An appreciation of the French way of ASL part 2

Volume 7 of Le Franc Tireur was the harbinger of the LFT new wave, the first issue to get more than minimal exposure outside the EC. Reaching back into my memory, 2003 was really a lean year for TPP: CH were only just starting to come out of their self induced dormant period; Heat of Battle were not doing much; and of the scenario producers, only Schwerpunkt was being its usual productive annual self, with George Kellnand Paul Kenny just starting or not raising their heads much above the horizon of ASL consciousness at that stage.

But returning to LFT #7; an entire issue devoted to the East Front, with a Borodino theme for 5 scenarios, all 5 of which saw subsequent wider exposure in the opages of Journal 7 and 8. It's these scenarios that I'm going to have a brief look at, purely because I really enjoyed them when I first played them and I reckon it's actually worth looking at the differences between the two iterations.

The scenarios are: 

• The Yelnya Bridge (FT31, J102)

•  Lenin's Sons (FT32, J103)

•  Flanking Flamethrowers (FT33, J104)

•  Borodino Train Station (FT34, J105)

•  Last push to Mozhaisk (FT35, J115)

Before we go any further, note that there are three Borodino SSRs that apply to all five FT scenarios :

1. All Buildings are wooden (except for FT34 Borodino Train Station)
2. German 838/338, 548/238s and Soviet 628/328 are Assault Engineers
3. Vehicular crews may not voluntarily abandon their vehicles.

Pretty much standard type SSRs and dutifully included as required by MMP

Let's look at the differences in each scenario:

•  The Yelnya Bridge: MMP did some minor mods of the SSRs, using non SS illos for the SS OB and therefore needing to specify SS capability in the SSRs. Actual OB changes were made to the Soviet Ob, with MMP dropping 1 447 squad but adding a 426  instead, plus adding an ATR. For the Germans, MMP added a 548 and an lmg. That's pretty much it.

• Lenin's Sons: As above, MMp just tided up the SSR wording, and added a single lmg to the post errata German OB  (NB LFT 1st ed errata: add 1 lmg and one DC to the German OB so they have two of each). The only real major change is MMP increased the game length to 6.5 turns and raised the German CVP cap from ≤14 to ≤16 or less. [NB: LFT errata: Map : instead of only hexrows D-U are playable, read hexrows D-Z]

• Flanking FTs: SSRs tidied and clarified as before. German OB changes are fairly major: upgrade 4 x 457 to 468, add a 247 hs, upgrade 1 x 8-0 ldr to 8-1 and the armour enters on Turn 1 as opposed to turn 2. Soviet OB change drops one of the Turn 4 Soviet 628s

•  Borodino Train Station: (The Compass Rose is incorrect in the FT version, North should be at the bottom). SSRs tidied but no other changes at all.

• Last Push to Mozhaisk: The only real change si a subtle one, decreasing the German CVP cap from 24 to 23.

Balance: (ROAR stats as of 21/11/2011) 

• The Yelnya Bridge: [FT31] German 17 vs Russian 19 [J102] German 38 Russian 29
• Lenin's Sons:   [FT32] German 5 vs Russian 11 [J103] German 57 vs Russian 69
• Flanking FTs:  [FT33] German 4 vs Russian 10 [J104] German 37 vs Russian 21    
• Borodino Train Station: [FT34] German 5 vs Russian 0 [J105] German 61 vs Russian 33    
• Last Push to Mozhaisk: [FT35] German 4 vs Russian 9 [J115] German 23 vs Russian 35

My thoughts, I've played all but Mozhaisk, but I'd play them all again. Brodino needs the most help and I'd disallow Boresighting based on the historical blurb or drop the AFV entry to turn 2 as a default with the balance being to incorporate both. Flanking Fts I think needs the German Armour also to enter on Turn 2 and add back the dropped 628. Yelnya, the Germans should lose 1 lmg and that's about it. Mozhaisk could probably do with increasing the German CVP up to around 26 or 27.

Jorunal 7 was a very good set of scenarios as far as I was concerned, quite a few don't like these five scenarios but as a linked set and theme, I like them. Plus they are really excellent fast play scenarios that only need a little tweaking, don't use a huge amount of outlandish SSRs and still force both sides to think slightly oustide the box and use all the various national characteristics. (okay so I'm biased and still reckon you can use a HW in Borodino successfully on turn 1).

Pete.
 
Currently listening to: Betty Blue soundtrack

Time, Gentlemen, please.

John's last day before he headed off back to Taiwan and we managed to get two scenarios done in the day, a nice way to round out John's visit. Helps that I won a game or two towards the end which brought my win loss record for the week to 4 and 5. I can live with that, John's still a very good player, so anything better than a 33% win ratio is good as far as I'm concerned.

The games:

• The Yelnya Bridge J102: Russian - Lost
• Marders Not Martyrs J106: Russian - Won
• Lenin's Sons J103: German - Lost
• Flanking Flamethrowers J104: Russian - Lost
• The Prelude to Spring J110: Russian - Won
• Borodino Train Station J105: Russian - Lost
• Jungle Fighters J012: British - Won
• Monty's Mess OA10: British - Lost
• On to Florence J099: New Zealand - Won

John's last day before he headed off back to Taiwan and we managed to get two scenarios done in the day, a nice way to round out John's visit. Helps that I won a game or two towards the end which brought my win loss record for the week to 4 and 5. I can live with that, John's still a very good player, so anything better than a 33% win ratio is good as far as I'm concerned.

The Games:

• The Yelnya Bridge J102: Russian - Lost
• Marders Not Martyrs J106: Russian - Won
• Lenin's Sons J103: German - Lost
• Flanking Flamethrowers J104: Russian - Lost
• The Prelude to Spring J110: Russian - Won
• Borodino Train Station J105: Russian - Lost
• Jungle Fighters J012: British - Won
• Monty's Mess OA10: British - Lost
• On to Florence J099: New Zealand - Won

Mmm ASL.

Came home from work today to find my copy of the Critical Hit 1997 Special Edition had arrived from Canada. I bought this purely for the Dzerhezinsky Tractor Works content and I'm happy enough with the price I paid, given the issue is long out of print. It was interesting to see that there was some extra material for Platoon Leader 2.1 which I can easily retrofit into PL2.5a if needed.My next order of business is to get hold of the actual module for the Tractor Works so I can go ahead and look at correcting the issues of play balance and clarifications that personified this particular era of Critical Hit. Now all I'm looking forward to is the arrival of Issue 7.3 and Stalin's Fury over the next few days - My copy of CH's Hell's Bridgehead is waiting on confirmation of the availability of Issue 6/4.

I'm pretty sure I'll be purchasing a few more products over the next few months, probably just to catch up with things again, but I may go nuts and get hold of the Berlin module because I'm such a nut these days about Historical map sheets.

You'd think that a small module with only four scenarios would not be amongst my must buys, but Action at Carentan is definitely on my must buy to play list. That and Journal number 7 which has a lot of very enjoyable, smaller yet intriguing scenarios are probably going to feature a lot in any face to face games I get to play over the next few years, with the latter being probably the dominant series of scenario choices for VASL.