Shad's Note: I'm dumping in a bunch of my old BGG AARs. If you've followed my "work" on BGG then you've read these before...

Play Note - Because I was playing this solo and would not be using the hidden Japanese unit rules... and because I wanted a real bodycount, I didn't bother rolling and just went with the full JPN OOB, YAR!

Deployment

The American deployment is heavily restricted, and must be carefully considered because bad positioning = forced movement to counter the Japanese == automatic disruption with a +1 recovery roll. As such, the Army units with their 7/7 morale are basically immobile. Move them once and you'll be lucky if they ever become combat effective again. The Raiders are equal to the Japanese, but you've only got 5 platoons.

Setting up as the Americans, I assumed that the Japanese attack would be forced to come through the center or west sections of my lines. They had two deployment zones grouped there and only 19 turns to cut through to the heart of my defenses. I placed my Raiders in the center, and strung the rest of the Army units out in small 2 platoon outposts, slightly overloading the western third of my perimeter to guard against a wide left hook attack through the coconut palms & their easier movement rates.

Confident in my preparations, I switched hats and considered things from the Japanese perspective. I found myself without a clear plan, and especially annoyed with the OOB's two 70mm guns, a 37mm AA, and the pair of 81mm mortars. The former 3 would be completely useless, starting as they must in 1 visibility forest and lacking trucks or wagons to move them. The latter two mortar crews would move VERY slowly through the dark jungle and even once in place, hardly pose a threat to the Americans.

And then it clicked...

• Set up in or adjacent to hexes 1515, 1511, or 1304, at least 2 units in or adjacent to each hex.

I had 3 useless garbage units and 2 scrubby mortar crews, I could use them to satisfy the unit distribution requirements at 2 of the starting zones and then mass my real combat forces at the third.

Surveying the American deployment and their heavy center/left positioning, I dumped my worthless artillery at hexes 1515 & 1511, and deposited everyone else in and around 1304 on the far right flank.

I knew at that moment that the Americans (me!) were in very deep shit.

Battle

With the opening turn the Japanese in the eastern third began hacking their way furiously through the jungle towards the open coconut palm fields beyond. It was slow going, especially considering that Fog of War is triggered in this scenario after only 2 activations and by only a 3d6 14! That's a 16.2% probability, nothing to sneeze at!

The Japanese advance was greatly slowed by FoW in the opening few turns, and as the Americans sitting in a now obviously horrid deployment I began to become hopeful that the scenario turn count would expire before they came slicing through my thin eastern lines.

It was not to be.

Stopping only slightly to waste 30 minutes firing directly and ineffectually, the Japanese commander quickly realized that since victory could be won without regard for bodycount, uncompromisingly bloody & vicious assaults were going to win (or lose) the day.

The easternmost U.S. Army picket platoons were steamrolled, and then the next one almost as quickly. Suddenly the Japanese were well within striking distance of the objective with plenty of turns left in play. The American commander had no choice and ordered his disoriented men in the center to rush towards the sounds of battle. In many cases platoons arrived disrupted or demoralized just in time to be gutted by onrushing and flanking Japanese.

At the end of Turn 11, despite U.S. losses of only 8 platoons to the Japanese's 17, the lines had been irreparably breached and the artillery crews would soon be lying in sandy pools of their own blood.

Total Japanese Victory

Closing Thoughts

Panzer Grenadier: Semper Fi! Guadalcanal and by extension Panzer Grenadier: Jungle Fighting are much-maligned for lacking the opportunity for maneuver provided by other games in the Panzer Grenadier series. While I agree with such criticisms (although not with whether that's necessarily a bad thing!), this scenario was a surprising departure from the norm.

Coconut palm forests, of which there are many on this map, allow units to run and encircle the enemy. This is especially pronounced when you have one side that's gravely reluctant to move at all - in this case the Americans and their fear of the resulting disruption/demoralization.

My outcome was so far off the actual mark one might call it historical fiction, but I dare say it was a much better game than one would have had he rolled a 3 or less on deployment and stuck with it.

Given the total forces allowed for a 1d6 result of 5 or 6, the Japanese player will be very difficult to stop indeed - and that's a good thing.

I highly recommend this scenario for both solo and multiplay - with the proviso that the Japanese are beefed up a little as mentioned above.

Surprisingly great times.