Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2000 14:08:08 _0500
From: Paul Kenny
The Japanese setup completely HIP in this one. I start off with most of my force in the dI1 and dH1 area with the noted exception of the M8 HMC in dD2 ready to pour out some WP into bK4. Turn 1 starts out great as I am able to get all the Smoke and WP I want smoking out bK4, H4 and G5. I then assault move and advance my men across the H5 J4 road into the first set of buildings expecting some surprise CC but get none. I bring my Turn 1 reinforcements into the same area. Pretty quiet opening turn. I did miss the SSR that bridges are no longer in existence but hopefully this didn’t effect play too much. In the bottom of the first the Japanese Divine Wind has Gusts arrive and blow away a lot of my smoke. A Japanese conscript squad emerges from the rubble in bE5 and goes into the building adjacent to my HMC. My AAMG pins him preventing him from creating a THH. I then proceed to Critical Hit him with the HMC’s MA in Final Fire!
The second turn starts with me losing smoke and WP in one of my M4A1 tanks. I bring on my Turn 2 reinforcements along the east edge of Board b. The Japanese respond with only desultory and ineffective fire from one squad that does break one squad. My advance fire does step-reduce him but then creates a Hero and BH the squad. However I am able to eliminate both squad and hero in CC. The Japanese turn 2 sees him placing some covering smoke and pulling back his defenses a little including an INF Gun. He pops a conscript out of HIP in some rubble tries for a THH and pins himself. (Visual imagery of a small group of nervous Japanese reservists yelling at each other to charge the tank but no one answers the call!).
The Marine Turn 3 begins with me changing CA with one of my FT tanks and flaming his scared conscript squad. He fails his MC and ELR’s to a broken HS. I then begin dashing across board B. The marines have this scenario firmly in hand to this point. Of course I am speaking too early at this point. The Japanese promptly CH a POA_CWS_H1. Ouch!. The remainder of the movement is pretty uneventful. I advance into a few CC situations including a HIP unit that pops out. Many Japanese die and there are three melees across the board including bL3 bJ0 and bD1. I seem to still have things in hand as the melees are each generally in my favor although I may have made a small mistake in advancing my 149 hero with a FT into a 1:1 odds CC situation.
In the Bottom of the 3rd the sparks and bullets really begin to fly. The Japanese Deliberately Immobilize one tank while his sniper Stuns my HMC. A HIP THH dashes out but after being on the receiving end of many bullets and a couple of MA attacks slowly falls under the weight of many wounds. My defensive fire is pretty ineffectual. At this point I still feel confident. I have located a good number of his units including his 2 INF guns (one of which malf’ed) in the aF3 and aG4 area, have nailed his infantry good and have made excellent territorial gains. Another turn or two and I will have the Victory Building under fire. Losing the 2 AFV’s worries me though, especially coupled with the Stun to the HMC. I will likely need the smoke to get the DC’s up onto the Victory Building.
Turn 4 sees me moving towards the victory building in force. I get my infantry into the aK5 and L5 buildings on the west flank, aF5 and G5 in the center and aE2, F2 and F3 on the eastern flank. They get up their pretty safely with only a couple of breaks. As I bring my armor up in support however I continue to pay a price. A HIP Gun in aN2 nails a tank in bG1 creating a burning wreck (and concurrently removing a prime MTR location to lay smoke). I get my remaining POA into bypass on the western flank and in CC/advances am able to clear up the eastern flank in the aF3/G4 area as well as finishing up the melees in my rear. I am now in great position to begin assaulting the Victory Building. Since I haven’t seen any Fortified buildings yet I am assuming they all went into the Victory Building. I will have to smoke the place out and run some DC’s up there to create some breaches. Now that I have located his remaining AT Guns, I can consider flaming them with the POA and then using the POA to assault the fortified locations.
Turn 5 opens with me beginning my assault on the Victory Building. I get no smoke from my remaining Tank but do get some WP from a mortar. I lay this down adjacent to the VB and rush a DC carrying squad adjacent to his 10_1 HMG stack and place a DC, however he is broken before he can lay the DC. Elsewhere I bring up the troops to get in position to assault the building in force. I bring the POA up near his remaining INF gun and BFF the FT. All I get for this is a pinned crew. But I do break their concealment and reveal a HIP squad and leader, all set for the 32 FP FT attack that is coming in the next turn! I rush the tank up adjacent to the VB for some PB fire. At the end of my half of the Game Turn I have most of my troops lined up on the aG Hexrow waiting to assault the VB with a Tank and HMC in support. The rest of my troops with the POA are on the northern flank ready to burn our way in that side.
The Japanese try sending some THH and THH DC at my POA but I am able to fry them. The POA actually goes berserk (figuratively) flailing its turret about firing its MG’s nailing all assaults including a 9_0 448 DC carrying group with snakes in PB fire! However that is the only effective fire this round. I blast the victory building with everything I have, generate a few good rolls (3mc and 1mc) but am unable to cause more than a pinned crew. If I can get him to come out of the fortified building I would be in great shape! Looks like it is gonna be tough!
The Marine 6th begins with me laying a nice WP smoke screen around the Japanese victory building as a result of some nice MTR ROF. I begin my assault bringing up a couple of DC and placing them on aI2 and aI3 (where his 10_1 HMG) is located. His return fire is ineffective and the DC’s are placed. I rush his AT Gun and his INF gun. Unfortunately his INF gun is in a fortified location and my Advance fire is ineffective and I cannot advance in upon his crew. I have already dealt with his covering force for the AT Gun so I am able to overwhelm him in that area. The DC’s go off destroying the aI3 hex killer stack killing the 10_1 and HMG. I advance into this and the aI2 hex in force. I am in the building and adjacent to the northern side of the building. I am ready to swarm the building and bring up the remainder of my AFV in support.
Over the next couple of turns the Marines do just that. The Japanese just cannot stand up against the storm of steel. I had on 72+4 shot as I recall. The marines whittle down the Japanese and take the building by the 8th turn. This scenario went as predicted. The Japanese were able to take out a couple of tanks, my HMC made only one or two shots and wasn’t needed for the rest of the game. The Japanese just don’t have a chance in this one. The marines just have too much! Someone else recommended restricting the marines to a quantity of CVP but I think this will make the marine too timid as he will need to bring his AFV to bear. Certainly knocking off a turn or two would be a better way to handle the correction by putting the Marines under some pressure and forcing him to take more chances. Remove a tank and the HMC and you may have a reasonable scenario. It is a unique situation with the Japanese in a city fight against tanks and with the POA flame tanks is scenario with potential but just too darned unbalanced at this point.
