Panzer Grenadier Battles on March 29th:
Spearhead Division #16 - Final Accounting
Time to send in the G.I.s
Author Brett Nicholson
Method Solo
Victor Japan
Play Date 2014-07-18
Language English
Scenario Guad024

I imagine that this one would be much more interesting played FTF, not just with the hidden Japanese units but also without being able to examine Japanese stacks in jungle hexes in order to determine their intial strength. Before setting up the Japanese player rolls one die to determine the amount of units they recieve; on a 1-3 the deployment is unchanged but on a result of 4 or higher the Japanese forces increase progressively depending on the result. In this case I rolled a "5" and received an additional five leaders along with three platoons of INF, one HMG and an extra 81mm mortar for the Imperial landing force which outnumbered the marine battalion sent out to intercept it and probably tipped the scales heavily in Japan's favor.

The marines pretty much need to wipe out the entire landing force or at least drive them back away from a 5-hex radius of 2212 and take no more than 7 step losses. The Japanese just need to advance, form a strong line, hang on and prevent the Americans from breaking through; kind of like a reversal of roles compared to many of the previous 'Guadalcanal' scenarios.

The battle begins early in the morning (01:30) with sides benefiting from the cover of darkness. Both sides slowly advance to meet each other and movement becomes piecemeal from the start from with night-time/jungle fog of war ending many tunrs very quickly. Contact is finally made at 02:45/turn 6. Two separate platoons of marine HMGs are quickly demoralized by Japanese DF and the American advance is halted momentarily. The Americans spend a few turns regrouping and trading fire, and by 04:00/turn 11 manage to inflict the first Japanese INF step loss. Then much of nothing occurs for a stretch time; a morale check here and there from both sides until the sun begins to rise and visibilty increases. At 05:45/turn 18, with visibilty increasing a few platoons of MAR managed to infiltrate the Japanese lines and other elements of the battalion advance and begin to pick on some SER units which were revealed from being hidden. A lucky shot from the lone American 81mm is able to take out one of the now demoralized SER units and things start looking up for the battalion. Then, at 06:00/turn 19 the Japanese bounce back and manage the first American step loss with opportunity fire and also eliminate a marine SGT (8-0-1) in the process. Also, two platoons of hidden HMGs reveal themselves and hunt down the American infiltrators before they can get into the cover of a jungle hex are able to extract another MAR step loss by 06:15/turn 20. Soon the tables begin to turn in favor of the Japanese after sunrise and though the marine DF ratings are more powerful, losses begin to mount, trading step loss for step loss which ultimately works against the outnumbered marines. The infiltrators behind the Japanese lines are cut-off, pinned down and systematically slaughtered by HMG fire. By 07:30/turn 25 Japan has managed to eliminate 8 American steps to meet one of their VCs; now what's left of the marine battalion is desperately fighting for a draw with no chance of a winning this engagement.

The battle begins to simmer down after each side trades losses step for step and there is a lull in the fighting lasting from 09:00 to 12:45, almost 4 hours with only a brief thunderstorm occuring in regards to action. Both sides trade fire from lines facing each other two hexes away but soon the marines have to get in closer as they are supposed to be driving the enemy back. There is not much of a marine battalion left any longer, just over a company while the Japanese line is quite snug and solid; the marines have to make an assault in hopes gaining ground. The order is given to assault at 14:00/turn 51 and it does not go well with the Japanese first fire eliminating a step of HMGs but the assault does go on for quite a while nonetheless. It is very clear at this point that the Americans have lost this one but was determined to ride this one out until the end to see how far the very few, yet still proud marines could get; The Japanese on the other hand would do what they could to entirely wipe out the now company-sized remnants of 2nd Battalion. With nothing to lose, just before time runs out the Japanese counter-assault and get eliminated there with the remains flushed out of the hex; if there was anything resembling a moral victory for the Americans they could be satisfied of at least winning the only assault of the battle.

By the time all the smoke cleared and the last of the marines called off the attack the Americans had lost 4 leaders (1x CAP; 2 x LT and 1 x SGT), 15 MAR and 4 HMG steps with less than a company remaining. Japanese losses were: 4 leaders (1x CAP and 3 x LT), 11 INF, 2 SER and 1 HMG step.

This was quite a long scenario at 68 turns but enjoyed the duration of it. Even though outnumbered from the onset the marines kept up the fight and held on without getting completely wiped out. For once the superior American DF did not save the day as it had done countless times before. The Japanese were able to match the Americans with better DF rolls all around, rolling many "snake eyes" and "boxcars" for 2X results, sometimes back to back. Once losses began to occur at a 50/50 ratio for just a few turns the Japanese had this one in the bag. The biggest mistake I made with the Americans was sending those 4 platoons behind enemy lines early on and not being able to get any more marines there to reinforce them; once the Japanese line was broken it was easily repaired and held. Then the Japanese began to slowly hook around the north flank of the Americans and also in time pushed them back from where their line was originally formed. It was interesting to watch this play out from an aerial view of the map. It's hard to say if this one would of turned out differently if the intial Japanese landing force was smaller; if I had rolled lower for the deployment before the set-up. I think it really could go either way as usually American DF outmatches the Japanese. I never thought that the Americans were ever really in a good position to make any assaults and only attempted just one the whole battle while the Japanese did not need to assault at all this time around. I thought this was a nice finish for 'Guadalcanal' and would definitely play this one again, hence the "4" rating. As far as my personal records go for the whole campaign aspect of 'Guadalcanal' the Japanese clearly won, through and through. I recorded 14 Japanese wins; 6 draws and just 4 losses. However, there were many scenarios I thought the Americans could of won on a good day or at least managed another draw. I think many people judge a game by the first scenario in the book and in this case I didn't find the first 4 scenarios all too rewarding so I can understand why 'Guadalcanal' doesn't get too many plays or higher overall ratings but once I got past the first 4 scenarios and away from the Tulagi and dreaded Gavutu-Tanambogo maps the scenarios got a lot better and glad I completed the whole boxed set (tour of duty ribbon please!). I really love the Matanikau map with all it's nooks and crannies and for that reason plan on continuing the Guadalcanal experiance with 'Jungle Fighting' in the near future as almost all of it's scenarios use the Matanikau map.

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