April O.C. Game Day in Anaheim AAR

Greetings all;

We had four members at the ASL Game Day with the St. Crispin’s Irregulars in Anaheim.

Blair Bellamy and Bill Yuen paired up for the SK scenario “Miracle at Sinagoga” from Rally Point. After a battle that lasted until 10:00 PM, Blair’s Germans were victorious over Bill’s Brits.

Fen Yan and I paired up for one of the new Dispatches scenario “Mga Station”. Don’t ask me how to pronounce “Mga”. Fen and I both subscribe to Dispatches, and he was checking out the latest issue when I arrived. It was a scenario I already had on my playlist; a fight over the bottom half of board 45, with rail overlays running down the middle. The rail hexes are littered with wrecks, representing rolling stock, with some gaps at strategic places. Fen took the Russian horde (I mean really, like 17 squads) of 6-2-8 and 4-5-8 NKVD troops who swarmed the rail station held by my handful of well-armed German squads. The Russians are supported with MG's, a couple of scout cars, an 82* MTR, and an AT Gun. In addition to some well-armed infantry, the Germans get some 251-1 halftracks, a 251-10 and a PSW 222. The ace in the hole for the Germans is their reinforcements, which arrive on the next-to-last turn or the turn after the rail station falls, whichever is first. 8-3-8 Pioneers, FT, 5-4-8’s with LMG’s, 9-2, halftracks and another PSW, definitely enough to get it done. As it turned out, the Russians overran the rail station in short order, though my Germans were able to get out with their MG’s, triggering the reinforcements. H-T-H and No Quarter were in effect. Five hours and four blood-drenched turns later my Germans cleared the last of the Russians out of rail station for victory. It’s a scenario that is as fun as it looks, and Fen and I both would happily play it again.

The St. Crispin’s Irregulars served chicken sandwiches for lunch and spaghetti with salad for dinner. Both meals were a good deal for only $5.00. Most of the other gaming was miniatures this month, including one big Kursk armor battle, and one or two RPG groups who came in after dinner.

Regards,

Jim