At last I get a chance to play some real ASL, a 21 turn, massive RB scenario, easily the biggest I've ever played. Last Bid pits 78 Russian squids, with 9 guns, 6 HMG, 6 MMG and other assorted goodies against the creme de la German forces of 73 squids 7 guns, 4 HMG, 7 MMG, 8 DCs, 5 FTs, and 20 leaders complete with reinforcing brumbars (150*) and StuGs, and more. All RB rules apply. We played 3.5 turns in about 12 hours.
Rather than give a blow-by-blow account, I'll just give some stats, and highlights. My opponent wasn't experienced in street fighting, or in the use of FTs. He didn't set up with a well-organized attack that's required to take the factories.
Northern flank: German set up a holding pattern with lots of dummies. Russian sets up enough force here to actually threaten some action. Chemist's shop, surrounded by mines, plays a key role in breaking up and holding Germans to the street line and factories behind. Russians organize to attack.
Center: The Russian set up was good with a string of mines and a reverse-slope defense placed to impede entrances into the factory R27. It worked. The Germans had just started entering the factory on their Turn 4 (but they were also about to get kicked out leaving me with 1-2 DCs). The +4 TEM of the factories, coupled with the 9 ML fanaticism was awesome. Also the German didn't attack properly as none of the FTs were in place to hose down the factory or adjacent buildings. Yet, the turn where 3 (almost 5) DCs rained on the factory was pretty wild. I held my fire so I could break the kill stack, and took 3 separate DCs in different hexes 30(+4) but 9 ML makes it quite handily. During this turn, the German stepped through all four of the minefields guarding the factory in a vain attempt to crack the defenses.
German OBA draws 2 red cards in a row! Russian draws red, black, red. Russian OBA comes in on prereg hex and in 1 game turn KIAs 2 squads, and breaks 2 more before leaving. The Russian prereg put it right into the thick of the German attack. I must have had at least 15-20 attacks with OBA in those 2 brief player turns. German kill stack gets hosed by Russian kill stack, and OBA. Russian kill stack gets hosed by massive combined FG. Both neutralized for several turns.
Southern flank: German attempts attack along the gully and from southernmost buildings. Attempt is repulsed with heavy losses. Two kill stacks are broken up (one by 76L, other by lucky HMG, 8-1 combo), and kept DM'd with repeated sniper attacks (5 in one turn on southern flank hit 3 leader-led stacks of broken guys!). Kill stacks come back too late to help.
Overall, German generates 5 heros, 6 Battle Harden results, one disrupted squid, and 2 berserkers in HoB. Russians generate zilch. Russian attacks average about 9 (including broken 76L, 82 Mtr, 3 MMG, 6 LMG), while Russian MCs average about 5 with no snakes. German attacks and MCs average about 7 but with more snakes.
Losses include 17 Germans squids (including 8x548, 3x838!) vs 6 Russian squids, with most of the German losses due to Sniper activity, OBA, and and a few good attacks (76L ROF hosed a kill stack, but a 82 Mrt critical generated a fanatic and a hero, go figure). One funny one was a leader who booby trapped his PTC and got waxed.
Bottom of the 4th inning and the the Germans have gained 1.5 buildings but have sustained almost 3:1 losses, with FTs out of position, and two attacks faltering. German opts to throw in the towel rather than play 17 more turns of a lost game.
For those of you who have seen the LOBSTER dice, we didn't eat shellfish last night! I rolled way too many 10, 11, and 12. I counted about 4 11 attacks in a row and one OBA round (120 mm) got nothing under 8 (+2). I rolled rock lobsters only once on the CHs.
For those wanting to peak at the backbone of the Russian defenses check out these locations:
Jeff