[Crossing the Moro CG] T=0902 -- Rough start

The first turn of the CG was surprisingly lethal. The Germans are entering the map in plain sight. The infantry ran down the slopes to the cover of the wood, but were met with MMG and extremely accurate MTR fire (a 10-2 SMC directing is kind of helping). A squad of pioneer got wiped, and its 9-1 routed back up the hill. 

Where it hurt the most is by a stretch of lucky shots from the piddly *75 of the Shermans. Although the Pz IV kept moving, the difficult terrain got them to stick to the roads and paths where the meandering exposed their side armors. Three out of 4 Pz IV got eliminated in the first turn! Furthermore, the 10-2/60mm MTR broke the dm HMG positioned in a stone building at the edge of the map. 

The last Pz IVH eliminated one of the Sherman, at least. The Germans won't find true cover until they get into blind hexes. But this means that they'll have to run the gauntlet for 2 more turns, without armor support anymore.

North West approach: burning PZ IVH

North East Approach

A few Acres of Mud - Invitation

A Few Acres of Mud (AFAM) is recruiting field commanders to take part in a Regimental-level combined arm operation in the open terrains of Romania, spring of 1944. The situation will span up to 2 days of combat, the terrain is horrible, mobility and and information are more valuable than ammunition. More details are available to people committing to one side so as not to break operational surprise.

The open positions are for commanders either at the Regiment/Brigade OR Battalion level. The sides are the soviet's red army and the coalition of Germany and Romania. Task force commanders may be used sporadically to resolve ASL battles but the positions at this level aren't assigned from the start. Not all positions need to be filled to go forward. The engine used is the ASL rule set, and GURPS where out of ASL's scope. Overall operations will be handled abstractly (NOT in 2-minutes turns) while particular engagements will be resolved using ASL.

Mud is in effect, no kidding.

Gameplay

Commanders receive reports and issue orders. Players are on the ground, which impacts what they know and can do. The situation is summarized on a map.

• Players should be available to typically respond a regular time span. Anywhere between a day and a few is fine (it is a game, let's not stress about it while keeping the ball rolling!).
• No need to be familiar with ASL or GURPS for commanders above Company-level. Understanding of WW2 combined-arm operations and tactics is necessary.
• Tactical combat will be made of tightly-framed, time limited scenarios on (masterfully crafted) custom maps.
• The campaign will last for several weeks.

If you are interested, contact me by commenting on the post linking here so that I can pass you along my email address. Specify whether you want to play on the Soviet or German side, and whether you want to run at the Company, Battalion or Regiment level.

The map

Low Resolution Operational Map: 8km deep X 2 km wide.

Sample communications

Contact report

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SPOTREP S001 - LOCATION:POLESTI - TIMESTAMP:10APR44-0100Z

FROM: 206/II Rgt CO

TO: 27/206 CO

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Romanian Inf Div retreating South of objective BLUE. German armored scouts briefly engaged along Iasi-Targu Frumos road. Possibly NOT elements of 24th panzer Div.

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Operational Orders

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OPORD GD001 - LOCATION:AA GUNTER - TIMESTAMP:10APR44-0100Z

FROM: GD/PzGr III CO

TO: PzGr.III/2Bn CO

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SITUATION - GD/Arty have suppressed Soviet AT guns along route HELGA. Ju-88 are covering. Soviet resistance along route HELGA estimated as 1 AT Company (Coy) and 1 rifle Coy.

ORDER - SECURE route HELGA before 1530Z. DESTROY soviet's communication post on Hill 112.

INTENTION - A train of supply will depart the assembly area at 1530Z IF the road is secure. This is the last chance to ressuply today. Soviet AT guns must be destroyed or captured so that they cannot be recovered when you withdraw. Panzer Brigade 3 Co has the off-road capability to reach the communication post.

ATTACHMENT - PzBd/3 Co (Pz V)

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19 - Backs to the Sea - An AAR.

Introduction

I just bought Yanks! and am taking it for a spin. I read about the US infantry, but I have yet to see how they play out. The 2nd Ranger Bn, F Coy has its back to the cliffs of Normandy and are sitting tight as the first credible wave of 2nd line german rifles are launching an assault. All grain, buildings, junctions and bogs are shellholes. The numerical odds are over 2 to 1 for the germans. 

2Rng/F, concept of operation

The company is to screen the whole width of the AO and slowly trade terrain for time. Keep the germans at standoff range, using shellholes for cover before settling into the woods. 

726th Inf Rgt, concept of operation

We're facing US rangers: their standoff range is larger than ours, their firepower, and ability to fire in the AfPh makes them tough nuts to crack. They key here is to overwhelm by presenting too many targets, and overrun them while they run from our bullets. They don't remain broken for long! 

We are making a feint on our right, punching hard in the centre, with a credible push on the left.

AP45 - Reaping Rewards - T5 - Burning tanks!

Marvel at the chain of a burning KV-8, a burning T-34, an immobilized T-34, and another burning T-34. 

AP45 - T5
The Germans have taught a valuable lessons to the Russian tankers: don't assault in a built-up area without infantry support! This is particularly so if the enemies have MOL capabilities.

Both sides are 30%+ casualties. Lots of things went goofy dues to a crazy number of snake eyes. However, I learned the hard way that tanks aren't invincible against infantry. Not that I didn't know that at first, but I didn't had a feel for how easy it is to kill tanks in CCV/MOL.

What an awesome scenario.

Human Factors v0.2 Playtest 1 - ASL 102 - The point of the sword

I decided to try my Human Factors (HF) rules using a live scenario instead of playing small, context-less, setups. Here is a link to the rules to be playtested. Disclaimer: elite troops fighting in an open terrain are the least susceptible to these rules. I realized this quickly into turn 2. A better play test will be in a busier map and/or with lower quality troops.

Gist of the Human Factors rules

Units initiating movement or opening fire without the cue from a nearby friendly unit must pass a TC or be delayed. There is a bit more to it, but I want to keep it simple and add a level of unpredictability without altering gameplay too much. Passages relevant to the playtest are color coded in purple.

The Setup

The germans are going to use forward stone buildings to force the UK commando to bypass into an open area setup as a killing fields. The forward position is also strongly supported by many fields of fire. If the Brits/Canadians spend too much time on this, they remain exposed to dangerous fire. 

The UK is going to engage the Germans in an attempt to force their way into the village and discover the fortifications. They need to clear the way quickly so the Canadians can enter the board on turn 3, as pointed out by +Jackson Kwan  in his AAR.

Positions at Setup

The Czerniakow Bridgehead - T8 - Desperate times

The scenario is clearly won by the Russians. However, I decided that I'd try to do the right thing and pull out the Germans so that they can fight another day. Their ELR is down to 2 due to Battlefield Integrity.

The russians figured out that coming from all sides will seal the SPW 521/1 in place for the kill in the following turn. The Germans are dismounted. The halftrack is pointing in the wrong direction. And yeah, the 3-3-7 have MOL.

Strangely, I can't recall of any rules which makes it dangerous to engage with fire when there is a friendly unit right on the other side of the target. Any such thing?

What course of action is the most likely to save as many Germans as possible? If and only if they are almost certain to die, how would you make the russian pay the highest price for their kill?

I can think of lots of fun things to do...

With the stack exploded.

Same situation, with neat stacks.

With neat stacks.

The Czerniakow Bridgehead - T8 - The last stand

The scenario is clearly won by the Russians. However, I decided that I'd try to do the right thing and pull out the Germans so that they can fight another day. Their ELR is down to 2 due to Battlefield Integrity. 

The russians figured out that coming from all sides will seal the SPW 521/1 in place for the kill in the following turn. The Germans are dismounted. The halftrack is pointing in the wrong direction. And yeah, the 3-3-7 have MOL.

Strangely, I can't recall of any rules which makes it dangerous to engage with fire when there is a friendly unit right on the other side of the target. Any such thing?

What course of action is the most likely to save as many Germans as possible? If and only if they are almost certain to die, how would you make the russian pay the highest price for their kill?

I can think of lots of fun things to do...

With stacks exploded

Layout with neat stacks

The Czerniakow Bridgehead - T4 - The germans have hit a wall.

Private Kaminski's antics in the North have been for naught. The Russians have figured out that they could interdict the bridge without exposing themselves to the German's base of fire. Meanwhile inthe center and against the main effort, the stalwart Russians held strong positions keeping the Germans from moving around freely once passed the bridge. As a result, the forces from the North have been diverted to cut the flanking of the german bridgehead across the deep stream. 

Stalled in the North...

Early success in the south encouraged the germans to be bold over there too. They slipped into good positions, broke a bunch of russian squads and pinned in the open russian reinforcements. The missing piece of the puzzle was a pincer from the main force coming from the north.

In the south, the germans have carved a good position, but it is tenuous... The Russian LMG in K7 is broken and downgraded... it isn't going to rally in a long while. 

The russian counter attack was swift and effective. They came from down the street through buildings, weathered the german defensive fire like big boys and finished them off in close combat. Thus ends the half-hearted diversion on the southern approach. The germans have learned to rejoice when prep-fire works well and not blindly jump in everything that looks like a hole. Granted, the main force should have cleared the way already and this hasn't happen yet.

The tiny stack on H5 now has to make a tough choice.

What turn 5 has in store? I think that the germans will have to wheel in the MMG in the SPW 251/1 in order to support the retreat of the beleaguered MMC/LMG/8-0 stack: reinforcing defeat is generally a bad idea, but here we're talking about 3 CPV that could bloat to 6 CVP if the Russians capture them alive.

Oh, and yea, the main force as a side show has managed to clear the worst of the russian base of fire overlooking the bridge. We'll see where that takes them. Diverting the SPW 251/1 and the MMG to the south bridge may help in rescuing a bucket full of CVP still to lose, but there remains that it still is a diversion of the main effort which is in need of a boost.

The russians O10 and N9 gummed up the German advance for 4 turns! This was caused by a mixture of good dice and a lack of focus of the Germans. Lesson learned here too.

Red Packets (BV6) - Turn 4

Vehicular combat in ASL is abrupt and fast. I made the best use of platoon movement to concentrate return fire and with it the russians made short order of a scout halftrack and would have sent into a blaze a Pz-IIIF had it been not able to claim HD behind the hedge. It still strikes me as odd to claim HD behind a hedge, but I guess I should be looking at it as a depression behind the hedge which made this possible. Nonethless, the PzIIIF has a malfunctioning gun. Things are looking up for the russians.

The clash happened less than a turn ago, not looking good for the Germans.