FT SmR4 Passage of Lines After Action Report (AAR) Advanced Squad Leader scenario
Victory Conditions
The Marines started dispersed across the rice paddies and had to take at least 2 out of 3 HDP (“Hilltop Defensive Perimeters”) in 8.5 turns. In retrospect I might have thought about HDP’s wrongly. You don’t have to take all the HDP hexes to control a HDP. You only have to take most of a HDP’s hexes to take the whole thing down.
The Marines had a 81mm mortar and 2 HMGs (6-12) with a 9-2 posted on the hill on the top, giving 2 flat shots in most cases to the Korean positions. They also had a 60mm OBA which would be useful later in the game. The North Koreans had 2x82mm mortars, a 45L gun and a 76L gun. They also had 2 HMGs, 1 MMG and 6 LMGs covering their digs. The North Koreans win when they take 13 CVPs on KMC personnel or 40 CVP on UN personnel.
After Action Report (AAR)
There was a group of South Korea Marines (1st Battalion, 1st Regiment) retreating at the start of the turn. The Marines were all deployed into fireteams and started moving towards the North Koreans. The going was brutal. Four fire teams and an 8-1 bought the farm early on. I should have the South Koreans withdraw slower and put their firepower in use a bit more. As it went, the North Koreans didn’t bother with the KMC at all.
The North Koreans malfunctioned both of their 82 mm mortars! The Marines kept their heads down and tried to move as quickly as possible through the rice paddies. Regrettably, they drew a red chit on their first call to Artillery, and then they broke their radio! Our 1-time OBA hit the 2nd HDF from the left but failed to do much.
During US Turn 3, the Marines on the right were almost at the village. You could almost hear a collective sigh of relief. That was of course, if you could ignore the bloody curling scream from one of the fireteam that went berserk! Folks on the left were in the open and running into 2 murderous HMGs. Good thing both guns were down and one of the 82mm mortars went dead. Not getting much cover from the HMGs, the fireteams spread out further to not be in the same CAs. Anyone carrying an MMG was hit particularly hard. Fireteams from both flanks were doing massive “amoeba” style Advance Fire groups as they move closer. The big old US mortar on the hill first went out of WP and then out of action.
US Turn 4 saw the pair of Pershings on. There being 5 antitank mine factors, the Pershings decided to go down the same path. The railroad takes 2 MP out of every hex, so the road got the vote. Marines in the village were bringing their firepower to bear. The Koreans tried to move forward to interdict them. Some of the Korean units were moving right, so we hoped we could get the tank machine guns in place to hinder the use of that road. The Marines on the left continued to get decimated in both our turn and the opponents. The good news was that they were in fireteams, but the bad news was that they were getting taken out at an alarming speed.
But hey, the 60mm OBA was back in play.
The 60mm OBA failed to suppress 1 of the 2 HMGs in US Turn 5. Fireteams on the left desperately tried to move to the houses on the far left corner, from which it might turn the Korean flank. One of the Pershings malfunctioned its gun on the first shot and was now trying to move as close as it dared to so as the other Pershing could get a better shot. The Marines on the right decided that it’s better to hit the HDP on the far right and shifted their people over. The Koreans moved back up their hills. The Korean mortar came to life and laid a smoke round on the path in front of the right most HDP to cover their retreat.
When we reached North Korean Turn 7, one of the Pershings is already gone because of a broken main gun. The remaining one popped off round after round and yet failed to make it’s 90L presence felt! It did, however, cut off the 2 HDPs on the right from the left. The 60mm OBA managed to bring down WP which helped a lot. The wind picked up and made things even better! The survivors on the left finally managed to get to the buildings on the far left and started to put up a more effective firefight. At least now the Korean HMG fire was halved as one of them was blocked. The Korean smoke round on the right that was now billowing down the road proved to be quite helpful. Marines pushed towards the right most HDP, just in time to greet the Korean reinforcements.
Two more US Movement phases to go. We might well be out of time.
Last US turn! The Koreans on the HDP on the left were broken but we didn’t have enough time to walk up. The Koreans on the rightmost HDP were taking a beating but put up a “human wall” that’s going to take a couple more turns to kill. The US conceded. My opponent revealed all his mine placements in this last picture.
The Marines needed more smoke rounds (than HE rounds) in order to be successful in this scenario. I did the right thing by moving everyone in fireteams. Some of the chaps on the right of course, recombined into squads when they reached the village. I was hoping the Pershings with the malfunctioned gun could navigate through the road (trail break through the AT mines) and get on the hill where we would promptly turn left and get around the back between the 2 HDPs on the right. That was not to be when the leading Pershing X’d out its repair. My opponent is a very tough one but I feel I am finally getting a glimpse into the proper way to play the Marines in this LFT Fight for Seoul package (we already played through all the Fight for Seoul scenarios, and are now doing the Smith’s Ridge ones.)
The top board has the second most restrictive terrain. The German convoy enters via a restrictive channel for a third of the board and the terrain opens up before leading into bocage country again for the last half of the board. The temptation is to start shooting at the Germans as they come out of the first third of the board but the openness will allow their guns to gang up against our tiny blocking force. I decided to duck further into the bocage with a HIP’d baz team, a Sherman and an MMG. Hopefully the choices for the Germans are either to come through to us one at a time down the channel or risk bogging and underbelly shots crossing the bocages to flank us. Forces were deployed along the road and a HIP’d baz team is on the bottom of the map since I suspected the Germans would be tempted to flank us along there.
On the top board, our Sherman backed off into the sunken road, escaping the 2 German AFV’s sitting behind the bocage. Unfortunately, they decided against coming over to chase after our lone Sherman! The sheer weight of the incoming halftracks/ armoured cars got our infantry on the hill to start thinking about heading back. They did have a few open top vehicles in the proximity so we tried to light up a few more.
The Russians have 8 Movement Phases. They will have to do 5 hexes per phase for 4 phases to put them in the vicinity of the 2 hex Wooden building on the left half of Board 17. That leaves them 4 turns to fight. The KV-2, on the hand, is a real monster. It is big enough to give a -2 to any TH for size. It spots an armor factor of 8 all around, 11 if you hit that turret from the front. Its 152mm gun dishes 30 IFT / TK21 (AP9 & no IF). On the otherhand, it can only turn it’s turret by paying NT penalties (we played it wrong: we played it as if it’s an NT), goes 9 MP per turn and that’s only if you pass the Mechanical Reliability DR. The PzIVD offers fantastic mobility [amended, see footnote 1]. It packs a good set of MGs (totalling 8 IFT) but it’s 75* (short barrel) with a TK of only 10 (AP7). It’s hard to kill a KV-2 with anything less than a swarm but all you need is to kill one and scatter (the remaining Russian tank will have to kill all the PzIVDs to win via that route). The Germans can also immobilise one first (net +3 and a hull hit), hopefully in some awkward position/location. Their smoke dischargers (s9) can help the German reinforcements cross all that open ground from the top to the middle of the map!
Both sides had a chance to attack and to defend. There’s a lot of force allocation decisions to be made especially for the Russian player. The Germans couldn’t afford to be distracted by buildings on the fringes, they had to make it to the village on time in order to disrupt the Russian attack. The KV-2’s were a real challenge. Nothing short of a nice “dance of death” would do (with the survivors running off to the far corners of the map). Then if that’s the case, they wouldn’t be helping their reinforcements cross that vast Open Ground on the top half of the map. Typical of the best scenarios, there are a good number of what-if’s and tradeoffs to be made. I thought I was on track for an easy win but my opponent obviously proved me wrong.
The Germans need to get at at least 12VP at Game End to win. VPs are earned by occupying buildings on the right half of the map. Each VP corresponds to the # of ground hex locations a building occupies, the exception being the long wooden rowhouse which is only 3VP and not 5. This being early in the morning, there’s a +1LV for the entire game. The bocages are Light Bocages, meaning they are half height obstacles, don’t throw a blind hex behind and are not as onerous to cross. A particular evil element to note are the few Up-Slope hexes in the German setup area that allows them to look beyond the Light Bocages.
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