with the tank when both of us failed to get our kill rolls. This allowed me to fire-up the squad in my last prep fire (turn 7) and break it. I then moved the 9-2 with some infantry into the hex to capture the squad for 4 casualty points! The casualties were now 19-7 in favor of the russians, but not in favor enough to win. The russian turn 8 saw some desperate attempts to kill a german tank by the infantry which now had to turn around try to get adjacent to the PzIVs. I got some good rolls, and dusted most of the approaching infantry, and then flamed a BT-7 which tried to come to the rescue. This pushed the russian points to high for the win, and the Germans had pulled out a close one. Analysis: The russian player can't really ignore one of the two avenues of approach. Bryant pushed all his forces south of the big board 5 woods, and left the northern flank open. But for me being stupid and taking on both BT-7s, the 37L half-track I pushed un-molested around the northern flank could have raised some real hell with the russian trucks and would have at least distracted the main attack. I would recommend one or both of the BT-7s covering this avenue and giving the Germans something to think about on both flanks. Other than than, the Russian player must try to keep the KV-2 and T34 at least 7 hexes away from the german AT systems and tanks. Even going for delib immobilization, I had an 8 to hit vs the KV-2 due to it's massive size at four hex range. These two tanks, plus the russian infantry pose a serious threat to the whole german force. For the Germans, the farm and barn around 4P7 are a good place to anchor your defense. I placed the AT gun back mor! e as a threat in case Bryant wen t for the exit victory, and to prevent any of his forces from getting in behind the farm from either flank. The arrival of the PzIVs is key, but even they are vulnerable to the big russian tanks, so use them carefully to go after the russian infantry. Keep the half-tracks well back. They are just too fragile to use in the thick of the fight with four russian tanks and two ATRs running around. I was too aggresive with them and their getting blown away cost me 8 casualty points and almost the game. Overall, I think this is a good scenario with a good mix of vehicles and some interesting choices for both sides. I highly recommend it. Doug Bush AAR 3:Rich Simonds of NYC and I sat down to this last Thursday evening. I had played it before when it first came out and had won as the Russians; I offered Rich his choice but he gracefully declined. We diced and I got the Russians again. Neither of us had looked at the Record, which has A44 at 53 to 26; and ASLAR has it at 55/26. Looking bad for the Russians now. Rich claims to not play much; that and my prior knowledge of the scenario (and ignorance about the Record info) made me cocky. Of course, I proceeded to lose. Rich is a very good player and has excellent command of the system; he embarrassed me several times. I've finally figured out that after 12+ years of ASL I will probably forget more rules than I learn; it's still tough to have someone relatively new to the game a) rub my nose in the book several times and b) spank me soundly in the game. I had decided to try something different than my first (successful) time playing this scenario; I decided to split my force, sending the tanks straight up the left and sending the trucks+INF towards the right. My plan was to see how Rich reacted to this; I hoped it would prompt him to move infantry to cover my infantry force; whereupon I would, still mounted and now on the transverse road, turn around, drive to the thin line of woods near where my tanks would be by then, and unload--leaving his infantry out of position. Nice idea; didn't work. Rich responded by deploying his HT/28LL to his right; unloading 2 squads + a leader in the center, and positioning the 37LL HT and a Pz3 near that infantry. The other Pz3 and 2 HTs with ~2 squads and the 9-2 moved quickly down towards my trucks. As usual, my plans were discarded to the winds. I had suceeded in luring a chunk of the defence out of position; the problem was that they had come too close--I had not really considered how far they could get in the first turn. I found I had to unload and fight them there in the choke point on the russian left--far seperated from the Russian armor. I managed to destroy one of the squads, but the 9-2 and the other squad were still around to deny me freedom of the woods. And the Pz3 ruled the OG on the right boardedge. My armor on the left initially had great luck, CH'd the HT towing the 28LL. But the gun had already unloaded and proceeded to make short work of the BTs, nailing them both in the next DFF. A turn later, it also dusted the T34, from the front at PB range. The APCR that thing throws is nasty. I managed to kill a Pz3 with the KV, but I conceeded on turn 4 when his reinforcements entered. I had just the KV left and some by-now shattered infantry, far from the VC edge, against 3 mobile tanks, ~2 HTs, and a still-strong force of infantry. It's tough on the russians (2-1 on the record), but I think their best bet is to unload behind the thin woodline and advance in line, waiting for the T34 and the KV. The BTs should go HT-hunting, but only where they can guarantee that they will be out of range of pretty much anything. Keeping them idling behind the lines, CE, on the road, and ready to dash for the boardedge is probably the smartest use of them--and exactly the kind of tactic I am terrible at. Too impulsive and impatient. bw |