J67 The Lawless Roads AAR In Progress

[Rindis]

After finishing the Market-Garden set, Patch and I are playing one of the early-war scenarios in Journal 4 featuring Carriers. The British are trying to clear a road through a village (no GO Germans on or adjacent to it), but the Germans are already strongly defending the town. In addition to needing to chase the Germans away from the road, the British will lose if more than four of their AFVs are killed (or if four tanks/tankettes are killed).

Given a choice, and remembering Patch's problems with a similar set of victory conditions in Khopra's Crossing, I take the defending Germans. They don't get any vehicles of their own, and the anti-tank capability isn't great, but the Brits don't have anything heavier than an A10. Patch will have to be cautious, especially with two 37mm 'doorknockers' hidden somewhere.

Board 12 is an unusual mix of terrain for an early board, and there's a few of the hedgerow overlays in play (though bocage is not in play—a hedge is a hedge here) and I have to spend some time deciding how to defend. The real target is the road itself, but if I concentrate on that, he could easily bypass part of the defense and strike towards the middle or back end, hoping to leave me without fallback positions. So I opt to defend the entire front with an eye towards hustling towards the road if he attacks down it as expected. The four OB-given '?' are used to conceal where the good leaders, MMGs and ATRs are. The MTR doesn't have any place with a good LOS and end up on the hill in T1 when I forget that Orchards block non-same level LOS.

Patch setup near the road and got to work clearing it immediately. With some concentrated firepower, and a ROF-tear on his MTR, he broke a leader and LMG squad, and pinned another LMG squad. I was able to do far less to his initial advance than I would have liked. The worst part was that he put three squads past the hedgerow between V and W, and got into the first of the stone buildings. I had figured I'd keep him out of there a while longer.


Situation, British Turn 1 DFPh. The blue ribbon is the victory road, note that an SSR turns a graveyard into an orchard and you can still see pieces of it poking through the overlays.

Even with my broken squad having made it back to my 9-1 leader, I got nothing back on my rally. I wasn't sure how to reorganize my defense. In general, the plan was to shift for more defense in depth along the road, but he had the two Mk VIs crawling along the south edge of the board, and I didn't want them getting into my rear unopposed. My opening MTR shot on the lead one hit and got a '2' result on the IFT to kill it with no survivors, that simplified things greatly. A shot from U8 broke W7, taking some more pressure off me, and I decided to gamble with a stone building and a -1 leader and stand up to the rest of his breakthrough in W6. A shot from U6 broke one of the two squads there. Things were looking up.

I pulled out of V2, taking a roundabout route to make sure he couldn't strip concealment. As I moved other forces around, I came up with a sneaky little plan. First, V4 smoked W5. If that hadn't worked, I'm not sure I would have gone through with it, but with the smoke (only on a '1'!), I put the squad in V4 into X4, where he could cause problems for the broken squad in W6, and was adjacent to the British 7-0 in X5. Sadly, I couldn't get him in Advancing Fire, and he self-broke to rout away before I could go for CC with him.



Situation, German Turn 1, end of MPh.

[Gunner Scott]

Hi-

Thats one hell of a scenario. Been a long timevsince I played it, but I do remember those little carriers giving the Germans grief as they would race to cut rout paths.


Scott

[Dan Lepore]

Thanks for posting the AAR. I've played this scenario twice and had fun playing it both times. I got to play each side. As the Brits I attack mostly south through the graveyard/orchard and my armour and some infantry going north. I lost that one in the end. I remember have a great time as the Germans, with a pretty tense battle taking place around Q6 building. It looks like it's going to get interesting. Look forward to seeing more of your AAR.

[Patch_Bunny]

UK Set-up
5.5 turns to battle through a stone village and clear a road. A single HS next to the road can lose it for me, and I can't lose more than 3 of my tanks/tankettes. Yow! Rindis has excellent AT capability and well equipped infantry. ROAR rates this as close to 50-50, so it must be a decent fight.

I decide to push heavily to the north. I'll send the two tankettes south to clear the mortar off the hill and run around the flank. There's enough in my starting LOS that I can hammer some front line units and still move. There's a lot of hedges screening my movement up to the village, but there are also some sneaky LOS that I need to watch for.

UK Turn 1
I fail to break the squad in W9, but I do break the leader there and the squad in W6 but fire an awful lot to do that. Several squads move up close to the V5 building, but with my kill stacks marked with Prep Fire counters, I can't get the firepower I want up there. I do move my tanks up to the front line. I hate the lack of HE, but I can still do some damage here. Although the hedges and walls are bog hazards, I feel it's remote enough to send them across the hedges. In Turn 2 I hope to get the 8-1 and 9-2 stacks up front and breaking more units. As I deployed a squad to man the mortar, I am moving a HS along the board edge in a flanking maneuver.

German Turn 1
Rindis fires his mortar against my little MkIVB and nails it with snakes on the IFT. Ouch! One tankette down! That hurt. Rindis also breaks a squad in W6 and in W7. Getting cute, he then successfully places smoke in W5 with a '1', and runs a 467 around to X4, threatening my backfield and blocking rout paths to the CX 7-0 n X5. Hoo-boy, this isn't going well. I have damn little firepower up front to deal with any of this. The 7-0 voluntarily breaks and routs to AA6 to avoid getting killed in CC, W6 routs to X7, lacking the ability to reach anywhere else, and W7 has to rout to W6 where he continues not to be happy. Rindis doesn't advance X4 into X5, and reshuffles his line around U5 to U9.

To summarize turn 1, I am in a worse position than I was at the start of the game, and have one turn less to clear the town. Erf.

[Rindis]

For Patch's second turn, the only thing that comes back in RPh is my 8-1 in T7. Given that he's alone there, that's not an immediate benefit. Patch preps with his A10 in X6, doing nothing but re-establishing DM, and then goes on to slice and dice me in movement.

The remaining Mk VI charges into the orchard and overruns my flanking squad there, reducing and ELRing it on a K/3. The good news is that my Sniper activates and breaks his HS in W10. Then the second A10 charges in and overruns my flank squad in U9, breaking it. The most I can do is fire the adjacent LMG looking for a 3 TK DR, but no such luck. Then he moved the two Carriers around that flank, setting up an excellent shooting gallery at the rear of my defenses. The bulk of the British infantry flooded forward, with a big stack going into the hedged-off field in W10 and up to the first roadblock at W8. I had moved up specifically to put pressure on that, but my shot narrowly missed doing anything, while he broke the squad w/ATR there.


Situation, end of MPh, British Turn 2.

With all this pressure on my front, and Carriers behind me, I was feeling pretty desperate. When the only thing I managed during RPh was to reduce a squad on a '12', I didn't feel any better. Patch got both of his non-DM units back, a 7-0 and a squad in X7.

The first thing was to draw in the flanks. The LMG squad left in U8 pulled back to the stone building and 8-1 immediately behind him, and the MTR crew came down off the hill, so they could advance to U3 where they'd have a line on the Carriers, or might be able to do something in the orchard. After quite a bit of thinking, I finally remembered Dash—after I'd started doing other moves. The concealed set in V5 moved back, attempted Smoke, failed (too much to hope for twice in a row, at least I didn't get a '6'), and moved into V4 to continue trying to resist in that area. Patch fired on both locations, but couldn't get a result in the stone building. The MMG squad Dashed into S5 with my 9-1 following, Patch not only couldn't get a result, but he malfed the BMG on one of the Carriers. In the DFPh, he could only get a PTC on already broken units, and malfed the MA of the A10 in X6.

In my AFPh, I got a CH with the ATR in V4, turning his second Mk VI into a Burning Wreck. Two kills down, one to go for an auto-win. There's still two hidden ATGs—if he doesn't just flush them out with unopposed infantry. Immediately afterward, I got a '2' with a LMG TH roll against Q9. Pity that doesn't count as a CH, though I rolled too high even for a doubled TK#. For RPh, I opted to have the squad and a half run across the street in full view of the Carriers so as to join back up with the group in S5. The ATR squad got a '2', and rallied and generated a Hero—stopping in the middle of the street. The LMG HS died to Interdiction. I left the Hero behind to grab the LMG while the squad Advanced into S5.


Situation, end of MPh, German Turn 2.

For the record, there were 3 '12's and 4 '2's in one Player Turn. There were a good number of '3's and '11's too. And more dice-bot shenanigans followed during the rest of the session....

[Patch_Bunny]

In my AFPh, I got a CH with the ATR in V4, turning his second Mk VI into a Burning Wreck. Two kills down, one to go for an auto-win.

Actually, taking another look at the VC, you need to knock out all 4 tankettes, or three tankettes and both carriers for an auto win. So if the A13 dies, you just need to nail the other, or take out the two carriers.

Hmm... probably should have parked those elsewhere.

[Rindis]

I knew that.... Sheesh, lousy memory.

[Patch_Bunny]

UK Turn 2
Ok, Turn 1 didn't go well. Rindis' little counterattack has set me back a turn and gotten me horribly out of position. My infantry is just not prepared to deal with the flanking in X4.

But my tankette is...

I Prep Fire with the A10 in X6 to (unlikely) hurt U6, but at least I keep the HS there under DM. In movement, the hardy MkIVC heads to X4 for an overrun, scoring a k/3 result. My second A10 heads into U9 where it overruns the 467 there, breaking it and threatening U8 and T7. Both Carriers make an end run to interdict the U3/Q9 road (R9 was misplaced, I thought the S7/S8 hedge wasn't there). With the removal of two squads I'm more free to move my infantry, and I shove several squads up around the V7 roadblock to bring fire to bear against U6. Rindis nearly causes trouble in W8 with a 4(+2) from T6, but I pass the NMC and break the squad there in Advancing Fire. Rindis is able to rout from every location, and I finally get the bulk of my infantry into an effective position.

German Turn 2
All my broken units rallied, and none of Rindis' came back. He wisely skipped Prep Fire and chose to retreat. U8 moves to the stone building in T7, and the mortar comes off the hill to engage my carriers. U6 dashes across the road to S5 successfully, and V5 makes a move for the road, fails in smoke, then moves to V4 for an ATR shot against the tankette in X4. My Defensive Fire is woefully inadequate, and I break both a Carrier's BMG and the X6 A10's MA.

In Advancing Fire, Rindis nails the tankette with a CH and it burns on a 3. T7 fires its LMG against the Carrier in T9 on the VTT and rolls a '2', but fails to kill it. Rout is also exciting as U5 makes a run to S5. The squad rolls a '2' on it's Interdiction NMC and springs a hero, but the following HS dies. V4 stays put in Advance, and the Mtr moves to U3.

All in all, a good turn. I hate the loss of the tankette, but I did claim a squad equivalent this turn, and I have units in the rear. Unfortunately, there's a lot of road still to clear, and the mystery of the two ATGs remains.

[Rindis]

So far, when it's my turn, I figure I've got things under control, and then when Patch moves he knocks all the props out from my plan. In this case, British turn 3 begins poorly for me when he gets his only broken units back (1 1/2 squads). There's a lot of Brits out there, and they've been just washing over my positions in a tidal wave. Worse, the malfed MA on the A10 came back. I didn't necessarily want to see a Recall (doesn't count for victory), but I'd like to see a little more uncertainty. The only rally attempt I've got is a HS in V4, and nothin' doin'. The Hero in T5 does recover the LMG in the street.

Patch skips Prep and immediately starts flooding the zone. He moves a HS up to where it will capture my broken squad in T10, and then starts up an A10 to Bypass freeze T7. The LMG in T7 fires on the way in to no effect, the ATR in S5 fires and the A10 fails its TC on a Possible Shock. Reaction CC takes quite a bit of time as it sends both of us diving into the rulebook for a while. And it fails (10).

Next, he floods into V5, obviously wanting CC vs the single intact squad and 8-0 there. I fire into a stack to two squads and 9-2; the 9-2 passes the resulting 1MC on a '3', and both squads roll '2's to Battle Harden and generate Heroes. Nothing else manages to have an effect on what is now a very dangerous stack. He also builds quite a wall of men around T7, though I do break the one squad that moves into S8 where the S5 group has an easier time getting at them. He moved both Carriers into the empty middle of the P5 block and abandons them. I do wonder what his thoughts on the placement of my ATGs are.

My Hero fires on the stack he's built up in U7, and activates Patch's Sniper, which promptly kills the 8-0 in V4, which causes the squad to break. The good news is that they can get away clean. The bad news is that I really need a leader over there now. I had been hoping to bleed troops off in that direction trying to keep me from getting back to the road. Now with no leader and only the MTR HS unbroken, it's not likely to be a big problem for him. At least I broke one of the squads at the second roadblock. Patch fires on the surrounded stack in T7, but only malfs a LMG for his trouble.

Patch piles three squads and an 8-1 into T7, making it fairly sure that I'm going to lose that group as well. I briefly ponder going for broke and attacking everyone at 1:4 -1 (need a '4' for CR...). Sanity prevails and I attack the squad and leader combo at 1:1. Since he has a vehicle parked there as well, I get the first attack and promptly roll a '2'. Should have gone for broke. As it is, I eliminate the squad and leader, generate a 7-0 leader, and sneak out the back door. Just where to go presents a problem. My first instinct is to go into the street at S7, where I could move into hard cover before he can fire... except there's now a Carrier HS in the way. S8 has cover against everything except the HS S9, but there's nowhere to go until CCPh, and I won't live that long next to the angry firebase in T7. So, the only choice is U8, where I can sneak into the hedged-off orchard and cause him to have to split his attention in another direction to clear the road.


Situation, beginning of British Turn 3 DFPh.

By the way, that's 3 '2's and a '12' in a single Player Turn. Not too bad, but the first two '2's happened in the same online session as before, so we were still reeling from the first set.

[Patch_Bunny]

UK Turn 3
No point in Prep Firing. I can get broken units back under DM via movement. First up is the HS in V10, which moves to T9 to capture the squad there, and maybe draw fire. Next, I do my first real sleaze move and move the A10 into bypass in T7 to freeze the units in there. However, an ATR shot shocks the tank, forcing it to stop and suddenly I'm facing horrible odds for CC Reaction Fire. Thankfully, Rindis fails, and I throw three squads adjacent. I move the 9-2 stack adjacent to V4, Rindis fires, and both my squads Battle Harden and generate Heroes. Yeah, there are far too many 2's in this game. As more units move up a low odds shot from Rindis activates my Sniper which kills the 8-0 in V4, and the remaining units there break under the LLMC. My carriers move to P6/Q7 and unload, so they can advance into the Q6 building and cut off S5.

In Advancing Fire I target T7, and only malfunction an LMG for my troubles. V4 routs to safety, and I capture T10. I advance into T7, and split the 9-2 and abundant Hero stack to avoid a bad DR from Rindis to U5 and U6.

In T7 there's no Ambush, but Rindis rolls a '2' on his attack on my 8-1 and squad, killing them and permitting a successful withdrawal into U8. Damn! I hate CC. I never seem to do well in it.

Ok, this turn went poorly. I"m in a bit better position, but Rindis is now moving behind my lines, and I'll have to chase him down. And the ATG locations are still unknown, with only three turns remaining for me. I have a guess as to where they are located. We'll have to see if I'm correct. I really need to nail S5, though.