J69 – THE ARMY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Legion attacking as the Japanese
JP defending as the French
ROAR (J:F – 23:25) – 6th March, 2008
Played with Live VASL (6 hours March 2008)
After the RB CG III I wanted some time to clear my head of CGs before we start to play the next CG. For this reason I asked if JP would mind playing the Thai Scenarios from Journal 4, he reluctantly said yes, but boldly chose to let me play the Japanese.
Initial Thoughts
Despite the Japanese being involved, this scenario is not set in the PTO, thus with the exception of Orchards which are Palm Trees the terrain is ETO.
This game focuses on a Japanese attempt to capture a vital road and while also trying to stop the French from interdicting the road from their hilltop fortifications. Thus the Japanese have only one way of winning this scenario, despite the wording of the VC – they MUST stop the French from being on or Adjacent to the road. In some ways this looks easy, the Japanese have a 19:13 MMC advantage and they have their amazing ability to fail MCs and keep on moving. However the French have a height advantage to start the game and the ability to strike the Japanese as they enter the board. The French also have an 81mm MTR and one of those nasty 60mm MTRs too… both of these with 3ROF have the potential to cut the attackers to pieces. In response the Japanese have some MMG and knee-MTR. Note that the French are under Ammo-Shortage and this might have a major effect on the game, especially if they get ROF or take lots of shots.
Both sides have 4 leaders, the Japanese have a total mod of -1, but these are Japanese leaders and the 10-1 is a great bonus. The French have a total mod of -3… that 9-2 is sure to be with at least one of the MMG and can cause havoc if he rolls low enough. Having just 4 leaders means that the Japanese must think about their Banzai charges, but at least they have them as an option.
JP thinks this game will be a Japanese white-wash. I disagree, the other AAR I have seen of it make it seem like the French have the advantage thanks to their position and their SW options, they can literally sit back and pound the Japanese into submission…
French Setup
The French have their initial setups dictated to them through the positioning of their forces on either the level 2+ locations on Bd. 15 or on Bd. 2 which has the victory buildings. Due to the Japanese entering from off-board and the lack of PTO terrain the French know that they must hit them hard and early, so JP has placed his men with a view to the LOS opportunities.
Bd. 2 Setup
F7 2x ? [457]
G3 2x ? [457]
G9 2x ? [437] – To Attack the road
H9 2x ? [437] – To Attack the road
J4 3x ? Foxhole, [60mm MTR 457]
J5 2x ? Foxhole, [437]
K4 2x ? [437]
K5 3x ? Foxhole, [81mm MTR 228]
M5 6x ? [2x MMG 457, 9-2]
O8 3x ? Foxhole, [LMG 457]
O10 4x ? [457, 437, 7-0] – To Attack the road
Bd. 15 Setup
V6 2x ? [457]
Z9 4x ? [LMG 457, 9-1]
BB8 2x ? [237]
Japanese Plans
With there being only 1 way I can lose this game I have to look to making sure that I can hold the road at all costs. For this reason I shall be using 2 of my leaders to act as MMG groups leaders while spreading units out through the Grain surrounding the road. I shall use my 8-0 leader to take a fairly large force up towards the 2J5 area… not so much to attack the ridge, though that is an option, but more to make sure I pin his forces in place.
The Game
TURN 1-3
My men come on-board and immediately hit some lead. His MTRs lob away but are impotent and the 81mm MTR is eliminated on the very first shot with a 6,6! However, to balance that I have an atrocious run of MCs with the ONLY MCs I manage to pass being ones taken from K/ results! This first turn his MMGs have managed to use their positions up on the hill to kill 4CVP of IJA troops. On the plus side I have spread out nicely and have some Banzai opportunities on the units at the base of the Bd. 2 hill. My attack on the Bd. 15 hill is going well, though even here I suffer a stripped MMC from a 2FP shot.
He digs foxholes (2K4, 2G3) and then rolls the B# for a MMG – this is a great start for me!. On the Bd. 15 hill he backs off, I have more men than he does here and he is playing it cool… if I can take this hill then I can interdict his men from up on high . He sends units to attack the Western end of the road (2x MMC and a 7-0) while the rest pull back to cover the victory hexes; this is a bit of a mistake I think… if I was playing the French I would be more inclined to make sure I kept as much FP on the Japanese as possible while also ensuring I could push against the road.
I open my next turn with a few simple, safe moves… unfortunately things don’t turn out the way I intended; my 9-0 leader takes a NMC and dies… yup, first and only NMC for the game and he is dead. This sets the scene for the rest of the turn. As I expand my control on the Eastern side of the road and then through the central part of the map I suffer MC failure after MC failure and almost all from piddly little shots that hit low and cause NMC or 1MC that are rolled high for… It is very frustrating, by all rights the loss of his 81mm MTR and the breakdown of his MMG should mean that I would be easily winning this game, but luck is well and truly on the French side at the moment.
Can it get any worse for me? Yes, yes it can! My 10-1 fails HIS first MC too… a 1MC vs a 10ML leader should be passed with ease… this guy doesn’t and is wounded as a result. Again this turn I am passing my 50% chance MCs about 10% of the time. At least JP is wasting time by defending the hills rather than pushing down against the road… he should be attacking now as my men are falling apart at the seams.
I am spreading my men out through the grain and using the Woods as cover against his men on the Bd. 2 hill (who are using laser-guided bullets it seems), by spreading out through the grain I can cover against him attacking the road while being reasonably safe myself. On Bd. 15 I have put a MTR up on the Lvl 1 of the hill here, in the hope that I can make it up to the level 2 position where the MTR can be of more use. My men start to spread all through the grain, making sure that he will have to run though as little TEM as possible when he tries to come down to the road. I am also moving leaders across too, I am trying to move my leaders so that I can get into a Banzai charge position, and the best ones to use for that are the Wounded leaders as they cannot travel too far and thus might not get slaughtered. He has the unit in 35P6 and I must get rid of him. I am also moving MMG and MTRs into oppositions that can cover the roads.
Wow… it just doesn’t stop… my men continue to mess up every MC while JP whips out a MTR CH (however, he has had 6x 6,6 this game too, so it is hard to complain about this result!). I also manage to score a 6,6 when one of my vital MMG breakdown but he has lost one of his now too. JP is rushing men down the Western side to attack the road and also trying the slip a HS down the Eastern flank too. I still don’t think he is attacking enough though, he is still concerned that I might rush the hill.
IJA Losses: 137, 3x 237, 2x 447, 9-0
French Losses: 81mm MTR, MMG
We left the game here for the day.
The Japanese were in a shocking position, 50% of their leaders were KIA or Wounded (and their best leaders too) and most of their men had suffered at least a single strip result. They had lost one of their MMG to a malfunction.
The French were doing very well, but not capitalising on their good fortune. Although they had lost a number of SW (81mm and MMG eliminated) they have not suffered a single poor result as a result of my attacks! All their losses are through their own bad DRs!
Accurate French shooting and poor Japanese Morale has put the attack in doubt
TURN 4+
Coming back to the game now and it is about a week later.
Certainly the Japanese are in dire straights, but it is not all over yet. The French still have to either hold the road or get move men down to it, and unless my MCs continue in the same way as the last time we played then this might not be such a certain thing for JP. I have a lot of forces down by the road and covering the access points to the road and once I have managed to get rid of the 35P6 unit then I shall be in the stronger position and he will be forced to move through the open terrain. Also the French don’t have the benefit of stripping when they fail their MCs.
Things start off really well for the Japanese, the first Rally causes a HS to go Berserk which can be used to charge 35P6, then the first shot of the game is a MTR CH against the 15BB8 defender; he ELR and CR breaks and is finished off later in the turn – it has taken 4 turns for the Japanese to get a result!
When it is my turn to move I again lose a HS to a low DR, but with the amount of shots JP has had this game it is not surprising to see low results come out – what is surprising is to see that I am still failing almost every single MC I take. A SAN result comes of this last low shot and this breaks a Green French MMC on the Bd. 2 hill. My moves have been to try and grab the Bd. 15 hill and to rush the 35P6 unit in the building by the road – if I can get this guy out of here then I am going to be in a strong position and will force JP to attack me through a reasonably well-held perimeter… With a bit of luck I shall be able to not only clear the road but also claim the Bd.15 hill, and that will put me in a commanding position; to this end I have started to move my other MMG(malf.) towards the Bd.15 hill in the hope that it will repair. Unfortunately things are just not going to work out for me at all… the first CC is a HS against a 1st line French guy in the vital 35P6, it is H2H and that means I have a 50% chance of success – I fail and get killed in return. The other CC up on the hill is also a 1:2 with -1 for H2H, another 50% chance of a success and a good chance to stay in the game – I fail and get killed in return… sigh… That is pretty much it for me… I have the option to attempt to again rush the 35P6 house… but with him commanding the heights and me being left with only the shattered remains of the troops I started with I am not going to credit my chances much!
Just when you think it cannot get any worse, it does, again… his first shot of the French Turn 4 leaves my wounded 10-1 dead… he failed 2 of his 3 MCs (which is an indication of the general run of my luck in this game) this attack also strips the 228 manning my only functional MMG. JP starts to move in towards the road now, and one of the first Defensive shots is against the French HS sneaking down the Eastern flank… he also rolls a 1,1 for the MC and this HOB ends up Disrupting him from a Surrender result – could I have a chance still? The next shot is from my MMG against a 457, I score the break, he scores a Hot SAN… that SAN drops right on top of my sole remaining leader (an 8-0 with 2x 347); for RS I roll 3x ‘3’ and JP chooses to kill the leader (surprise) the LLMC strips another unit. If this was not my cardboard men dying out there I would be laughing at this terrible run of luck. At least he has moved off of the Bd. 15 hill as he attempts to charge the road from 2 directions, this allows me to leave my sole manned Lt MTR and the other MMG(malf.) up here.
With JP breathing down my neck I have only the hope that I can get my MMG working so that I can defend the road from afar… but with a ‘6’ coming up I lose the MMG and all hope of keeping him away from the road… There is very, very little hope that I can survive till Turn 7 now… let alone hold the road. I surrender.
IJA Losses: 4x 137, 3x 237, 347, 8-0, 10-1, MMG
French Losses: 457
The Japanese Surrender
ALLIED VICTORY
Conclusion
This game was not as bad as it looked on paper… JP was predicting a Japanese white-wash, the AAR I had seen predicted a French white-wash and though that is close to what has happened there are a number of factors that had a major part in this.
Firstly, the Japanese got absolutely ripped apart by the French FP, this was a combination of things, but mostly it was due to:
1. Location – The French were on the hill and almost every shot was -1 TEM for FFNAM or Airburst.
2. SW – With 2x 3ROF MTR and 2x 2ROF MMG there were going to be a lot of extra shots taken.
3. Range – The French had enough 457s to ensure that the Japanese were going to be hit with with a lot of 2FP -1/-2 shots
4. Luck – A lot of shots hit low enough to cause CR or even KIA results.
The Japanese suffered miserably and this was also due to a number of factors:
1. LOS – There were few places for the Japanese to hide in LOS blind-spots while they formed their attacks.
Even forming a Banzai attack was difficult because the French were able to target the leader or ‘units in the chain’
2. Luck – Luck played a massive roll in this loss for the Japanese as they easily failed 80%+ of their MCs.
They had only 1 leader pass a MC for the whole game!
3. Range – the short ranged Japanese SW meant that JP was able to prioritise his targets and knock off the biggest threats…
One Lt. MTR caused 6CVP of KIA results due to lucky hits, but it was a massive shot magnet.
I tried to get into range for the SMOKE of the MTRs to be used, but they kept getting knocked out… I tried to use my MMG, but 4FP vs +2TEM foxholes or +4TEM Fortified Buildings was always going to be tough. I tried to form Banzai groups, but JP was well aware of that possibility and kept out of LOS of my men, or killed units when he saw them forming up.
Tactically I would NOT bother with trying to capture 2oM5 or 2oN5… the IJA ONLY need to defend the road, so put all your forces to this task and the task of forming a perimeter to stop the French attacking down the hill.
I would again attempt to take the Bd. 15 hill… it is too useful a position from which to hit the French if the road is cleared.
Generally the 81mm MTR will not be eliminated off of its’ first shot, so I would expect any competent French player to win this game… but the Japanese do have a chance, as long as more than a little luck goes their way.