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We had three members at our SoCalASL Game Day at Gameology. And because one of us was Fen Yan, you can bet we checked his “Big Book 'O Deluxe” for a three-player scenario. Fen had just the scenario: “Blunt Force Trauma” from ESG. Mike Meeks volunteered to take the defending Russians against me and Fen as the Germans. The Russians get 14 squads (majority conscripts) with a 45L AT, and 76* INF. They also get two T-28 Tanks and a couple more squads as reinforcements on turn 2. The downside is they have only two leaders (an 8-1 and 8-0). Because it's June '41, Mike wisely chose to upgrade the 8-0 to a 9-0 Commissar. The Germans get two forces: a company of infantry supported by three PzIIIF's entering from the west, and eight 5-4-8's, supported by a SiG and a PzIVF1 entering from the south.
The Germans have 6 turns, which is a long time in the world of Deluxe. But the terrain they have to cross is covered with hedges (not hedgerows), and further constricted by a stream and a number of marsh hexes. Mike had an excellent set-up, with just enough in second level locations to force us to be careful. Fen took the southern force and I took the western one. Our plan was for Fen's troops to cut down the eastern board edge and get in behind the Russians. His tanks would go to level one to hit or Smoke any upper level Russian defenders. I sent one tank and a platoon in from the northwest, and my other two tanks and the rest of my troops into the west-center, hoping to cut off a big chunk of Mike's defenders in the southern portion of the town.
When it comes to playing scenarios with armor on both sides, I have three rules I try to stick to: 1) Avoid using your tanks aggressively until you've located the enemy's anti-tank assets. Lead with the infantry to find and kill those AT Guns. 2) Use your tanks to concentrate on killing the enemy armor first. And don't fire MA's at infantry until the enemy armor is eliminated. 3) Never, ever, leave a tank in motion if there is an enemy tank within striking distance. Of course, in ASL, there's no such thing as a hard-and-fast principle that doesn't have situational exceptions, but I really try to stick to these if I can. Unfortunately, in this scenario, I managed to violate all three of these rules, and the results speak for themselves.
Fen brought his forces in according to plan, and started pushing Mike's southern forces back. Meanwhile, I violated rule #1, when I sent my three PzIII's in first, unsupported, laying smoke and getting into position to take on Mike's infantry (violating rule #2.) Mike popped out his 76* and nearly killed one PzIII until it was saved by Fen's well-placed Smoke shot. In the center, Mike nailed one of my PzIII's with an ATR shot. By then my infantry was up and drove off the ATR. So I doubled down and pushed a second PzIII in there. Bam, out comes the 45L, and another PzIII dies. Mike brought his T-28's in the center of town, and reinforced his southern flank with a couple of 5-2-7's. I swung my last Pz III around to try to bag a T-28, but missed the shot. I then violated rule #3 when I put my tank back in motion to avoid the return shots. Mike, who has heard me extol on my three rules, immediately saw the opportunity, and broke off a T-28 to come around behind my tank and.. Bam, my third tank went down. The student had turned the tables on the teacher! In the end, our attack got bogged down in the center of town, while Mike's troops fought hard for every building. We ran out of time with one building still left to clear and called it a Russian win. Congrats to Mike for a well-deserved win. We all had fun, and this one could have gone either way. We all agreed we'd try this one again. Its also an excellent 3-player scenario.
We also enjoyed an awesome lunch on the deck at Louie's Chicken and Fish. It was another great day of ASL!
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