| Date | Reporter | | Opponent | Bal. | Result | Time | Comments |
|---|
| 2023-11-30 | (D) Mark Thompson | vs | Jonathan Nuwesra | | Chinese win | | Albany 2023-First Round. Chinese set-up anticipated Japanese attack from NE corner of Board 35 (i.e., the short way) but Japanese attacked from SW corner (i.e., the longest/slowest route). The impact of Kunai/platoon movement on the Japanese allowed the Chinese time to reposition virtually unscathed, and the Chinese armor and MGs stopped the Japanese along the creek line. In retrospect, the best approach for the Japanese Schwerpunkt is the NE corner of Board 35 to keep the Chinese off-balance/force the stay/bug-out decision, with a smaller force in the center to seize the easy-pickings buildings. Fun scenario that is deceptively more complicated (and lengthy) than it appears. |
| 2023-11-19 | (D) John Gorkowski | vs | Neil S | | Japanese win | | The title is false advertising. My opponent (the Japanese) may have discovered a flaw in this scenario that deflated the fun factor for both of us. Since this is pre-1938 (December 1937), No Quarter (G18.7) is NOT in effect and Chinese KMT troops can surrender. Given double CVP for captured units, the Japanese have more incentive to capture Chinese squads (4 CVP each) than buildings, one prisoner squad is worth as much as 4-hex building! Similarly, the Chinese gun and AFV are each a CVP bonanza if captured. So, the Japanese need not banzai, but rather just use their MMGs, mortars, and AFV to gang up on one squad per turn to reap huge CVP rewards via capture without any need for substantial territorial gains. The scenario also has some historicity issues worth noting.
In our game, Japan came on strong along their right (the Chinese left) to target gaps in the jungle and bamboo at 24CC9 and FF7; the KMT had three squads nearby with an ATR and LMG on defense. Chinese defensive fire immediately knocked out a zippy TE-KE (with an ATR) and KIA-ed one Japanese squad. A single Japanese platoon entered center south to take the (empty) board 35 hamlet. The Chinese left flank then retreated in good order to better cover while half the Chinese armor, including the 20mm MAs, rumbled to the 24CC9 gap area to establish over watch, but none of that mattered.
Japanese armor drove right through Chinese covered arcs and laughed as rounds missed or bounced off. Then the Japanese stopped, fired, and killed the Chinese armor. But, even if the armor battle was a wash, with equal losses to both sides, that would have been ok for Japan as they pursued their core strategy of capturing one Chinese squad at a time. They just picked the nearest KMT squad and ganged up on it with 75% of the Japanese OB using MMGs and mortars to break the target and then seal route paths while one infantry element moved adjacent. Copious smoke certainly helped, but the root problem is double CVP for captured units. The Japanese never advanced further than 10 hexes from the board edge since by then (turn five) they had racked up more VP than the Chinese by winning the armor battle, capturing three squads, and taking the eight outlying buildings, which the Chinese cannot afford to defend for fear of getting captured. The Chinese still had their 9-2 leader, seven GO squads, three AFVs, and their gun as well as unchallenged control of the central village on board 24 with its 20 VP bounty, but essentially lost the game because three squads got taken prisoner, rather than KIA.
None of that reflected “Stand and Die.” And the Japanese had zero incentive to “assault the last Chinese defenses surrounding Shanghai.” Instead, they just nibbled at the edges in a really slow game that covered only a small fraction of the map board.
On historicity, the scenario seems to conflate the battles of Shanghai and Nanjing because it refers to Shanghai and Chabei without ever mentioning Nanjing even though the circumstances actually match the Nanjing campaign. The scenario claims to be set in Shanghai on December 7, but the fighting for Shanghai ended in November, just as the fighting for Nanjing was picking up. The scenario refers to “Chabei Province,” but there is no such province anywhere in China; “Chabei” was an urban district of Shanghai that was in rubble at the time of this scenario, no rice paddies or wide open spaces like on the map. The PzK IAs of the “3rd armored battalion” presented in the scenario never fought in Shanghai, but rather Nanjing, see Chinese vehicle note 3 on page H101. And the aftermath says “within five days the Japanese then smashed their way into the city itself,” again that’s Nanjing which is not mentioned in the write up. The Japanese were, however, in central Shanghai (and Chabei) in August. And so on and so forth.
|
| 2023-11-04 | (D) X von Marwitz | vs | Jean Lasnier | | Chinese win | | Played this as Chinese in Round 4 of GRENADIER 2023.
My opponent managed to step into just every trap I had set: Overlooked LOS on one of his big stacks, into a Bore Sighted hex of a MMG led by my 9-2, surprise attack vs. his armor by ATR from the soft flank, into a HIP squad+LMG, into the "death-zone" covered by the big gun... But alas, the supposed punishment for this was not forthcoming: His big stack was barely harmed, I boxcar'ed the bore-sighted MMG on the first shot, the ATR did not penetrate, the HIP squad did no significant damage, and the gun, while scaring well, took time before having effects.
Yet, in the center, I could slow the Japanese advance. His schwerpunkt was, however, on the Chinese left flank. There, the Japanse proved hard to slow despite some audacious moves such as a Platoon-double Overrun by the two Italian-built tankettes. The Chinese had to fall back through Bamboo, Paddies and Jungle while being hard pressed.
The sons of Nippon closed in to swarm my 9-2 & friends, but this first managed to stop two approaching units. This was the exact thing, my canny opponent had been waiting for, and he closed in with his 10-1, 2x 448, FT and LMG.
I had but one ace up my sleeve and lobbed a DC into them when they came on along the path through the Bamboo.
This time, I made it count: Rolled a 1,2 on the DC resolution scoring a 3KIA on the cream of the Japanese attackers, sending all of them to "Kingdom Come". My Chinese shrugged off the DC attack effects on their own hex with the exception of the throwers who joined the blasted Japanese by rolling boxcars.
This devastating attack broke the spine of the Japanese assault and my opponent conceded. |
| 2023-10-02 | (A) Eric Partizan Eric | vs | | | Chinese win | | |
| 2023-08-16 | (D) Jobbo Fett | vs | xs-bombing | | Chinese win | | A terrible defensive setup was saved by the amount of time it takes to cross through all of the kunai and rough terrain. Both sides' vehicles got plenty of shooting in, though the results were less than welcoming, for both players. A HIP Gun hiding in some jungle across the stream and pointing towards the village made for a fun gotcha, though the giant stack of Japanese troops that parked themselves next to it before it had revealed itself wasn't quite so great... There was fun to be had in the scenario, but the Japanese were bled dry of all their leaders due to unlucky wound dice and we called it when a banzai charge ended with a mass casualty event from a thrown DC and a 12fp group of MMGs + Squads. There simply wasn't enough troops to cause casualties and take buildings to make up the CVP numbers. Worth a replay, at least. |
