Yes, I'm back again for more punishment! Right now, me and Patch have decided to go through the non-night Pegasus Bridge scenarios, starting with this little fight.
It's the early morning of June 6th, and the Brittish (me) are trying to keep the Germans from pushing through Benouville to attack the canal bridge. The Germans have a few advantages, more troops, a couple of (odd) vehicles, slightly better support weapons, and 8 turns to go 14 hexes.
The thing I really didn't anticipate was the effect that the dawn +1 LV hindrance is having. Most of the terrain is stone buildings and walls. Most attacks are +3 or +4(!), and there's not really enough troops, or concentration, on either side yet to generate very high FP attacks. So far the most damage has occurred from the German sniper (broke a squad), and one of the vehicles getting Mired.
My initial Idea was to set up forward, and on a slightly broad front, to force a cautious entry, and then start falling back. Well, it's working, as far as it goes. I'm kind of developing into two separate groups, and I'm getting worried that they're getting too far away to support each other properly.
This is certainly not the scenario I thought it would be....
Situation at the begining of the second Brittish turn. WA is all Germans.
![Beseler is respected by those who aren't totally worthless [1-99]](images/reputation/reputation_pos.png)
you're doing the right thing.
I thought this scen was alright, but agreed, not AT ALL what you think when looking at the scen card.
That didn't last.Originally Posted by Beseler
Now the middle of German Turn 3, and Patch has shown again that there's a lot of things to maneuvering in ASL that I'm just not seeing yet.
I saw that my two forces were getting too far apart to support each other properly. I figured that shifting some force from one to the other (where his main push is developing) would be a good idea, but didn't pursue it aggressively enough. I should have CXed and gotten the squad into N11 with its advance. As it is, he's in N10, not doing a darn thing. He's a hex back from the crest line and unable to see most of the action. Something that didn't occur to me at the time.
Patch then immediately set about exploiting the hole in my defenses... and I didn't see it coming until too late.
I've been worried that he would slip around on the south side given half a chance, and get units into a position where it would be nearly impossible to keep them from exiting. While I was worried about maintaining the ability to fire south, he slipped around my rally point to the north and put a HS in M12. As if this wasn't unhealthy enough, he then advanced up close and personal on the other side. About the best idea I had was to spraying fire K14/K15. With stone buildings and +1 LV the odds weren't what I'd like... naturally I rolled high.
At best I'm losing a squad to FtR. With what he has there, I may easily loose the entire South side force...
That, of course, would put a real crimp in my plans. The best I can say at the moment, is that I've broken another squad, the Sniper Immobilized one of his vehicles, and while the other one has unMired (darn), it has malfunctioned the MA.
Situation after DFPh on German Turn 3.
Not much to add to what Rindis has written. My current difficulty lies in that southern force, which is still partially concealed and is withstanding my fire. I eliminated the broken squad due to FtR (as Rindis noted), and have swarmed his concealed leader in CC in L12. I'll know tonight if I popped him or if he slipped out the back.
Situation after DFPh on German Turn 3.
What I didn't do is advance into L13. Tough call to make, but as there's a concealed unit still in there, my ambush odds aren't good and I didn't want to risk losing a portion of my southern force. I'm continuing to envelop and hope to break the hex my next fire phase. It's still early, so I feel good about my position. Was not going into L13 a mistake? We'll find out tonight when we fire up VASL once again.
Tonight was pretty exciting. Got through practically an entire Game Turn.
He got the leader in CC. I tried a reshuffle and limited counter attack. Moved two squads up, one broke immediately, and the other HoBed a Hero. Then he subsequent fired and the squad rolled a '12' on the next MC.
About that time, I realized that I could have handed the PIAT to the Hero at creation, and with his better morale it's not a bad idea in general. Certainly would have been handy if I had.
However, his 1FP advancing shot pins an adjacent squad, and I make the decision to go in for CC. Sadly, no heroics here, just the odds, he gets me, and I miss a CR by one. However, he did DM another squad that did indeed fail to rally because of the extra +4, and that had been part of my decision to go in.
Meanwhile, L13 absorbs a lot of firepower in his AFPh, again in my DFPh, and again in his turn 4 PFPh. Between high rolls and Cowering, he can't reveal the concealed unit, and he pins the squad in there twice, before finally breaking it towards the end of his PFPh. Darn shame too, he barely got that first pin, and without it, I would have been free to advance into L12, which really could have gotten nasty. I'm thankful that they held as long as they did (about to lose them to FtR again), and would be much more thankful if this scenario had a tighter time limit.
Situation, German Turn 4, just before AFPh. K10 has the PIAT, and is DM after a drive-by threatening by the mobile FLAK-truck.
Well, I may have gone and thrown this one away.
I simply could not break L13. It's not that the 648 was passing MCs, I couldn't even get MCs with multiple 24 and 30FP attacks. That simply threw a monkey wrench into everything and I got horribly flustered and lost track of the plan I had thrown together. As a result I'm out of position and not sure of how to proceed next, which has allowed Rindis some time to recover and form a thin line, but elite squads in +4 terrain have remarkable staying power. I did finally break L13 and will be advancing in to see what lies under the ? counter, but I think my earlier decision to take out the hex with direct fire was still the right one.
It would seem we're both somewhat pessimistic about our chances to pull off a win in this scenario. Which is probably a good sign for the eventual tension level (TL).
The major thing that's had me worried from the start is the fact that I only had two leaders. Not a bad squad/leader ratio, but it makes for a certain lack of 'backup' if something went wrong, which it did. Patch eliminated one during the initial move on my southern group.
L13 proved to have a HS in it, which survived the initial attack while eliminating a HS (through CR). This still left me to deal with a line that had moved up to the L hexrow. The initial good news was that the Flak-truck permananently malfunctioned the MA, Recalling it. (I have to admit that I probably would have Exited it already to keep that from happening. But my CVP cap is approaching, and Patch is probably concentrating on that.)
My turn didn't do a whole lot, other than find that O12 can't see L15 (misses the building in N12, clips the crest line in N13). And I advanced down into M12 and N12. With luck, the HS would live again to continue the Melee, and I could concentrate on the rest of the line.
Well, no such luck. I lost the HS (taking another HS with me), and German prep fire broke the squad in M12 (and Patch's MMG on the second shot). And my Sniper got his MTR squad. Again, my DF (what there was) couldn't roll under a 10, leaving Patch free to do what he wants.
...and I'm not quite sure what he wants. Looking at it again, I think he's going for an Encircle on British turn 5.
Sigh, I always see these things late.
Situation on German Turn 5, right before AFPh.
I was wondering when I did it how smart the move to M12/N12 was. If the Melee continued, I think it would have been reasonable. The question was of course, the more likely outcome of losing the HS. Possibly, I should still be skulking at this point. But the Germans still had four turns to Exit (slightly over two hexes/Turn), and if I put myself in a position that's hard to get at, it would be hard to interdict any move towards that.
Balderick, I have a cunning plan...It would seem we're both somewhat pessimistic about our chances to pull off a win in this scenario. Which is probably a good sign for the eventual tension level (TL).
This is what is known as a "Learning Experience". Yes, I should have driven the truck off-board. I didn't that one turn as I was worried what a pair of 648s and a 9-2 could do and I was using it to try and eliminate the broken 338 for FtR. Next time I'll look more closely at getting while the gettin's good.
I do admit that the defiant defense of L13 broke my back. I lost too much damn time trying to reduce that building, and lost all direction of how I wanted to proceed once I did. I've still not recovered. I think I know what I should have done, but it's late now and I need to deal with an assault. Not good, as I expect the broken 648 to rally ("7" or less), leaving me next to a 20FP stack led by a -2 leader. My hope is all the +4 terrain will benefit me as much as it has the Brits, and I've three stacks that can deliver 20FP+ attacks in retaliation. I expect two to survive.
Interesting question. I'll not answer as I don't want to give out hints as to what I hope you won't do so I can win this thing and maintain my record.
Anything happening in the Chateau or in Le Port? I'm playing this one right now too and our hotspots are completely different.
No. Remember, this is Scenario 3, and those areas are not on the map.
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