Adrian Carter
Senior Member
For our next game we moved from the ruins of Stalingrad to the jungles of Burma. I was fortunate enough to have purchased a copy of the historical magazine China-Burma-India: The Lost Theatre by The St. Louis ASL Club several years ago but had not got around to playing any scenarios from this pack. Unfortunately, I believe that it is now out of print. It is a theatre which had always fascinated me historically. We plumped for STL2 Nothing Ventured that depicted the attempts of the Frontier Force led by Major Stewart Lowe to retake a well defended police post from elements of the 55th Japanese Division in Bopkin, Burma on 17 January 1942.
This appeared to be a straightforward jungle fight with light jungle, wooden buildings and roads. ROAR indicated that the scenario was balanced with 16 Japanese wins versus 14 Commonwealth wins before we logged our game. It also has an interesting twist in that as long as the Commonwealth 9-2 leader was alive or uncaptured all MMCs of the Frontier Force were fanatic. The Commonwealth Frontier Force wins immediately if they control ≥6 buildings at the end of any player turn or ≥3 buildings at the end of the game (turn 6). My regular gaming buddy, Johan, attacked with the Commonwealth Frontier Force and I defended with the Japanese.
Start of game. As I couldn’t be absolutely sure where the Commonwealth Frontier Force would enter, I decided to spread my forces to cover as many of the buildings on the perimeter of the defence as possible. I also remembered to HIP 10% FRU of my forces and was thus able to HIP two 228w/MMG and one 447w/LMG to give the Commonwealth forces some nasty surprises. The rest of the Japanese forces would move through the tree line to occupy the other buildings. I needed to avoid the early loss of several buildings and hope that as the game neared the end stage I could banzai some of my troops to retake any lost buildings as necessary. The Commonwealth forces looked to advance from all three sides simultaneously.
Start of Turn 3. The Commonwealth forces had made slow but steady progress. Their 9-2 leader decided discretion was the better part of valour and hunkered down in in the kunai at the rear. I wonder what his superiors would have thought of this. The Commonwealth attack in the east (top of board) had lost its momentum and I was reasonably confident that the Japanese forces were adequate to contain the advance. In contrast, the Frontier Force was advancing strongly on the west of the map (bottom of the board) and looked to use strong fire groups to batter the Japanese into submission.
End of Game (Turn 5). The Commonwealth Frontier Force had conceded the game to give the Japanese a win after my opponent recognized that he would not be able to control the requisite minimum 3 buildings by the end of the game. The Japanese had used banzai twice, once to break the attack in the east and the second to attack the 9-2 leader and supporting infantry now hiding in the qH2 building. All Japanese troops in the second banzai attacked died gloriously for their emperor but, in doing so, tied up many Commonwealth forces which my opponent was forced to redirect to stop the attack. The Commonwealth attack had stalled in the west so that there was no chance of victory for them.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable scenario. The PTO rules were really light. The Commonwealth forces were fanatic for the entire game, and the Japanese did not just stand and defend but had the opportunity to attack and retake any buildings lost with banzai attacks. This pack of historical scenarios was intended to be the first of three that would depict the fighting during the entire Burma campaign. I do hope the second and third packs are published. Congratulations to the St. Louis ASL Club for a fine historical pack. Thumbs up!
This appeared to be a straightforward jungle fight with light jungle, wooden buildings and roads. ROAR indicated that the scenario was balanced with 16 Japanese wins versus 14 Commonwealth wins before we logged our game. It also has an interesting twist in that as long as the Commonwealth 9-2 leader was alive or uncaptured all MMCs of the Frontier Force were fanatic. The Commonwealth Frontier Force wins immediately if they control ≥6 buildings at the end of any player turn or ≥3 buildings at the end of the game (turn 6). My regular gaming buddy, Johan, attacked with the Commonwealth Frontier Force and I defended with the Japanese.
- Commonwealth advantages: Fanatic, 9-2 leader, MMGs
Commonwealth disadvantages: 2nd line or green troops, open ground - Japanese advantages: 1st and 2nd line troops, Japanese leaders, MMGs, concealment
Japanese disadvantages: Several buildings to defend
Start of game. As I couldn’t be absolutely sure where the Commonwealth Frontier Force would enter, I decided to spread my forces to cover as many of the buildings on the perimeter of the defence as possible. I also remembered to HIP 10% FRU of my forces and was thus able to HIP two 228w/MMG and one 447w/LMG to give the Commonwealth forces some nasty surprises. The rest of the Japanese forces would move through the tree line to occupy the other buildings. I needed to avoid the early loss of several buildings and hope that as the game neared the end stage I could banzai some of my troops to retake any lost buildings as necessary. The Commonwealth forces looked to advance from all three sides simultaneously.
Start of Turn 3. The Commonwealth forces had made slow but steady progress. Their 9-2 leader decided discretion was the better part of valour and hunkered down in in the kunai at the rear. I wonder what his superiors would have thought of this. The Commonwealth attack in the east (top of board) had lost its momentum and I was reasonably confident that the Japanese forces were adequate to contain the advance. In contrast, the Frontier Force was advancing strongly on the west of the map (bottom of the board) and looked to use strong fire groups to batter the Japanese into submission.
End of Game (Turn 5). The Commonwealth Frontier Force had conceded the game to give the Japanese a win after my opponent recognized that he would not be able to control the requisite minimum 3 buildings by the end of the game. The Japanese had used banzai twice, once to break the attack in the east and the second to attack the 9-2 leader and supporting infantry now hiding in the qH2 building. All Japanese troops in the second banzai attacked died gloriously for their emperor but, in doing so, tied up many Commonwealth forces which my opponent was forced to redirect to stop the attack. The Commonwealth attack had stalled in the west so that there was no chance of victory for them.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable scenario. The PTO rules were really light. The Commonwealth forces were fanatic for the entire game, and the Japanese did not just stand and defend but had the opportunity to attack and retake any buildings lost with banzai attacks. This pack of historical scenarios was intended to be the first of three that would depict the fighting during the entire Burma campaign. I do hope the second and third packs are published. Congratulations to the St. Louis ASL Club for a fine historical pack. Thumbs up!