Post by Buster on May 22, 2022 20:29:02 GMT
Hi all,
This week I was going some days to Madrid for work, and while I finished my work on Friday, I decided to stay until Sunday to use the opportunity to be a tourist.
It caught my mind that I remember seeing Bartok being located in Madrid. I didn't know him, but as we are so few (afaik) AAM players in Europe and I didn't have many plans either way, I asked him if he by chance was free and wanted to meet and play some AAM.
Fortunately he was, and we met in his boardgaming club on Friday and had a great time playing the scenario Battle of Stonne:
I thought it would be fun for you other land players to get a little after action report on the battle:
For the scenario, I was going to be the French with the objective of driving the Germans out of Stonne, occupying 4 town hexes on end of turn 7.
Both of us would make armies of 100p each, but the Germans would deploy only 50p into the town hexes first, before receiving the other 50p as reinforcements on turn 4.
Based on this, my plan was to blitz into the town and get into defensive positions before Bartok could get his reinforcements, so to hopefully shoot them in the open.
For this reason, I wanted to amass my forces and concentrate on one of the two towns: I decided on the one to the right as it contained 4 hexes, so if I dominated this town I would win.
I have little experience playing the French, but realized when looking over its units that while the tanks' armour and anti-vehicle stats were great for 1940, they did not have much impressive in the anti-infrantry departement.
I imagined this would be a problem given that Germany has several high quality 5/5 infantry (SS Panzergrenadier, SS Stormtroopers, Fallschirmjaeger, German Hero, sandbagged MG...) which would be a nightmare to force out (according to the scenario, I would need the town hexes uncontested).
My army ended up as the following:
3x Char B1-BIS
5x French Alpine Troop
1x Hotchkiss MG Team
= 100p
I ended up going for a "quality build" instead of quantity: heavy tanks with decent AT and AI capabilities and great armor, supported by hard-to-kill infantry that is deadly with 9 AI when getting in close quarters in the city.
The plan was to park the MG team in the forest to fire on the town, while the Chars advance on the town getting a "double shot" when firing due to its hull-mounted cannon. The hope was that all these shots would be able to clear the way for my Alpines to occupy the city and hold it.
The weakness, as you probably can see, is that due to the quality nature, my units were few, such that I couldn't afford to lose many if I were to occupy the town hexes... However, my belief was that this army would stand a better chance of racing into the city before turn 4 compared to a more numerous list of weaker tanks and infantry.
I also contemplated going for a tank storm, but I was afraid this would lack the AI firepower needed. I also thought of including Panhards as they have nice AI, but decided not to as I without a commander (only 100p to buy units for, and he is bad apart from his initiative bonus) couldn't fully utilize Strike and Fade, and I was thus afraid that 2/2 would potentially be eaten up fast by a Pak or Panzer from a distance.
Anyone experienced with the French that could see better ways to think about this scenario? As said, I have not used them a lot, so would be interesting to hear.
I'm sure Bartok can share his German list and thinking around units, but here is the starting setups:
Germans set up first, putting most of the units in the right town:
I then set up my force as planned:
The battlefield:
Sending up the Chars, Bartok withdrew his units backwards to not expose them to fire. Smart! I therefore concentrated all my fire on the Sandbagged MG, and got a super lucky kill! 6 out of 7 dice hit, wow! This was amazing and felt even a bit unfair, but I would take it. As revenge, the MG killed my MG and disrupted an Alpine.
With high spirits, all French units set to advance on the town, literally in a line:
The Chars then burst into the town, trapping the Panzer which had moved in. Faced with Chars on all sides, the Panzer was quickly eliminated:
I had gotten into the town, but now German reinforcements arrived: both two Mausers which originally had deployed in the western town, but also the remaining 50p of units.
With the help of a Grizzled Veteran, the German infantry were able to overcome their first Char:
Unfortunately, the French die rolls were horrible and few Germans were harmed. The other Chars started moving around trying to not get close assaulted, and a fierce house-to-house battle ensued between the infantry:
The Germans killed most of the French resistance as the incredible AI from the German troops were too much even for 5/5 Alpine troops. However, one squad of Alpines held out through incredible odds! Being shot at from three directions, both from the Grizzled Veteran, the SS Stormtroopers and the Wehrmacht Veteran, the Alpine troops were able to cover roll their way to survival every time (and eventually survive the battle!):
One of the other Chars had tried to the southwest of the city to meet the Germans, but ended up destroyed as well from AT firepower and close assaults.
As the smoke cleared on end of turn 7, the majority of Stonne was unfortunately in German hands. The French fought valiantly, but managed only to fully occupy two town hexes, while contesting one. This was how the city looked in the end:
It was a great game either way, and it was a challenge to try to find out how to best use the French for an assault. As I had anticipated, it was the strong infantry that turned out to be the most difficult units to deal with, but it would have gone even worse hadn't I been lucky and killed the sandbagged MG on turn 1 so that my infantry could cross.
Bartok was a great opponent: skilled in his tactics and placement of units, knowledgeable of the game and overall a very friendly guy.
I don't happen to go to Madrid for work regularly, but we would definitely meet up and play more next time I'm in town!
I hope it was a fun read, and please share your armchair general critics and thoughts
This week I was going some days to Madrid for work, and while I finished my work on Friday, I decided to stay until Sunday to use the opportunity to be a tourist.
It caught my mind that I remember seeing Bartok being located in Madrid. I didn't know him, but as we are so few (afaik) AAM players in Europe and I didn't have many plans either way, I asked him if he by chance was free and wanted to meet and play some AAM.
Fortunately he was, and we met in his boardgaming club on Friday and had a great time playing the scenario Battle of Stonne:
I thought it would be fun for you other land players to get a little after action report on the battle:
For the scenario, I was going to be the French with the objective of driving the Germans out of Stonne, occupying 4 town hexes on end of turn 7.
Both of us would make armies of 100p each, but the Germans would deploy only 50p into the town hexes first, before receiving the other 50p as reinforcements on turn 4.
Based on this, my plan was to blitz into the town and get into defensive positions before Bartok could get his reinforcements, so to hopefully shoot them in the open.
For this reason, I wanted to amass my forces and concentrate on one of the two towns: I decided on the one to the right as it contained 4 hexes, so if I dominated this town I would win.
I have little experience playing the French, but realized when looking over its units that while the tanks' armour and anti-vehicle stats were great for 1940, they did not have much impressive in the anti-infrantry departement.
I imagined this would be a problem given that Germany has several high quality 5/5 infantry (SS Panzergrenadier, SS Stormtroopers, Fallschirmjaeger, German Hero, sandbagged MG...) which would be a nightmare to force out (according to the scenario, I would need the town hexes uncontested).
My army ended up as the following:
3x Char B1-BIS
5x French Alpine Troop
1x Hotchkiss MG Team
= 100p
I ended up going for a "quality build" instead of quantity: heavy tanks with decent AT and AI capabilities and great armor, supported by hard-to-kill infantry that is deadly with 9 AI when getting in close quarters in the city.
The plan was to park the MG team in the forest to fire on the town, while the Chars advance on the town getting a "double shot" when firing due to its hull-mounted cannon. The hope was that all these shots would be able to clear the way for my Alpines to occupy the city and hold it.
The weakness, as you probably can see, is that due to the quality nature, my units were few, such that I couldn't afford to lose many if I were to occupy the town hexes... However, my belief was that this army would stand a better chance of racing into the city before turn 4 compared to a more numerous list of weaker tanks and infantry.
I also contemplated going for a tank storm, but I was afraid this would lack the AI firepower needed. I also thought of including Panhards as they have nice AI, but decided not to as I without a commander (only 100p to buy units for, and he is bad apart from his initiative bonus) couldn't fully utilize Strike and Fade, and I was thus afraid that 2/2 would potentially be eaten up fast by a Pak or Panzer from a distance.
Anyone experienced with the French that could see better ways to think about this scenario? As said, I have not used them a lot, so would be interesting to hear.
I'm sure Bartok can share his German list and thinking around units, but here is the starting setups:
Germans set up first, putting most of the units in the right town:
I then set up my force as planned:
The battlefield:
Sending up the Chars, Bartok withdrew his units backwards to not expose them to fire. Smart! I therefore concentrated all my fire on the Sandbagged MG, and got a super lucky kill! 6 out of 7 dice hit, wow! This was amazing and felt even a bit unfair, but I would take it. As revenge, the MG killed my MG and disrupted an Alpine.
With high spirits, all French units set to advance on the town, literally in a line:
The Chars then burst into the town, trapping the Panzer which had moved in. Faced with Chars on all sides, the Panzer was quickly eliminated:
I had gotten into the town, but now German reinforcements arrived: both two Mausers which originally had deployed in the western town, but also the remaining 50p of units.
With the help of a Grizzled Veteran, the German infantry were able to overcome their first Char:
Unfortunately, the French die rolls were horrible and few Germans were harmed. The other Chars started moving around trying to not get close assaulted, and a fierce house-to-house battle ensued between the infantry:
The Germans killed most of the French resistance as the incredible AI from the German troops were too much even for 5/5 Alpine troops. However, one squad of Alpines held out through incredible odds! Being shot at from three directions, both from the Grizzled Veteran, the SS Stormtroopers and the Wehrmacht Veteran, the Alpine troops were able to cover roll their way to survival every time (and eventually survive the battle!):
One of the other Chars had tried to the southwest of the city to meet the Germans, but ended up destroyed as well from AT firepower and close assaults.
As the smoke cleared on end of turn 7, the majority of Stonne was unfortunately in German hands. The French fought valiantly, but managed only to fully occupy two town hexes, while contesting one. This was how the city looked in the end:
It was a great game either way, and it was a challenge to try to find out how to best use the French for an assault. As I had anticipated, it was the strong infantry that turned out to be the most difficult units to deal with, but it would have gone even worse hadn't I been lucky and killed the sandbagged MG on turn 1 so that my infantry could cross.
Bartok was a great opponent: skilled in his tactics and placement of units, knowledgeable of the game and overall a very friendly guy.
I don't happen to go to Madrid for work regularly, but we would definitely meet up and play more next time I'm in town!
I hope it was a fun read, and please share your armchair general critics and thoughts
