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DB104 The Police Station – AAR – Canadian Valor in Hong Kong!!
Winnipeg Grenadiers in Camp Shamshuipo HK Credits : http://stpaulslestweforget.wikispaces.com/
The IJA landed on Hong Kong island near North Point / Aldrich Bay on Dec 18 1941 and proceeded to move inland through the middle of the hilly island. The Winnipeg Grenadiers made a particularly heroic stand at the Wong Nai Chung Gap Police Station.
This is a rather interesting scenario in which part of the Canadian and part of the IJA forces started using simultaneous and hidden placement in an area in front of the Police Station. The scenario began with a round of Close Combat between forces that started in the same location, two of which the IJA could designate “hand to hand”. The IJA’s goal was to take the Police Station and to make sure that there were less than one squad equivalent of “good order” Canadians within a 4 hex area around the station, all within 5.5 turns.
The game started off quite intriguingly as Carl Nogueira and I discovered where each other’s hidden forces were, where they “co-existed” and what the Close Combat odds were. I designated two of the melees as “hand to hand” and off we went. As expected, “HtH” battles both pretty much resulted in mutual annihilation. The Canadians lost 2 leaders in addition but an 8-1 rise to the fore in the heat of battle!
IJA Turn 1 : The IJA led off with their two offboard field guns putting Willie Pete on two corners of the rather well MG-equipped station. Unfortunately the flamethrower team got ID’d early and was shot at. Anxious that they’d never get to use their toy, they promptly went berserk.
IJA Turn 2 : The berserk FT team rigged up their toy and in their blind fury, must had bent a trigger or something. Flamethrower died without a shot. The IJAs discovered the Canadian pillbox cross the front of the Police Station. Fighting outside took quite a toll on both sides. The IJA hoped to hook around the back (left) of the police station as “Failure to Rout” seems to be the only way to clear the station of Canadians.
IJA Turn 3 : The IJA malf’d one of their two offboard guns and therefore proceeded to setup their mortars so as to provide smoke cover. To the top of the map, the IJA piled on top of the pillbox while trying to hook around the left. To the right, the IJA continued to navigate through the open field and hoped to advance though the pillbox laid fire lane.
IJA Turn 4 : The berserk HS charged across the street and into the station!! The maniacs survived fire that left 12 and 8 residuals, only to die later in Close Combat. Their buddies took advantage to the situation and walked around the left. The IJA on the right continued to hit the station in front. The newly established deathstar had a malf’d HMG, true to IJA weaponry of the period.
IJA Turn 5 : So the Berserker couldn’t stay in the station. The IJA opened with a DC HS that got shot out of existence when they advanced to the MG nest. On the other side of the station, poor Toshi was volunteered to be the “DC Hero of the Day”. They sent him to the front door, patted him on the back and stuffed a DC into his arms.
They couldn’t get the berserker either, they said.
Toshi popped out to the middle of the street and was promptly vaporised along with his DC.
Canadian Turn 5 : With 1 Movement Phase left, there was not enough time for the IJA to clear the building (nor the 4 hex radius around it). The IJA conceded.
Thoughts :
- Forget about walking around the station. Turn 2 is probably when I should just walk STRAIGHT UP to the station and get part of the gang into the house.
- I used WP and smoke from the offboard guns. I should probably have used my knee more for additional cover.
- I should have protected my Flamethrower a lot better.
What else would you have done? Please comment.
Advanced Squad Leader Player Creed by Dan Dolan
Sam Belcher’s Handcrafted Dicetowers
PP08 No Simple Victory AAR – the ASL March Madness Partisan Pack
PP08 No Simple Victory is from the ASL March Madness Partisan Pack , produced by the Kansas City Irregular ASL Club for the March 13-15 2009 March Madness tournament. According to Mark Pitcavage’s Desperation Morale site, only 75 copies were made. I am lucky to have access to one and let me tell you, the storylines therein FASCINATE me.
An NKVD badge replica
A number of anti-communist partisan groups sprung up. One such group was the National Military Alliance or the “NZW” and one of their biggest battles happened here. The NZW prevailed, but the NKVD returned the next day and burned the village of Kurylowka to the ground.
Introduction and Setup : The NKVD officers are all Commissars. The Poles on the other hand have 5 MPs instead of the usual 4. The NKVD enters from the right and a trench in the middle of the village square is the “Victory Condition” hex. I was the Partisans and Carl Nogueira the NKVD (Carl’s analysis of the scenario is at the bottom of this post). I made a number of mistakes in this scenario. One of which was putting my SSR given Set DC in the VC hex. Since the NKVD wins immediately upon seizing that hex, blowing them up subsequently really doesn’t help. I elected to exchange my 2 Fortified Location into 2 tunnels : one leading to the pillbox that oversee the VC hex and another leading from small clump of buildings to the right of the village so that units could rout back.
There are two approaches to the village. One is to take the long way through the Forest on the bottom of the map. That burns a lot of time. The other way is to move through the open ground from the right to the left. That carries a much higher risk of casualties which the NKVD player has to mindful of. One of the SSRs states that the NKVD is subjected to BATTLEFIELD INTEGRITY (A16). There’s a number on the broken side of each counter. The NKVD starts up with a Battlefield Integrity score of 260. When the NKVD takes casualties a running total of the number on the back of the counters is taken. The NKVD is then subjected to an Integrity Check every 10% (or 26 in this case) of the starting score. Fail it once, and the NKVD has their ELR reduced. Fail it twice and the NKVD pack up and go home.
I assumed Carl would take a frontal approach through the scant cover the open ground offers (the NKVD had no smoke). The Partisans had Molotovs though. I tried to use Molotovs frequently early game (couldn’t be used inside the forest though) in the hope of setting something on fire “accidentally” but I completely forgot to use it late game when it really counted.
Turn 1 Russian : The Russians, I mean ALL the Russians headed for the forest! I started thinking about how I could redeploy to a completely different angle of attack.
Turn 1 Partisans : The Partisans had to redeploy to a very possible attack through the forest and from the bottom of the village! My tunnels and my pillbox were rendered useless. A few units had to come out of HIP to redeploy. Anyway, it was what it was – a new game. Good thing our Partisans had 5 MF instead of 4!
Turn 2 Russian : The Partisans in the forest had to do the best they could now. I didn’t move far enough from the NKVD and therefore got my units surrounded a few times. The NKVD was of course deadly at close range. Concealment didn’t offer enough protection.
Turn 2 Partisans : The three Partisan squads in the forest were of course completely outnumbered. I hope to delay the NVKD as much as possible by using brokies to block the way as they rout. I moved an LMG squad out to the clump of trees to help protect the “heavies” in case the Soviets change their mind and decide to skip long the edge of the forest instead.
Turn 3 Russians : The Russians came in strong. The Partisans were quickly surrounded and destroyed. The Russians tested the scene at the edge of the forest. The Partisan HMG appeared to convince them otherwise.
Turn 3 Partisans : The NKVD needed to be contained in the forest. A few more Partisan squads were sent in there to rack up more casualties if they could. At this point, I was a little reluctant to send even these folks. The NKVD had an advantage up close while the Partisans were better in open area because of their enhanced mobility and longer range. Molotovs couldn’t be used in forests either. Kindling is NA for this scenario but I certainly hoped to set a few structures on fire “accidentally”.
Here’s also where I realised my next stupid move : I got my mortar (ideal against folks trying to come out of the forest, no?) in a trench BEHIND a hedge. They couldn’t see anything. The gun crew had to scramble to re-situate the mortar now. Could they do it in time?
Turn 4 Russian : This was an epic turn. The NKVD studiously picked a spot to come out of the woods that avoided the HMG. So an LMG unconcealed to plug the gap. Did it ever! That residual where the path open up from the forest saw a good number of casualties. A few came forth nonetheless, led by a 9-0 Commissar, and rushed the mortar crew. One of the partisan squads was met by a number of NKVD and was presented with a DC pack as well ..
Turn 4 Russian still : Our partisan squad survived all Advance Fire AND a DC blast!! NKVD fixed bayonets and looked to move in ..
Turn 4 Russian Close Combat : The NKVD squads moved in and even managed to ambush our partisan squad! Fortunately they rolled infiltration for our brave partisan squad. While the partisans were pinned and couldn’t move, the NKVD squads thought better of it and moved off.
On the far side of the open ground, the Russians wrestled with a partisan squad sent to mess with them. The partisans got the ambush here and decided to move off to the Russian rear.
Turn 4 Partisan : Our brave partisan squad moved off to another position where the NKVD might decide to emerge. The other partisan decided to back off to get some distance between them and the short range Russian bear. On the other hand, the HMG crew grabbed their toy and ran off to the woods to get a better angle at the emerging NKVD.
The mortar crew couldn’t get away with their toy unfortunately, they were broken by fire from pursing NKVD.
Turn 5 Russian : At this point the NKVD had already breezed right through their first Battle Integrity check. Two partisan squads fought hard at the edge of the forest the best they could.
Russians on the far right decided to rush the HMG in the woods as well. Thank goodness to mutually supporting positions they would all eventually be broken.
Turn 5 Partisans : The partisans sent another squad to the far right to go after the broken NKVD squads. Who knows? May be they will force another Battle Integrity check!
Partisans were trying hard to back off into the clearing before the roads lead into the village – but it was hard.
Turn 6 Russian : The Russians tried the captured Polish mortar, hoping to get smoke for the final attack. Fortunately it melted in their hands rather patriotically
The Poles kept backing off and putting residual on open ground. I was also starting to think that I should bring the partisan squads on the far right back into the village for the final fight.
Turn 6 Partisan : I saw the left side of the village as being particularly vulnerable. I moved a few more squads up from the back to cover that. The HMG and 2 LMGs were moved to the open so they could take advantage of their range. The Russians would have to decide whether to divert squads to them or let them be.
Turn 7 Russians : The BPV was now at 88. The Russian passed the last 3 Battle Integrity Check without breaking a sweat. The next one’s going to be 16 BPV off – which meant 3 or 4 squads, depending on what they were.
Fire lanes were deployed where possible to wear the NKVD down – but they kept coming. When they got adjacent, the Partisans knew they wouldn’t last much longer. An MMG deployed on the left opened up as well. Unfortunately it broke down almost immediately.
Turn 7 Partisans : We ran out of room to back off now. The front row of NKVDs got too close and the Partisans got blown away, firing squad style.
Getting folks in their final position ..
Turn 8 Russian : So this is just a shot of the start of the final turn. There’s still an MMG that remained “HIP” on the (hopefully) more vulnerable looking side.
Turn 8 Russian, after the Movement Phase : Carnage! The Russian kept running squads though the gauntlet, even tried to place a DC on the squad in the target hex. After they got a few in for the ensuring Close Combat phase, they ran the rest of the NKVD away from village to avoid more casualties!
Turn 8 Russians – the end : Then it happened – the Russians fired into the concealed partisan squad in the target hex. They got a morale check even with the +2 TEM.
Box cars.
The partisan squad reduced and broke. The Russians were therefore in a position to advance in.
The Russians won.
Here’s the Analysis from Carl Nogueira :
It was a pretty intense game. I looked for opportunities to launch a human wave, to try and close up the ground needed to be crossed faster. However, that was of course not possible in the woods. Once out of the woods, I had a chance to do it, but I was not happy with the preparation of the defense. I had been unable to soften him up/draw off enough shots with the non-human wave crowd. It looked like the boys would be heading into a meat grinder and these guys don’t do meat grinder with the BPV rules. Not to mention the last sentence of A9.222. This makes human waves suicidal if the opponent has the ability to lay down several firelanes. Jackson had that opportunity. Human wave called off. Of course with these clowns, it was more of a sub-human wave anyway.
As Jackson alluded to, I initially went through the forest on the bottom board. It appeared to be lightly defended and it afforded me the ability to shoot back at his forces. Something my short range and lack of long range SW didn’t afford in the open. That combined with the Battlefield Integrity made my NKVD boys “vulnerable” in the open. (I always wanted to use NKVD and integrity in the same sentence. It’s a lot tougher than it looks.) The forest looked lightly defended to boot, so I was hoping to blow through there as fast as possible.
In the even, it took about turns, using my best Tampa style tactics to whip Igor forward. The attempt to put pressure on the Koresh compound and use those forces to be a diversion against the center, failed spectacularly. Fortunately, they graced me by not dying in the process. If there is one lesson that Jackson will take with im from this game, it is entrenched units behind a wall/hedge only see adjacent to the wall/hedge. No farther. His mortar was positioned under a foxhole thusly. As was a flanking squad and the VC hex guard. It didn’t cost him the game, but it did cost some opportunities.
I popped out of the woods and headed up the road, mostly to the right of the road, straight for the VC hex. Jackson’s units are quite fleet of foot by ssr in this, so they easily repositioned and got in front of us. Their mf base of 5 for MMC making that easily possible. After some early success heading up the road, I determined I was a turn behind. As a result I really took some chances. Even running some units into hexes I knew they couldn’t rout out of to try and force the pace. I was soon dissuaded. However, Jackson did decline a surrender which enforced NQ for my boys surrendering. That was more blessing than curse for me as I was able to have more liberal rout routes after that, FTR not withstanding.
I had to change the axis of attack to straddle the road more, as he had too many fire lanes to the right of the road. I was able to ooze out over the road and get enough fire down to open a path through the stone building that guarded the VC buildings left flank, but only on the next to last turn. That meant running through the open to try to get to the last VC hex.
It had looked really grim since Jackson had a 4.35 average DR over 7 key shots to start Russian turn 7. As a result, I had to take two tests for BI. I passed the first but failed the second. If it happened one more time, he gets the win. Fortunately, as is wont to happen, the dice turned back the other way. My boys discovered their meat sacks and my morale check DR improved drastically at just the right time. One 5-2-7 went berserk and tied up a key piece on the approach march. We were able to survive a nice fire lane Jackson laid from a HIP unit leading to the VC hex. Finally, I was able to get a G/O 5-2-7 and two 3-2-8 HS, one of which had a DC, ADJACENT to the VC hex. The 5-2-7 fired at his concealed unit in the trench, a 4+2, to try and strip him of concealment. The thought being it would make the thrown DC that much more effective done in that order. I lucked out with a 3-1 for a NMC. Jackson boxed the NMC and that was the game.
We discussed later and both felt the scenario is rough on the Russians. That said, the ROAR record now has it 3-2, pro-Russian. Still, I think the Russians have the longer road. That low ELR and short range for their force are real handicaps. Combined with needing to keep an eye out for the battlefield integrity makes it tough. As for the Partisans, they have typical partisan issues. The 5 mf rule for the MMC is a real nice touch. One thing the scenario is though is fun. All in all, it was a very enjoyable time and game.
Map of Poland from 1944
March Madness 2015 Videos
March Madness is a hugely popular Advanced Squad Leader tournament, held annually in Kansas City.
This one’s done by Tom Meier, the preview.
This one’s a tribute, done by K Scott Mullins, aka GrumbleJones
http://boxcarsagainaslblog.blogspot.com/
Dinant : Chasseurs on the Meuse AAR
Notre Dame de Dinant & the Citadel. Source : Wikipedia
Calm down, you didn’t miss it. Dinant is not out yet.
Dinant is a project in development. Dan Dolan’s the designer, Nadir Elfarra did the map and Carl Nogueira, the campaign game. Stanley Neo and I have been playtesting the Dinant scenarios, so this perhaps one of the rare times when you see an AAR on a product not released.
This scenario, “Chasseurs on the Meuse”, depicts an action that took place on May 13 1940. The Belgian 8th Chasseurs de Ardennais, fighting a series of delaying actions, was chased all the way up to the edge of the Meuse by Rommel’s Ghost Divison (7th Panzer). The French arrived at the west shore and did their best to help out. The Germans are to seize the victory locations marked on the top of this map within 7 turns. The German Recon company can choose to come in from the marked locations on the right side of the map. Their HQ and Armoured Car platoons can come in from the south (bottom of the map) as well.
This was my Belgian/French setup. The three VC locations were on the top part of the map. One of the VC hexes was under the stack of Belgians to the right of the VC stone building. The Germans start with 13 elite squads, 5 leaders, 4 armoured cars and a host of motorcycles. . The Belgians fields 9 first liners and the French, 3 first liners immediately and 3 on Turn 3. The Allies have 6 leaders, 2 self propelled guns and a module of OBA with scarce ammunition.
The Belgians had 2 HS HIP’d with ATRs around Rue Saint Jacques (the road through the valley from the right) and one on the first level of Notre Dame de Dinant. The big set of concealment counters in front of the roadblock at Place Reine Astrid (in front of Notre Dame de Dinant and the Citadel was a decoy to turn enemy AFVs that way.
Place Reine de Astrid. http://www.citadellededinant.be
Citadel de Dinant. http://www.citadellededinant.be
Turn 2 Germans : The German infantry decided to heap through the Rue Saint Jacques en masse. The French mortar managed however, to catch their counterparts from across the Meuse. The armoured cars got a bit of harassing fire from the French across the river.
Hearing the Germans in the Plaza outside, the Belgian HS in the Notre Dame threw off their cover and went to the windows with their ATR. One entrance to the narrow streets was blocked but the other one needed to be sealed as well, best with a wreck. The first armored car passed by and was about to turn into the narrow streets to the north.
Boom!! The anti tank grenade missed,
The targeted AC continued to speed away and the second followed suit. The other ACs started firing into the church and the German infantry got the headsup about Notre Dame.
Turn 2 Belgians : The intrepid ATR team survived the initial German fire. It now sounded like half the German army was running for the church. The Belgians went to the windows again and fired. This time wrecking the 2nd armored car and therefore successfully blocked the armoured car platoon from the action to the north!
In the north, the Belgians were nervous about all the Germans coming down the valley but they felt a little too smug about lying concealed in stone buildings. They decided not to skulk.
Big mistake. The Belgians in the first 2 building hexes got blown away by the massed German firepower.
While one of the Belgian self propelled guns moved into place. The one to the north refused to budge without their partner and a radio to contact them with.
Turn 3 Germans : The Belgians to the north were simply not retreating fast enough. The Germans caught them in 3 locations where Close Combat killed 2 Belgian squads.
Turn 3 Belgians : Hey! The French reinforcement arrived, together with a radio to call down the artillery. Yes, ammunition was scare but it’s something. Given the rowhouse configuration, the French could only look for line of sights through the gaps they could find.
The other Belgian self propelled gun was touched by the change in sentiment and moved into one of the narrow streets to cover the German advance.
Turn 5 Germans : The Belgians finally got the hang of just how far to move back and how to shoot the Germans in bypass.
The Belgian SPG closer to the river was shooting at the Germans moving through the little plaza. When it Firist Fired, the lead German AC moved forward, turned and faced it.
The other HIP’d HS ATR team who sat through the Close Combat downstairs sprung out of hiding.
They shot and killed the lead AC!
A Close Up shot of how the lead German AC was killed by a HIP’ed Belgian ATS HS.
Turn 6 Germans : The Belgians continued to back off just enough to shoot at the Germans in bypass. The French OBA was of no help whatsoever. By the time they got a response from obliging French gunners their radio went dead.
Our second Belgian ATR HS managed to run away though!
The Germans, running out of the time, got even more aggressive and jumped onto a concealed Belgian stack. The Belgians chose NOT to unconceal and NOT to fight. To the German’s disappointment, Belgians survived the German attack and retained the option of moving away in the next Belgian turn, blocking the Germans for another round.
Seeing the distance between themselves and the VC building, the Germans decided that they won’t be able to make it to the VC objectives in time.
Overall : I think the long lines of rowhouses presented an interesting problem. The Belgians had to be far enough to not invite close combat given the German superiority in numbers and to not be shot in their retreat. However they needed to be close enough to in turn shoot the Germans in bypass. This is especially important when they do not have enough firepower to take the Germans inside the stone buildings.
The mass of Germans was unnerving but had some of the Germans came in further to the north and down the cliffs, they would have been a handful.
Trying to get the French to help from across the Meuse is a problem as well. Finding gaps between buildings though you can shoot was tough. The OBA was practically useless in my game.
Thoughts from Stanley Neo : I packed the Germans’ entries via the XX13-XX16 while 3 choices were given. After some thoughts, I should have spread the force into two groups, one taking the top XX03-XX13 and the other remaining in XX13-XX16 to put more pressure on the Allies that is on the same side. At least some Germans would then be able to attempt to climb down and do a flank from the North.
Germans on the East were stuck around the entry zone for too long and should have pushed more aggressively. LoS study of the terrain may eliminate issues of troops getting pinned or broken by Mortar fire from the West.
The roadblocks were wisely placed at a chockpoint around QQ17/RR17 with ATR. This effectively blocked out the rest of the German’s AFV support making it harder for the Germans coming from the East to push.
Overall the scenario is relatively great to play. Would be interesting to replay the scenario with the afterthoughts built into the attack plan.
What are your thoughts with regards to this module? Are you looking forward to it?
ESG6 Clean Up Crew AAR – Deathwish 777 Round 1
ESG6 Clean Up Crew is the first round scenario of the Asia Pacific VASL tourney, Deathwish 777. This is the first Eastside Gamers scenario I have ever played. This is also the first time I played Will Fleming.
This is an interesting situation. The 2 hex building on the top right is considered ground level only stone while all other buildings are wooden. The German wins at Game End if they control this building. If you look at the map in quarters, Germans setup on the top left and bottom right. A Russian patrol comes in on Turn 1 from either the left edge or the bottom edge of the bottom left quadrant. Both sides get to attack and to defend, the 6 turn limit on this scenario promised rapid and violent action!
The Germans have a mix of elite and first liners. The Russians have a mix of first liners and conscripts (one elite squad too) but unfortunately an ELR of 2. They get 2 leaders on board, an 8-1 and a 7-0. A 9-1 comes in with the patrol later on from the lower left board. There was a bit of a debate as to whether to switch the 8-1 out for a 10-0 Commissar or not. Bruce Probst cautioned against the idea on GameSquad, stating that there really is no where for the Russians to properly rout to and that they should take the -1 Leadership from a fighting 8-1 instead. In hindsight, he’s right (no surprise). At the time, I swapped the 8-1 for a 10-0 in the hopes of cycling whimpering conscripts back into the fight again.
German Turn 1 : The Germans were on the move. The Russians looked to reveal as little information as possible until the Germans came within their (largely) 2 hex range, less when negative modifiers were in play. There wasn’t much action apart from the outer ring of “speed bump” conscripts. They didn’t expect to survive the slightest German fire and so their first shot needed to count.
Russian Turn 2 : The Germans built a deathstar with a 9-2 in the left sunken road. Our HMG team had to relocate. Will Fleming also pointed out that mortars cannot fire from CREST positions so the mortar team had to figure out a plan B. One of the “speed bump” conscripts broke another German unit instead of running but got disrupted and was captured in the return fire. The rescuing Russian patrol had entered the map but not the fray at this point from the left edge.
German Turn 3 : The Russian HMG went on a hellish rate tear in Defensive Fire, they KIA’d 2 German squads and broke the rest in the open!! The Russian prisoners found their guards killed and started eyeing the German DC laying in the grass…
Russian Turn 3 : The rearmed prisoners (Conscript HS) grabbed the German DC. There was a German DC HS on the left end of the sunken road to the right. A Russian squad assault moved away to draw fire in the safest way possible but was disrupted anyway. The rearmed Russian HS then rushed down the sunken road with their captured DC!! They survived the Final Fire from the “targeted” German DC HS, threw their DC and broke that HS. Unfortunately it was pinned itself and couldn’t advance to rout the broken Germans out of the foxhole. The Russian commissar decided to vol break and head towards THE house as Russian troops around him were either disrupted as conscripts or ELR’d into being conscripts.
German Turn 4 : The Germans moved towards the house and the Russians didn’t have too many live units left around the target building. A German MMC on the left put a fire lane down through the grain fields and made it tough for the rescuing patrol getting into the fight on time.
Then a horrible thing happened.
A German stack Adv Fired into the Russian HMG team through the brush – and rolled snakeeyes. The random selection that followed slated the full Russian squad for destruction, leaving a broken 7-0 with the gun. There was pretty much no one, save the routing commissar and a solitary conscript squad, in the target building.
German Turn 5 : The Commissar finally pulled himself together and joined the conscripts in the stone building. Between stacking up for better mutual support or spreading out to keep the Germans out of the building, they chose the former. The conscripts dutiful fired at the incoming Germans and did brilliantly well for the most part but things came apart at the end when the Germans rolled another snakeyes in the Adv Fire and broke the squad.
German Turn 5 (contd) : The commissar found himself the sole defender of the house when the German broke through the windows and doors. The ensuring close combat was 6-1. For a moment I had hope that the commissar would roll snakeeyes as well to kill off the entire German stack but it was not to be! The hardy commissar got wounded and finally succumbed to his wounds into the long quiet night.
A number of thoughts after the game :
- Will Fleming is a terrific person to get to know and to play ASL with.
- The 10-0 (if indeed a decision’s made to swap the 8-1 out) should be in the fight and helping to raise conscripts morale. The ELR of 2 had a material impact on this game.
- Seeing that most of the Russians ELR’d and/or Disrupted – routing, rallying and fighting was not the right strategy. Taking a fighting 8-1, fighting and dying in place might be a better decision.
- As a rout path, my foxholes were not properly lined up especially when there were Germans coming in from 2 angles.
Thoughts? Comments? Alternate strategies? Additional thoughts on 10-0 commissar vs 8-1?
Farewell Fearless Leader John Hill
Art by Rodger MacGowan, Photo by Jackson Kwan
Mr. Patrick LeBeau sent a beautiful message to the “Squad Leader PreASL” YahooGroup to remember John Hill. I asked and he kindly gave his permission to republish it here, for all of us whose memories Lt. Hill will forever be a part of.
Farewell fearless leader
The original John Hill Squad Leader counter: Lt. Hill, a modest 9-1 leader.
When I purchased the famous purple edition of John Hill’s 1977 Avalon Hill game, Squad Leader, at the Origins held in Ann Arbor, Michigan that same year, I and many others were immediately hooked on the game system and ease-of-play. We attended all of John’s lectures and in a day or so mastered the game. By the end of the convention many of us were combining our game boards and units to play monster self-designed scenarios after having played all 12 scenarios in one long weekend.
Squad Leader would also win the title of Best Tactical/Operational Game of 1977
This was not my first encounter with John or his many excellent board and miniature games. Most notably in the mid 1970s was Johnny Reb, now known as Johnny Reb One. I still have the original mimeographed legal size cheat sheet printed on both sides, which was all you needed to play the first iteration of the Johnny Reb system. In that playtest addition, resolution used a single 12-sided die.
I mention these two games and I call them systems because they have an incredible longevity through continuous reprints, revisions and new editions, including new games derivative of earlier manifestations. Although the 1977 edition of Squad Leader is my all time favorite, the game would generate many supplements, which would lead to the development of Advanced Squad Leader. The whole Squad Leader family of games has sparked a gamer following that keeps the game alive (SL or ASL) to this day after almost all of the SL and ASL games are long out of print. ASL is directly responsible, I believe, to the development of the online VASSAL game engine for playing board/miniature games virtually.
Johnny Reb would lead to JRII and JRIII. From my perspective, I see Across the Deadly Field as John’s Opus Majus and final version of the Johnny Reb system. From my point of view, I believe ADF is his finest version and I hope it will emerge as his most popular American Civil War gaming system. I spent the entirety of 2014, from Fall In 2013 to Historicon 2014, and all those conventions in between, promoting ADF.
This brings me back to Lt. Hill, the U.S. 9-1 leader counter of the original Squad Leader. Many of us literally wore out our original counters due to continuous game play and finger handling. We of course replaced them by purchasing new games. This is not true with 99% of the board games I own. Further, in 1977, we understood the game as cardboard version of a miniatures game. Today I play the game using 15mm figures and terrain. My point is that as long as gamers continue to play John’s games he lives on.
In untold thousands of games, his old Lt. Hill counter has often suffered a KIA result or has broken under fire. At times it has conducted heroic acts, or has rallied squads at critical times. Whatever the outcome, Lt. Hill reemerges game after game to fight on and on to the enjoyment of the table top gamer whose only purpose is to have fun, learn history, study tactics, engage in competitive play and build friendships.
John was a good friend and his games build many life-long friendships.
I will miss him. We will miss him. However, as Lt. Hill, he will always be in our games, not only as a counter, a figure, a GM, a moderator, a game designer, a human, a man, and as one of the greatest game designers of all time.
Patrick LeBeau
January 13, 2015
ITR1 Debacle at Sung Kiang AAR – Not my brightest moment!
John Knowles and I recently purchased the few “Into the Rubble” packs (Bounding Fire Productions) that Sam Tyson found laying around. So we decided to play the pack out one by one over the next year or however long it takes. The first one in the pack is Scott Holst’s “Debacle at Sung Kiang“. There are a few places called 松江, but since Scott mentioned “the city of Sung Kiang”, I take this as the area to the southwest of present day Shanghai. This scenario takes from a battle on November 8th 1937 when the Chinese GMT still had their German trained & equipped elite troops. As with all the scenarios in the “Into the Rubble” pack, it’s all about city fights. What I didn’t realise until the first Prep Fire was how unversed I am with city fights – I have definitely been running around jungles too long!
So here’s an account of my miserable loss (not an infrequent experience for me of course, but I don’t blog about my losses often enough) :
There are 16 multi hex buildings on the map. The IJA’s task is to capture 11 or more of them with 16 first liners, 2 elites, 4 leaders and 3 armoured cars in 6.5 turns. The Chinese fielded 9 elites, 7 first liners, 3 leaders, 2 76 guns and 2 of their funky Type 22 dual MG armoured trucks.
Chinese Turn 1 : This is what it looked like at the end of the first Chinese turn. The Chinese decided to use their “armoured” trucks a different way. Instead of running the trucks around with “0” armour, they decided to rip the 2 LMGs and the crews off them. That’s 4 new LMGs with 2 elite units that self rallies. The Chinese now have 8 LMGs, fantastic news to the IJA I am sure.
IJA Turn 3: The action exploded. First the IJA Banzai’d down the left edge of the board. Several fire lanes sprang up but the IJA made it across the open ground at acceptable losses. I then figured this was going to take too long : I should have an armoured car behind the Chinese lines to interdict routs and to limit Chinese movement. Therefore I ran an armoured car down the streets (just follow the blue dotted arrow that emanated from the concealed counter on the top left quadrant of the map). It survived one shot from the Chinese MMG that laid down a fire lane. Then the AC sped due south and made a right turn, surviving another LMG shot at close quarters. It then arrived at the center of the map. Another AC decided to do the same but via another route. This is the blue dotted arrow that encircled the top part of the map from right to left. Unfortunately it discovered one of the Chinese 75’s the wrong way. It was still hoping that its speed was going to save it. Boom – no hit, it laughed. The gun then went for Intensive Fire as the car came closer. Boom – Critical Hit!! The AC bursted into flames as car parts careened down the middle of the street!!
Chinese Turn 3: The Chinese moved folks over from the left, one of which CC’d my AC. The IJA uncovered a fortified position and strangely, a 75 gun popped up in the middle of the building complex on the right. That, together with the interior wall in the stone factory (see the hex side on the hex in “direction 2” of the gun) made it a little difficult to clear it out. The Chinese sped a unit to the far right to close the flanks.
IJA Turn 4: Check out the middle of the board – here’s one of my extreme moments of stupidity: with a Chinese squad in the hex, I decided that it would be good idea to back the AC up to the Embankment Railroad. So I stopped the car meaning to go in reverse. The Chinese folks promptly declared CC Reaction Fire and disabled the car. A subsequent LMG shot killed it. *Brilliant*
All the action on the right were the IJA trying to pile more troops into the factory. The Chinese started shooting a lot better than they did a turn before unfortunately. The good bit was that the IJA finally broke the folks in the Fortified hex. The IJA folks in the top part of the map were starting to appreciate how exposed their positions were. Having said that, the Chinese MMG malfunctioned the turn before and so they were having a go at crossing the street.
The IJA then ran the last of their armoured cars down the middle of the street to help take the building complex on the right.
Meanwhile on the quiet left side, a couple of Chinese troopers pulled out a bag of marshmallow and strolled over to the bonfire ..
IJA Turn 4 : This is end of IJA Turn 4. IJA managed to capture the big factory on the right. In retrospect I should then have “spilled” more forces down the right edge to turn the Chinese flank. That would perhaps take me to the buildings to the lower half of the board. The folk in the center had to rout back. The MMG that malfunctioned was fixed prompted in the next Rally Phase. Meanwhile, the AC got into a threatening position but it had to get on an embankment to interdict any Chinese movements.
Chinese Turn 4 : Two Chinese squads went berserk and both targeted the striped IJA squad sitting in the Fortified hex on the right. One of the berserkers was underneath the Pinned squad next to the green Fortified hex so you can it imagine it doing the zombie dance against the wall. The other Chinese berserker rushed up (blue dotted arrow), spotted the IJA elite through the smoke to the right and switched directions. The IJA elite squad threw their DC at the crazies but only managed to CR the berserkers while ELR’ing itself to a first liner. The berserkers rushed in and got wasted by gunfire but it caused enough damage by taking the one squad the IJA had with a decent smoke component plus used up their DC!
The Chinese shifted their forces to the right as other sectors were not under threat (a street party was in progress around the bonfire by now). Notice also the 2 LMG squads closing in on the lone AC sitting in the middle of the board.
IJA Turn 5 : With all 3 mortars out of smoke and the one elite squad ELR’d to a first liner, the IJAs were not able to put more troops into the factory on the right as the Chinese had an MMG under an 8-1 in the middle of the map. Tried as they might, the IJA group in the middle couldn’t put much pressure on that MG, apart from discouraging it from putting up a fire lane. This is the end of IJA’s Turn 5. The troops inside the IJA’s hard won Fortified hex was steadily reduced. The fact that it should have advanced into the HMG squad (with the 9-1) long time ago to take them out by CC only occurred to me now. (Urgh..) Meanwhile, the 10-1 came forward to rally the troops. The 1st liners grabbed the flamethrower they recovered, vol broke and routed it back to the 10-1 in the hopes that the 10-1 would know how to use it.
I was definitely not at my best!
Chinese Turn 5 : It’s increasingly evident that the IJA were getting bogged down at the first factory. The Chinese reoccupied the Fortified hex and a Dare Death squad successful took back another building. While the retaking of the occupied hex didn’t mean immediate reversion of control, it did pretty much put the IJA at where they started with a lot less troops and only 2 Movement Phases to go.
This was where I conceded.
Review :
- In retrospect I should probably have approached from the left side of the board where there were more cover. The center group should be anywhere BUT center in that wide open space.
- I didn’t fully appreciate the threat that the MMG with the 8-1 poised on my operations either. We should have at least wrecked an AC in front of that building if nothing else.
- Running the Armoured Cars around to the enemy’s back field was the right idea but they should not be left on their own for too long.
- I should also have focused more efforts on sliding my troops down the right side to turn the Chinese flanks. Had I done that earlier, the dynamics would have been different. Instead, all the IJAs where bogged down in front of the big gun (of all places) and in the Fortified hex next to the highest ranking enemy officer and their HMG. The first thing IJA should have done was to advanced out of the Fortified hex and CC that HMG stack like there’s no tomorrow.
These are some of the major points I should have done better. In real life the IJA prevailed (and the ROAR was 15:11 Japanese:Chinese). As with real life, this is how much damage a bad leader (yours truly) can do!
What else could I have done better? What are your thoughts? Please comment.
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