Marianas 1944, scenario #17: Patrol South

The puzzle I couldn’t solve, at least not on the first attempt. A pretty straight forward scenarios, the Americans must exit all their steps off the south edge of the map in 18 turn and the Japanese can win if they don’t. The Japanese have 4 leaders, 3 Infantry, 1 HMG, 1 20mm gun while the Americans have 2 leaders, 2 reduced Infantry and 2 LVT A1s.

The Americans try to avoid combat and recon south but the Japanese with 4 Leaders are able to divide into four forces, three hunting and assaulting American units and the forth, the 20mm gun far to the south in a blocking force. The Japanese kept maneuvering their three combat groups and assaulted at will, unafraid of loses but rolled much better on the dice and managed to eliminate two steps of LVT A1s and one step of Infantry, sending two leaders retreating back north.

An easy Japanese victory. Maybe next time I should fight it out as the Americans but with 18 turns, even that approach will be difficult. The American moved in two stacks one led by the Captain, the reduce Infantry, a LVT A1 and the other by the Sergeant, the reduced Infantry and a LVT A1 unit. Maybe I’ll change the stacks up next time and keep the Infantry in one and the LVT A1s in another. Worth a second try someday.