NEWS 31 - State Farm 41
AAR fans, Listoids, etc., Once or twice a year, "Wild Bill" Hayward visits northern Idaho and gives me a chance to try beating him in a ftf match. I thought I was getting closer in our last (1999) contest, *The Guns of Naro*, but I think we did even better with ASL News' *State Farm 41*. Bill was fresh off a hot hand at WWF in Denver, and he let me know how much "training" he'd been getting from highly respected opposition, too, but I was just glad to be able to PLAY, (especially since all but one of my 6 !!!! VASL pbem foes seem to have thrown ASL out the window, at least as far as playing me is concerned...I aborted one match, but I'm still waiting for 4 others to come around.) (Hint-hint!) Snickerng, conniving, eevylly chuckling Bill got the defending Russians, and I got the attacking Germans. It's July 9th, 1941. The Germans have been bypassing Russian positions, and now they have the devil to pay for it. At least at State Farm 41 they do. Whoever controls it at Game End, wins. Mapboards are 19 and 33, with the 4 buildings centrally located on board 33. Germans, (ELR:4, SAN:2), enter one turn >or< later on the North edge, with twelve 467 squads, two 468 Assault Engineer squads, 9-2, 8-1, 8-0, and 7-0 leaders, Hmg, Mmg, three Lmgs, two ATRs, two DCs, a FT, and StuG IIIB AG, and a PzJg 1, (47L, OT, ROF2, basic tin can). Three StuG IIIG's enter on turn 2, along the east edge. Russians, (ELR:2, SAN:4), set up within four hexes of 33Q10: Seven 447 squads, four 527 squads, two 228 crews, and 9-1, 8-1, 7-0 leaders. Hmg, Mmg, two Lmgs, ATR, 82mm mortar, and a 45L ATG. Reinforcements arrive on turn 4 along the south edge: Three 447 squads, 7-0, Lmg, and three radioless T34-M43 tanks. (Thick hides.) I'd thought the ELR:2 would help me out, so Bill agreed to take'm on, as a form of "balance", (his experience being much greater than mine). We lost a lot of time to stuff like shooting the breeze and eating supper, but I worked hard to give Bill a bit o' competition. First thing I decided was not to move any infantry whatsoever up the huge grainfield on board 33. That would mean being open to machinegun fire from twin Lev1 positions in the biggest State Farm 41 building. Bill had to set up within 4 hexes of 33Q10, so he had his little *?* stacks up there in the Lev1's, alright, and he had stuff behind it, and he had a long row of entrenched, concealed units in the primary, central wood at which I would be thrusting. This latter line was so situated as to be out of LOS as I approached from the northeast side; then, as I moved up, Bill could AM into (wooded) firing positions and have the empty foxholes, (including some in OG), to fall back on, skulk to, rout to/through, etc. The German infantry had a pretty easy time of it moving southward down board 19 toward the Big Fight for the Woods, because Bill wasn't going to play his hand too soon. On the other board, board 33, I move the PzJg 1 and the StuG IIIB into the grain and began cannonading the Lev1 structure with HE and smoke. (Later I realized the PzJg 1 had limited HE, but it didn't really affect anything before then. Also thought it had smoke, for some reason, but it was the IIIB that was successful with that stuff. We had good fun accusing each other of subconsciously cheating.) Turn 2: I forgot to bring on my three StuG IIIG's. Dumb. I had a conservative plan for them, so it might very well have not made any difference. No way I was going to move them into Encirclng positions, only to get their butts pounced by the reinforcing M43's. (Bill feigned disappointment at this decision.) Anyway, the first man to go down was a Russian 7-0, who thought he could walk around in seemingly safe "rear area" OG while in LOS of a German Mmg squad. No more wild bashes for that guy. Man, it's hard to watch these fast opponents who sometimes shuffle things around like they're beans under a cup, but sometimes ya catch'm. Game Turn 4: The fight the for the Woods that Shieldeth State Farm, heats up. Three Russian halfsquads go down, (one was victim of a CH tearing into the Lev1 Hmg location), and two German halfsquads are also eliminated, (one by Spotted 82mm fire.) Game Turn 5: German armor gets impulsive and pays the price. Gee, all I wanted to do was pop a little sD or crew smoke, (the PzJg 1 got a smoke grenade placed), and Bill hadda pop up with his AT and smite (CH) a IIIG into flames, while a mere ATR in the ground level of the "longhouse" actually brewed-up my poor little PzJg 1! The ATG also wrecked a second IIIG in the same area, so that my plan of "student body right", (around the Wood that Shieldeth State Farm), went weak-kneed on me, (though I got a coupla squads on that side, moving up through the last of the big grainfield). Ivan Bill lost 3 halfsquads, (one boxed a rally attempt, another got smited by the Commissar, the other got the FT treatment), and a full 527 squad. Game Turn 6: The Commissar bites it. When Mr. 9-2 is directing Hmg fire, even a Commissar had better duck. (Guess he didn't.) The Russians lost a 447 as NQ was instituted, while a Russian sniper finished off my wounded 7-0 and a 467 was knocked-off by an ambushing 447 that had been concealed, and wasn't about to just hand over State Farm property. Game Turn 7: By God, "Wild Bill" looks deeply troubled! Heh-heh. I went on a dice tear. Who cares! Let the opposition sweat, for a change. Bill started counting how many morale checks in a row his guys had failed, while I was trying to figure out how to make the final moves from the Wood that Shieldeth State Farm, across foxholes and OG, into the 4 buildings (in 5 hexes). I had only a toe-hold. Another Russian 226 boxed a rally attempt. The Russian AT crew was finally broken and eliminated, FTR. Jerry's (Lmg)467 knocked off a 447 in CC. I even got wicked and fired into a melee, breaking/ELRing and then wasting a 426, (while losing my 247 hs to the "friendly fire"). What was really cool, however, was making a left hook move with my remaining IIIG, moving into a Lmg447's OG position without OVR, (broke it later with Mgs), and then rolling a DR4, twice, to whammy a one-and-only APCR round into a Russian tank, (killing it). OOooOOOoo! Bill didn't like that one widdle bit! He had two tanks left -- one out of LOS, and one with malf'd MA. So of course, in the ensuing Russian RPh, he repaired the MA, got the hit on my last IIIG, and killed it and the crew. Game Turn 8: Red are the Streets in the State Farm compound With blood, or with Russians? Shoot, those poor Ivans were dead and broken all over the place, but they still managed to get through a Fire Lane, and who knows how many other shots, to get one lousy crew manning a Mmg in the last [fortified] building, after I had toasted a hs in there, with the trusty little FT. They still managed to knock-off one of my halfsquads and block another, so that I was going to have to move rallying squads across OG, with a tank in the way, and into the face of that Mmg. I was just glad that the #$! tank that kayoed my BFing IIIG (via the miraculous gun repair) had finally dis'd its gun with an IF shot, (and was Recalled). Bill's remaining tank, however, destroyed my FT crew with an OVR, (their last squirt was evidently a soda pop). I had about 4 squads in position to assault that last objective. Turn 9 (of a 9 turn game): The sudden end. First, the surviving Stug IIIB had gone around the west side of the "longhouse" and, after twice repairing a malf'd gun, (had no Mgs), it rumbled into VBM freeze position on the last building. My squads attempting to reach positions to pbf/NQ the crew in that house, could not get past the surviving Russian tank. Game ended when my last hope was hit with a snakes shot by the T34-M43's bmg, while said squad was moving in OG. Red are the streets of State Farm 41 -- with blood, and with the flags of Soviet victory. One more spree of bad luck, for Ivan, could have routed that last position and let Jerry in to defend against an unlikely Russian counterattack, but it was not to be. Good game, Wild Bill....wherever you are! 8-) --Paul "if'n I can't play much, I'll write a lot!" Venard
