EDSON’S RIDGE CG
13 Day
Legion playing Japanese
Initial Thoughts
The last game ended up being a victory for me, at least that’s what I think. With 9CVP garnered against the US and total control of Hill 100 (=34VP) I was doing quite well. He had used a fair percentage of his CPP in the first game and I cannot imagine him holding many back in preparation for this one… so far, so good!
IJA OOB
Retained from last game:
MMC: 4x 448, 20x 447, 347
HS: 237
Ldrs: 9-1, 2x 9-0, 8-0
Lt. SW: 50*Mtr, 6x LMG
Hvy SW: 3x 228, HMG, 2x MMG, FT, 3x DC
OBA: 70mm
A potent little force, especially with the 3x DC and the FT… he has seen them and knows that they are ready for action… good… I want him to suspect that every unit AMing next to him is a possible DC hero or FT unit.
Buys
I had rolled a ‘2’ for the random dr… and lets face it, that could have been a lot better. It was just this fact that made me consider going Idle this game, using my additional dr just to activate the game seemed to be a waste… but I went on a web-search for any of the (few) ER AARs out there and they all suggested that IJA MUST NEVER go Idle… they should attack, attack and attack some more. They must force the US player to buy troops and defend his territory
What Cost Left Status
I1 4(R) 9 F 4x 447, LMG, Lt Mtr
I1 4(R) 8 F 4x 447, LMG, 8+1
F1 4 1 – FB’42
O2 1 – – Pre-Reg Hex
M1 1 3 – 15FPP
M3 2 3 – Attack Chit
Some of these are self-explanatory, the Reserve stacks are for rear protection, just in case he gets cute and tries to take back some hexes of Hill 100. I save 2CPP and get to have more stacks for when I really need them… Night games.
The FB are a must, not only because they are cool, but because he either pretends that they don’t exist and takes the pain, or he has to use his HMG to go AA against them. He has no FB himself, so if and when they come on I shall have total control of the skies and thus the Open Ground. I have been talking them up and he has been talking up his ability to hide in the jungle and be safe from them… I think that he will still keep units in the open though as he probably thinks I am bluffing about the FB (they ARE expensive), and lets face it, US in the jungle are vulnerable to the IJA MMC too!
The OBA was a tough call, in the end I settled for a radio instead of an Off-Board Observer, although it is going to be hit and miss with access due to G.7 (radio in PTO) the Japanese radio is so crappy anyway that this is hardly a major worry! I have placed the pre-reg hex in AA15; if he is not in the open this is a great place to get a module that can be quickly and easily corrected. If he is in the open then this is where he is going to be!
Prior to looking at his setup I can say that I suspect that he will set up about 50% of his forces on the hill and the rest will be spread over the 2 flanks of the hill in the mass of foxholes there.
I have 1 spare CPP for the next game.
THE ENEMY
Man… his setup was so similar to the end of the first game that I was about to ask him if he sent me the same file! He has gone for masses of troops around Hill 125… as they are IN foxholes I cannot tell if they are concealed or not… but there is no doubt that unless he wasted a lot of FPP on ? then he is putting up a major defence of his remaining 5x lvl4 hill hexes. Like in the last game he has a force IN the foxholes on the wings (CC10-BB12 and AA18 -AA20), what few HIP he has are likely to be guarding their flanks. He has bought at least a platoon of reserves and they are spread around the FF20 area. It also looks like he thought I was bluffing about the FB!
Now, my question is “how likely is he to mount a counter-attack?” as this will decide how many men I shall put aside for my main plan, which is to form a ring of OH around Hill 125 and choke him in either Ammo Shortage or uncertainty over where the Night attack is coming from. I am only intending to pick a fight if he either makes a run for one of my OH, or if he exposes a weakness that allows me to storm Hill 125. The rest of the time I shall be happy to expand my perimeter and pick off stray units.
THE PLAN
I am settling on a classic pincer movement… There will be 2 thrusts to the East and the West of the Hill; in total comprising about 70% of my non-Reserve force. They will both be weighted about the same, though their intentions will be slightly different. All 3 areas (East, West and Centre) will be again composed of a core of a Banzai group (leader and 2-3 MMC and a LMG ‘Fire Brigade’ stack). The Banzai stack will be purely aggressive, the Fire Brigade Stack will be purely defensive.
– The Easternmost Attack (bottom of Hill 125) will aim to attack his AA18-AA20 line, with the intention of both killing MMC and claiming the foxholes here; then, dependant on the reinforcements it draws I shall either hold and defend or hold while sending more units off to claim the FF18 OH… though it looks a little TOO un-protected for my liking! If I am lucky he will have suffered enough losses for me to even be able to take a hex or two on the hill top… if this happens then I shall be mightily pleased!
– The Westernmost Attack (top of Hill 125) will try to look threatening whilst actually just attempting to claim his OH and dig foxholes. I need his uncertainty about this flank to stop him from either assaulting Hill 100, or from too heavily reinforcing the AA18-AA20 line.
– In the Centre I shall have units expanding on my foxhole collection and also acting as back-ups in case he tries something funny. I think that he will attempt to hit the X9-X13 area with OBA before attacking, so I shall leave it relatively undefended… but with units ready to move in when the OBA has dropped away
THE GAME
Turn 1
I start off by making an Air Support dr, even though the chance is nil I still want him to know that they are coming! I want him nervous and ducking for cover every time a bird flies overhead. The OBA is called in with no worries and starts to drop right on the pre-reg hex causing devastation with some extremely biased DRs, a 1MC breaks a 558 and PINs the Radio totting leader in one foxhole (Z15), whilst a CH eliminated a Para-Marine in another (R14). Really this was terrible luck especially for the first hit of the game and I sympathise with JP for having to put up with it; I would not have liked it one bit! My own Foxhole expansion plans are under way with Y8 now being OH-sized and I use my only Lt MTR Smoke shell (V18) to place +3SMOKE on his MTR stack (AA18). So far, so good!
The Eastern Attack (below of the hill) starts off fine, I place a CX counter on my ldr, 3x 447 stack even though I travel just 6MF to create the impression there is no leader there – hopefully he will think it is one of my ‘LMG stacks’. I am in no great hurry yet anyway. I do the same with the Western Attack (above the hill) as well as probing possible locations for HIPs with my 2nd line MMC and a first line unit.
His attacks are ineffective with the US Radio failing to make contact and his only hit (17FP +2) scoring a passed PIN! I Advance to block his exit from the BB10 hill positions, but do it to make it look like I am setting up for an attack.
He starts his turn off with a free Civilian Information roll , which is to say that he mistakenly reveals a unit that he had no right to inspect through a mistaken attack result… (Harassing Fire falling on the U13 HIP foxhole). This happens at least once a game, so now that we have got it done I can be hopeful it won’t happen again. He blasts random bits of forest in the hope of finding my Radio toting leader and the very last shot (2FP +2) manages to cause a passed PTC and the leader’s exposure. Naturally this is immediately followed by a 60* MTR hit that manages to wound the leader and the elite MMC with him.
Movement starts off with a rather baffling generalised charge by the US, they seem to be attempting to attack straight towards my men on both flanks. His charge towards the Z7 OH ends up being almost stopped cold with a 558 broken and another PINned, this leaves just 3MMC to deal with in CC, but even with his reinforcements (1 massive stack probably 3x MMC and MMG and a smaller stack of a MMC and ldr) I shall not have much trouble mopping them up I feel, especially since the DR are totally falling my way at the moment. I even manage to maintain the Radio and the error roll when I correct it turns out perfectly for me (Y16) – though it falls impotently due to the foxhole cover. My only Lt MTR manages to hit AA19 with it’s last WP6 round (which, because it is an airburst makes this only a -1MC – airburst, foxhole).
All in all this was a frustrating turn for me… with 2x 447 and a 448 being stripped as well as the 9-0 getting wounded off of low chance hits. He also has taken some hits though and has pulled back a lot of the Western Attack to make it easier to defend against me in this next turn and to protect his broken unit. Since he cannot have too many units HIP I think that he is over-exposing his flanks to what is probably a much stronger IJA attack than he anticipated.
Turn 2
I have to balance keeping out of the way of his FP and continuing the advance. This should not be too difficult as at least to the East of the hill (below the hill on the map) he has only sent a single stack, probably attempting to gain the MTR manned foxhole on the hill (V18). I can move men to make it look like I am covering his move when actually I am setting myself up for the attack on this foxhole line in 2 turns time. I am still reluctant to use the ldr movement bonus as I cannot afford to reveal any more leader’s locations. I am a bit baffled by the general emptying of my target area though, there must either be some very strong HIP/fortifications there, or he is putting caution aside in an attempt to make up some of the territory he has lost.
The Western side of the hill (top of the hill) is a different matter, he has sallied forth from his foxholes in strength and though his nose was bloodied in the last turn I am not entirely sure that this will hold him off for good. I again have more than enough forces here to keep him at bay, though it might prove costly for me. My first move was the advance of a DC 448 adjacent to the Fanatic mini-Death Star (CC8), the created DC hero is gunned down immediately and a 447 that also moves close to take the heat off is striped in the run of low attack DRs and high MCs. At least the defensive Final Fire is not totally lethal with me losing just a single HS in this stack despite the ferocious FP. My attack on his movements have completely stalled and I decide to not reinforce failure.
In the Centre I attempt to pull back the ldr with the radio and the Elite MMC with DC but they are hit by a 60mm MTR who manages to roll snake-eyes TWICE, this KIAs both these units (they had moved individually) and destroys my OBA capability unless I can re-claim that radio. This turn has been a disaster for me.
In his turn it gets worse as all his breaks rally with amazing DRs and he is back to square one while I am already mauled for no gain in territory – at least his Radio malfunctioned! MTRs lob away at my sole MTR on the hill side missing with ease… this position is holding out far better then I had ever hoped.
His movements show 2 things:
– 1. He is aware of and afraid of the arrival of air support… he is moving as many units off the Hill125 and into the jungle as possible
– 2. He is afraid of my flank attacks, he splits the roughly 4MMC he pulls off the Hill defence between the 2 flanks also sending one leader to each side.
At least something is working in my favour. I am going to be moving slowly here… I really don’t have to take territory and am just as happy to dig foxholes to solidify my lines. I set up my moves to AM adjacent to him, forcing him to be the one who must drop his ? to take shots. If he decides to attack then he will be the one who walks into the storm of steel.
My biggest worry and biggest opportunity is in the centre. He had moved a unit to the X13 OH, claimed it and then CCed the MMG and 347 that was in the adjacent 1S foxhole (naturally I rolled a ’10’ for the Defensive attack to counter his 3’s and 4’s!). The CC was a ambush and he used that to kill the MMG crew and withdraw! Very smart play… The IJA MMG/HMG are +1 to To Hit and B# without crew to fire them (G1.611)… I say this area is the biggest opportunity because he has pulled out so many men from here that almost anyone will be able to run between Hill100 and Hill 125… if only those bloody FB would come!
Turn 3
Oh Happy Day! His Malfunctioned Radio rolls a mighty 6! Good-bye OBA… what a huge relief that is!
I have a simple plan for this turn, I am going to consolidate my positions… set myself up for an attack by Assault Moving units and also make sure he cannot take a step towards my controlled areas. I am able to complete the 2S foxhole in Z4 and I manage to fluke a single foxhole in X21… this will be a great position for defence and as an OH. By the end of movement I have AMed a HMG with leader towards my Radio foxhole (U15) – it might still work when the blood is cleaned of of it. A dummy stack has made a move in the centre towards the edge of the Lvl 4 area… I want him to know how vulnerable Hill 125 might be if he keeps pulling out. The positions on the Eastern and Western flanks spread out like wings, though the main attack will still only be in the East where he seems weakest… in Advance I shall pull back my defenders to make sure he cannot AM adjacent to me with his heavy hitting stacks.
Of course all this is reliant on JP not rolling 1,1’s for his attacks which is asking too much… he manages to again pull out snake-eyes and 3’s with my MTR HS on the hill ending up broken and a striped 347 MMC KIAed. In fact the only time that he does manage to roll above 7 is when it is my MCs!
His turn starts off with ANOTHER MTR CH with 1,1, that is 5 snake-eyes from MTR shots in less than 20 shots. At least he is now admitting I am getting diced and not trying to claim that he is “exploiting the natural brittleness of the Japanese” like he was when he first gutted me with a triplet of snake-eyes. This attack is naturally followed by a pair of MC failures, even my 9ML leaders cannot pass MCs it seems.
At least I can get some payback when the only units who actually move towards me are comprehensively cut down. JP lost an 8-1 and HS (Y11) when an exposed HIP stack AMed adjacent to a 447 LMG. All the talks we have had about the PTO LOS being worse than a city fight, whilst the TEM is no-where near that of Stone Buildings has not stopped him from moving his units around in stacks… at last he has paid a price for it! The HMG with the stripped crew (from his last snake-eyes) gets a single ROF shot when directed by the wounded 9-1 (U15) and scores another leader’s death with a deadly wound from a boxcars MC – effectively leaving his hill leaderless as well as breaking the MMC with him here (Z15). Finally the last ditch defenders of the W14 area un-HIP their MMG and go on a 6-shot tear, breaking a MMC and reducing a HS; if I had used the 347 here as well I could’ve done some major damage I feel, but I needed it’s ? ambush bonus for what was most probably going to be a strong CC attack. My attacks were nothing spectacular, apart from the ROF with the MMG, but almost every one of his MCs was a 9 or an 11… a bit of poetic justice considering what has happened to me in the past 2 turns… it doesn’t rain, it pours sometimes. The loss of 2 US leaders and a squad equivalent is the final tally for this Defensive Fire, hardly equitable to what damage he has caused from snake-eyes alone, but certainly I am feeling a lot more at peace with the dice! More importantly than that is that the Hill 125 area is now in deep trouble it seems… he has no leaders here and although I have little man-power available to pour into this area I might have FB sooner than later… if he pulls back from the flanks to reinforce the hill (as he must) then I have the ability to quickly pour in troops to either out-flank him or to go for the kills… what does he do?
His men retreat, and the mass of Routing guys all head to the edge of the jungle (Y13). Does this give me a chance to hit them IF I finally get some aircraft?
Lining Up for the Eastern Attack
Turn 4
Without a doubt that last phase really hurt JP, and with a bit of luck I can capitalise on it. He is continuing to push in the West and I shall have to pull back from him here, but in the East I think he is in the greatest danger, though he might not be aware of it yet. Capping things off is the arrival of 3 FB42! At last! He will either have to clear out of the hill area or risk the vast amount of damage that these guys (with their belated entrance) can hand out.
Prep brings another ROF tear with the HMG units… it breaks a leader and MMC in the vital Eastern flank… and I think I might have an open door here – with my FT and a DC hero in waiting as well as a lot of MMC ready to exploit any gaps I have hopes of gaining these vital foxholes. Naturally though the 1,1 result with a MTR shot (7 snake-eyes in 30 MTR rolls) manages to kill the leader here and further reduce the crew… this one hex has received 6x 1,1 rolls in just 2 turns and this has dramatically affected the game in his favour.
In the East I edge in closer to the AA18-AA20 line, I suffer stripped units in the attempt, but he is unlucky with my FT revealing itself and a bunch of IJA MMC shooting to leave the charred remains of 1.5 MMC in their wake. Since this was in part due to a pair of boxcars and a mass of 10’s and 11’s, I feel that the bell-curve has again raised it’s ugly head to balance his unholy run of snakes! This section of the Eastern Flank has been totally hammered and I have a damn good chance of holding on to take the OHs, especially with Air Support able to stop him reinforcing this flank. Things are so desperate here that he has started voluntarily breaking units to get them out of danger. At last he might be able to see where my intentions for this game have been.
The West again suffers with another good shot managing to PIN a 447 (they voluntarily Broke as per G1.13) and breaks a HS… they both ran for it! I cannot do much to stop him over here… But he will have to come close to me to force a result… and that gives me the choice of who to shoot and when.
So far there has only been one 1,1 for him this turn, as a Rally attempt causes the hardening of a MMC – his Marines are rallying well, but with the foxholes giving them the same bonus as woods that is to be expected.
The West of the Hill (top of the board) sees no slowdown in the attack, which is a surprise, I would not have thought that he would have cared about a few OH when I have almost got a toe-hold on the final Hill… but with 3x FB42 circling overhead maybe he realises that the East is in trouble anyway so why bother. He has sent a 3 stacks of units towards the X9 OH… where I still have a HIP 447, LMG and a lone concealed 447 as the bait.
Surprisingly he is withdrawing in the East (bottom of the hill), this possibly opens up the attack onto the Hill itself, unless he has left a HIP or two here to mess with me. His units end up clustering around the DD20 Reserve Cloaking Counter… there is no way I am going to risk jumping into there!
The Air Support comes roaring in and leaves the Hill 125 defences weakened as it lines up 3 manned foxholes all in a pretty row… A HS is CRed and a 548 is broken; there are now just 2 MMC with LOS to the top of the Hill left from his OoB.
The end of this turn leaves him with a long line of single MMC strung out along my OH’s in the West – I guess that he is willing to give me the Hill 125 rather than face the Air Support and try to grab what OHs he can. I don’t really understand this though. This game is not to be won by control of OH.. it is won only by VPs, the majority of which come from control of the Hills… He can have as many OH as he wants… but can he man them? He has just 2 Attack chits, and there are 3 games left, so he will use them for the Night game (unless I don’t kill 19CVP in which case he wont have the option). I think the momentum of this game is about to swing.
Decisions in the West
Turn 5
Faced with a massed line of Little Green men in the West I do the unthinkable for the IJA, I withdraw. I thought of making a few hedgehogs… but all that this would achieve is the loss of my men and materiel while guaranteeing that at worse he will be freed of his constraints due to the death of +19CVP of men… I pull back, trading territory and OH (Y8 foxhole) for time.
On the other hand I am on the attack in the East with the few odd MMC that I can free up streaming towards Hill 125. I back up the newly captured AA18-AA20 foxhole line with enough FP (FT and DC, a ‘banzai stack’ and 2x 447 LMG) to try to dissuade the near-by massed US units to keep back. He takes a few shots at the men running for the hill, but finally some go wide and they make it pretty much unscathed except for a lone HS who is broken. By the end of my turn I have managed to capture the X16-Z15 foxhole line on the lower slopes of the hill (helped in part by a 1,1 in the CC attack on his lone defender). I had a lone 447 out wandering in the jungle, to try and take some of his attention away from the foxhole attack, he gets involved in an attack on a 558 Marine Raider and manages the kill but is killed in response.
I think he is in deep trouble now… the CC kill on the hill was a disaster for him, it might not have been so bad if he had taken me with him, but yet again a 1,1 has come along to tilt the balance. I am not sure what he can do about it either, I have 3x FB in the air, effectively making any move into LOS, let alone into the open a risky proposition. My foxhole defences to the East are strong enough to hold him back and I am going to withdraw as much as possible in the West to not lose men while slowing his advances towards Hill 100 down. I think that this will be the new battle ground now (West of the ridgeline) as he has little else he can do and at least here he has superiority.
Things start off reasonably well for me with my Recovery of not only 2 of his 3 MTRs that are littered over the captured defensive positions but I also manage to have my now 127 crew recover their HMG! Unfortunately a 1st line HS fails to rally under leadership and is ELRed as a result.
He has no Prep (with what anyway, we are so close to each other but still out of LOS in most cases) but movement sees him begin to swarm from the West towards Hill 125… he is going to try and influence this battle after all! Surprisingly he withdraws away form the vital AA18-AA20 foxhole line, though not far enough that he cannot make it back if needed.
I destroy the MTRs of his that I have captured, this is great; with the ABtF game we have both come to see that some of the SW sized MTRs can be a real pain. In this game I have taken more damage from these little 60mm MTR than anything else. My Aircraft come zooming in but only the last is able to find a target, the MGs strip Concealment and the bomb drop manages a hit that leaves only a HS from the 558 MMG who was in the target hex (X13). His advances confirm that he is pulling back towards Hill 125 to try and stop my OH grab.
Turn 6
Bloody Hell, he never tires of rolling snake-eyes… ANOTHER unit HOB’s and Battle hardens. At least I get all mine back too. I am going on the attack; there has been a subtle shift in the game over the last turn and that has put the ball in my court… He has left a number of stacks within Advancing Range of my units and I want to kill his MMC now… Sure capturing Hill 125 is important, but if I cant force him to use CPP then I will lose anyway.
The West has 2 vulnerable stacks (Y6 – Fanatic MMC MMG, ldr and Y11 – 2x HS, MMG, ldr) while the East has a mega stack in CC19. Y6 is neutralised by a shot that breaks the MMC, unfortunately the addition of another 2x 447 to attack this position are not able to capitalise on that as they fail to hit in Defensive. 3x 447, 2x LMG Assault Move adjacent to Y11 and manage to Pin the ldr, Break a HS and eliminate the MMG’s HS. Finally a complex set of moves manages to devastate the CC19 stack; first I send in a DC hero to absorb as much fire as possible, then I AM a number of units next to him including my FT – somehow in amongst all the ?-ed units he is able to pick the FT guy and Pin him – but AGAIN an important attack of mine draws ANOTHER 1,1; 1 KIA is enough to kill 1.5 MMC due to RS, then ANOTHER 6,6 from a 1MC KIA’s the sole Squad remaining in this hex… only a broken leader survives from the 2.5 MMC that started out here. To be honest I suspect that JP will consider throwing in the towel here… this sort of thing is devastating for the PELR. This game has been totally thrown around by the masses of 1,1s in particular… but the 6,6’s have been devastating as well – especially for the Marines (Radio Breakdown and numerous CRs in MCs). The only bright light for him is the SAN result striping a 447 which has maintained the pressure on the X13 OH area.
My movements are to finally hit the top of Hill 125, with 4 of 5 hexes of this being claimed by the end of the turn, I have also sent a solitary unit on a rush to try to claim an OH deep behind his lines. Since the game could end at any time I need to ensure that I can get as many of the foxhole OHs ringing the hill before it does… He can do little to stop me as to move in the open as to to expose units to Aerial LOS is to risk Air Attack. The planes have been a great buy… they really have done so much to stop him coming back at my Hill units…
If I can get one more Movement turn, then I am going to end up with almost total control of the Open Ground portions of the map, and might even be able to cut his forces into 2 separate halves
Poor JP (notice how my mood has changed) – now he rolls a Boxcars to eliminate a ldr in Rally and this eliminate another HS through a LLMC!
He essentially pulls everyone possible away from any Aerial LOS, which means that there is not a single Prep shot taken and in the main I am free from harassment. he does send a few attacking units, including a killer stack, against some isolated units, and my pot-shots against them are pretty poor (with the exception of another boxcars spawning 1MC on the vital pair of 2x 548 MMG units who have been not only holding the X13 OH but also been one of the few units able to slow down my movements in the open across Hill 125).
If the game doesn’t end this turn then JP is in deep trouble.
At the end of this turn neither of us has taken any major loss, but JP has placed a MMG to cover the movement of my units to claim the line of foxholes on the lvl 2 & 3 slope of Hill 125.
Turn 7
We are on for at least another turn or two… This is great for me, but a tragedy for JP…
I have little I can Prep at, so it is all down to movement, and move I do! I rush to claim as many of his foxholes as I can get but dead-eye-dick shooting from the only guys covering the hill (Z11 MMG, 548) cuts me to pieces, in fact a combination of my over-confidence and good LOS spotting by JP ends up costing me dearly as I lose 1.5 MMC in this movement phase. This is compounded by PINs striking my most important moves; breaks I could have handled, but PINs stop me dead, and this might have cost me an entire OH. In the end though I have managed to secure all the OG OHs and 2S+ foxholes, a massive result. Even more importantly a pathetic 1FP +1 shot from a PINed guy manages to cause massive death to him due to another badly failed MC… again this turn the Dice have compounded an already bloody and messy situation.
Rout has him in full retreat, both voluntary and forced, he is just trying to save men and already emissaries have come forward offering the white
flag. With the game (unfortunately) ending due to my End of Game roll we shall have to see if it is worth playing on. I think one more IJA turn would have sealed the CG for sure and with aircraft still up there… 2 still laden with Bombs, his turn would have been quite limited anyway…
Aftermath
IJA losses:
Not counting the Reserve Units – they played no part in this game
S = Stripped
MMC: 1+1S x448, 7+2S x447, 347
Crew: 1+1S
Ldrs: 9-1, 9-0
Hvy SW: 2 xDC
OBA: 70mm
While not the end of the world, it was quite a hit, with roughly 50% casualties… the loss of leaders was the biggest trauma, especially as they were lost in most cases without any gain (eg during a Banzai charge etc). The OBA was essentially useless and I am not sure if it is worth the cost, especially as I have done so poorly with leaders. I do not count the Air Support in here, as I felt that these were points well spent! The DC losses were to be expected, they came from DC Heroes, whose main job was to eat up FP before an AM-ing assault… once it worked, once it didn’t.
CG VP: 71 total (all Lvl 4 hexes are Controlled by the IJA)
Purple – No-Man’s Land
Yellow – Japanese Set-up Area
Blue – US Marines Set-up Area
Final Thoughts
The Plan – It worked… more than that, it worked well… The Eastern Attack did exactly what it was supposed to do, even better than it was supposed to do due to biased dice. Although the West got mauled it also was able to achieve what I needed, the drawing off of as many units as possible. He totally stacked the Western area and boldly attacked, it took me a few turns to realise the huge disadvantage the IJA face against the Marines in the Jungle, (I think he guessed that this would happen and wanted to hit me early and hard) but once I learned the painful lesson it turned around pretty quickly as I withdrew and made him come to me. Let’s be honest… what is the US going to do with OHs deep in the jungle anyway!
Planes – Wow, how important were they… Although they did little damage they were such a huge threat that he could not afford to ignore them, and this effectively cut his forces in half… Any attempt to rush over to reinforce or re-take the Hill or Foxholes would have been dealt with harshly by the Air Support, so he just didn’t bother! More importantly he had no AA opportunities, so I had total air superiority over anything that was Open Ground… he was confined to the jungle, which suited me fine!
DR – A huge disappointment was the extreme bias of the DRs towards 2’s and 12’s… these had a massive effect on the game with me on the receiving end of some terrible losses first, and then later him getting it back in spades… A snake-eyes or box-car roll should not come every log, especially when we are only making around 10 DRs per log! Add to that the amazing ability of WebDice to roll super-low for attacks and super-high for MCs (both of us suffered from this) – we are both going to have to make a decision as to how we are going to find a DR system that does not appear to be so biased.
The IJA – I really made some mistakes with them in the first few turns, and JP capitalised on that big-time; in fact I think a large part of his plan was based around me making the mistake of thinking I would be as effective in the day as I am at Night. The IJA just CANNOT afford to attack head-on unless the odds are stacked in their favour, the Marines have too much FP, and can always run away. I am very much enjoying the ‘flavour’ of the IJA in this CG… they are just so brittle… and the effects of this are so much more important in a CG environment than in a one-shot scenario.
The Hill – Well, this is the crux of the matter, if he is to continue playing he is going to have to try to take some Lvl 4 hexes, either to attack behind my lines to Hill 100, or frontally at Hill 125. In either case this will almost certainly mean spending every CPP he has to build up a strong enough force for the job. Taking it this game was a boon, an absolute gift from the gods… unfortunately a part of that was a single DR against a stack that went horribly wrong for the Defenders (the FT attack) – once the door was opened though it was pretty much just a matter of how long the game would last that decided the damage the US were to take