The soldiers of the 4th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division were weary and in a bad mood. The weather was cold and rainy, the ground slippery and difficult to traverse. Fortunately they would be carried into battle by the tracked steel horses of Panzer Regiment 27. Ahead of the German combat group were elements of the badly mauled Russian 34th Army, which in the last month had lost about half of its troops. The Russian morale was low and as many as 50% of the wounded were suspected of self-mutilation. . .
Attacker: Russian (Elements of 34th Army)
Defender: German (4th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division / Panzer Regiment 27, 19th Panzer Division)
5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:11.0 D:9.0
AFVs: A:10
T-60 M40 x 3 BT-5 M34 x 4 BA-6 x 2 Komsomolet(r) BT-7A
AFVs: D:9
PzKpfw IVD PzKpfw 38(t) E x 2 PzKpfw 38(t) A x 4 PzKpfw IIF x 2
Guns: A:1
76.2mm PP obr. 27
D:0
5cm leGrW 36
Misc Rules:
Minimum Road Entry MP is 1, no Road Bonus. A: may use Riders
Came down to the last CC with the Germans failing to eliminate a Russian squad with a 2-1. A lucky win. STL2016, final round
2016-06-25
(D) Will Willow
vs
M. Shostak
Russian win
TT
2016-06-25
(D) Paul Works
vs
Jim Bishop
Russian win
2016 Texas ASL Tournament. Jim is a really great guy and totally fun to play.
2016-04-02
(D) Will Willow
vs
Northey
German win
NE
2016-02-29
(A) Kevin Killeen
vs
Ken Young
Russian win
2015-12-05
(D) Michael Rodgers
vs
Paul Chamberlan
Russian win
NYS ASL Championship with handicap of Russian ELR increased to 2.
2015-11-12
(D) X von Marwitz
vs
Sebastian Hummel
Russian win
An early war scenario with plenty of AFV for both sides. I had the Germans in this one. This one is a tricky one to figure out for the first playing. The Germans have to deny control of one of two crossroads (and surroundings) of the Russians. Despite it being 1941, the Germans may use Riders. This is of importance, because the movement of Infantry is treated as if the EC were Mud. For the AFV, road movement costs 1 MP. This has a deep impact on the game, the extent of which both me and my opponent did not realize at start. All German Infantry must start as Riders, too.
The German has multiple tough decisions to make:
Shall he surge forward with riders or unload them early? Due to the mud-like movement, Infantry will lose extremely valuable time to „get to the party“ on foot. If they remain Riders, the entering Russians might shoot them off their tanks and the German tanks will be hindered in battle because they have to take into account that turning the turret to react to Russian movement will have their Riders bail out.
Shall they try to take one or both crossroads? The Russians will quickly figure out if the Germans will only go for one and have it easier to concentrate his forces on it. On the other hand, the same is true for the Germans. I believe it is important for the Germans to threaten both crossroads to force the Russians to split up his entry force to cover both, too. But the German also has to be very careful that the Russians do not flank his thrust towards one oobjective and thus assign units to guard against it.
For the Russians there are also tough decisions:
How to split the force? And how far should it advance in the first MPh? If he stays too far back, he might be in a safer position but on the other hand, the Germans will surge forward more quickly.
How to deploy the infantry? The Russians only has two leaders for a basically Conscript force. Combined with Mud-like movement for the Infantry, Conscripts without leaders won't be getting anywhere quickly. However, to get a meaningful force of infantry to the crossroads-areas, it would need both leaders on one flank...
So some puzzles for both sides in this one.
In my playing, I might have unloaded too early which led my Infantry to reach some crucial positions too late. Furthermore, I did not assign enough forces to address a possible flanking thread to the German initial thrust. Both factors cost me crucial time that allowed the Russians to occupy my „target“ crossroads area with so many units which, in turn, required more of my time attempting to clear it, which basically became impossible. Now, with hindsight, I would address this problem much better and wonder, how it would play out then.
All in all an interesting and unusual scenario that both me and my opponent agree to be highly recommendable.
2015-10-24
(A) Paolo Cariolato
vs
Andrea Scubla
Russian win
2015-10-10
(D) Andy Beaton
vs
Stephen Frum
Russian win
ASLOK 2015
2015-10-07
(D) Jeff Waldon
vs
Nathan Wegener
Russian win
ASLOK '15
2015-10-07
(A) Seumas Hoskins
vs
Toby Pilling
German win
Russian armor groups did not quite make it to optimal positions in the opening turn to lock down approaches. ASLOK 2015
2015-10-07
(A) nathan wegener
vs
Jeff Waldon
Draw
Had a tough time early couldn't keep my AFV MA working. First 3 shots were "no smoke" and two Malfs and it got worse. Despite that I hung in there and depending on whether or not my opponent said "stop" on his AFV who overran the crossroads he either won or lost. Neither of us remember for sure as he had to win some last turn CC as well so in short it was a great game and a draw... ASLOK2015