The War Machine - Iwo Jima CG

[rreinesch]

A few stats:

The Japanese have a total of 27 coy of squad equivalents (including AFV crew and Gun crew etc.)
The Marines have a total of 51 coy of squad equivalents (including AFV crew and Gun crew etc.)

So the Americans almost outnumber the Japanese 2:1 in terms of personnel.

The Japanese also have 20 OBA modules, while the Marine has 30.

The Japanese have 12 AFV, while the Marine has 70. (plus 30 HT for a total of 100).

The Japanese have 66 Guns, while the Marine has 113.

The Japanese have 30 HMGs (half of which are .50cal), while the Marine has 48 HMGs (half of which are .50cal).

The Japanese has 6 FT and 44 DC, while the Marine has over 100 FT and over 200 DC.

The Marine also receives 81 Fighter Bombers with an assortment of Napalm, Rockets and Bombs.

YET!!!! The Japanese can stand virtually toe to toe with the Americans.....they are only forced back slowly. This is where the 16,800 FFP step in. To totally fortify the Japanese force versus such an overwhelming Marine force.

I find the stats quite stunning.

Wow. If you ever get this released you're going to have to provide a lot of supplemental counters with the game. I don't think everyone is up to buying 3 copies of Rising Sun just to complete the needed OB.

Rick

 

[Honza]

Yes definitely Rick. Perhaps this CG is for madmen only.

The smaller CGs will require less counters, and the stand alone scenarios even less. But this is one mother f*cker of a CG.

 

[jrv]

Two more Iwo Jima resources.

The US military made a documentary in 1945.

[video=youtube;zq6KiTXkcQM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq6KiTXkcQM[/video]

The book Never in Doubt is a collection of oral histories. Unlike many oral stories found in histories, this one includes recollections from men not directly in the front lines, such as artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, medical, motor transport, Higgens boats, etc.

One of the stories might give some idea of what it was like for the men who were fighting:

And then we had this fellow, Franny, and he went through four operations, and after a while you start getting dizzy, I suppose. He says, I think I've had it, I had four of these things, I don't think I wanna go back and train to hit Japan, because we knew that eventually that's what we'd have to do. So we were in a hole and he props his foot up in the air, braced on a rifle, and leaves it up there all night. Japs couldn't even hit his foot. The next day he says, I must have been out of my mind, leaving my foot up there all night. You had funny things like that where you sit back later and say, This is crazy, you know.

PFC William C. Doran, Communications, 2d Battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Division, p. 176

JR

 

[Honza]

Thanks JR.

Just did a bit more gaming this evening. The objective of the CG is for the Marines to control the whole map. We are over halfway through CG date #10 and then there are 4 more CG dates to go. At the rate they are going I do not think the Americans will manage to secure everything. Particularly because on CG dates #13 and #14 I will reduce both sides CPP as they will be fighting over a much smaller area.

I can adjust the VC accordingly to how the end game plays out.

 

[Honza]

Halfway through Marine movement phase on T4, 10th CG date. The phase has been great fun. There was a berserker stack led by an 8-1 plus 3 HS and a squad which charged into the amphitheatre towards a pillbox. The Marines prepared for the charge and placed some WP which effectively saved the berserkers hides. They only lost 2 HS and are now on top of the pillbox which contains a 348 stripped squad. Since there was so much DFF vs the berserkers it left a gap in the defences and so another few squads poured into the theatre towards a different pillbox which is adjacent to the first one. We will see if CC will eliminate the defenders. CC vs a pillbox often favours the Marines due to their higher FP and the fact that the Japanese cannot go HtH.

Otherwise there are Marines crawling all over the Turkey Knob ridge and they are making some progress despite furious defensive fire.

 

[Honza]

After a monumental American movement phase and Advance phase came the CC phase. There were 10x CC going on. At the end the Marines had lost 3 HS and the Japanese had lost 3 Crews and 3 Squads (both striped and normal). One Japanese crew with MMG managed to withdraw because the Marines rolled a 12. Two CC are on going, and one of the Japanese crews survived the Marine attack and then rolled snakes to kill the HS attacking it.

This situation is typical of Iwo; most Japanese were eliminated at close quarters in their pillboxes or by PBF, DC, FT in their caves. But I have never had as many as 10 CC's going on at the same time.

All in all the CC phase was a Marine success and they can congratulate themselves.

 

[Honza]

A couple of photos of the present situation.

 

[Honza]

I got to say a big thankyou to everyone who has expressed an interest in this CG and who have offered to help playtest and proofread for me too. I am determined to make this available to the general ASL public somehow; either a download or publication. But it will take time yet. Between my CFS and RL progress goes slowly and I'm sure you all know how long ASL production takes. But the feedback from you guys has been really positive. Thanks!

 

[Cpl Uhl]

This is indeed quite stunning work - bravo.

One word of caution though. You say that "The objective of the CG is for the Marines to control the whole map."

I've found that such all or nothing VC can be quite unsatisfying - if you're the Japanese and win with just one strategic location or GO MMC or whatever denying "the whole map" requires, then as the Japanese you might feel like it's quite a hollow victory while as the USMC you might feel gyped to get so close but be denied the win by one freaking whatever.

If you win as the USMC I suppose it's quite satisfying, but as the Japanese of course you've been totally destroyed, not much fun.

Just saying, with such "whole map", all or nothing VC it can be quite unsatisfying and also hang on one die roll all too often.

But please keep working on this thing! It's beautiful what you do.

 

[Honza]

Thankyou. The thing about the Marine control in this CG is that the Japanese can still have units onboard - either above or below ground - but they do not necessarily deny the Marine his control. The Marine has to draw out a perimeter; and everything within that perimeter is under his control. A few Japanese units scattered about do not automatically prevent the establishment of the perimeter, it depends. In other words there can be a few Japanese behind the Marine perimeter and they are essentially treated as isolated. They don't prevent Marine control.

However I will take heed of what you say and pay attention to it when it comes to the end game.

 

[rcarter]

This is indeed quite stunning work - bravo.

One word of caution though. You say that "The objective of the CG is for the Marines to control the whole map."

I've found that such all or nothing VC can be quite unsatisfying - if you're the Japanese and win with just one strategic location or GO MMC or whatever denying "the whole map" requires, then as the Japanese you might feel like it's quite a hollow victory while as the USMC you might feel gyped to get so close but be denied the win by one freaking whatever.

If you win as the USMC I suppose it's quite satisfying, but as the Japanese of course you've been totally destroyed, not much fun.

Just saying, with such "whole map", all or nothing VC it can be quite unsatisfying and also hang on one die roll all too often.

But please keep working on this thing! It's beautiful what you do.

So, I'd like to agree and disagree with this statement.

This last year (2014), I played the BRT CG III scenario as the Japanese. I was having a ton of fun during the first couple of CG dates -- ie the initial landing and initial defense. After that I felt like I was just being pummelled and the Marines advanced inexorably across the island. Part of the issue was that the later dates did not allow for renewal of fortifications. I think that was historical in that most of the fortifications were on the beaches, but with the amount of marine firepower it was just impossible to maintain any kind of defensive line or really inflict significant casualties.

As I have understood this Iwo CG there are abilities for the Japanese to fortify even later. Reflective, I would think, not of "new" fortifications from a reality perspective but more for game purposes. In other words, they were likely built before but the flexibility of placing new ones just allows for a better game experience for the Japanese.

So my agreement is that a constant feeling of being pummelled would be not so great. But if there was an ability to continue a nice fighting withdrawal of sorts, with the uncertainty of victory stretching to the last CG dates would make for an exciting game for both. Many scenarios end with a single hex being fought over by the end.

My issue with BRT was that there was a certain inevitability that set in after the first couple of dates. That is not the sense I get from this CG.

Rick

 

[Honza]

That is not the sense I get from this CG.

From my own experience I would agree with your statement. The Japanese can keep fortifying their defences until probably the last couple of CG dates (in which both sides get reduced CPP anyway), but by that time they would be pushed into the farthest corner of the map and that corner would be already fortified. So it would be a matter of re-manning old fortifications. The Marines would by that time have run out of infantry coy - so they would have to make a final push with what is left on map. I think it could be a very close finish with both sides having a chance to win.

In case I have got the balance completely wrong I have allowed for quite severe re-balancing provisions. There will be 3 balance provisions for both sides, which can be used individually or even collectively if a strong re-balancing is needed.

 

[Honza]

I've wrapped up this playtest. It is no more. There are a couple of reasons; the first is that I would like to try the Black Barricades CG and the second is that with the Iwo map free again I can work on the second edition map.

I hoping to get this first edition map scanned soon and after that I will be able to send out copies for those who want them. Just got to check on the copyright issues; I don't want CH getting their paws on this map and printing it out without permission.

It might not be long before other players can playtest this CG. If the map was scanned and I did a rough draft of the rules then it is ready to go!

 

[jtsjc1]

That's great Jan. I appreciate all the hard work you put into that playtest I've been following it. Best of luck with it and if it gets published you gat a sale! Oh and I'm very interested in Black Barricades because I do enjoy Berlin.

 

[Honza]

I finally got round to sorting out the counter pile left over from this playtest; its been sat on one side for FOUR months! Who's a lazy sod?

I counted that there were about 200 American SE onboard - they had 33 FTs between them!

There were about 100 Japanese SE onboard in various states of step reduction. Of those there were about 70 crews (35 SE). So it seems the Japanese are outnumbered about 2:1 in this CG....yet they still manage to seriously hurt the Americans.

I'll count the caves/pillboxes shortly.

 

[Honza]

There were 74 caves of various types onboard (the three main types are "normal" caves as per chpt. G, horizontal caves and spider holes) plus 44 pillboxes (mainly 157's but a few 135's).

For a total of 120 caves and pillboxes - which is about the right proportion for the 100 Japanese SE if you take into account that there were many crews with SW and Guns occupying the forts.

 

[jrv]

This resource has a section on the use of armor on Iwo Jima: http://www.history.army.mil/news/2016/images/gal_armorInBattle/Armor in Battle_opt.pdf

JR