Panzer Grenadier Battles on April 26th:
Afrika Korps #28 - "Meet Me at the Pass" Edelweiss: Expanded #13 - Spring Offensive
Army Group South Ukraine #1 - A Meaningless Day First Axis #20 - End Game in Italy
Army Group South Ukraine #4 - Beyond the Prut Parachutes Over Crete #39 - Corinith
Edelweiss #10 - Spring Offensive Road to Berlin #71 - Horst Wessel's Last Verse
Edelweiss IV #19 - Spring Offensive
Tough Day for LVT Crews
Author thomaso827
Method Solo
Victor United States
Play Date 2015-09-23
Language English
Scenario MARI013

This scenario has a Marine battalion plus 2 Engineers, 5 HMGs and 4 LVT A1s against an entrenched Japanese force holding the length of boards 81 and 101, dug in with 3 infantry companies, 5 HMGs, 6 casemates, 3 entrenchments, a 120mm naval gun, a 75/88, a 20mm and 25mm AA, a 37mm AT and 3 mortars. It's tough to cover the whole beach with this force, and up to 3 units can start on the beach, so I placed 3 of the casemates along the beach, spread out pretty evenly, with the rest of the casemates in light jungle a hex inland. The big guns were entrenched on the hilltops of board 101 where they could use their AT value against LTVs, hoping to catch a few still loaded, and the AT gun and AAs were set up, the AT in heavy jungle 1 hex inland, one AA entrenched further back but within range of the beach, and the last AA gun in heavy jungle to the north of the northern board 81. OBA for the Marines is 3x30, and a mix for the Japanese, 2x8, 2x10 1x16. The US could pound even the entrenchments once spotted, but the Japanese bravely opened fire but missed everything until the troops were able to unload. As the Marine side, I chose to leave the northern section for mopping up and shoved everything ashore on the southern half. This overwhelmed the Japanese defenses right from the beginning. I was able to detail company elements to the town on the Marine right flank, taking it in 2 turns, using the naval gunfire to take out the entrenched Japanese naval gun fairly early and demoralize the 75/88 for long enough that Marines were able to assault and take the hilltop with few casualties. By turn 22, the Marines had taken the whole of board 101, with only the Japanese Col, SGT and the SNLF LT left to flee to the north and call in OBA shots anytime they could. Marines chased but didn't succeed in catching them. I called it a game at the end of turn 22, as every Japanese infantry and HMG unit had been eliminated by then, the Marines had just succeeded in assaulting the Japanese mortar on board 81, the gunboat was working on the next-to-last casemate, and Marines were ready to assault the Japanese AT gun. All the leaders on the northern board had moved south with their infantry and HMGs and then been eliminated there, so there was absolutely nothing left to stop the Marines except possibly their own poor luck with future dice rolls, so the game ended with 71 points for the Marines to 23 points for the Japanese. Most of that was from LVT A1s and a single LVT4, the Marine LT that died not counting. I used the 10-3 Marine infantry, but nearly everything was adjacent hex fire with LVTs 6 DF mixed with infantry and HMGs, so I don't really think that the reduced DF of the newer release Marine infantry would have had that much effect. Once you have a 30+ column or more, the overkill doesn't really matter. Really enjoyable game, and one that I want to do face-to-face and try again with the new Marines as I want to run through the whole Marianas book again with them and see how they go.

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