(Finally, after much delay, my final AAR from the WCW Exclusive [and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth])
My final opponent is Bob Brown. We pick A103 - Mayhem in Manila (for some reason which I no longer remember) and I want the Japanese since I believe that learning a little about guns would be easier than learning how to maneuver tanks. Bob concedes the Japs to me even though he says that attacking is not his strong suit. Bob gives me some quick tips about guns, including info on CA, pushing (not likely in this short scenario) and HIP if in some types of terrain which includes buildings and woods. (Quick reminder for those just tuning in and not yet tuning out. This is my 4th ASL game ever and I have not read ch. C, D, or G. So watch out for 'how to play the Japanese as Europeans')
Setup: I make aC2 and C3 my fortified hexes. I mistakenly have markers on the board to remind myself and Bob says that the fortification is supposed to be secret. He gives me the option to change them, but I don't see a better place to put them. I put the mmg228 in dM5 with obvious LOS down an entry road. I figure that I'll try to be tricky and boresight the wooden building dL5 instead of one of the road hexes. I put a stack of 3 ?s in bD2 to keep the Americans cautious if they try an end around down the board c-b road. I put the 25LL and crew HIP in aA2 with CA N3. The mortar and 447 go on the roof of aC3. The 9-1 leader goes in aC3 along with a DC,lmg447 and the 10-1 leader in aC2 with another DC,lmg447. I put my other 3 ?s in aD3. I HIP the 448 in aF2 and HIP the 12.7AA and crew in aF2h1 (wait for it..) with CA D2. I put the last DC447 in aG3 and the hmg228 in aG2 boresighted on C1. (I figured that the units in C2 would be busy enough with other things that more protection of that side would help.) Bob arranges his stacks off the edge of the board and we begin.
Turn 1: Bob starts by armor assaulting the first tank and stack to dJ3 and continues the infantry to K3. The second tank stops in I3 and the infantry goes to J2. I don't shoot at the tanks with my mmg since I didn't want to lose boresighting for such a small chance of success. The Amis then move other units into dJ5, cK1, and cK2. He fires the dJ3 tank at the mmg to get ACQ and advances units into cL1, dL5 (yipee), K5, L2 and K2. During my turn I prep fire the mmg into the boresighted L5 hex and everything breaks. I also pop off a shot with the mortar with no effect. I move my bD2 dummy stack to C1 since it doesn't look like an end sweep will happen. So the mmg did what I hoped it would - slow him down a little. ( I think that he fired again with the tank during def. fire with no effect).
Turn 2: The Amis tank takes another shot with no effect and AMs units units to cM1, dL5, M2 and L1 (no effective fire with the mmg) and he exposes the dummies in bC1 with advancing fire. He then advances into CC with the mmg and crew, but I ambush him and escape to N4. He also advances into dN2 and dM2. During my turn I unHIP the 25LL at aA2 to fire point-blank into dN2. I don't think the roll was particularly good, but with a 24FP shot it only needs to be 'not bad'. Again, everyone breaks. The mmg retreats back to aA4. The mortar takes another pot-shot with no effect. (He routs the N2 brokies to the south end of the dM2 building.)
Turn 3: He moves the tanks up to dN3 and M4 firing the lead tank at C2 for ACQ. He AMs units to dN4 and I break one with the mmg. He also moves units around the east to C1. Rather than unHIP the 12.7 in aF2h1 (wait...)I don't attempt to change CA. I don't remember how he moved his units near dM2, but I don't think the AA gun took another shot. He advances his units from dN4 to aA4 and procedes to box the CC roll so my mmg escapes to B4. He also advances from bC1 to aC5. In my turn I prep-fire the mmg at aA4 breaking 2 squads, but not the leader, and I keep rate. I fire again, still keeping rate, but no effect. I fire a third time, breaking the gun and battle hardening one of the squads. It doesn't discourage me much since that mmg single-handedly slowed down half of his infantry. My mortar fires a shot at aA4 with no effect. My 9-1 and lmg squad in C3 fires at C5, breaking the Amis there to prevent encirclement of the mmg crew. I AM my DC squad from G3 to F3 to have another squad firing, and unHIP my elites in F2 and move them to D2 for numerical reinforcements. From somewhere an American bazooka pops off at my roof mortar and they duck rapidly as part of the parapet crumbles. He fires again with the tank in N3 and step-reduces the squad in C2. (He must have AMed someone to dN2 during his turn [which I subsequently broke] because I remember him trying to figure out how to wipe out that gun.)
Turn 4: He rallies the DM units in bC1 (that had routed from aC5) and AMs them back to aC5 again. At this point I figure its time to unHIP the 12.7AA gun in aF2h1 at which point John Coussis and Bob both say that it's not a legal setup. Instead of eliminating it, Bob lets me place it in level 0. ("What do you mean, honorable sir, that this floor will not support the weight [GROAN] of this [CRACK] gu..aaahhhh!" [THUD]) Bob now figures that the easiest way to take out the 25LL is to overrun it. He moves the tank to aA3 and my first shot misses. He then announces the overrun and we spend 15 minutes looking up rules and firing modifiers and I decide not to take a shot because it's late, the gun has already done its job, and I'm too confused to step through the numbers again. He does the overrun ... and MISSES! We now go through the numbers again, and since I'm now firing at his tail I take the shot and ELIM the tank! (At this point I'm actually thinking I might win!) However, since the tank is there (and whatever other reasons might apply) he finally AMs units into dN2 again then advance them into aA2 and takes out the crew in CC. I must have had some effective fire at his units in aA4 and aC5 because for whatever reason they don't end up in the street after advance phase. During my turn I shoot at whatever is available, but no effect.
Turn 5: Bob looks at the board and figures his only chance is if his tank in dM4 can eliminate the squad in aC2 then he can rush into the building and possible do enough damage to win. He fires the tank to no effect, talks himself through the numbers with DCs and discovers that there aren't enough Amis in range even with successful attacks. So he resigns. (I won?, I won !?, I won, I won!!)
Aftermath: I liked my placement of the mmg and the 25LL but they were helped a lot by both good dice and fortunate movement by the Americans. Bob said he kept waiting for the hmg to open up which made him more cautious, not knowing where it was.
Lesson: Deception can be an effect defensive technique. (I just wish I could take credit for planning it.)
(For those who actually read all of these, I appreciate the audience. However, I will not be held responsible for any medical bills due to falling out of chairs or due to now-impaired mental facilities.)
Larry "Chapter C - here we come" Reeves
This page last updated 4/11/00
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