Near the Irrawaddy River Lt. General Chen Li-wu's 6th Army was in full retreat. The British were under constant pressure from the Japanese, whose vanguard was snapping at the heels of the Gurkha Commando Group. Despite the loss of communication with HQ, the Gurkhas executed a fighting withdraw in the face of Japanese infiltration tactics. The pursuit was so close that at one point a Bofors AA gun dueled pointblank with a Japanese infantry gun, which lost the duel in an explosion that sent it flying through the air and killing its crew. The Gurkhas were desperately buying time for the main allied force to cross the Irrawaddy when timely reinforcements from the Chinese arrived . . .
Played on VASL. In defiance of conventional wisdom I launched the main board 38 attack up the left flank with only a subsidiary effort on the right (where I expected to find the Bofors). I used the second line squads to try to clear the huts on board 38. My attack miscarried from the start. I didn't find the AA gun where I anticipated so I had to be more cautious moving the troops on the left meaning I didn't get them to the positions I anticipated, putting me behind schedule. The HMG also turned up on this flank so I'd completely misread my opponents setup. But the disaster was back on board 38 where the second liners proved no match for the Gurkhas garrisoning those huts. The lucky survivors were sent reeling back and to add insult to injury the defenders launched a mini counterattack and captured the one hut hex that I'd controlled at the start of the game, I never overcame these troops, when I did manage to get a result it led to fanatic halfsquads backed up by heroes. My right hand force stubbornly pushed forward to try to hold the defenders on that flank in place and paid the price, incurring about 75% casualties for no effective gain in territory.
The left hand assault did manage to get into position to link up with the reinforcements to launch a semi coordinated attack in turn 4 but the subsequent banzai charges into the face of relatively intact defence met a predictable end (a quick check of the casualty bin at about this time had Japanese CVP at 20 plus and the allied force on 4) and I conceded.
2020-01-15
(A) Paolo Cariolato
vs
Federico Corso
Gurkha/Chinese win
2015-11-07
(A) Richard Jenulis
vs
Rick White
Gurkha/Chinese win
West Coast Rumble 2015
2013-06-20
(D) Michael Rodgers
vs
Mike Rose
Gurkha/Chinese win
Japanese had twelve hut locations at the end of the game. A sniper killed the Gurkha 9-2 early in the game.
2013-06-20
(D) Kermit Mullins
vs
Mike Bistodeau
Japanese win
Played this during Ferocity Fest at Texas ASL Team Tournament. Banzai attacks overwhelmed me.
2013-06-20
(A) Dan Best
vs
Andrew Muller
Gurkha/Chinese win
Texas ASL Tournament 2013. Ferocity Fest.
2013-01-15
(A) Andy Beaton
vs
Jeff Wasserman
Gurkha/Chinese win
All I can really say about this disaster was that I learned a lot about using the Japanese versus Gurkhas in PTO terrain. Or at least I learned a lot of things I shouldn't do. It's still all good fun though.