Advanced Squad Leader (MMP) ~ "Far From Home" [AP53]

Game: Advanced Squad Leader
Scenario: "Far from Home" [AP53]
Participants: Rikk "The Pirate" M, Myself
Time: Friday, Nov 11, 5.00PM - 10.00PM

I had not had a chance to try out any of the scenario's from Action Pack 6 yet, so when Rikk came out from Arizona for a long weekends visit, we decided to try out the first one. Action Pack 6 came with three new boards cut at a different angle then traditional ASL boards. These allow for a different feel as they are wider and come with some terrain that 'makes more sense' then the normal long and narrow ASL boards. The scenario's in the pack cover many none traditional actions as well. The theme being "a decade of war". Thus this first one takes place in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

The scenario pits the Republican (represented by Russian counters and rules) forces against the Nationalists (Axis Minor counters and Rules). The Republican forces have just taken a town and the Nationalist forces are trying to take it back. The Victory conditions are very interesting. The National Forces have to score at least as many VPs as the Republican player. VPs are awarded for friendly unbroken MMCs occupying certain buildings. Thus each player can earn VPs for a given building, assuming they each have unbroken MMCs in it at the end of their RPh.

Set Up

The Republican forces set up first with a small force on board 2a. The force includes 6 4-4-7s, 3 2-3-7s an 8-1, 2 LMGs and one 51* (British) mortar. Interestingly, these forces are not able to set up in three of the VP eligible victory point producing buildings. Then on turn 3 a couple of T-26s enter as well along with an 8-1 armor leader. The Republicans are reinforced by a large for of Infantry on turn 4. This force consists of 12 4-4-7s, 2 2-2-8 crews, a 10-0 commissar, a 9-1, MMG, 2 LMG, 2 DC. This force is supported by two T-26 M33 tanks.

The Nationalists meanwhile have two groups of units. The group that sets up on board has 9 4-4-7s, 9-1, 8-1, MMG, 2 LMGs, 51* MTR (British) and 1 ATR. These forces set up on the South side of board 1a. They are reinforced on turn two by another force of Infantry (nearly the same as the first group) and six PzKfw IB (G). The tanks have inexperienced crews (like a 6-1 AL in the tank) in addition to being radioless.

As I began setting up I made a critical error. I didn't 'do the math' on the building control mechanics thus I was more or less in the dark about the specifics. I knew generally that I needed to try and hold the buildings on my side of the board as they paid points at the end of the game. I also knew that there were about six buildings on the edge of board 2a that paid VPs for the first three turns. Additionally there were two hexes (cross roads) that paid 5VP each for their control at the end of the game. Thus I knew all the mechanics, but I didn't go over it before I set up so that I know what I would have to do. It turns out that the VPs available are very tightly balanced between the two forces and the game will be decided by a narrow margin. In the end I don't think I would have done anything differently on set up had I gone through this exercise, but I felt like I had already given an advantage to Rikk before we made the first WC DR.

Turns 1-3

I have a small force to work with for the first three turns. Rikk will have tanks in my midst around turn three and I have little to defend against them with early on other then MG fire. I decide against trying to occupy the front to buildings (outside of my set up area) as I expect Rikk to come down the road in that direction with most of his force. I need to keep my guys alive and try and keep him out of the main town where VPs are scored at the end of the game. I don't have a lot of ways to interdict his approach either given my set up restrictions. He has to cross a lot of open ground, but I have few places to set up to cover this approach. Instead I put the majority of my guys on my right in and around the three VP paying buildings on my right. I throw a HS up on the level two hex on my far right to help strip some concealment. I lightly cover my left, planning to shoot and scoot there.

Turn 2

As expect Rikk brings 2/3s of his force down the road on my left, where I am spread very thin. There is very little going on in these early turns as Rikk spends the first two turns moving at full speed into the area. Rikk brings his turn 2 reinforcements in and sends most of the Infantry to my left with two of his tanks, sending the other 4 and remaining infantry to my right. I pull back a bit on my right as he moves into the VP buildings there. I am leaderless on this side of the map so I am very careful, only shooting if I have to.

Turn 3

On his turn three Rikk moves up the level 2 hill on my right, sending my HS there scurrying away. Rikk also moves his 4 tanks on this side close to the building complex that is the cornerstone of my defense. In the middle he sends his remaining two tanks over the threaten the crossroads there. I have a squad and LMG here. On the left Rikk, with his main force continues to advance and clear out the buildings there.

Turns 4-5

Turn 4, on my right

The bottom of turn 3 sees my small force reinforced by two T-26s and an 8-1 AL. I send these to the threatened crossroads and engage his two tanks there. Rikk makes his move on the building on turn 4. He sends one platoon of tanks in to tie up my infantry. He then sends a couple of squads to support the tanks. The other platoon of tanks goes over and engages my two tanks in the center. Close combat ensues and I get the tanks the used VBM to enter the building hex, while his infantry survives locking us in melee. One of his tanks in the middle breaks its MA (CMG) in advancing fire while I am able to take out another one in defensive fire. On my left Rikk is moving hard for the village and I have little there to stop or impede his progress. This though is where my reinforcements will arrive the next turn.

Turn 4, action at the crossroads

Turn 4, the left

My turn 4 sees the arrival of my reinforcements. I start with sending the two arriving T-26s over to my left to stop his advance towards the town. This is important as Rikk has nicely placed these units to interdict my arriving Infantry's movement. Thus I am forced to stay clear of a couple road hexes that would have allowed me to get closer to the center. Rikk takes a nice long range shot at my guys with his MMG on my far right (on the level 2 hill there with an 8-1 directing). I have a couple squads break here. In the advancing fire phase both of my arriving T-26s break their MA's.

Rikk assaults the building on my right

Rikk sends his other Platoon of IB's to the crossroads

Rikk's turn 5 sees his Infantry on my right pull back into the woods. Its clear he's not going to make any more progress on this side of the map. In the center at the crossroads I am down to one tank as is he. I have killed two if his with a third recalled. The pressure on my right grows and Rikk takes one of the buildings here. I cleared his infantry out of the two-hex building, but he's still got the lone tank adjacent with a lot of squads still in the vicinity. More importantly though, neither one of my T-26s fix thier MA's. As I only have a snowballs chance at this point in the game, I throw in the towel.

Problems on my Left

End of my Turn 4

This was one of those scenarios that I lost and still cant really articulate what I should have done differently to not lose. The broken MA's were an afterthought because even by that point, I knew I was loosing. The two five VP hexes are also a key factor at the end of the game. I had hoped to drive over to the other side of the board to occupy one of them with a T-26, while maintaining control of the one on my side of the board, but this was a long shot as my sole remaining T-26 that had the range to get there was now alone and thus would have to roll for non platoon movement. Additionally by having that tank make a run for it, I would have to leave the other crossroad hex unprotected.

End of Rikk's turn 5 (end of game as well)

The ROAR on this tells me that I am in the minority in being clueless on what I should have done as its fairly balanced there. I did really enjoy the game though and that of course is the important part after all. The new maps are really a great addition to the system and I look forward to more scenarios using them. Rikk and I are also big fans of the early armor game, so we really liked that part of the scenario as well.

The Caucasus Campaign (GMT) ~ "The Tournament Scenario"

Game: The Caucasus Campaign (GMT)
Scenario: 7-Turn Tournament Scenario
Participants: Bob H, Myself
Time: Thu, Oct 27th ~ 7.00PM - 9.00PM
         Sun, Oct 30th ~ 2.00PM - 6.00PM

When this game was released in 2009 Bob and I immediately jumped on it. We were already fans of Mr. Simonitch's work and this one didn't let us down. The game covers the German invasion of the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union from July through November of 1942. The units are mostly divisions with some brigades and regiments. Each turn is one week and each hex represents about 18 miles of terrain. The rules are very similar to other Simonitch games so we were able to quickly learn them and start playing. I think we played one or two tournament scenario's and then the full campaign game. I remember playing the campaign game, it was close and came down the the last couple turns. This time around we were only looking for a shorter game so we decided to stick to the tournament scenario. I took the Germans as Bob played them in our last game.

We had a lot of fun over two sittings with this title. I ended up loosing fairly badly to Bob, I resigned on Turn 6 with only 9 VPs (of the needed 14). I thought I was doing ok up until around then end of turn 4 when I started looking at what cities I would need to take in order to reach the 14 VPs I needed to win. In hindsight I was much to conservative, the German player really has to push hard in this scenario. 

Set Up

German Attacks, Turn 2

Start of Turn 3

Start of Russian Turn 4

Russian Movement Phase, Turn 5

Falling Short, Final German Positions, end of turn 6

Advanced Squad Leader (MMP) ~ "On the road to Andalsnes" [A31]

Game: Advanced Squad Leader
Scenario: "On the road to Andalsnes" [A31]
Participants: Jim "HeavyD" D, Myself
Time: Saturday, Oct 29th, 10AM - 5.30PM

It didn't take much convincing to get HeavyD back on the ASL bandwagon. Both of us have been on the ASL decline for years, both in the frequency that we play and of course the quality of our play. As we are seeing a decline in the number of new games that GMT/MMP are releasing that we are both interested in, I thought it would be a good idea to get back on the ASL bike. There has been a slew of products released in the past couple years and we are due for some new stuff around the turn of the year as well. We both agreed that we'd try and play one scenario a month for the next six months, we'd start out slow with a couple Infantry only scenario's and then gradually work our way back into the rest of the game.

As we are getting back on the ASL bandwagon, it seemed like a good idea to play a scenario with wagons in it. I found "On the road to Andalsnes" by going back and looking for Infantry only (no vehicles) scenarios, I started with most of the recent products and unsurprisingly very few of those scenarios are Infantry only (and non-PTO), so then I went back to the beginning and started with Beyond Valor and the early Annuals. This one I found in the '91 Annual. It appealed first of all because I could use my version 2 ASL kit (new boards & counters) and then because it was medium sized with some interesting terrain (two hill boards). I checked the ROAR and it was German 9/Norwegian 13 which is a decent spread. Then for kicks I google earthed Andalsnes (something I am doing a lot now with the games I play) and was amazed at the terrain (see the picture bellow).

Andalsnes, Norway

The Scenario takes place in April of 1940. The Germans are advancing on Andelsnes in response to the Allied "occupation" of parts of Northern Norway. Elements of the 2nd Norwegian Infantry Division are South of town trying to hold off a resupply column of the German 196th Infanterie Division. Boards 2 and 9 are in play side by side. The Germans enter on the Southern edge of board 2 and have to go the length of the map to exit 30VP off of the Northern edge of board 9 (hexes 9A5/9A6). The Norwegians have a road block, 3 foxholes and 14 squads (6x 1st Line & 8x Green) along with one MMG, two LMG's and six concealment markers. They are relatively well lead with a 9-2, 9-1 and an 8-0. 

Set Up

I end up taking the Germans in this one. The Germans have 16 1st line squads, 5 LMG's, one MMG and a little mortar. They also have a 75* INF gun along with 6 wagons. This force is lead by a 9-2, 9-1 and two 8-0s. The Germans have to exit 30CVPs off the Northern edge of the map via a single road. There are eleven turns (another thing you rarely see in contemporary scenario's). The wagons are worth 3VPs each for exit and are much more mobile in this hilly terrain that you might think. Their open ground cost is only 1 and to go up a level costs only 2 (assuming its open ground). They are going to be channeled be the many crag hexes on board 9 but I should be able to move them on the far side of the hills on this board, shielding them from HeavyD's fire.

Opening

End of German Turn 1

After looking at HeavyD's set up, I decided to enter on the edge of board 2 and make straight for the board 9 hill. HeavyD set up heavily on Board 2, I think in anticipation of my running the wagons down that road there, but wagons do very well in open ground (1MP) and I felt no need to stay on the road at all. The first few turns go quickly without a lot of drama. I am puzzled by HeavyD's inactivity on his first couple of turns. About the only units he moved were a couple of stacks of squads that were making a beeline towards the exit hexes. This of course makes sense, it was all of the squads (and there are some dummies there to be sure) that sat on the far side of the hills on board 2 the first couple of turns that has me confused.

End of German Turn 2

I am only facing a couple of Green squads on on the closest board 9 hill and these fall quickly without causing too much trouble. In fact I believe that both of them upon taking their first MC's failed their ELR and were disrupted, making it very easy for me to capture them. It dawn's on me that these captured squads are going to be very valuable if I am able to exit them. They will be worth 4VPs each.

Around turn three, it becomes clear that HeavyD has his 9-2 and MMG on the center hill on board 2 in a level three hex (in a foxhole). This is a nice spot as its out of LOS from the front (where I enter) but will have LOS to the length of most of Board 9, at least until I can get on the other side of the hills there. We start doing some long range MG fire (my 9-2 & MMG against his) and after an initial break (of HeavyD's MMG) followed by a repair, he wins this battle when my 9-2 rolls a 12 on its first MC of the game. He is only wounded but the squad breaks and these important tools are basically lost to me for the duration of the game.

German Turn 3

Since I've lost my MMG + 9-2 I am forced to send 4-5 squads over to board 2 to deal with this threat. This will turn into a mini-scenario in itself with a lot of drama on both sides. HeavyD now starts to bring up the squads on the far side of board 2 to support his MMG position. This turns out the be handy as the way the scenario is turning out, this is really only the main tool he has to impede my advance.

The Death Star and the Sniper

Despite rolling over his initial opposition (on board 9) and moving at nearly full speed on every movement phase, I start to get a little worried here. While I am making progress in advancing along the length of board 9, I am unable to take out or neutralize his MMG + 9-2 on board 2. The above mentioned 4-5 squads soon gets into trouble when HeavyD's active sniper (SAN 4, he's like 4 for 5 on sniper checks at this point in the game) takes out the 8-0 on this side of the map. An old ASL sage from my early days with the game in Arizona once said "A leaderless force is soon neutralized" and I now had a leaderless force tasked with taking out, or at least distracting the 9-2/MMG Death Star.

I am still making good progress on board 9, moving my wagons and not getting them shot at. I am capturing the few Green squads that he set up on this side (I think there were 4 total). The height of the Death Stars reign of terror is around turn five when I lose my 9-1 to an across the board shot (KIA'd) and a turn later when he zaps a HS with two full prisoner squads in tow. At this point I am now down to one 8-0 who I've had to run up front with my forward elements on board 9 and the wounded 9-1 (who ELR'd to a 9-1 whilst being wounded) who is really out of the game as he's so far back, trailing blood and only moving 3MPs a turn.

Start of German Turn 5

Slowly though I start to feel a little better about the situation, I have all of my wagons on the far side of board 9 now, safe from the Death Star for the remainder of the game. I am facing a couple of 1st line squads with LMG's and then the three squads who have dug in on the exit hexes. HeavyD has only two leaders on this side of the board. I have perhaps 6-7 squads remaining in my main force, several of whom are now 2nd line as well as a couple of HS's pulling 3-4 prisoners. All of them are mostly together and on the safe side of board 9. Still it'll be tight, as I do the math and assuming that I get everything off, the points will be only just around 30. I've decided to unload the INF gun several turns ago to help engage the Death Star and then to be able to fire on one of the two exit hexes (where he has a squad in a foxhole).

The Death Star (9-2 + MMG in the Foxhole)

 Down Hill Run

Around my turn 6 I start to break up his last line of resistance before the exit hexes. I am able to break and then capture one of the two squads here. Then suddenly HeavyD runs his 8-0 up towards this area. He (the 8-0) had been back with the three squads sitting on the exit road. I'm not sure what HeavyD was thinking here except that he might be trying to block a hex that I am wanting to move through with my wagons. But its way to early for that, turn 6-7 only and this is an 11 turn scenario. Soon the 8-0 is eliminated and he is down to one leader on this side of the map (as I am).

I eventually break the sole remaining squad. Now I am free to advance on the exit area. I chase the 9-1 and get him in melee, though it took two whole CC phases for this to happen. My hopes are higher at this point as the Death Star is largely irrelevant at this point in the game. I still have a couple of squads and now a hero over there sans a leader just trying to stay alive and stop the 9-2 from attempting to come over to the exit area. The INF gun, after two turns of trying to move one hex up hill finally makes it and I start shooting at the exit area (24 hexes away).

German Turn 7, Breaking the forward line

By my turn 8 I am sitting on the hills above the three remaining squads with enough VPs to exit as long as I can break/eliminate him without loosing more then a squad or two. I also stand to capture these guys if I can break them as well as he has very little room to route. It only takes a prep fire phase and then a defensive fire phase to break two of his three remaining squads. At this point HeavyD throws in the towel as he's out of options.

Getting Close, Start of Norwegian turn 8

This was a pretty cool scenario. Its one of those scenarios where every little thing is important. Even LMGs are critical here because of the many long range shots and their ability to interdict out to eight hexes. There is very little terrain on this hills, so you end up scrambling for every bit of height advantage you can find, you become an expert on blind hexes and slope rules. You learn how to drive a wagon train. You learn how vulnerable ELR 3 Green squads are to disruption. You spend the majority of the game on the 1 through 6 fire power columns on the IFT. Whats not to like?

The white flag, the situation at the end of the game

Commands & Colors: Napoleonics (GMT) ~ Talavera, 28 July 1809

Game: Commands & Colors Napoleonics (GMT)
Scenario: Talavera (French attack on British ), 28 July 1809
Participants: HeavyD and Myself
Time: Fri, Oct 21st, 7.00PM - 9.00PM

CCN is fast becoming a favorite here in our little gaming group. Tonight HeavyD and I selected the next scenario in the book, "Talavera (French attack on British), 28 July 1809". This one is huge, the biggest we have yet played. First off its a race to seven Victory Banners, the largest we've yet played in this system. The scenario features a huge swarm of Frenchmen trying to cross a brook and dislodge the British who are behind it in the hills. The brook covers about 2/3s of the map, the side of the map without the brook sees both sides deploying their Cavalry there. As we are still climbing the learning curve with this new system, our last couple of playings featuring large attacking forces have met with disaster generally for the attacker.  We are slowing cluing in to the fact the the attacking force in this series (as opposed to CCA) simply has to have several cards back to back that will activate the attacking forces consecutively to have a chance. This takes some getting used to as the attacker was so heavily favored in CCA. We diced for sides and I got the British. 

Set Up

Cavalry, a good time


We start the game with some artillery duels, I am in no mode to do anything at this point but tweak my line and plink away at HeavyD with my guns. The first interesting thing that happened was that HeavyD played a "Flank Attack", activating 2 units on each wing. On my right he moved up some artillery and one line unit, on the left he advanced his Cavalry into striking distance. I was more concerned with the Artillery unit and failed to see the danger my own Cavalry was in. I elected to play a card to activate my right and fire on his advancing units.

"Caught!"...HeavyD catches my Cavalry off guard.

Then HeavyD lays down a "Cavalry Charge" and lunges towards my Cavalry with his. His two light Cavalry units come storming in and I expect the worst, but amazingly he rolls very poorly (starting a very hot and cold dice night for both of us). Both of his Lights attack my front Light units and when the sabers are sheathed I have only lost one block and so has he. I was expecting to lose one or perhaps two units as in this game Cavalry can advance into a cleared hex, move another hex and then attack again. I luckily have a card that allows me to activate a bunch of units on my left. Here I am again set up to potentially wipe him out, but my attacks are very bloody to both of us. I take out one unit and force the other to retire, its cost me four blocks of my lights though, with each unit down to one block each. Amazingly though, HeavyD is not done, he throws down another "Cavalry Charge" and this time his Heavy is able to support his other Light unit. I lose my two 1-block Lights and my Guards Heavy is left with one block, HeavyD's losses are light. I am able to cut down his Heavy's soon after with Musket and Artillery fire, his Light unit is driven off. 

The British Cavalry strikes back

The French Heavy hitters come in and clean up

Action in the Center

The French close in

With both of us having spent our Cavalry in some exciting action, neither one of us is left with an advantage. We are nearly out of Cavalry and both have a couple of VBs to show for it. HeavyD begins to advance on the Center, as he must. My right is a tough nut with Artillery in a fortified location as well as my Light Rifle unit and another Light Infantry unit. I have the good fortune to draw the Bombard cards close together and put them to good use as he slowly closes the gap in the center. 

The French assault pushes the British back

Things heat up as he lays down an "Assault Center" followed by the "La Grande Manoeuvre" cards. This allows his units to get up close to the brook but not to enter it (where he is forced to stop the turn he enters...its the only effect of the brook via special rule). I am caught without any real good cards to deal with this and am forced to shot at him from the flanks or with fewer units that could have. Thus he has his chance and moves three units into the brook for some melee, where his French Infantry has the upper hand. He is able to exploit this and push me back while also overrunning one of my Artillery units. It costs him though as the units he now has over the brook are very low on blocks. My fire eventually drives his assault back into the brook but not before he's taken some Victory Banners (VBs) from me. At this point he is at 5 and I have 3. 

Things get very costly in the Center for HeavyD

Banner hunting in the hills



Over the next couple of turns I am able to make fire attacks on his forward units in the center and I am able to eliminate a couple more so that now I am at six and with him holding five. I am running out of blocks with my forward units in both the Center and my Right. Things are getting tight as he starts to assemble for another push in the Center. He then charges in with two Line units and catches one of my depleted line units in Melee and destroys it. Now we are both holding 6 Victory banners, the next player who gets one will get the win. We dance around for a turn or two until I am able to do a combined fire and melee attack and grab the last block for the win. 

The Last Banner falls

We were both pretty happy with this game. For the first time in the series we had some exciting Cav on Cav action with both of us getting to use our Heavy Cavalry to good effect. The French defiantly have the upper hand in the Cavalry department, but my Lights gave as good as they got. I for one felt really engaged by this scenario, I mean that it was much more challenging and I think made me approach the game as more then a big fun dice fest, we were both trying to get every last advantage out of the terrain and our units strengths and weaknesses. This is sort of a first for me and this series. CCA has certainly never made me this tense, fighting for every last little trick to get a win. Also, I have to say that we are both gaining a much better understanding of how to pull off at least a competent attack in the game...Certainly something we will be doing once again in the near future.

The map at game end

Battles of the American Revolution, Vol V (GMT) ~ "Monmouth"

Game: Battles of the American Revolution Series (GMT)
Scenario: Monmouth
Participants: Bob H, Myself
Time: Thu, Sep 29nd ~ 7.00PM - 8.45PM, Sun, Oct 2nd ~ 2.00PM - 5.00PM

Monmouth is the fifth installment of the excellent Battles of the American Revolution System by GMT Games. HeavyD and I had only played it once, right after it was released. We had a really good time with it, so when Bob and I were looking for another game to play without having to read rules, we selected this one. This battle pits the American forces under Washington against a withdrawing British Force under Cornwallis. The Americans outnumber the British, both initially and overall but the British generally have better units. The game is interesting also in that it has some command and control rules in it to handle at situation where one of the American Generals (Lee) was a bit mixed up in the opening phases of the battle. As I had played before as the Americans, I took the British this time. 



Opening (Turns 1-4)

Set Up

 The battle opens with the van of the American Army under General Lee approaching Monmouth Courthouse where the British have a small rear guard in place. Over the first few turns, until Washington can relieve Lee, the Americans have to roll on a table to see what effects some of their units are under do to command confusion. These turns go quickly as both sides have few forces and the Americans are mostly just marching to get to the British position. About the only thing I did was prevent Bobs leading units from using Strategic movement on several of their turns by placing a unit six hexes away on the road. 

The American Column approaches the Courthouse, Turn 4

Initial Contact (Turns 5-6)

Lafayette drives the British back to the Courthouse

Things started to heat up as Bob approached the Courthouse. I knew my reinforcements were just around the corner and I had some good terrain to anchor my defense on, so I made a stand at the Courthouse with Clinton's units. Bobs opening attacks go well, forcing me to give ground. In my half of turn 5 I pull back and anchor my line on the Courthouse. My reinforcements are close now, marching in on the road...they will be here on the next turn. 

Initial American assault on Monmouth CH

Bob gets the initiative on the next turn (6) and gets hit with two Brigades suffering 1/2 movement point penalties. This proves fortunate as some of the affected units are unable to get in on the action. Still he presses his attack at the Courthouse and this time Clinton hangs on to it. On my half of the turn I strike back with two attacks around the CH. My attacks don't go well and I am forced back out of the Courthouse (CH). 


Battle at the Courthouse (Turns 7-8)

Clinton and Cornwallis fail to drive the Americans back

Bob gets the initiative at the top of the 7th. Our Army Moral levels are equal at this time, both us sitting at 19. Bob is also able to relieve Lee, thus lifting the C&C roll for the remainder of the game. Bob occupies the CH hex and moves in more units to support his attacks. The attacks go well, pushing back my units. Wayne gets caught up in the fight and advances into the hex beyond the CH. 

Bob's Americans continue to drive the British back

On my turn I start to extend my line with my arriving units. I also launch a counterattack against Wayne. The lead American units Disrupts and the rest of them pass moral checks and hold the hex. I get the initiative at the top of the 8th. Because of the command and confusion, Bob is slightly out numbered now in the area around the CH. I take advantage of this and launch three attacks, two 3-1 and one 4-1 (against Wayne). The back to back turns giving me a big advantage at this point. The attacks go well, I push Wayne back while the other two hexes hold. The attacks cause Bobs Army Morale to drop. He looses several steps in these fights too.

Reinforced, the British strike back

Crossing the T (Turns 9+)

The Situation at the end of Turn 8

Bob gets the initiative at the top of the 9th. As he holds the CH hex and the losses are still fairly even his is clearly on the Defensive at this point. I have a small edge in forces still as some of Bobs units are still arriving and thus marching across the map. Bob doesn't do much except adjust his line and continue to move the rest of his army towards the CH. 

British attacks at the end of turn 9

On my turn I continue to extend my line around the CH. I am able to get around the end of his line and attack it. I am also driving into the woods near the road in an attempt to interdict Bob approaching units. The 1st New Jersey takes loss at the end of the line, but importantly doesn't retreat. I am more fortunate in the woods, driving back Bobs unit there, getting me closer to being able to throw a ZOC on the main road. 

The British attacks on the Courthouse, Turn 10

The start of turn 10 sees both of use use our momentum on the initiate roll as we know that we are at a critical junction. I win the roll and am able to exploit the gains I made last turn. Around the Courthouse I move in and attack 4 hexes including the CH hex. The assault in the Woods goes well and I am able to get ZOC on the main road, cutting off access to the CH via that rout. 

The Americans take heavy losses defending the Courthouse

The decisive action though occurs around the Court House as three of the four hexes fall. I set the attacks up to start from left to right, this will trap the units if I take the first couple hexes. The first hex falls and the rout is on. Bob looses a bunch of units due to lack of retreat options and over-stacking. Lafayette does hold the CH, but with his Army's morale wavering now Bob throws in the towel.

Lafayette encircled at the Courthouse

The back to back turns were the straw that broke the camels back. However Bob was hit with some untimely command and control rolls that lead to his initial units getting spread out in the early turns. This left his line too short in the end and I was able to take advantage of that.


So closes another excellent game of this series. The more I play it, the more I want to keep playing it. If you haven't yet given this series a try, you should.