ASO 2005 AAR 1

ASO 2005 AAR

By Kenneth Knudsen (DK)

Round 1 (Friday 1400-1830):

Opponent: Lars Thuring (Sweden/Germany)
Scenario: SP115 "The Five Pound Price" (5 turns)
Discarded scenarios: SP118 "Seizing the Sittang Bridge" and " TEF1#4 "Squeeze Play"
Balance: I bid German2 and Lars bid German0. So he got the British as follows:
* exchange 3 x 457 for 3 x 458
* add 2 x "?"
* exchange a LMG for a MMG in British OB

As can be seen by my bidding, I really wanted the Germans in this scenario. The British set up on Board 22 which has a stream cutting the board in two. They have to defend the 16 buildings which exists within 3 hexes of the stream with 8 on either side. The Germans win by controling 8 of the buildings at game end.
Lars set up on both sides with a majority of his 9 squads and the Carrier C on the eastern bank. Additionally the British have 2 HIP 57L AT-Guns and reinforcements consiting of 3 Shermans (including 1 Firefly) entering from the north on turn 2. The Germans start out with 8 squads and 3 PzIV's entering from the south and are reinforced by 2 more PzIV's in turn 3. I decided to go for an all-in attack on the western stream bank. The Panzers only went in a few hexes where the British Infantry could be targeted and trying to keep far away from any possible AT-Guns. Everything went according to plan as no Guns showed up. They had both been placed on the eastern bank and never got overly usefull for Lars. Only 1 PzIV was destroyed by the AT-Guns. The SS squads slowly but surely took the first seven buildings before the game was stopped by the time limit with 1 turn remaining. By that time the Firefly and another sherman had been destoyed and one PzIV was immobilized in an unimportant position. Thus by the game end I had 3 PzIV's vs 1 Sherman. But still one building needed to be taken.
The game was judged as a draw by the 3 judges at 40/60 60/40 40/60.

Result: Draw
Total: 0-1-0

Round 2 (Friday 1900-2400):

Opponent: Mattias Rönnblom (Sweden)
Scenario: SP110 "The Chernichivo Shuffle" (6 turns)
Discarded scenarios: SP95 "Burn Ghurka Burn" and CH12 "Snow Ghosts"
Balance: We both bid German0 and the following diceroll came out fortunate for me, so I picked the Germans.

In this scenario the German SS defend a village with 7 squads, a 50L AT-Gun and with the help of 2 pillboxes and 5 trenches. Two tigers enter on turn 1 with one of them with a permanent MA malfunctioned and the other one with a ROF 2 and a 9-1 AL. The Russians enters from 2 sides with the bulk of them entering on turn 1 directly into the village. This force consists of 8 elite squads with a FT and two DC's along with 4 KV-1 M41 heavy tanks. Another force enters on turn 2 father away from the village with 5 1st line squads and 3 more KV-1's. The Russians win if there are no Good Order MMC in any pillbox/trench/4 specific buildings. I made my only blunder in the tournament by setting up one pillbox and all the trenches outside the allowed setup area. Mattias aggreed to simply move the pillbox two hexes and remove all the trenches from play. Mattias came on quite aggressively in the first turn, driving his 4 KV's far up front. I responded by revealing my 50L Gun and by using APCR made a burning wreck of the first KV, then turned and shocked another KV (which rolled high on both the Shock and UK DR, ultimately destroying it). The Gun retaining ROF then fired again but boxcared (and subsequently rolled a 6 on the repair dr). But I was satisfied with what the Gun had achieved. When my tigers came on, the third KV was engaged but wasnt destroyed until my turn 2 Prep. The fourth KV sought cover but was later immobilized in CC by a squad. The Russian Infantry meanwhile couldn't find a way through the defences and was stuck in front of the german positions for most of the time. I was able to succesfully keep my frontline concealed most of the time and the FT only came to life a few times. The reinforcing Russian squads was also slowed down considerably by the other tiger and its MG's. This tiger was completely ignored by the 3 KV's heading for the working tiger. As they attempted to swarm the tiger, two of them got knocked out before the tiger got immobilized. In this position the tiger then destroyed the remaining KV. The endgame situation was the we had an immobilized tank on either side of the big stone building shooting at infantry. The russians however, was getting so low on squads that my Gun crew managed to shuffle through the frontline and retake one of the victory buildings. Mattias then had to give up with still a turn to go.

Result: Win
Total: 1-1-0

Round 3 (Saturday 0830-1430):

Opponent: Magnus Hindsberger (Denmark)
Scenario: SP87 "Fangs of the Tiger" (6.5 turns)
Discarded scenarios: WCW5 "Abandon Ship" and J67 "The Lawless Roads"
Balance: I bid German0 and he bid Russian0

This scenario takes place on board 49 with a stream overlay that creates an enclosed area surrounded by stream and board edge and connected to the rest of the board by a bridge. This area is of key importance since the Russian wins if he has a Good Order AFV on or next to the road and the Tigers are not allowed to cross the stream other than at the bridge and the Russian player can "hide" an AFV in the enclosed area while guarding the Bridge with a nasty 57LL AT-Gun. The German player can also win by exiting 9 VP including at least one tiger. The Russians set up a forward defence consisting of 4 squads with a DC and 5 T-43's. Further back there is a force of 3 squads and the AT-Gun guarding the Bridge. A lend-lease Lee tank and one more T-43 arrives as reinforcements on turn 4. The Germans have 4 Tigers with 2 squads and 2 HS as riders in turn 1 and 5 more squads with a PSK on turn 2. They then have to rush the entire board, cross the bridge and exit 1 tiger or eliminate all Russian AFV's from the road area.
The scenario went very well for me as one T-43 after another fell victim to the Tigers. The Infantry also advanced at top speed, overrunning the entire forward force with the exception of one squad with the DC that escaped back to the bridge. Only 1 tiger got immobilized and no Infantry losses on the German side. In the second part of the battle, the Lee tank got wrecked as it entered while the remaining T-43 kept hiding behind a hedge, out of LOS. It would have to be taken out in the last player turn after coming in to sight (it had to, in order to be next to the road). Thus my 3 tigers had one chance each of killing it. Two of the tigers had to move first and only had little chance on the bounding fire attacks but the last tiger had a great chance of scoring a hit. It did indeed score a hit and with the 88L would make toast of the T-43 on everything else than a Dud. So I rolled a double six!!! The bullet bounced off and I therefore lost the scenario.
I think this scenario needs a fix so that the Russian could not hide behind a hedge until the last turn. It seems like everything else that happened up to that point is useless. Its only the last shot against the T-43 still in motion etc. that counts. To be fair, I had almost annihilated all Russian resistance with only light losses. I played an almost perfect attack and still lost it all because of that hedge. So removing it with an Open Ground overlay would make the scenario a lot more interesting. The Russian reinforcements would then have to cross the bridge and join the general battle instead of just hiding. A shame to an otherwise fun scenario.

Result: Loss
Total: 1-1-1

Round 4 (Saturday 1530-2400):

Opponent: Ola Nygårds (Norway)
Scenario: SP113 "The Tigers Wrecked Them" (7 turns)
Discarded scenarios: SP99 "The Feineisen Factor" and SP103 "For Whom the Bells Toll"
Balance: We both chose Canadian0 and the following diceroll came out fortunate for me, so I picked the Canadians.

This scenario uses boards 11, 43 and 46 and depicts a stronghold in the middle of the map, surrounded by grain to the north and south, hill masses to the east and a village to the west. The Canadians need to hold on to the stronghold without losing too many Shermans. To do this the Canadians have 8 squads with a PIAT, a 57L AT-Gun and 3"MTR which cannot set up near the stronghold. THey have to fall back to it under enemy fire. Furthermore the Canadians have 11 Shermans (including 3 Fireflys) which sets up near the stronghold and the hill mass. To counter this, the Germans receive 11 Tigers entering from the north on turn 1 and 14 squads entering from the west in turn 2. The Germans can only win if they still have 3 mobile Tigers at game end.
I set up my AT-Gun facing toward my own positions in the hope of at least one rear shot on a Tiger. But as it went, it got even better than that. Ola chose to drive the Tigers in aggressively and ended up positioning 4 tigers right next to my AT-Gun at 1,2,3 and 4 hexes from it on a straight line. Naturally it opened fire in the DFPh at the 2nd tiger (so as not to get blocked by a possible burning wreck on the closest tiger) and wrecking it. But in the Prep Fire shot, the Gun malf'ed on a double six. Two of my Fireflys (having set up in Hull down positions) also had LOS to some tigers and wrecked two more. 3 tigers down by turn 1. In the ensuing RPh I repaired the Gun which seemed to scare the hell out of Ola and he thried everything to drop sN in order to escape the Gun. Other Tigers came up from behind and showering the Crew with MG fire. Non of it helped though. The Gun didnt hit anything that turn though and got jumped in CC by a surviving tiger crew. The Gun crew got killed off in CC. But in that turn another 2 tigers went down to my Firefly's deadly 76LL. 5 tigers down by turn 2. Amazingly enough, the tigers kept coming into the LOS of my Fireflysand by turn 3 the death tally was up to 8 tigers thus I needed to bag only one more to win the game. There was indeed one more tiger in the LOS of one of my Fireflys but it missed all shots in the turn 4 Prep and got knocked out by a Tiger. The rest of the game, the remaining 3 tigers kept out of sight and so it was all up to the german infantry who at this point had closed up on the stronghold. Without armor support, the Germans conducted an Assault Move-Advance two hex human wave toward the stronghold. But as they came into Point Blank they melted away under heavy Canadian fire from machine guns and Sherman 75mm HE shells. Ola conceeded the game by turn 6 with almost nothing left to show for. The Canadian losses were 4 Shermans (1 firefly and 3 regular who had ventured out on their own).

Result: Win
Total: 2-1-1

Round 5 (Sunday 0830-1430):

Opponent: Roger Sjögren (Sweden)
Scenario: WCW7 "Eye of the Tiger" (6 turns)
Discarded scenarios: J43 "3rd RTR in the Rain" and CH28 "Children of the Kunai"
Balance: I chose Russian0 and Roger chose German1, giving me APCR depletion number 1 higher.

This scenario uses halfboards 4 and 42 and depicts a village. The Germans need to take 6 of the 10 stone buildings in this village in order to win. Before the Russian setup, the Germans place a preregistered 280mm OBA anywhere on the map. Then the Russian player sets up and in the PFPh, the OBA hex is revealed. The Germans starts with 10 squads supported by a tiger, 2 PzIV's and 2 Pumas. The Russian defends with 11 squads and a 45LL AT-Gun. Furthermore the Russians receive 3 T-34 M43's and a SU-85 on turn 1.
In our game Roger had placed the OBA far from the village in a wooded area. Fortunately for me, there was non of my units near it and it caused only a few shellholes and a flame. In his next DFPh he moved the OBA 3 hexes but was still unable to hit anything.
Roger had decided to enter the Infantry on his left flank and in the center, while the tiger and a PzIV moved up to the right. This was exactly what I had been hoping for and in my turn one, I drove the SU85 and 2 T-34's into Hull down positions facing the Tiger. But in his DFPh he set the SU85 ablaze with a turret hit. My primal tiger destroyer had thus just been killed and the T-34's was in for a hard fight. Fortunately all his shots made it to the wall in his Prep and as I tried to move out of sight in my MPh he boxcared the tiger's MA. I then considered swarming the tiger but came to senses as it was still covered by a PzIV. Instead I left the wall in order to lure his PzIV into the sight of my AT-Gun which covered the walled area from the side. In the ensuing RPh he rolls 6 on the repair dr, recalling the tiger. Meanwhile the SS infantry had made its way into the village and completely overwhelming the forward positions. So I brought my T-34's into a final stand defensive position waited for the next assault. It came in turn 4 as he dropped a smoke in front of one of my buildings and made a charge with 3 squads and a leader. another assault group with 5 squads and a DC attacked another building (his bulding control was at this point 3). Unfortunately for Roger, this was to be the turning point. The attackers in the smoke discovered that they were facing a HMG with a 9-1 leader at point blank range. The result was a bloodbath and retreating Germans. That building was safe for now. In the other assault my lone squad with a LMG also fired at point blank and decimated 3 german squads, forcing them to fall back as well. The remaining German squad and 2 HS then jumped the Russian in CC, ultimately killing it and taking building nr. 4. The losses however seemed too great and as half of them didnt rally in the ensuing RPh and the time limit was reached, we agreed after some considerations, that the Germans was not in a position to wrest another 2 buildings from the Russians with the forces available and so Roger conceeded the game.

Result: Win
Total: 3-1-1