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Hypnobeard. Retain original sides.
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Oct 31, 2021 00:21
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I'm enjoying these battles. A few years back I read "The Bloody White Baron" by James Palmer. Even though the author apparently traveled to Mongolia for his sources, it seems like there wasn't much of a paper trail on the baron, because a good chunk of the book was padded with information about Mongolian culture & gods. So it's nice to get a better feel for the battles that the Baron was in, the book only really detailed his conquest/battles around Urga. But it was a good read, Ungern was pretty drat insane.
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Oct 31, 2021 03:16
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syzpid posted:I'm enjoying these battles. A few years back I read "The Bloody White Baron" by James Palmer. Even though the author apparently traveled to Mongolia for his sources, it seems like there wasn't much of a paper trail on the baron, because a good chunk of the book was padded with information about Mongolian culture & gods. So it's nice to get a better feel for the battles that the Baron was in, the book only really detailed his conquest/battles around Urga. But it was a good read, Ungern was pretty drat insane. That's pretty neat! I'd be tempted to get the book, but it sounds like it'll have the same issue as with the upcoming The Long March. I've heard that Red Star Over China, a (or the?) source book used for the creation of the scenarios is not necessarily... accurate to real events. There's a mod for HoI3/4 that goes ham with an alternate timeline where Baron Ungern is a major player.
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Oct 31, 2021 04:29
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FT-133: The Baron's Luck - Part 2 Turn 2 - White Russians  Turn 2 has minor gains in terms of space, but that masks the greater goals of the strategy at play. Both a Gun and an MMG malfunction, much to my chagrin, but a crucial break in X2 gives me some breathing room on that front. Tons of units pour into the U8, V8, W9 hexes, giving me a good launching point for the next turn(s).  Well, before having a squad break to the INF gun across the road. A lucky pin is going to allow me to advance into V7 with less of an issue, although I think I forgot to CX them? In any case, the subsequent CC phase has no victory.  State of the board - End of Turn Turn 2 - Red Russians  Things get dicey when the crew in S5 flees the battlefield on a boxcars. (This was preceded by a 6 to break the MMG in T1, and a 1 on the repair roll in S4...) Hypnobeard's INF Gun in X7 smokes my squad with the LMG in V8, while pressure up north breaks and pins the men in X1. I return the fire with some very good rolls on my INF Guns, landing critical hits and breaking the men inside the Y4 building, as well as Casualty Reducing the full squad. Artillery finally comes alive, striking W8 [and all surrounding hexes]. I believe I didn't calculate artillery properly, using the ground level of W8 instead of each hex's respective ground level. No matter, it broke the Red Russians in V7, guaranteeing me a successful end to the ongoing Melee there.  State of the Board - End of Turn To Be Continued...
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Oct 31, 2021 19:48
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FT-133: The Baron's Luck - Part 3 Turn 3 - White Russians  Facing the onslaught, the White Russians brave the Red Defenders wherever possible. Opening shots broke the leader and pinned the squad in Z2, while also killing the crew and CR'ing the squad in Y4. The offboard observer (which can now be properly used! -2 days ago from this post) shifts the artillery over and manages to strike Y7. While the shells do land and shake the defenders, it only produces results against Y7 itself. I managed to FINALLY uncover the unit in W5, which turned out to be a real squad; rats! I was hoping to get into the church there with relative ease. In the south, some units are moved to pressure the enemy on the hill, and to allow the back line to move up. All the movement forced Hypnobeard to fire the units in Y8, allowing me to move my larger stack in X10 to Z9. My reinforcements also made it, and I have two squads move to pressure the reserve unit, while the main force goes to the hill for further flanking pressure.  The poor conscripts sent into Z2 get CR'ed AND break in the Defensive Fire Phase, only for a sniper to then pick off the survivors. Rubbish! My squad in X3 gets punished for being in the open and breaks as a result. Elsewhere, the Pinned squad in Y9 is broken after the Pin in the MPh.  State of the Board - End of Player Turn Turn 3 - Red Russians  With shooting dominating the Red Russian turn, the loss of the crew for one of the Artillery Guns, as well as the many breaks suffered, slow any possible counter-attacks. Fire is still exchanged, but with more and more dangerous units advancing, it becomes a pain for any commander to determine which one(s) to shoot at. Ultimately, the dice go my way, breaking several squads and killing a half-squad. The infantry squad I sent into melee is doing an excellent job of tying up the crew so that they can't fire at other exposed troops.  And that is when game was called. Historical Result posted:Once again, the White Russians attempted to batter their way into town with almost no reconnaissance. A flanking force did not show and the Red Russians were holding fast. A Mongolian patrol luckily appeared out of nowhere and turned the tables by flanking the Red Russian position. Most of the Red battalion was killed with the 100 or so prisoners shot in the streets. A few soldiers escaped and warned of the baron's approach. The baron's luck was about to come to an end... For what its worth, this mission can be an incredibly hard slog, though it largely comes down to the defender's setup, in addition to the usual luck of the dice. Having my Guns malfunction only for them to, luckily, come back, and then provide some devastating shots at the upper flank, was very much luck. Hypnobeard had another minefield, apart from the ones in W3 and U7, in W4; I would've laced U8 with mines instead. Lots of fortified buildings were chosen as well, but having a pillbox might've been more beneficial. That said, there was at least a turn of terrible luck with the dice that severely hampered the defence, and moves like the front line squads (X2, W5, W9) were (and could've been) absolute nightmares to breach. My Commissars didn't claim nearly as many men as I'm accustomed to. Fun, can be swingy, and lots of options to play.
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Nov 1, 2021 22:09
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FT-134: Freebooter Relish - Part 1 Location: Kyakhta Valley, near Gosiny Lake, Siberia Date: 23 June 1921 Briefing: Baron Ungern was convinced of his divine mission to be Emperor of Russia and hang every Communist. After annihilating a screening battalion of the 5th Red Russian Army south of Kyakhta, the baron moved his forces through the valley of Kyakhta to attack the city itself. However, the baron's movements had not gone unnoticed by the 5th Red Army. The 35th Bolshevik Cavalry Squadron was sent to attack the flanks of the baron's troops so as to give the fleeing remnants of the screening forces a chance to escape and allow the bulk of the 35th Infantry Division to reinforce Kyakhta. Victory Condition: The Red Russians win immediately upon earning 11 or more VP.  Red Russians Strategy I have a lot of moving to do and not a lot of means in which to do it. The most notable issue is the lack of cover from the restricted starting area. This proves to be a problematic issue as anyone that breaks may find themselves eliminated from interdiction. Considering the open ground, its not unlikely that my units, especially the conscripts will break. I have a duo of taczanka's coming onboard as well, but I'm still not quite well versed in their abilities, not to mention that they need to be exposed to achieve much of anything. I have a wealth of firepower and manpower coming in as reinforcements, but they don't count for my victory conditions. I need to get them into the fight, quickly, and make sure to divert any attention against them.  Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with no Wind at start. All river hexes are a valley. There is a road from AA9 to AA5. Wooden Structures: All buildings are wooden. Fierce Fighting: Hand-To-Hand CC is in effect. Flatmates: All Marsh hexes are Mudflats at Level 0. Der Kommissar: White Russian leaders are Commissars. Session 1  In Session #1, I achieved some of my goals. A large amount of troops managed to make it safely to the hill in the middle, I have had troops surge forward onto the top-left corner of the map in order to proceed further. My infantry gun managed to get a bit of a hot streak when I needed it most, breaking Hypnobeard's crew. That allowed for some added mobility from my Taczanka's, although not necessarily any greater protection... The reinforcements arrived on the eastern flank, split between a high and low approach for better protection, and for more opportunities to encircle enemy troops. Much of this session was mobility, and I'm almost certain that we screwed up the LOS on this one (because, we believe, the SSR explaining it is poorly written). By the end of the session, I'd reached the central area and braved some additional fire from the units Hypnobeard had concealed in the same area. One Tazcanka made it near the exit in order to annoy and take out targets of opportunity. Additionally, the bait would allow for the men to advance closer and, potentially, net me more kills and chaos. To Be Continued...
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Nov 14, 2021 02:56
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FT-134: Freebooter Relish - Part 2 Turn 3 - White Russians  With their prep fire, Hypnobeard manages to wipe out two Taczankas (frustrating me greatly) while also breaking a duo of squads on the right flank, and pinning another in some treacherous open ground. Movement is done rather freely, as I have nothing to counter them, and the return fire my men throw finds little, if any, results, aside from the heroic Infantry Gun, netting a critical hit and killing the gun and crew in L4 outright. No flames are started, but the IG continues to fire, selecting O5, and earning a break and pin result. That gun's results do a lot to shift the scales of war in the center.  State of the Board - End of Player Turn Turn 4 - Red Russians  Still in desperate need of moving along the left flank and getting units off-board, I have to make the difficult decision between shooting at the units in J1 with 1, 2, or 3 hexes of units, just to break them. While I get a pin and break result, it means I will only have a chance at breaking through in the Advance Phase if the damnable conscripts can survive, something they've managed to do for quite some time now, in their defense. Another break is achieved on the right flank. In the center, a crew had moved to O4 but was recalled to P4 for reasons, and immediately broken. A half-squad with an LMG attempts to further frustrate the defensive options available to the Whites, but they, too, are struck by good dice for Hypnobeard, killing them outright. Everything else is movement to rid myself of the defenders in the center.  The Close Combat Phase sees a leader and squad, both invaluable for the VPs, murdered at the hands of White Russians in some unknown copse in a valley watered by the blood of the fallen. Turn 4 - White Russians  Without any movement, there is only bullets to be passed around. Of note, our string of bad luck with Guns and Support Weapons continues when Hypnobeard's IG malfunctions. I suffer a squad breaking in the woods of U1.   Close Combat continues to go poorly for me.Turn 5 - Red Russians  My IG shoots into the Melee in P5, scoring a pin against my Conscripts, but a break on one of the White Squads. Not a complete reversal, but enough to make a big difference. A shot I failed to remember acts as a blocked LOS, ruining a good shot, which is immediately followed by a 4 firepower shot (with a +2 DRM) wrecking the occupants in P2 in a rather unbelievable set of die rolls. It was hard not to feel bad when Hypnobeard rolled 10, 8, 12 for the three units there. The lack of a IG, weak conscripts on the right, an uncertain melee, and what looked like an easy time advancing into the few houses covering the exit location all played a part in the draw (or victory, I don't care to remember) that Hypnobeard was convinced would be the result. Having a squad as prisoners up north, among other things, didn't help. Historical Result posted:Mongolian sentries were able to give warning only moments before the Red cavalry attacked. The baron's men were forced to fire their guns with Red cavalry charging in their midst while Taczankas, wagons with Maxim machine guns, fired on White Russian machine gun positions. Most of the attacking elements of the 35th Cavalry Squadron was destroyed but they accomplished their mission. Part of the fleeing remnants of the screening battalion escaped as the sun set and the baron's troops were delayed a day - though of the baron's own doing. After machine gunning 200+ prisoners, (NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOT WRITING THIS PART) Now, I'm almost certain we played the rules for the LOS of this map wrong, and I would like to place the blame on an SSR that seemed to explain things wrong, or too poorly for either of us to understand. The open ground really makes you cautious as the attacker, and there's no good opening position for the Infantry Gun. I think its contributions, as well as the lone squad that hosed a building of everyone in it, swung this scenario my way. The Taczankas certainly didn't!
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Nov 15, 2021 02:33
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FT-135: Gotta Light? - Part 1 Location: Sayan Mountains, north of Uliassutai, Outer Mongolia Date: 17 July 1921 Briefing: Earlier in the day, the Suharev Company had ridden to the rescue of the Kazagrandi Battalion by routing the cavalry elements of the Belshevik 35th Infantry Division. Less than 300 sldiers remained in the Kazagrandi unit, and most of them were wounded. The Suharev Company had suffered as well. Not to be deterred, the 35th Infantry Division, now reinforced, kept pursuing the Whites. The Suharev Company set up ambushes throughout the day to keep the Red cavalry at bay. Finally, as night was falling and guards were posted, the Whites made camp. No sooner were their kettles filled with beef stew than the guards sounded the alarm; the enemy had returned for another mounted attack. Victory Condition: The Red Russians win at the end of any Game Turn upon controlling 4 of the following hexes: G4, G5, H4, H5, & I6 or 2 of those hexes AND 15 or more CVP. If the Red Russians lose 19 or more CVP, it results in an immediate White Russian victory.  Red Russians Strategy Splitting my forces evenly on the flanks, and a diversionary center force, I plan to focus my attacks on gaining the high ground on the left, quickly inserting myself into the forest on the right, and leisurely poke through the center, both to force reactions, and reveal units where possible. I have a heavy focus of LMGs on the left flank, the added range being ideal if I choose to park my troops on the hill or, if the opportunity presents itself, to simply push through and cause chaos by rushing into melee. The only thing that matters is nabbing those few victory hexes (marked in Vs in the middle) and, provided they don't have too many nasty surprises, I will be taking advantage of any vision, or lack thereof, to close the distance.  Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with no Wind at start. All woods are pine woods. Roads do not exist. All buildings are crags. Fierce Fighting: Hand-To-Hand CC is in effect. No Quarter is in effect. Howl at the Moon: Night rules are in effect; White Russians have Freedom of Movement. Der Kommissar: White Russian leaders are Commissars. Hidden & Dangerous: All White Russian Elite/1st Line MMC are Stealthy. Turn 1 - Red Russians  Turn 1's movement is a steady process, with the only real risk being the stack in O6. The 9-1 leader and squad survived an oncoming shot from the adjacent White squad, only to be broken themselves in the return fire.  Post advances, the Whites revealed at least two stacks, and an aggressive pairing of a leader and 3-4-7 squad were caught up against a 4-4-7, the close combat turning into a melee. Turn 1 - White Russians  Aside from a light reshuffling of Hypnobeards left flank, not much else occurs. Shots by my troops fail to achieve any noticeable affect, but the Melee in H8 luckily goes my way. Turn 2 - Red Russians  Save for a stack of squads shooting, and pinning, the enemy down in E8, its all about movement. I need to expose White Russians and the lack of any real firepower (as my LMGs are way out on the left) makes it so I'd rather risk bumping into units, such as in K8. In return, I take at least 3 shots in the movement phase, though my luck holds out when there are no adverse effects.  In the defensive fire phase, however, a good roll results in a sniper, breaking my squad+lmg in L7  while a Hidden Gun in H5 opens fire at the Leader and Half-Squad in H7, only for the leader to roll boxcars and die! And then it broke on a subsequent shot... Every Close Combat, aside from the one with Dummies, devolves into a Melee. Well, at least my troops have the advantage and its tying down vital troops for the defense of the hill... Turn 2 - White Russians  A lucky roll repairs the malfunctioned Gun, but otherwise not much occurs.  As the turn progressed and units had advance out of threat (if not into it with Close Combat) and one of the final blows before the towel was thrown in. Killing one of the last remaining White Leaders, as well as the crew with the MMG, being a huge blow against the defender. By this point, there was still 4 turns for the Reds, half of the Whites remaining manpower was stuck in Melee, or broken, and the victory hexes of the hill were already under attack (and the Inf Gun under heavy threat) that would absolutely get advanced on and locked down ASAP. Its hard to say what went wrong, perhaps there just wasn't enough defensive fire, perhaps the map geometry benefits the attack too much, maybe a flare should've been used to harm the attackers movement options, maybe we didn't fully understand the need for entering into, or defending against, close combat?  Historical Result posted:Half of the Suharev Company formed a skirmish line among the rocks and pine trees on a hill near where they had camped. Those of the Kazagrandi Battalion who could still ride mounted their horses for a counter-attack. The fire from the skirmish line forced the Bolsheviks to dismount and continue on foot. An urgent call went out among the defenders for flares, but in their haste to form a skirmish line, all the flares save one had been left at the tents. The left flank of the attacking infantry pushed up to near the top of the hill, only to be caught in the open by the Kazagrandi horsemen. As the Red infantry attempted to fall back towards some trees, they were set upon by the other half of the Suharev Company and annihilated. Dinner was finally served without any further interruptions. Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Nov 16, 2021 |
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Nov 16, 2021 18:19
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Fixed
Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Nov 16, 2021 |
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Nov 16, 2021 18:20
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Hey, you know what!? We're done with the Russian Civil War Stuff!!! Hooray! Now for the Chinese Civil War stuff...
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Nov 16, 2021 19:56
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Tuning back in to say that my ~6 month long cycle of rotating interest has brought ASL back into my gaze. Looking forward to catching up on the thread.
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Nov 18, 2021 21:29
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DB-081: Lack of Dicsernment - Part 1 Location: Canton, Kwangtung Province, China Date: 15 December 1927 Briefing: In April of 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Army (Nationalists) broke away from the Communist Chinese and their Russian advisors. Chiang ordered the arrest of all Communists in Shanghai, and a civil war began. After Russian advisor Borodin left for Russia on July 7th, the Communists were without effective leadership and the revolutionary tide immediately began to wane. New Russian advisors appeared in August to help start a campaign against Chiang with uprisings of the masses. In Canton, Communist leaders labored under the assumption that the revolution was on the increase but the reality was different. With heady ideas, the Canton Communists started a general uprising on the 12th of December. Although the Communists held most parts of the city, their defenses were not tied together. Three days later, the Nationalists came to visit. Victory Condition: The Nationalist Chinese win at the end of any Game turn on/after Turn 4 by earning the required VP on the Game Turn record. Non-Factory buildings south of the canal are worth 1 VP, Factories and buildings north of the canal are worth 2 VP. The Nationalist Chinese cannot lose more than 24 CVP.  Red Russians Strategy The Nationalist Chinese forces start just opposite of buildings and a road, which is rather unfortunate for me. I don't have the open ground of lines of sight I'd like to chew up any formation that attempts to go through, but the terrain immediately after has some dead space I can use to punish any hasty advance. I should have put a little more thought into my central front squads, but we'll see why later. I have some guns set up in locations that, honestly, are meant to take advantage of a situation where Hypnobeard gets greedy. I need to ditch the first set of buildings (GREEN) once things get nasty and fall back to the dark green second line of defense. I should have thought about this a bit more and had the units at the wall itself. Sure, I might not keep concealment with them, but their LOS and +2 TEM from the wall would've been just as good, with an easy retreat to the factory should anything happen. The Guns are set well back, mainly to force Hypnobeard to guess where they are and, as stated, hit hard when things look especially favorable. Should I manage to survive long enough and still lose my positions on the south side of the canal, I have to beat feet back north and hope that any survivors can maintain cohesion behind hedges and in buildings there.  Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Weather is Overcast with possible Snowfall. Wooden Structures: All buildings are wooden. Bloody Fighting: Hand-to-Hand CC is in effect. Elites: All Nationalist Chinese 4-4-7s are Assault Engineers. Turn 1 - Nationalist Chinese  Opening shots from the Nationalist HMG scores a break result on my Partisans, it will later be determined that these guys are hosed, especially since I didn't try to pull them out. A few moves were contested, netting me a break from a squad moving in J8 and got caught, but, otherwise, Hypnobeard's troops were left unfazed by my attacks, or attempts thereof. Hypnobeard didn't place their vehicles in motion, had to start the engines on both, and immediately blew out a gasket on one of the Armored Cars. I argued that that should be a mulligan, but Hypnobeard wanted to play on.  More units approached, and even entered into CC. My Partisans are Stealthy and at least one enemy was CX meaning I only had to roll 1 less than Hypnobeard for an Ambush. I didn't get it, and I was immediately punished with a snake eyes, outright mulching the poor Communists  .Turn 1 - Red Chinese  My own turn doesn't really add anything to the game. No shots attain a result, and my HIP'ed gun, LOOKING RIGHT AT TWO SQUADS, flubs their shot AND reveal themselves. This was with a -2 for Bore Sight too. They prepared for this and still mucked it up! Several stacks are shuffled around to give off the scent that they may be real (or fake!)  Post-Advance/Rout movement Turn 2 - Nationalist Chinese  Just look at all this movement. Nothing notable is achieved in terms of shots, to the frustration of the both of us. I forgot to note it but my gun behind the hedges in the top-left? MALFUNCTION on their first shot. My Guns have accomplished nothing so far . It is especially annoying when they are both bore-sighted on their respective shot attempts, with juicy targets to blow away, and flubbing them all. The Armored Cars move to the canal proper was a bit ambitious, and would likely have benefitted doing that later with the support of infantry. Perhaps some VBM freeze might've been in order?  End of Session Positions To Be Continued...
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Nov 28, 2021 03:29
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DB-081: Lack of Dicsernment - Part 2 Turn 2 - Red Chinese  A Gun finally gets some worth out of it, blowing up the Nationalist Armored Car at the canal. Several squads move back to more defensible locations, and luckily none break. However, the broken squad still in AA10 is re-DM'ed, and a squad hiding in my fortified building in CC9 gets Heat of Battle and promptly goes Berserk. Thankfully, it was no longer my Movement Phase or else they would've had to immediately rush into the substantial Chinese forces sitting right in front of them. Turn 3 - Nationalist Chinese  Another turn, another setback for my Guns. The 37mm piece is eliminated with a roll of a 6. Machine guns open with a shot at U6, but the walls are still holding, and nobody is exposed. Movement then begins with plenty of bodies crossing the street. [Hypnobeard should've spread out their final destinations a bit, as the left flank is condensed into two buildings, rather than split into 5, or more, separate hexes that would be far harder for me to defend against.] The Defensive Fire Phase goes amazingly well for me [I diced Hypnobeard this session, if I recall correctly] with two separate breaks in S8 from a point blank shot that cowered from 12 to 8. My berserks took a shot and missed, but a machine gun I'd kept hidden in CC8 opens up at the same target and rolls snake eyes, with a -2 for Bore Sight. The 2 on 4 nets me a Casualty Reduction and pair of breaks. The Machine Gun promptly self-destructs in the next roll (11) and I'm back to repairing support weapons.  Advances and Advancing Fires done, a large Close Combat commences, with a -3(!) for the ambush roll on my side. If the worst I do is equal Hypnobeard's roll, I'll get an ambush. Hypnobeard rolls a 1 and I a 3 . Neither of us find success and the fighting breaks out into a melee. At least I'm tying down two squads and a leader.Turn 3 - Red Chinese  With reinforcements coming on board this turn, there was a bit of a clock on the Nationalist Chinese getting a move on before I added 4 squads to the central factory, but nobody is really in a position to stop my reinforcements either... The movement phase saw some re-shuffling of defenses on the right flank to eventually get into the fortified building location so I wouldn't throw that away easily. The Berserks were immediately killed when attempting to run at AA10. On either flank, I managed to make my dummy stacks appealing enough to get shot at. The right flank delayed the advance there by at least 2 turns, so I'll take it. As the turn progressed, and not much else happened, the Melee saw the Reds roll snake eyes and eliminate a squad and a leader. This was a serious setback for Hypnobeard when the return roll had no effect. And that's where the game ended. There was plenty more time to go, lots of squads in play, and maybe I'm too much of an optimist. I think, if anything, this is a great scenario to teach someone how to attack, as the roads separate defensible terrain, lines of sight are tight/good and the Reds need to be aggressive in their defense without bleeding themselves dry. Just a shame that the dice went my way far more regularly in the 2nd half. Historical Result posted:The Nationalists secured part of the city only to have fresh Communist troops appear in their rear areas. The Communists were able to move past Nationalist troops using side passages that the Nationalists did not know about. The Nationalists, being more numerous, were able to secure the city in one day. The uprising was bloodily put down with quarter neither given nor asked for. Communist leaders who had the misfortune of being "arrested" by the Nationalists were either publicly beheaded or drowned in the canals and rivers. Trotsky later wrote that, the Canton uprising was drowned in blood and the revolution crushed because of a "lack of discernment" by its adventurous leaders.
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Nov 28, 2021 21:43
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Just how much information CAN a counter hold? This is mainly to post these because I don't believe I have added them anywhere else, and also because you can only really find these aids on the inside cover of the OFFICIAL 2E RULEBOOK BINDER™. I've never seen them anywhere else, but am happy to be corrected if they ever received a (re)print in a journal or magazine I missed. The progression we'll see is infantry (+ support weapons), Guns, Vehicles, other support weapons and miscellaneous counters. This is by all means not an extensive listing of all the possible counters one can see, for example there are no boats or amphibious landing craft, parachutes, gliders, or aircraft. That being said, it covers just about everything a counter can have on it. If you have questions about stuff, don't hesitate to ask.    
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Nov 29, 2021 04:25
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Locating all the various features of (particularly) vehicle counters is irritating, because you end up having to look over all of them trying to find the exact combo of vehicle trait symbols whatever unit you've actually got has. And the symbols for wheeled and fully tracked are too close for my elderly eyes.
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Nov 29, 2021 05:23
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I admit I wish they'd done something like add a color to it to differentiate. Its not like they couldn't have had red in one other spot... There used to be a 3rd party vendor that sold utility cards for vehicles. Essentially it was a cue card with all the vehicles details im order to make determining what you had and what it did super easy. Thats usually why i grab an extra vehicle of each type, leave it offbpard and have Show Info on it. As a fun aside, there is, or was, a 3rd party vendor that made turret counters. Like... specific turret counters for each nationality. Never had to rely on a generic one ever again, and gave you all of the turret's stats on it like a reg counter
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Nov 29, 2021 06:01
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Can I use the counters from the original ASL with the updated version?
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Nov 29, 2021 15:04
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NC Wyeth Death Cult posted:Can I use the counters from the original ASL with the updated version? As in 1st Edition vs 2nd? The counters have almost always remained the same (I can't think of any significant changes off-hand aside from maybe ID letters or additional colours for Acquisition counters). The big difference between Editions of a particular module (Beyond Valour 1 vs 2, etc.) is that they will include errata or changes to scenarios/specific rules that were discovered through years of play. Edit: If you mean Squad Leader to ASL, well, so long as the values are the same then there shouldn't be an issue. I know the Sniper counter is one of the bigger changes between the two games, but otherwise I'm a little short on details at the moment.
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Nov 29, 2021 15:08
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Jobbo_Fett posted:As in 1st Edition vs 2nd? The counters have almost always remained the same (I can't think of any significant changes off-hand aside from maybe ID letters or additional colours for Acquisition counters). The big difference between Editions of a particular module (Beyond Valour 1 vs 2, etc.) is that they will include errata or changes to scenarios/specific rules that were discovered through years of play. Thanks, I am on the fence because all my ASL stuff is from the 90s and I was thinking about getting rid of it but it's only a couple modules so I could also keep it and play with my regular partner. If I could use my counters with the current searchable rules then that would make a difference. (also my apologies, I thought I was posting this in the boardgame thread but while I am here, thanks for continuing with this I really like reading the playthroughs)
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Nov 29, 2021 15:27
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NC Wyeth Death Cult posted:Thanks, I am on the fence because all my ASL stuff is from the 90s and I was thinking about getting rid of it but it's only a couple modules so I could also keep it and play with my regular partner. If I could use my counters with the current searchable rules then that would make a difference. (also my apologies, I thought I was posting this in the boardgame thread but while I am here, thanks for continuing with this I really like reading the playthroughs) Hey no apologies necessary, I'd be answering there otherwise and I enjoy helping others with ASL  .Even the 90s modules are still valid in the game's current environment, and I'm sure you could get the most recent versions of some of the scenarios you have if you ask the right people.
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Nov 29, 2021 15:39
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DB-091: Atrocities Beget Atrocities - Part 1 Location: Tsinan, Shantung Province, China Date: 3 May 1928 Briefing: By 1927, the Japanese began to worry of a united China that also included Manchuria. The Kwantung Army believed Japan's ordained destiny started in Manchuria but included all of China. On 18 April 1928, the Japanese ordered 5,000 troops into Shantung Province. However, only 500 troops were assigned to the provincial capital, Tsinan, so as to protect Japanese nationals and only arrived on 30 April. The next day, the Nationalist Army was ordered by Chian Kai-shek to continue their Northern Expedition to Tsinan to purge the area of Communists. Japanese Army officers were looking for any incident to expand their grip on China. The lead Chinese element gave the Japanese exactly that indicent. Victory Condition: The Chinese win at Game End if they have earned more than 3 VP than the Japanese. Each side may earn VP for CVP (Exc: Only for captured/eliminated Leaders). The Chinese (only) may earn VP for Building control: 1 for E9 and K9; 2 for L5; 3 for D2.  Nationalist Chinese Strategy My strategy here was to pick a building that would allow me to "surround" the Japanese at another location and then use that as a stepping stone towards assaulting further points. There was also the fear that any spot I would pick could, or would, be counter-attacked rather quickly. Working with Conscripts, among other things, is always a downside due to their lowered movement factors. If I can nab the L5 factory, and kill a leader in the process, I'll be ahead on VP and will hopefully translate that into a victory, forcing Hypnobeard to come to me instead of the other way around.  Special Rules Weather: EC is Moist, with a Mild Breeze from the North at start. Wooden Structures: All buildings are wooden. Flat-Footed: No Move restrictions apply to Japanese Personnel as if night until reinforcements arrive. Turn 1 - Nationalist Chinese  With no one to shoot at with any strong base fire, I opt to go straight into movement. My approach is to flood the right side of the map, secure the L5 factory, and then head left where possible. The forces on the upper side of the map exist solely as a deterrent, steal away any concealment and then think about advancing later. My first turn doesn't go all that well, and I immediately realize that I should've chosen L5 or the E3 factories as my starting location. Nothing to do but continue forward! Such actions kill my DC-carrying leader on a subsequent shot thanks to the habitual 4's that Hypnobeard gets when I'm moving around. The leaders are the VP scorers so that basically evens out the points right away. State of the board - End of Turn Turn 1 - Japanese  Hypnobeard has no incentive to move so fires away, luckily not breaking my 9-1 leader with the three squads he is with. All the shots invites my sniper to target and break a crew with an MMG in I4. Return fire in the east factory only breaks a half-squad. I can stripe some Japanese squads, but that sort of staying power really frustrates an advance if you don't secure kills.  State of the board - End of turn Turn 2 - Nationalist Chinese  The action continues in the L5 factory, with massive shots and bad rolls earning me less than what I'd hoped. A few shots were returned but nothing of note happened. I apparently forgot that I could advance into the fortified L6 location for whatever reason and so gave up the opportunity to be one hex deeper in my advance. Also, I haven't done anything notable with an MG in P1 and I was really beating myself up about it post-game. Turn 2 - Japanese  A half-squad attemtps to snipe my leader in M7 but misses. The MMG in I4 breaks the squad in G1, misses a rate of fire, then hits on its third shot, generating a Heat of Battle, where the squad then goes Berserk. I lose a stack of dummies and a squad in L2 breaks under pressure. Return fire against L6 eliminates the half-squad. Turn 3 - Nationalist Chinese  A shot from a squad with an LMG nets me two pins, which I will absolutely take under the current circumstances. The Berserks must move first, and I get sneaky with bypass movement, and they eventually make their way into I4, taking plenty of fire along the way. Somehow they arrive unscathed, now pressure the Japanese strongpoint. My reinforcements come from off-board, my HMG moves up and my forces spread out while thinking of moving to the west.  Multiple close combats go my way, mainly due to Pins and overwhelming FP. Turn 3 - Japanese  Turn 3 starts of amazingly well for me! I lose a leader to a casualty MC rally AND one of my HMG disintegrates when the crew smashes the bolt to bits. Any points advantage I could want is being dwindled by lucky KIAs from Hypnobeard and unlucky KIAs by myself. Not that either are to blame on either one of us, its just lovely. I also really didn't appreciate the scenario rules allowing the Japanese reinforcements to come onboard from anywhere... Plenty of movement at my front goes unpunished thanks to bad rolls or low firepower. Honestly, Hypnobeard could've been 1000% more aggressive on this turn and won immediately. I've lost a large part of my mobile firepower, and two leaders down means I have no reliable way of rallying... not counting if and when I can roll low enough to get under the 5-morale bar.  The close combat phase costs me another two squads when the melee goes into hand-to-hand and a good roll makes recuperating from early losses that much harder. As an aside, and I need to bring this up with Hypnobeard, but if you play on VASL (on VASSAL), be absolutely aware of the fact that concealing a stack the "easy" way adds multiple concealment counters, which is illegal(!)  You're deliberately obfuscating the number of forces you have, and the rulebook prohibits this. I've just forgotten to point this out to Hypnobeard, on multiple occasions, 'cause I keep forgetting, not their fault for not knowing.VP Count to date: Nationalist Chinese: 5 Japanese: 3 To be continued...
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Dec 11, 2021 19:37
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DB-091: Atrocities Beget Atrocities - Part 2 Turn 4 - Nationalist Chinese  Another ruthless turn, my berserkers, who didn't kill anyone last turn, run towards the nearest enemy and get hosed, losing half their men. The squad in G4 breaks from concentrated fire, and one of my valuable Elite squads is trying to reposition to attack the bottom left VP building. The shot from Hypnobeard is another friggin' four, casualty reducing and breaking the squad. I try to consolidate what troops I have left in the L5 factory. Sniper are nice but against the Japanese you need to hit leaders, which just ain't happening. The Berserkers end up getting eliminated in Close Combat.  State of the Board - End of Turn Turn 4 - Japanese  The next turn goes just as poorly for the Chinese, with even more broken Chinese and shots, doubled or not, just not connecting with anything. Both the Chinese and Japanese get reinforcements, but with the Japanese step-reducing, its a lot easier for them to recuperate. Everyone being forced to rout into terrible locations that can't be protected, like L8, really doesn't help my situation either. Later  I prep fire, get a good result that translates to a Sniper check, which Hypnobeard gets, randomly rolls onto my giant stack, my random selection picks my drat 9-1 leader and someone else, Leader dies and that's 2 more VP to the Japanese (Now tied at 5). I concede on the spot. There's just no way for me to recover with so many losses.  End of Game I had a real struggle with this one, with boneheaded plays like not setting up my HMGs immediately, to rotten luck like low rolls on Hypnobeard's part that ended up with KIAs or Snipers that seemed laser-focused on my leaders. Barely ever getting any rate of fire on my machine guns has also seemingly been a big problem, truly noticeable with HMGs when you have a 50/50 chance of getting a 2nd shot, not to mention having broken one early on. As I mentioned before, my setup on this map was really poor. I should've taken a factory, but I was trying to be too cute. I never gave myself an opportunity to use Dare Death, although that requires a Leader being alive, so, you know... Historical Result posted:Japanese troops caught poorly-controlled Chinese troops in the very act of plundering Japanese businesses. As a few Japanese troops moved in and attempted to restore order, they were fired on by Chinese Dare-Death troops entering the area. Soon, battles raged all over the city as each side attempted to arrest enemy leaders. It would be hours before generals from both sides gained control of their troops. Later, it was discovered that Chinese troops had executed some Japanese. Before nightfall, the Japanese had captured and executed the Nationalist Commissioner of Foreign Affairs of Shantung, his wife, and 14 officers for crimes against Japanese civilians. More atrocities would soon be committed.
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Dec 11, 2021 21:48
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DB-112: And so it begins - Part 1 Location: Tsinan, Shantung Province, China Date: 9 May 1928 Briefing: The Japanese offensive on the 8th secured the northern and eastern portion of the city but failed to secure a major breakthrough into the rest of the city. Chinese civilians either fled to any Chinese troops they could find or were shot by the Japanese, while buildings all across the city were damaged or destroyed. The Japanese secured their positions and prepared for a second day of battle to take the rest of the city. During the night, Chinese cavalry moved some troops into new positions to aide the rest of their troops to escape westward. The Chinese were now ready to fight. Victory Condition: The Japanese win at the end of any Game Turn if they Control building I3 or at Game End if they amass 30 or more CVP. Chinese civilians are worth 1 CVP or 4 CVP (if eliminated or captured, respectively). Chinese Exit VP subtracts from Japanese CVP.  Japanese Strategy So I start with some limited forces. If the Chinese player is too aggressive, it may overwhelm me, or it may overextend and allow me to counter-attack. The I3 building is absolutely vital if I can push for it, but I can't do so until my own reinforcements show up. The civilians and backup come from the east and I need to bottle them up as quickly as possible. If I can smash the Chinese reinforcements quickly enough, I'll be able to leverage that additional firepower towards the rest of Hypnobeard's forces. The scenario also makes us roll for Rubble and Flame creation, adding a large amount of random chaos. Left undisturbed, the flame will turn into blazes, generating large amounts of smoke and deeply affecting the means of attacking and defending in this urban setting.  Turns: 6 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moist, with a Mild Breeze from the Northeast at start. Weather is Gusty. Wooden Structures: All buildings are wooden. Crewed Guns: Both sides apply G1.611. No Man's Land: All non-captured Chinese troops on/east of hexrow J are considered eliminated at Game End. Turn 1 - Nationalist Chinese  Plenty of shots that the Chinese would be foolish not to take. Hypnobeard's Gun immediately finds its mark and stripes a squad and wounds a leader. The large stack in I8 reveals my dummy counters in K8 I was hoping to force a panic with, while my forces in K4 and K5 suffer pins. In the movement phase, the civilian reinforcements quietly shuffle onto the board. [Afterwards, we both discussed how the optimal choice would've been to CX or at least move as far west as possible. Even if the Japanese shoot, it is better than allowing the Japanese to quickly swamp these troops from offboard. Oh, and a Blaze is generated! Not how the Blaze instantly creates Smoke, spreading southwest two hexes? Now imagine if that smoke existed in an area where it is between opposing forces! Turn 1 - Japanese  Despite being adjacent, my INF gun turns out to be absolutely useless, rolling a 6 and an 8, both doubles. The large amount of firepower in M5 all targets N7, also to no avail. I get two pins when shooting at units in I7, but that is shortlived when the gun immediately scores yet another hit, Casualty reduces my squad, wounds my leader a 2nd time, followed by a shot from the group in I8, also getting a low roll, killing my leader and forcing the Half-Squad to go berserk. A 6fp shot from O8 obliterates a squad, because the string of 4's and 6's in these cases seems like a regular occurrence. They will die in the Rout Phase. Plenty of units run up to enemy stacks to force CC. At the very least, killing these units will get me vital CVP.  Close Combats cost me yet another leader and a squad. I can't complain here, though, I net myself a greater amount of casualties, at least one civilian unit, and have another two possible captures. Turn 2 - Chinese  Prep fire is here, but nothing happens. During the Movement Phase, Hypnobeard declares a Dare Death Squad in I7 which charges at K7. I try to take them out, but a 10 and a 9 sees the Half-Squad fail to achieve anything AND break themselves in a panic. Other squads advance and I break one in K5 (I forgot to note this). In the Defensive Fire Phase, it takes me 5 shots to get a break and a KIA against the units in N7. That was a war of attrition, taking two shots to break both, 1 null result, and two further shots that CR'ed or Eliminated a squad. A sniper up north pins my leader... I was truly worried I'd have another leader loss.  CC sees the Half-Squad in K7 eliminated, I capture a Chinese Half-Squad as prisoners, and the melee in P5 ends in a victory for me. The three civilians units, captured, are worth 12 points! Chinese have 21 CVP losses Turn 2 - Japanese  A pin in K7 and a break in K4 are nice results, especially since I'm locked out of most any other attacks. Plenty of movement to set myself up for next time, though! Another building goes up in smoke, allowing for an easier time moving in the far south.  End of Game Turn CVP Losses by Chinese - 24 To Be Continued... Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Dec 12, 2021 |
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Dec 12, 2021 03:02
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DB-112: And so it begins - Part 2 Drop in quality due to losing the original recording, have to use the youtube backup. Turn 3 - Nationalist Chinese  Needing to make a move, Hypnobeard lets loose a ton of lead, pinning a number of units, striping and wounding the squad and leader in M3, while my forces screw up a 21FP+1 shot on a Dare Death squad rushing to kill the pinned conscripts in K5. Poor bastards are doomed... Another flame turns into a Blaze up top. [Technically I think both flames there become blazes.]  CC approaches, and the conscripts roll a BS snake eyes. They had no right to accomplish such a feat, while Pinned, against glorious Chinese Dare Death Squads. The snake eyes means I could generate a leader, but I roll high and nothing happens. Hypnobeard's 4 easily dices up the conscripts as well, but still a crappy way to lose 2 CVP. Chinese CVP Losses = 28 Turn 3 - Japanese  I focus entirely on shooting, roll many 10s, score a singular Pin. Return fire breaks my INF Gun crew, pins a squad. There's a little movement to sneak more units down south, but I'm rolling like crap for Morale Checks so I don't want to waste any manpower in this war of attrition. I also forgot to bring in all my reinforcements this turn...  Turn 4 - Nationalist Chinese  More fire as Hypnobeard tries their best at whittling down my forces. It doesn't look good when they score a critical with their artillery piece, but the subsequent roll (after snake eyes) was high enough that with all the minuses, I only striped the squad. This was right after a boxcars to malfunction a LMG. I managed to ALSO roll boxcars with my only HMG. Another fantastic FP firegroup up top is stopped by constant 10s. The movement back west is specifically Chinese leaders. If they successfully escape, they will be able to reduce the current CVP count. Its a long shot, but worthwhile nonetheless. Turn 4 - Japanese  I remember to put my reinforcements on board, then swiftly make illegal moves with them 'cause I'm a doofus. I have no clue why I thought you could bypass hill hexes. To change that, I would've simply gone towards the Chinese in I8, likely ending this scenario one turn faster. I finally get breaks on the Chinese in K4, while Hypnobeard's gun claims another squad KIA. Turn 5 - Chinese  The Chinese leaders exit off-board and change the CVP to 25 (-3). I break my HMG trying to repair it. Hypnobeard starts moving squads, and gets hosed in almost every opportunity, the dice clearly favoring me in that phase. The leaders exiting means there's no real chance of rallying those broken squads, weakening their overall defense. Turn 5 - Japanese  End of Game - Japanese Victory This was the turn I had to end it in. With less and less Support Weapons from malfunctions and eliminations, I dug my heels in and send squad after squad to surround the Chinese in the southern positions. Some bad LOS screwed Hypnobeard over, on top of poor dice rolls, and my Japanese squads pushing on, albeit striped, on good ones. The piling on meant that H7 was completely surrounded. My sniper (which, if I am counting it properly, hasn't activated since this game [3 and counting so far!]) triggered, randomed onto H7, Hypnobeard rolled doubles, I confirmed the 2nd, turning a Break into a Break + Pin. I broke the Elite squad and pinned the crew with them, and that was game. The squad would be eliminated in the rout phase for being adjacent to enemies regardless of where they go. The subsequent CC phase was judged to be so one-sided as to not be bothered to play. And I have to say, Hypnobeard gave a great showing of themselves on defense despite the early goof of not moving the civilians as much as they should have. Accidentally delaying my reinforcements by a turn could have cost me dearly had the CVP count not been so high already. The early loss of my Fortified building was turned against me, and I can safely say I won't be doing that again anytime soon. We continued our seemingly endless amount of 11's and 12's on SW shots, breaking and losing multiple SWs over the scenario. All in all, a fun scenario I think people should play. Historical Result posted:Moments before the Japanese started their attacks on the 9th, the Chinese cavalry were already conducting attacks against a lead element of Japanese infantry which had pushed the furthest West from the day before. Chinese cavalry units escorting unarmed Chinese political families attempted to fight past the lead Japanese troops only to be attacked by Japanese troops following them. The Japanese, as they secured most of the remaining key buildings with the bayonet, had about two companies of infantry mauled by the cavalry. Some Chinese cavalry escaped west with a few of the families, and reported how the Japanese could be beaten with better preparations. Brutality marked this day, and the next two days, of combat as thousands of Chinese civilians and troops were killed, while many more buildings were destroyed as each side dumped artillery on each other and fires raged out of control. Lt. Colonel Joe Stillwell, in China, would write immediately after this battle, the Japanese, if provoked, could easily occupy all key points in China. Japanese provocations had just begun.
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Dec 13, 2021 03:27
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FT-180: First Soviet Lost - Part 1 Location: Ninggang, Jiangai Province, China Date: 14 January 1929 Briefing: On 4 May, 1929, at Ninggang, Zhu De brought his forces together with Mao's 1st Army to form the 4th Worker's and Peasant's Army. Zhu came with about 1000 troops and Mao had between 1200 and 1300 troops. Zhu and Mao (Zhu-Mao) then laid the framework for the first independent communist region. Eventually, as Zhu-Mao recruited more men, some of the local warlords took notice of their growing competition in the Red Army. The army, growing too large (8000 men) to be supported by the local area, Zhu-Mao divided the army into the 4th Army and the 5th Army. The 4th Army moved out, leaving the 5th Army to defend the Soviet base for as long as they could before following the 4th Army. Victory Condition: The side with the most VPs at game end wins. CVPs are gained normally for VP purposes. Each side gains 1 VP for Each Stone Building under their control. Red Chinese gain Exit VP for units exited anywhere except West.  Nationalist Chinese Strategy There is something I need to impress on you, the reader. This scenario sucks. It sucks hard. Like... it is rear end, butts, and poo poo. I'm glad I didn't play this with Hypnobeard [hello superemma, if you're reading this] because we would've likely both been absolutely triggered by this. That or it would've been the same result with me absolutely fuming at the terrible rolls for 3 hours with an insurmountable objective. But enough complaining. "Why does this scenario suck so much, Jobbo?" I hear you ask, well, take a peek below... Turns: 7 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moist, with No Wind at start. Lame Ducks: Dare Death is NOT AVAILABLE Turn 1 - Communist Chinese  How It Started.  How it ended - Only 3 turns later CVP Count: 5 to 48 for the Communist Chinese This is exactly how you don't design a scenario, and until I see a full playthrough from 4 other reputable pairs of players, I will never accept anything other than this result. Alright. So, let's start with the first problem of this scenario. This is actually something we've seen several times, namely very low firepower squads being forced to fight towards, and presumably into, Stone Buildings. This isn't always an issue, but it is especially heinous when the majority of your attacking forces are Conscripts. 3 movement factors, no special abilities, 6 morale... they are a recipe for disaster. The 4 leaders I get only features one "good" one, the 8-1, but the other three are more for rallying than any other purpose. The two artillery pieces I have are nothing to write home about. The nature of the map forces them to be kept far away, lest they have no LOS to... anyone, and the fact I must use red #s means they are inherently worse every Range Column to the right I am. Conversely, the Reds have Partisans, able to move in Woods for 1MF, and not being subject to ELR (generally). This makes them incredibly at moving and resisting getting "stuck". The Mortar can be a pain to use, but since the Reds move first, you're guaranteed some action with it, the same can't always be said about the two ART pieces. The addition of two LMGs might as well be equivalent to two squads. The Reds have a Commissar and a 9-1 leader, actually good leader, one of which making rallies piss easy and the other being a good-to-have to prevent a breakthrough with the -1. The map is a huge disadvantage for the Nationalists. Both open terrain and woods mean that if I go slowly, I'm open to more shots (Remember, Conscripts have 3(!) movement factors, which is not enough to move into an upper level woods [Req. 4]) and if I go fast I'm opening myself to far deadlier shots. Every building worth assaulting is Stone. There are 14 of them, so there are enough Partisans to fill all of them, not that you have to, but it also means that, every turn, the Reds get 14 free VPs unless I start capturing locations, so I'm on a fast timer to get in and lock something, anything, down. And lastly, the scenario's problems, rules and victory conditions wise. The Red Chinese have no reason to send units to exit. Any gains you might make would have to be made early, far too early to be deemed worthwhile unless heading directly East and, even then, why bother? Protecting the buildings is free VP, and you'll take out Nationalist Chinese forces while doing so, netting you more (C)VP. Disabling Dare Death squads also means that the only way for the Chinese to advance quickly is Human Wave. Law of averages on 6 (technically 7) morale troops in adjacent grounds for 6FP -2 shots? Not. Good. Oh, and because the Red Chinese set up first, you might think you have the advantage of knowing where they are, etc. Well, they move first too! So if I tried to be sneaky or smart and throw everyone at one side of the deployment zone, the Reds can simply... reposition themselves to cover all the open ground to the buildings. Now, imagine all those problems existing for the Nationalists, then add that I got absolutely diced. Like, its not even funny how terribly poo poo my dice were, rolling an average(!) 8.75 (give or take a hundreth) on my Morale Checks. EVERYONE BROKE. So, a loose re-telling. Turn 1 - Red Chinese mortar fires on a +4 at 12 range, hits my ART on the south board with a 3. Follows with a 4. I roll modified 8, Crew broken. That Artillery piece will never shoot. Not that it matters, because the ART pieces only have 4FP, and have little to no chance at doing anything against Stone Buildings. Red Chinese make no other shots, reposition against my two lines of forces. Turn 1 Nationalists - I get to move all my troops, two squads are broken in short order, both from 3 Firepower shots, one a snake eyes, the other a three. I keep trying to get closer, a third squad breaks on another 4 from my opponent. Defensive Fire Phase, another 4 on an IFT roll. Squad #4 breaks. End of Game Turn 1 - 1 to 15 VP for the Reds Turn 2 - Reds voluntary destroy their Mortar, I count the 2VPs that gives. The Reds have pulled away just about everywhere, making them impossible to see, or shoot at. I get a critical hit with my surviving Arty. It does not, because 37mm sucks against Stone Buildings. Turn 2 Nationalists - I continue trying to assault this mountain village. One squad gets shot at by an LMG, on the rare time my opponent rolled above 5 (it was a 7), Squad #5 breaks. One of the few 1st line squads I have moves up, the guy next to him has already shot, the LMG in the house broke, rolls a 4, Squad #6 breaks. Conscripts up North try to get SOMETHING so that I can advance into buildings and worry less about their firepower, opponent rolls 5, they miraculously stay alive on a 3. Instantly followed up by a 2nd shot, opponent rolls a 6 (modified to 4), Squad #7 breaks. Other conscript tries to follow, and take a different path, goes into a 1FP residual, opponent rolls a 5, Squad #8 breaks. Yet another 1st line squad attempts to get closer, everyone nearby has taken shots, there's residual everywhere. Doesn't loving matter, opponent rolls a 4, Squad #9 breaks. I manage to kill a half-squad in CC, to add to the other squad I killed, also in CC, in the 1st turn. End of Game turn 2 - 5 to 48 VP for the Reds. Turn 3 Reds - I haven't rallied a single squad all game. Prep fire, first two shots by the Reds are back to back 5's, breaks squads #10 and 11. The next two Prep fire shots are back to back 5's, one conscript squad survives, Squad #12 breaks. A shot later in the phase rolls a 3, breaks Squads #13. In the movement phase, I have lose so many forces to the broken status, that he can casually walk a Partisan squad to my giant stack of broken units. They will DM automatically, and either rout, or simply be impossible to rally. Over 50% of my initial force is broken, useless, and dying. I traded 26 CVP, that I would absolutely lose, for 3. Had we counted the building VP, it would've ended 5 to 62. gently caress. This. Scenario. Historical Result posted:The 5th Army came under attack by the warlord Wu Shang and his Hunan Chinese troops. Under constant pressure the 5th Army finally broke and scattered into the mountains. Wu Shang then broke up the fledgling Soviet community, destroying most of the mountain village. It would be over 20 years before Mao could return to the mountain top where he had established the first rural Soviet in China.
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Dec 13, 2021 04:56
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BFP-26: Armored Samurai - Part 1 Location: Harbin, Manchuria Date: 4 February 1932 Briefing: Tension between China and Japan over Manchuria was increasing. The deteriorating situation prompted the Japanese to order Chinese puppet forces under their control to move on Harbin, but these forces were defeated. Simultaneously, Japanese forces attacked from the south and conquered hundreds of miles of territory and destroyed several Chinese formations en route to Harbin. General Chao, along with others, formed the Jilin Defense Army in order to prevent the fall of the city. They asked for civilian volunteers, who came out in strength to add to the number of regulars, and the Jilin Defense Army soon totaled over 30,000. This army represented the last significant Chinese force remaining in Manchuria. Meanwhile, the Japanese 2nd Division with attached armor was ordered to rescue the Chinese puppet forces and attack Harbin. Victory Condition: The Japanese win at game end by Controlling buildings P2 and M7, provided they don't lose more than 32 CVP.  Nationalist Chinese Strategy And now back with something completely different. Different designer, different scenario pack, different nationality, and different muscle relaxants. The Nationalists are at a pretty massive disadvantage here, if I'm being honest. The Guns they have use Red Numbers and the map this scenario takes place on is quite claustrophobic. Additionally, the Japanese have a high number of squads, each able to stripe and continuing moving towards their opponent, making it necessary to shoot, shoot often, and leave as much residual as possible. I need to prevent the Japanese player from moving at all, or making any moves simply too costly to attempt. To this end I've got strong flanks with a deep center and... well maybe it wasn't the best idea. I have a solid idea of where I want me defensive lines, IE: Teal line will fall back to Red line once the Japanese get in range; acting as spoilers and cheap ways to reveal Japanese units, stripping concealment. Once things inevitably devolve and losses mount, I run back to the Pink line and eventually collapse back to the Factory in the south-west. That's the goal, anyways...  Turns: 8 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with No Wind at start. Restricted Options: Dare Death is NA. Banzai is NA. Bore Sighting is NA. Kindling is NA. Chinese Guns may not set up in any building type. Turn 1 - Japanese  With only movement being of concern for the Japanese, there wasn't much for me to do. It didn't help that the wall along the Y hexrow limits visibility which made it impossible to really do anything to hinder their progress. There is something I should note, namely my setup. And in some convoluted timey-wimey wibbly wobbly stuff, I should state that while I was pleased with how session #1 ended, it quickly became apparent in session #2 that I had screwed up... Try to see if you can guess why that might be as the turns progress. Turn 1 - Nationalist Chinese  Without any truly worthwhile shots to take, I settle with a general withdrawal on the bottom flank. Keeping the Japanese guessing as to who is where is going to be a massive benefit, and hopefully causes a bit of psychological damage to my opponent (Superemma). The pin against my conscripts in W10 was a bummer...  State of the Board - Turn End Turn 2 - Japanese  Yikes! Look at all that movement. I forgot to note my MMG shoots into AA7 and striping a squad and pinning a 2nd (iirc). Striping any Japanese I can get is the goal, because they don't break like any other nationality, making them extremely dangerous. We've seen this before, but its an even bigger problem now because I absolutely cannot risk getting into Close Combat. They are more numerous than I am, although thankfully the avenues of approach has forced plenty of residual to be put down. Any pins I can get are just as valuable as striping and, in some spots, moreso. Turn 2 - Nationalist Chinese  Several shots against vulnerable troops, and mostly just pulling out in order to force more movement out of the Japanese. I make the mistake of not pulling down the unit(s) in the upper floor of T7, and I don't do nearly enough to move west/west-south with my troops up top. The Japanese artillery drops, though scores no results, thankfully. The 70mm HE shells can be quite deadly, at 12FP apiece, you really want to make sure that where you are defending is not too dense in men.  End of Turn To Be Continued...
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Dec 19, 2021 21:34
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I should note that, due to playing against two people, there will be some timeline jumping as a result. Additionally, at least one future scenario will be years before Armored Samurai, mainly because I didn't own it prior to the start of this project. For such backward leaps in scenarios, I will be italicizing those entries in the list in the OP.
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Dec 19, 2021 21:37
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BFP-26: Armored Samurai - Part 2 With artillery on the field, in an acceptable location, and the Japanese finally bumping up to the Chinese defensive line, Turn 3 - Japanese  It should be expected that, with all the Japanese soldiers running around, there's plenty of movement to happen. I get a couple of kills, but ultimately I don't have enough units shooting, or high enough firepower values, to truly take effect. That being said, I do like that I've been restricting the Japanese pretty hard. Telling of the coming results is the loss of 1.5 squads on my side, and looking at those poor guys stuck on the top side of the map...  In the Advance Phase, a full Japanese squad takes out a pinned halfsquad still suffering from an overrun by the slow Japanese tank, while another squad is eliminated in CC down at the bottom edge of the map. I only get a half-squad in return. Turn 3 - Nationalist Chinese  A disappointing result, I had malfunctioned my machine gun in my foxhole in R5, only to lose it this turn when trying to repair it. My other MG immobilizes a truck, when I was hoping to blow it up, and a subsequent shot on some infantry is a null result. I use my movement to run away where possible, but get a squad pinned as a result, this will turn out to be a heavy blow against my force composition. Not rallying my 9-1 leader up top is also a serious blow to my forces.  State of the board, end of turn Turn 4 - Japanese  And here is, essentially, the death blow for my forces. And early move by one of Superemma's tanks was met with a low shot by the LMG-carrying squad in the stone building, only to trigger the Japanese sniper, instantly moving to that very same unit and breaking him. I could've really used that firepower to guard across any movement towards the rest of my forces. Ideally, he wouldn't have broken, and been a mighty roadblock to allow the rest of my troops to run back to the factory/ies. This was further frustrated by the absolute lack of killing... anything, really. Japanese squads proved to be impervious to any and all incoming fire, even when doubled and with 0 or Minus modifiers to my attacks. My large artillery pieces, which I had hoped would act as a serious deterrent managed... no significant hits. The lack of Acquisition also means they never improve. You have to roll low, and I just couldn't combine that with my opponent rolling high (which they absolutely weren't) To make matters worse, these positions also meant that the Japanese player could simply advance onto all of my positions, win in CC (which they are good at to begin with) and end up with something like...  This. My southern flank basically vanished thanks to advancing fire and close combat. I lost an artillery piece to a malfunction, my only remaining Heavy Machine Gun has a berserk crew (which actually, I don't think it should've applied to them?) Regardless, the match was called here when the remaining Art proved incapable of damaging or destroying the vehicle in Q6. I was sad at this loss, since I truly felt I was doing a good job by the end of the first part, but the lack of movement by my northern group sealed the fate of the south, and, upon re-examination, my artillery pieces may have simply been set up in the wrong spots... The Japanese always had access to their artillery, and some small errors on my part, such as leaving the LMG+Squad on an upper level building where they wouldn't be able to retreat safely added to my problems. I don't think the dice were necessarily against me this game, which seemed like a rare occurrence. AAR posted:The "young officers" of the Japanese Army had been in debate with the older, more conservative, officers over the use of armored forces. The young officers wanted to employ armored forces to make bold and rapid strikes to defeat an enemy, their form of lightning war or "Armored Samurai", whereas the older officers were more conservative in their thinking and did not see armor as a decisive arm. The Japanese forces attacking to Harbin were delayed by extremely cold weather and frozen ground, giving Chao time to establish some form of defense, as well as arrest Chinese locals supportive of the Japanese. The Japanese advanced and attacked on 4 February; a 17-hour battle ensued for the city. The young officers' theory got a chance when an armored battle group, consisting of FT and NC tanks, trucks with machineguns, infantry, and artillery made a bold strike on the key railway facilities. The Chinese had positioned some artillery to defend these critical installations with direct fire. The Chinese forces attempted to hold out against this attack, but collapsed under the overwhelming Japanese firepower, allowing the attackers to capture the important railroad center and marshaling area. The Chinese retreated to the north, and General Chao accepted a cease fire, officially ending Chinese resistance in Manchuria.
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Jan 5, 2022 22:28
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LM-1: Recruiting Tactics - Part 1 Location: Jiangxi Province, China Date: XX July 1931 Briefing: After unsuccessful uprisings in the cities, the Red Army had established a home for itself in the rural province of Jiangxi. Mao Zedong and Zhu De combined their forces to create a Red Army to defend this new "Soviet" territory. The Nationalist KMT (Kuomintang) Army would make five attempts to surround and eradicate the Communists. The first four "Battles of Encirclement" saw KMT columns penetrate deep into the Soviet Territories. The major KMT expeditions would be attacked and defeated in turn by the more mobile Red Army. Often, the Red Army tactics included hit and run raids to goad KMT forces into pursuit. The KMT would be drawn deep into Communist territory where they could be surrounded and annihilated. The Red Army had no access to markets or factories, thus the defeat of the Nationalists provided them with a means to get supplies of arms and ammunition. Prisoners were also welcomed into their ranks. Therefore, the Red Army considered these actions as victories only if their numbers and supplies increased. Victory Condition: The KMT must earn more CVP than the Red Army. The KMT earns one (1) VP if any KMT unit is south of the 35 A5/P5 road at game end.  Nationalist Chinese Strategy This is, uh... a scenario. Everyone on the enemy OOB in hidden or off-board, AND they move first. We've seen a version of this before and it has ended poorly. I choose to have a heavy right flank with a small detachment on the left. This is to try to flush out enemies in the woods and to sweep through the grain and maybe squash the Reds between the board edge and my troops.  Turns: 6 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with No Wind at start. Restricted Options: Kindling is NA. Dare Death is NA. Red Army may not invoke No Quarter nor Massacre. Turn 1 - Red Chinese  Not sure what else to expect.Turn 1 - Nationalist Chinese  Plenty of movement is achieved, and not much else. You might be starting to see what the problem is here... Turn 2 - Red Chinese  Only shot for the Red Chinese breaks my adjacent concealed unit in the woods. There's some movement southwards to consolidate the Red Chinese, but otherwise nothing happens. Turn 2 - Nationalist Chinese   Grain makes all movement painfully slow. I could've tried a human wave, but honestly this scenario does not feel like it lends itself well to that. You get double the movement, which is great, but the fact that the Russians all start hidden, well... you can find yourself at a deficit rather quickly. This is made worse by the fact that the VC (Victory Condition) is to have more CVP than your opponent. Any loss by one side forces them to be more aggressive to remove the point deficit, compounding the issue. Turn 3 - Red Chinese  Another turn goes by and the Red Chinese, with no reason to move, spend all of it attacking. They break a squad, and that's it. No return fire is successful. Turn 3 - Nationalist Chinese  On my turn, I start to funnel even more troops down the right flank. My crew with the MMG are caught on a +3 or so attack, and Hypnobeard deftly rolls a snake eyes, and my lovely dice can do nothing but break him. A half-power shot against concealed units in GG4 are broken on yet another lucky shot and terrible morale check. I've already lost a half-squad and a leader, and with 6 other squads on the field, broken, I don't have much if any hope of ever recovering them. Turn 4 - Red Chinese  Turn 4 sees the Reds simply... shift away from my side. I tried to consolidate for a Human Wave, hence why everyone is stacked together, but my range of 3 (or halved up to 6) means I literally cannot shoot at Hypno's troops unless I charge headlong into their machine guns, which haven't had any issues this time around. I'm forced to call it here, the Reds are up 4 points, and I have no raw firepower to attempt any sort of serious push. CVP: 4 to 0 for Hypnobeard. Thinking about it some time after, four scenarios or so later, I have a feeling like this scenario would be massively improved if the Reds weren't invisible to begin with, but having an equal amount of troops as concealment counters. The Nationalists have very little advantage, and ONLY in terms of total oob size, they lack everywhere else. The heavy grain terrain makes any movement tough as hell, and when the MMGs are stacked together with the 9-1 leader, woof... you're going to have a hard time breaking through that without smoke, support weapons, or non-conscript troops. The Historical Result is part of the Briefing
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Jan 12, 2022 01:25
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From the Red Chinese side: This is kinda unfair for the KMT player, because you're pulling them into a trap. I chose to put most of my force on the left side, in the field bounded by the hedge, as it seemed more defensible to me. The MMGs were placed to cover anything coming up the road and the big grain field to the right, with some supporting infantry. The dice definitely helped out this game, as you see--nothing seemed to go the KMT's way. The scenario could turn into a see-saw if both sides are having poor luck with rolls (or good luck, conversely), but with my initial luck it became obvious the thing to do was just keep as far away as possible while attacking targets of convenience. The long lines of sight through the grain don't help; you need to be 5+ hexes away to lose LOS IIRC, and there's just not enough maneuver room. As we'll see in a later scenario, when those long lines of sight go away it becomes much harder to play touch-and-go like I did here. These scenarios suffer a bit from a desire to be "historically accurate" to some degree--often the situation is tilted against one side to reflect the historical situation and that ends up making the scenario frustrating.
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Jan 12, 2022 14:59
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LM-2: Resisting the Constriction - Part 1 Location: Guangchang, China Date: 11 April 1934 Briefing: Driven from the cities, the Chinese Communist Party had succeeded in establishing Soviet Territories in the countryside. Chiang Kai-shek was determined to eliminate them. After his first four failures, the "Fifth Battle of Encirclement" would be a more cautious constriction using tens of thousands of blockhouses, one ring built within cover of the previous. The Comintern Agent from Moscow, Otto Braun, urged construction of their own blockhouses to counter the Nationalist threat. Braun's status was strong and his influence exceeded his official observer status. Unfortunately, he tought the Soviet Territories could be held by the Red Army if they constructed their own line of blockhouses. The Red Army built poor earth and timber blockhouses. These would be tested by a KMT attack at Guangchang. A reinforced company was to hold a line of fortifications, and the main force would emerge from hiding and attack the KMT in the flank. The KMT led with air power and artillery. The infantry then attacked the fortified line, while the Red Army launched their attack on the flank. The KMT fought off the flank attack, and then systematically destroyed the line of fortifications. The reinforced defenders of the Red Army would lose every man. In the next two and a half weeks the communists would lose 4,000 killed and 20,000 wounded. More importantly, Otto Braun would begin to lose credibility as a military commander. This battle showed that the Soviet Territories could not be held. It was time to leave and form a new base in a safer area. Victory Condition: The KMT wins at game end by accumulating more than 19 VP. VP are earned for each Hut/Pillbox (2), Trench (1) they control and each Collapsed Hut w/ Blaze (1).  Nationalist Chinese Strategy There are few options available to the Nationalist Chinese. They start in the open, must cover terrain, mostly plowed fields, no hindrance, yet still costing the full value. The massive number of conscripts I have, meaning 3 MF for the majority, forces me to use Human Wave extensively, else I will waste precious time against inferior numbers of defenders. Once I make it into the defensive line [White], I can consolidate my position(s) and push down the trench line and/or into the Huts on the right. Capturing the Huts is more valuable, but sacrifices can (and will!) be made, hopefully conscripts, where possible.  Turns: 6.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with No Wind at start. Living Quarters: All Buildings are Huts. Restricted Options: Kindling is NA. Dare Death is NA. Red Army may not invoke No Quarter nor Massacre. Air Support: The KMT automatically receive Air Support on Turn 1. They are automatically Recalled on Turn 2. Turn 1 - Nationalist Chinese   The game starts with an attempt to smoke out the enemy trench at a critical junction. I was hoping that the smoke would prevent some odd three hexes from attacking, but my Gun's crew did not bring smoke this day. An actual attempt at shooting at the Reds in the trenches ends in a miss, but I bet I scared them! My pair of MMGs paired up and attacked the same group, managing to break a squad and pin another. Additionally, we had some teething problems with firelanes. We erroneously thought that the firelane was at half FP, not one column to the left of its regular attack. Granted, the initial attack still had an effect, and I wasn't forced to walk in any more of it, thankfully. I lost two squads to snake eyes in Open Ground on a -2... And later a half-squad.  State of the board Turn 1 - Red Chinese  The Red Chinese open with some fire on my troops in the open, yet nothing seems to find their mark. My troops collectively let out a sigh of relief. Spoken too soon it seems, as after Hypnobeard has moved his troops, my aircraft arrive on scene to harass their men. One successful attack takes place in the trenches, where I break (and eventually kill) a 9-1 leader and a squad. More defensive fire against the men south of the aircraft's target also break them (forgot to mark that), but a failed sighting task check hands over control of my 2nd fighter-bomber to Hypnobeard, promptly using it against a line of troops, still stuck in the open, breaking the closest to the trenches, pinning the middle pack, while the men in the back were left unharmed. That could've gone a lot worse!  State of the Board - End of Turn To Be Continued...
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Jan 18, 2022 04:56
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LM-2: Resisting the Constriction - Part 2 Turn 2 - Nationalist Chinese  The support weapons and Guns attempt to do their jobs, with one Russian squad breaking in the northern portion of the line. This sort of break is crucial because...  I needed to human wave again. You can see how many of my men broke or died. In the chaos of battle, we each captured an enemy squad, and of the three CCs, only one was decided by the end of the turn with a lucky snake eyes by Hypnobeard. Despite an almost 2-1 advantage in V8, and everyone being broken, I could roll low enough. Turn 2 - Red Chinese  A lack of firepower from the surviving Red squads makes it hard to inflict any damage against my advance, but there are plenty of reinforcements to attempts to reclaim lost ground.  But sadly, Hypnobeard doesn't pass their Personal Morale Check (PMC), and the scenario ends here. There was... a lot of time to play through the rest of this one, and I think the Reds had a plausible chance at inflicting casualties, especially against the conscripts, and potentially turning the tables. That being said, I also don't want to force an opponent to play a scenario that they feel is over with. I had taken... a lot of casualties, and shows the vulnerability of low-quality troops, running in open ground. Even with the +1 ML gained from Human Wave, it is still very hard to keep that momentum going. Historical Result found in Scenario Briefing.
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Jan 22, 2022 04:33
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Yeah, no excuses there, just didn't feel any confidence in my ability to prevent a victory. The trenches were not going to be retaken, all my support weapons were gone, and there was really no way to prevent the KMT from seizing the necessary two(?) huts to get a victory.
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Jan 22, 2022 17:24
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Yeah this campaign pack definitely has a feel for being over really quickly thanks to the setups it forces, which we will see more of later. Losing both mgs was just a gut punch to the resistance, and we'e seen before how some scenarios really don't do well when you eliminate the added firepower those provide when you have 3fp squads roaming around.
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Jan 22, 2022 19:24
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GS8.9: Rif War - Part 1 Location: Alhucemas Bay, Morocco Date: 22 September 1925 Briefing: In the first amphibious assault since Gallipoli, Spanish troops under Colonel Franco, the future dictator of Spain, landed at Alhucemas Bay. Unfortunately the barges carrying the FT17 tanks hit shoals and had to return. The Spanish troops landed and set up defensive positions and were soon joined by the tanks. Franco now faced the problem of expanding the beachhead before the onset of winter. His forces, including the under-trained tankers, prepared to drive the Rif forces off the hills surrounding the beachhead. Victory Condition: The Spanish win at Game End if they control 6 of the 9 buildings, including at least 2 multi-hex buildings on the board.  Rif Regional Tribal Bands Strategy I have to spread my defense over a wide area, mostly because I want to cover some avenues of approach before the terrain becomes too favorable for the attacker. As has been a constant in these early scenarios, the lack of a large amount of support weapons, or even high firepower options, dulls one's ability to blunt an attack, or pierce a defense, depending on the circumstances. My hidden Gun on the left flank is well placed to look down either road, hoping to get a lucky shot against a tank, or simply an adequate strongpoint to center myself on. I have to prevent the attacker from taking over buildings, and the requirement for the multi-hex buildings should help me in the long run, provided things down spin out of control.  Turns: 7.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Dry, with a Mild Breeze at start from the North. Beat the Heat: Intense Heat Haze is in effect. Turn 1 - Spanish Legion  With such a short map, and the difficulties in having line of sight on potential targets, I could only attack a limited number of targets. Thankfully for me, one of those was a hit against one of superemma's tanks, immobilizing it. By the end of the turn, many units had assembled in locations perceived to be safe, and with a very clear goal of penetrating through the right flank. Turn 1 - Rif  With limited shots available (I could keep shooting at the immobilized tank!), I decide to turn the gun in U10 counter-clockwise to better cover the east hill hexes. Everyone else shifts over, with some units moving specifically to retain concealment, or regain it at the end of the turn.  State of the board, end of Game Turn 1 Turn 2 - Spanish Legion  To say that the right flank's movement is hectic is a bit of an understatement. All hell breaks loose with squads on both sides succumbing to the pressures of war. I score a lovely hit, one of the few the dice would afford me, on a giant stack involving Franco himself! Sadly for me, despite rolling Casualty Reduction from a boxcars (12), he survived his wound roll. The pressure is felt immediately, and the only thing lacking is some devastating K/KIAs on my part.  The weight of the Spanish forces is evidenced further by all these dense pockets of units. While they can't do too much to me at the moment thanks to all the funky lines of sight, it stands to reason that I need to start doing a lot more damage. The Green Spaniards, despite being CX'ed and inexperienced, score themselves a snake eyes AND get a leader generation. Note the hero in DD0 as well. This will become a constant theme throughout the scenario. Turn 2 - Rif  Three shots can't even break a single half-squad. To add insult to injury, superemma gets yet another damnable Hero! (That's three additional SMCs since the start of the scenario.) Losses so far are 2 squads for me, nothing for the Spanish.  State of the board - End of Turn 2 Turn 3 - Spanish Legion  The shooting this turn goes poorly for both sides, with the only casualty being a broken squad on the Spanish side. I had a number of shots I would've have much preferred rolling low. Turn 3 - Rif  Things are starting to break down even further as one of my conscripts is pinned down on the souther side while trying to pull away, another breaks in the later shooting phases from concentrated firepower, and the damned Hero with his cohorts murder a first-line squad trying to retreat. I'm the only one with losses, 3 squdas, and the only issue the Spaniards have had is not always rallying their broken troops. Hell, they are still at having more forces than they started with. I get a bunch of conscript squads as reinforcements, but I don't envision they will accomplish much.  State of the Board Turn 4 - Spanish Legion  State of the Board - Rif Loss And this is where the game was over, and would be called in the following turn. Franco ran directly at my best leader, and his stacks of men survived MULTIPLE residual attacks and -2/-3 shots. I simply could not roll well at any point in this turn to generate a meaningful return. My units in Z1 would break and were going to die, adding yet more Rif manpower to the casualty bin. Spanish Legion losses this game? None. After 5 turns, I'd lost 5 squads and my best leader. Another classic case of getting diced, hard. Two of the 5 or so Close Combats resulted in Heros and/or Leaders and, in at least one instance, Battle Hardening. My Artillery piece had no effect after the first immobilization, and my machine guns got one favorable result in some 10 shots, if that. This scenario, frankly, was yet another reminder, in a long line of those, that conscripts are shite. I've been saddled with them for quite some time, and the limited mobility, and firepower, really shows itself in a scenario like this. All made worse by the fact that support weapons are in low supply, and ours (Hypnobeard and I) tend to break at excessively high rates. Superemma, on the other hand, has had the magic touch with his digital dice in at least 3 scenarios! That said, this was a playtest scenario, so I'm not particularly miffed by how it all turned out, though I am sad to have missed out on actioning Special Scenario Rule #3 "The 9-2 leader represents Colonel Franco. If the 9-2 is killed during the scenario the Spanish player is forced to re-write the history of the Spanish Civil War including its impact on the Second World War." Aftermath posted:The Spanish attacked with the support of the tanks. The tank crews had had limited training, including not having fired the main armament, and not having exercised with infantry, resulting in the tanks surging ahead of the infantry. The Rif forces, at first stunned by the appearance of the tanks, quickly rallied and attacked the tanks, trying to fire into their ports at point blank range, and to jam logs into their running gear. The supporting machine guns and artillery broke up the infantry advance. Franco would have to wait for another day before advancing.
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Jan 27, 2022 03:17
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FT-18: Oviedo 34 - Part 1 Location: Oviedo, Spain Date: 5 October 1934 Briefing: After the successful but controversial election which brought Socialism to Spain, the <Republica> was faced with huge difficulties; simply put, the government had no experience and couldn't handle them properly. During the last months of 1934, a communist and anarchist revolution, inspired by the Russian Revolution, broke out and spread all over the Spanish territory. It was soon dismantled everywhere but in Asturias, where the insurgents had grown very strong. Their main point of resistance was Oviedo. Victory Condition: The Legionario win at game end if they control building 20H3 and if there are no unbroken Asturian Squad within 2 hexes of it.  Asturian Underground Workers Strategy Alright, so right off the bat I'm pretty sure that when I started playing this, after having set myself up two weeks or so prior to playing it, I realized I'd made a big mistake. The Setup I have is heavily weighted on the North, which does me no favors should anything happen to block my troops from moving across the roads. Additionally, there's very few spots that are great for either my Machine Gun or my Gun. The lack of vision AND protection down the main roads means that I could set up for a devastating shot if, and only if, my opponent moves into their view and remains there for a long time. Because of this poor setup, I'll be going through this one rather quickly. We were either lacking an important page for additional details, or the ruleset for this scenario in particular is just... peculiar.  Turns: 7.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Dry, with a Mild Breeze at start from the Northeast. Sudden Reinforcements: On a successful sniper activation, the Asturians generate a squad (3-3-7 or 3-3-6) if they roll a 3 or a 4, respectively. Turn 1 - Tercio de la Legion  Turn one sees my large stack of dummies get revealed and vanish, as well as my unit in X3 getting eliminated at the end of the turn. My 7(!) SAN was extremely streaky - I'd complained in sessions that my snipers never came up, and in this scenario I wouldn't stop rolling 1s. Why is this bad in this scenario? Well, to put it plainly, you want to roll 3's and 4's occasionally to have Asturian squads appear out of nowhere and surround or CC the Spanish. In this game, I kept breaking squads with the sniper, which isn't too hard to overcome with 1st-line British squad-equivalents, and leaders that would never break or die. Turn 1 - Asturians  Turn 1 for me revolved around getting units out of direct line of sight from the Spanish. 5 range is a hard beast to overcome, and any time I can force my opponent to close the distance, I need to take it. The 6 morale for my conscripts is also making itself felt as those troops break consistently. I have to retreat two squads over to U5 and hope I can rally them next turn, failure to do so will spell doom for them. Additionally, I lost the melee down at the bottom. My losses so far are two squads to one Spanish half-squad.  Turn 2 - Tercio de la Legion  This is truly the beginning of the end. I'd lost a leader, desperately needed for the future of my survival, and my men up top are now sorta locked in place. There's open ground everywhere, and the line-of-sight (and extremely bad morale luck) means I won't have much of a chance at re-routing them towards more useful locations. My machine gun was also quickly overwhelmed, although luckily for me, they survived the Melee. By this point, I'd lost 6 squads and a leader, over half of my starting force... Turn 2 - Asturians  I lose a squad outright to a dumb move that, at the time, I felt needed to be made. The unit in R3 tried to get across the road, but even at half-firepower, a squad rolling snake eyes will still gently caress you up. I shuffle some men around, and do what I can to get men to safety. Sadly for me, I also realized too late that I didn't put down any bore sight counters, costing me some very valuable -2 TH shots from the Artillery, itself having a hard time accomplishing... anything. Oh, and that MMG I was boasting about at the start? I forgot that, by now, not only did it malfunction (and thus become useless), but the gunners managed to brick the thing and turn it into a paperweight.  Turn 3 - Tercio de la Legion  By this point, the game is functionally over. With no units in the east to block the arrival of Spanish forces into the victory area, and the lack of any strong presence regardless, I simply won't have the manpower, or firepower, to move men into the zone to fulfil my portion of the VC. I'm glad my opponent and I were able to take it in stride, but this shows the devastating effects of not setting up properly whatsoever. The final few turns after this saw the introduction of the Fighter-Bombers, which had some nasty effects against my troops, breaking several, and while I could still call on my sniper to be alive and well, it never spelled out a major swing in the way I was hoping for. It also took two more player turns for my remaining leader to be vanquished in Melee, having locked down a significant force for quite some time. I imagine he simply ran out of ammo for his pistol before the end. Aftermath posted:Supported by the Aviation, the Legionarios of Colonel Yague literally stormed the city where the defenders, while fighting as best as they could, were running very low on ammunition. By the end of the day, no defender was left alive... this cruelty was to be renewed a few years later on a much larger scale. Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Feb 6, 2022 |
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Feb 5, 2022 04:08
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LM-3: The Culling At Xiang River - Part 1 Location: Xiang River, China Date: 30 November 1934 Briefing: The Nationalist forces guarding the southwest corner of the Soviet territories were actually those of a local warlord, Bai Chongxi. A showdown with the Red Army would be a pyrrhic victory at best. Instead, an arrangement was made allowing him to withdraw most of his troops to allow the Communists passage. The Red Army's column stretched 50 miles as 80,000 men and women carried workshops, libraries, and theaters with them. Their slow pace meant that the KMT could bring in four divisions to attack the Red Army's north flank. This attack struck when half the Red Army had crossed the river. Bai Chongxi decided to demonstrate his loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek and joined in the attack. The Red Army chose to move their first class troops across the river first. Still, some excellent troops remained on the east bank and just managed to hold open a number of crossings. Other rearguard units, including entire divisions, were destroyed. The Red Army would lose half its numbers crossing the Xiang River. However, not all were killed. Shirkers and coolies had deserted, leaving only tough, reliable soldiers. Gone also was the baggage train which had slowed them. One of the few burdens not discarded were the wounded and sick carried by the hospital units. There, a politically and physically weak Mao Zedong took the opportunity to have unsupervised conversations with important sick and wounded Communist leaders. Victory Condition: The KMT must control 7P10 and 7K9 at Game End.  KMT Strategy Unfortunately, this is another scenario where I have no knowledge of where the enemy is and what they plan. I have a pair of trucks with guns on them (are they technically technicals?) and almost two dozen squads to throw at the problem. My plan is to move in single numbers through many different hexes and try to essentially fall on Hypnobeard's troops, wherever they may be. Once found, fire on them to break them and press on. I don't have to worry about eliminating anyone since my goal is to grab some buildings at the far end of the map. It should be stated that we both thought this scenario had a lot of extra turns. While there is a lot of forest to overcome, there are ways around it, and it seems particularly strange to have such a disparity of forces on top of it.  Turns: 9 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moist, with no wind at start Game Limits: No Dare-Death. Red Army may not invoke No Quarter or Massacre. Turn 1 - KMT  Not much to say here, as there were no Reds revealed. That's more because there were no Reds with line of sight to any of my troops anyways. [This is a problem with some earlier scenarios, in the first 15 years or so, I'd say, where a scenario might have one side do absolutely nothing because, well, they aren't designed to. While this might seem interesting, it removes the ability for one player to react, and doesn't present them a benefit, certainly in this case, because moving at all would reveal where the hidden unit is.] Turn 1 - Red Chinese No actions taken. Turn 2 - KMT  More movement with no Reds choosing to reveal themselves... Turn 2 - Red Chinese  The only action this turn is a pair of Red Chinese revealing themselves in an attempt to take out the adjacent KMT men hiding in the building. Sadly, the 6FP wasn't enough for more than a Pin, and the return fire proved more reliable. Turn 3 - KMT  Tons of movement, only to find a large number of Red Chinese waiting in the trees. Sadly, the results are lacklustre. A pair of breaks and pins doesn't harm me so much at the moment, as all my leaders are still around, and advantage is still very much in my favor. As if to kick Hypnobeard in the teeth, they roll an 11 while trying to destroy the truck riding down the road in the woods. This is a serious setback as it also means that the lareg stack in H3 could move into O4 with impunity.  The end of the turn sees two melees develop, handy for me as those troops are now impossible to save. You can see just how vital it was to have a safe passage down the road, with the 8-1 leader and those moving with them to gain a large amount of ground. Turn 3 - Red Chinese  No movement, just attacks, but the only result is a break from my troops on the squad in O6. The Close Combat phase sees the Russian 10-2 Leader and crew eliminating the half-squad. Turn 4 - KMT  Once more, tons of movement, getting closer and closer and simply pressuring the Reds to retreat, give up concealment, or get attacked in Advancing Fire/Close Combat. Keeping the curse alive, Hypnobeard malfunctions their second machine gun in as many shots.  And so ended the scenario. The few unbroken Red Chinese squads would've had an incredibly tough, if not impossible job, at holding back the KMT forces. On top of that, I still have 5 more turns to move and get to the victory locations, which is almost a guarantee. The best Red leaders are dead or busy nursing broken squads, at least two Close Combats are heavily favored for me (O5 is something like 6 to 1 odds for me, and L8 is something like 3 to 1.) See Briefing for the historical result...
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Feb 7, 2022 04:52
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LM-4: Taking A Different Route - Part 1 Location: Shuiche, China Date: 30 November 1934 Briefing: The Communist 1st Front Army left its home in mid-October, breaking out to the southwest. Deceived by the forces left behind, the Nationalists were unaware of the scale of the breakout for a month. The Red Army used this time to extricate its painfully slow logistics columns. They had wasted a lot of time at the start of the march carrying machine shops and printing presses across mountains. However, the Nationalists, now aware of the Red Army's location, rushed large numbers of troops into the area. This caught the Red Army with its veteran troops west of the Xiang River, unable to come to the aid of the forces still east of the river. The newly recruited Red Army 34th Division was trailing the main body. The KMT overcame the division as it approached the Xiang River. Its trial by fire would come when the KMT caught up with the Communists during the Xiang River crossing. It trailed the main body of the 8th Army as it approached the Xiang River. The soldiers in the 8th could hear the fighting as the 34th Division was overtaken by KMT forces and began its rearguard action. Only its commander and a handful of men would escape to rejoin the column. The vanguard of the 8th Army stopped at the east bank of the river, and crossed last as the rearguard. They thought the 34th had "taken a different route". Victory Condition: The KMT must exit 25 or more VP off the east edge by Game End.  KMT Strategy So, uh... Imagine you have open ground. Open ground everywhere, and you are just great at failing morale. Well, you'll hate this scenario. I have to run from top to bottom, and exit at least 12 squads + 1 Leader. My diabolical plan is to have all my 1st line troops on the left, and all my conscripts on the right. By splitting Hypnobeard's forces, I'm hoping I can simply run over the smaller groups. The fact that the Reds don't cower, as per usual, is also a major detriment for me, as it won't lower any residual firepower left behind should they do so. This plan was a bad one, but I honestly hate this type of scenario with little to no SWs solely in open ground, of which I feel I've played a lot of in this pack!  Turns: 6 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with no wind at start Game Limits: No Dare-Death. Red Army may not invoke No Quarter or Massacre. Turn 1 - KMT  Post-turn 1 movement, shots, and routs, and I'm down one conscript to a shot from the squads in N4. Nothing serious, but my spread has already gone bad regarding a potential human wave over there. Turn 1 - Red Chinese  Post-movement, the Reds have marched forward in an attempt to lay down as much firepower as possible as soon as I start moving. I lose a squad of Conscripts, on top of another breaking. I won't be able to Human Wave on that flank anymore. On the left, I manage to get one good shot from my MMG, breaking a pair Red Chinese squads, and casualty reducing one. Turn 2 - KMT  And then I got diced. I had 3 attacks go poorly, netting me absolutely no result, a 15 FP shot against M3, a 6 FP shot against N4, a 4FP shot against B7. I pinned the squads in A7 and broke one guy in B7. This was all for nothing, and I hope that the record shows just how poorly my dice have been, consistently, when they are truly needed. I felt I had to close the distance, but instead of doing so one at a time over open ground, that I would Human Wave and rush the pinned and broken men of A7/B7. That turned out to get 3 squads killed, my 2nd best leader wounded AND broken, and another pair of squads broken. The constant 5 or less (-2 for OG/NAM) that Hypnobeard was rolling absolutely devastated each and every squad I had. To make matters worse, I ended up triggering their sniper, which, obviously, made a bee-line straight for my best remaining leader and killed him outright in the random selection. Add to that all my conscripts, still stuck in the top right corner, and I have nobody (competent) to rally with, nor the ability get my men off the board. 4 turns isn't insurmountable in terms of distance, but it is surviving that distance run with anything of value, and I just didn't have the belief that they would pull it off after such a terrible showing. Frankly, this scenario sucks. See briefing for Historical Result
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Feb 7, 2022 23:07
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Most of these scenarios seem interesting from a historical perspective but they're not all that fun to play, imo. They work, they're competent(ish) but there's just something missing.
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Feb 8, 2022 23:14
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LM-5: Bridging The Wu - Part 1 Location: Wu River, China Date: 2 January 1935 Briefing: After the losses at the Xiang River, the Red Army traveled lighter and faster than ever. They sped away from the KMT, until they reached the Wu River. A crossing would have to be found, and soon. The 4th Assault Regiment attempted to seize a ferry, and failed. A boat assault failed, and one boat was missing. The men on this boat had made it across, but were pinned down for 36 hours under an overhang until the main assault began. Once the attack began, engineers attempted to assemble a pre-fabricated bamboo bridge whilst under fire. The attack bogged down, but the bridging went forward even after several engineers were wounded. Finally, the 4th rafted a few squads across the river to attack the flank. The defenders were soon routed. The Red Army would be crossing the Wu and leaving the main KMT forces further behind. Victory Condition: The Reds win at Game End if there is no Good Order KMT Squad/Equiv. 3 or fewer hexes from 8Y5.  KMT Strategy Firstly, I need to mention that I hosed up my deployment here. I wasn't supposed to set up on the hill right next to the entry of Hypnobeard's first-turn men. We realized this halfway through, when I was questioning just how those guys were supposed to get on board without getting demolished. [Many apologies, Hypno!] This scenario also has a complicated set of SSRs about building a bridge across the river, one hex at a time. There are positives and negatives to this, the positives being that it makes the scenario very interesting in terms of uniqueness, as well as coming up with mechanics that can be used a template for future scenarios or other designers. The downsides, however, are that if the concept doesn't work, it could negatively impact the design community. Additionally, and we've talked about this before, but there are certain parts of the scenario that, depending on the player, they simply won't engage in. One good example are the forces stuck under the Level 2 counter, the aforementioned overhang from the briefing.  Turns: 6.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no wind at start Game Limits: No Dare-Death. Red Army may not invoke No Quarter or Massacre. Turn 1 - Red Chinese  We already see the issue with my bad setup, I'm essentially preventing the Red Chinese player from doing more than just exchanging shots across the river. In hindsight, I think there may have been a better choice than what Hypnobeard did, say if the MGs on the hill in J2 were in the CC2 building. It's a tough call, but at least you could get a pair of leaders and stack a lot of firepower on a semi-exposed group like AA6, or even BB7. Turn 1 - KMT  I get a lucky shot against the bridging engineers, breaking one of them [It turns out, we'd played this one incorrectly too! That's what happens when the SSRs are complicated and don't fully explain things. One of the Engineer squads building the bridge should've been Casualty Reduced. Not much better, but it likely would have helped Hypnobeard build his bridges faster. Also, 1 hex down! One of my squads seeks shelter down a hill to avoid getting shot at from the machine guns without any defensive cover. Turn 2 - Red Chinese  You can probably see how, if you aren't confident in running dudes out in the open (along the Y hex grain), or if you can't bring in people from off-board (because of my dumbass brain) you just have to shoot, pray, and wait. Turn 2 - KMT  There's another problem at hand as well, namely that, the Reds must not roll poorly when attempting to bridge the gap. This is two turns in a row with bad luck that are starting to stall out Hypnobeard's attack. Essentially, the longer it takes the bridge to build, the more reckless they will have to be when rushing my troops at the end. Turn 3 - Red Chinese  A great shot breaks the squad I had on overwatch on the engineers, and none have even been built yet. At this rate, Hypnobeard won't cross the river until turn 5, at least! Turn 3 - KMT  Without any forces to further prevent the Reds, Hypnobeard gets the first pontoon bridge set up. Turns 4 Nothing of significance happens. Turn 5 - Red Chinese  Hypnobeard finally sends men into the meatgrinder in the top-left corner, and this is where I realize my mistake at setup. As a result, I don't shoot after the first squad breaks one equal number on the Red Side. In return, Hypnobeard breaks both of those conscripts. Otherwise, there's some minimal movement to start work on the next bridge. Turn 5 - KMT  More retreats by the broken KMT forces, reinforcements show up to set up on the hill, and the Reds finish a second bridge section! Turn 6 - Red Chinese  Aggressive movement, coupled with poor fire from the Conscripts means that Reds have infiltrated the village.  Those same conscripts have no chance against the fanatical Red troops, and are casualty reduced in Close Combat. Turn 6 - KMT  I shoot at my own troops, if only because if I can break the Reds there, I will have a huge advantage in the Melee. Not much else happens except some movement.  Speaking of!  Too bad there's no result here.Turn 7 - Red Chinese  Movement limited by the lack of pontoon bridge placement, the Reds bunch up with the expectation of charging ASAP. Additionally, there are plenty of KMT losses in the Melee, yet it continues for another turn. Turn 7 - KMT  The Reds easily finish off the Melee and Hypnobeard gets the final bridge placed, but this may be too little, too late. Turn 8 - Red Chinese  And this is where the game ended. The reason? Problematically for the Reds, they have to clear everyone within 3 hexes of Y5 (v on map), and there is not enough movement from anyone on the bridge to make it into W8, taking into account overstacking. Conversely, the troops in CC9 could make it there, but would essentially have to do so by taking 6 separate shots at -2 each with firepowers ranging from 3 to 30. If nobody can make it to W7/W8, they cannot threaten W6 or V6, both of which are within the victory hex range. By this time we'd been playing for a while, it was getting late and we both just wanted it to be over. Really, what messed with the Red player was the lack of rolls to place the bridges. Scenario defect, bad luck, poor planning? Its hard to say, and you couldn't build two bridges at the same time, which is the biggest issue in my opinion, because you end up having to overstack and be incredibly vulnerable on the bridge. Again, this could be interesting, perhaps under different circumstances such as 1940 Dinant with Rommel vs the French  See briefing for Historical Result
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Feb 11, 2022 03:25
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