[ASLML] AAR: J85 "Ptichin' In"

[Chas Argent]

Hiya-

Damon Norko & I played this via "live' VASL a few weeks back, so here's a
report. Damon had the Germans & I the Partisans.

Damon set up in three clusters: one group north of the river on the 40J4
hill, with one of the 20L guns in 40I6 lined up right down the bridge. The
second group was just south of the river in the 40H1 vicinity. Lastly a
small "festung" was atop the 40C2/C1 hill.

I decided to enter my Partis in two groups: one from the north edge between
M10 & I10, the other lined up on the 32R6 road. I planned to put a squad/ATR
combo in the crossroads hex 32W5 & have them Entrench and (hopefully) hold
off the German reinforcements long enough for me to take the bridge, then
combine my two scattered groups into one coherent defense.

Turn 1 had the Partisans moving up to each of their objectives; no shots
fired since we were being Stealthy, y'know. The ATR/337 was able to Advance
into 32W5 so he could start diggin'. But Damon was able to break most of a
stack in 40K7 in his half of the turn.

Turn 2 had the Parti group south of the river approach the German foxholes
near the bridge while still Concealed. The northern group had recovered
somewhat and taken two of three German foxholes. But in Damon's half of the
turn one of his broken Conscript squads got a BH/Hero Heat of Battle result
when I tried to gun them down; he proceeded to advance back into 40J6 and
get one of my squads into Melee.

Turn 3 saw the Melee in 40J6 increase in scope when I advanced two squads
and a leader in to reinforce, but they were unable to finish off the German
Hero/447. The 4OI6 20L meanwhile had malfed and I was able to lock up its
crew and a German 7-0 in Melee as well. The 20L in 40C2 had malfed but
recovered immediately. Meanwhile south of the river my 9-1/2xLMG/3x337 stack
had crushed a German squad in a Foxhole in 32Z0 and was forming up to take
the German MMG in 40H1. The ATR squad was still digging in 32W5. By the end
of German 3 the 40J6 Melee had finally wiped out the German Hero/447, but
the Melee continued in 40I6 with one of my half-squads just barely hanging
on. The southern group killed a squad in 40G1 but two-thirds of the 9-1
stack was broken by the German MMG in 40H1. One of my 337s which had
remained Concealed and snuck up to 32Z0 was now in position to rush the
bridge & take the 4 initial victory hexes. I still had a few broken units on
the 40J5 woods who were being uncooperative about rallying, but Damon
provided the Partisans with a Hero & a Fanatic 337 squad in his half of the
turn. 

Turn 4 saw the Partisans finally break through in a big way. In the south,
all of the German foxholes around the bridge fell, aided by a devastating
Molotov Cocktail attack on the German MMG position in 40H1, which wiped out
the German leader & HS manning it. One 337 squad swung around to the 32EE2
area to try and distract the mini-festung on the 40C1 hill. The Concealed
squad in 40J0 took two of the four bridge hexes before he breaking, and the
Hero/Fanatic 337 on the north side of the river rushed the bridge & took the
other two while the Melee in 40I6 continued. So the initial VC had been met.
The Partisan 9-1 was rounding up the brokies and getting them back into the
game in the woods around 32Z1, while the ATR squad was STILL digging. Damon
kept firing into the Melee in 40I6 with his other 20L in 40C2. In the long
run this hurt him more than it hurt me, though we both lost units to breaks.
But it whittled down the German defense of that hex by the end of the turn
to one 1-2-7 crew against my 8-0/337 combo.

Turn 5 had the ATR squad in 32W5 FINALLY get his Foxhole; not a moment too
soon, because the German reinforcements arrive in their half of the turn.
The southern bridge position was consolidated and the Melee finally ended in
40I6, though what was left of the Partisan infantry North of the river was
pretty devastated. My 337 squad got into a Melee in 40C1 just long enough to
take that position out of action before he was killed in in the German CC
phase. Damon entered his reinforcement in two groups: one down the 32R6 road
& the other down the 32Y10 road. They would wind up stacked smack against my
ATR/337/Foxhole in W5, though no one was hurt on either side in this turn.

Turn 6 had the ATR/337 squad turn in their Supermen routine; not only did
the get a point blank CH on the German FlaKPz 38(t) and kill it, they also
wounded/ELRed the German 9-1 and broke two 467 squads before breaking
themselves on return fire. This delay allowed the bulk of the remaining
Partisan infantry to move Concealed into a blocking position around 32X3,
led by the Hero & Fanatics, while the 9-1 was able to stay just behind this
line and Rally broken units. In their half of the turn Damon loaded a few
HSs into halftracks and got into position to make his dash for the bridge
while he also got a 467 into Melee in 32X3. I kept the Fanatics Concealed so
they would be able to plug a gap left by the departure of one of my broken
squads. But by the end of the German Turn I had finished of the Melee
despite a wounding to the Hero and was repulsing a weak German attempt to
take the bridge area  around 40G1.

Turn 7 had the Partisans recovering virtually all of their broken units in
32X1, and in his half of the turn Damon was able to get two halftracks with
their HS passengers across the bridge, surviving ridiculous amounts of fire
including two rear To Kill shots, one form the ATR & one from an LMG, but he
still lacked 1 CVP across the river to win it. Had the German 9-1 not been
wounded & broken earlier he almost certainly would have made the difference.
A Melee began again in 32X3 but by the top of the turn 8 was clear the
German would be unable to get that last CVP across the bridge. Ch-ching,
Partisans squeak out a narrow victory.

We both really enjoyed the scenario. It was pretty wild in many ways, as
many Partisan scenarios can be. The dice were quite extreme (I think we had
something like16 Boxcars between us) but it was tight almost every turn as
to who had the upper hand. Without the ATR squad's heroics the Partisans
would have had a tougher time stopping the German vehicles. But 1 CVP made
up the difference. None of the Partisan DCs ever got used since the leaders
which carried them were usually broken or rallying squads. But the Molotov
Cocktails were a blast!! Always fun to use them.

This was a fun, tight scenario that I would like to play again as the
Germans now that I've played the Partisans.

Regards,
Chas 

+++++++++++++++++
Chas Argent
sidirezegh at charter.net
Medford, Oregon, USA
ICQ #164291558
"The desert is a tactician's dream and a quartermaster's nightmare." -Erwin
Rommel