Cross of Irony: Redneck ASL

Day Three (18 Oct 1942)

Having played several RB CGs, one thing became obvious: a Soviet Attack can be devastating. It forces the German player to setup first, and then the Soviets can pick out the weak areas to utilize concentrated attacks. The German player rarely spends points on defense, and without mines and such to worry about the Russian player can simply forge ahead. A well-time Soviet attack can send the German player reeling backwards, so with all of that in mind, I choose an Attack chit. The German's ELR is down to 3, so I'm guessing that Field Marshal Marsholio will choose an Idle chit. He does, and my cunning plan is off to a perfect start.


As before, I (Kommissar Kipper) will be writing the majority of this blog, while Field Marshal Marsholio (my Axis opponent) is the author of the italic musings of the German side. And, of course, feel free to leave any comments and insults that might be appropriate (or even inappropriate, we don't care...but our last blog had 1100 views, and not a word from the peanut gallery. Apparently, the GamesSquad bunch is a quiet bunch!)

Pre-battle:
Russian Strategy:: My opponent is totally surprise by my Attack chit. I had purchased Inf Coy, Militia Coy, and a Rocket battery; along with the 120mm OBA that carried over, I have a sizeable attack force. My plan is to achieve two things: capture back a lot of ground and kill a lot of German soldiers. I'm willing to trade casualties to do this, and I'm not even going to care of I win or lose the scenario.

German Strategy: Rolled 15 cpp, purchased a reserve pioneer coy and 20 fpp. Plan on having an off day to build up some infantry and raise the ELR for the big push later. Flamethrowers always come in handy.

The Battle:
Russian Player:My opponent sets up in a fairly spread formation with a few kill stacks here and there. His main line of resistance seems to be the "I" hexline, but I have several large factories to recapture before I worry about that. The factory skirmishes go well; it's costly but the main factories are back in my hands. The stone buildings along the I6-N5 grain are taken back, and I even sweep across the north edge, as far west as the stone wall (he has a Reserve formation near the NW edge, so I stop short of releasing them.), despite a rocket barrage that slows me down a few turns. Throughout the battle, I continue to say things like "Pull back while you still can!", and other similar barbs, but Marsholio's troops are committed to stand and die. My 120mm OBA, promised by HQ since Day 1, finally arrives and I plop it down in the I9 area where he has a large amount of units. The OBA breaks several squads (and starts a fire), which prevents him from reinforcing the northcentral area in a timely manner. With the main factories retaken, my units go after his scattered strongpoints such as the H15 and I12 buildings. It's costly, but I manage to take them as well. As the scenario winds down, casualties bring the fighting down to an occasional murmur.
The only area where the Germans are successful is along the western edge. The C13 building isn't worth trying to hold, since the German will soon be able to enter along the western mapedge to the south of it. I fill the area with a lot of dummy stacks and a few HIP units in the cellars, at least slowing his advance with a minimal cost. He manages to capture the building, negating some of my own captured locations for the final tally.

German Player: Battle?! Wait what? Off day!!! Here come the Russians, ordered my squads to hold the line at all costs. Called in my rocket OBA... The only thing that helped save the Northern flank. Costs were high, down to about a company and a half of infantry by the end of the day. Lost all the factories, but prevented a russian victory... barely...

BATTLE BREAKS: It took a couple of tries, but we finally made it through Django Kills (If You Live...Shoot!) (Questi-1967). Far from an actual sequel to the original classic, it features a too-laid-back Tomas Milian sleepwalking his way through a story about a town feuding over some gold. There are a lot of interesting scenes in the film, such as the Indian getting scalped, golden bullets, and a gang of black-shirted fascist gay cowboys (not that's there's anything wrong with that), but as a whole, the movie is a terrible bore. Some call the film artistic, some call it weird; I'll call it mostly a waste of time. We should've watched a Tarzan movie instead.

The Newcastle mini-keg was right-on this time around, with no off-flavor. I guess one gets a bad one every now and then. We did have a problem with Whippoorwills just after dark. The nocturnal birds sound very soothing when heard through the forest from miles away. But when they're in a tree just outside the window, they'll drive a person crazy. We went out with flashlights and a shotgun, but the beasts are incredibly wily and quick, instantly changing locations like a concealed 10-3 leader using sewer movement. I think only Ted Nugent could hunt down one of those birds, though I'm not sure if they're good to eat and they probably wouldn't make a good hat either.



Post-Battle
Russian Player: The attack went even better than I had hoped, even though my rockets failed to arrive. I recaptured all the major factories and a huge amount of ground, and straightened my perimeter to my satisfaction. Not quite a Russian Victory, though it was close. The Germans are left with few troops on the map, and I almost delivered a knock-out blow. Almost...
The problem is that I won't be able to follow up with another attack on the next turn. It's becoming obvious that Day 3 is too early to mount a Russian offensive, no matter how tempting it looks. The proper strategy would be to wait until Day 4, when 2 Attack chits are available. Of course, my opponent probably won't be Idle on Day 4, so there's no guarantee that a Russian Attack would occur if I had waited...maybe it's a moot point.

German Player: It was rough, I managed to push forward a bit in the West, but lost quite a bit of ground and men around the factories and the north side of the map. I will still need a day of rest to build up my forces for the big push.

Final Casualty Tallies:
Russian: 41 total CVPs lost (no leaders lost!); Germans: 38 total CVP lost, only 3 from leaders.

GERMAN VICTORY


NEXT: AND ON THE 4th DAY...THEY RESTED!