Gavin Take (T1) by Sam Belcher

Date: 7/24/98 6:51:40 PM Pacific Daylight Time

Erwin Lau (from Hong Kong) was in town for business and he took advantage of the ASLML to ask make a local contact. (That would be me).

We got together Tuesday night and played Gavin Take. I had the US and
Erwin had the Germans.


The Scenario:
If you don't have this gem, it is played on board 3. Go ahead and get
your board out so you can follow along. Its OK, I'll wait.

"Fly me to the moon and let me dance among the star…"

Oh, you're back. Take a look at the map with me. Germans defend with
several squads, MMGs, and three leaders. Germans have to setup inside
the road net that surrounds the center of the village. US troops have
747 paras with no SW, but a 10-3 (Gavin), 10-2 and an 8-0. The US enter
the largest group on Y1 (US Left Flank), with a slightly smaller group
entering on I1 (US Right Flank). To win, the US must exit at Q10 and
must exit one more squad than the Germans. An SSR says that hex M2 is
rubbled at ground level (keeps you from using the upstairs as the US).


VC:
There's been some discussion of ASL1 - " Fighting Withdrawal" lately on
the list. Let me point out how similar the VC are for the two scenarios.
IIRC, Fighting Withdrawal VC state that the attacker wins if he exits
more VP that the defender. In Gavin Take, the attacker has to exit one
squad more than the defender. This makes for an interesting situation
(IMO) in that even if the attacker has exited enough to win, the
attacker still has to be aware that the defender moves last and can
(perhaps) exit enough troops to take away the victory.


German setup:
I don't have all the German setup, but I think he setup a Leader / Squad
/ MG in O5, S3.1, and R6.1. The woods in O6 were used as a rallying
point, in all a good setup for the defense.


My "Clever Little Plan" (CLP)tm:
Originally, I intended to move Gavin and the "main body" to hill 522 and
get behind the German defenders to exit. On my right flank, I was going
to use the 10-2 and the four squads to attack straight into the village.
(This would be the "diversion" that would prevent the Germans from
reacting to my attack.)

Things did not go exactly as planned 8-)


Turn 1:
Right Flank:
One squad moves (using bypass) to get to J2. He draws a little fire from
O5, but to no effect. The 10-2 and the other three squads move to M2 and
advance to N2.

Left Flank:
One squad moves to X3 (into the shellholes) and successfully places
infantry smoke.

Next Squad goes CX moves into x3 (wooden building) and also manages to
find some Smoke grenades. - I'm still such a "newbie" it still surprises
me that I remember to use smoke 8-)

Now, Gavin and two squads move to X4 (no need to CX). They then advance
to W5 and are sitting on the hill overlooking the village. This was a
very important position, as you will see…

During Erwin's turn, he moves a squad and leader to the exit hex (Q10)
so that he can dig a foxhole and make it tougher for me to exit. Ah, but
the LOS was clear from W5 to Q10 and Gavin directed those two squads to
fire. Result: Everyone in Q10 breaks before they can get their shovels
out. (I believe, now, that having Gavin and a couple of squads reach W5
in the first turn is critical to a US win.) Erwin's troops rout over to
the woods near N10, where they will be pain to me later. Still, a very
good first turn for me. Only one of my squads broke in turn one, and he
self-rallied in turn 2.


Turn 2:
During turn one, Erwin move his leader from O5 to help rally the leader
/ squad / MMG that were hiding in the woods at O6. Seemed like a good
decision at the time, but as I started to move the right flank squads,
Erwin uses DFF from O5 and cowers. Since he's cowered, he can no longer
shoot at me unless I move adjacent. My 10-2 leader on that flank quickly
gives orders to run around the German flank. All but one of my squads
runs down the road to N4 and they get into the M7 building in force. A
single squad gets to K6, where it later advances to level 2 (K7). I now
have US squads on both hilltops overlooking the village.

BTW: In retrospect, the cower result was one of the "keys" to the
scenario. And that wouldn't have happened if the Germans in R5.1 hadn't
broken on turn 1. "For want of a shoe, a horse was lost. For want of a
horse…" The cower allowed three of my squads (and a 10-2) to run wild
on the right flank. On the left flank, squads move forward, some more
getting on top of the hill, some moving around toward the trees.


Turn 3, 4 & 5:
Now the fighting begins in earnest. I moved the paras aggressively and
was lucky (in most cases) to survive Defensive Fire. However, there were
significant losses…

At one point, Erwin had a squad that was almost surrounded by my
troopers. In his turn, he pref fires, the squad is reduced to a HS in
Defensive Fire, and then he advances the little guy into the hex with
one of my squads. I begin to break into a sweat, because I know CC is
risky. We roll for ambush. He ambushes me!

(Nuts!) OK, try to stay calm. It won't help for Erwin to know how you
feel…

Ewrin rolls. He doesn't hurt me. (Whew!) I roll and miss him too.
(NUTS!)

No problem, I think. Now its my turn, I will just advance enough into
the hex to win the CC - I already have two or three squads adjacent the
the melee. NEWBIE WARNING! GIGANTIC TACTICAL ERROR FOLLOWS! I decide
that I'll advance the 10-3 (Gavin) and another squad. That should be
enough to guarantee the win in CC. (duh!) No ambush, and I roll and
kill Erwin's HS. He calmly asks which squad my 10-3 is stacked with. It
makes no difference, so I indicate one. He will, of course attack that
one. Its 1-4 CC odds. If he rolls snake eyes, the squad and Gavin will
die. If he rolls a 3, then one unit will take a CR.

He rolls a three. (NUTS!) Now I roll random selection and roll two
5's. Both units take CR. The squad becomes a HS, and Gen Gavin rolls on
the wound severity table.

We regret to inform you that James Gavin died just outside this little
village. Right over there by the woods in R8. Very sad.

The CC result gets Erwin back in the game. Up until then, I had most
things going my way. (I didn't track it, but I think I had better DR's
- on average - than Erwin.)


Encirclement is a good thing:
Erwin had troops in the o10 building, in the woods near N10, in the
woods at P8 and in the building o7. I managed to encircle the guys in P8
by firing with a pinned HS from R8 and a squad from N8. His units break
and survive interdiction. They end up in P6, IIRC.

BTW: the only time we looked up a rule during this game was when we
checked to see if fire by a pinned unit could cause encirclement. (It
can.) Sometimes its more fun to play a scenario where both players are
familiar with the rules being used. (As opposed my playing with tanks,
where I still don't have a clue.)

Last turn we played was turn 5. I had moved one squad to Q10, and
another squad and a half into the street adjacent to C7. In Defensive
Fire, Erwin fires at my squad in Q10, rather than my adjacent squads. He
gets no result and concedes the game. My squad in Q10 can move off board
next turn, with no opportunity for him to fire at him. I had lots of
troops in the area that would make it hard for Ewrin to exit.

A very enjoyable game. Lots of nail biting and tension. Erwin plays very
well, he did probably get the short end of the DR average. This scenario
is becoming one of my favorite scenarios. 8-)

Sam Belcher