I’ve been busy recently with a bunch of other games, but I found myself yesterday able to get out my ASL maps and counters for another shot at teaching myself this venerable warhorse of wargaming. The ASL Starter Kits have been a real boon, although the rulebook for the third of the series is probably the worst of the series: there’s so much in it that its style really begins to fold under the weight of rules.

I have played this scenario before, but it was a fun one, so why not try it again? The set-up has a small German force defending a small cluster of buildings, and the might of the Russian army – aided by some Lendlease(?) Sherman tanks – coming to take the buildings from them.

Set-up: the sides prepare for the attack

I resolved in this scenario to take some of my Russians through the woods to the right of the image (south) and around to surround the Germans from the rear and also cut off their reinforcements. Things began disastrously for the Germans when their Anti-Tank Gun malfunctioned in its very first exchange, though at least they had a couple of tank reinforcements coming through.

End of the first turn

The AT crew didn’t get much of a chance to repair it, as further tank fire caused them to break and then a natural 12 on the Rally DR eliminated them! That was it for the AT Gun, then.

The advance through the woods was stopped by a German tank coming to engage the Russians in close quarters; although the Russian tank had come all the way through and was now approaching the village from the south. Another Russian tank made it into the village and began shelling the defensive positions of the Germans from quite close range, whilst the Germans brought their own tank in over the hills to engage the Russians in turn.

The Russians took some casualties whilst approaching the town and retreated them to defensive positions where leaders could rally them. A self-rallying Russian troop generated its own 7-0 leader(!) which also helped with this. The fact that the Russians were taking a lot of their leaders as casualties can only be put down to the bravery of their leaders, or the intelligence of their soldiers.

End of turn 2

Small arms fire became more intense as the Russians advanced on the German positions. The Russians were having a lot of trouble with the outlying building near the fields, even though it actually was not one of their objectives!

With the German reinforcements entering the fray, they double-timed it up to take on the Russian tanks with Flamethrowers and PSK. Meanwhile, a German tank raced down the side of the battlefield to come at the Russians from behind. The Russian tank approaching the village from the south-east found himself being approached by an AT weapon… which then destroyed him in the tree-lined road.

End of turn 3

Frustrated at the inability of his men to eliminate the Germans in that outlying building, the Russian commander ordered his troops into close combat. The resulting melee would remain for the rest of the game!

Meanwhile, the Russians began to experience a lot mechanical malfunctions in the machinery of their tank arms – Bow MGs, Coaxial MGs, and Main Armaments all began to malfunction. The German forces were being beat back now by the Russian infantry, and soon there were only two buildings still held by the Germans, but they had significant forces left in each.

The German tanks by now had come all the way around and were attacking the Russians from the rear, and forcing the Russian tanks to leave off their shelling of the buildings…

End of turn 4

The Germans rediscovered their markmanship and their reinforcements laid an impressive swathe of destruction through the Russians that were hoping to take out the rest of the village – a lot of very low rolls in a row helped the Germans to this end.

The tanks in the fields to the west of the village were circling each other, with the Russians able to destroy one of the German tanks!

The Russians captured the second of the four buildings they needed, but the price was high.

The Russian tank that had destroyed the first German tank came about and also put paid to the second German tank, as it was able to approach it from behind. Two Kills! However, the distraction had beencostly, as the tanks had stopped rallied Russian units from reaching the heart of the fighting.

Now, with even more Germans coming across the hills, the Russians were not able to hold their gains, and were forced out into the killing fields. Many would not make it home.

The Russians were able to have some minor success in the woods to the south, but it was too little, too late – they were too far away to reinforce properly, and with too little firepower with only a half-squad remaining to take on the German defensive positions.

End of turn 6

The scenario actually had an extra turn to go, but I abandoned the game there as the Russian were now incapable of winning.

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For those interested in my current ASL collection, you can see it here in this photo. I don’t know if it’ll expand much beyond this, although I would like the British and Commonwealth OOB at some stage.