Panzer Grenadier Battles on November 23rd:
An Army at Dawn #3 - Fire Support Leyte '44 #29 - Thanksgiving Day
Carpathian Brigade #3 - Breakout and Pursuit Panzer Lehr 2 #24 - Plug the Hole
Desert Rats #23 - Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu ("War Party") Panzer Lehr #24 - Plug the Hole
Desert Rats #24 - Hill 175 South Africa's War #7 - Rear Echelon
Dragon’s Teeth #33 - Chickenshit Regulations South Africa's War #8 - Ons Is Helsems
Invasion of Germany #38 - Making Hay South Africa's War #9 - Sunday of the Dead
Jungle Fighting #9 - Another Try West Wall #8 - Making Hay
Death Descending on the Dutch
Author CavDo (Netherlands)
Method VASSAL
Victor Japan
Participants treadasaurusrex
Play Date 2024-02-22
Language English
Scenario NiSi001

Tried this scenario out over 3-sessions as the defending Dutch. Bad choice of sides, and an even worse selection of combat leaders! The Treadasaurus led the attacking SNLF paratroopers, and as he was without his precious tanks, I thought that this would be an easy scenario for the Dutch - wrong again. Both sides drew bad leaders, particularly on my side. We played without the awful FOW rule, but did use the excess initiative optional rule.

Others have reported this battle in detail, so here are a few highlights in what ended as a triumph for the Japanese invaders. The Emperor's airborne dropped in a few places and consolidated quickly (5 turns) using the terrain effectively to approach the airfield. Their assault stacks proved to be unbeatable in close assaults and only 3 steps of Japanese paratroopers were eliminated by game end. There were many adjacent-hex firefights, prior to the close assaults that the Dutch lost every time in this unbalanced scenario that I doubt was even slightly play-tested. The Japanese did suffer from disorientations in the jungle as they closed in, but their lengthy, tidal wave-like assault was, a little slow developing, but unstoppable.

The final VP score was : Japanese: 18, Dutch 3. A Major Japanese victory, just like in real life 83 years ago. I give this unbalanced (but probably accurate historically) scenario a generous rating of 3, and suggest that it is best suited for solitaire play only. Shared play is almost guaranteed to result in a Japanese walkover.

1 Comment
2024-02-22 17:12

Mix this with my Lost Battalion of the Pacific. It adds a couple more scenarios to the campaign. My mother-in-law was there.

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