Hi ya-
Well not to take away from some good things MMP does, I just wanted you lads to know what an awesome scenario J18 is, if I may digress a bit, Why is that MMP can get a classic like this one in the journal, yet we also see such horrible dogs such as danger forward, shielding Moscow and so on get published? It just boggles my mind and perhaps that's why I get so pissed. I should point out that PTO terrain is not in effect for this scenario, so all fortifications [exc: Pillboxes G1.632] must be revealed if in LOS of the Ami's. I played this Dolan production way back when it first appeared in Back blast so kudos to MMP for putting this cool scenario back in circulation! Anyhow, Rob and I sat down to play this one and it went down to the last dice roll in the victory area wow!
This scenario has it all; American 1st line infantry with massive firepower, a couple of Shermans, M18 GMC's and one M8 along with naval artillery support vs. some real low grade Jap units IE 3 1st liners, 7 second liners and 6 conscripts, but the real attraction for me in this one were the cool ass 150 arty piece, two 25LL AA guns and one 70mike mike infantry gun( this piece can also fire indirect to) An assortment of fortifications including 3 pillboxes, 7 caves, and 2 road blocks. You also get to HIP two squads and up to 8 TH heroes. I ended up only HIPing 2 TH hero's, one in hex 22W9 and another in hex 15N5 in one of the Caves in tandem with a 447 and DC. The 150 artillery piece got placed in hex 15N4 Cave with a CA of M5, why place my 150 in that hex? Because I felt that by the time the Ami's reached the pinnacle, I hoped they would be thinned out by then and such a Gun can be such a nasty surprise in most end game situations that some opponents might throw in the towel, not Rob, no sirree, his force was in decent condition when it reached the pinnacle, less two AFV's, one I took out with a TH hero, the other, was stunned recalled when Rob rolled boxcars on the crews MC, then to add insult to injury, the Recalled tank moved through a known AT minefield, got immobilized and then the crew had to abandon it's vehicle in the next movement to fight on as an ersatz infantry crew, you would think the crew it's self would try to exit the board.
The victory conditions are two fold, first the Ami's have to clear out a building in Ie Shima itself and then advance further to capture the Pinnacle IE Hexes 15N4 and !5N5, note: just because you have a caves in those hexes, the American can still control those hexes, so plan accordingly IE Dig Foxhole's in those hexes, granted it's +2 due to Corel(13.82) soil being in effect but still the Jap's need those foxhole to fend off the Americans at game end, something I personally should have done but neglected to do and perhaps that may have been apart of my loss to Rob. Not to mention some real bad luck at times like my HMG busting on every other shot then coming back to only bust again.
I also would like to note that I did HIP my 25LL AA gun in Hex 15M5 CA L5/M6, this was to be another pain in the ass piece for the end game gambit, once more my thinking was well the Armor cannot enter level three or four locations, so I'll just blast away at his infantry as the try to move forward to take the Pinnacle. Ha ha no such luck, after my 2nd shot, the damn AA gun roll's boxcars, ARRRRRRRRRRRRR, I had also had my HMG and MMG in that hex too and they managed to dish out some punishment, but maybe Rob's armor could not enter those level 3 and 4 locations but they they could still throw Smoke or WP, the WP was more successful at getting placed just because the depletion is much higher then the smoke number.
In summery; I stuffed building 22X8(This is the VC building) with most of my conscripts and placed all my AP minefields in each building hex IE I get 18 AP, so I placed 6 in X8, X7 and W8, well it really did not work out like I had hoped, the building was overrun with in three turns and Rob was well on his way to board 15. Just for your FYI I had placed 1AT factor in each of the following hexes: 22Y6, 22Y10 and 22S7, each would become known as soon as he had LOS to them, but I retrospect, I think a better spot for them may have been on board 15, where exactly, I am not sure. I'm more of the view that perhaps defending very lightly on board 22 might be more key, perhaps it might slow the ami's down slightly and set-up more heavily around the Pinnacle, digging foxholes and doing a reverse slope defense might be the ticket next time I play this one.
As a side note; my primary cave was in hex 15N5, thus all my caves with in three hexes of my primary cave were apart of my cave complex. I had all seven of my caves in the N5 area.
Another great scenario, kinda reminded me of the Tactiques scenario Yea Dak, in that this can be a great teaching scenario as far as caves are concerned due to the fact that there is no complicated jungle terrain that is in effect. Enough rambling, play this one it's a goody!
Scott
