Marianas 1944, scenario: The Guam Banzai Maneuver

I have been wanting to play this one for a while but have been so busy designing PG games that I haven’t gotten a lot of playing time in but I am taking a small break from designing and finally had time to play it. I am also using the 8-3 valued Marine counters, very cool!

This one was hard for me to setup as I wasn’t sure how to defend as the Marine player and I spread my counters across maps 101 and 81 trying to defend both maps with an eye towards those extra victory points. The Japanese get the advantage of setting up second and checking out the Marine’s setup as some Japanese scout must have spied them out before the early morning/night attack. The Japanese see the setup terrain on map 100 as being a better asset for attacking the Marines on map 101 than map 82 and also their reinforcement will enter on map 82 within five turns. The Japanese use the cover of darkness to penetrate the thinly spread American lines and try to void contact as much as possible as they can gain points for getting and staying alive in the American’s rear messing with supply/command/artillery troops.

The Japanese have great success getting behind the Americans lines and the Marines start shooting flares and heavy artillery and off board Naval bombardments as well but also have to shift dig-in units from the thin line to go after the Japanese renegades. Before long the Japanese second force enters the combat zone which is about the same size as the first group of attacking Japanese. Once again the Marines have to shift units around, including the Monster E4-5 Sherman Flame tanks but lose their dug-in advantage. Combats are taking place all over the battlefield and to my surprise by the end of the scenario the Japanese tricks of Spreading the American lines has worked in the their favor for a Major Japanese Victory, 41 points to 26 points.

The Americans eliminated 23 Japanese steps and 3 Leaders for 26 points, while the Japanese eliminated 9 Marine steps and 2 Leaders but more importantly they had 30 steps still on American territory on maps 101 and 81 for a total of 41 points.

Observations and comments: the Americans should have only defended on one map gaining 10 points, than adjusted to attack the other map in strength in the second half of the scenario and this would have been a much close match. The E4-5 Sherman flame tank is a beast but keep Infantry with it in assaults and use your 2 x 30 off board artillery well and I think the Marines will do better next time. The 8-3 valued Marine Infantry counters makes a much better balance scenario and I recommend using them for all the Marianas 1944 and Saipan 1944 scenarios. I believe they are sold in the latest released Saipan games or you can join the Gold-Club and purchase them as well. The Japanese should avoid combat except when good assault opportunities arise and slipping through and behind the lines and finding a jungle or town hex to campout in will increase your odds of winning this scenario for them. Great fun!