Greetings,

I've been meaning to write this for a while, but obviously hadn't gotten around to it until now. Here's an After Action Report on my game of "Counterattack" (from "On All Fronts") against Colin Baker, which was completed a couple of months ago.

For those who don't have it, this is a unique scenario, at least in the basic SL world. A German force of 10 squads, some MGs and leaders, and three MkIVF2 tanks is trying to cross the width of boards 4 and then 2 and exit 10 points to win (9 is a tie). The boards are set up exactly the same as in Alan's Delta scenario, but the entire board area is used. Squads count as one point, AFVs with functioning MA as two (1 if the MA is broken). The exit has to occur within one hex of any of the roads leading off of board 2. With only 6.5 turns in the game, the Germans have to move fast.

Opposing them is an American force of twelve 666 squads with MGs and bazookas. The Americans also receive two fire missions of 105mm OBA. As in the Delta scenario, there is a lack of any armor on the U.S. side, so doing anything to the German armor is a challenge.

What makes this scenario unique is the time. This was an early morning attack, so the first two turns use night rules. On the second turn, the normal Night Visibility DR gets a +6 DRM to simulate the dawn. So, the Germans have two turns of night to get across the open ground of board 4 to the relative safety of board 2.

Of course, as anyone who has tried to play SL using night rules, there are a few unclear parts. Colin and I had some heated arguments about various aspects of these, but I think we ended up with the correct result. Anyone who was around at the time probably remembers the discussions on the list. But, to summarize, here's what we ended up with:

1. Shooting at units that fired in the same or preceding player turn is clear in the rules, so no problem.

2. Shooting at units that moved isn't so clear. However, at the last BPA Convention, I was able to ask Chuck Goetz directly. He confirmed what we ended up playing (which, I will admit, was not my original interpretation): The only time units can be fired on due to movement is in the defensive fire phase at units which moved in the immediately preceding movement phase. After that, the moving units have "gone to ground" and are no longer visible targets unless they fire.

3. Smoke can be fired anywhere, regardless of Night Visibility. This was another point of disagreement, and once again I started out with a different opinion. My original belief was that firing smoke at a given hex was the same as firing HE at it as far as the night rules went, so the night rules requirements had to be met. This was based on the whole premise of night rules, where the units can't "see" everything that the player can see. How could a tank know to fire smoke at the exact hex where enemy units were, if there was no way to "see" the enemy units. However, I finally agreed to allow smoke anywhere, since in the day you're allowed to fire smoke into a vacant hex just to block LOS. Therefore, there is really no way at night to come up with a legitimate way to limit smoke shots. One of those night anamolies.

4. One rule that came up I'm still not sure of. We readily agreed on an interpretation, however. When shooting at vehicles, the NVR is modified by +3. However, what if you're shooting at passengers on vehicles? We played that the +3 modifier did not apply.

That was about it for night rules problems. I think if you go into the game in agreement with your opponent on those areas, you should be okay.

I was the Americans, so was faced with the initial setup. I knew I wouldn't be able to stop his advance in its tracks, because I was too thin on defense. So, I placed a strong stack (9-2/666/Rad/HMG) in 2S7 up on the level two hill, and immediately got them entrenched on the first game turn when it was too dark to see anything. I also placed a couple of squads on the back side of the hill to get entrenched with the idea that they could put fire down on the exit hexes at the end of the game.

The majority of my guys were spread across the front in cover. My goal was to provide some impediment to free movement anywhere. Once I knew his axis of advance, I could move troops to the right areas. In retrospect, I should have set up with more guys in the rear on the roads, ready to run to the right place. As it was, my squads on the "wrong" side of the board took several turns to get redeployed.

Colin moved his Germans up on the right side (looking at it from his viewpoint) of board 4, using the woods and wheatfields for cover. His tanks moved aggressively, including moving one adjacent to the woods in 4J9. Each carried passengers moving forward. I was able to break one of the passenger squads in defensive fire. He also used the "Panzerblitz" tactic (outlawed by Bill Thomson in SLA games). This means stopping a tank/squad two hexes from one of my squads. During defensive fire, the passenger got the +2DRM for being a passenger. In Advancing Fire, he shot the AFV MA, requiring the passenger to dismount, which he did into a hex next to my squad. Then, he advanced in during the advance phase without me having a shot at him. This is legal by the rules, so I had no problem with it. And I won the CC, killing his 467 and gaining a LMG in the process.

Except for the stack in 2S7, my entrenchment attempts were unsuccessful. Most of my squads scurried to redeploy. One brave squad with a bazooka moved through the woods and advanced adjacent to the tank in 4J9. Amazingly enough, it survived a MA hit and the MG fire, and then blew up the tank with a lucky DR (bazookas need a 3 on a front shot!). At this point, I thought I was in great shape, because now he would have to exit at least 6 squads to win.

I'll stop with the great detail at this point. It rapidly became apparent that I had to move quickly, because he was threatening to run unopposed down the board edge out of LOS of most of my forces. Also, my great position in 2S7 was being continually smoked by the tanks, so my artillery was useless. I managed to get some troops up on the smaller hill (hill 538), which unfortunately has no cover on the top, including my 9-2 with radio and HMG. The leader was able to bring down one FFE, which slowed down the Germans for a crucial turn. Tank overruns brought havoc to my position on the hill, but a single squad that ended up with the HMG managed to survive the 16IFT+0 overrun to remain ready to fight (the 9-2 was KIA'd, though).

On the last turn, I thought I had the game. I couldn't stop the tanks from exiting, but one of them had malf'd its MA, meaning Colin needed to exit 7 squads to win. Of these, six were forced through a single wooded hex (2AA1). In defensive fire, I had a 6IFT shot, two 6IFT+1 shots, and one 12IFT+1 shot. All I needed to do was break one for the draw, two for the win. I gacked every one. Not even a NMC. It was very sad.

So, once again a SL game came down to the last DR, which it my mind means it was a great game. I think this scenario is a good one, because it forces the defense to redeploy on the fly, and requires difficult decisions to avoid or go after the tanks with minimal AT capabilities. Also, it is a good introduction to all the complexities of night rules, but they're only in effect for the first two turns. Finally, I don't think it will play the same way twice, because a different decision by the Germans on the axis of advance will result in a totally different feel due to the terrain differences across the board.

In other words, I recommend it. Just agree on those night rules first!

-Dan

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