War of the Rats

Last Friday night I claimed a small portion of the kitchen table to setup scenario #2: War of the Rats, from Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1. That way, I could dive into the game first thing Saturday morning. 

What can I say? I enjoy my days off in strange ways.

Over the course of the week prior, I listened to a past episode of The 2 Half-Squads podcast, where they played through this scenario - both for inspiration and to refresh my memory on the use of squad weapons.

You haven't lived until you've listened to someone play a board game. Not watched, listened to.

(This works far better for RPGs because it is theatrical in a way that moving counters and checking the Infantry Fire table is not)

Giving credit where it's due, I'll note that after listening to podcast - I opted to place my leaders by themselves behind the action, to act as rally points for their squads. This was very effective for both sides and something I had not considered doing before.

Saying there's a lot to learn about playing this game beyond the rules is an understatement.

(by way of example, I just found this link  to an analysis of the scenario while looking up the podcast link and which I'll be visiting later)

For the Soviets, I went with an unimaginative setup - spreading their forces to block most of the routes to the three German objectives (F8, L6, and O6) One LMG and the MMG were positioned to protect against a German advance to capture O8 (center right, with a single 8-0 leader).  The 2nd LMG was deployed on their left flank for the defense of F8 (the 8-1 leader).

I planned for the German main body to drive a wedge between the Soviet center and left position, attacking both from the flanks, while smaller but well armed force (with the MMG) would focus on capturing the outlier objective of O6 before closing in on O8, joining the main force in the assault.

It sounded great on paper.

In the end it was a tale of German woe. 

A combination of too much caution and many terrible dice rolls - critical rolls I needed for placing smoke and for prep fire to make crossing the roads more likely to succeed than fail - meant the German advance wasn't.  

Turn 1

I forget how many points of firepower were involved here firing on a the Soviet MMG position (everything left of the road was a single fire group) but the result was a pin - that's it!

Artsy shot. Without my glasses I can't read the tiniest font on the counters

Turn 2

Soviet Reinforcements arrived from the south to reinforce their center.
(Soviets can roll for reinforcements starting in turn 2, rolling less than or equal to the current turn number on a d6. They rolled a 2. One more example of things not going for the Germans.)

Turn 3

It looks a lot like turn 1.
MGs for both sides broke down several times during the game, only 1 was permanently destroyed - a Soviet LMG.

Turn 4

The Germans finally managed to get some squads across to the Soviet occupied buildings. There they found themselves exposed to heavy fire in the Soviet phase.

Turn 5

The Germans established toe-hold. However, such a small gain combined with no appreciable Soviet losses sounded the death knell for the effort.

Turn 6

I called the game during the German Movement Phase. Even assuming they were to survive defensive fire and win all of their close combats, they wouldn't be able to capture the three objectives.

War of the Rats is well suited for solo play - the Soviets really don't have to do much except shoot at Germans (at least, that's how I played it and it seemed to work). For them, movement is mostly optional - indeed the only time I moved Soviets was to rout and then return to their positions after rallying.

My initial deployment for the Germans could definitely use work and I have some ideas about that. However, I want to play the rest of the scenarios in the #1 box just to give them at try before I start replaying.

In the meantime, these recent ASLSK games have me rethinking my own grid-based squad-per-base rules (Company Fire and G Company) with some ideas of combining the two versions of that game together, and dropping some bits entirely while adding others.