May 11th Game Day in Bellflower AAR

We had ten members, plus cameos by Mike Soffa and Stance Nixon, for our ASL Game Day in Bellflower:

Larry Reinking's French defeated Fen Yan's Germans in “A Real Barn Burner”.

Dave Nicholas' Russians defeated John Lehman's Germans in “The Meat Grinder”.

In the clash of Melee Champs, Hank W.'s Germans defeated Dan Plachta's Russians in “Pulse of Steel”.

In a game that went down to the last Advance phase, Guy Jimenez' Germans defeated Ric Hammond's Americans in “Patton's Prayers”.

Peter Strand wanted to try “HKL 259” a Festung Budapest scenario that he had previous played with Dan. Peter took the defending Axis and I took the Russians. This is an all-infantry exit scenario, with the Russians attacking down-hill in the snow. Peter had a good set-up, with his Hungarians up front in good positions, with his Germans in depth behind, primarily covering the flanks. I lined up on the south side and hit Peter's position hard. I paid for my aggressive early moves when Peter's first shot of the game wounded my 8-1 and ELR'd a squad. I quickly realized that Peter had his best troops on that flank. So I turned toward the center and fought my way up the middle. Between the ground snow and all the walls, the going was very slow. Peter was able to get some of his troops back, but I was finally able to push enough troops across the final defensive line and exit for the win. Peter played a great game and we both had fun.

Because my game and Fen's game got over fairly quickly, we paired up for the Deluxe (surprise) scenario “Torch and Blast”. I took the attacking Italians against Fen's Russians. The Italians get a 1st line company supported by an assault engineer platoon of 4-4-7's (including an FT and 2 DC's), led by a 9-2. The Russians have a company of conscripts with a couple of LMG's. They get one 1st line squad and an HMG. The Italians can either exit 7 EVP, or have no good order Russian squads in multi-hex buildings. Half the board is Hedgerow Hell boards, and the other is Streets of Fire, so there are lots of interesting strategy choices for both sides. It's been a long time since I've played the Italians. In my mind, the key to playing them successfully is to keep expectations realistic and play carefully. I built three assault teams: 1) three 3-4-7's with LMG's led by the 9-2, 2) a 4-4-7 and MMG led by the 8-1, and 3) two 4-4-7's with DC's led by the 8-0 manning the FT. I spread the remaining 3-4-7's among these three teams. I decided to assault into the city, figuring I had two shots at victory (either exit or clear the buildings.) I used my 3-4-7's to push into the building and strip concealment, but took no risks with my assault troops, and used them for smoke, and to hammer the Russians in the AF and DF phases. My strategy worked, and on the next to last turn my 9-2 exited with 2 squads for the win. Fen played like a champ, and we had an exciting and close game. I could see this one going either way. We both said we'd try it again.

We had our usual lunch a 600 degrees pizza, and the survivors adjourned for our traditional BBQ dinner at Hambone's. It was an outstanding day!