The assault on Hill 700 was only one arm of the three-pronged Japanese assault on the American positions on Bougainville. A second force attacked the Americal Division, while the third group, the Magata Unit, struck the defenses on the 129th Infantry Regiment on the left side of the American line. Although the Buckeye’s defensive preparations were extensive, the Japanese through sheer force of will managed to make penetrations, though their efforts to exploit their gains were stopped. The 129th now had to dislodge these Japanese to restore their lines. The Americans decided to use tanks to help, Corps Headquarters released a platoon of light tanks to the 129th, to join Companies B, C and G for a counterattack.
Attacker: American (I/129th Infantry Regt., 37th Infantry Division)
Defender: Japanese (Magata Unit)
7.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:16.0 D:12.0
AFVs: A:3
M3A1 LT x 3
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:1
M1 40mm AA Gun M2 60mm Mortar x 2
D:2
Year-41 Type Mountain Gun Type 97 Curved-Fire Infantry Gun Type 89 Heavy Grenade-Launcher
Misc Rules:
PTO (G.1), LJ (G2.1). A: AE (H1.22), D: PB (B30) may not set up Hidden.
Brutal terrain. That will be the Americans' biggest obstacle. If the Japanese can block the way with bodies they should be able to eke out a win, though you will probably have some fun along the way. I played a strong upfront defense, making the Americans earn their stream crossing stripes. I also had a fair part of my force in the large jungle mass south of the Board 37 stream. After some brutal back-and-forth beatdowns, the Americans finally made some inroads on Turn 4 in the center of the board across the Board 32 stream. They were still a long way from capturing any of the PBs, with the east and west PBs looking nearly unreachable. They took their first PB on Turn 6 on the east end of Board 32, and the PB in the middle of that Board would be taken the next turn without a fight. The once seemingly unattainable PB on the western part of the board would fall on Turn 8, but the easternmost one on Board 37 would truly turn out to be unassailable. This left one more in the middle. In a bit of an anti-climax, the Japanese were able to keep units both in and outside the PB, making it impossible to capture. One more turn and I'm sure the Americans would've had it. Nice scenario.
2021-06-18
(D) John Garlic
vs
Ed Beekman
Japanese win
[Imported from ROAR]
2020-09-03
(D) X von Marwitz
vs
Michael Koch
Japanese win
After some nine years when I had played this scenario one as American and Japanese each, I had another go at it after my opponent proposed it. I remembered it as a fun scenario. This time, I had the defending Japanese.
I still remebered a bit of those old playings but back then, I was pretty new to PTO. The game had a fulminant start with one of the enemy US Mortars going on an incredible ROF tear of 8 or 9 shots with mostly pretty low rolls - these triggered no less than 5 (!) Japanese Snipers, but not a single one awoke... No less incredibly, the morale checks of one of my hidden Japanese HS at whom all this was directed were incredibly good as well. It took these 8 or 9 shots to take out one dummy and the HS which was sitting in Bamboo and exposed to airbursts. The terrain makes the game tough going for the US, and needless to say, Rain was starting early in the game making the exiting of streams more difficult. My Japanese MGs seemed to take the rain very ill - I contrieved to break four out of six, some of which I could repair. Altogether, the Americans were inflicting casualties at a rate which I would be unable to sustain. However, I did manage to break a considerable number of US units, among them a big stack on the far side of on of the streams the leader of which I could kill. The Americans were sorely missing these squads later in the game. After having been blasted by Canister, I fell back into the Jungle between the Streams and managed to consolidate there around turn 4, to immobilize one tank and kill another and somehow kept the FTs and DCs just barely from doing harm. I killed a second US leader, but the two that remained were reinforced by a new third one created by Leader Creation. CCs generally went not very well for the Japanese, but as mentioned, I did take out one of the tanks. During Turn 5 my opponent was convinced that he would not be able to take two of the pillboxes and thus conceded.
Once more a fun playing of this scenario.
2018-01-03
(D) Richard Carter
vs
Bruno Nitrosso
American win
CyberVasl VIII. I really got overrun. Likely my setup. Rick
