In April, Lentaigne ordered the main body of 111 Brigade west of the Irrawaddy, now commanded by John Masters, to move north and build a new stronghold, codenamed “Blackpool”, which would block the railway and main road at Hopin, 30 miles (48 km) south of Mogaung. Masters's force established Blackpool on 8 May and were almost immediately engaged in fierce fighting. Whereas “White City” had been deep in the Japanese rear, its defenders had had plenty of time to prepare their defences and its attackers had been a mixed bag of detachments from several formations, Blackpool was close to the Japanese northern front, and was immediately attacked by Japanese troops with heavy artillery support.
A heavy attack against Blackpool was repulsed on 17 May, but a second attack on 24 May captured vital positions inside the defenses. Because the monsoon had broken and heavy rain made movement in the jungle very difficult, neither Calvert nor Brodie's 14th Brigade could help Masters. Finally, Masters had to abandon Blackpool on 25 May, because the men were exhausted after 17 days of continual combat.
Attacker: Japanese (Elements of the 53rd Infantry Division)
Defender: British / Gurkha / Indian (Elements of King’s Scottish Rifles and the King’s Own Royal Regiment and the 11tth Indian Infantry Brigade and the 3/9th Gurkha Rifles)
7 turns
Players: 2 OBA: British / Gurkha / Indian Night: No
Add to SSR 1: "The pond (waterhole) at 39S10 is flooded." Change SSR 4 to: "In the Commonwealth OB, the 9-2, 648 (and resulting halfsquads) and 338s have Gurkha (A25.43) capabilities, no other units do."
Joe Leoce (Scenario Designer)
The "airfield hexes" should include the circular depictions as well as the runway proper. No airfield hex is paved.
Letter72
The "airfield hexes" should include the circular depictions as well as the runway proper. No airfield hex is paved.
Letter72
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
I played this one again, this time as the defending British. The designer, Jon Leoce was to kind as to inform me of some errata, that he had sent to CH but which they neglected to correct before publication and which can now be found in the ASL-Scenario Archive description. In my first playing, the 447 were played as Gurkhas, while it was supposed to be the 648s. My opponent managed to overrun the guns and the airfield security force quickly, even designating some units to move downhill instead of uphill for the task. His moving uphill was skillful and deliberate however not exactly fast. I was able to pick at his force for several times and importantly took out 2 of his 3 leaders. Basically, the Japanese moved in a way to get next to me concealed and I elected to slowly fall back to prevent the possibility of Human Waves up the hill. This only works for while - eventually, the moment of truth will come where the British have to stand and fight. This they did considerably well, striping and killing off some attackers. Then it was time for the Close Combats to begin. He advanced into three locations each with favorable odds to him. Twice the Japanese were obliterated and the Canadians weren't, once the Japanese were reduced while the Canadians weren't remaining locked in H-t-H melee. With the danger of my line being punched in the center fended off, my opponent conceded as I could cover a line of 5 hexes around the path with 24FP or 20FP shots. The OBA played no role at all. It never even managed to pull a card from the drawpile for the failure of gaining Access and malfunctioning (and repairing) the radio.
2014-10-20
(A) X von Marwitz
vs
Alex Koestler
Japanese win
An early CH scenario that was a lot of fun to play! I had the attacking Japanese this time. This one had real atmosphere to it: You have the forward airfield protected littered with aircraft wrecks by a 40L AA Bofors, a light 75* ART, a 1.5 squad token infantry force and a HIP 7-0 leader with a radio for a 76+ Btln. MTR OBA with scarce ammo cursing his station in some drenched dirty hole. The attacking Japanese are Before and already behind the airfield hell bent on interdicting British water supply by putting some FP on a water hole at game end which is located behind a steep, often double crested, dense jungle hill with but one path across it. All this in pouring rain. This makes going uphill a true pain, adding yet one more MF per level up or down. Did I mention, the Rain can't stop by SSR? In our game, it intensified AND we had Gusts for a while (which is not of much consequence as due to the rain there won't be SMOKE and it is highly unlikely that in this wet misery anything will catch fire even if drenched in aircraft fuel. The Japanese have reason to curse their luck as well, as atop that hill they can expect a 9-2 with two crews, a HMG, MMG, 2x 648 and 2x 447 Gurkhas. Feeling lucky moving ADJACENT to these bastards after becoming CX spending 5MF moving uphill just ONE hex? All right, then feel invited to move along the path across that hill they will be sitting on waiting for you... Another portion of that hill is held by 3x 457 and 3x 447 Gurkhas led by a 8-0 and inspired by a hero. Some LMGs and a small MTR give support. Crossing that hill is a challenge even without these guys atop of it. Most of the time, you won't see them and are forced to move ADJACENT. The Japanese have 6x 447, a 8-0, LMG and 50MTR to get across that airfield before even reaching the hill hoping to avoid or to despatch its defenders. 9x 447, a crew led by a 9-1, 9-0 and supported by an MMG, 2xLMG, 2x 50MTR and 2x DC start on the largely unforested lvl 1 part of the hill - the wrong side of it needless to say. Many of the fighting will be close quarters and/or Point Blank fire. It is not easy to use DC heroes, as within the Dense Jungle, you first need to get adjacent to the enemy, eat PB fire, have enough MF left, create a DC hero AND get it to its destination. Despite waiting for an opportunity, my sons of Nippon could not find one. Both DCs finally came to rest in some godforsaken patches of jungle splattered with blood of their former possessors who had mutually killed each other with some sunburned British never to be found again (which is, as we know, difficult in PTO terrain). Ah, sons of Nippon, don't forget that the British move last... Our game came down to the last CC phase. The Japanses won by the smallest of margins. The water in that pool was red... Fun scenario to play, very atmospheric, gives a good idea of Dense Jungle and bad weather. I can recommend it.
2010-03-12
(A) David Ramsey
vs
Damian Maher
Japanese win
I forgot the extra MF for moving uphill in the rain, so the Japanese gained the upper hand at the start. Brits nearly did enough but there wasn't enough of them in the end.
2010-03-12
(D) Paul Jones
vs
Phil Draper
Japanese win
Excellent game. Tight defence but Japanese found a way around to the victory hex.
2010-03-12
(D) Paul Legg
vs
John Martin
British / Gurkha / Indian win
Heroes 2010
2010-02-21
(D) Paul Jones
vs
Damian Maher
Japanese win
An interesting little PTO scenario. Very slow movement uphill in rain and mostly decided by H2H combat.