Panzer Grenadier Battles on March 29th:
Spearhead Division #16 - Final Accounting
Guadalcanal, Scenario #20, Diversion I (Third Play)
Author JayTownsend
Method Solo
Victor United States
Play Date 2010-01-01
Language English
Scenario Guad020

I had to get another game in with Guadalcanal, Diversion I.

I found that pulling the Assault counters off the map and using those large Assault Hexes, that were provided by someone here (sorry I forgot who did it) and marking the board with number 1,2,3 mine markers or other markers really speeds handling those assault hexes up.

American Victory today! I guess I still have not mastered Scenario #20, Diversion I (Guadalcanal) as to this date, I now have One Draw, One Japanese Victory and today one American Victory. 1/1/1. My American Marines did an excellent job of holding a pretty good solid line, moving units around only when necessary. It sure helped them, when believe it or not, their first combat dice roll, from the Air Force was a 2X result. Not a good start for the Japanese. One thing to remember with this scenario, is that the Japanese actually enjoy a higher morale factor of 9/8 vs. 8/8 which they will need in those Assault hexes because the American have higher valued Infantry, just not as many counters. With the Japanese, try to get a combined Infantry/Armor factor if possible but don't push your armor Type 97’s & 95’s ahead without Infantry, until you can cover the American 75mm Halftrack & the 37mm-AT gun with some sort of fire. In the End, The Japanese only controlled one little hex East of the Matanikau, number 1623, not enough!

This scenario is a tough nut to crack! After playing it three times, do the Japanese really have a big enough force to attack, do the Americans really have a big enough force to defend and cover all the area? Thankfully nothing is playable in hexes 15## or after, so the board is really smaller. After three plays, it's still in my top five scenario list. Funny when you consider that I am really a tank guy! But this scenario does give each side a little armor, which makes this puzzle more interesting. I recommend this one!

2 Comments
2014-05-23 09:20

I'm playing this one currently against an opponent and funny you should mention it about the American air-strike result. I am playing the Americans in this one and I also got very lucky with one of my few air attacks and also got a 2X result which vaporized a whole Japanese platoon. It's a tough one for the marines though, at least to keep the defensive line intact with the forces given and having to keep units on the move. This was a common situation for the Americans in the early phases of the Guadalcanal campaign, just barely having enough units spread out to hold a defensive position. I sent a few platoons across the Matanikau to stall the Japanese advance. There are still 11 turns left to go but I can at least count on a draw as I have already eliminated well over 10 Japanese steps but this battle is still far from over. I think this is the first time that I can remember an air-strike being that effective and what a rush that was, much to the chagrin of my opponent though.

2014-05-23 12:38

Brett, No doubt about, those few lucky dice rolls are fantastic! If you get a chance please post and AAR.

Jay

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