Author	treadasaurusrex (Japan)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	China
Participants	PANISTA
Play Date	2023-09-17
Language	English
Scenario	ChOp007

This was a 5-session battle, with me leading a battalion of Japanese infantry that must hold in the face of a well-led attack by a larger force of determined Chinese led by the relentless & clever, PANISTA. The Chinese side prevailed in this costly, movement-to-contact-with-a-vengeance, scenario with a minor victory, although for most of our play-through it looked like this would be a draw.

Others have described this scenario in some detail and our play-through mirrored what has been previously reported. We played with the FOW (after game turn 12) consolidation, smoke/illum and excess initiative optional rules. The Chinese side drew slightly better leaders than the Japanese, which really helped when the close assaults began.

There was a 3-pronged Chinese attack, with the central prong coming straight down the road, before the Japanese side could be properly established to defend the turf assigned. While the two flanking Chinese attacks were bloodily repulsed, both sides lost 6 leaders in this longish fight and the Sons of Nippon lost their senior leader & their momentum on the 17th game turn. There were 6 FOW-shortened turns as the Japanese slowly ran out of troops to cover the front. The Chinese were able to push 8 units across the board to a safe exit as the Japanese were not able to maintain control the east-west road in spite of inflicting 21 step losses on the surging Chinese side. Japanese losses totaled a bloody 14 steps including all 4 steps of HMGs.

This scenario was fun to play with a challenging & resolute opponent, but was slightly unbalanced in favor of the 2-battalion plus Chinese force. I give this one a 3m and recommend it for both shared and solo play. It makes a decent infantry training scenario as well.