TWO GO BERSERK IN LEICESTER

Pete Phillipps

I wrote this back in 1998 and planned to post it to the ASL Mailing List but never got round to it. With Iain's passing away I figured it's about time it saw the light of day somewhere.

Our resident Aussie Mad Vet, Iain Mackay was unable to attend BERSERK '98 as he had just got back from visiting his family in the land of Oz. So to make up for this disappointment he came down to my place the following weekend to drink beer, listen to rock music, play ASL, and drink some beer.

Iain arrived just before 9pm on Friday evening and after chatting for an hour we picked a scenario to play. We had already decided to use the tourney scenarios, so after some looking through them we picked 'T6 Dead of Winter'.

I decided to play the Germans, and set up my trenches along hexrow X between the buildings, with the infantry in the buildings and woods, the tank in Y3, and the 37L AT gun set up HIP in V10. I took about an hour to set up, but mainly because we spent so long talking.

The game didn't take that long.

His first tank entered and drove to the trench-line, trying to entice the AT gun to fire. I fired the tank, and hit it with a side shot. The hit destroyed the tank but the crew escaped, only to be shot by the CMG. He rolled a 12 for the resulting MC!

Next move, another tank with some infantry armoured assaulting. As they stopped I opened up with a squad/MMG and 9-2, breaking the infantry.

Finally, the third tank and some infantry also armoured assault onto the board.

At this point it is my Defensive Fire Phase. I reveal the AT Gun and fire, hitting the first tank with a Crit! Bang, two down.

Keeping rate, I fire at the final tank, and after a couple of misses hit it. Side shot, 3 to immobilise, 2 to kill. Snake eyes!!

Three T34s down in as many minutes and game over as he doesn't have enough units to exit and win.

Not my quickest scenario, but not far off!!

Next up, 'DASL 11 Ripe Pickings', a chance to try something from my brand new copy of Hedgerow Hell which I had picked up the previous weekend at BERSERK '98, a chance to use boards I have never played on. Iain's Americans won this close fought match during which we ran out of beer. This is a good scenario which requires some thinking on both sides (and yes, some of us CAN still do that after drinking plenty of beer!!). I would like to play this one again, and it re-confirmed my growing love of Deluxe ASL - add me to the list of those wanting to see more maps and scenarios.

On Saturday morning we played 'A104 In Front of the Storm' with Iain winning as the Germans. After nipping out to do the shopping and get in dinner for the night, we played 'CH26 Close Order Driel'. In retrospect this was probably my weakest game, and if I played as the Poles again I would set this one up much differently next time.

After pizza for dinner and watching Xena: Warrior Princess I took Iain on a visit of several local pubs for a few beers... When we got back we watched videos and drank some more beer as Iain was too tired to play anymore ASL

After breakfast Sunday morning we set up 'WCW7 Eye of the Tiger'. Although I prefer to play new scenarios to repeating ones I have already done, this is one scenario I will make an exception for. Having played as the Russians at BERSERK the previous weekend I took the Germans this time. Iain set up a screening force in the woods on board 4 and the bulk of his forces around the village on board 42. My FFE did little damage in my turn 1, but I corrected it onto one of his T34s on his turn 1 and KIAed it and a squad with the ATR. After that I made steady progress towards the village and by turn 4 had four of the six buildings I needed to win. To protect the two buildings in J5 and K5 Iain moved his SU-85 into the K5 building. Although he didn't Bog, I did score a crit with an Intensive Fire shot from the Tiger (about the third time I had done this over the weekend!!) leaving a burning wreck there. The blaze then spread to the building leaving a flame there. On turn 5 I pounded J5 with several 16FP groups and the Tiger but the Russian 458 refused to break. I advanced a concealed 658 into K5 ready to move in on the final turn. The 458 continued to stand fast in the face of my Defensive Fire and my turn 6 Prep Fire, meaning I would have to advance the 658 in to take him out in CC. Unfortunately, the flame turned into a Blaze when I rolled an 11 in the Advancing Fire Phase, forcing me to rout my unit out!!! Since I had no other units adjacent I couldn't gain control of J5 it was game over!!

This was probably the best scenario we played all weekend, and is great fun for both sides.

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