Under the Lily Banners (GMT) ~ "Alerheim"

Game: Under the Lily Banners (GMT)
Series: Musket and Pike Battle Series, Volume III
Scenario: Alerheim
Participants: Bob H, Myself
Time: Thu, 5/10 ~ 7.00PM - 9.00PM
         Sun, 5/13 ~ 2.00PM - 4.00PM
         Thu, 5/17 ~ 7.00PM - 9.00PM
         Sat,  5/19 ~ 2.00PM - 3.30PM

The Battle of Alerheim took place on the 3rd August, 1645. The French were driving the Bavarians back and Mercy decided to dig in and fight. The battle has a lot of interesting lore associated with it as does the Campaign of that year. As Alerheim is the subject of a project Bob and I are working on we decided it would be great to play this scenario from "Under the Lily Banners", the third installment from GMT's popular Musket and Pike Series. Bob and I had played one other MPBS scenario recently, Halmstad. Thus we were both fairly current on the rules and didn't have to do much to prepare for this game.

This is an interesting scenario as its got a fortified town smack dab in the middle of the map. It's also got some pretty interesting special rules. During the Battle, Mercy was killed (the Leader of the Bavarian forces) and the French were able to talk the Bavarians into surrendering in the Center. The town also caught fire during the battle leading to much confusion. The French outnumber the Bavarian/Imperial Force by about 25% in Infantry and 45% in Cavalry. The French are on the Offensive while the Bavarians have the town as well as nearly all of their other forces behind fortifications. The French are also hampered by not being able to use (move through) the gully on their Right until the Bavarians do (they had not thoroughly reconnoitered it prior to the battle). I ended up being the French player.

Alerheim Set Up

After I set this up I had a couple days to think about it before we started playing. Several times I told myself that there was little to be gained by smashing my Center wing into the town to start things off. I have played this series enough to know that I would end up getting the short end of the bargain on that one. Yet in this game (to its credit) its hard to pull off what I wanted to do, which is lead with the Left wing and hold with the Center while the Left was decided. Do to the way that one is bound to move towards the nearest enemy unit when under Charge orders I knew that some of my left wing would drift over to the town. So in the end I elected to lead with the Center first. Of course I had some nice Artillery in my Center and who can pass up a chance to open a Battle with a big salvo from his cannons?

Turn 1

As my Artillery harmlessly lobed shells into the town started my Center wing in towards the town. I used my first activation to fire my Artillery and align my forces to better engage Bob on the 2nd impulse. Since I had my Army Leader (AL) stacked with my Wing Commander (WC) I was easily able to continue the wings activation enabling my to engage Bob on the 2nd activation. Bob tried to preempt me here with his center and failed. As we started the melee's for that activation I realized why I didn't want to do this in the first place. I was getting shredded, but I did manage to push Bob out of one of the towns hexes in this initial assault. I lost two units as well.

The Assault on Alerheim (pre-melee)

After Melee

The action then shifted over to my Left Wing. Here I had a very nice force of mostly elite (8 Morale) Cavalry supported by six Hessian Infantry regiments (6 Morale) and a heard of sub par Hessian Cavalry. I was forced to cross a stream on the opening move so on my continuation (after Bob again failed to preempt me) I switched to Receive Charge and  spent the activation redressing my lines (reform actions). Again I ran Conde (my -2 AL) over to help with the continuation and orders change rolls and this helped out quite a bit.

The French Left Wing Advances on Turn 1

The Bavarian Left

 As I was out of Charge ordered Wings, the action switched over to Bob's Left where he stayed in Make Ready and moved his Wing down off the slope and closer to me. He ran Mercy over to help out with continuation but rolled poorly and Finished early. I followed with my Right wing, leaving them in MR (Make Ready orders) and moved them up a couple of hexes. Bob then did his Left and Center wins, each of whom were not able to make any continuation attempts because they failed preemption try's earlier in the turn.

Turn 2

Start of Turn 2

At the end of the first turn we started rolling to see which hexes in the town caught fire and three of them went up in flames. As my Center was the only wing in Charge we started there for the turn. I made one attack on the town which Morale Broke Bob's unit and made some cautious moves with the rest of my wing, trying to keep them out of the town. I was able to continue with the wing and switched them over to Make Ready (with Conde's help).

Turn 2 Action around Alerheim

The action then went over to Bob's Left Wing. Bob was clearly leading them out to have a go at my Right Wing. I was amazed as I thought this was giving away the advantage of him being mostly behind the Gully which was not really a Gully. He continued and then switched to Charge and it was on.

de Werth leads his wing in an attack on the French Right

Near the End of de Werth's activation

Bob had a pretty good Wing, most of the units morale was 8, but he also had 5-6 "Arq-Busters"(Arquebusiers) which do not line up against normal Cavalry (Curassier) in melee very well (-1). Thus with him charging I was able to make Interception attempts (0-4 [on a d10] as I was in Make Ready) giving me the all important +2 Momentum DR for the melee combats that followed. So it went, he would move a unit forward and I would Intercept it and we'd have the melee, then he'd activate the next unit and before long we'd gone through most of his Wing. It was a viscous fight. Both sides lost several units while having several others pursue off the map (and thus be out for the rest of the game). Near the end of his activation, de Werth charged forward with a unit and ended up in front of his wins and facing my 3rd line of Infantry completely isolated.

End of de Werth's Activation

When the dust settled after Bob's wing was finally finished with its assault, it was my turn to return the favor. I activated my Right Wing and they were able to convert to Charge mode. The first thing I did was go after de Werth and got him with a Cavalry charge. Bob rolled a 9 and de Werth was KIA'd (+10vps). It continued to go well for me after that. I then charged the unit that Mercy was stacked with and blew the melee roll, Bob rolled on the pursuit table and took me out, but it left him again in front of his lines with Mercy stacked with a FB (formation broken) Cavalry unit. I continued and was able to bring my Infantry up and take out the unit, sending Mercy off the map with very low odds of coming back on. This was turning into a disaster for Bob. We both lost a few more units and Bob had a couple fleeing in Morale Broken status as well. If Mercy didn't come back at the start of the next turn, I could start trying to get Bobs units in the town to surrender via the special rule for this scenario.

Mercy's Demise

The rest of the turn was quite. Bob's Right Wing didn't do much. His Center stayed put and fired its Artillery while I finished reforming my Left with the remainder of the turn. 

Turn 3

Start of Turn 3

Bob had a one in ten chance of having Mercy return to the game and he did it. He rolled a zero and Mercy returned to the map. I then made a roll for my Right Wing leader (Gramont) who also amazingly made a return (after exiting at the end of the last turn on a cavalry pursuit). We also had a chance to count up VPs due to losses and it was very close with Bob having lost 55 to my 65. With him still possessing the town and the other victory locations, I was still very much having to attack to earn a victory. We also rolled for fire spread and a few more hexes in the town went up in flames.

Action on the French Right, Turn 3

The French Right continues its counter attack

The action then started again on my Right. I continued in Charge orders and sent several more units running under Morale Broken. I then Continued and switched to Rally orders to start reforming and rallying my remaining units. Bob spent most of his wings (his left) doing the same, ending in Rally mode and quickly trying to restore the confidence of the few units he had remaining.


Bob then did his Right Wing and then I did my Center...both of these activations were quiet with not a lot happening. I then brought my Left on line and converted them to Charge orders. Here I had the advantage in Morale and troops strength where Bob had the slope to his advantage. When my charging Cavalry came into view, he could intercept me and would have the added advantage of me just becoming FS (formation shaken) due to the crest line. Bob's luck didn't hold here though...we knew already that his dice liked to roll 0's (to get his leader back) and it continued to do so here on his interceptions. He went to his back up dice and this helped a little. When my wing finished I had taken the crest line and smashed his first line of cavalry. I wasn't in very good shape either but I had two more lines behind me and Bob only had one.

After the French Assault on the Left

At the end of the turn we spread the fires in the town (it was really going now) and counted loss VPs. I had lost 95 VPs worth of units and Bob had lost 105. It was slowly turning in my favor, especially because I had largely won with my Right wing and still had some mopping up to do there whilst Bob didn't have much on his Left.

Turn 4

I started on my Left and converted the wing to Make Ready, reformed where I could and brought up the next two lines. I then continued and converted to Receive Charge and was able to reform most of the Wing. Here again my -2 leader was a real asset allowing me to have three crucial activations to reform the wind and re position it to continue the fight. Had I rolled poorly on my continuation attempts I would have been very vulnerable to counter attack my Bob. Bob went to Rally with his Right and started to reform/rally with his units, he had not interest in counterattacking me at this point. Here he made a grave error that we shall get to later. It didn't occur to me at the time.

Start of Turn 4

The French Left Wing Reforms on Turn 4

I then went to my Center and continued to move them around the town in Make Ready while Bob was shelling me with his Centers impressive Battery. I hoped that I would not have to charge his center with mine as his was still in good order behind fortifications and supported by artillery. Bob didn't do anything with his Center on his next activation so the action moved over to my Right Wing where I was in Rally. I converted to Receive Charge and moved to get back in command and reform where I could. My thinking at this time was to try and get around Bobs Center with the remains (5-6 units) of my Right and make trouble for him as I also assaulted with my Center. Of course in MPBS this is much easier to say then it is to do.

The French Right, turn 4

Bob and I had a chat about how interesting this was for us. We have played many of the MPBS scenarios over the years and for us at least, many of the games only last 2-3 turns before its very clear who is winning. Here, while things were certainly going a little in my direction, the game was far from decided. Things were by no means clear as we ended the fourth turn. Thus we eagerly decided to continue on and see what happened.

Turn 5

Start of Turn 5

My Center was the first Wing I activated on Turn 5. The front line of this Wing was taking a beating from Bobs artillery only 4 hexes away and so I stayed in Make Ready and reformed my first line as I continued to move the rest of the Wing around the town. Bob then went all 20th Maine on his left and converted to Charge Orders with his two remaining non-MB units. We split the melees and when it was my turn to activate my Right I also converted to Charge and tried to get his last remaining good order unit and was repulsed heavily. Bob then brought his Center on line and again pounded my first line of Infantry, inflicting more damage on their formation. He also started to move his Cavalry (2nd line of his Center) over around to his right to protect his Centers flanks, it was as if he was reading my brain waves!

The Bavarians repel the French Right

My Left Wing was next up and I converted to Charge right away. Here is where we discovered the severity of Bobs error from last turn. As Bob's Right Wing was in Rally orders, he could not make interception attempts. This was huge as I was able to engage him without having to face his counter-charges. His second line of Cavalry was still in good shape and would have been able to disrupt my assault. I moved up and engaged five of his units. I won three of these fights. But again I was vulnerable as with this last activation I had moved the rest of my Wing up on the slope and all of them were in FS status. Then I uncharacteristically failed my continuation roll. Bob had 6 good order Cavalry units ready to charge me. He was heavily outnumbered though and was not going to be able to make use of momentum for most of the attacks. He was in Rally orders and his Army Leader was on the other side of the battlefield trying to keep the MB units on that side from leaving the field. His Right Wing Commander was only a 0 leader thus it would take some amazing dice to get that Wing into Charge orders quickly enough. Bob had had enough though and surrendered the field to me.

The Decisive moment on the French Left

The French break the spirit of the Bavarians

I was not convinced that he was totally out of it at this point though. We had not counted Loss VPs for two turns and while I was in the lead there he still had the VP location (+10 VP) which might have played a part. Non the less, Bob was done and we ended it there. After Bob left I counted up the Loss VPs and I was ahead by 50 (145-95) so adjusting for the VP location I had a 40 VP advantage. This was just enough for a French Decisive Victory. Had we continued I think baring some amazing dice by either one of us we would have been playing to decide what kind of French victory (Marginal or Decisive) it would have been.

Map at game end

So this turned out to be one of the best MPBS experiences either one of us has had in many years. We played the scenario for over seven hours and that is rare for a MPBS scenario. The game was in doubt right up until the end of the 5th turn, which for us doesn't happen that often. Both of us thought that we did an excellent job of playing by the rules, which again was nice as we had only played the series once in the last couple years. Bob had a good time despite some terrible dice on his part. While I rolled well in some important continuation situations and again well in converting orders, the battle dice were mostly even except for when Bobs Right Counter-charged my Left. We both had several leader losses and equally improbable leader returns. Not a bad way to spend several days in May.

Advanced Squad Leader (MMP) ~ "Rude Mood" AP79

Game: Advanced Squad Leader (MMP)
Scenario: "Rude Mood" AP79
Publication: Action Pack 8: Roads to Rome
Participants: Jim "HeavyD" D, Myself
Time:  Fri, 4/20 ~ 6PM - 8PM
          Sat, 4/21 ~ 12PM - 2PM

"Rude Mood" continues with the theme of dynamic Victory Conditions found in most of the scenario's in AP8. This one appealed due to its size and it's even ROAR rating. HeavyD and I are both enjoying these scenario's and the interesting VC's they present the players. In this one the Free French player is tasked with clearing a road of German defenders while at the same time taking all of the buildings in the German set up area. There is a sudden death component to the VC's that play out over the first three turns. In order to not loose, the FF player must control a number of buildings equal to the turn number times 3, thus the FF player has to control 3 buildings on the first turn, 6 the second and 9 by the third turn, this then allows them to fulfill the above mentioned VCs by the end of the game. The FF player can also win during the first three turns by controlling five times the turn number, so again if the FF player can control 6 buildings by the end of the first turn he can win (11, the 2nd turn and 16 the third).

HeavyD's Set up

VCs like this create tension early in the game for both players. It's a little like having two separate scenarios going on at the same time, the early game where either player can win; then if there is no winner the late game changes the dynamics of the scenario and forces the players to change gears. I found this one quite enjoyable as during the first three turns I was faced with thinking through two sets of VCs and trying to manage the game towards those two ends.

My Set Up

The German player is defending in this one. Elements of the 90th PG Division are set up in a town facing a big hill on which the Free French player will set up on. The German players force consists of 8 4-6-7s, 2 2-2-8s lead by 2 8-1s and a single 7-0. This force has a 50L ATG as well as a 20L AA gun backing them up. The Infantry also has a MMG, 2 LMGs, 2 50* MTRs and 6 Concealment counters. The German player is able to set up concealed if he sets up in concealment terrain.

The Free French forces come in two groups. The first group sets up on board and consists of 9 4-5-7s, 2 2-2-8s lead by a 9-1, 8-1 and an 8-0. These forces have 2 MMG(a)s, 3 LMGs and 2 60* MTR(a)s. This group sets up on the hill overlooking the town that the Germans are defending. On or after turn 1, a second group enters the map along the South edge, this force contains 3 4-5-7s and a 9-1 along with 2 M4A2(a) tanks and 3 M5(a) half tracks. There is a mild breeze blowing from the SW and the FF forces are both Stealthy and may initiate HtH CC as if they were Gurkhas. As I was the defender in our last scenario, I was the Free French player in this one.

As I sat down to look at the board after HeavyD's set up I knew we were in for a wild ride. HeavyD set up his forces in two main groups, the nearer setting up to hold onto the nearest buildings with the other force across the gully playing for the end game. I set up to target three buildings that looked like I could get some forces into Melee on the first turn. I had my mobile force set up along a road allowing the option of bypassing HeavyD's initial force and making a run at the 2nd set of buildings in front of the gully dividing the town.

Turn 1

Turn 1 Prep Fire

Things started off very well for me as my 60mm Mortars tore into HeavyD's concealed forces with abandon. My initial shots were long range ones at a concealed stack of three counters set up in a walled orchard hex. I opened with a CH and killed the leader there while breaking the squad possessing the MMG. After prep I moved out against the town and made good progress. I was able to use cover to make HeavyD's shot selection very tough. I lead with half squads and largely was able to get next to the three buildings I needed without taking many losses or having too many broken squads. During the course of the movement phase my sniper located and wounded HeavyD's 7-0 who was concealed. I thought this was a concealed squad and when it turned out to be a leader I was able to take advantage of that as well by making more aggressive moves then I would have.

Turn 1 Movement Phase

Turn 1 on my Right

 Based on my early luck in breaking HeavyD's MMG stack I decided to risk a tank and a HT with a squad in it to make a dash at this position, I was forced to move by one of his occupied buildings and take a 8+2 shot which ended up breaking one of the HSs in the half track. This was a set back but I was able to get the squad and MMG the next turn as he had trouble routing. I sent the other tank and two half tracks into the town to support my Infantry's efforts to take the buildings I needed to stay in the game. The rest of the turn continued to go well as I was able to take 5 buildings by the end of my turn. This was one short of the six I needed for an auto win on turn one.The 2nd half of turn 1 went quickly as most of HeavyD's front force was broken. He made some minor adjustments and largely left his 2nd group in place.

End of Free French Turn 1

HeavyD ponders his move during his part of Turn 1

Turn 2

Start of Turn 2

The German 50L ATG is found out

With my successes on turn 1 I knew that I would not have to worry about loosing the game due to not taking enough buildings and was able to think long term. Knowing that I had not yet seen the two hidden guns and the geography of the map also meant that it was highly unlikely that I was going to be able to get a win in turns 2 or 3. This was actually a benefit as I was able to still play aggressively but not recklessly. This turn saw me doing a little mopping up of Heavy's initial force while moving the bulk of my forces towards the gully and the remaining Germans lurking there. The 50L made an appearance, as I was able to scout out its location using half squads prior to even moving a vehicle. I was able to get into CC with the guns crew and take them out at the end of the turn. Once the gun was reveled I was able to move much more aggressively with my two tanks. HeavyD's 2nd turn was again a quick one as he didn't have much to do. My highly skilled mortar crews once again struck, eliminating the crew that was manning one of his mortars in the village.

End of Turn 2

Turn 3

Free French progress in the Center on Turn 3

My Right, Turn 3

During my movement phase on turn 3 I was able to advance at a brisk pace and close the distance on the remaining Germans. Over the course of the turn things started going from bad to worse for HeavyD as I was able to get closer and closer and his efforts to thwart my advance largely went unnoticed. Given that we still had 4 more turns to play HeavyD threw in the towel at the end of the turn. The combination of my Mortars tearing up his concealed forces and my tanks running around without worrying about the ATG I was able to quickly get very close to his remaining forces who where without a leader.

Map at the end of the game (Turn 3)

This was a fun scenario for me. HeavyD, while getting smashed still had a good time as we saw a lot of interesting things happen. One needs to be prepared for this one to end early as the VC's force each player to commit to not loosing on the first three turns.

The Thirty Years War (GMT) ~ Campaign Game

Game: The Thirty Years War (GMT)
Scenario: The Campaign Game
Participants: Bob H, Myself
Time: Sun, 4/15 ~ 1.00PM - 4.00PM
         Thu, 4/19 ~ 7.00PM - 8.00PM

The Thirty Years War (TTYW) is a game that we've played a lot of in St Louis. When it came out in 2001 we played it quite a bit and really enjoyed it. It was one of the first CDG's that most of my gaming group took to. It also opened my eyes to the Thirty Years War, a topic I was nearly ignorant on prior to the games release. Bob and I have both been reading up on the 30YW for a project we are working on and thus it seemed like a good time to get this game off the shelf and introduce Bob to it. Bob has for many year claimed to have an aversion to CDG's do to some rough treatment he received while playing PoG back in the day. While TTYW certainly has features that he 'said' he didn't like, I was able to strong arm him into playing as we're both very interested in the topic right now.

I had last played this game a couple years ago so I wasn't to rusty on the rules. We spent an evening going over the game prior to our playing it...we walked through a turn or two and made sure to cover all the different things you can do with your cards during a turn. TTYW is deceptively simple, aside from the exciting six round turn in which each player plays one card, there are only a couple of housekeeping steps at the start and end of the turn. The real meat of the game are the six action rounds and using your cards to drive the game.

Each card can be used in one of four ways, I will outline them here for you:

• Activate a Leader
• Use the card to activate a single leader, or group of them (in the same space) and then move the leaders and units in that area. Leaders and units each have a certain number of movement points, so usually you are moving a stack up to the slowest units movement allowance.
• Recruit
• Use the card to Recruit units. Each card can be used up to three times (depending on its value, 1-3) to make a Recruitment dr. Usually you will get between 0-3 steps of units, depending on who is doing the recruiting and what kinds of troops (Militia or Mercenaries) you are trying to recruit. 
• Collect Foreign Aid
• Cards have Aid values on them, the better the card, the more Aid. You can only play one card as an Aid card over the course of the turn. Foreign Aid points are used at the end of the turn to pay you forces, those that you do not pay (or are unable to) must Forage for pay running the risk of being eliminated permanently if you roll poorly. 
• As an Event
• Every card has an event. Some of the events are one time events and will remove the card from the game when the even is used. Some of the cards have reusable events which allow you to keep the card in the deck. There are also Combat Cards which allow you to influence a battle that is taking place. 

Each player has three decks, with each deck being added into the game as certain events happen or by a certain turn. Some events require other events to have been played in order for them to allow their event to take place. This is important, however there are not many of these combinations and they are pretty straight forward. If you are teaching the game to someone who has not played, its a good idea to walk them through some of these are they are important over the course of the game. 

Prior to Turn 1

Much of the map starts off the game Neutral. This will take some getting used to for new players as well. Events usually bring in regions to the conflict as the War gradually widens to cover the entire map. Violating Neutrality is allowed but it comes with a negative Victory Point price for the side that violates it. The games objective is to control areas and independent cities, at the end of the game the players will compare the current VP score to a table to see who has won. The game also had an interesting mechanic where each player can offer peace at the start of their turn (under the right circumstances). Thus if one player if in a very strong position the he can offer peace, which among other things can result in a win if he rolls enough.

As this was Bobs first game I gave him the Imperial player while I took the Protestant side. The game is hard on the Protestants for the first several turns and it's not until the mid game where we see Sweden and France enter the war where we see the tide swing in the other direction.

Early War

I should start off saying that we are using the most recent living Rules updates, including adding the 4th Imperial Veteran Unit to the starting Imperial Forces. The game starts in 1620 with Bohemia in Revolt against the Emperor. The Hungarians are also in Revolt against the Empire. The Bavarian's are steadfast allies of the Emperor. Saxony is also (currently) on the Empires side and is somewhat isolated being between the revolting Bohemians and the Imperial/Bavarian forces. Bob has a nice force of 4 Veteran units in Vienna along with a good force of Bavarian Mercenaries in Munich. During the early part of the game the Imperial units are not allowed to stack with the Bavarians. The Saxons have a small and weak Army at start. Additionally, the Spanish have a Veteran Army in Flanders that is limited in where it can move on the map. The Protestant player starts with two Armies in play.

Bob opens the game by subduing the Hungarian revolt

Bob opens by leading his Imperial Army in to Hungary to subdue the rebellion there. He rolls very well in the opening battle and takes out the Leader, thus ending the Hungarian participation in the conflict within minutes of the games start. I should take a moment here to talk about leaders and how important they are to the game. Every time a leader is involved in a battle the player will roll to see if the leader survives. The game uses 10 sides dice and there is usually at least a 20% chance that the leader will be eliminated, some leaders eliminate on a 30% roll. Thus often a real battle is the battle after the battle, that is when you role to see how your leaders prevailed. Loosing some key leaders early can be disastrous.  This is what happened in Hungry, when I rolled for the Hungarian leader (and there is only one, and if he dies the Hungarians are out of the game) and he died it was over for Hungary. This is usually what happens to the Hungarians in the opening impulses of the game, ideally you can make the Imperials play two cards to subdue them. 

Bob then moved the Spanish over into Lower Palatinate to start subjugating that area. This is another key early move as the Imperial player wants to get control of all of the electorates as soon as he can. I am not going to risk sending either one of my Armies over there to help yet as I am too weak early in the game.

Bob then moves into Bohemia

Bobs not done yet, he decides to bring the Imperials into Bohemian and quickly dispatches Thurn's Militia Army at little cost. I elect to take a shot at the Imperials after this move with Mansfield and move in to Budweis for combat the very next impulse. This battle goes well, not only do I win the fight but Bobs leader dies (Bucquoy) which is of far greater importance. Bob then brings the Bavarians over to assault Thurn's hapless Militia Army. This is a route and Thurn is sent running. At the end of the turn Spinola is unable to complete his Siege in Palatinate.

Turn 2 is much quieter then the first turn. Bob takes the Bavarians back to Bavaria (where they need not be paid) and spends much of the turn rebuilding the Imperial Army in Vienna. I too spend a lot of time recruiting as I am low on units. I do bring Christian in and he goes on an end run through Moravia (we realize later that I am illegally leading too many units with this leader). Turn 3 also passes quickly as Christian pulls out of Moravia and Spinola subdues Lower Palatinate and then heads into the United Provence's thus kicking off the Dutch War. I react by running an army into the Up to counter Bobs move.

Start of turn 2

Turn 4 heats up as Bob leads off with Tilly and his Bavarians moving back into Bohemia and attacking Mansfield at Prague. The Battle of Prague is big and Bloody. I loose and loose about three units in the process. Mansfield dies as does Pappenheim (Bavarian leader). Bob spends the rest of the turn subjugating Bohemia while I run my rag tag Army (whats left of them) over to Brunswick-Luneburg. Christian of Denmark enters the war as well.

Turn 5 continues to go Bobs way. Tilly leads the Bavarians into Brandenburg and takes out Christian and his small army before the Danes can get there to assist. This is a tough blow as I am now really down to a few leaders and not very many units. Bob has a very strong and well lead Army under Tilly and Wallenstein has reassembled a mighty Imperial Army now as well. Bob takes this new Imperial Army over to Nuruberg and lays siege to Anhalt, trapping him in the fortress. As I am starting to get desperate, I send Christian down to lift the Siege and hopefully change the course of this mostly one sided game. This is a big battle, I use two CC cards and am desperate for some good dice. I roll a 1 against Bobs 7, another defeat. The good news is that Bob looses a good leader and Christian (Denmark) lives. But I am not able to save the city and when that falls I loose Anhalt and this hurts as I am now running very low on leaders.

Meanwhile the Bavarians move over into Brunswick to tackle the remaining Protestants there (a Replacement leader and three Mercenaries).  I am again crushed and run down into Lower Palatinate to be with my Danish Allies as now almost all of my starting areas are under Imperial Control and I am having a hard time finding supply sources. Bob plays the Cordoba Leader card (a Spanish army comes on the board and must make its way up into the UP a turn later) and moves them into Lower Palatinate to go after my feeble forces. I win this battle, killing Cordoba (which is nice but not decisive). We stop here for the day as the next turn will bring the Intervention Deck into the game and I hope with it an early appearance by the Swedes as I am literally on my last legs.

Christian fails to lift the Siege of Nuruberg

Start of turn 5

Intervention

Turn 7 dawns with Bob having 35 VPs. This is a nice number for him. He also has a clear lead on the map in terms of fighting forces. Lastly he controls all of the electors which will play into the narrative soon.  I am nearly cleared out of most of the map with really only Christian and his hearty Danes propping up the Protestants. My only real hope lies in Swedish or French entry into the war on this turn or the next, any longer and this thing is nearly over as I am starting to run out of turns.

Christian defeats Cordoba in Lower Palatinate

My first Intervention hand has neither the French or Swedes, it does have one new Protestant leader though. I open the turn by finally securing a supply source in Lower Palatinate when Christian sieges a fortress there. Bob doesn't do much on this turn, he does move Mercy and his Bavarian army back closer to Bavaria, which I assume he plans to take on the Danes in Lower Palatinate.

Start of turn 7

Turn 8 sees Bob move the Bavarians back North to take out my new leader (George) and his small army which I have been throwing cards (recruiting) trying to make it bigger. The Peasants are also revolting in the area (Brunswick-Luneburg). The Battle is a one sided affair with neither side loosing any leaders. The Danes decide to abandon the cause as Bob plays a card removing them from the game. It turns out this was an illegal card play as I write this I notice that the card requires Sweden to have entered the game and that certainly has not happened yet. Its not a big deal though as at the start of the next turn Bob rolls on the Peace Table and secures a win (having control of all of the electors helped here with e DRM) ending the Protestant cause and putting me out of my misery.

End of Game, turn 9

Despite my getting shellacked in this game, it remains a favorite and I am very glad that Bob enjoyed himself. He and I are working on a 30YW project and both have been reading up on the topic and this game certainly added to that. I hope we can get this on the table again soon as its nearly always a fun time and can be played to completion in 4-6 hours by two players that know what they're doing.

Advanced Squad Leader (MMP) ~ "Wintergewitter" A70

Game: Advanced Squad Leader (MMP)
Scenario: "Wintergewitter"
Publication: ASL Annual 95
Participants: Jim "HeavyD", Myself
Time: Fri, 4/6 ~ 6.00PM - 10.00PM

This time around the scenario selection phase fell to me so I went to ROAR. I pulled all of the scenario data down into Excel (record by name) and then sorted on number of games played. Wintergewitter jumped out to me because it's nearly perfectly balanced (251 total playings with a 119/135 [47% Russian] split). I know that I had played it once a long time ago, and at my age that really is the same as having never played it before. HeavyD was in the same boat. We diced for sides and I got the defending Russians.


The Germans are attacking and have to clear out the village on board 12 of all good order Russian MMC and AFV's by the end of the game (5.5 turns). The boards (33, 12, 16) are very open even before you add in the special rules about woods being brush. There is also ground snow and all buildings are ground level only and wooden. Both sides have winter camouflage as well. 


The Russians start with 4 4-4-7s, 2 5-2-7s and 2 2-3-7 HS. They are led by an 8-1 and 7-0. They have one MMG, 2 LMG and an ATR. They can set up anywhere on board 12. On turn 2 they get a platoon of three T-34/M43 tanks as reinforcements. The Germans have 3 5-4-8s and 1 2-3-8 HS, with a 9-2 and 8-1 for leadership. They have a dm MMG and 2 LMGs. In addition to this the Germans have a nice set of AFVs. There are 2 Pz-IVF2s, 2 Pz-IIIJs, 1 Pz-IIIN and three SPW 251/1 with a lone SPW 250/1 bringing up the rear. The Germans also have a 9-1 AL. The entire German force enters the game on the South edge of the board on turn 1.

My set up

Prior to the start of turn 1

I knew that I would be doing very little moving around with my infantry once the game started so I placed a leader in each block of the town. I spread out while putting the MMG, LMG and ATR up in front of the town. The 8-1 is with this group. The smaller group has the other LMG and 7-0 with the two HS as well. Set up is quick, there are no level one buildings on the board thus there really isn't much to mull over, HeavyD can pick and choose where he comes on as all of his forces are either tanks for half-track mounted infantry. 


Turn 1


HeavyD brings the three Pz-IIIs on in the center, two hexes from my collection of concealed MGs. HeavyD then sends his HTs around to his right choosing to keep all but one of them mounted. I cant really fault this somewhat risky plan as I have little to react with and they are mostly out of LOS to my forces. He'll be able to have a lot of options on where and when to off load them in his 2nd movement phase. 

HeavyD moving on turn 1

Advancing Fire Phase, turn 1

The Advancing Fire Phase suddenly turns interesting when HeavyD rolls a 2 on his third area 'acquisition' shot of the game. We have to dig into the rules a bit to make sure we understand if its a CH or not, time well spent it turns out. The shot is an improbable hit and HeavyD rolls a subsequent 1 for the CH. I gack the MC and fail ELR for the squad in O3. One squad down. In this scenario the Russians will be in a fishbowl surrounded by German infantry and AFVs hungrily looking in. Its not likely that I'll be able to have a safe place to rally my guys once they break. My half of turn one takes about five minutes as I do not want to open up just yet, so I skulk where I can and make small adjustments. I am able to move the MMG back one hex and thus into LOS of a German 251 filled with a squad. I leave the ATR up front hoping to get a deliberate immobilization shot at one of the III's in next turns defensive fire phase.

End of German turn 1

Turn 2


HeavyD doesn't do any prep fire to open turn 2. He opens by moving two of the Pz-III's over a few hexes in front of my concealed ATR squad. Then he takes the remaining III over on his right and puts it between me and his half tracks. I take a deliberate immobilization shot with the ATR needing a six to hit and miss. HeavyD then gets a little crazy and takes one of his 251's and enters my hex via bypass in O6. I elect to stay concealed (I have a 7-0 and 2-3-7 HS in the hex) and not do any street fighting or reaction fire.  HeavyD then proceeds to deploy his other squads mostly across the street in safety, I do take one MG TK shot with the LMG behind the wall and hit but to not penetrate. The MMG though has better luck and kills the half track in its sights as the squad is unloading. The crew survives while the squads runs into a street hex where I break it with first fire. The two Pz-IVs make a run to cover the Northern approaches to the town.

Start of German turn 2

Adventures in Vehicle Bypass Movement

Impressive Advancing Fire, from the same Pz-IIIJ - turn 2

Once again we have an exciting time in the advancing fire phase. The Pz-III that repositioned into the center of the town CH's the LMG squad behind the wall, I manage a 12 on the MC so I am now a convict HS. The next exciting event is CC where I fail (needing a 7) to get the half track in bypass, all I am able to do is immobilize it and these guys (the crew) are not impressed, choosing to stay in their track and duke it out. 

Start of Russian turn 2

German Defensive Fire phase - turn 2

On my turn, I start off in prep fire by breaking my MMG taking a shot at the immobile HT. My T-34s make an entrance and draw some long range low odds attention from the IVs on HeavyD's right. I am able to get the three tanks into cover out of LOS of the IVs and in decent defensive spots should HeavyD decide to get aggressive next turn.  In Defensive final fire HeavyD breaks my melee crew (7-0 + 2-3-7) and also knocks out my ATR squad. My infantry has done little and is breaking left and right. I might have passed one MC thus far in the game, failing all the others including a couple ELR failures. To be fair HeavyD is shooting quite well tonight so these are usually 1 or 2 MC's that I am failing, so I have that going for me. We are also getting a good workout on the CH and improbable hit rules and that's also a good thing. 

Turn 3

Start of Turn 3

HeavyD again has a light prep fire phase to open turn 3. HeavyD moves two of the III's up a few hexes and manages to DM my broken squads whilst doing so. In a strange move, HeavyD moves a leader and HS into the street next to a concealed 5-2-7 (and the broken 7-0 + 2-3-7) and I manage to break them (Woohoo!). The 9-2 and squad move into the street as well and during final fire I mange to break the 9-2 with the repaired MMG, but the 5-4-8 that he's stacked with rolls a 2 on its MC and goes fanatic and procs a hero to boot. HeavyD's half track drivers are of course made of stern stuff as the bailed out crew charges into the row house next to the MMG whilst the immobilized crew keeps on manning its AAMG with the best of them. HeavyD decides to play it cool with his remaining tanks, not forcing a fight with my T-34s. Its easily the right play here and the way he's mowing through my infantry there is little pressure on him at this point. 

German Movement Phase, turn 3

My half of turn 3 opens with me definitely starting to feel the pressure. I need to get the T-34s into the action to try and inspire my disinterested infantry back into the fight. I am down to only three good order squads at this point and there's little chance of the broken ones coming back because they are easily going to be kept DM by HeavyD. I decide that I can make a move on a lone Pz-III in the center of the town. I will roll up and park two hexes away. I have my 11 frontal armor protecting me against the 13 (+1 for range) penetration of his 50L. HeavyD does have a nice supply of APCR though but at this point I have few options and its about time for me to cash in some of this karma that the dice goods have been depositing into my account. Thus with confidence I drive my T-34 into place two hexes away from the Pz-IIIJ and WHAM, he CH's me! He didn't even call out an APCR shot he was so confident in his crewmen. For those keeping track this is about the 6th CH that his tanks have scored to date (and we are not done by a long shot, kids). 

Start of Russian Turn 3

Scratch one T-34

 
The fun continues in the defensive fire phase as the immobile HT breaks the squad next to them with a 6+2 shot (rolling a 3). Next up an 5-4-8 with LMG zaps my guys in P2, reducing the broken squad and turning the concealed squad there into a Berserk squad (really the last thing I need right now...). It does prove thought that my dice are capable of rolling a 2, so I am encouraged at least. Next up one of the IVF2 CH building hex Q8, where a bunch of my broken guys are taking refuge. Despite the shellacking HeavyD is handing out to me, we are both having a good time, giggling like school girls with every new CH that HeavyD inflicts upon me. I am guessing that I have a 2.3% chance of pulling this one off, but I stick around because I just know that the dice Gods will have the revenge on HeavyD soon.


Turn 4


Turn 4 starts off with a bang as the Pz-IV's are now getting in on the CH action. The same tank that CH'd Q8 at the end of last turn shoots another one in there, this time shrinking the population of the hex down to a sole HS. Rate of fire eliminates this HS on the next shot. Next up the Pz-III breaks my MMG squad with yet more impressive marksmanship (this tank has a couple CH's to its credit already). I am now down to a single good order 8-1 and a berserk 4-2-6, all the rest of my infantry are preparing to enter the labor camp population in their post war careers. 

Start of German Turn 4

Bounding Fire Mayhem

HeavyD opens the movement phase by driving his Pz-IIIN next to the building housing my 8-1 and berserk squad. Strangely HeavyD decides to bounding fire instead of wait until the advancing fire phase. He obviously knows what he's doing though as the tank misses with its MGs but gets a hit (and rate) with its MA (75*). I mostly survive these MC's then HeavyD delays a MP and (wait for it...) rolls another 2 on his 2nd shot, BOOM a CH, well the possibility of one that is. We're laughing as he roles the subsequent dr to see what happens, a 1. This CH kills everything in the hex except a lone 2-2-6 Berserk HS, as it was a 2KIA result he checks for rubble and the building comes down and with it my last remaining non-broken infantry unit. We are laughing in the isles now and these are some amazing Germans that HeavyD has brought to the table tonight. I see no point now in continuing, we have had about as much fun as we can with this one. I concede and HeavyD accepts. 

Final Positions

So, even though I was literally blown off the board by HeavyD's laser like application of firepower I had a great time. This was some very entertaining ASL, even though it was largely one sided.