hayesncsu
Member
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2012
- Messages
- 163
- Reaction score
- 135
- Location
- North Carolina
- First name
- Hayes
- Country
I played this one last week with Kevin Conley. I played as the defending Japanese and went with a pretty balanced setup not knowing which flank he would push on (note I hadn't decided CA for pillboxes when I took this photo.)
I am always torn on the value of foxholes. In hindsight with the dense jungle I don't think I should have used this many but it didn't impact the gameplay as much as it could have.
Kevin and his Australians chose to push hard on the Japanese right flank. This shot is during turn two. The Japanese firelanes were effective in spite of cowering on the same MMG fire lane roll two turns in a row. The Aussies did create two berserk squads and two heroes early on which helped them get across the sea of kunai and into the Japanese line faster than I had hoped.
We lost power for an hour during play so resorted to headlamps! I thought it gave a nice ambiance!
Here is turn 4 with the Japanese holding on just enough to prevent the Aussies from having two turns to run people off board.
Here is the final shot with a JAPANESE VICTORY. The Aussies exited a single half squad. They really got chewed up casualty wise losing 4+ squads and a leader. Note the Aussies chose to pursue the exit 5 CVP option, not going for no good order Japanese HMG/MMG at game end. I was realyl sweating this as I thought he could have tied me up in 3 melees at the end and won the game. Hard to know how it might have shaken out and as the Aussie you definitely have to decide on one VC or the other or you won't have the force to make it happen.
We really enjoyed this scenario- lots of great happenings- Berserkers, Heroes, captured HMGs, some HIP surprises, etc.
As the Japanese, in hindsight, I would probably put one of the MMG in the back line in a pillbox. If necessary you can pop up and surprise some exiting Aussies, or it can be preserved in order to maintain a Good Order MMG/HMG per VC and just reveal when necessary.
The scenario felt very balanced- the fire lanes really keep the Aussies on edge and help channel their advance. The Japanese line is brittle, though, and must pull back when needed. We had a couple of melees with both sides seeing some ambush do to stealthy, etc.
I would highly recommend. Another classic tourney size scenario from DftB.
Thank you!