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We had seven members in attendance for the June edition of our ASL Game Day at Gameology. In addition, Dave Kocot arrived too late in the afternoon to play, so he watched and kibitzed for the remainder of the day.
We decided early on that we wanted to do something commemorating the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Eric Visnowski recommended the AP scenario “Not Apt to Drag Feetâ€, which was set on D-Day+1, 70 years ago to the day, and we all thought that was an excellent choice. As we did a couple of weeks ago with “Guards Counterattack†we decided on three parallel playings of the same scenario.
The scenario seemed rather pro-American, so we gave the German side the balance in all three games. We were glad we did, as it made for three very exciting and interesting games.
In the first match-up, Eric Visnowski’s Germans fell to Dan Plachta’s Americans.
In the second match-up, Scott Thompson’s Germans defeated Blair Bellamy’s Americans.
In the third match-up, my Germans defeated the Americans played by Karl Johnson and Jim Svette. This scenario starts with the Americans entering a strong force of Shermans followed by a company of paratroopers. A company of infantry arrives on the German left flank on turn 4. The Germans get two platoons of infantry and six rag wagon AFV’s (2 Marders and 4 recycled Renaults) to oppose the initial American attack. They also get a full second line company that has to set up under No Move in the sunken roads near the back of the board. That force is released on turn 5. But because we played with the German balance, they get released on turn 4 instead. The Americans have to take a small village on the German left, then exit 55 VPs off the board edge.
My plan as the Germans was to give up the village completely, and use my initial force to try to stop the paratroopers. I figured because my second line company was being released on turn 4, they would win the footrace to the back of the board and block the American infantry from exiting. In our game, the Americans swung their entire first turn tank force all the way around my left flank and headed for a board-edge exit. I had positioned my only AT Gun (a 50L) on the very last hexrow for shots at the exiting Shermans. That Gun had some phenomenal luck, and I was able to bag one Sherman out of the four that tried to exit on turn 3. Meanwhile, at the other end of the board, my crappy little French retreads were fighting Jim Svette’s paratroopers for all they were worth. Evidently Jim’s troops skipped their classes on armored close assault; his squads failed their 1st four PAATC’s, and then failed time and again to kill the tanks in CC. Those tanks were charmed, evidently, because Jim kept missing them with BAZ shots as well. As I had calculated, on turn 4 my 2nd line company beat KJ’s American infantry to the back of the board. I was able to also reinforce those board edge defenders with one of the Marders and a Renault. It was obvious with 1 turn to go, and the store getting ready to close, that the Americans weren’t going to be able to exit enough VP’s, and we called it a German win. It was an exciting and enjoyable game. It was also very complicated, with so many squads and tanks running around and slipping in an out of the Bocage, all three of us were on the edge of our seats all day.
We made our usual trip to The Hat for lunch, and cleared out just as the store was closing. What another great day of ASL!
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