Bottom Line - contrary to other AARs, this turned out to be a real cliff hanger and came down to the last roll. I REALLY wanted to prove the U.S. could win and they almost did it... wiping out the Japanese accept for 1 reduced INF step, and that platoon would not go down and was able to prevent U.S. victory conditions by being able to range 3 hexes with direct fire.

IMPORTANT: To give the U.S. any fair expectation of winning, players must play with the Strategic Movement Optional Rule. This will also benefit the Japanese by allowing the American to take more risk of being ambushed with an additional column shift.

Casualties: U.S. kill ratio was 3:1 -Japan: 16 of 17 steps eliminated, 1 reduced INF survived, all leaders survived -U.S.: 5 steps eliminated (all INF), all leaders survived

Situation: The scenario basically allows the U.S. mass his entire force and approach from along any of 3 ridge lines. The American can split his force or advance through the Muskeg, but at his peril. Advancing along the arctic hills in the fog will help mitigate Japanese advantages.

Japanese Plan: The Japanese dilemma is to decide to mass forces along a 1 or 2 ridge lines and risk choosing the wrong American avenue of advance, or attempt to defend a little bit on each ridgeline in the hopes that he can delay the Americans long enough for his other forces to reposition and establish a blocking position or infiltrate within range of the American corridor to prevent American victory conditions.

The Japanese leaders were OK but lackluster ( CPT 1-9-0, LTs 0-9-1, 0-9-1, 0-9-1, 0-8-0)

The Japanese player chose to guard along each ridge line. 1 INF and the Mortars in the North, 2 INF in the central corridor, the CPT and 2 x HMGs took up positions on the small central hill to overwatch both the central corridor and the north slope of the large southern ridge line corridor., 3 x INF were dug in on the north, central, and southern portion of the sourther corridor ridge line on Board 4. Their mission was to defend in order to delay American Advance, and on contact with the enemy, unengaged sectors were to reinforce in order to deny American victory conditions.

American Plan: The American leader draw was fairly strong.

7th ID chose to advance along the southern slope of the southern ridge line (Board 4) in order to anchor their corridor on the southern muskeg in order to make it easier to defend their flanks and prevent Japanese infiltration and interdiction from only the northern flank. They would use strategic movement until contact was made and use Alsakan Scouts 3 hexes in front of the main body and the cover of the Hills to mitigate any chance of surprise. The Battle Ships would establish a kill box ( hexes 1229 to 1626) along the northern eastern slope of the American avenue of advance, in order to destroy forces in place and disrupt any reinforcement/counterattack efforts on the American left flank. Finally a small task force (1 x INF, 1 x HMG, 1 -9-0 LT) was dispatched with the mission to guard the left flank of the main body by setting up a blocking position vicinity of hex 0922 (bd 4) to prevent Japanese reinforcement from the north.

Summary: The American Plan almost worked perfectly. The Alaskan Scouts discovered the first Japanese in Hex 1620 on Turn 4 (0700) and this allowed the American Main body to maneuver south and make contact with the southernmost Japanese Platoon. The Japanese HMGs repositioned to Hex 1622 as well as the PLT on the North slope in 1321 repositioned to 1621. The Mortars and INF platoons from the other ridge lines used strategic movement to move south, but ultimately kept getting bogged in the muskeg. The U.S. overwhelmed Hex 2022 Jap INF around 1000, losing a step in the process. Just in time to turn the force toward the newly dug-in Jap Positions after they got pummeled with battleship OBA at 0930. The Battleships killed two steps and demoralized an HMG that basically would be combat ineffective and never rally until the end of the game, where it was killed again by assault and battleship OBA. For the remainder of the game the main effort became trying to dislodge the Japanese defenses in Hexes 1620,1621,and 1622 because they could range the very edge of the US corridor to prevent victory. From 1015-1045, the initial American Assault went well, killing 6 Japanese steps, for 3 American steps. American mortars were stellar, rolling snake eyes for 3 turns in a row and earning some significant results. Japanese attempts to reinforce failed dismally. At the base of the Northeastern slope, the American blocking force successfully established a position in Hex 0922 by 1100hrs and was able to range Japanese reinforcements in the muskeg. The blocking force successfully gunned down all Japanese in the muskeg or while the Japs tried to break the blocking position in assault. These two platoons (~15% of U.S. force) accounted for 7 Japanese steps (40% of the Japanese force). Meanwhile the U.S. remain locked in close assault on the three Japanese dug-in positions, from 1100 to 1245 they failed to yield a decisive result and had to pullback as the BattleShip artillery approached. OBA in the final turns killed the last Japanese HMG, but failed to shake the lone remaining reduced platoon at 1300. In one last desperate measure, U.S. direct fire and assault forces went into hex 1621 after the battleships once again prepped the target area, but failed to destroy or demoralize the 0-8-0 LT and his valiant platoon. The Americans had culminated just one hex shy of victory.