2006 ASLOK AAR

AAR – ASLOK XXI – 2006

Just got back from ASLOK and thought I would add an AAR about it to the Blog. I left after work on Thursday and got to Middleburg Heights, Ohio around 9:00pm. I checked in across the street at the Ramada Inn and then checked in with the Bret (tourney director) for my name tag and shirt. The shirt is brown and features two Russians in a Stalingradish setting. One appears to be carrying a flamethrower – so kind of a cool drawing. Bret has changed the name tags to a much cooler looking item. It’s a laminated color printed tag with the full name, hometown, and some tag line unique to the person, along with a pretty nice picture of a Russian T-34. Looks like the same design as what David Goldman uses for the Chicago Open (sans lamination) and as I saw Bret there this past year I’m guessing that is where he got the idea from. Thumbs up on both the shirt and the tag. Hey, it’s the small things that count.

Too late to start a game as I want to be awake for the 8am Friday morning mini’s so I say hi to friends and pick up a set of Schwerpunkt custom dice and the two scenario sets they are selling; Schwerpunkt 12 and Rally Point. Since I’m in the Schwerpunkt 12 mini the next day – I should probably have the scenarios. Looking around it is clear that this isn’t a better year for the hotel ASLOK is held in. Lots of areas need repair/cleaning up and there doesn’t seem to be any hotel staff around so apparently all the change of owners over the years hasn’t helped at all. Well, really doesn’t matter as we just need the room to play in and I’m not staying there anyway. The only issue is that the restaurant is apparently closed for the weekend so you can’t get food at the gaming site. In the past I usually had breakfast there – but the Ramada I’m staying at has a breakfast set-up now so it ends up not being an issue. OK, head back to my room, check out the news, and then catch some sleep. My goal (aside from having a good time) is to win another mini tourney plaque. I won my first one in 2003 and then have come up empty ever since.

Friday October 6 – Round One of the Schwerpunkt 12 Mini

Grab breakfast and head across the street for the 8am mini-tournament. I’m there a bit early and check the pairings for the first mini. I signed up for the Schwerpunkt 12 mini. Schwerpunkt is a professionally printed journal that focuses on sets of scenarios compiled by a group of ASL players in the Tampa Bay, FL area. Evan Sherry pulls it all together and has a tradition of releasing a new Schwerpunkt collection at every ASLOK. This year is number 12 and the mini is drawing the scenarios from the newest Schwerpunkt released this ASLOK. For all practical purposes no one has seen these unless you play-tested for Evan. This past year Todd Wiley and I played through all the 1st Schwerpunkt scenarios so I became pretty familiar with the Schwerpunkt style of play and feel pretty comfortable with this type of quick playing and aggressive scenario. My first round pairing ends up being Dave Ginard (Ohio). Dave is one of the true veterans of ASL. He was involved with ASL from the early SL days and I believe was one of the early play testers for Squad Leader©. A strong player and certainly in the upper tier of players. I’d kind of like to run into him in the final round, not the first round…

We pick the Bozsoki Relay. A small 4.5 turn scenario with about 30 counters a side on two boards (17 & 18). An initial group of 10 Hungarian squads, 2 armored cars, a 75L AT Gun and 81mm mortar start on 1 board. They have to exit the opposing board with 16VP. The Russians have 14 squads and 3 lend-lease M4/76s to prevent them. However, an additional Hungarian force enters behind the Russians and they include 7 more Hungarian squads and 6 Zrinyi II Hungarian assault guns. At least 1 of the Zrinyi’s have to exit with the on board group – but none of the rest of this reinforcing group counts for exit points. We dice for sides and I get the Hungarians. My goal is to use the reinforcing Hungarians to create a column through which the on-board Hungarians can pass around. However, I don’t want the Russians to see my initial set-up and know where I want to push. So, I spread out along the length of the board with my leaders on the far right (I’m going to try to push through the far left board edge). On the left flank I’ve hidden the mortar in a grain field with the AT gun near it and covering a row of empty hexes that can interdict any of his M4’s trying to cut across and sever my column. I figure the mortar will get revealed quickly and Dave may try to take it out with a M4 – then I can take the M4 out with the AT gun.

After my set up, Dave sets the Russians up. He has grouped the Sherman’s in the center of the board – apparently he is worried about the 6 Zrinyi’s, each mounting 105mm howitzers. The rest of his force he spreads out pretty evening across the board. I’m real happy with this because he is trying to defend against a broad front push by me – but I’m not planning on doing that. My first deception seems to have worked.

I line the reinforcing Hungarians up on the far left flank and we start. In brief, I am able to run the Zrinyi’s unopposed into a straight column exactly as I had hoped and get the escorting infantry into the positions I want them in. His only AT asset on that side is an ATR which after missing 1 side shot doesn’t get another chance as the front of the Zrinyi’s are un-penatratable by the ATR. I start pushing all the on-board forces quickly to the left keeping them behind woods and hills in as many blind hexes as possible. My 81mm mortar reveals itself and breaks the crew of his mortar squad which was set up on one of the few 2 level hills around. Dave reacts by moving his infantry more to my left flank – but I don’t think he realizes exactly what I’m doing as he doesn’t push as hard as he could. I think he thinks I still might cut in and try to fight my way through. Meanwhile his tanks start to position themselves to cover open hexes I might be going through. By turn 2 my Zrinyi’s start to pound the Russian infantry that might interdict my moves. Dave realizes the predicament he’s in and pushes the three Shermans around a hill (to avoid the Zrinyi’s) and straight into the row that my still hidden AT gun is covering. By the end of turn 2 all three Sherman’s are eliminated. By the end of my turn 3 there are no Russian infantry left to stop my end run and with all his armor eliminated (and all mine are untouched) Dave resigns as he physically can’t get enough units in place to stop me from exiting the Hungarians. I’m excited because; I’ve won my first round, Dave is a well-respected player, and my overall plan worked. Thanks to Todd for all those playings of the Schwerpunkt scenarios. We finished in good time so I step out for lunch. 1 - 0

Friday October 6 – Round Two of the Schwerpunkt 12 Mini

After lunch I find out my opponent is Larry Zoet (Michigan). Larry is one of the great Grand Rapids guys that I often game with. I’ve played Larry twice before; winning once many years ago at ASLOK, and losing to him this past year in the Chicago Open. We pick “To No Avail” and set it up. This scenario features Guards Russians against SS Germans in 1943. The Germans win by capturing one of two buildings but not losing too many troops. It is a 7 turn scenario but not too many counters. The Germans will get 11 SS squads (3 are assault engineers) and 5 halftracks. The Russian gets 8 elite rifle squads, 24 AP mines, 4 barb wire, a 45LL AT gun, a light T-70 tank and a T-34. We dice for sides and I get the defending Russians. I really think that Larry will attack down the right side. He can reach both buildings faster that way. I set up the minefields and wire on the right side along with the T-34. The T-70 and squads set up a rather forward defense and a 9-1 and MMG go HIP on the right flank.

Larry sets up on the left. Ratz…First shot from the T-34 malfunction’s the gun…double Ratz….Then I realize I forgot to use the three fortified building locations given in the Russian OoB. Triple Ratz….This is going to be tough. Larry pushes strong on my left flank. I do a fighting withdrawal and manage to keep everyone (except maybe a ½ squad) alive. He unloads a halftrack for the HMG on it and leaves the track in the back abandoned. Larry uses his 1 demo charge on a concealed unit and doesn’t get an effect. For all 7 turns it is a tight and tense game, Larry’s forces pushing forward and mine trying to stay alive and withdraw into the buildings. The T-34 crashes into the factory (one of the victory buildings) in the hopes he can prevent the Germans from controlling it – but a repair attempt later eliminates the gun and the crew abandon it. The crew ends up holing up in the 2nd building as it become apparent Larry isn’t going to try for it. The crew is just there to prevent a last minute dash to pick up the building for free. Meanwhile, Larry is losing points as between the AT gun and the T-70 I’ve managed to eliminate 4 of the halftracks and some infantry. Meanwhile, one of my far right flank squads that can’t make it back into the buildings (too risky) decides to make a run for the abandoned halftrack on the last two Russian movement phases. All Larry can do to prevent this is double time a 7-0 leader and ½ squad adjacent to the track. Two defense fires later the Russian squad captures and then destroys the Halftrack just breaking the 35 CVP cap for the Germans. Great game and very exciting. I’m very happy with my play as I had to overcome the loss of my major weapon system (the T-34’s gun) and fortifications that didn’t come into play.
On to the third round. 2 – 0

Friday October 6 – Round Three of the Schwerpunkt 12 Mini

The third round features scenarios from the Tampa Bay group’s new “Rally Point” publication. This is a 2nd publication from them and is strictly a collection of scenarios as opposed to the Schwerpunkt journal that also includes detailed analysis of each scenario and other topics. My opponent is Derek Cox (England). I don’t know anything about him but the Euro players that all come over are always strong players as I’m sure the trip over filters out the interest of weaker players. We select RPT7 “Romanian Hammers’ and dice for sides. I get the Russians again. This scenario features a mass of Romanian squads (12) and two late reinforcing Stug IIIG’s against 9 Russian squads of various qualities – but with a commissar and a 9-2 leader and two light T-26’s tanks. The Russians have to keep a good order Russian MMC within 3 hexes of a particular building. Oh yeah, the Stug’s enter behind the Russians and only 4 hexes away from the victory area. The other unusual aspect of the scenario is that it is played all on starter kit 2 boards – V & W – so these are basically new boards to us. As we start this it becomes very clear that Derek is a very methodical player and very knowledgeable about the rulebook. For the first 4 turns (of a 6 turn scenario) I feel that I am being slowly picked apart in a very calculated and precise manner. Only fortunate placement of the commissar to rally 2 squads that break on the first turn and then later a 3rd conscript squad keeps my left flank from totally disintegrating. I try to keep my T-26’s in a position to threaten the inevitable entry of the Stugs (on turn 3), but I have to move them into the battle with the infantry to delay his movement across open areas. My only hope is that his methodical play also means he is fairly conservative and that usually means the attacker run out of time in a Schwerpunkt design – I thank Todd again because this is what I’m counting on based on our playings. The Stugs come on the board and quickly take out the T-26’s. I don’t have a choice with them; they became sacrificial lambs once my flank crumbled. However, they kept Derek from rushing straight up the center of the board so it wasn’t all in vain. By the last turn I’ve managed to get almost all of my force in good order and into stone buildings in the victory area. I’ve lost about 2-3 of my squads plus the T-26’s – but all the rest are in place and one 1st line squad is in an upper level protected by other squads in the lower levels. Unless Derek can break him – the squad will win the game for me as Derek's troops can’t physically reach him through the ground floor squads to engage him in close combat. The problem for Derek is he is about 1 turn too late and needs to move squads next to the buildings for close combat against the lower levels that normally would have been used to create a huge fire group with the intention of breaking the squad. On turn 6 some prep fire happens – largely ineffective – and then after the movement and advancing fire – my upper floor squad passes a NMC and seals the victory for me. Hurray – my goal of earning a mini-tourney plaque is reached so I’m happy. Also, all three games were great games against very enjoyable opponents. Three wins and no losses put me on the same track as 2003 when I also won a mini. I ended that year 4-1. 3 – 0

While playing Derek I also picked up two rule points of note: 1. Snipers are not activated on TK dice rolls. Just TH dice rolls. Odd, I don’t ever recall that – but Derek pointed it out and when I looked it up he was right! 2. When an infantry unit ascends a crest line and is fired on through that hex side – they don’t get the benefit of the height advantage. Now, I did know this one – but I don’t recall that I’ve ever claimed it and it is definitely not in my list of things I keep in mind to look for. Derek caught me on this one as I assault moved a conscript out of a ground level house and up to a 1st level hill. I figured he was safe from the 2fp shot that Derek could get on him until my +1 mod (for HA) turned into a -1 for open ground. I think the squad survived the shot – but it definitely came as a surprise for me and is now on the top of my mind.

Saturday October 7 – Round One of the LL Mini

LL mini is themed around scenarios that have LL modified guns in them – be it ordnance or vehicular guns. For me, today is just icing on the cake as I’ve already achieved my hope for the weekend – a mini plaque. I get there about 15 minutes early and find that my pairing is also there early. We get a head start on the round. My opponent is Eric Safran (Michigan). Another Michigander, but this time from the East side of the state. Eric is part of the East Side Gamers group that compiles the ‘Dezign Pak’ series. I’ve met Eric several times over the years at PJ Norton’s Officefest, but we’ve never played before. I don’t really know how he is as a player but I know he plays a lot with the ESG group and so at the very least is an experience player. We pick Kampf at Melikova (not sure of the spelling) from the Journal. This is a straight up German vs Russian scenario with the Germans attacking a village. Small and quick to play, it features a German Flamm PzIII and Pz IV verses a Russian 45LL AT gun and a late arriving KV-1. Both sides with accompanying infantry. The Germans have to clear three buildings of Russians. Dice give me the Russians again. I’m good with that. They’ve done me well so far. Typical fighting withdrawal for me. Concealment and good fortune keeps the FlammPanzer from doing any real serious damage. Two good incidents helps seal this scenarios for me. His Pz IV makes a wide swing around my rear area to my left flank – and parks adjacent to my hidden AT gun. I have to spin but keep ROF and on the second shot one PzIV bites the dust. The second incident is that in the need to get troops forward, he pushes his 9-2 and a couple squads in sight of my mmg. A KIA and multiple random selection later – all three units are eliminated. Along with two melees that I win I’m able to reoccupy the building I lost early on and keep the other two with him only having 2 GO squads left and a FlamPanzer that is facing the KV-I two hexes away. After his rally phase when no one rallies, Eric resigns as he physically doesn’t have enough units to occupy three buildings, much less combat the units in each one. Great game against Eric and I’d definitely enjoy playing him again – he also is an efficient player and we finish before 10:30. Wow, 4 – 0 and into the 2nd round of this mini. Checking in, Bret tells me this is just a 2 round mini as other players dropped out. Off to lunch and wondering if I could possibly pull off a second plaque this weekend. 4 – 0

Saturday October 7 – Round Two of the LL Mini

The other pair from the first round end rather late (around 1:00) so during my break I head back to the hotel and grab a quick nap. I get back and find that my opponent is Matt Book (IL). Haven’t played him either but hear the name a lot and I am pretty sure he is a strong player. We look at the scenario choices and seeing that (since this is the final round) we have the rest of the day decide to pick a fairly large scenario “The Awakening of Spring” from the original General magazine. Late war Germans attacking Russians with King Tigers, Panthers, Stalins etc. Looks very cool. We dice for sides and once again I’m Russian. He takes off to get lunch and set up my defense. Hmmm… 1 ½ hours later he just gets back. OK. We can still get this done, but by the time he finishes his set up it is 3:30. I’m a bit worried as this is a 10 turn scenario with a lot of counters. Well, if he is a quick player we can finish this.

Turn 1 ends….two hours later. Matt is a very good player – but very, very methodical – checking every possible LOS on every hex I move into and calculating every single modifier on every possible shot even on shots he had previously figured out before. There is no way we’re going to finish this in a reasonable time. I figure this will take us another 10- 12 hours at this pace. I ask him to consider canning this scenario and restarting with a much smaller and quicker playing one. He agrees (although he thinks we can finish it – sorry, no way Matt) and we pick another that he suggests – “Steamrollers” from a Paddington Bears (Australia) collection. I don’t know it, but he says its balanced 20:20 on ROAR. He takes the defending Germans and starts setting up while I grab a quick dinner. I come back (he is still setting up) but when he finishes I set up the Russians and we’re off. Oh, while I was at dinner – I checked ROAR. Ooops, sorry Matt, not quite balanced – 25 German wins to 18 Russian wins. That’s about a 60:40 split and gives the Germans about a 20% favor. That doesn’t sound balanced to me and at this level, that difference means something. OK, well, this is all icing on the cake for me anyway and it still looks fun. The Russians have to attack across mud into about a ½ dozen German squads, 2 King Tigers, a JadgPanther, and a Pz IV. I’ve got 7 628 squads 2 T-34/76’s, 2 ISU-122’s, and 3 JS-II’s. From the front the heavy hitters can take each other out in the turret, but not in the hull. My plan is for the infantry to attack down the left flank woods via a road and path (avoiding mud penalties) and enter the village from the back to force out the German infantry (which have to be within 3 hexes of the village center). Meanwhile my 5 JS & ISU’s will engage his KingTiger and JadgPanther in the center hoping to take them out by simply outnumbering him in guns. My 2 T-34’s go down the right flank to pin down the infantry and prevent them from displacing back to the village and threaten the flanks of his tanks. His second King Tiger and MkIV are over there, but only the Pz IV is in a forward position.

The forest fight goes great. I move through in good time and am at the outskirts of the village with three turns left to go. However, the tank battle in the center is a disaster. On his turn 1 he spots a LOS to one of the T-34’s across the board. I thought it was blocked by two sets of woods – but no – the thread just snakes through. Scratch 1 T-34. In the center on turn two I am in position to rush the two defending center tanks with all 5 of mine. 2 of my 5 tanks bog in the mud but are in decent positions. One of his defending shots takes out a bogged ISU. But, all four of my advancing fire shots either miss the JP or hit the hull of the KT for no effect. On his next turn his prep fire KT takes out JS #1 with a turret hit. Then his JadgPanther critical hits ISU #2 blazing him and then hits JS #2 in the turret taking him out. I’m left with just the sole JS for my defensive fire phase. He fires and hits the KT in the hull – no good. My turn 3 the JS’s prep fire hits the KT in the hull again. His defensive fire hits the JS in the turret – scratch the 5th tank. Meanwhile, my T-34 had moved up to a hedge to take out the MkIV. He easily out guns and out armors the MkIV so this should be a clean kill. I hit – and then roll a dud. My mg’s get a MC on units in a building 3 hexes away – a snakes on the MC creates a battle hardened half squad and hero. The Hero takes the panzerschreck, runs up to the T-34 and then toasts him in the next turn. Great. All my armor down and not a single scratch on the Germans. I get a brief glimmer of hope when one of his King Tiger’s throws a track and fails a start up transmission check and then the 2nd King Tiger bogs then immobilizes, but the remaining PzIV and JadgPanther make it into the village along with most of the German infantry and my remaining 6 Russian squads (one had broken in the woods and failed his 8ML self rally twice) simply can’t survive the open streets through the firepower of the remaining two AFV’s and German squads. 4 – 1

That evening back in my hotel room I recapped the scenario. I let down on the last one. For what ever reason I definitely did not have my top game on for it. Upon reflection I really mishandled the tank battle. While I did a good job of getting him outgunned, I should have had the remaining ISU smoke the JadgPanther and then have the other three tanks fire the 122 HE at the King Tiger. Targeting the KT on the Vehicle table would have been a hit on anything but a 12 (very large target & acquisition). The HE wouldn’t hurt the KT but the collateral attack on his CE crew (yes, they were CE the whole time) would have been an almost guaranteed 2-3 MC if not an outright K/KIA and I doubt they would have survived 4 shots like that. That thought had crossed my mind – but with the frustration of the slow play and the fatigue of 2 straight days of playing I didn’t consider it as much as I should have. I was too caught up in hoping for a turret hit on the KT which never came. With the KT gone, the JadgPanther would go down the same way or even by direct fire as my 122L guns could penetrate his armor fairly easily and then I would have had the tanks in the village and between his units moving in from the right flank. That would have left just 2 German 658 squads and a leader verses 1 or 2 Russian 122 bearing tanks and six 628 squads. I misplayed the scenario and gave Matt the opportunity he needed to win.

Well, my chance for two mini plaques passes by but I’m still very happy with my play (except for the last scenario) and I achieved my goal of a mini plaque. I hope I can keep improving to the point where I can consistently win a mini and/or place in the top tier at the Chicago Open and then I might give the Grofaz bracket at ASLOK a shot. Off to Chicago for the Open in April of 2007! I want to thank my regular opponents Todd Wiley, Doug Lynes, and semi-regular opponent Mark DeVries for giving me the chance to play almost every week and keep honing my ASL skills. They really came through this weekend. Also, another great job by Bret Hildebran for running another great ASLOK.