Posting #1

*This scenario, after just one turn is looking to be a blast, pardon the pun. It starts out with some interesting setup decisions for the Americans and interesting Assembly Point/Drop Zone decisions for the Japanese as well. There are 5 airfields but 8 airfield markers, as three of the airfields are larger. The Japanese get three points for every airfield marker under their control and the Americans get points for every Japanese step eliminated and that is it.

*The terrain is a real factor so the Japanese choose only three areas to drop in, that are more in the open and half their group come in by Gliders and the other half by parachute drop. In fact, 5 out of the 10 scenarios in Nihon Silk are actual airdrops/glider landings. The Landings by air usually take 1-4 turns as there are delays and AP’s new drop rules are excellent.

*After the first turn almost half of the Japanese landing force will be delayed, either one, two or three turns. They have lost two steps in the landing so far and have 4 disrupted units and two demoralized units and the airdrop units are scattered more then the glider units and the Americans are already taking pot shots and ranging some artillery on them but the Americans are weaker in force but dug-in with some supporting heavy weapons units, like the M16, 40mm AA gun and some on and off board artillery. It will take the Japanese 3-4 turns to get seriously organized but they have more units coming and the American are very scattered as well, defending all those airfields that they thought were safe in the rear area. This looks like it will be a very fun scenario to play out.

Posting #2

*After four turns, the Japanese are all landed and the units that landed in earlier turns have already advanced on the three nearest airfields, saving the other two for later. Only one looks pretty good so far, the larger one on map 10 in the more open terrain where most of the Japanese have concentrated. But even though they control one airfield marker so far, they have lost 4 steps total and they cannot afford too many more 3 point airfield hexes for 4 points of unit losses. Now they are starting to get more organized so who knows how this will go over the remaining 22 turns.

*Now what to do with the American units, reinforce the airfields under attack, pulling out the small units guarding their own airfield and risking major point losses or just try to hold on inflicting as many step losses as possible on the Japanese before pulling back, as the Japanese do not receive victory point for eliminated American units.

*Also, are the Japanese attacking too many airfields at once, should they just concentrate on one or two at a time but if they do that, they won’t have enough time to secure enough of them, to win?

Posting #3

The battle in the middle is turning into a quagmire and up north where is another smaller battle going on. The two airfields on the peripheral are still on touched by battle. The Japanese overran and American Artillery 105mm battery but paid the price for it later, as an adjacent American Para Infantry unit unleashed rifle fire and rolled a 12. Go stuff so far but the Americans are still leading by three points but it looks like a few more airfields may fall some, so it is anyone game at this point.

Posting #4

*This battle had a little bit of everything as far as decision making. There was a lot of maneuver and I enjoyed the whole battle right to the conclusion. The Japanese took four airfield markers for 12 points but the Americans received 23 points for destroyed Japanese steps, while the Japanese do not receive points for eliminated American steps. So the point difference was 11 points, so a Major American Victory. There were two American airfields that were contested and with a turn or two more the Japanese would have had a draw with 12 more points.

*The American M16 is very deadly with a 24-7 direct fire value. It was responsible for at least 4 Japanese step losses and I recommend placing it by one of the airfields in the open terrain area as this is a great asset to have. Just get adjacent to it will really cost the enemy. The Japanese needed to move some units out of the controlled airfields sooner to and they would have had a better chance of controlling more of them and winning. Also, the Americans did pull some units out of uncontested areas, to help out against contested airfields, as time was on their side when they made these decisions. Lastly, visibility goes down to one hex at some point in the game.

*This is a great scenario to play!