Many Axis soldiers in Arbuzov arose on a bitterly cold Christmas Day to discover that they had been abandoned. The main force had apparently continued on their retreat without rounding up all the soldiers in the column from their scattered nighttime resting places. The abandoned soldiers, about 1500 in number, mostly Italians, believed they were doomed and decided to sell their lives dearly. Soon they heard the sounds of approaching Soviet troops. . .
Attacker: Russian (44th Rifle Division)
Defender: Axis ((Italian) Divisioni Fanteria "Ravenna," "Pasubio," and "Torino" and (German) remnants of Infanterie-Division 298)
4.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:11.0 D:9.5
AFVs: A:1
T-60 M42
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:0 D:0
Misc Rules:
GS (E3.72), 2 random building Blaze locations. WC (E3.712)
What a banger of a game! I came in from two sides with an aim of forcing his forces into a place where they could not rout. That didn't turn out how things went, but they went well enough for me to start. I used my T 60 to sleaze freeze guys, allowing me to get into CC. In the end, I was fortunate to have the wind change and put the smoke into the Germans' faces and allowed me to run in. That said, the Italians and Germans were remarkably resilient for a bit. I did capture some disrupted Italians (massacred them later).
In the end, Nick's Germans held out in CC and got snakes on the final turn to guarantee the win. What a fun match!
2023-10-14
(D) Jonathan Kapleau
vs
Cusick, John
Axis win
2023-05-07
(A) Indy Lagu
vs
Rob Oler
Russian win
A tough one for the defender, I think. My Russians
seemed to inexorably push the Italian/German defenders
around.
The Russian tank is almost invulnerable. I used it
to cut off rout paths. I think my opponent lost two
squads because of it. Of course, I lost my invulnerable
tank...I used it to overrun an Italian elite squad in OG,
succeeded in making the squad go berserk, and lost
the vehicle to a CC DR of 2!
There must be a trick to defending this one: one
that neither my opponent nor I saw.
Having said all of this, it came down to the last
turn, but the end had an air of inevitability to it.
I might play it again as the Axis, just to see if I
could figure out what to do.
2023-03-18
(A) Jonathan Kapleau
vs
Broadhurst, Bill
Russian win
2022-12-08
(D) mark Ruggiero
vs
russian
Axis win
As I am reentering ASL I have played off and on since release in the 80s. I had fun playing my Italians and barely won. I love ASL for all the John wayne moments and My Conscripts performed above and beyond. The Germans Broke and ran. Full of wild moments.
2022-10-04
(A) Owen Edwards
vs
Axis win
Interesting situation, though the Blazes both ended up on the east end of the village, with the rest of the village upwind - so Smoke was a fairly minor part of this game. The T-70 got CHed by the Italian MG, which was a fringe result - but the T-70 probably isn't the absolute crux of Soviet hopes (when close up it's really only IFE4). The Soviets mostly just failed MCs in clumps, and progressed too slowly - though technically they got everyone into CC at the end of the game (albeit on bad odds in some cases), so could have won it.
2022-09-10
(A) Shane Pask
vs
Russian win
Progress was slow through the smoke shrouded centre of town but it all came down to the last CC of the game. I had saved my HtH CC for this and needed it. I attacked the last (wounded) squad and wounded 9-2 with 2:1 odds and rolled 9 for the win. Pretty boring for the Axis as their options are limited.