January 22 Game Day AAR for Emerald Knights {Burbank}

[Paul Simonsen]

Howdy Folks !

We had a great turnout for this meeting as 9 members attended this months Burbank game day.
Here are the match ups:

Rob Stai and Dave Rosner battled it out on snowy steppe terrain in ASL G 38,Castello Fatato.
This is a demanding night scenario that has the Italian player [ Dave ] trying to come in out of
the cold and into some Russian [ Rob ] owned real estate. There is a mandatory first turn human
wave attack that spelled doom for the Italian force . The post mortem seemed to indicate that perhaps
the Italian player might be better served by setting up far enough away that the human wave stays
outside the NVR. It seems to be a very tough game for the Italian.

Formerly MIA SOCALASL 'er Geoff Coward made an appearence much to everyones surprise and joy,
and was Dave Rosners co-commander in Castello Fatato.For those that haven't met Geoff, he is a club officer
and regional director for the L.A,. Area.Great to have you back Geoff. Final score, Rob's Russians won over
Dave / Geoffs Italians…….

Next up were Mike Cirrincione and Dan Plachta in OB 13, A Hotly Contested Crossroads.
This is from the new Out of the Bunker magazine from MMP. The scenarios were culled from
the Out of the Bunker series third party publisher.This one had Mikes Russian combined arms force
trying to wrest control 14 buildings [sorry, I forgot the board #] .Mike was not able to gain a foothold
as Dan's sneaky German force held the Russians off.It looks like a fast, fun scenario with much
close -in fighting. Recap- Dan wins as the German player.

The next pair -up consisted of Mike Soffa and Blair Bellamy in in AP 23, Agony at Arnautovo.
this scenario tasks the Russian player, [ Blair] with yet another real estate grab as the Russian
has to control the majority of buildings on half board 41,that is the board half with the three small hills
each with buildings and the stream. This is a tricky attack for the Russian and it was made even trickier
by Mike's uncanny dice rolls.Blair's force was decimated but Blair still pressed on, keeping the threat going.

Mike and Blair both seemed to enjoy this pick from AP3 and will probably give it a go again.
Final score : Mike Wins as the Italian vs. Blairs Russian / Partisan force.

…….and finally.I had a very enjoyable game with Kevin Kiff as we played VOTG 14 , Pavlov's House.
Kevin had posted this to the list a couple weeks ago and I happily was the first to reply to his suggestion.
Pavlov's House is played on a small section of the VOTG map and has the Russian player holed up
in a victory building and a few others next door.The Germans have to take R-5 and maintain control
of all buildings in their set up location

The dice -off gave me the defending Russians ,Kevin of course being the attacking German player.
This game saw some of the wildest DRs I have seen in quite a while, many 2s and 3s were thrown
on both sides. I actually managed to kill 2 of Kevins Stugs with critical hits from the plentiful ATRs.
Kevis also had his share of good luck in a rate tear or two from his kill stack. Kevin broke up the defense
the S-7 building and advanced into the ground floor locations as I was forced t route.The lone good order
unit I had was a 9-1 leader.We then had a see saw fight for the building that barely left me in control.

Meanwhile, on the northern flank ,I managed to break the German comnpletely with the help of a sniper attack,
and some sxtremely low dice rolls.I thenmanaged to take a building or two in the German set-up area.
This proved to be the decisivemanuver of the game. Kevin was forced to send units there in an attempt
to wrest control back. This left him without enough unigts to attack R 5 in time.
Final result: Russian win for me.

This was Kevin's secomd foray to Emerald Knights and I am sure we will him at other venues
when time permits. Kevin is a lot of fun to play,well prepared, and a gracious opponent. And he let me win.
Ha.
Kevin had an inventive solution to the stacking nightmare that VOTG can be. He photocopied the target
building,R5 and adjacent locations, and and enlarged it.This functioned as an inset and keeps clutter to a
minimum. Kevin also has other home grown game aids they were helpful and well thought out. There might be
great ideas here for our counter pack when we get around to it.

For lunch we went to Larry's burger stand just down the street where we all enjoyed the comfort food.
After the gaming was over , six of us went to Bob's Big Boy for dinner and some laughs.

Yet another great day for SOCALASL…some of you out there don't know what you are missing!

Regards, EV

P.S. Members,the club is currently starting a playtest project and we can use your help.Please contact
the Playtest commitee [ Matt Romey is coordinator, Jim Aikens and Matt Cicero] for details or info.
This is expected to be of relatively short duration and your assistance and input is valuable to the club.

[Jim Aikens]

Nice recap EV. Thanks!

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