| Can't Understand the High Rating for this One | ||||||||||||||
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We starteded this game some time back in late-January on my gaming table at home, but it became disarrayed due to a couple of pet overun attacks! We ended up switching to Vassal and reconstructing the setup after the 6th game turn. We may well have lost something in translation, but I think that pretty much anything that the Japanese paratrooper player does will be in vain. Too unbalanced for shared play is my opinion of this scenario. I was the player for Japan, against the high-speed-killing-machine that is the Treadasaurus - in full war cry - (its rodeo season in Southern Arizona - Yeehah!) who led the American defenders. We both drew average leaders, maybe a bit better on the American side, and reluctantly played with the FOW optional rule and also the excess initiative rule. We used these two house rules: 1) Road Movement for Mechanized & Foot Units All FOOT & MECHANIZED units may move on roads at the rate of 1/2 a Movement Point (MP) per road hex, just like MOTORIZED units, and 2) Standardized Movement for Mechanized Units All mechanized units may move through clear hexes at a movement cost of only 1 movement point (MP) per hex, instead of 1 1/2. Add one to this cost if moving up, across, or down slopes hexes. These simplified play considerably for the math challenged players involved! Others have reviewed this scenario positively, so let me just say that it was an Allied major victory, which felt inevitable to me. The Emperor's troops could only (barely) hold a pair of contested two airfield hexes by game end. This came at a very high cost in step losses, partly resulting from bad and delayed landings by the Japanese paratroops into the teeth of the heavy American AA fire, that was very well positioned by my honorable opponent. Loss of the senior Nipponese Commander really hurt Japanese prospects in only the 4th turn! I enjoyed playing this one with good company and lots of beer which helped to ease the pain of losing almost the entire Japanese force. I give this one a generous rating of 2, simply because it was fun to play. I can't account for it having such a high rating. The Japanese paras are doomed from the beginning, IMHO, with no real chance of a win, against the well-armed GIs led by an experienced player. This battle is better played as a solitaire adventure. Good luck as the Emperor's Chosen One in this doomed operation. |
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| 2 Comments |
This one was also too long, and I agree with my honorable opponent, that it is overrated and only suitable for SOLO play.
It helps that the game designer rated their own creation a 5, a little Subliminal suggestion never hurts.