HP#17 Down Radio Road - AAR

von Marwitz

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HP#17 Down Radio Road - AAR

Played this game as the attacking Japanese vs. my regular opponent David Wallace commanding the Marines.

Set in June 1944, we are looking at a short 5.5 Turn action in which a Japanese force of 50% Elite and 50% First line infantry supported by 4 tanks have to punch through the Marine defenders. 25% of the Japanese force enters as reinforcements in Turn 3. The Marines are hard-ass defenders that have a .50Cal, HMG, MMG, 3x BAZ44, 2x DC, a FT and 2x M3 GMC Gun ht's. About one third of these troops enter on Turn 2, i.e. before the Japanese reinforcements. It allows the Marines to counteract the Japanese Schwerpunkt.

A formidable obstacle for the Japanese is the terrain, one half of board 41. Before the game starts each player alternately places 6 rubble counters, all Huts have collapsed. The Marines may set up entrenched with one MMC (+SMC +SW) HIP. A glance at the board will immediately reveal, that there is not much freedom of movement for the Japanese tanks and that movement for the Japanese infantry uphill into Rubble is very costly in MF. The Japanese reinforcements entering on Turn 3 have to negotiate the Dry Stream (with Ford), so they will only have two or three turns in which they can really effect the game. The Japanese have not time to lose as they have to exit 5 Good Order Squad Equivalents, that can be substituted by a tank per Squad Equivalent.

ROAR had this scenario at 29 to 36 pro Marine with a good Excitement Rating of 6.9.

Dave took advantage of one special capability of the 768 Marines - they can freely deploy at setup. Which he did for all of them. I had feared this to happen. As a consequence, the Japanese will find an unbroken line of defense. A possible advantage of Japanese HS going into H-t-H combat at 1:2 odds or worse but still having a good chance to take out the defenders in CC are alleviated. More than that: The advantage is actually turned against the Japanese. As they have to exit squad equivalents, they cannot afford to trade their HS against those of the Marines. Yet, the tactic of generously deploying the Marines forces the Japanese to do just that due to time restraints and the difficulty of breaking a multitude of Morale 8 troops in decent TEM. The second thing that Dave did well in his defensive setup was to place his Rubble in hill hexes, the Japanese needed to move up into, requiring 6MF. Despite my best efforts to place my 6 Rubble counters in places that do not impede my advance and to take away the upper levels of the FF2 Building, the Rubble will make things very difficult for the Japanese by limiting the paths the tanks can take and by increasing the movement cost, blocking Bypass, for the infantry.

So looking at the defensive setup, I was not quite confident from the outset.


Picture of the situation at game start:
(Note: the HIP Japanese labelled blank counters next to the US units are my best guesses about what might be beneath.)

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The Plan of Attack

As there was no way to outflank the Marines and it was obvious that Dave had deployed probably all of his squads, I had no real choice but to go straight at them. This was difficult due to having to move uphill into rubble as the cost of 6MF. So it had to be Banzai Charges. I set up two of them. The first would go at Y4 and Y5 in combination with an Armored Assault. The second would go into Y7 and Y8 for which I was obliged to set up one Banzai unit in the first level of the building in V7 to gain LOS across the intervening Rubble. Both MTRs would lay a Smoke screen to shield some of these charges. After the Banzai charges would have sucked up the defensive fire, somewhat alleviated by my covering Smoke, the Japanese HIP squad in W5 would create a DC-Hero to attack the suspected HS/MG-combo in Z6. Then, the squad itself would follow to eventually advance into Z6. This would put me in H-t-H CC in 3 places needing an 8 or 7 or less to take out the defending HS and many of my other troops up onto the level 1 rubbled Hill locations in position to follow up. Depending on the outcome, I could still shift the Japanese Schwerpunkt to the left or right, whereas I was tending to the right. I think the plan was decent and the best one could make of the situation.


How it Set Out

It started off badly. Neither MTR had Smoke. Neither MTR had WP. Doh! So I had to attack without cover.
I did the Banzai Charge on the left with Armored Assault first. The units made it up the hill into Y4 and Y5 without taking damage. One of the tanks subsequently even managed to pop Smoke by sD in X6. Next came the Banzai on the right, which also managed to put one HS each into Y7 and Y8 despite vicious fire. I managed to create my DC-Hero and he managed to enter and detonate himself in Z6. So even without Smoke, everything went just as planned up to this point. But not further...
I lost two of the H-t-H CCs with nothing to show for it, the third one turned into H-t-H Melee. The DC-Hero did not have any effect as its roll was not very good and the Marine HS shrugged off its 2MC. In Z7, the Marine HIP 348+HMG+9-1 popped up. I did not want to risk a CX 448 in H-t-H CC in Z6, where the DC-Hero had revealed a 348+DC. From that point onwards, it was literally an uphill fight.


How it Developed Further

The Marines pulled up their 149+FT from AA2 to Z2. A BAZ in AA8 openend up on my tank in W7 but X'ed out on the first shot. The US Gun ht in CC7 had quite a good LOS to the Z4 area. Z6, Z7, and Y7 were still held in Marine hands, Y8 was blocked by H-t-H Melee in which my Japanese went down taking the Marine HS with him. I ran a second DC-Hero against the Marine 348+DC, again reaching the building but again having no effect. Damn! My Japanese left flank was in tatters with me being driven off Y5 and in a hopeless situation in Z4. The US Hero+FT could advance into Y5 and severly threaten my tank there. On the Japanese right, I had to advance uphill vs. the Marine HMG which took its toll. Meanwhile, the US reinforcements moved in. My opponent overlooked a clear LOS from my MMG in V7 to EE4, but I gacked my roll to malf it vs. his high value stack. As I had also malfed my two other LMGs in the meantime. Altogether, I did not seem to be particularly lucky. In one hex, which I managed to enter to commence H-t-H CC with 3:3 odds, I was hit by a Sniper changing it to 2:3. The same damn Sniper hit the same hex again, breaking my surviving HS, which then went down in CC of course. With the middle ground being infested with anti-tank assets, I attempted to create a Trail Break using ALL MP in with a tank in Z10 and bogged despite Low Ground Pressure. Attempting to save my tank in Y6 vs. the ADJACENT Marine FT, I rather chanced a HS and Leader on a Banzai Charge from Y7 vs. the FT in Y5. They were promptly killed. With one tank intended to create a TB in Z10 Bogged, the other tank in AA8 still held in check by the Gun ht in CC7, and the FT still operational (albeit Fired for the moment) in Y5, there was no good place to go with my tank in Y6. Thus I decided to chance a dash for the board edge. This was put to an abrupt halt in BB5 where it was killed by the BAZ from BB4.
1543500017137.png


From Bad to Worse

One success for the Japanese was contrieving to get a CX HS into H-t-H CC against the US Hero+FT. The Japanese killed the Hero and retrieved the FT. Before they could put it to use, they were broken, however, and remained so until it made no difference for the game any more. Meanwhile the US slowly fell back. The reinforcements, the Gun ht's and another MMG had set up an extremely powerful position in DD3 and DD4, which could not yet even bring to bear its tremendous firepower at this point. For the time being, my Japanese had to struggle with the 9-1 led HMG in CC7 against which I had to move ADJACENT. In one of the many Marine DRs of 3, the HMG scored a 1KIA against my 10-0, 448, and a HS. RS gave me 6,6,5, killing the leader, the 448 and breaking the HS... Sigh! In turn, my tank ADJACENT tank could not harm the Marines. and I contrieved not to rally two Japanese units on 5 occasions despite Leader, ELR'ing them from Elite to Concripts and 2nd Line. Meanwhile, the Japanese reinforcements had entered. I decided to have them rush up to the Japanese right.
1543501809714.png


The Bitter End

It was obvious, that the chances for the Japanese were slim at this point. But normally, I am a player who fights it out. The only chance I had was to put everything on the Japanese right flank and attempt a suicidal charge offboard into the teeth of the lurking Gun ht's, the 8-1 led .50Cal, and, and... Unfortunately, I had malfed the MA of one of my tanks on an IF-shot. I thought it worth the risk because it was ADJACENT to a BAZ. As the BAZ missed, I attempted a repair as it was the US turn and he needed but an 8 to hit and destroy it with everything but boxcars. Needless to say, I rolled a 6 to have the tank Recalled. So my Japanese gathered their last breath for an all out Banzai charge downhill in my Turn 5. This was the 'finest hour' of the 8-1 led .50Cal which went on a ROF tear of 5 or 6 shots rolling Snakes, 3, 5, 5 and one roll above 7. Jeez!
Blood and guts strewn about everywhere and the Marines probably blinded by red mist, I at least managed to exit two tanks from Z10 to save my honor.

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Aftermath

Looking back at this, I think my opponent did crucial things right during the setup: How he placed the Rubble and taking advantage of the Marine free Deployment option. This already might tilt the scenario somewhat in favor of the Marines. Besides that, I don't think that neither of us made any big mistakes. Altogether, Lady Luck was definitively not with the Japanese: No Smoke whatsoever for both MTRs, both DC-Heroes having no effect despite reaching their target, IIRC 6 times where the Japanese incurred ELR due to not rallying despite Leader presence, a Sniper hitting the same unit twice with a 1, sealing its fate in a previously favorable CC situation. Losing 4 HS against 1 HS in H-t-H CC with odds to succeed at 8 or 7, malfing 4 MGs and terminally losing 3 of them. That really cruel ROF tear of the .50Cal vs. the final Banzai charge. Pitting a DR average for IFT rolls of 7.46 @ 145 rolls (Japanese) vs. 6.62 @ 84 rolls (Marines), and having a DR average of 8.04 for the last 24 Japanese Morale Checks.

Well, at least I did not fail my PMC... ;)
It was a fun game that bears its Excitement Rating of almost 7 (of 9) with justice.
I guess with luck somewhat more even or any glitch in the Marine setup (for example forgetting free deployment), it would have been a much closer outcome.


von Marwitz
 
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