Panzer Grenadier Battles on March 29th:
Spearhead Division #16 - Final Accounting
Like trying to hold back a tsunami
Author scrane
Method Solo
Victor Japan
Play Date 2012-10-19
Language English
Scenario WaMa002

This was a pretty fast game, but without much for the Australian to do but wait for the inevitable. The Japanese have 24 SNLF, about 7 HMG, and 6 tanks as the main strike force, plus assorted air support and weak artillery. The Australians have a battalion of infantry to hold them back. They must survive four hours on a tall hill with a town.

This was one of the few times in my experience where an all-out relentless charge worked. The Aussies were spread out in a number of dugouts around the front and sides of the hill, hoping to disrupt the Japanese as they approached. The Japanese concentrated 2/3s of their force on the left with all the tanks, the rest on the right. The plan was an all out charge, bypassing the lower defenses to be mopped up later while driving right up the hill for the town. The short version: it worked.

The combination of better morale and the Japanese INF assault bonus was an insurmountable advantage. The Japanese never stopped to prep assault hexes with DF or artillery, they just charged right in. The speed of their HMGs (the Waltzing Matilda counters are incorrectly marked as speed 2, it should be 3) was a great boon to keeping their momentum up. Yes, their tanks suffered heavily from some amazing Aussie AT shots, but they really didn't contribute anyway. This was a high-speed raid on foot that left isolated pockets of Aussies to be cleaned up at leisure.

The Aussies did put up stiff resistance in each pocket, and largely stymied the right hand side of the Japanese line, but the Japanese left just blew through them.

Japanese victory.

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