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Dave Perham and I are both Night veterans, and Dave chose this from my play list for our meeting at the San Diego Game Day. My Night experience is mostly in the context of CG’s, and this was actually my first Night scenario in quite some time. It was Dave’s first non-VASL Night scenario.
Dave took the Russians. The initial set-up is actually not that complicated. The Russian on-board force is just large enough to meet the required ‘one MMC per hexrow-K building’ requirement. The German set-up is a little less obvious, but requires the Germans to defend the undefendable buildings I40 to I42 with at least one MMC. In my mind, those were 3 MMC’s that were going to die quickly; as there is no way they could defend against such a powerful assault. My plan was to preserve my force as much as possible and defend the back door to the Rail Station (hexes F36 and G35) for a last turn Advance in for the win. That meant that control of building F35, and to a lesser extent I35, would be the key. If my at-start force could hold the Russians out of F35 until my reinforcements arrived, I had an excellent chance for a win. If not, my reinforcements would have to fight their way back in, and I might run out of time.
I split a 447 and put a HS each in I42 and I41, plus a 127 crew in I40. Otherwise my most-forward units were a 447, 7-0 and LMG in G37 and two more 447 in F36. I put the HT directly behind the Rail Station in G36. In the F35 building I had a 467 with a LMG on ground level, and an 8-0, 467 and MMG upstairs (HIP). The rest went up against the north board-edge: I put the 8-1, two 467’s plus the MMG and HMG upstairs (all HIP) in I35 with a dummy stack on ground level, a 467 and LMG upstairs in I34 and the Gun in H34. I put the other 127 crew (for star-shells) in E39 with some dummies, plus other dummies sprinkled in the rail cars.
Dave came on strong, as expected, and mostly used his on-board force to clear out the I40 – I42 buildings, which fell easily as I expected. His primary attack came straight through the Rail Station, and by turn 3 he had pushed me out and occupied it. On the bottom of turn 3 I brought on my reinforcements. I sent the halftrack with the 467s in from the north, with the 838 and 548 groups coming in from the west. Dave had his 50cal and 9-2 set up in F39 and between that and a fortuitous sniper shredded my position in I35, which up to that point had done well hitting the Russians coming in east of the Station. A 447 with an MMG eventually got back into the building on turn 6, but the HMG remained out of action for the rest of the game. Dave continued to push on turn 4, into F35 and west into the rail cars to delay my reinforcements. My track had been recalled by a sniper attack, and Dave pushed into G35 and H35. I pushed my reinforcement track into F34 with a 467, and the point blank fire into F35 finally broke the Russians who had captured that building. The Gun in H34 fought at point blank range into H35. West of the Station, Dave’s delaying force suffered from an inopportune string of bad die rolls, including loosing their FT to one of my 548, and having two squads roll a six on the MOL attempts (breaking them). My elite troops used both FT to help break and kill Russians in F35 and F36 on turn 6. Also by turn 6 I had managed to maneuver the StuG B all the way around the Rail Station to J38 in motion (the StuG G had been CC’d in F40.) During the Advance Phase of Russian turn 7 Dave had very wisely jumped into Melee in Hex E36 and tied up my 548 and hero (and more importantly the hex) for the rest of the game. But it had forced him to leave F36 open. Dave had a good position at the end Russian turn 7; he had his 9-2, 458, and 50cal in F37, a Melee in E36, broken units on the ground level of F35, a 628 and LMG each in G36 and H36, and Russians in hexes F38, F39 and G39 of the Rail Station. (Hexes F36 and G37 were empty.) On the bottom of turn 7 it was do-or-die time. In my turn 7 Prep my track stack KIA’d the broken Russians in F35, and the rest of my fire broke the 628 in H36. In the movement phase one 548 advanced downstairs into F35 under fire. I tried to move in two more 467’s, but both broke from the residual fire. I moved the StuG B to bypass freeze the 9-2 50cal stack which was defending the Rail Station from the west in hex F37 (missed the try for an SD in H37 moving in). But Dave’s ATR immobilized it in G38. My 838, FT 9-1 stack moved up to E38 but broke in the attempt. Another 467 was stopped trying to get into H37. The key to all this was that I had to get an MMC adjacent to the Rail Station without going CX during movement, because it would be a CX move to advance in. When the smoke cleared, I had only the 548 in F35 ready to advance in. Dave’s only remaining DF shot was Final Fire from the 628 and LMG in G36 (8+3). The shot failed to pin or break my 548 who was then able to advance in for the win.
Wow. It was one of those memorable, to-last-die-roll games. We played for 8 hours, not including German set-up. Dave is a terrific player and played a great game; this one could have gone either way right down to the last DR. We both enjoyed the scenario immensely. The trick with VotG Night scenarios is to remember that a CX unit cannot advance into a gutted building (and most VotG buildings are gutted). I realized I should have used at least one 127 to crew the HMG. I’m not a fan of kill stacks; I rarely stack MMGs and HMGs. But the combination of Night and the usually high TEM on the VotG map makes them pretty necessary. A more effective combination in my set-up would have been a HMG and MMG each crewed by a 127 in I35; freeing up two 467 and the 8-1 for other duties. I was very pleased with the performance of my HTs. In reverse slope and point blank, combined with a 467 in the same hex (which can FG), they were very effective weapons. I got mucho rate out of both tracks over the course of the game. Dave had bad luck with his MOL rolls. I recall two 6’s, and I don’t recall any successful rolls for them. He didn’t have much luck with his MOL Projector either, and his ATR missed countless shots on both my tracks, but redeemed itself with the last turn immobilization. His sniper caused me a great deal of grief in the first 4 turns, but cooled off somewhat in the later turns. We both were hard on our leaders; I think I boxed out 3 leaders, and Dave 2 more by the end of the game.
I think there’s a fair amount of replayability in this; I would like to see how a German up-front defense would play out, as opposed to the force preservation strategy that I employed.
VotG6 Enter Dragon is an excellent scenario; fun, exciting and balanced. I would happily play it again as either side. Don’t let the Night rules put you off. Once you get the hang of them they’re pretty easy. And a scenario like this makes them worth learning. If you don’t have VotG, I can’t recommend it highly enough. I have played most of the scenarios, and playtested the CG twice (and I’m currently playing it again). There’s so much good stuff in the box you’ll never get tired of it.
Thanks again to Dave for a great game well played.
Regards,
Jim
Nice AAR, Jim. Do you keep notes or is your memory that good? It sounds like Dave did a great job for a FTF night newbie.
Night certainly does seem interesting, and if memory serves it was the preferred environment for attacks as the war went on. I gather that the Night rules are like Desert or Caves in that they are a complication to already complicated rules which can change the very way the game is played.
Thanks Candice. I don’t keep notes, but in this case I had my initial set-up written down, so I was able to refer to that. My memory is pretty good up to the point that I start another scenario. After that I have a hard time remembering the name of a previous scenario, let alone what unit moved where and when.
Night isn’t really that complicated. Play one scenario against someone who is familiar with that rules section and by the end of the scenario you’ll be playing the new rules by reflex.
Candice – In regards to Night Rules…the chapter divider from Pegasus Bridge does a great job of summarizing the Night Rules.
Like Jim said, play one or two scenarios and it sinks in really quick. Biggest change is that it is much harder to strip “?”/Cloaking at night.
You will definately need to be at least comfortable with Night Rules if you ever want to play a CG.
Semper Fi!
ScottCandice – In regards to Night Rules…the chapter divider from Pegasus Bridge does a great job of summarizing the Night Rules.
Like Jim said, play one or two scenarios and it sinks in really quick. Biggest change is that it is much harder to strip “?”/Cloaking at night.
You will definately need to be at least comfortable with Night Rules if you ever want to play a CG.
Semper Fi!
ScottThanks, guys! I got PB, and what a seal it was from MMP. $15 I think? I played a Night game once about 5 years ago with another newbie and we enjoyed it, but no doubt bungled it in comical fashion.
Also, I'm done with Chapter A in the ASLRB and starting on chapter B, hopefully in a month or so I will be up for some full ASL with infantry and guns only. Vehicles are so complicated even in SK that I need a game or two to put all the bits and pieces of the rules together.
More White Space!
I see a large blotch of black squgglies….I beg for more separation of info in AARs.
Having said that, it is nice to see how the playing went for you guys.
Night Rules break down into a few rules that are really important to remember and a bunch that come up once in a Blue Moon (haha, I crack myself up….). The best way to learn Night is to play it a few times in a row…you will remember more and more each time and get past remembering rules and get to applying them to tactics.
…actually, that kinda works with all rules in ASL. So what it really comes down to is…do you have good long term memory or not? I do not…thus I suck if I don't play all the time. Most people do…that's why they beat me in humiliating fashion using rules like “…reading the Victory Conditions, it clearly states…prisoners don't count…you lose, Asshat…”
Matt C.
@Matt “Rolling Hot” Cicero wrote:
…that's why they beat me in humiliating fashion using rules like “…reading the Victory Conditions, it clearly states…prisoners don't count…you lose, Asshat…”
Matt C.
Still pissed about my win over Paul back in February? :p Sounds like you are mad at yourself because I had a clearer interpretation of the VC than you did…asshat… !lol
Semper Fi!
ScottCandice and all….For a comprehensive explanation of ,and examples of night rules, go to
http://home.comcast.net/~tomrepetti/xop/NightXOP.pdf OR Google Tuomoland;. then search the site for the night rules explanation.
Its a great read and helpful.
This link used to be on the socalasl links page, any chance on getting it back??Eric V
Candice, I have that Night EoP file and will forward to you when I find it. In fact, I may just try to get it loaded up here as well….Paul.
As to YOU, Scotty Bumpo…that's MR. ASSHAT!
Matt C.
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