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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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.

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.

The Czerniakow Bridgehead - T2 - The Ballad of Pvt. Valery Kaminski

The scenario is "The Czerniakow Bridgehead", played solo. After consulting ROAR, I decided to give the White Russians (Germans) a SPW 251/1 halftrack. The story that follows is a sideshow to the main push. 

Private Kaminski was the only White Russian (Russians fighting for the Germans) excited about the assault on the bridgehead this morning. His company slipped North in order to fix a matching body of "Red" Russian troop from their 9th Infantry Regiment.

Lt. Schmoe explained that the objective was to fix the Russians while the main body down-canal pushed to the Vistul and hopefully flank the men across the canal. The base of fire was effective, maybe too effective because Lt. Schmoe decided to go for an early assault. The defending russians kept quiet until they got on the other side.

A flurry of fire coming from the building on both sides broke the assaulting squad and Schmoe. The white russians were falling like flies when the last straw was pulled: some Polish Home army peeps opened with a LMG from down the road.

Bridge Absolut and Smirnoff at 1000: A few seconds before the storm.

The white russians dropped their weapons and surrendered to the russians nearby while Private Kaminski decided to pick up the LMG and make a run for the bridge in a low crawl.

Private Kaminski split from his surrendering friends and made it to the bridge while dodging bullets coming from all sides.

The fire came from many sides, but the Polish LMG was noisier than dangerous. While his friends on the West bank called for him to pull back, Pvt. Kaminsky slipped from the bridge into the canal underneath. He thus fell out of sight: wet but safe for now. While struggling to keep from sliding into deeper waters, Pvt Kaminski witnessed his colleagues getting a bloody nose on their attempt to cross Bridge Absolut: The Russians on the far side were pinned, but obviously not pinned enough.

Pvt Kaminski has slipped under the bridge and into a deep canal. Everyone is holding their breath.

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.