Played Carnage in the Night with JR this past Saturday. I seem to be a glutton for punishment as this is the second night game against the writer of the difinitive article on night, the JR Van man himself.
The Scenario:
The scenario uses the Cheneux mapboard, with the ami's attacking the SS in the dark. VC are: SS win if they inflict 18 cvp or prevent the Ami's from accumulating 25 cvp with stone buildings worth 5cvp.
Setup:
JR setup his 9-2 kill stack in P9, as well as the 9-1, lmg, 658 in L10. He supported his L10 stack with another 658 in M11. His AA ht's were basically line abreast in S6, R6, and R7; the 20fp ht's were kept in the rear and didn't get FoM until the end of the game. His Panther he put in S9(?), and it didn't contributed much. Phil also put some picket squads across the stream. My setup was line abreast from H13-H5. My 9-2 (the Pomerantz leader; more on him later) was in H8 with two squads and two mmg's. My plan was to take L10 and then try killing/capturing enough units to make up 15 CVP.
Play:
The first turn found me advancing into CC in L5, where JR had placed his HIP squad (which also unfortunatly started starshell placement real early), and advancing to within two hexes of L10/M11. Unfortunatly I left my ht in H8, soon to be seen by the majority of German forces at the bottom of the turn when JR started firing IR rounds from his morter way in the back. This hurt. Turn 2 found me advancing cautiously, but discovering his HMG's the hard way. However, I did manage to get into CC in both L10 and M11 with overwhelming (I thought) odds. Against the 9-1, lmg, 658 I got three 747's; and against the lone 658 in M11 I got two 747's. In the end, however, the L10 stack lasted for three CCPh's before dying (and they took a hs with them), while the L10 stack was fired on by the SS and broke the 658 who managed to withdraw despite a 2-1 attack -3 (I was trying to take prisoners). This boken unit would come back to haunt JR later. By this time I was feeling lost, even though my armor came on during turn 3. Turn 3 found me screwing up royally. I lost two leaders (a 9-1 and a 8-1) in CC because I failed to voluntarily break them. Don't ask me why, I just forgot all about it. I was ready to concead the game, as I only had about 10 cvp, while JR had about 9 already. JR said to hold up and we continued. Turn 4 found me feeling like an armored charge, so off my G36's went to L9 and M9. Bad spots, although they survived DF (while my ht was stuned) and took up the fire of the 9-2, hmg, 658 in O9 (where they had moved to get out of my smoke). This allowed my still cloaked 9-2 Pomerantz, 747*2 to advance into CC with them. Unfortunatly for JR, he had left his broken unit (from the M11 melee) in the same hex, so I got a net -4 for ambush. Got ambush and killed his squad and 9-2 (it was 9-2 vs. 9-2, mano on mano as the real Pomerantz said from another table). Also, I was able to advance into CC with another broken squad and captured them for double cvp. Meanwhile, I had finally gotten a squad into his AAht line and it proceeded to destroy three of those un-armored monstrosities in the turn. Suddenly I was within my objective, even though I had lost another squad getting to the AAht line. Unfortunatly, the 105 finally took out the G36 in M9 in Prep fire (a +5 shot). It didn't burn however and I got the crew out to save a cvp. Suddenly it became a game of run away for the Ami's. JR, whose luck was atrocious the whole game, managed to break almost every one of his guns at least once, including destroying the 105. In the next two turns JR killed off one of the squads that was with the 9-2 (but not before the 9-2 had taken the broken units in the melee prisoner). The 9-2 slid into the stone building in P9 accompanied by a squad with a MMG. JR reved up his panther and brought it on to P8, where it remained ineffective. Meanwhile a game of cat and mouse had developed back at L10, with JR's squads from across the stream trying to put pressure on me. In the end, however, it was the Pomerantz counter who failed. Faced with a 1MC that he passed, he led the accompaning squad to death in rolling boxcars. This allowed JR to pin the squad and the 9-2 down to CC where they all died on the last turn at the hands of a hs.
Good game, that I can't help feeling was a little pro-Ami, as JR rolled atrociously and I played stupidly (although JR had his own string of bad decisions too), yet I still had a good chance at winning on the last turn.
Lessons:
Brian Williams