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Over the last year our 4th Saturday Game Day venue, at All Ways Gaming in Chatsworth, has become our best attended monthly event. And this month was no exception. We had 10 members on on hand.
Eric Visnowski and Blair Bellamy paired up for “Audacity of Innocence”. In the first playing, Eric's Germans defeated Blair's Americans. Then they turned it around and tried again, with Blair's Germans defeating Eric's Americans.
Dan Plachta's Brits and Sal Pelaez' Germans fought to a draw in “Backs to the Wall”.
Dave Nicholas' Germans defeated Ed Esparza's Brits in “Hart Attack”.
Phil Seymour's Russians defeated Mike Soffa's Germans in “Crickets in Spring”.
And James Quinn and I paired up for “Raff's Dilemma”. James wanted to try some bocage. It's been awhile since I'd played bocage, so it was probably good for me to dust off that section of the Rule Book. I'd played this one before, but it was so long ago I remember nothing about the game except it was fun. The ROAR shows this about 60/40 pro-German. But I think part of that balance disparity might be the Americans misplaying the White Scout Car. The MA can come off as a .50 Cal MG, in addition to the secondary .30 Cal Armament. The thing is a toy box on wheels. The Americans need to get it on board safely, unload the MG's, crew and HS, and link up with the 9-2 quickly to create a potent firebase.
The Germans get a depleted company of poor quality troops; a mix of 2nd liners and conscripts, backed by a 76L AT Gun, 20L AA Gun and a 75* INF Gun. They also get a pillbox, some foxholes and a couple of trenches, and need to defend a 2nd level hill overlooking a lot of bocage. The Americans need to the take the hill, and get nine 6-6-7's, a couple of MMG's, the White SC, and four M4A1 Shermans, plus good leadership. James put his AT gun in the Pillbox on the hill, with a trench to each side, containing a Lt Mtr and MMG in support. The remainder of his troops set up fairly far forward. It was a good defense; the Americans have plenty of time, so the Germans have to fight them in the bocage. James had some bad luck early. His AT Gun zeroed in on one of my Shermans penetrating the woods on the American far right on turn one, but then broke it in his own Prep. It never came back. That gave my Shermans plenty of flexibility for maneuver. I repeatedly rolled them up 3-5 hexes away from the German infantry, went CE, and blazed away with the MA, CMG and AAMG's. Added to that was the immense American FP in Prep and Advancing fire, the 9-2 led .50 Cal, and various MMG's. But even with all that FP, the Americans have to advance slowly but steadily, leapfrogging firebases as they go.
My Americans took some serious casualties, but I was able to slowly grind the Germans up until James basically ran out of troops. We called it an American win on turn 5. We both liked this scenario a lot. James had an excellent set-up and played very well, but he had a really bad break losing his AT gun so early. I could see where the Americans could have a hard time of it. If the German AT Gun stayed in action, if the American overlooked the MG's on the SC, and if the Americans try to press too quickly, the wheels could come off their attack pretty quickly.
It was nice to dust off the bocage rules, which can be challenging when combined with multi-level hills. We both agreed we'd try this one again as either side.
We enjoyed our usual excellent lunch on the patio at San Carlo Deli. The survivors adjourned for our usual late dinner at The Habit. It was an outstanding day of ASL!
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