Folks:
Playing J1 against the indomitable Steve Etzelmueller. With Steve away on business, thought I'd take a couple of moments to do a little DAR on the match.
We had started this game last year, but agreed to start over again since I had been receiving some tactical lessons in the interim. I felt I'd present Steve with a better challenge with this newfound knowledge.
Anyway, we exchanged setups and began our VASL PBEM match. I hope to make the logfile of our match available (with Steve's permission, of course) upon its completion.
In this one (for those of you haven't seen/played it), it is April 1945. The Germans occupy Vienna against an onrushing Soviet advance. One of the SSRs (SSR5) of the scenario allow for the Russian sniper to "generate" Partisans on a Sniper dr of 3 or 4. Given the Russian SAN of 6, the Russian player can expect a fair amount of support popping up all over Vienna.
The Commies start with 12 458s, three leaders and three T34/85s on board (plus SW and a couple of HS). The Germans get 10 658s, three leaders, a halftrack, a Panther, a 9-2 AL and a PzIV, plus ? counters and some SW, along with an HIP 88L and crew.
Now, I don't want to get into my entire setup because Steve has yet to find all my Dummy stacks. However, I chose 23EE5 as the setup Location for my HIP 88L and crew. I've read AARs that say you should put it on the north side of the canal in 23W2 ... but I feel that 23EE5 lets you do two things:
1) Cover both bridges;
2) Cover the German left flank, which the
Russians can skirt around in behind a nice bank of buildings.
The object here is for the Germans to hold two of three buildings (23Y7, 23AA3 or 23CC2). If the Germans can get some troops across the canal early, then they can make the Russians pay a heavy price to either take or bypass the building in 23Y7 (St. Stephen's Cathedral).
For the German to win, he has to do three things very well:
1) Use his two tanks to neutralize the five Soviet tanks (the Russians get two IS-2m as reinforcements on turn 3);
2) Use the longer range fire of his 658s to slow the Russian advance as it crosses the street near the cathedral;
3) Get a nice group of troops across the canal to hold the smaller buildings on the north bank.
This is not an all-inclusive list of things the German must do well ... but they are what I believe to be *my* keys to having a sporting chance. If the German force is weakened before they can cross the canal, the Russians have enough to sweep them from the field.
The IS-2s are key. Entering on turn 3, anywhere south of the canal along a board edge, they can begin right in behind the German lines. Thus, the German must also be aware of, and use to its potential, the inherent PF capabilities of his troops to limit the Russians placing the behemoths too close to German positions.
Steve and I both agree that J1 is a right-off-the-bat, in-your-face scenario. There's not a lot of early turn jockeying for position, as both forces start practically on top of each other. We've had a few highlights so far:
--- I torched one T34/85 with a 'faust
--- the 88L took out another
T34/85
--- his kill stack in 22D9.2 whacked a 658 and a 8-1 leader with a
2-4 shot that, after mods, was a zero (I've never seen a zero final DR before)
This scenario has it all ... lots of action ... a few cool toys (the Russians get to play with DC and an FT, along with the IS-2s ... and an SSR that is certain to keep my Germans on the lookout for those snarly Partisans (Steve's already generated a Partisan Hero on the north bank of the canal, deep behind German lines).
A true gem, which I said when I originally saw this one ... but with more knowledge of ASL under my belt ... I believe that even more, now. A great scenario. I cannot wait to see how it turns out.
Great job, Pete! *
Brien
