Mike205
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To kick off Memorial Day weekend, we decided to head to the PTO for a mash up between the Japanese and some Gurkhas defending Sangshak, Burma in March 1944 during the Kohima-Imphal campaign.
When the dice settled Doug wound up taking the defenders. He started out with a handful of clerks n’ jerks from the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade who had recently settled into town.
The initial force consisted of 3 x 4-4-7 rifle squads, a fat stack of 8 concealment counters, a bren gun, and an 8-0 backed up by a 57L AT gun and a 76mm MTR.
Since he didn’t have the manpower to defend the entire village, his plan was to stock the church and east side of the ville with dummies in favor of a back field defense that would buy time for the super force of Gurkhas, consisting of 3 x 6-4-8s, 4x 4-5-8s, 1 4-5-7, 9-2, 8-1, 8-0, three lmgs, and two 51mm MTRs, to arrive. Doug was confident that once they showed up he could take back the village from the Japanese while denying them the VC on the western edge of town.
One 4-4-7 with the bren set up in 42J5 to cover the right flank and a likely approach through the palm grove as well as the VC church. Another squad went into H5 to provide a modicum of security for the MTR placed in I6 and the AT gun which set up in G5, CA facing H3-I4 to cover the church. The 8-0 would be in the F7 rally point.
The final squad deployed so that Doug could mix a couple of speed bump HS into the dummy stacks in the VC church and the F3 building on the left flank, to keep me honest as I moved forward. This risked slightly weakening the defensive line but he felt the need to keep me guessing about who was real and who was just a broom handle propping up a uniform and a helmet.
My plan of attack consisted of six 4-4-7s, two lmgs and a 8-0 leader sweeping around the village and into a blocking position somewhere around the J7-D3 line. The two 4-4-8 squads and the 10-1 leader could then start clearing house to house. As the ville was cleared, the main force would fall back into better cover, hopefully slowing the inevitable counterattack. The MMG would set up on the board 50 K5 hex in order to support the approach and a later defense of the church. Turn three, two 4-4-7s, a lmg and a 9-0 leader could either reinforce the sweep or the defense from the south, coming in on P3 to get into the fight as quickly as possible. The clock was ticking and, at least on paper, the clerks ‘n jerks looked like a pushover that could be dealt with by mopping up.
I’m not a big fan of banzai charges so don’t expect to find them here. They are totally cool but can ruin an OB in the blink of an eye. Instead, when attacking as the Japanese I favor infiltration tactics, using good cover and pushing aggressively forward, keeping contact with the enemy. If a squad stripes so be it- the Japanese nationality rules give them a decent 1-2 odds in HtH. Both of us predicted a bloody, swirling fight that would leave everyone exhausted.
I managed to take the village quickly, sweeping away the dummies, breaking one HS and killing another in CC. By end of turn IJA 2 I was in possession of the church, unlocking the VC conditions of possessing three other buildings within three hexes of it. The crews of the gun and mortar had also been driven off. All for the cost of a step reduced and ELR’ed 4-4-7.
I now had a choice to make- keep pushing forward or halt the attack and prepare for the Gurkha main force to arrive. The reinforcements can arrive between 42A4 and J10, so I chose the latter and set up the bulk of my force on the board 42 hill and F4 stonewall in order to prevent the most direct entry.
This worked pretty well- Doug’s Gurkhas came on between A8 and I10 instead and the broken ground really slowed them down. For the next two turns four of his squads would trade shots with mine across the A6 roadway. In turn four I managed to turn one squad berserk but it died before it could reach my men. Doug spent a turn maneuvering troops into position before using the 51mm mtr to start generating smoke, I mean SMOKE, to cover a K4, L4, I4 thrust towards the church.
Understandably, this was the sector where most of the action went down. Led by the 9-2 leader, Doug’s boys still took major casualties but enough survived to win CC in J3 and to move on in turn four to kill my 10-1 and a squad in the church in a melee that left his men dead as well. I did manage to hustle my mmg crew all the way off the hill and moved back into the church in my advancing phase. My reinforcements also came on and I made the fatal (literally) mistake of attempting to turn the Gurkha right flank. After creeping through the jungle in turn 3 my troops degraded in the face of Nepalese firepower before the survivors were killed in CC.
By turn 5 I still had a decent force pinning down a good chunk of Doug’s force on my right but unlike mine, his men could rally and he’d kept a 8-0 in the area that did a good job of recycling his broken squads. They Gurkhas again took serious casualties since my mmg got rate before malf’ing. But his last good order squad made it into the church and died while taking out my mmg crew.
At that point it was Doug’s victory since I no longer had a force on my left that could lay claim to the church or the buildings around it. Although I’d managed to distract a good chunk of Doug’s forces, I’d committed myself on the right. Of the two squads I belatedly tried to move over towards the church, one pinned and the other was CAS reduced to a broken HS by fire from the AT gun and two nearby lmg toting Gurkha squads. I’d played too wide of a defense and in the end was stretched too thin, to the point that I had to rely on Japanese resilience a bit too much.
If folks are looking for a short, action packed intro to PTO I don’t think they can go wrong with this one. It’s designed to slap two forces that can take a lot of punishment. It can also be wrapped up in an evening, giving a novice a dynamic intro to the theater pretty quickly.
When the dice settled Doug wound up taking the defenders. He started out with a handful of clerks n’ jerks from the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade who had recently settled into town.
The initial force consisted of 3 x 4-4-7 rifle squads, a fat stack of 8 concealment counters, a bren gun, and an 8-0 backed up by a 57L AT gun and a 76mm MTR.
Since he didn’t have the manpower to defend the entire village, his plan was to stock the church and east side of the ville with dummies in favor of a back field defense that would buy time for the super force of Gurkhas, consisting of 3 x 6-4-8s, 4x 4-5-8s, 1 4-5-7, 9-2, 8-1, 8-0, three lmgs, and two 51mm MTRs, to arrive. Doug was confident that once they showed up he could take back the village from the Japanese while denying them the VC on the western edge of town.
One 4-4-7 with the bren set up in 42J5 to cover the right flank and a likely approach through the palm grove as well as the VC church. Another squad went into H5 to provide a modicum of security for the MTR placed in I6 and the AT gun which set up in G5, CA facing H3-I4 to cover the church. The 8-0 would be in the F7 rally point.
The final squad deployed so that Doug could mix a couple of speed bump HS into the dummy stacks in the VC church and the F3 building on the left flank, to keep me honest as I moved forward. This risked slightly weakening the defensive line but he felt the need to keep me guessing about who was real and who was just a broom handle propping up a uniform and a helmet.
My plan of attack consisted of six 4-4-7s, two lmgs and a 8-0 leader sweeping around the village and into a blocking position somewhere around the J7-D3 line. The two 4-4-8 squads and the 10-1 leader could then start clearing house to house. As the ville was cleared, the main force would fall back into better cover, hopefully slowing the inevitable counterattack. The MMG would set up on the board 50 K5 hex in order to support the approach and a later defense of the church. Turn three, two 4-4-7s, a lmg and a 9-0 leader could either reinforce the sweep or the defense from the south, coming in on P3 to get into the fight as quickly as possible. The clock was ticking and, at least on paper, the clerks ‘n jerks looked like a pushover that could be dealt with by mopping up.
I’m not a big fan of banzai charges so don’t expect to find them here. They are totally cool but can ruin an OB in the blink of an eye. Instead, when attacking as the Japanese I favor infiltration tactics, using good cover and pushing aggressively forward, keeping contact with the enemy. If a squad stripes so be it- the Japanese nationality rules give them a decent 1-2 odds in HtH. Both of us predicted a bloody, swirling fight that would leave everyone exhausted.
I managed to take the village quickly, sweeping away the dummies, breaking one HS and killing another in CC. By end of turn IJA 2 I was in possession of the church, unlocking the VC conditions of possessing three other buildings within three hexes of it. The crews of the gun and mortar had also been driven off. All for the cost of a step reduced and ELR’ed 4-4-7.
I now had a choice to make- keep pushing forward or halt the attack and prepare for the Gurkha main force to arrive. The reinforcements can arrive between 42A4 and J10, so I chose the latter and set up the bulk of my force on the board 42 hill and F4 stonewall in order to prevent the most direct entry.
This worked pretty well- Doug’s Gurkhas came on between A8 and I10 instead and the broken ground really slowed them down. For the next two turns four of his squads would trade shots with mine across the A6 roadway. In turn four I managed to turn one squad berserk but it died before it could reach my men. Doug spent a turn maneuvering troops into position before using the 51mm mtr to start generating smoke, I mean SMOKE, to cover a K4, L4, I4 thrust towards the church.
Understandably, this was the sector where most of the action went down. Led by the 9-2 leader, Doug’s boys still took major casualties but enough survived to win CC in J3 and to move on in turn four to kill my 10-1 and a squad in the church in a melee that left his men dead as well. I did manage to hustle my mmg crew all the way off the hill and moved back into the church in my advancing phase. My reinforcements also came on and I made the fatal (literally) mistake of attempting to turn the Gurkha right flank. After creeping through the jungle in turn 3 my troops degraded in the face of Nepalese firepower before the survivors were killed in CC.
By turn 5 I still had a decent force pinning down a good chunk of Doug’s force on my right but unlike mine, his men could rally and he’d kept a 8-0 in the area that did a good job of recycling his broken squads. They Gurkhas again took serious casualties since my mmg got rate before malf’ing. But his last good order squad made it into the church and died while taking out my mmg crew.
At that point it was Doug’s victory since I no longer had a force on my left that could lay claim to the church or the buildings around it. Although I’d managed to distract a good chunk of Doug’s forces, I’d committed myself on the right. Of the two squads I belatedly tried to move over towards the church, one pinned and the other was CAS reduced to a broken HS by fire from the AT gun and two nearby lmg toting Gurkha squads. I’d played too wide of a defense and in the end was stretched too thin, to the point that I had to rely on Japanese resilience a bit too much.
If folks are looking for a short, action packed intro to PTO I don’t think they can go wrong with this one. It’s designed to slap two forces that can take a lot of punishment. It can also be wrapped up in an evening, giving a novice a dynamic intro to the theater pretty quickly.
I thought at the time there goes my cunning plan: