The Blue and Gray take Plouzane - The Long Return to ASL

After a long hiatus, I've returned to playing Advanced Squad Leader. The big reason I've been so delayed in playing scenarios has been the challenge of relocating the last two years. I've brought most of my non-ASL games with me to DC, but most of the ASL counter containers and map boards were left back home, so even if I wanted to get a game in, I didn't have much with me. I brought enough from Yanks, Beyond Valor, and the 1st Starter Kit to play a few SKASL scenarios, though.

So, to kick things off again for a much overdue return, I started out with starter kit scenario S7, Prelude to Festung Brest. Now that I'm no longer in high school -- when I first took up playing ASL -- I am much more inclined to take a methodical approach to really getting as much value as I can out of the games I own, so this scenario was a first for me and hopefully some point soon I can play through all of the starter kit scenarios. They're so much quicker to play through as well now that I have more familiarity with systems like World in Flames or Operational Combat Series. 

In any case, here's to the first of many more ASL games to come (as we shall soon see, too).

Prelude to Festung Brest pits the GIs of the US 29th Infantry Division (the Blue and Gray) against the paratroop defenders of the German 2nd Fallschirmjaeger Division outside Brest, France. The German defenders opted, in this scenario, for a forward defense with a reserve line held by Hauptmann Weiss. The plan was to press the US infantry and always close to the next line of natural defense, rather than maintain any semblance of an elastic, receding line of defense. The Americans have to take 15 stone buildings in Plouzane in this scenario, so it made sense to delay them for as long as I can and make it a real struggle to even take non-objective locations.

The German defense -- a little unimaginative from this perspective ...

The Americans were divided into two forces: an assault force of mobile, flanking assault squads led by Sergeant Cocke and a second heavy weapons section led by Corporal Highsmith with the MMGs.

The Blue and Gray arrive. Highsmith's MMGs take fire.

Cocke's men lead the way, and Highsmith follows on the flank. The Americans come under fire from the first line of German defense led by Corporal Gruber ("Gruber Force") and by and large make forward progress without loss. Highsmith takes heavier fire, but he dishes out heavier fire in return. His heavy weapons inflict a 2MC on Gruber Force early on that leads to a sudden break of every unit with Gruber, imperiling the German 1st line. 

Sergeant Cocke's assault force races through Plouzane and starts seizing the objectives.

With Gruber Force suddenly broken, Cocke leads the way, skirting north of the first line of defense. Hauptmann Weiss races into action to cover Gruber Force's withdrawal, effectively taking control of the first line of defense from its anchor on the south edge of the board. Highsmiths MMGs keep Weiss busy while Cocke moves to capitalize on the sudden German shift. The closing-defense strategy employed by Weiss failed once Gruber broke: Sgt Cocke and his men cross over into the German set-up area and begin racking up victory points. 

Weiss's fallschirmjaegers come to Gruber Force's rescue.

Captain Weiss isn't without a response though. As the rearguards from Gruber and Weiss keep Highsmith at bay, Weiss's light MGs do what they can to delay Sergeant Cocke's progress while Gruber Force regroups. The regrouping takes its sweet time though, and while Weiss pivots between beating back Cocke from his northern flank and trading fire with Highsmith's MMGs on his western flank, Gruber Force remains broken and combat ineffective. 

Sergeant Cocke's assault squads cross over the first line of defense.

To Weiss's credit, though, Highsmith and some of his number are ELRed and some of Cocke's supporting squads are broken by the MG fire. Underterred, Cocke falls back to rally his broken troops while he sends his two lead assault squads ("the Few") into close combat with Weiss. Unled, they effect an ambush on Weiss's unsuspecting defenders, who barely manage to avoid total annihilation, resulting in the first Melee.

While the last of the German rearguards, two squads in all, fall back, the Few manage to once and for all eliminate Weiss's defending fallschirmjaegers to a man (Weiss falling with the rest of them) as Highsmith closes in with his MMGs. 

The German defense breaks ...

It's all downhill for the Germans at this point. Some of Highsmith's support squads manage to take out the last of the German rearguards, and the Few, still unled and following Sergeant Cocke's last orders, close with Gruber Force, who are eventually eliminated in detail much like Weiss's men before them.

... and then the defense collapses entirely. Game over.

At this point, with Highsmith's MMGs breaking the last good order defender, the Germans lose the game. Not least because under Sergeant Cocke, the rest of his assault force had meanwhile taken the 15th stone house. A complete American victory for the Blue and Gray that, in the end, resulted in many ELR hits (including to "Corporal Highsmith"), but not a single man lost to the German losses which amounted to more than 50% of the initial defending force.  

Final Verdict: a great return to the world of ASL.