J70 – JUST AN ILLUSION
JP defending as the French
Legion attacking as the Thai
INITIAL THOUGHTS
Interesting VC, we both gain points for units in a no-mans land between our start lines (admittedly I have a platoon on the opposite side of the ground but they are not going to stop 19 squads on their own) we also gain CVP for units eliminated. Obviously both sides have to attack but I am not sure my French can last 8 turns as I am outnumbered 2-1.
SETUP AND PLAN
My forward platoon is setup to slow him down and force him into the jungle, my AT gun is HIP in 37R4 and my 81mm MTR is also HIP in 37S5 while my 60mm MTR is in 37Q8. I will pull my forward platoon back and send about 5 squads forward to link up with them and help them withdraw, meanwhile my near to useless carrier will charge out and flatten the huts in O7 to clear a bigger field of fire for my 60mm MTR. I have left some squads back to dig foxholes at S3, Q4 (for my MMG and –2 ldr) and Q8 (for my 60mm MTR). I will pull all my troops back to this main line of resistance and try to make him take losses before launching a counter attack around turn 5, the idea being to get him to assault my fixed positions, take losses and then spring back out to put him on the run. I had thought of using the carrier to tow the AT gun into the VC zone and run my MTR’s (dm) into the same zone but the terrain on these boards is very congested and it would be easy for him to avoid its field of fire so I would rather have the benefit of HIP just to get that first kill on one of his tanks which could swing the game in my favour. Both the AT and the 81mm MTR are only a few hexes from the victory condition area so I can push them out there later (hopefully).
TURN 1
He came across the board with a platoon on the north edge and another on the south edge while the majority of his troops came down the centre into the jungle where my leader and 2 HS’s were, I had a couple of good (2fp-2) shots at him but rolled (in order: 12,10,10,9) which did not help my cause at all, he got a tad bold and moved a leader with 3 squads adjacent to my ldr and my Hs and ldr SFF (2fp-1) naturally, when I really needed it the dice came my way and I rolled a ‘3’ which CR’ed one of the squads, his leader then rolled boxcars to be wounded and all 3 units broke – nice, shame the leader didn’t die I could have got some good cvps. His advancing fire saw my northern squad break and it routed south as that has the best terrain for withdrawing as I will use the swamp and bamboo (E6, F6, G6) to cover my right flank. He advanced into CC against my leader and 2 HS’s and luckily I got ambush and chose to withdraw onto the previously routed unit. In my turn my forward platoon pulled back. While the main force started digging the foxholes and moving troops up meanwhile my carrier went towards the huts, his defensive saw my broken guy CR down and we are now square at 1cvp each.
TURN 2
His troops in the centre and north moved fairly quickly but soon came under ineffectual fire from my advancing main force. On the southern part where I was trying to extricate my forward platoon a pair of his squads that were trying to outflank them got hit by some of my main force troops and both broke with one of them elr’ing and cr’ing on a boxcars. In my turn I rolled a 3 then 2 followed by another 2 in prep fire to, sadly, get 3 foxholes (what a waste of low DR’s!!!). I wanted to attack in the southern area as he has 1.5 broken squads nearby but could not get into a position where they would die from FTR so I chose to rush 2 squads armed with LMG’s and a –1 leader to 1 hex away in the hope of getting a double break in advance fire. I now have a fairly tight line with a MMG, squad and –2 leader in L4 supported by a pair of HS’s nearby. Another leader and 2 squads are in M7 and L7 to fire down the jungle road and 2 leaders along with 3.5 squads spread out across the line I7, H7, H8, H9.
TURN 3
His tanks arrived and started down the road, in the north my MMG scored an ELR and a break upon 2 squads moving up but he generally kept out of my LOS especially in the south where I was expecting a hard push. His advancing fire saw one of my southern HS’s HOB into a berserker and he died in my movement phase. Its now turn 3 and he has a large force attacking in the north (about 11 squads) and the remainder in the south (about 7 squads) so I decided to pull back to my main line of resistance so I can get some mortar and AT gun support but in the south I will not pull all the way back so I still have some men in the VC zone which can attack northwards or back across the board if necessary. By turns end my MMG and –2 leader were safely in their newly dug foxhole waiting for his hordes. By turns end I had pulled back for only the cost of a broken HS and my defensive line is now L9-L7-M7-Q4.
TURN 4
He kept moving up but I had run away a little too well as I had no good shots (yet…different story after he advances) one of his tanks tried to BFF and it gakked the MA which was the only event other than the arrival of his air support) In his turn he tried to rally the MA of his tank – gutsy, risking recall like that!!
My prep and it was time to open up on him, my MMG fired and scored a MC that he passed – no ROF.
My 81mm MTR fired at some if his guys in trees and missed, no ROF….
The 60mm MTR fired at his tank without MA – got ROF but did no damage.
In the south I had a squad, LMG and a HS along with my 9-1 leader in trees fire at his mortar unit and rolled an 11 for a LMG breakdown. – So much for gaining fire superiority as he hits my main line, – I have to start counter attacking in my turn 5 or 6 at the latest so I hope my next shots are better. In my movement I postured a few squads forward just to keep him guessing and his fighter bomber broke an 8-1 and squad, it then scored a CH against my carrier but gakked the TK DR for heart attacks all round.
TURN 5
Our rally was minimal with him pulling back one squad and me failing on all 4 rolls. His prep saw one of my HS’s get pinned – he will die in CC as I could not rout him due to the fact that he would have died for FTR if I did. He mainly AM’ed to get adjacent to my pinned HS and in the north he did not try to push forward at all, he is aware that he has enough CVP’s in the VC area and is holding tight waiting for either turn 8 to advance into the double CVP zone or waiting for me to counter attack. The AFV that I had zeroed in with my 60mm MTR pulled out of LOS safely. In defensive I dis-mantled my 81mm MTR to start moving it up (I will need his smoke in turn 6 so my AT gun can move forward safely as all the guys in the north have LOS to his 1st hex) I managed to break one of the squads adjacent to my pinned HS but it took 4 shots from 4 squads to do so and I have no more shots left for the other squad adjacent. I also exposed my AT gun and tried to get a squad in K5 and it went on a rof run:
1st shot: hit, rof, 1mc, he passed
2nd shot: hit, rof, n/e
3rd shot: hit, rof, 1mc, he failed
4th shot: hit, rof, n/e
5th shot: hit, rof, n/e
6th shot: Critical hit, rof, nmc, he passed
7th shot: hit, lost rof, n/e
I broke him but for a 7 rof run I feel I did not get value for money (If only I had fired my 81mm MTR.. that would have been 2 CVP’s dead I am sure…ah well no use crying over spilt milk.)
That was the end of my defensive fire and his advancing fire was ineffective. As stated earlier my pinned HS died in CC when he rolled a snake eyes and created a 7-0 leader – curses, did not even get a chance to “take one of them with me” – got to hate that!
My rally was magnificent with both leaders, both squads and a LMG all rallying while he only rallied one out of the 4 broken counters. Prep saw my MMG group break a pesky squad and MTR that had been trading shots with them for 2 fire phases. While my 60mm MTR changed targets and went for a pair of squads in jungle to the north (+4 hindrances so not much hope until I get a –2 acquired). Other than one more ineffectual squad firing the rest of my troops moved. An 8-0 and squad were spotted by his fighter (with a snake eyes sighting TC roll) and it swooped to attack only to roll – you guessed it! Boxcars – how many times do you see snakes followed by boxcars – too many if you ask me, but I wont complain, the fighter withdrew from the board due to E7.41 last line, that was handy!! I tried to move my AT gun forward one hex as it can not cover the northern end of row ‘p’ onwards and I don’t want his tanks to make a dash to there for the double CVP’s but he failed the man handling roll – I will just have to hope that he does not notice this opportunity – the tanks are a double edged sword, they are worth 4 CVP’s to him if they stay in the VC zone but also 4CVP’s to me if I can kill them (which is, in effect, an 8CVP swing as this game is all about CVP’s) I still have an ATR in that area as a last ditch weapon but I hope I don’t have to use it. I moved the majority of my squads into the southern area with a view to pushing his troops back the 2 hexes I need to get them out of the CVP zone but left my 81 mm MTR and a guarding squad in row ‘Q” and also put a squad in the same hex as the AT gun to help rush it down the road in my turn 6 under the cover of smoke from the MTR. His defensive did nothing and my advancing fire broke another squad in the south, he now has 4 squads facing off against my 4.5 squads but I also have 2 –1 leaders down there which will make a world of difference as he is 2 hexes away in kunai and thus will make my shots a ‘0’ tem while his return fire at my guys in the jungle will be a +2 for jungle and kunai – I should win this little battle.
TURN 6
This was the turn of weird DR’s!
He started by rolling a HOB for a broken squad and it surrendered but was not near any of my guys and eventually got rallied. In his prep the mortar in the south gakked on boxcars and all my men passed their MC’s except one, yep, my crew on the 81mm MTR broke – that hurt as I was planning on popping smoke to cover the advance of my AT gun into the VC zone. He kept the pressure on in the south and I broke a squad in the kunai, in defensive a NMC caused both squads manning the mortar to break, another shot at the same guys and the leader with them ELR’ed down while one of the broken squads CR’ed. I fired at them again and killed the leader and finished off the HS. Meanwhile I broke another squad in the north which was eventually CR’ed by my AT guns 1fp after a 4 rof run which also broke another of his squads. 4 CVP in one turn with 3 other squads broken and things are looking good for me. In my turn he rolled another HOB on rally (his 2nd for this turn) and the squad went berserk, a few rolls later and he HOBBED another guy (no. 3) which hardened and hero’ed. In my movement I sent a squad to recover the 81mm MTR and pushed the AT gun onto the road at Q5 for a quick push into the VC zone, this cost me a squad broken but it was my only casualty. In the south I have pushed all but 2 of his squads out of his VC zone which will swing the cvp pendulum into my favour if I can get the AT gun and crew into the VC zone. I should be able to win this, all I need is to pop smoke down on O3 and let the wind blow it across the front of his lines and in my turn 8 I can charge the AT gun 2 squads and my 9-2 into the VC zone for win.
TURN 7
It all started so well, he rolled boxcars on a rally attempt and the cvp scores is now 7 to 3 in my favour. His prep saw his last mortar roll boxcars and things are going even better for me, I had one of my squads break but I had put him in a dangerous position to draw fire to protect another fire group so I could be sure of having enough firepower to kill the berserker when he charges. Which he did! The score is now 9-3 . At this point Legion realised that he had missed a prep fire and I, being the nice guy that I am said it was OK to do it, he rolled a snake eyes with his tanks MG and cr’ed a squad which also broke, the leader with the squad rolled HOB (that’s 3 HOBs each for the game) and he surrendered on boxcars, I am regretting being nice! 9-4 cvp. He sent his hero adjacent the surrendering leader, naturally it was the one at the edge of my front line and not in the middle where it would be safe…I assembled the 81 mm MTR with the squad. The rest of my fire hurt me more than him, I created a SAN which killed another leader of mine and my AT gun firing at the hero rolled boxcars and was malfed, this game is now slipping away from me, I was 9-3 cvp at games start but it is now 9-5 (soon to be 9-7 when he captures my leader) and I am missing 2 CVP from the malfed AT gun. In my turn I tried to fire smoke but forgot to bring the smoke shells and the game was his, we mucked around for a while longer and into turn 8 where I had to charge my 9-2 leader and a squad into the kunai at O4 and hopefully into N4 to try and break some of his guys, I survived his defensive fire but spawned a sniper which killed the leader (3 cvp’s to him) and broke my squad, at that point I surrendered.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I should have won this and a better setup of my AT and MTR would have got me the win. If I played again I would probably not have such a grandiose plan and would just put every body up into the VC zone and fought it out toe-to-toe with him, I was just a little too smart and paid the price but cant help thinking how close this game was, 2 things lost it for me: saying ‘yes’ to him prep firing after he had started moving which cost me 2 CVP’s and ultimately the AT gun and not getting smoke. Otherwise this would have been a win by 2-3 cvp’s.