American Tragedy J64

jrv

Forum Guru
Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
21,998
Reaction score
6,206
Location
Teutoburger Wald
Country
llIceland
You can tell what kind of scenario this is by looking at the victory conditions and the American setup area. If the Americans move one hex south of their initial setup area (plus one hex southeast into P9) and the Japanese do nothing, the Americans win. And the Americans have seven turns to move one hex south. This scenario promises to be as brutal as any Stalingrad slaughter over a one-hex advance. Kevin Meyer and I took this great scenario on one recent Saturday.

The scenario begins with the Americans poised to crest Kakazu Ridge. The Americans start with 26.5 squads and a pile of support weapons. About a third of the American force starts under “No Move,” which ends on the American turn three. The Japanese start with 13 squads, 8 crews, 3xHMG, 3xMMG, 4xLMG, 2x50mm MTR, 47L AT, 70* INF, 18 caves, 2 trenches and 4 1-5-7 pillboxes. Five more Japanese squads arrive between turns 3 and 6, as determined by a secret dr. Off board are two 81mm MTRs, ten hexes off two southern board edge hexes selected at game start.

There are no CVP caps on either side; it's all about controlling hilltops. The Americans gain 3 VP for each of G11, H11 and H12 at game end, plus 1 VP for any other level two or level three hill hex. The Japanese can gain 1 VP for controlling G11, H11, and H12 at the end of each of turns 4, 5, and 6.

The Americans which are not under No Move start the game unconcealed. This is a great advantage to the Japanese. As much as possible I wanted to keep the Americans from gaining concealment.

One great variable is the rain. The ideal result for the Japanese would be for rain to start on Japanese turn one, then stop and never start again. The Americans would prefer it to start raining immediately, go to heavy rain next turn and never stop. Although rain adds one to any elevation changes, and there are plenty of these, the additional Hindrance is great for the Americans.



My setup began with placing the fixed assets, the 81mm MTRs, the 70mm INF and 47 AT, the Caves, the trenches and the pillboxes. The caves on the Japanese left seemed most obvious, as they were restricted by SSR to the south side of the hill. In retrospect the double coverage of H12 is probably not necessary, and that cave might better go in G13 or F12 covering the odd flank maneuver. The trench in G13 allowed for a counter attack into G12, the trench in H14 allowed for communication between pillboxes and for fire out of pillbox CA (e.g. if the Americans start an end run). The pillboxes offer encircling shots with the G and H caves and shots for clearing the tops of those hexes as well as some shots against the saddle.

The caves on the right were set up to cover every second level hex on the front side of the ridge. The 81mm MTRs will cover the area around L11 too, and various weapons could cover the K12-N13 edge of the ridge. My reverse slope cave in P11 would probably have been better in Q12 facing P12 and allowing for shots into Q12 as well as the whole second level reverse slope.

The purpose of caves in the village were a bit of a mystery to me. The 320 spigot went into Q20 so the crew would have the TEM of the rubble, but perhaps P19 would have been better as P18 should be out of LOS. The others were set up mostly with the idea that if the HMGs wanted to leave, they could enter one of those caves.

With the for fortifications placed, I set up the major weapons. The Guns went in to the pillboxes in the back. They probably could be set up outside, but I decided not to chance a suppressing shot. The MMGs set up with the -1 leader in the G14 pillbox. The HMG in H14 set up in the trench, HIP so as to not attract attention from the American on the first turn. The other two HMGs set up in the N17 rubble. This was nearly as good as a cave, and had better LOS. The two MTR hexes were B22 and P22, which I deemed would have the best LOS around the H11 and M12 ridge corners.

I put a full squad HIP in P11 and another half in G14. The half was to cover the Pillbox in case the Americans Advanced in for CC. It was probably unnecessary and would have been better placed elsewhere. Another Japanese half-squad set up with a 50mm MTR in Q12. It was there to deny concealment on the third level and to draw the Americans onto the 447 in P11.

On the map I have marked the American setup area as black for those under No Move and green for those that move from the start. Kevin began the turn by pushing forward. He searched one half squad, but otherwise pushed to K12, L12, M12, N11, N10, O10 and P9. Japanese fired from caves as well as from the back positions, and a fair number of Americans were running back down the hill. The Americans ended up moving into N12 as well, but caused few casualties the first turn. The Japanese eliminated one 3-4-6. As Kevin had put himself in LOS, the Japanese Guns and HMGs in the village started to get hits, breaking more squads and half squads. The HIP squad in P11 killed a half squad on the ridge line, and with the 81mm MTRs the third level was slowly cleared.

Meanwhile Kevin tried for style points by climbing on a hill hex over a cave in O11 [G11.8331]. This brought out a series of rules questions. Ordinarily a unit climbing on a cliff is not visible across the cliff hexside unless the firer is in the hex in question. In this case the climb counter was placed in the hill hex itself, so the LOS was not across the hexside, which was a hill hexside and not a cliff in any event. We played that any unit with LOS to the hex would have LOS to the climbing unit. An 81mm MTR broke the halfsquad. That brought up the next question, what happens to a broken unit on a climb counter which is not climbing a cliff? According to the climbing rules it is eliminated, but that seemed awfully extreme, so we ruled the broken halfsquad fell off the climb counter into the hex without additional penalty.

The assault on the front continued, with the Japanese mostly skulking and the Americans unable to eliminate any caves, although they did slow sap away the number of Japanese defenders. When the Americans peered over the crest of the ridge, the Japanese support positions would snap them back. As more and more Americans broke on the front of the ridge, I started firing into stacks of broken units, which CR'd some. The American flamethrowers generally stood away from directly in front of the caves and took some mean twelve add ones, and the Americans formed a kill stack of 20 FP with one of the minus one leaders.

By Japanese turn 3, the Americans had lost seven squads and an 8-1 eliminated and many more broken. The Japanese had lost about three squads eliminated. On Japanese turn three the rain started. For the rest of the game it rained. This meant it was really hard for the 81mm MTRs to hit anything until it was double-acquired.

With a SAN of 6, the Japanese Sniper was highly active, although not critical. My first two out of three Snipers were on target and gave Kevin an early lead in whinging.

On American turn 4, the 10-2 decided to be a hero and moved with 2x6-6-7, HMG and .50 cal into H11. The Japanese MMGs in the pillbox in G14 promptly went on a ROF binge, and after four shots, the only reminder of the American force was the two SW. The Japanese managed to take G12 during turn 5 for one VP, but got a snakeeyes candygram for the loss of a 4-4-7.

The game continued thus, with each side slaughtering the other until game end. The Americans made a last minute push to grab enough locations for the win, but the Japanese just had to move into three empty hexes on the bottom of the turn, and had a fairly good chance of taking back G12 as well. We called it a Japanese win at that point, even though technically the American sniper might have been able to prevent at least one of the three moves.

My objectives had been to kill American units with multiple attacks, skulk to conserve Japanese forces and keep the Americans unconcealed. All of these were achieved at game end. My HIP tricks paid off fairly well, although they were not game winners.

I think the American counter-objective has to be to avoid the heavy firepower on the backside of the ridge for as long as possible. Try to eliminate a couple of caves on the front side of the ridge. If the Americans can create a zone where they can rally and gain concealment, they can then start pushing on top of the ridge. That will also give the rain time to start its magic.

The optimal attack against a cave should include several weapons. Three half squads, one each with a BAZ, FT, and DC start adjacent to the cave. One hex away two stacks with -1 leaders lead stacks with 24-36 FP. The attack starts with the BAZ, then the FT, then the support fire. If the Americans are lucky, the Japanese have a broken HS left in the cave. Assault move and place the DC. If there are no GO Japanese MMC when the DC is placed, the minus 4 DRM kicks in, resulting in a sealed cave. Repeat as necessary. As the game goes on, the American attacks will fall away from the ideal, but then the Japanese defense will slip away from the usual 4-4-7 with LMG. The Americans should not plan on moving over the ridge too quickly. This “processing” of the front side caves may take until turn four.

I'm not sure the Americans can hold hex G12, so plan on taking a few extra hexes to cover its possible loss.

At the end of the game, the Americans had lost 10.5 squads and 4 leaders, including the 10-2. The Japanese had lost 7.75 squads plus a leader and one leader wounded. It had been a bloody day. This is one scenario where I think it is really important for the attacker to prepare early, as much or perhaps even more than the defender. With such a plan I think this favors the Americans, but even then it will be a tough fight.

JR


These are some notes and issues you may want to review before playing:

I'm not sure whether there is a LOS from P10 to Q9 because of the cliff hexside on the spine. If not Q9 might be a good place to move Americans to gain concealment.

Because the +1 MF for debris does not add to the COT, the cost of moving to debris on a higher elevation is 3 MF, open ground x 2 + 1 MF for debris (until the rain starts).

The crease between G11 and G12/H11 causes abrupt elevation changes [B10.5]. The cost is 4 MF before rain starts and 6 MF after.

SSR 9. “At the end of Game Turn 7, continue to roll for all existing melees until they are completely resolved.” This sounds clear enough until you start thinking about the mechanism. What is the order? Japanese/American/Japanese/American? Or Japanese/American/American/Japanese as if player turns had been added to the game? This will make a difference if snakeeyes are rolled. Are the extra rounds treated as “pairs”, so that if both sides eliminate each other in one of the later rounds, it would be as if simultaneous, i.e. the hex control would remain as it started the CCPh. Do units lose CX at some point? Pin? If it doesn't start hand-to-hand, does CC switch to hand-to-hand at some point? Fortunately we didn't face this problem, but you may want to work out the mechanism with your opponent before the game end.

One thing to note is that PTO is not in effect in Kakazu ridge, meaning G.4 is n/a.

If the entrance hex of a cave has hindrances, there's an odd quirk in the rules for whether the hindrance applies. See this thread for more details: http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?t=65489. We played it as if any LOS from same level to lower level got the hindrance.

The Japanese 81mm MTR aren't units: therefore they don't deny concealment gain or cause loss of concealment. They also don't change rout routes.
 

Honza

The Art Of Wargames
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
Messages
13,868
Reaction score
2,632
Location
Oxfordshire
First name
Jan
Country
llCzechia
Very interesting. This scenario is great fun. Thanks for the AAR. I see you are having a cave binge; since you gave us an AAR of "Sea Of Tranquility" last time. Good stuff! Rep too you.
 

sunoftzu

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
938
Reaction score
483
Location
Taipei, Taiwan
Country
llTaiwan
Great AAR,

Am planning to play this one very soon (as US), and my impressions (re VCs) were similar to your sentiments. J-014 ("On the Hoss' Side") seemed to play a little bit like that, too. Another good way for US to deal with caves is WP infantry smoke grenades.

If you're interested, here's a link to and old post that details how to use WP infantry smoke grenades (its very useful in the KR series, as the US usually has some Ass Eng squads).

http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?p=1055587#post1055587

John.
 

jrv

Forum Guru
Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
21,998
Reaction score
6,206
Location
Teutoburger Wald
Country
llIceland
Great AAR,

Am planning to play this one very soon (as US), and my impressions (re VCs) were similar to your sentiments. J-014 ("On the Hoss' Side") seemed to play a little bit like that, too. Another good way for US to deal with caves is WP infantry smoke grenades.

If you're interested, here's a link to and old post that details how to use WP infantry smoke grenades (its very useful in the KR series, as the US usually has some Ass Eng squads).

http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?p=1055587#post1055587

John.
My opponent fired WP from his BAZ once, which wrecked a HS that was trying to recover a 50mm MTR. Other than that there was no WP. He also managed one HEAT round in a cave from a BAZ, but had no luck after that.

JR
 

sunoftzu

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
938
Reaction score
483
Location
Taipei, Taiwan
Country
llTaiwan
My opponent fired WP from his BAZ once, which wrecked a HS that was trying to recover a 50mm MTR. Other than that there was no WP. He also managed one HEAT round in a cave from a BAZ, but had no luck after that.

JR
The point with using WP inf smoke grenades (in addition to locating all connected HIGHER caves and tunnel exits) is that if placed _in_ the cave, its automatically a CH.

:D :D :D

ie, a 4MC, which will tend to bring ELR consequences to the table as well.....

John.
 

Will Fleming

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2003
Messages
4,410
Reaction score
424
Location
Adrift on the Pequod
Country
llUnited States
What is the meaning of "No Move" in this situation?

  1. Can the American units marked as such fire normally?
  2. Can the Japanese shoot at them without causing the "No Move" counter to be removed? If so, does it apply to only that location or all US units marked?
 
Top