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After Action Report (AAR) of Alpenfestung VII

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Saved by Marc
on May 2, 2014 at 9:48:17 pm

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Flyer
Date
Venue
Participants
Scenarios
Results
Ranking
After Action Report (AAR)
Photos

Flyer

This was the official Flyer for the tournament: Einladung ASL Alpenfestung VII (.jpg, 333 kB)

Date

The Alpenfestung VII tournament took place Friday, April 4th until Sunday, April 6th, 2014.

Venue

We played in a vacation home in Schmitten (Kanton of Graubünden).

Participants

Marc B. (Switzerland)
Eric S. (Switzerland)
Daniel T. (Switzerland)
Jan L. (Switzerland)

Scenarios

The choice of scenarios for the long round (4.5 hrs.) was:

I. Charging Chaumont. Germans vs. Americans in Belgium. December, 1944. 6 Turns. From ASL Journal #8. (4:27 hrs.)

II. Piercing the Peel. Dutch vs. Germans in Holland. May, 1940. 7 Turns. From Module #11, Doomed Battalions (Third Edition). (4:19 hrs.)

III. Russe! Drown in the Wolga! Russians vs. Germans in Russia. September 1942. 6 Turns. From Valor of the Guards. (4:13 hrs.)

Download the Long Scenarios for Alpenfestung VII (3.0 MB) here.

The choice of scenarios for the short round (4.0 hrs.) was:

I. Counterattack at Carentan. Americans vs. Germans in France. June 1944. 6 Turns. From Winter Offensive Bonus Pack #2. (3:38 hrs.)

II. Riding the Coattails. Polish vs. Slovak in Poland. September 1939. 6.5 Turns. From Out of the Bunker #1. (3:40 hrs.)

III. Obstinate Canadians. Canadians vs. Germans in Germany. February 1945. 5.5 Turns. From Operation Veritable. (3:40 hrs.)

Download the Short Scenarios for Alpenfestung VII (2.6 MB) here.

Results

First Round

Eric (as the Dutch) vs. Jan (as the Germans) in Piercing the Peel. Eric wins.

Daniel (as the Americans) vs. Marc (as the Germans) in Charging Chaumont. Daniel wins.

Second Round

Marc (as the Germans) vs. Jan (as the Canadians) in Obstinate Canadians. Marc wins.

Daniel (as the Americans) vs. Eric (as the Germans) in Counterattack at Carentan. Daniel wins.

Ranking

1st: Daniel (2:0) - Tournament winner

2nd: Eric (1:1), winner of First Round

3rd: Marc (1:1), loser of First Round

4th: Jan (0:2)

After Action Report (AAR)

Marc

After the mixed feelings about our last vacation home at Flumserberg, we chose one in Schmitten, a tiny village in the beautiful Kanton of Graubünden. I travelled to Schmitten two days early to explore that area a little, and it was worthwile it! My hike on the evening I arrived led me to the Landwasserviadukt, a high train bridge crossing the small Landwasser river. The next day, I hiked to the Belfort, the ruin of a medieval castle, and its surrounding woods and villages. Lastly, on the day of the other player's arrival, I visited a train museum in Bergün. It showed how challenging it was at the end of the 19th century to build the train tracks along steep mountain flanks, over bridges and through tunnels. Up to this day, many constructions of that period are still marveled as an engineering masterpiece.

The new vacation home in Schmitten turned out to be a very unique and charming place. We had lots of space for gaming, eating and sleeping. It was fun to explore the house when I arrived, it took me quite a while to look into all rooms, niches and wardrobes. The kitchen was fully equipped and we found everything we needed.

My first game against Daniel proved to be both challenging and fun. I spread my forced over the breadth of a whole board, trying to tie down the attacking forces in a fighting withdrawal. However, in one turn, many of my (half) squads succumbed to the attacking American units and broke. Daniel used heavily the notorious tactic of Vehicular Bypass Freeze, and managed to gain complete freedom of movement in several instances. On a deluxe board with few hexes between the attacker and the final objective buildings, this proved fatal for me. My defending forces didn't manage to rally, and even my reinforcements had no room to unfold and were quickly decimated, too. Even though the first two round went pretty well for me, the downward spiral afterwards marked a clear and well deserved victory for Daniel. My learnings: Have a least some units in the victory buildings, and don't fan out too wide in the face of a highly mobile attacker with many vehicles. Second, be aware of the notorious Vehicular Bypass Freeze and act accordingly (I still have to reflect what countermeasures there are against this tactic).

My second game against Jan had a very different feel to it. I played the attacking German forces in a night assault against his entrenched (and often hidden) units in a mostly wooden area. I had more units than Jan's Canadians, plus a number of tanks and halftracks. I managed to reveal his defending squads one after another and eliminate them, mostly in close combat. His artillery strike briefly disrupted my right flank, but was not enough to stop the momentum of the entire attack. My learnings: As the defender, set up in a way that your units can mutually defend themselves, and don't hesitate to change your position if it proves to be of little value regarding the route the attacker takes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of this recent Alpenfestung - both the playing environment and the gaming itsself was very relaxed. The motto of my Alpenfestung series held true: «Playing challenging ASL scenarios, without hurry, in a stunning environment».

Daniel

Eric

Michael