J11 – IN THE OLD TRADITION
Legion attacking as the Sikhs
JP defending as the Japanese
ROAR (5:20 – S:J) – 3rd August, 2007
Live VASL: 1 Session, 1 Hour
Well, the last game was an absolute Dog! (J10) and a quick look at the ROAR rating doesn’t give me much hope for this one too!
Initial Thoughts
This is my first game on the DASL maps and thus I was surprised at the small size of the playing area. The maps are e and h, both from the Hedgerow Hell set, they they are criss-crossed with Walls and Hedges. However SSR means those Walls and Hedges are NA and even with VASL that is a bit of a mess. The map is littered with objects that are not there…
My men have to Human Wave across Open Ground from either the South of the map (which gives me a bit of protection from his FP due to range) or from the East of the map (which gives the best tactical disposition for my men though I will suffer his full FP as a result). Whichever way I attack I shall be facing a ferocious mass of FP with -2 mods.
To be honest this game looks like it will depend on who scores the best DRs, and it is likely to be over by Turn 1 if the DRs are just average for both sides.
Japanese Setup
He has not gone for much subtlety, at least in his exposed units, remembering that the IJA get 10% of their force as HIP then I know that there is a HIP on that hill somewhere… most likely in eI4 I expect. He also has 3x Foxholes and 3x Trenches to place, though the trenches must be on the 2nd level hill
The units in the [square brackets] are the units exposed post-game start
eJ2 3x ? [LMG 448, 1S foxhole]
eK2 4x ? [MMG 228, 9-0, 1S foxhole]
eK3 HIP [447, foxhole]
eK4 6x ? [LMG 448, 50mm MTR 447, 1S foxhole]
eL3 [1S foxhole]
eM3 4x ? [MMG 228, 8-0, 1S foxhole]
Sikh Attack
My Sikh are entering the board as a Human Wave as per SSR 4. Prior to the game start I chose the Eastern edge as my entry edge and my Human Wave is entering between hE3 and eE3. I have put my 10-2 leader and 8-1 leader with a pair of LMGs and the ATR is to the North of the line. The 10-2 is also up North while the other 2 leaders are down the Southern end of my Wave.
Although I face the most FP this way, any units that survive will be perfectly placed to push against the hill. I also have to consider the Ha-Go tank which is to arrive on Turn 3. Since it must enter on the North edge I want LMG and ATR on either side of its most probable entry zones so that I have at least some chance of a rear shot.
The Game
TURN 1
As soon as my men enter they face a FireLane from eK2 to hH2 – this scores a K/1 which ends up CRing all of the 2x 457 and the 7-0 in this hex! In fact my men face such a blizzard of fire that even with the +2 Morale bonus of the Human Wave (from SSR) my attack quickly falls apart. By the end of the turn I have 8x MCs failed from 11 taken, and remember this is with 9ML due to the Human Wave and my 8-1 leader is killed through a K/ result. JPs attacks were a bit better then average and my MCs were worse than average and yet I have still been decimated. In Advancing Fire I miss with all my shots and am forced to spread out to avoid his Prep Fire. The only stack I keep intact (apart from the massed of Routed men) is the 2x LMG 447, 10-2, there is only one hex that has LOS to him, thanks to the hill, and he has a 12FP +0 shot against the main Trench position (eK4) if he survives Prep.
A farce has been turned into an even bigger farce with the first shot of the turn… it is a 1,1 resulting in a K/1 result again the 10-2 stack… and the Random Selection roll Wounds the leader… the leader fails his Severity roll and dies as does any chance of the Allied winning this game. Another 1,1 with a 50mm MTR shot against my ATR 447 kills this unit too. By the end of the turn I am left with just 2x 447 and a single leader (a Wounded 7-0) in Good Order the rest are broken, many of them are CR and one is ELRed as well. There has been just 1 successful attack by the British forces, and that was from a SAN result! I do not hesitate to surrender!
Sikh Losses: 3x 447, 8-1, 10-2
Japanese Losses: 447 strips
The Sikhs surrender with what few men they have left.
JAPANESE VICTORY
Conclusion
This game was a farce, it truly was one of the most un-playable scenarios I have seen and it was actually boring for us both due to the one-sided nature of the game. We actually played out to the end of Turn 1 only for the thrill of seeing how few British would be left.
The British MUST hustle on that first turn due to the Human Wave, and they must keep hustling after that to win by Turn 5.5. Even with just the Japanese Infantry it is going to be tough, but when the AFV comes on-board the task would be even harder. And all this must take into account the Human Wave across Open Ground in turn 1. Even average DRs for both sides will end in a comfortable victory for the IJA.
I would recommend that you completely strike this scenario from your list of ‘games to play’ as it actually took longer to set the game up than it did to play!
In fact, if you want to grasp the essence of this game without having to go through the tedium of pulling out pieces, shuffling them around for 10min and then putting them away again, then I suggest this… The British player rolls 1x DR, and the Japanese player rolls 10x DR; whoever rolls the lowest DR is the winner.