From: J.R. Tracy

Sent: Friday, February 19, 1999 11:09 AM

Subject: ASL: 'Dance of Death' Armor Tactic + Bonus WO AAR

Here is my belated and abbreviated WO AAR, plus a real-world (well, as real as ASL gets anyway) example of the classic AFV Dance of Death (DoD). The DoD description is at the end, so if you are not interested in my tedious tales of glory simply scroll down.

Enough people gushed over the thrill of seeing Curt hurt Journals at over 100 mph that I need not repeat it here - it was pretty cool seeing an affirmation of the future of 'official' ASL. I was there all of five minutes when Dan Stanhagen kicked me in the shin and dared me to play him a game.

Bizory Loves Company - Dan I and picked something from the Journal, and Bizory looked interesting. Dicing for sides, I got the bad guys. This one caught an early rep as pro-German and our game did nothing to break the trend. I sent six squads to the right and all the AFVs plus the balance of the infantry to the left. My plan was to gun for the exit, force Dan to the tree line to slow me and just shoot him up. I made good progress early, getting my MkIVs in position out of range of the Bazs but with good LOS to the tree line. Dan fell back through the woods to contest my exit. On turn five he had no one in the tree line so I raced down the board, leaving my three flakwagons parked hub to hub in T3, U4, and V4, daring him to enter the adjacent woods hexes. Sure enough he did, concealed, in his Advance Phase of the bottom of the fifth. My Flakwagons fired in my Prep on turn six, KIAing one squad but no other effect. The 10-2-directed .50 put a hurt on me, and though I had enough CVPs to win within range of the edge, only about half made it. Lotsa SS broke, the Flakwagons all died, but the HTs and MkIVs were off. Fortunately my supporting goons made it up to deal on the 10-2 and friends - high American casualties combined with a couple more exited squads did the trick, and the game was mine. I'm not sure what the Ami has to do, but before I declare it a dog I'd like to see how the US does putting the 10-2 and the .50 in the upper level of the building. He will get a lot of attention up there but that pig directed by Mr. Big can rip the snot out of the flakwagons from a good distance, even through the out of season orchards. That alone has to help considerably. Anyhow, I'd be inclined to give them the balance (increase in exit requirement?). Always a pleasure to play a Stanhagen, 1-0.

At this point Dan tagged in brother Neil, who came crashing off the turnbuckle with an atomic leg drop to arrange a game for Saturday morning. It was only midnight, so Steve Withers and I hooked up for a quick scenario.

Urban Guerillas - Another Journal choice, Steve got the SS. After he set up, I came over and saw all the Germans on the other side of the canal. "Geez, this looks tough on the Reds!" I thought. Bob Bendis wandered by and said, "That's wrong" and we reset. Steve's second setup didn't offer much interference to my approach, and I was able to run up to the wall outside the church. One T34 found the 88 the hard way, on the German left. Steve got Barkmann and the MkIV on the other side of the canal, plus the HT, squad and a leader, and everybody else was in and around the cathedral. Getting my guys up so quickly, plus some great Sniper rolls, proved decisive. I broke a bunch of squads and for lack of alternatives Steve had an overstack of brokies in a wooden building. I only had a 248 shooting at them, but they were still 2(-2) shots, generating lots of morale checks. Soon a Viennese provisional government was forming in one corner of the map, behind the 88 - a couple heroes, two half squads and 7-0. T he 88 crew ate another Sniper, Barkmann bit it in CC, the Stalins got across, and that was all she wrote. This is a wild and wooly scenario, with the Sniper SSR a doozy. I'd call it balanced, but high-variance. Steve was on the right track getting guys over the canal, but probably needed some boys up front to keep me honest on the approach. There's not much to be done versus the Sniper, other than get some infantry over to protect the flak gun. Any Russian in his right mind starts his Sniper over there, and with even moderate luck should start sprouting Partisans in the German backfield. Allowing the Russian to win without taking St. Stephen's is a nice change from the playtest version, taking away the SS "Festung in the Cathedral" option - almost makes up for the lousy name change. Fun game, in bed by 5:30, though if I was in the mood for another Mark Walz was looking to start one! 2-0

Sacrificial Lambs - Neil and I picked this from the MM98 pack. I got the Russians and Romanians, Neil got the Hungarians and the heavy metal. This one is on the urban twentysomething canal board, also used in Urban Guerillas. The Hungies enter on the GG end, drive the length of the board, and must have 30 CVP of good order (and non-immobilized) infantry and/or armor east of hexrow H and north of the canal (a dry stream by SSR). They get seven 447s, a 10-2, more leadership and German SWs, plus *four* KingTigers and three MkIVs. The Russians get six 447s, *one* 9-1, a HMG, some crews, two ATRs, a roadblock, and eleven Romanian pinatas masquerading as AFVs. They aren't all bad - two are essentially StuGs in funny colors, but none have a chance against the KTs. They also get two ersatz-MkIVs as reinforcements. Obviously Deliberate Immobilization was the order of the day. I put all the infantry in the back, using the RB across the M9/N8 hexside. The Rommies were in mutually supporting clumps of two and three vehicles, with the StuGs in the back. Neil opened the game by offering one of my TDs a side shot at a MkIV, which was promptly brewed up. Dan Stanhagen was playing next to us, and in a display of brotherly support and affection said "Neil, what the hell did you do that for? Are you fucking stupid?!?". After that Neil played a very good game, judiciously mixing Motion and sN use to reduce my chances for DI, while occasionally stopping a KT to worry my boys out of position. He used the 10-2 to shoot up my OT vehicles, direct 'schreck shots, and take out AFVs in CC. Gradually he ground me back down the board. I rolled a lot of threes in DI attempts, but always a red '1' - damn! But one of my 47L popguns took a track off a KT. With a two turns to go, I Stunned another CE vehicle with small arms fire. It was going down to the wire, but Neil had enough to win with a good margin. I then DI'd a second KT when Heavy Winds swept away the protective smoke clouds provided by my burning Romanian AFVs. A MkIV strolled past my HIP ATR/crew, which got the turret hit and the kill - gotta love an ATR kill in '45! Neil was still in it, but had to go CE with his formerly Stunned KT to get it into the VC area - he rolled it past the crew that just bagged the MkIV - Subsequent First Fire, 2(+2), got a three, the crew failed the MC, double-Stunned and headed home. That was the game. Very, very tight, and but for the one mistake Neil played it perfectly. I had some good luck and a decent setup, but I think the Rooskie/Rommmies have a *slight* edge. Give the Hungarians the balance and this one feels just right. Ah, a glorious Stanhagen double - rare and to be relished. 3-0

Acts of Defiance - Matt Noah had AoD on his 'want' list, and I hadn't played it in a long time so we set it up, Matt as the Germans. I was strong right, weak left. Matt decided to sweep through my left side and cut in behind my right, hopefully before my reinforcements broke through. Matt failed to drop a bridge with the Goliaths, but I countered this by completely botching my OBA (total OBA damage: one German halfsquad, one Russian T44). Matt was making great progress but a fortuitous snakes on a DM rally gave me a hero and a fanatic 628, changing my left flank from a lost cause to a tough nut. My reinforcements slipped across, pressuring Matt's pioneers. The key to the game IMO was tagging a German leader and an 838 as they fell back toward the victory area - they broke, allowing me to get two squads, a leader, and an assault gun onto the middle board. Meanwhile, despite his incompetence my Observor remained a threat, and Matt used a lot of firepower to suppress him. His first searching shot found the HIP 7-0, but he shook off multiple high column attacks, sparing my other infantry the attention. In the end game I was able to kill the German TD, pin the 9-2 and friends on their way to reinforce the assault on my left, and take out the Hitler Youth when they were about to be a real pain. The final straw for Matt was when I drove an assault gun into the ground level of a rowhouse with an 838 upstairs - Matt chose to take the 'faust shot and boxed the roll. That squad was the lynchpin of his final assault, and at that point he conceded. We wrapped this up around five a.m. - at one point I was looking at my guys and contemplating self-breaking and routing all my troops upstairs - a sure-fire game loser and an indication of my feeble state. Fortunately I self-rallied and pulled it out. It was good to finally play Matt, who I've known for several years but had yet to face across a table. 4-0

A Stiff Fight - For the championship I faced Eric Givler. Initially we chose Jungle Fighters, but after looking at it and having a word with folks familiar with the scenario I had serious misgivings about the chances of the Aussies. Instead I suggested A Stiff Fight - Eric thought the Gurkhas didn't have a a chance, so I offered to take them - they didn't look too bad to me. I put my Wire in T5, T9, T8 and AA5, to make the road a bit sticky, slow the attack on my left, and to impede the anticipated final assault in the Gurkha rear area. I had an LMG/648 on my left and everyone else in the center. This is a classic game of break-and-run, break-and-run. I had to try to chip away at the Japanese force with FF, SFF, and FPF, and then hike up my skirt and bolt to the rear. At one point I self-broke three of my four good order squads! Eric did his bit to help, boxing three morale checks and immobilizing one AFV on the Wire. However, he was also doing a very good job of getting adjacent to non-DM'd brokies with concealed Japanese, with predictable results. By the endgame I had three and a half squads and two leaders left. One squad and leader were outside the victory area in EE4, a HS in BB7, a pinned 458 in BB6 and an 8-0/648 in CC7. Eric advanced a ?/9-1/448 onto my pinned guy. Despite the concealment, leadership, stealthiness, and my pin, he failed to Ambush me. He killed me, but I rolled '4' coming back and took out the stack. This opened up a path for my 8-0/648 to double time to Y6 and advance to X6, with the HS blocking the road at Y5. Eric had everybody on my end of the board preparing the crushing blow, and now had only one Player Turn to catch me. One tank was dead, the other failed its Non- Platoon Movement TC. A 237 and CX347 managed to get next to my leader/648, but couldn't take them out in CC. That was it - some key late-game luck pulled it out. By rights Eric had me - he did everything right except perhaps have a guy in back (he had the troops to spare). After the game someone pointed out I forgot my Straying DR in my run through the jungle - we didn't roll Straying the whole game! We then rolled it - no Stray. Whew. Very good game, I'd take either side. A satisfying win over a solid opponent - 5-0 and a super cool new dice glass!

Seaforth Objective - Doug Bush was looking to try something from Scotland the Brave, so we tried this little one. I got the Jocks. I zipped a Carrier with a PIAT/HS Rider and 8-1 up to C6 to threaten the SS entry, and everyone else clustered around the VC crossroads. The Carrier and friends had the desired effect, breaking a 658 and a leader (who boxed two rally attempts for an early exit). The Germans were dramatically slowed, and just couldn't catch a break MC- wise. I then rolled a rarely-seen full-order-of-battle HOB, and went Berserk. I sent everyone forward, toward the cowed Stormtroopers. Only a 9-1/LMG/658 in the SPW were Good Order. I quickly realized that abandoning the objective is not sound ASL, and began to fall back. Two snake-eyes from the 9-1 and friends killed a couple squads and a leader - it was in serious danger of becoming a game again when Doug Bogged the SPW hopping a hedge, and that was it. We declared it a dog, but I talked to Steve Pleva later about it. He said the Carrier/8-1/HS gambit to C6 was tried in playtest, and can be countered. Faced with this, the German should run a HS or two at the position, drawing FF and SFF. The 9-1/LMG/658/SPW can then whip around the hedgerow and Overrun the Carrier, or simple stop and TPBF, either way forcing FPF. Then the other leader brings in the rest of the thugs for the kill. Once on, the Germans have a lot of firepower, just not many bodies, and an edge in morale. Losing the Carrier up front without seriously damaging the Germans could be expensive, leaving the Germans with the advantage in mobility. I'd like to try it again. I enjoyed playing Doug, a familiar name from the List.

Overall, a good tournament marked by a gracious hotel staff and enthusiastic MMP dudes pushing the hobby forward. The room was a little crowded, but other than Russ' repeated violations of the Geneva Convention it wasn't too bad. Highlights included the side-by-side playings of the massive Rehearsal For Crete, featuring Dr. Rob's Balrog versus John Appel's Horatio at the bridge; Dan Stanhagen taking great delight in his enemies' misfortunes (nobody enjoys an opponent's suffering more); sharing a beer or two with Wrongway, Bob Bendis, Bret, Joe Jackson and others; and of course winning the damn thing. Good job, MMP!

Now, the Dance of Death:

The purpose of the Dance of Death is to gain a favorable target facing on an otherwise-impervious opponent. The idea is to get the other guy to burn off his cover-arc changes as you zip around his hapless pinwheeling AFV. TDs are particularly vulnerable to this as they don't have the option of pivoting a turret and suffer terrible VCA change DRMs. Blowing right through his hex induces maximum CA changes; for some reason a lot of ASLers are reluctant to do this, perhaps because they don't realize it's legal. For the DoD to work you need to start fairly close and have a pretty swift vehicle, preferably more than one. Gyrostabilized HVS Shermans are the ultimate DoD tool. The key is to draw his fire with unfavorable modifiers, and hold your own until you are guaranteed a side or rear shot on hull or turret, preferebly both. It is not a sure thing, and on a bad day might cost you a couple tanks with nothing to show for it. It is also not recommended if the opposing vehicle has some support. But, when you pull it off, it is most glorious. In addition to removing a key enemy piece, you have dazzled your opponent with your deft maneuvering and mastery of the game, thereby seizing the psychological high ground.

Acts of Defiance, Russian Movement Phase:

Z5/BB5 BU JagdPanzer IV/70 CC4 T44 w/malf MA FF5 T44 V8/W7 T44

FF5 T44: goes CE, enters BB6 in bypass on BB7 hexside, Stops TD changes VCA one hexside and fires BMG at CE crew, NE

W8 T44: Start go CE W8, X7, X6/Bypass Y7, Stop TD turns again, fires MA, misses (+4 VCA change, +2 Moving target, +1 BU, -1 PB: +6 TH DRM, needed a four) Start, Y6, Z5, AA5 (TCA Z6), Stop TD turns counterclockwise two hexsides, Intensive Fires, misses, marked w/No Fire (+4 VCA change, +2 Moving target, +1 BU, +2 IF, -2 PB, -1 Acq: +6 TH DRM, needed a four) Start, turn VCA two hexsides counterclockwise, ESBs for two MP - successful, Z5, Y6 (TCA AA6), Stop, Fire Being a clever sleaze artist and known maximizer of idiosyncratic Special Ammo rules, I chose APCR (depletion of 6) - rolled seven, no APCR! Agh! (+4 BFF, +1 target size, -2 PB: +3, needed a 7) AP, roll a 10, miss, cannot IF as I do not have any MPs remaining.

Now this story should have had a happy ending, if I had just used AP on the first attempt; I didn't need the APCR since I had a butt shot, but figured the extra roll offered by the special ammo increased my chances for a hit. Ah well, got too clever by half and it bit me in the ass. Fortunately God is a Bolshie, so my 9-1and a 458 were able to slip up to the TD and kill it via Street Fighting in the ensuing CCPh. So there *is* justice after all. Try the DoD sometime when the opportunity presents itself.

JR, still the 'other' even if I forget to sign my name that way