| 2024-06-22 | (D) X von Marwitz | vs | Michael Koch | | Japanese win | | Overview:
This PTO action set in July 1943 pits the Americans vs. the Japanese in a battle of an Allied advance through very difficult terrain against a prepared Axis defence. It is an Infantry-only scenario that is even devoid of Light MTRs with the exception of one single Japanese "knee-mortar". The number of Support Weapons available to both sides is overseeable with 2x MMG, 2x LMG, 1x LtMTR for the Japanese and 2x MMG, 2x BAZ43, and 2x DC for the US. The Japanese have only two Leaders (9-1 and 8-0), the Americans three (9-1, 8-1, and 8-0). This is just the minimum necessary to lead the Infantry which consists of 7x447, 2x228, and 7xConcealment Counter for the Japanese, while the Americans get 2x 667, 1x347 and 11x666.
The objective for the US is to capture Japanese Pillboxes (Bunkers) and to exit a number of EVP.
Of the Pillboxes there are 4x1-3-5 supported by 2xTrench. The Japanese are looking at some serious firepower to hold two halfboards against. Both sides set up onboard, so there is no Bore Sighting for the Japanese. The Japanese may set up Concealed if in Concealment Terrain and Entrenched if in suitable Terrain. But they cannot just "build a castle" and wait for the attackers attempting to crack that hard nut. Instead, they have to cover all the possible approaches to the exit board edge all the while being able to shift their defence to whatever area the Americans elect to put their Schwerpunkt. This looks like a very tough job for the eight Japanese squad evquivalents in a 6.5 turn scenario in which the US only have a distance of 14 hexes to the board edge...
But this is, where the terrain kicks in. It was the first time I have played on board 74 which has quite a unique feel with PTO Dense Jungle in effect. There are ubiquitous patches of Swamp, Marsh along with three ponds and Bamboo. This means that the possible movement will be channeled and the attackers either have to push through choke points or to move through Swamp, Marsh, or Bamboo with all that entails. In other words, the terrain is to be considered part of the Japanese OoB. The defender has to draw every benefit from it that he can in order to stand a chance.
As of 22. June 2024, ROAR has this scenario at American 28 / Japanese 23 with an Excitement Rating of 6.35 (out of 9).
I played the defending Japanese in this one.
Japanese Analysis:
When preparing my defensive setup on VASL, the first thing I noted is that VASL takes care of the differentiation between Swamp and Marsh by assigning them a different hue of green color. I seem to recall, that this has not always been this way, so kudos go out to the VASL crew for this one.
Looking at the map, the Japanese do have the option to set up right in front of the US attackers. The most difficult terrain channeling movement is, however, not located on board 75 but on board 74 further back. With a length of 6.5 Turns and the Americans moving last with only a distance of 14 hexes to cover, clearly the Japanese have to delay the onslaught as best as they can.
If the Japanese set up to the front, this will - of course - buy time. However, the defenders also have to keep in mind that with the few squads they have, they will need to fall back. This can be a challenge against the light of superior US numbers, some open areas that the defenders would need to cross and by the limitations presented by Swamp and Marsh. In case that the Japanese want to take advantage of HIP setup within Pillboxes, this could also be a consideration.
As Dense Jungle provides +2TEM and the US don't have any MTRs which could provide Air Bursts, in most cases there is not much point in setting up Foxholes in the Jungle. It is not even necessary to use them as "quasi-Concealment counters" up to the start of play, as the Japanese may set up Concealed in Concealment Terrain. Theoretically, the Japanese could use them to create Rout Paths or to create the occasional position in Open Ground or Palm Trees. But the truth is that there is mainly enough Dense Jungle around for equivalent TEM with less additional Movement inhibitions.
Since the Pillboxes are worth a significant amout of the VP required, the defender will not want to bunch them up in a single "castle". This would allow the US to bypass the "castle" and/or to concentrate on it and to eventually capture all Pillboxes in one single area. Should the Pillboxes set up too far up front, they can be captured/destroyed and the US could still form a Schwerpunkt of the attack afterwards. Because the US will need to create some form of focus to his attack, the Pillboxes might be better placed spread out and further to the back. Don't forget, that a Tunnel comes with each Pillbox. Some piece of advice: Understand, where Tunnels may run and where not. And where Tunnel Exits may be located. For the Japanese, the use of Tunnels may even be quicker than aboveground-movement in some cases. And it allows them to avoid the crossing of dangerous Open Ground.
And then, there is board 74... Boy, passing through this will be either a PITA or painfully slow - or both. The Japanese must understand that the terrain is the equivalent of the squads "missing" from their OoB. As the defender, one has to locate the choke points. The terrain will funnel movement and the defenders will have to lay in wait at the end of that funnel with the resources they have. Furthermore, the Japanese must make the best use of the few open areas that the field of battle provides. The US is - characteristically - burdened by the low morale of 6 (and some few 7). While in +2TEM of Dense Jungle, the weak Japanese firepower will have trouble affecting even 6 Morale troops, things are all different if these have to temporarily leave cover. At the same time, the +2TEM of Dense Jungle does help the Japanese a lot. Since the attackers are limited in Stacking and creating Fire Groups in this terrain, this helps the Japanese not to be evaporated by concentrated enemy firepower. Eventually, the US will come close to the board edge. But again, there are not that many viable areas. The Japanese should take into account shifting whatever survivors into the area to which the bulk of the US force is heading for the exit. Even a broken HS blocking a hex or a small amount of Residual FP can ruin the American's day...
American Analysis:
Now WHAT is going on?! You've got 13.5 squad equivalents. And all you get from this here US Army is 2xMMG, and 2x DC? The 9-1 "90 day wonder" 2nd Louie is stalking around towards "North" in various directions through the camp, his gaze fixed to the new shiny compass. The 8-1 and 8-0 sergeants mumbling to each other with grave looks have been overheard that the logistics folk have screwed up big time by sending one Liberty Ship loaded entirely with bibles to increase morale. And a second one with gear boxes for bulldozers and engines for medium B-25 Mitchell bombers. On the bright side, a sailor has dumped 2x BAZ43 on you that were clogging his crate and getting in the way of his little side-line business with booze. If this weren't enough, the 9-2 1st Lieutenant is away sorting this awful mess out, while the news broke that your outfit is earmarked for a "quick strike" through some vicious swamps and jungle, which stands as solid as your grandmother's belief in the blessed virgin Mary. Judging to be "tank country" by a look at the Bazookas. After finally having found his spectacles, the 2nd Louie has read his prepared speech to you, that he will lead you to glory like a soaring eagle by capturing the not too far Munda airfield after a hike just a few miles over yonder - pointing straight out to the deep blue sea...
SNAFU!
In other words: In the absence of generous Leadership and the usual lavish supply of SW, its down to (merely) carrying the can for this screw-up by the grunts.
So what do you have? Great Inherent FP, importantly including Assault Fire. Then there is that fine Infantry Smoke Exponent of 3 (or 2 for Infantry WP). In case the sneaky Japanese gack their Ambush rolls in CC, you might even get out alive - and an enemy Halfsquad dead - by the odds if you initiate the exchange of civilities. Then, of course, you have that splendid Broken Morale of 8 - which of course means that you first need to break before being able to take advantage of it... While your DCs are fine for being a "threat in being", they are even better to blow some Japanese to Kingdom Come if you can contrive to Place them. The Bazookas can only be useful against Pillbox occupants with some luck; the chances to actually destroy a Pillbox with them are neglible. That said, capturing Pillboxes generally appears better than trying to destroy them.
Talking about Leadership. Inevitably, some Infantry will break. But you need Good Order Infantry in numbers for getting the lead out and to exit the board. So you need to think on how you can get as much Infantry as quickly as possible back to Good Order with the few Leaders you have. Of course, you will also want the Leaders for extra MF and that -1 DRM. You cannot afford to lose Leaders...
The good thing for the Americans is that they can decide where to put the Schwerpunkt of their attack. An attack on a broad front will likely not work as the terrain does not allow for it - so some decisions have to be made. At the same time, the Japanese will have troubles to defend the whole width of the board with what they have. Maybe it can pay off to pin one of the Japanese halfsquads and to prevent it from reinforcing other areas by despatching one or two of your own halfsquads. If there is no one there to defend chokepoints, then very quick movement is possible. Later in the game, the Japanese will likely have difficulties plugging all the gaps. That said, still I believe that the US has to form some Schwerpunkt.
Another consideration is how many units to exit and how many Pillboxes to capture or to destroy. Depending on how the Pillboxes are placed, getting all of them might be very difficult. On the other hand, if the Japanese leave a Pillbox unguarded, there might be a good chance to grab it with one of your halfsquads for cheap. Try to find the sweet spot between grabbing Pillboxes and exiting units.
Ah, and the terrain... You will hate all the Swamp, Marsh and Bamboo because it funnels your movement just where the evil enemy is bound to lay in wait. But... maybe the occasional chance might arise to do the unexpected: A calculated move into Swamp, Marsh or Bamboo might pay off if it catches your opponent on the left foot. It does cost a full turn to enter these terrain types, though. One good thing, however: Since the Japanese don't have that much firepower to bring to bear, the Americans with their low morale will be helped a lot by the +2TEM of Dense Jungle.
As the Japanese eventually have not enough units to stop your hordes, Residual Firepower is your opponent's friend. So carefully consider how best to impose Target Selection Limits to minimize the impact.
Well, and beyond that: Do not lose time!
How It Played Out:
As aforementioned - I played the defending Japanese in this one.
I focussed my defence not up front but tried to delay there a bit. In a way, I misplayed my two HIP halfsquads somewhat: Sure enough, Americans ended up in their hexes so that I could emerge in the the CCPh. However, I should have placed the halfsquads in positions where the Americans would previously have lost Concealment. Due to this gross oversight, I did not manage to Ambush the Americans and lost one halfsquad outright. The other one survived the non-HtH first round of CC, so a Melee ensured which somewhat obstructed the path of advance of the Americans before failing to do any damage when the Melee turned HtH in the Japanese turn - and getting consequently killed for this lack of spirit.
My guess was that the Americans would attack through the center and on the northern flank, which basically was what happened. Alas, I missed numerous of the not so frequent occasions with decent chances to actually cause damage with Japanese due to repeated Cowering. I did lose three squad equivalents pretty early. Consequently, further developments appeared to be an uphill battle for me.
On the bright side, it became pretty obivious that my positions on the southern flank seemed not to be threatened. Therefore, I could afford to vacate those positions to shift the units there towards the center in a timely manner.
Around turn 3, the Americans had reached the area, where the terrain got ugly in earnest. Having focussed on the northern half of the battlefield, the attackers were mainly confined to the A, B, F, and G hexrows for their advance. I did my best to fall back dodging the worst of US firepower and could stop the advance cold for the time being along the northern board edge. Yet, the Japanese position felt precarious in the middle because the previous losses there were painfully felt.
In turns 4 and 5 I was able do deal some important Break results against a number of Americans which took some steam out of his push. Along the northern boardedge, however, my defensive position was overcome. By now, the Americans were concentrated in the 4 and 5 hexlines in the northern half of the playing area and the Japanese units from the southern flank had shifted accordingly. The chokepoint of 74H7 was under pretty firm Japanese control.
(Note: I realize that I am mixing up the order in the description a bit, but can't get it sorted correctly in detail. I should be enough for you to visualize the culmination of the scenario.
This meant that the Americans would have to focus on the A, B, and C hexrows to exit in turns 6 and 7. I had nothing to prevent them moving forward along these lines except for a pretty soon to be dead broken halfsquad that bought some moments of precious time. More importantly, I had contrived to move a Japanese 447+LMG from 74H7 to 74F6 which threatened all the Open Ground hexes the Americans had to cross with a Firelane. Two US stacks sat in 74C6 and 74A7. Alas, one stack of Americans reached 74C9, an Amercan 666 sat in 74B9 and a (previous "Leader Creation") 6+1 in 74E10. I had just managed to get a CX halfsquad to 74C10 and a CX 8-0, 228+MMG to 74E10 in a frantic effort to cover the exit line. The Japanese halfsquad was duly vaporized. But I could advance my 8-0, 228+MMG to D10 to cover the exit hex A10, and some surviving CX 447 to 74G10. With all the malice my Japanese 8-0 could muster, he advanced by himself into 74D9 for an Ambush to behead the lone 6+1 hapless Colonel and to infiltrate out to 74E10 out of LOS of the enemy.
In US turn 6, the 666 in 74B9 K/#'ed my MMG crew in 74D10. At that point I thought it was all but over. But the Japanese are tenacious, are they not?
If the planned Firelane and Inherent FP of the (meanwhile) 347+LMG in 74F6 could just break some Americans having to cross over in their last MPh of US turn 7 from 74C6 and 74A7, and a couple of more theoretical "ifs", I might just pull it off. My lone 8-0 malicious leader in 74E10 had just one more fiendish devilry up his sleeve: He advanced into 74D10 to pick up the MMG in the (last) US turn 7... He was helped by the CX 447 advancing to 74F10. So there was some dubious cover of the exit line.
In the final US turn 7, the Americans moved one squad and a leader from 74C9 to 74E10 apparently hoping to draw some fire and to impose Target selection limits. My opponent was surprised that this ploy did not work, so he moved off these units - who were the hell of a lot relieved not to be riddled by point blank bullets. Next, I let pass the 666 exiting via 74B10.
Now, the interesting part began: The remaining Americans would have to cross "Death Alley" ranging from 74E7 to 74A9 covered by my 347+LMG. The first US squad tried from 74C7. I managed to bring down the all-important Firelane with a sigh of relief - and to break the sucker. Next up was a 666 from 74C6 going CX for their lives.
It passed through the FL in 74C8 - which rolled: Boxcars!!! Oh my misery!
Realizing that 74C8 was a chokepoint and in normal range of my 347 I followed up with inherent FP to no effect, but leaving 1 Residual FP. The US squad hastened away until 74C10 where it was broken by a shot of my CX 447 in 74F10. Well done - and if any follow up Americans would try to pass through 74E10, I would still have a Final Fire option by that squad. More importantly, I needed my 8-0+MMG to be free to cover 74A10, B10 or C10. However, with the all important Firelane gone, the path along 74A8, B8, B9 was now open.
Rather than to put all eggs in one basket, the next 666 in 74C6 moved separately from a CX8-1 in the same hex. The one RFP in 74C8 broke first the squad and then the Leader. Sometimes it is the little things that matter - or not.
There was nothing now I could do to prevent the rest of the Americans from safely crossing "Death Alley". My 8-0+MMG was the only thing I had left to cover no less than three exit hexes in 74A10, B10, and C10. Unless that Leader kept ROF (not even sure if a non-fully manned MMG can keep ROF at all), there was no way to do it. And that Leader would be bound by Target Selection Limits by the US ADJACENT brokie in 74C10.
It was over. I reached over to congratulate my opponent for the win.
He said: "No mate, I congratulate you to your win."
Looking at him puzzled, he stated: "Even if your accursed 8-0+MMG does not do any damage, I am just one point short of units to exit to meet the VP requirement."
Doh!
What a game! I felt that I was losing this one from the beginning after having lost three Squad Equivalents early and looking at a 3:1 disadvantage of squads (much less firepower). Later I thought I had lost because I had it in my mind that Japanese CVP mattered which I had exceeded - they didn't, only the Pillboxes and US exit VP. Then I was sure that the K/2'ing of my MMG crew on the exit line would do me in except in case of the most absurd chances. With my all-important FL boxcar'ing out and "Death Alley" open, I was convinced that even the remotest chances were dashed. It turned out, they weren't - just...
Bottom line:
Fight to the end!
Aftermath:
Splendid scenario design by Bill Sisler. The board74 terrain makes this one special despite being Infantry only. It turned out that throughout the game both my opponent continuously believed we would not win this. Both of us came incredibly close. In the end the "little thing" - that 1 Residual FP in 74C8 did matter! |
