J9 – A STIFF FIGHT
JP attacking as the Japanese
Legion defending as the Ghurkhas
INITIAL THOUGHTS
I am not expecting to win this one simply because I am playing the Japanese for the first time, although I have defended as the Allies against them on many an occasion I am still not sure how to utilise them best. To make matters worse, his troops are Ghurkha’s so I am concerned about taking losses in CC. I am attacking from left to right across a board that is only 10 hexes from top to bottom, there is a road running along the axis of my attack which I have to clear to win, nearly all the other hexes are dense jungle, bamboo and kunai which limits my 3 tank’s Platoon Movement.
I have 8 squads, 2 leaders, 3 LMG’s, 2 MMG’s with crews, a Knee Mortar (should be fun…) and 3 Tanks. His forces are 7 squads, 2 leaders, 4 LMG’s, 2 ATR’s and 4 wire counters.
SETUP AND PLAN
He has setup with one squad covering the swamp at the top of the board, 2 squads at the bottom covering the T8 and T9 hexes (more about them later) and the rest are in a solid line running U4-U7. His wire will probably be on the road (he is allowed to put 2 wires on it) and he would be crazy not to, similarly I expect both ATR’s to be on or near the road as well.
I have setup with my squads ready to enter at P4 all the way down to P10, my tanks are entering at P8 and both my MMG’s are ready to hold my left flank when they enter at P3. I will move (and eventually advance) my MMG’s to S3 where they can give a minor amount of supporting fire. My tanks have no choice but to go straight down the middle of the road, but there is a hex down at T8 or T9 that is only a single jungle hex so I will send them all down there as if they are going to bash through the jungle just to get his main force and ATR’s to re-locate, I might then send one through the jungle (dangerous considering the +5 DRM and the NTC required to leave platoon movement) and the other 2 back up to the main road where hopefully my infantry would have spotted the wire and/or been successful in clearing it. I am going to try to defeat the troops at the bottom of the board where there seems to be only 3 squads, and then swing my attack up the board to hold off any of his counter attacks which will be supported by my MMG’s and tanks along the road with the lone tank (if I take the jungle bashing option) going the long way around to attack the road from the rear. I feel that if I can eliminate one of his flanks I will have enough troops left to hold off his other flank and stop it getting adjacent to the road.
TURN 1
I moved my troops onto the board but kept them all away from any PBF, my tanks went to S9/R8/Q8 to put pressure on his left flank (I BFF’ed at him to no effect then rotated the rear 2 tanks to show that they will go back up to the road leaving the front tank in motion and adjacent to the jungle hex that I will bash through..). In advance phase I advanced 4 squads to positions adjacent his still concealed line. He did not Prep fire which worried me as I am aware that the Gurkha’s are formidable CC troops and I was worried he would try to seal the deal in CC, to my relief he pulled his troops back one hex in movement. Now I am a little bit more confident, all my guys had been exposed getting to the jungle and he could have caused some damage in CC, the fact that he pulled back means he is planning to skulk around a lot and make it a defence based on movement rather than a toe-to-toe fight and when it comes to infiltrating defences by movement nobody is better than the Japanese. This also shows a reluctance on his part to risk taking losses so I know I can keep the pressure on him. I re-mantled my MMG’s and MTR and had no other shots due to lack of targets.
TURN 2
I decided to try and get one tank across the single piece of jungle on his left flank (T9) and it barged into the jungle surviving the +5 Bog DRM. The other 2 tanks swung back up to the road and ended their turn on the first piece of wire at U6. A squad found the next wire counter at U7 and this is all starting to look very WW1 – a line of wire with a line of soldiers behind it. I sent a squad up to U4 which was clear and, figuring that he would have the 2nd allowed wire counter on the road I reasoned that the last piece should be on U5 which a subsequent search roll proved me correct. Meanwhile I kept pushing at his left flank and only a “pin” result saved the end of his line from being turned, but his flank is looking very weak indeed. In his turn he pulled back one more hex once again staying out of my LOS but a lucky shot from me on his left flank broke one of the 2 squads holding it and it routed up to the main jungle area. In his advance he did not move anyone to help his last squad on the left flank and I knew I had achieved my breakthrough!!
TURN 3
My lone tank barged its way through the jungle, once again surviving a +5 DRM and drove straight to BB9 with a view to encircling the jungle and attacking his troops down the road from behind as well as making him think about re-locating or pulling an ATR off the line to cope with this threat.. I poured as many squads as I could through the gap on his left flank and had 3 squads and a –1 leader around Y8 by turns end. My remaining tanks tried to force their way down the road but the 2nd tank got bogged on the U6 wire so they are both stopped on the road there. He defensive fired an ATR at my lead tank on the road for no effect and at his right flank he finally striped one of my squads. He now had 2.5 squads and a leader behind the U5-U7 wire that were effectively surrounded, they could not assault move their way out of their position without being adjacent to one of my units (my MMG’s had moved to V3 by this stage) and they could not move forward due to their own wire constricting their movement options so Legion decided to go on the offensive. He sent a squad to attack one of my CX stragglers down at U8 but my mortar (which had shifted from his right to his left flank when I found the wire) did magnificently. 1st shot was WP which pinned him (that makes my CX guy safe!!) the second shot was a CH and he failed the 2MC with a 6,6 and the third shot caused a 1MC which he failed and he was lost forever. He also sent his HS and ATR along with his last squad and leader into V6 where they were adjacent to both my tanks but with a side shot on the lead tank. My rear tank fired MG’s and its MA which malfed when I went intensive. The lead tank rotated its turret and fired for no damage then went intensive which scored a MC, his leader rolled a 6,6 and died and, most importantly, the HS and ATR broke and was eventually eliminated for FTR. He advanced his last squad onto my bogged tank and scored an Immob. Result.
JAPANESE TURN 4
I prep fired my tanks at the squad in melee with my immob. and malfed, bogged tank, (these guys have had a bad day) and only succeeded in giving him a HOB which made him Fanatic and created a hero. My lone tank failed its NTC and so stayed where it was. I converged on the melee and in advancing fire I had him encircled, a 1MC finally broke the fanatic squad and I advanced a squad into the hex, the hero died in CC but, miraculously, the broken fanatic squad managed to withdraw.
We saved the game there as I had to go to work and it is in the balance but slightly in my favour, he has a squad (and a HS if my maths is correct) in U3, and squads also in U10,BB6,Y2 with his broken squad in T5. My troops are spread out across the centre of the board in an area U4-T8-AA6-AA4-U4 and, of course, my jungle bashing tank down in BB9. I have enough troops to keep him at bay as his men are scattered literally into the 4 corners of the board (well, not quite…) and will not be able to do a co-ordinated attack but the game is not over yet and his movement phase of turn 4 could decide the outcome. All I have to do is break his squads and designate one of my men to chase it around and keep it DM and I should have the win, currently only the BB6 squad and leader are in a position to stop me achieving the VC and that means his other 4.5 squads will have to attack my troops.
BRITISH TURN 4
He had no prep and simply spread his men out, of note was the squad and a half up in U3 separating and going to S3 and V2, his last leader and squad went to CC7 while the squad at the bottom of the board went to T9 adjacent to my squad and MTR and a broken HS. In his advancing fire the HS failed a MC and was eliminated while the MTR squad deployed and broke to avoid a CC.
TURN 5
Only my BB9 tank gained mobility and it crashed into the jungle at CC8 while another squad went to CC6 and searched (trying to expose his CC7 units) but the dice god was unkind and he failed, meanwhile I AM’ed my concealed 9-1 and squad adjacent to these guys with the view to CC’ing them but his leader retained concealment so the ambush dr would have been –3 for each of us which was too much of a craps shoot at this stage of the game given my limited resources. I spread the rest of my troops out and although I have a nearly 2:1 numerical advantage my perimeter is quite thin as he was scattered to four different corners of the board, and five of those units are crew or HS’s – a testament to how good my initial attack was. I sent one of my HS’s to a hex adjacent his broken guy to keep him DM, I really don’t need him to have another active unit and I also abandoned my immob. Malf’ed and bogged tank in U6 and scrounged the LMG.
He kept his men out of my LOS and merely manoeuvred ready for the final attack and thus gain some concealment, all of his men are only 2 hexes away from a hex that will stop me achieving VC and obviously he will AM and then advance into the appropriate hexes, his CC7 units pulled out of their hex and eventually advanced into CC6 and killed my CX squad there.
TURN 6
I finally killed his leader and squad in CC7 with the use of an OVR by one of my tanks which even ESB’ed to get out of the hex to enable me to ambush with the concealed 9-1 and squad. The leader was broken by the OVR and I elected “No Quarter” so I would not be carrying a prisoner into CC (this is a ’41 scenario and automatic No Quarter for the Japanese does not come into effect until 6/42). His squad died in the ensuing CC. In his turn the game got serious!! This is for the win! A squad in AA3 AM’ed to AA4, another AM’ed to W3 and a third AM’ed to S6, finally a HS used non-AM and charged all the way onto the wire at U6 I defensive fired at him but was unable to get a break, I did not fire all my troops as I needed to keep some concealed in case I needed to get into a CC with him. (I cant afford to let him score an ambush and then withdraw into a VC hex….). In my defensive I stripped the AA4 units concealment and kept an adjacent crews concealment (this guy should die..) the squad in W3 got broken by defensive fire from the adjacent squad and LMG so he is out of the game but the squad and HS at S6 and U6 survived with the S6 unit keeping concealment. A SAN killed my 9-1 leader in CC6 and I was glad the IJA only take LLTC instead of LLMC as I need every man I got.
LAST HALF A TURN
This game goes 6.5 turns so I have one final attack, I did some prep firing at the U6 wire guy (silly, I should have Opp. Fired and kept the firepower as I knew I would be getting an encirclement in advance fire..). the AFV closest to the U6 wire HS did not get mobility and so could not help, my 2nd AFV gained it and went to AA5 where it BFF at the AA4 squad for n/e. I sent one squad to the palm trees at Z4 and another squad to AA5 (so we can firegroup him) but this squad was pinned in defensive.
I also sent a HS to V5 to create an encirclement on the U6 wire guy. A HS went into T6 and searched to reveal his squad for no loss and the rest of my troops crowded around the U6 and S6 units. In his defensive he striped a squad and caused a MC on a stack consisting of the HS that searched (already T/I so no loss when it broke) a concealed 9-0 leader that had to lose concealment (bugger, now I only have one concealed unit left (S7) for 2 attacks) but worse was to come!! A HS in this hex rolled HOB and went berserk. I advanced a squad, half crew and concealed crew into AA4, 2 squads (one concealed, one striped) the vehicle crew and the 9-0 leader into S6 (where he had a 6 firepower squad) and 2 HS’s including the berserker onto the U6 wire.
THE FINAL DR’S!!
– AA4 was a successful ambush for me and I needed a 10TK which I achieved, one down, two to go!!
– S6 neither of us gained ambush but I had him at 3-2 and killed him, two down, one to go!
– U6 was a rule book grabbing affair, he gained ambush (he was –1 stealthy and I was +1 berserk, +1 lax +1 attacker in jungle –1 stealthy) and tried to withdraw BUT A11.21 states that you can only withdraw to a hex you can enter in advance phase and he was on top of wire so he had to stay and fight (I might just pull off a win here..) he was attacking at 1-2 so needed a 4TK (which would be a CR result and, assuming random selection did not select both I could still have a chance to kill) with +1 from wire and –1 enemy on wire plus –1 ambush and he rolled…… a 3,1 and killed both, thus winning the game on the last DR.
ALLIED VICTORY
FINAL THOUGHTS
How the hell did I lose that game???
I held his centre and turned his flanks, and by turn 4 I had achieved victory conditions, I attacked where I was strong and held a perimeter where I wasn’t, at the end of the day it literally got down to DR’s. If my AFV had gained mobility on turn 7 it could have driven into the U6 wire and stopped him from gaining an ambush, if his defensive fire had missed the hex where my 9-0 lost concealment and the HS went berserk I could have gained the win too. It was just an escalation of small things going wrong that lost it. I loved playing the Japanese, their ability to surround the enemy is brilliant, but you also have to be careful as their force strength can be whittled down quickly.